Free Republic

ST. PAUL, MINN. -- It took until the third night for this Republican National Convention to start to act like one, but liftoff was finally achieved thanks to Sarah Palin, the woman who has made this convention, this week and perhaps this campaign a referendum on herself. The governor of Alaska, 20 months out of Wasilla and bearing down on the White House, infused what had been a lackluster confab with her personal mix of offense, defense and celebration of small-town America. In a line that summed up her down-home appeal and her role as designated hitter, Palin asked the...

~snipMICHAEL CAREY: The other part of the soap opera.RAY SUAREZ: Well, that seems to have been what smoked out the Bristol Palin story, the attempt to put the first story to rest that came. Tell us more about the first one, which I guess was highlighted on the Daily Kos website.MICHAEL CAREY: Yeah, that's been -- that story has been around for quite a while. I first heard it when a lawyer who I like very much and is a very smart guy presented this to me as the absolute truth.RAY SUAREZ: That is, that Governor Palin was not pregnant?MICHAEL...

Sarah Palin is no stranger to the "maverick" label often assigned to Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate who has selected her to join him on the GOP ticket. Alaska's youngest and first female governor has pushed for ethics investigations of fellow Republicans in her state and bucked the powerful oil industry on a major natural gas pipeline project. When she ran for governor in 2006, she ran as an outsider and an agent for change. But she's also an anti-abortion, pro-gun fiscal conservative — something sure to please the Republican base. Rooted In Local Politics The 44-year-old Palin...

Estranged family members come out of the strangest places when the lottery is won or someone has presidential aspirations. These quiet individuals find a sense of power never felt before in their lives when a blood relative has hit it big or is about to hit it bigger. In Barack Obama’s case, Vanity Fair reported on a half-brother who was recently discovered living in a small shack in Kenya. Obama’s relative lives on less than $1 a month. National Public Radio found Cindy McCain’s half-sister, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, who is not only a Democrat but also felt slighted when McCain...

NPR's IQ   The Litmus test of NPR's intelligence...   On August 18, 2008, Jonathan Capehart sitting in for Leonard Lopate Show - WNYC , www.WNYC.org  (212 433 9292) [NPR's outlet in NY] interviewed in the last part of of the first hour Liz from 'The Daily News', first Liz brushed off any doubts if NY Yorkers are behind Hillary, "everybody is for NY" - she "decided",  yet, Jonathan in his desperation and worry that Mccain might win NY (NPR is independent" of course...),  asked her "but... there's no chance Mccain can win NY, Right?" Liz was "struggling" with Obama's loss from...

THE DISGUSTING ['APPEASEMENT'] SONG BY NPRAugust 11, 2008 What is it about the bad guys that provoke "compassion" from NPR type of journalists? Regarding the case against Bin Laden's driver: Salim Hamdan, though only having a short time to serve under the current verdict, he still might be held indefinitely according the Bush's administration as an 'enemy combatant', John Mcchesni of NPR 'lamented' that the jury will be very disappointed if that happens. Juror Questions U.S. Pursuit Of Salim Hamdan : NPR's John McChesney has this exclusive interview ... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93483533 Rhetorical question, Does Mr. Michesni think that these type of...

Where your tax money goes - to Liberal BS PBS (August, 2008)   Clean up the 20% garbage at the PBS! Do not mix them with the majority of 'good programming', the "news" and current "editorial" parts are totally unprofessional!   The PBS & NPR problem of having one sided biased agenda whenever reporting or editorializing news and current events.   PBS says it's "independent", Huh?   PBS has a banner about 'Vote 2008' that describes itself as "independent".     TIMING:   Can anyone come up with an explanation why the next 2 "documentaries" had to be aired just so...

Straight from the Horse's mouth: NPR's admission of unfairness -  says media does NOT have to be fair!   August 5, 2008: First, the infamous "fair" NPR had a person a self proclaimed "expert" in energy.., in order to sweeten-up Obama's argument and politics, claimed the usual nonsense that "nothing would effect the prices of oil" stating it over and over again, without any iota of evidence or logic of course, the "expert" even mentioned that "people are talking about inflating tires", What a BS! as if no one knows that it was ONLY Barack Obama that flipped and spoke rubbish, What a cheap attempt...

I like NPR. They are one of the very few media outlets that have treated me extremely fairly. But here, in this NPR interview with General (retired) Jack Keane, you can hear the bias of host Alex Chadwick, and the surprise in the response of GEN (ret) Keane - one of the architects of the Surge. I think it's important to hear both Alex Chadwick and Jack Keane discuss the events around the Surge. To me, this is an indication of the level of effort being made to spin away the Surge as not successful or due to the the...

An internal Justice Department investigation released Monday has concluded that senior officials broke the law by hiring immigration and other officials based on partisan considerations. The report — issued by the inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility — culminates an investigation that lasted more than a year, stemming from the firing of seven U.S. attorneys in one day in 2006. The report focuses on some of the senior officials in the circle of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Specifically, the report names senior counselor and White House liaison Monica Goodling and Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Both...

After eight years in the wilderness, the left expects a clean sweep in the 2008 election -- the presidency (and with it the federal bureaucracy) and larger majorities in both houses of Congress. Looking ahead, liberals are determined to derail potential opposition to their plans to accelerate the deconstruction of America. Consequently, they have targeted talk radio. Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is just one facet of their scheme to eviscerate the only part of the media controlled by conservatives. Crucial to an understanding of the jihad against talk radio is this: The left will do anything to gag its...

All Things Considered, July 17, 2008 · A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars. Her father worked at General Motors for 45 years before retiring. Her mother taught driver's education. Nunez and her six siblings grew up middle class. Things have changed considerably for this Ohio family. Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has no reliable transportation out of their subsidized housing complex in Fostoria, 40 miles south of Toledo, to look for a job. Nunez and most of her siblings and their spouses are unemployed and rely on government...

Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, who is African-American, says he's torn between voting for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama in the November presidential election. "Many conservatives who happen to be black see it as a dilemma because they're wondering what they're going to tell their children and grandchildren 20 years from now when they had a chance in American history, which is rare and has never happened before, to pull the lever [for a black presidential candidate]," Williams tells host Michele Norris. "It creates quite a dilemma because there's not something wrong with Sen. John McCain; he's very impressive."...

In its first comprehensive look at the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the Supreme Court is expected to rule next week on the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns. The District of Columbia's ban is considered the nation's strictest gun-control law. A ruling by the court to strike it down could threaten other gun-control measures across the country, including laws that ban machine guns or assault weapons. Although the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, the court has never definitively said what it means to have the right to keep and bear arms. The current dispute over gun...

Democrat Barack Obama is continuing his tour this week of battleground states, where his biggest campaign vulnerability comes from swing voters. Obama's strengths are obvious. The Illinois senator can draw huge crowds, register millions of new voters and raise money like no other candidate in history. He is also a giant-slayer, meaning he managed to outmaneuver the powerful Clinton machine in a one-on-one contest. But in the end, Obama wheezed across the finish line. He lost nine of the last 14 primaries, and although Democrats are uniting behind their nominee, there is a lot to make them nervous about Obama's...

There is something magical about the term, "superdelegate," as if it's a representative with superhuman powers who might fly in at the last minute to save the election. This is not totally far from the truth. Unless, of course, you don't approve of how the political superheroes use their special abilities. (Or, if you are a Republican. Technically, there aren't any superdelegates in the GOP). Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama emerged from Super Tuesday neck and neck, separated by less than 100 delegates by most counts. This suggests — if the race continues to be similarly tight —...

Fresh Air from WHYY, May 22, 2008 · After American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, it took firefighters three days to extinguish the flames. Firefighter Patrick Creed and journalist Rick Newman join Fresh Air to talk about the Pentagon blaze and the book they wrote about it, Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11. Firefight tells the stories of the people inside the Pentagon when the plane hit, the rescue efforts that followed the attack and the three-day battle to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters faced unique circumstances, Creed and Newman write,...

The headline for the poll may as well have read “Vote Yes to Save PBS,” but the editors at Parade magazine didn’t go quite that far. A poll on Parade’s Web site posted on May 4 ask respondents how Congress should vote on supporting PBS with $400 million in funding, or as they put it – “whether to continue supporting Big Bird – or give him the ax.” And on top of that, NPR affiliates have joined in a campaign to skew the poll’s results. “In the next few months, Congress will decide whether to continue supporting Big Bird –...

Using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a strategy for many global warming activists, and it was just a matter of time before someone found a way to tie the recent Myanmar cyclone to global warming. Former Vice President Al Gore in an interview on NPR’s May 6 “Fresh Air” broadcast did just that. He was interviewed by “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross about the release of his book, “The Assault on Reason,” in paperback. “And as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to...

Think traffic in southern California is bad now? We haven’t seen anything yet, according to National Public Radio President Kevin Klose. Klose was a panelist at the forum “Covering a Changing Climate: The Media Challenge” held at Harvard University in Boston, Mass., on April 30. He said the effects of climate change will include migration from the south and cause a U.S. population boom of 100 million people. Klose told the audience this would be the subject of a series on NPR. “We’re going to do a unique one-week series called ‘The Next Hundred Million,’ because in the next 30...

When Air America, the left-wing talk radio network, began, I predicted that it would not succeed. One of the main reasons I gave was that liberals already had their views expressed in the mainstream news media -- the major networks, PBS and NPR (National Public Radio), and just about every major city newspaper. Therefore, the need liberals have for liberal talk radio is nowhere near the need conservatives have for conservative talk radio. To its credit, The New York Times -- through its public editor -- has acknowledged that the Times is liberal; and anyone intellectually honest understands this is...

Eric Cartman is by far the most famous of the four foul-mouthed grade-schoolers who inhabit the cardboard-cutout town of South Park on Comedy Central. In fact, he ranked No. 10 on a TV Guide list of the Top 50 cartoon characters of all time...

Obama Tied to More Racists By Sher Zieve As the leftist media valiantly attempts to bury any additional and factual racist-related stories about their presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), new information regarding Obama’s ties to racism and anti-Americanism are still emerging. And just as Obama’s former self-admitted anti-American/anti-white people/anti-Semitic pastor Jeremiah Wright has skulked off the pulpit of the inaptly named “Trinity United Church of Christ”, another apparently racism-preaching minister—Otis Moss—is picking up where Wright left off. And there is, yet, another one—Minister James Meeks. But, let’s begin with Moss. During this year’s Easter sermon, Moss (I will not...

It's enough to make Rev. Jeremiah Wright's accusation that the government created AIDS for purposes of perpetrating a black genocide sound almost rational. OK, scratch that. Nothing will render reasonable that particular piece of moonbattery. But Rev. Wright's replacement did come up with something of like lunacy: the suggestion that NPR is . . . a Republican front operation. As per this Fox News article, the theme of today's Easter sermon at the Trinity United Church of Christ was “How to Handle a Public Lynching,” the victim in question being the Rev. Wright. The controversial pastor's successor, the Rev. Otis...

The region of the ocean known as "the desert of the sea" has expanded dramatically over the past decade, according to a new study. Scientists looking at the color of the ocean from space have found that vast areas that were once green with plankton have been turning blue, as marine life becomes scarcer. If it's linked to global warming, as they suspect, this could be another blow for the world's fisheries. Just as plants make up the base of the food web on land, tiny green phytoplankton in the ocean are a critical foodstuff for life in the oceans....

Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defended his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Tuesday, even as he repudiated some of the pastor's inflammatory sermons. But Wright's comments likely come as no surprise to those familiar with black liberation theology, a religious philosophy that emerged during the 1960s.

Imagine you’re a typical NPR listener, tuning in as you sip your Starbucks Café Latte — made with skim milk and a shot of cinnamon — work the New York Times crossword puzzle, and think about how great it is that you don’t have to stop for gas on your way to work this morning because you drive a Prius. Suddenly, you’re jolted out of your comfortable morning routine by the unimaginable: a segment entitled “Conversations with Conservatives.” Choking on your latte and misspelling “pestiferous” on your crossword, your head begins to spin as Rev. Richard Land, president of the...

On Friday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama sat down to talk with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune. It was a 92-minute discussion in which he talked at length about his relationship with now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko. And the Tribune editors believe that he "offered a lengthy and, to us, plausible explanation for the presence of [Rezko] in his personal and political lives." "The most remarkable facet of Obama's 92-minute discussion was that, at the outset, he pledged to answer every question the three dozen Tribune journalists crammed into the room would put to him," writes The Tibune in an...

Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet has a confession to make: he doesn’t like NPR. He also has discovered that government solutions tend to make matters worse than better. Mamet has also discovered that America isn’t the root of all evil in the world. In fact, rather than see corporations and capitalism as evils, he now understands that life is a marketplace, and that the United States understands that better than any other nation.Uh-oh. Mamet has become — gasp! — a conservative! Or, at the least, he has dumped “brain-dead” liberalism: Do I speak as a member of the “privileged class”?...

Jennifer Harper, Washington Times reporter and friend of Newsbusters, gives us a revealing look at how far left our taxpayer funded National Public Radio network has gotten itself these days. Even when they try to go a little toward the conservative side of the debate, they get lambasted by their audience, angered that they had the temerity to air conservative views. Of course, the only reason they would get such a rude reception from their own audience is because they have garnered only a far left listenership as a result of their far left programming. After all, if they had...

National Public Radio listeners who tuned in to "Morning Edition" during the last four days of February found some atypical programming around 6:30 a.m. during the broadcasts. "Conversations with Conservatives" was heard during morning-drive time with host Steve Inskeep and a conservative of the day with much on his mind. The roster consisted of the Rev. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform; talk-radio host Glenn Beck; and David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union. Each man had his own focus — Mr. Land addressed...

Texas Two-Step Leaving Dems Flat-Footed The Clinton campaign may go to court. The Obama campaign wants to take its delegates and get out of town before sundown. The Texas Two-Step is overheating an already fired up Democratic presidential contest. The Newsblog mentioned this on Wednesday but there is a very good chance that winning the Texas primary might not mean that Sen. Hillary Clinton gets to take away the most delegates. That because after the primary -- which she won 51-47 percent -- come the caucuses and it looks like Sen. Barack Obama may win those. Here's where the delegate...

New NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard took up a flurry of complaints when veteran news anchor Jean Cochran told listeners President Bush was traveling to Africa, the "dark continent." They insisted NPR was sounding racist:

NPR: Democratic Party Insiders Believe Hillary Campaign Is Dead by Robert Novak and Timothy P. Carney Posted: 02/27/2008 Outlook The best indicator of Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) distress is the fact that erstwhile supporters, including former Clinton Cabinet members, are badmouthing her as a very poor candidate. Inside the Democratic Party, it is already taken for granted that the queen is dead and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is the king. Conservative apprehension about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has less to do with issues than personalities. For example, the picture of Republican moderates and liberals at McCain's side as he celebrated...

FOR the eighth straight year the Bush administration has ritually proposed taking a hefty whack out of the federal subsidy for public broadcasting. The cuts would in effect slice in half the money that public television and public radio get from the government. If we follow the usual script, this means it’s time for upset listeners and viewers to rally to the cause, as they have in the past, and browbeat Congress into restoring the budget. Every year, though, it gets a little harder to muster the necessary outrage, and now and then a heretical thought presents itself: What if...

Clintons' InfoUSA Ties Scrutinized by Peter Overby All Things Considered, February 13, 2008 · Political campaigns spend thousands, even millions of dollars to acquire good mailing lists. Last year, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took the unusual step of renting out some of her lists. The transaction once again highlights the Clintons' connections to a businessman who now faces questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reports from Clinton's campaign show that on Dec. 3, it collected payment for renting out three mailing lists, the sale of which netted them $8,225. It was an unusual transaction, according to Roger Craver,...

ST. PAUL, MN -- Sure, Barack Obama got Maria Shriver's backing at Sunday's big rally with Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder in Los Angeles, adding another Kennedy cousin to his list of endorsers -- and this one the wife of the Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Perhaps Shriver's backing will help a bit in California, where he is locked in a tight Democratic primary contest With New York Sen. Hillary Clinton going into tomorrow's Super Tuesday voting. But the senator from Illinois, who is working hard to color in the map of the 20-plus states that will hold primaries...

ST. PAUL, Minn.: Garrison Keillor, host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," has endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president, Obama's campaign announced Sunday. Obama also won backing from a key backer of former candidate John Edwards. "I'm happy to support your candidacy, which is so full of promise for our country," Keillor, the best-selling author and humorist wrote in a letter declaring his support.

ISRAEL VS ARAB - THE WAR OF THE HUMANITARIAN VS THE UN-HUMANITARIAN     January 22, 2008   No one has been talking in the mainstream media about the daily "Palestinian" barrage of missiles aimed specifically at Israeli kids, the southern Israel under siege of "Palestinian" occupation, the trembling fear of Israeli women for their children's safety in Sderot ( Fear and trauma as rockets impact Israeli town), but everyone is up in arms if Israel acts.   No one has been talking in mainstream media as Israel has been successfully eliminating terrorists [with unimaginable efforts in carrying it out]...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who won the primary in Michigan on Tuesday, faces a far tougher challenge this weekend, at Saturday's primary in South Carolina. The former Massachusetts governor is among the candidates turning their attention to the Palmetto State, where the GOP race is wide open. He is stressing a message of economic optimism.

He is 91 and still cranks out his National Public Radio commentaries on an IBM typewriter. He eschews the Internet, openly disdains some bloggers and dismisses the whole "citizen journalism" idea. But don't accuse Daniel Schorr, a disciple of Edward R. Murrow and dean of NPR pundits, of being hopelessly out of touch. If anything, Schorr has been prescient when it comes to news analysis. His new book, "Come to Think of It" ($24.95, Viking, 382 pages), a collection of Schorr's radio commentaries from the past 17 years, shows that he often has been ahead of the cultural and political...

Hating presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has become such a national pastime, writer and radio producer Jack Hitt invented a verb for it: "hillarating." After her victory in New Hampshire, the former first lady and Democratic senator from New York appeared with a maniacal expression on the front page of one New York paper under the headline "Back from the Dead." TV anchormen use minutes of airtime poking fun at her looks. On the streets, feminists apologize before supporting her in a gossip session. Even artists have created racy sculptures of her. "I am very clearly someone who's gone through a...

NEW YORK (Catholic League) - On January 7, an anti-Huckabee skit trashed Jesus on a radio show, “Fair Game with Faith Salie.” It aired on KCPW, Utah’s National Public Radio station. Here is a transcript of the offensive segment: [Woman’s voice]: And now another Huckabee family recipe leaked by his opponents. [Male Voice]: Tired of bland unsatisfying Eucharists? Try this Huckabee family favorite. Deep-Fried Body of Christ--boring holy wafers no more. Take one Eucharist. Preferably post transubstantiation. Deep-fry in fat, not vegetable oil, ladies, until crispy. Serve piping hot. Mike likes to top his Christ with whipped cream and sprinkles....

Public Radio Broadcast 'Deep Fried Christ' Skit By Penny Starr CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer January 11, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - Some of the people who tuned into public radio station KCPW in St. Lake City, Utah, recently weren't laughing at the satire poking fun at a Mike Huckabee "family recipe." More than a few of them, in fact, were outraged by the "Huck and the Eucharist" skit, which aired Jan. 7 on the "Fair Game with Faith Salie" program. The transcript, in part, said: "Try this Huckabee family favorite. Deep-Fried Body of Christ - boring holy wafers no more. Take one...

Oklahoma's local law against illegal immigration is among the toughest in the nation. The law went into effect Nov. 1, and advocates for undocumented workers and activists for tougher immigration measures both say that since then, thousands of immigrants have left Oklahoma. Among other things, the new law makes it a felony to harbor, transport or aid an illegal immigrant. Hispanic leaders say the law is causing widespread fear in the Hispanic community. Builders say they can't get enough workers and are threatening a lawsuit to try to block the law. But backers of the measure say it's doing what...

Earlier in the year, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was near the back of the pack in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Now, he is leading the polls in Iowa and South Carolina — and running second, but gaining on, Rudolph Giuliani nationally. Huckabee talks with Robert Siegel about Iran, the mortgage crisis and the current scrutiny of his religious beliefs.There are umpteen columns and papers and briefings about Iran now. Where does it all leave you, in terms of the need to be preparing right now for military action against Iran?All options have to be on the...

Dennis Kucinich said he was unwilling to encourage Americans to have illegal immigrants arrested. NPRThe Bryant Park Project, December 5, 2007 · On issue after issue, says Richard Wolffe of Newsweek, Dennis Kucinich's views have gone from fringe to mainstream. That pattern became apparent again at NPR's Democratic presidential debate yesterday, Wolffe says. Kucinich notions that once seemed crazy to the Democratic Party ended up front and center Tuesday, Wolffe says, and NPR's debate format gave the Ohio congressman a chance to shine. Kucinich is generally considered among the darkest of dark horses in the race. Yesterday, he spoke out...

National Review's KerrySpot looks at a NPR feature that interviews swing voters, and one swing voter in particular: John Ridley, who is also an NPR contributor. First, isn't getting your "man on the street" from the payroll list a little on the lazy side? It's like Ted Baxter using Bernie as his "common man." And does NPR really think their staff represents a sample slice of America? Next thing you know they'll refer to Cokie Roberts as a "soccer mom" and Click and Clack as "NASCAR dads." Anyway, Ridley doesn't seem terribly unbiased. He thinks the Swift Boat Veterans for...

-snip- Why would I lie about not getting a tip?" she told NPR. She also maintained that her co-workers at the restaurant had not received tips. A Clinton campaign staffer called on Esterday at the restaurant Thursday after the story aired. The staff member apologized to her and gave her a $20 bill, according to Esterday. The Clinton campaign confirmed that visit. The campaign also produced photocopies of receipts showing $157.46 was paid to Maid-Rite on a VISA card on Oct. 8 for meals consumed by the candidate's entourage. The tip was supposed to have been paid in cash, and...