Free Republic

Intentional self-destruction of a once powerful voice. 5th column or a huge gathering of extremely stupid people? Your guess is as good as mine. The Pubs continue to be a joke. ZOT!!! Thanks, Mod. I'm beside myself and really can't be held responsible.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's personal finances appear to be on sound footing even as the nation's economy struggles, a financial report he released Friday shows. Obama and his wife Michelle have $1.4 million to $5.9 million in assets, not counting their Chicago home. Their holdings include up to $265,000 in checking accounts. The president's new financial disclosure report mirrors one he filed a few months ago. Much of the Obamas' wealth comes from the president's best-sellers. The books, "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," brought in about $2.5 million in royalties last year, according to tax...

Sorry for the vanity post (I do these a few times every year), but I was looking for some advice from a Freeper with a background in veterinary medicine. I am not looking for medical advice about an animal or other "patient," but for some help with a question I have about the field of veterinary medicine and an issues that I am dealing with that may involve health/safety standards for the profession.

I want to buy a handgun and would like some opinions on to what I should be looking out for and what kind would be best for me. I do not know much about the features of most handguns and what would best fit me. I like to go to shooting ranges and would like to use my own gun. I would also like to have one in my house just in case. I want a basic pistol that is easy for novice shooters. I don't need anything overpowering or too flashy. What kind of mm do I need and...

QUESTION:Since I expect to owe income taxes for '08, should I sell my mutual funds at a loss to help offset those taxes and make them lower? I really do a good job saving and paying bills but the past six months we've had a lot of stuff "break" at home, plus we've had our hours cut at work and thus a lower income coming into the household. I am contemplating doing this move--and I rarely dip into my mutuals, only for big purchases. But I thought if I took a loss on my mutuals, I would owe less to...

Once again we are asking the same people who got us into this crisis to get us out. This crisis began with the Gumming of the Oil exploration industry years ago. The District of Corruption forced our Oil Industry to go overseas to explore so were forced to pay premiums for our most basic commodity. This finally contributed to the tightening of the Housing Industry when some people were forced to put more money into their cars tightening their budgets. The entire economy froze, tanks to increasing energy costs. This tightening hit right into the heart of the corrupt Mortgage...

Monday was one of the most unusual days I have experienced on the campaign trail to date. The looming hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico turned months of planning for the GOP Convention upside down and last minute changes were being made due to the storm. We were all very concerned for the entire region. I love New Orleans and I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for those residents to once again be displaced by the evacuations. What made this day bearable for me was having my entire family together - something that rarely happens with...

you purchase a new leather case for your Mac. I received a call from FedEx yesterday explaining that I would have to apply for an "Importer Number" from Homeland Security because the MacBook Pro case I ordered from Argentina was more than Homeland Security would allow without one. I tried to explain to FedEx that I am a consumer, not an "importer" and I bloody well didn't want to be entered into some Homeland Security database over a silly case which would protect my new computer. I've purchased products from this company for more than 5 years and never had...

I suppose a lot of people wonder why a loving God would keep Himself so hidden and unseen when so many people it seems are looking for Him. Some people I suppose wonder why God doesn’t just make Himself known to everyone and ‘just let them decide’ after His physical revelation is made clear? First off I want to point out that for God to make Himself physically known to us, God would have had to have been physically with everyone right from the beginning of creation, to the present, as people are born every single second, in great numbers,...

On Turning 50Okay, so I'm 50 years old today, and the only reason I bring it up is because, well, actually there are two reasons. The first is because for a person to have lived half a century is really an accomplishment, especially if you lived as dangerously as I chose to in my youth. I no longer do many of the things I was doing way back then, such as drinking beer and chasing women all night long, drag racing my Dad's Pontiac, and smoking enough wacky weed to deforest half of Colombia. So: thank you, dear Lord for...

Hello, I'm new here as a poster. If I am doing this wrong, let me know. but my flame suit probably was made in china, so hope you're aim isn't all that good:)

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Hillary Rodham Clinton's eyes welled up and her voice broke repeatedly Monday as she talked with voters in a restaurant about her campaign for the presidency. The former first lady was making a last-minute pitch for support as she spoke on the eve of the state's primary, with polls showing her trailing Democratic rival Barack Obama. Asked by a sympathetic voter how she keeps going in the grueling campaign, she replied, "It's not easy. It's not easy." "And I couldn't do it if I just didn't, you know, passionately believe it was the right thing to do,"...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed Sunday in the slushy New Hampshire homestretch, deriding each others' claims to be the true candidate of change. Clinton told Democratic voters they should elect "a doer, not a talker." Obama countered that his critics are stuck in the politics of the past. At a raucous rally in a high school gymnasium in Nashua, Clinton skewered Obama for several votes he has cast in the Senate, such as his vote in favor of the Patriot Act and for energy legislation she described as "Dick Cheney's energy bill." She never mentioned...

    What more can I say, other than what a wonderful Christmas vacation!  I was surrounded by family, everyone had the Christmas spirit, and other than the fact it went by way too fast it was an exceptional visit.      So now here we are, it’s a new year, 2008.  Many people consider this a magical time of the year.  The time to start over, start fresh, and initiate the goals that we put off all of 2007, you know the ones where you kept saying “I think I’ll _______ (fill in the blank) next year”.  Well as of today, it is...

WASHINGTON - Bring on the grilled meat. Just don't plate it with certain vegetables. The presidential candidates seem more aligned in their food cravings than their politics. Indulgences include a hearty Southern breakfast, chocolate and Mexican spice. Bring them all together for a feast, and the host would want to pass on the beets, eggplant, mushrooms and carrots to avoid a turned up nose at the table. Since the spring, The Associated Press has been exploring the tastes, traits and backgrounds of the Democrats and Republicans running for their party's 2008 presidential nomination. AP asked them about their ideal jobs...

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) woke up at 2:30 on Tuesday morning to see the hillside behind his house glowing with fire and flames shooting as high as 50 feet in the air. He then watched as the fire ran to the top of the ridge of the hill and raced back down the other side. McKeon, who returned to Washington on Tuesday afternoon, said in a phone interview that 25 structures had been destroyed and maybe 15,000 people evacuated from his district. According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reported late Tuesday that 750 homes had been totally...

Army Mobility Relies on Personal Security Platoons Soldiers are exclusively selected to perform vital security role. By U.S. Army Sgt. Chris Keller U.S. Central Command Public Affairs CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, April 26, 2007 — Instant mobility gives commanders what they need to be successful in the fast-paced Global War on Terrorism. And that’s exactly what the Iraq Assistance Group’s (IAG) Personal Security Platoon (PSP) provides. When the IAG demands mobility, the PSP makes it happen. The PSP takes IAG personnel threw some of the most dangerous roads in Iraq to make sure transition teams and Iraqi forces get the...

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2007 – When a soldier returns from war, is he the same person he was before deploying? No, he’s not, said Robert May, producer of “The War Tapes,” a documentary that shows Operation Iraqi Freedom through the eyes of several New Hampshire National Guardsmen who were supplied with digital video cameras and an endless supply of tape. “You hear about the people who die, you hear about the people injured,” May said. “What about the majority of the people who come home?” “The War Tapes,” which made its theatrical debut last year and won the 2006...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2006 -- Defense secretary nominee Robert M. Gates spoke today on how the war in Iraq has touched him personally -- 12 graduates of Texas A&M University, which he has led as president for the last four years, have been killed in Iraq. Sen. Edward Kennedy, left, listens as Sen. Carl Levin questions Robert M. Gates, defense secretary nominee, during a Senate Armed Services Commitee confirmation hearing, Dec. 5. Photo by Cherie A. Thurlby  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates is President Bush's nominee to succeed Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. “I would...

(New Haven-WTNH, Sept. 19, 2006 10:45 PM) _ A student's refusal to walk through a safety detector earns him a trip home. For some the installation of metal detectors in schools is to better protect those inside. One New Haven student is refusing to walk the walk, questioning whether his rights are being violated. The district says it is like the right to enter a courtroom or get on a plane. It's new policy to keep young people safe. For this New Haven student it's all about his fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Nick...