Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday announced that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract. Richardson's withdrawal was the first disruption of Obama's Cabinet process and the second "pay-to-play" investigation that has touched Obama's transition to the presidency. The president-elect has remained above the fray in both the case of arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the New Mexico case. A federal grand jury is investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson's...

<p>A source said today that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning. The U.S. attorney's office would not confirm the information, and a spokesman for the governor did not immediately return a phone call for comment.</p>

Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned. As part of this undercover effort, one of the governor's closest confidants and former aides cooperated with investigators, and that assistance helped lead to recordings of the governor and others, sources said. The cooperation of John Wyma, 42, one of the state's most influential lobbyists, is the most stunning evidence yet that Blagojevich's once-tight inner circle appears to be collapsing under the pressure of myriad pay-to-play inquiries. Wyma, Blagojevich's chief...

Four days ago, Roger Bredow uploaded a video to YouTube beseeching like-minded people to come to Washington, D.C. and stand with him outside the Supreme Court. "[Barack] Obama was born a dual citizen," Bredow said, "British, and a citizen of the United States, at birth." This, said Bredow, meant that the president-elect could never take the oath of office. And on Friday, the Supreme Court would read Donofrio v. Wells, a suit brought by a New Jersey poker player against his state elections officer, which laid out the charges in the hopes of nullifying the election. Today at 8 a.m.,...

I thought we should have a link to post any and all updates.

According to The Schnitt Show, a radio program available in several Florida markets and XM radio, a birth announcement for Barack Obama was discovered in a 1961 Honolulu newspaper. See link for a PDF image of this announcement.

Do you wonder why 2008 election data shows that the majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama even though his record as Illinois state senator proves him the most pro-abortion candidate who ever ran for president? Perhaps one answer is that on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, millions of Catholics will again be putting in their church's collection plate their annual donation to what the pre-printed envelope calls "Campaign for Human Development: The Catholic Church working to end poverty and injustice in America; We'll turn your dollars into hope for the poor of our nation." The generous Catholics who respond to...

A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court. Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation's next president. The Supreme Court's website listed the date for the case brought by Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells,...

Friends, Will you please take the time to read this, and if you think it worthwhile, pass it along to your email list, and ask them to read it? Even if they voted, with all good intentions, for Mr. Obama? I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a...

Leo Donofrio filed a solid lawsuit. Hard to get behind Berg, his was not a good lawsuit. This, OTOH, is. Do I think it should be pursued, yes? Do I believe Obama was born in Hawaii? Probably. Is there something on Obama's birth certificate he does not want us to see. Foe shizzle. Should a President of the United States have to present his vault copy to take office? Absolutely. I don't know what is on the birth certificate- I do know Obama does not want us to see it. But with Obama - there is no law. It's Alinsky...

Instead of granting you seven wishes, the Obama Genie will make you grant him at least seven ways of taking your money. Watch out out for Obama and the Democrats witchery. They will be looking for even more creative ways to pay for their programs like. . . From CNBC: "Under Teresa Ghilarducci's - from the New School for Social Research in New York plan - workers would receive a annual $600 tax refund if they set aside 5 percent of their pay into a retirement account run by the Social Security Administration, which would then invest globally in risky...

Dazed and confused. A week after the election of Barack Obama, millions of American news junkies are in serious cold turkey, the big bump of withdrawal from two years of addiction to the dizzying ups and downs of a campaign that threatened never to end. Eat dirt, you sour Clintons, who said Obama was "unelectable." Obama's 8 million vote margin over his Republican opponent -- miraculously sparing us endless litigation and chad counting -- was an exhilarating testimony to his personal gifts and power of persuasion. And the formidable Michelle Obama, with her electric combo of brains and style, is...

President Bush is unhappy the conversation between him and President-elect Barack Obama has been cast as a trade-off between Bush signing a second stimulus package in exchange for congressional passage of the Colombia Free Trade Deal, administration officials told FOX News on Tuesday.

A seismic shift, a watershed moment, an electoral landslide or the dawn of a new era. No matter what the turn of phrase, Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in the history books as the beginning of the end of the 30-year political reign of the ultra-right and its vicious pro-corporate agenda, and the end of a beginning of new politics in the United States of America. Convinced by the power of one man’s arguments for hope, unity and change, his program and example, a 52 percent majority of voters rejected the old politics of fear, racism and red-baiting and...

As a South African reading Simon Sebag Montefiore’s biography Young Stalin,1 I was struck with an alarming sense of déjà vu. The prevailing personal and broad social dynamics at play in the years leading up to the Russian Revolution seem to so parallel those of our country. Underlying every area of social intercourse—among and between the revolutionaries themselves, the various revolutionary ideologies, business interests and even the executive of the state—was conspiracy and mistrust, in a bitter struggle for supremacy...

Hat Tip: Buy Danish, commenter at Hot Air "When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream." The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as...

How about that? No sooner than the voting was finally underway and Bill Ayers surfaces from the Hyde Park underground for...."spontaneous" simultaneous interviews with the Washington Post http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/04/bill_ayers_speaks.html and The New Yorker... http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2008/11/mr-ayerss-neighborhood.html no doubt part of the rehabilitation effort necessary to enable the Obama confidante http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/11/ayers-and-obama-in-regular-contact-says.html open access to the White House. As might be expected, Ayers attempted to minimize his connection with Obama despite the extensive record and despite the fact that Obama himself told the media that they were in touch as recently as early 2007. But the New Yorker notes something the Post glossed over: Ayers...

The Electoral College will have the duty to certify that the winner of the "election" is properly qualified to take the oath of office and serve as President of the United States of America. Obama's birth cettificate may be required.

**Support The Military **Caring For The Wounded **Remembering The Fallen **Honoring The Sacrifices . . . These are the basic tenets of the site here at Blackfive. They are what drew me to the site to begin with, and upholding them led me to enjoy my time here. These are the most basic of principles we hold dear, and to a man, believe in with all of our hearts. We better, because I don't believe our President-elect has a freaking clue about any of them. Nor do those who will be working in complicit abrogation of all of these principles...

CHICAGO (AP) - In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better. The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator. "This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of...

...More specifically, they protested some of Obama's top advisors: Gregory Craig...and Erich Holder...Both of these gentlemen had key roles in “legally” perfuming the shanghaiing of Elian Gonzalez. At the time, Craig served as lawyer for Elain's father, (i.e Fidel Castro), and Holder served as Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno... FReep this Digg!!!

FReep this Digg!!! (We need FReepers to FReep the Vote over at Buzz. Any takers???) Post your own links exposing ObamaNation on Digg, Buzz, Reddit, etc. Saturate these boards. They're massive and they are crawling with independents and undecideds. And don't post them all in one category, like politics or elections. Finally, repost your links on FR to we can put a protective FReep around them :o) For examples of how to do this, see my history. Let's use our combined FReeperPower to FREEP THE VOTE!!!

FReep this Digg!!! (We need FReepers to FReep the Vote over at Buzz too! Any volunteers???) Post your own links exposing ObamaNation on Digg, Buzz, Reddit, etc. Saturate these boards. They're massive and they are crawling with independents and undecideds. And don't post them all in one category, like politics or elections. Finally, repost your links on FR to we can put a protective FReep around them :o) For examples of how to do this, see my history. Let's use our combined FReeperPower to FREEP THE VOTE!!!

On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen introduced a new campaign segment: "...throughout this morning, we're bringing you the voices of Americans and what they're thinking as they prepare to vote." In the brief video clip that followed, Colorado Springs City Council member Jan Martin Described herself as a "lifelong Republican" explained: "I think we are at a place and a point in time where hope and unity are two things that this country needs more than anything." The only problem is that Jan Martin was similarly touted by the New York Times in early October, at which point,...

With just one day until the election, the real world effects of Barack Obama's economic and energy plans have 'come home to roost'. Consider this...

Gets a shot or two in at the media, too. "Really, media folks: the next time a Presidential candidate casually announces that he's going to slowly strangle the industry that provides us with half of our electrical power, cover it as it happens. Letting us run with it two days before an election is kind of contraindicated, at least from your point of view"...

The Obama middle-class limbo dance descends further. First, it was $250,000. Then $200,000. Just a couple of days ago, Joe Biden reduced it to $150,000. And now... $120,000? I'm confident Senator Biden can cut that in half by Tuesday morning. Bottom line: If you make over 30 grand, you might want to restructure yourself as an offshore corporation in the Turks & Caicos.

"You shouldn't just meet Joe the plumber, meet Julie the salon owner, who is mad that you closed me and ten of my girls down for two days," said Julie Aragon, owner of Studio 127 salon ... Aragon and other business owners estimate they'll lose hundreds of dollars ... "I can't even open my door tomorrow," said Rhonda Murry, the owner of an antique shop... Murry spent $150 to attract customers in town this weekend for a large antique fair. "This was a big antique weekend and we've lost our revenue for basically two days," ... The small business owners...

Those manning the polls stopped wearing pins with an “I voted early” proclamation on them late last week after questions arose about its potential connection to Barack Obama. Although the pins do not explicitly state a preference for one candidate or the other, they feature the logo of presidential candidate Obama, which arguably makes wearing them a subtle act of “electioneering.” The logo — used throughout the candidate’s election literature — shows the image of an American flag in front of a rising sun. On Thursday, two of those helping with the election were wearing the buttons as they checked...

The media, however, isn’t. How can they turn a blind eye as Obama has a team of prosecutors and sheriffs in Missouri threatening to prosecute anyone who airs ads against their candidate which they deem to be untrue? Note that Obama has taken great liberties to try to distort statements made about him by McCain as being untrue. His objection to anything unfavorable as being “false” is a prelude to what he and his team would like to go after in their quest to stifle debate. Can there be a bigger challenge to free speech?

[Sound familiar???] Osawatomie: the Weather Underground newspaper Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 2:39 pm Zomblog has obtained an extremely rare copy of the first issue of Osawatomie, a newspaper published by the Weather Underground in 1975. Noteworthy passages are reproduced below, along with exact transcriptions. The full pages, with each passage in context in high resolution, are found at the bottom of this post. Much of Osawatomie, which was written at a time when the Dohrn-Ayers wing of the Weather Underground was transitioning from terrorism to “working from the inside” for revolution, concerns itself with the need to encourage “organizers”...

from drudge

Has the Associated Press had a change of heart, or are they just covering their bases in the final days of the election? Regardless, the Associated Press, has finally reported a story that should be particularly disturbing to all Americans. The President of the United States has, by definition, two primary roles as both the Commander in Chief and as the nations Chief Enforcement Officer. The role of the executive branch is to assure the enforcement of the laws passed by the legislative branch and signed by the President. So my question this morning is simple: How is Barack Obama...

If Joe the Plumber were Jawad the Suspected Terrorist, civil-liberties activists would stampede the halls of Congress on his behalf. Liberal columnists would hyperventilate over the outrageous invasions of his privacy by Ohio state and local employees. The ACLU would demand the Big Brother snoopers’ heads. And Democratic leaders would convene immediate hearings and parade him around the Beltway as the new poster boy/victim of unlawful domestic spying. But because peaceful American citizen Joe Wurzelbacher is an outspoken enemy of socialism, rather than an enemy of America, the defenders of privacy have responded to his plight with an impenetrable cone...

The inauthentic man faces a difficult balancing act, for he is not only avoiding the truth, he has forgotten where he put the truth. Barack Obama has gifts, but also some significant flaws that should be considered as we head into the final days of this election. Calm or arrogant? He has mastered the appearance of calm, but in the final weeks of the campaign an edgy, even disdainful arrogance has crept into his tone. Consider the Nixonian response to Joe the plumber, unleashing the campaign, Democratic government and the media machine on a solitary citizen who asked a question...

A look at all we expected to forget and all we expected to overlook this year. For 232 years character and integrity have played an integral role in presidential politics. For 232 years, Americans have elected Presidents not based upon the proposition that asks what your country can do for you, but rather the proposition that you "ask what you can do for your country". In this election we have been told over and over again that we should ignore and not ask any questions concerning ...

I know that many of you are sick and tired of all this political BS but if you read just one more thing between now and next month's election, I urge you to read the following editorial. I don't know who 'Michael Masters' is or what he does, but he does write cogently and well. A Google search turns up a Michael Masters who is a lawyer in Philadelphia, but I don't believe that he is the author of this open letter. There is a 'Michael C. Masters' who lives in McLean, VA — I presume, but do not know,...

A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged. Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system. The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote. Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, who demanded answers on why state officials checked...

Need your immediate input on filling this position. Current executive officeholder due to retire shortly after the start of the new calendar year. Consider this job applicant carefully. Human resources department committee is completely divided on this employment application. Must reach a decision by Tuesday. Consider this report to be confidential. An HR investigator’s comments have been added to the original employment application. (Post it note attachment): What is our potential litigation exposure if the applicant is denied the position from an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission standpoint? Applicant has made (veiled) suggestions that he is fully prepared to initiate a...

I believe in a greater good than that which enriches only my social stratum or my pocketbook. I have a brother who revels in an old joke; so that when the gender of a family newborn is announced, he asks: “What does that make me, an aunt or an uncle?” As corny as that sounds — if you only knew my brother — it is, like all jokes, based in part on a kind of reverse reality. The notion that a particular happenstance should determine your identity is, of course, silly and therefore funny. But how about the opposite? The...

...Last week the Wall Street Journal exposed the reality of Obama's Tax Plans by analyzing his tax increases and determining that in reality his own proposals would cause increased taxes on individuals making $168,000 per year. Unfortunately, last night Senator Obama proved the Wall Street Journal wrong when he once again shifted his tax policies. For months I have wondered how Senator Obama's tax increases would affect those families who filed joint returns. Would the tax increase actually amount to an increase on families earning $400,000 - 500,000 per year or would the inverse occur in which joint filers would...

In an exclusive report linked here for the first time, Zombie has acquired a copy of a long-forgotten book by Barack Obama associate Bill Ayers, wife Bernardine Dohrn, and two other Weather Underground members, dedicated to RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan, written while they were in hiding from the authorities: William Ayers’ forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire.

Barack Obama has lived one version of the American Dream that has taken him to the steps of the White House. But a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story. Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

We can't see his records from prep school, Occidental College, Columbia University or Harvard. What was his thesis? Who paid for his education at Harvard, since there is no record of student loans? There are even questions concerning where he was born. This is a fundamental and critical question. Was he born in Hawaii or Kenya? Did he become an Indonesian citizen? If so, he would have had to give up his U.S. citizenship. Was he then naturalized as a U.S. citizen when he returned to Hawaii from Indonesia? The documentation needs to be made public now. Certainly, security clearance...

On March 27, 2004, Barack Obama told a reporter that there were two ministers in his life that he looked to for guidance. One was Jeremiah Wright, his pastor since 1987. The other was Father Michael Pfleger. Wright cried out from the pulpit, "Not God bless America, God damn America", while Pfleger screamed, "America is the greatest sin against God." This ad raises the ante in this presidential race by driving the political dialog back to the subject that Barack Obama hates – the truth about his past.

Barack Obama appears to have personally benefited from funds originating in Saddam Hussein's regime. It's a complicated connection, but one that deserves the consideration of Americans voters. Two similar figures, Nadhmi Auchi and Antoin S. "Tony" Rezko, served as the intermediaries. Both are Middle Eastern males of Catholic Christian heritage who left Baathist dictatorships for Western cities (Auchi from Iraq to London, Rezko from Syria to Chicago). Both became successful businessmen who hobnobbed with politicians and promoted Arab interests. Both have been convicted of taking kickbacks and both stand accused of other shady dealings. Auchi, born in 1937, is the...

The Born supremacy, and other meltdown myths. At the October 7 Presidential debate, John McCain said that Barack Obama had encouraged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make risky loans, and that Mr. Obama was the second largest recipient of campaign cash from the government mortgage giants. APMr. Obama replied that he "never promoted Fannie Mae" and that "two years ago I said that we've got a subprime lending crisis that has to be dealt with." And that's not all. "I wrote to Secretary Paulson, I wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and told them this is something we have...

Hear a pastor say the truth, in a Wright way! God Save America

Zo puts another one out there before the election and he is taking no prisoners..;) He hits on all cylinders again!

A poll was conducted back In June 2008, and it found that the number of Hillary supporters that were going to vote for Obama was 58%, with 28% going to vote for McCain. The rest were undecided. In September, another poll was conducted, and it found that things were unchanged for Obama. This poll found that the percentages were still 58% going to vote for Obama and 28% going to vote for for McCain, with the remainder still undecided. If the remainder ends up splitting evenly, that will give McCain 35% of Hillary supporters that will vote for him and...