Free Republic

A conservative Republican National Committee member from Indiana, Jim Bopp, has drawn up a checklist of conservative principles for GOP candidates. He'll offer a resolution at the RNC's winter meeting proposing that candidates would have to agree to at least seven of the 10 points to qualify for party support and funding. Liberal pundits and Democratic activists have kindly offered unsolicited advice to Republicans that this is a bad idea. Coming from people who hope for nothing but Republican defeats at the polls, this advice is of questionable value. If liberals really thought this would be bad for the GOP,...

This is a lefty writer, at a lefty rag, interviewing lots of lefties who know Sotomayor, and who really want a lefty Justice on the High Court. And they think she is too dumb.

FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, May 04, 2009 SNIPPET: "Then, on May 1, came the welcome news that the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its case against Rosen and Weissman. In the words of The Washington Post, this decision amounted to "a stunning vindication" for them. Beyond that, it confirms the limits on arbitrary and prejudicial government actions."

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - Federal prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss espionage-related charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of disclosing classified U.S. defense information, ending a tortuous inside-the-Beltway legal battle rife with national security intrigue. Critics of the prosecution of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee accused the federal government of trying to criminalize the sort of back-channel discussions between government officials, lobbyists and reporters that are commonplace in Washington. AIPAC is an influential pro-Israel lobbying group. The indictment had alleged that Rosen and Weissman conspired to obtain and then disclose to journalists and the...

The real scandal in this case starts with the attempted criminalization of policy differences and legitimate lobbying, and ends up in the wiretapping of Congress and the wrecked careers of Messrs. Rosen, Weissman and Franklin. This smacks of abuse of power, and somebody at Justice should be held to account.

Vindicating Larry Franklin ELI LAKE January 16, 2007 When President Bush announced the new Iraq strategy Wednesday evening, acknowledging that Iran was effectively at war with us in Iraq by supplying terrorists with advanced improvised explosives, my thoughts turned to Lawrence Franklin. Nearly a year ago, Judge T.S. Ellis III, sentenced this Pentagon Iran analyst to almost 13 years in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to discussing classified information with two former lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The case, which is thus far the Bush administration's only successful anti-leaking prosecution, illustrates the strategic confusion of...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and more than a dozen other current and former intelligence officials must testify about their conversations with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case. Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court. Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman maintain the Israeli interest group played an unofficial but sanctioned role in crafting foreign policy...

~snip~An early test of all these traits will come in the next few weeks, when the new attorney general is expected to review the Justice Department's flawed, embarrassing prosecution of two former lobbyists for AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The lobbyists, Steven J. Rosen, and a junior associate, Keith Weissman, are charged under the 1917 Espionage Act with receiving classified information from Lawrence Franklin, then a top Defense Department official. The lobbyists allegedly passed on the information they had received to a reporter for the Washington Post and an Israeli embassy employee. Much of the information was about...

Government insiders who engage in unauthorized leaks of classified information are violating their oaths, breaking the law, damaging national security and deserving of punishment. Sometimes those outside government who receive secrets and pass them to others are also breaking the law and deserve punishment. The latter category includes enemy spies. But what about American lobbyists -- and journalists -- who receive secrets and pass them along? In an important trial set to begin in January, the Justice Department has irresponsibly confused the distinction between spying and lobbying. Keith Weissman and Steven J. Rosen, two former employees of AIPAC, the pro-Israel...

Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen Are PhDs and Middle East Experts Who Did Some Lobbying. They Thought They Were Doing What Washington Insiders Always Do. Thomas O’Donnell didn’t reveal his job when he phoned Keith Weissman in 2004 and got the policy analyst’s wife. He says he didn’t want to scare her. When Weissman returned the call and found out O’Donnell was an FBI agent, his first reaction was to attempt a joke: “What did I do?” “I’m sure you didn’t do anything,” O’Donnell told him. He wanted to meet that day, for five or ten minutes, and get Weissman’s...

Why Al-Arian Walked By Debbie SchlusselFrontPageMagazine.com | December 9, 2005My friend, Michael Eisenstadt, dedicated his life, among other things, to seeing terrorist leader Sami Al-Arian face justice. In September, Mike, spokesman for Tampa's Jewish community, died of lung cancer. While his passing is a source of great sadness, I'm glad Mike didn't get to see Al-Arian's acquittal, Tuesday.It was a sad day in America, but not one that was unexpected. At least by me. Everyone predicted that the jury would throw the book at the man who was a founder of terrorist group Islamic Jihad, and ran its worldwide...

Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources" [http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/reliable.sources/] Nov. 04 07 9:20 AM: I saw some posting on your 'Going off the bus' blog, it tries very hard to refute the claim that Obama is not experienced [as Hillary is], so, Is it not a [very] liberal blog? Jay Rosen, 'I am sorry, I couldn't understand your question"... It's also a "schtick"-trick in order to buy some time before answering an off guard question.

Some of you may remember the acquittal of Hillary's campaign finance chairman, David Rosen, in May 2005. The judge who presided was the Clinton-appointed A. Howard Matz. Many strange anomalies occured during the trial, and some people believe the trial could be named the Los Angeles Black Sox Trial. Of course, there have been many of those, haven't there? After my visit today to the FBI, I stopped at an office for several hours of business, then I paid a visit to the courtroom of one A. Howard Matz to drop off a 5-page letter into his mailbox.

Did Clinton-appointed federal judge and prosecutor throw the David Rosen criminal case to protect Hillary Clinton? Hillary Clinton's campaign finance chairman, David Rosen, was aquitted in his criminal trial in Los Angeles in May of 2005. The lead prosecutor was a 20-year veteran of the Justice Department, Peter Zeidenberg. Zeidenberg was, coincidentally, the prosecutor who gave a very forceful closing statement in the criminal trial that saw Lewis "Scooter" Libby convicted for lying under oath about a matter that was not a crime. The conduct of the judge and prosecutor during the criminal case of Rosen should have people questioning...

NOTE: here is an example of how the mainsteam media did it two years ago when David Rosen was on trial. Campbell Brown made it crystal clear to the viewers that Hillary had nothing to do with the money. The Clinton appointed judge made it clear, and the prosecutor made it clear. Can you say 1919 Black Sox? The prosecution did not even call key witness, Kelly Craighead. Craighead has refused to return two calls to her answering device. I was hoping to get her reaction about being on the witness list. As a White House employee, I don't think...

The article makes several comparisons of Iraqi refugees to Palestinians. Unfortunately it makes no mention of the fact that the Palestinians became refugees due to a war launched by Arab countries seeking to destroy the State of Israel after it was created by United Nations vote. The article also fails to mention the nearly 1 million Jewish refugees who were expelled by Arab countries after 1948, who lived in Jewish communities throughout the region for more than 2,500 years. Today there are approximately only 30,000 Jews remaining in those lands while nearly 1.5 million Arabs live in Israel.

Chris Romer is a freshman Colorado Senator. He's a bright fellow with a degree from Stanford in economics and more than 20 years of experience in the private sector as a public finance investment banker, specializing in municipal and state budgets. The son of former Gov. Roy Romer, he has a good political pedigree. He describes himself as a "lifelong Democrat," but I don't necessarily hold that against him. After all, Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. Romer was awarded a seat on the Education Committee. Since Colorado governments - at all levels, combined - spend more money on education...

Rosen: Populists equalize poverty January 19, 2007 With the Democrats back in power in Congress and with the 2008 election campaign already upon us, you'll be hearing much more about "income inequality." This is a major issue for "progressives" (when you hear that word, think "socialists") like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Populism is back in fashion. By populism, I mean the exploitation of the uninformed, angry impulses and unfiltered passions of the masses. That anger and resentment has historically been directed at the usual villains and cardboard stereotypes: bankers, insurance companies, "big pharma" (that means drug companies), agri-business,...

Dear Mr. McManus: I don't have to tell you that things have changed a lot since the glory days of CBS News when it sat atop the ratings and Walter Cronkite was "the most trusted man in America." Back then there were only a handful of over-the-air broadcast channels and the Big Three networks presided over something of a shared monopoly in early evening news. TV was in its adolescence and viewers were less sophisticated about the medium. Although there were fewer gadgets (not even videotape), newscasts had more substance. Today, the mix of news and entertainment leans increasingly toward...

Rosen Admits Error Calling Holocaust Rescuers 'Draft Dodgers' 16:27 Dec 18, '06 / 27 Kislev 5767 by IsraelNN Staff The author of a book on former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust has admitted he was wrong to portray two rescuers as draft-dodgers. South Carolina attorney Robert N. Rosen admitted recently he had wrongly portrayed Yitzchak Ben-Ami and Dr. Alexander Rafaeli, two leaders of the activist Bergson Group, in his book, “Saving of the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust.” Rosen’s turnaround came in response to protests by the families of the two men as well as...

'Not left or right; right or wrong!" That's the current marketing slogan of a local talk radio station (not mine). It's a clever turn of a phrase and an interesting approach to establishing product differentiation from competing talk stations that promote the conventional split between liberals and conservatives. This imaging strategy is designed to convey the impression that the programmers, personalities and producers on that station somehow rise above the limitations of ideology and the pettiness of partisan politics. The station and radio show (Caplis & Silverman) that Mike is talking about - http://www.khow.com/pages/shows-caplis_silverman.htmlIn theory, this might attract listeners that...

(snip)A recent article in 5280 Magazine extolled the fine efforts of Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to turn around this underperforming district. As a demonstration of the difficulty of his task, we saw a paper submitted by a 10th grader at a DPS high school who was assigned to "write down five things the U.S. government is currently doing that might be unconstitutional." The student offered two: "1. Bushe cold have help the Katrina people whin it hapin. 2. Bushe should't be tipin in to people's phone."(bold added)

Mike Fumento was a guest on the Mike Rosen show on 850am KOA here in Denver Wednesday (Nov. 23rd) to talk about his recent October 2006 trip to Ramadi, Iraq. Mike talks about the REAL story from the one of the most dangerous places in the country. Rosen Replay 11/22/06 10-11AM (about 45 minutes, MP3) Guest: Mike Fumento, journalist for "The Weekly Standard" talks about his latest article, "Return to Ramadi."Click here for part one of the interview Rosen Replay 11/22/06 11-11:45AM (about 30 minutes, MP3) Mike Fumento continued. Click here for part two of the interview --- Mike Fumento's...

Elton John - make that Sir Elton John - recently declared in a magazine interview that "religion should be banned completely." At least he didn't say it should be banned selectively; that might smack of favoritism and discrimination. It seems his animus toward religion is driven largely by his status as a homosexual. He resents religiously based disapproval of his lifestyle and says that religion directs "hatred towards gay people." His ironic remedy is that religious intolerance, as he sees it, shouldn't be tolerated. He's also critical of religious leaders for not coming together to end war. Now, Elton John...

It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I only have room for about 700 here so let me be more concise. Just the other day, an editorial cartoon, set in the 1600s, depicted a rowboat full of Pilgrims coming ashore in the New World and encountering a group of Indians constructing a log wall to keep them out. Standing next to a boulder marked "Plymouth Rock" (in case you didn't get it) on the shoreline, one of the Indians, with his arms folded in an unwelcoming position and a disapproving frown on his face, blocked their way....

Rocky Mountain News   To print this page, select File then Print from your browser URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5132213,00.html Rosen: Democrats at the gatesNovember 10, 2006Election 2006 is behind us; the consequences await us. Republicans appear to have lost 29 House seats and six Senate seats. The GOP loss is significant but less than the "six-year itch" historical average of 31 House seats and six Senate seats in midyear elections during a president's second term. So it was bad for Republicans but not quite a disaster. Democrats will have a narrow House majority and a two-vote majority in the Senate. With...

With fully 14 statewide proposals on your Colorado ballot this election, it's no wonder I've been showered with requests to offer my recommendations. I'm flattered that conservatives are looking for guidance from a trusted source. Liberals, I suspect, want to know my choices so they can vote the opposite way. First, a disclosure: I've grown increasingly disaffected with the ballot initiative process in our state. It's better in theory than in practice. The presumption is that it enables well-informed voters to circumvent unresponsive legislators and take direct democratic action. Although there have been a handful of worthy ballot initiatives, the...

Based on this most recent poll here at FR a pathetic 4.7% of FReepers are planning to stay home during this election. You cut'n'run conservatives (intentionally undermining the outstanding men and women of the USA military with your no-show) are in desperate need of this review, a column written by Mike Rosen every few years during the election season: "Why Party Trumps Person". (from 2004) With just 80 days to go before the election, it's time for my quadrennial column on party vs. person. I've been offering and updating this polemic for more than 20 years. For veteran voters, this...

Earlier this morning there was a debate on two ballot initiatives here in Colorado, the 'Domestic Partnerships', Referendum I and the 'Marriage Amendment', Amendment 43. Mike Rosen of 850am KOA radio here in Denver was host and moderator. Mike Rosen is FOR 'Amendment 43' and UNDECIDED on 'Referendum I'. Mike is not a social conservative. He is a fiscal conservative and pro-military. --- Before the debate I thought "Ref I" was going to allow same sex couples visitation rights at hospitals, ability to will death benefits and a few other "rights". It is WAY WAY beyond just that. It will...

NEW YORK - Two former executives at a government-funded youth organization whose finances were scrutinized after it diverted money to the liberal radio network Air America were charged Thursday with misappropriating $1.2 million of the non-profit’s funds. Charles Rosen, a former executive director at the Gloria Wise Community Center, and his former assistant director, Jeffrey Aulenbach, face charges of grand larceny and obstructing governmental administration. Rosen was also charged with forgery. New York City’s Department of Investigation, which investigated the nonprofit for two years, said the men improperly took more than $290,000 from the organization for their personal use, on...

SEE THE ABC 20/20 VIDEO WEALTH OF BACKGROUND INFO AT HILLCAP.ORG Disney Execs Doctored ABC 20/20 Clinton Fraud Investigative Report To Protect Hillary By Editing Out All References to Her Finance Director David Rosen- Rosen Used Doctored Show to Get Jury to Acquit Him of Election Fraud by Peter F. Paul Hillary Clinton has more clout than Bill does with ABC. Three days before the very hyped broadcast of ABC 20/20's Brian Ross' exclusive interview with Peter Paul regarding his campaign finance fraud allegations against Hillary Clinton and her Senate campaign, Michael Eisner dispatched Disney brass to New York...

Liberals fly their colors, by Mike Rosen It was two years ago that North High School was the center of controversy over a foreign flag. A Mexican flag was given equal prominence with an American flag in a permanent wall display in the school lobby and in a social studies classroom. The teacher who hung the Mexican flag in his classroom said he wanted his students to feel welcome. This was a nice sentiment, but a direct violation of Colorado law. Although North High is almost 85 percent Hispanic, this is still an American school in the United States, funded...

Perhaps you've heard those mean-spirited, hyper attack ads on Denver radio slandering Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis. They're sponsored by Clear Peak Colorado, one of those free-wheeling 527 groups that sprang up to get around campaign finance reform laws like McCain- Feingold. This one is bankrolled by Pat Stryker and Tim Gill, a pair of liberal Democrat fat cats who lavishly support a cornucopia of partisan and left-wing causes. According to Clear Peak's most recent IRS filing, through June of this year Stryker and Gill have poured in just under $180,000 to the cause. Former Colorado Democratic Party Chairman...

Earlier today I left a message for David Rosen, the Hillary Senate 2000 campaign finance chairman who was acquitted in a Los Angeles federal courtroom last May. I was astounded when he returned my call. The reason for the call was to get his take on my theory that he would have never been indicted had Hillary seen that treasurer Andrew Grossman file an accurate FEC report, the third try to do so, on July 30, 2001. He had the idea right away that I was no fan of Hillary and did not want to participate in a hack job...

March 22, 2006 Fmr. Saddam General Georges Sada On The Daily Show; Says WMDS Existed, Were Moved (VIDEO) (Hat Tip: Instapundit) General Georges Sada, who served under the command of Saddam Hussein, appeared on The Daily Show last night to discuss his new book “Saddam’s Secrets“: In his book and on The Daily Show, Sada says that Weapons of Mass Destruction existed, however they were moved to Syria prior to the American invasion in 2003. Stewart asks how he knows this; was it by documents or video, Sada responds: “I was the number two man in the air force�....

March 15, 2006 Saddam General Explains Saddam’s ‘Secrets’ — WMDs, Bombing Israel, and Genocide (AUDIO) I have yet to listen to the whole interview, however reader Anthony J. said that this is a must listen: Former Iraqi General Georges Sada, who was a military adviser to Saddam Hussein appeared on The Mike Rosen Show (850 AM KOA) (Tuesday March 14th, 2006). He is described as an expert air pilot who played a large part in saving coalition forces’ lives in Gulf War I. Sada explains what happened to the WMDs prior to the US led invasion of Iraq in...

VATICAN CITY - A Jewish delegation from the United States met with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday and one member said it was wonderful to hear his "profound commitment" to Catholic-Jewish relations. American Jewish Committee delegation member Rabbi David Rosen, director of inter-religious relations for the New York-based group, described the encounter with the pope as "extremely warm and intimate.? "It is always wonderful from our perspective to hear his profound commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations and his emphasis on the uniqueness of the relationship," Rosen said in a telephone interview after the audience at the Vatican. Benedict has made improving...

Here's how the Los Angeles Times spun the story: "Teacher suspended for Bush remark." Wrong! Several other news stories in our local papers have been no better. Congratulations to Rocky Mountain News reporters who got it right: "The teacher, Jay Bennish, is on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he violated a district policy requiring balanced viewpoints being presented in class." Bingo! If teachers were disciplined merely for criticizing President Bush, half of them would probably be out of work. Bennish is under scrutiny for violating his public trust as a teacher of callow young minds...

Journalists will be paying rapt attention when Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman go on trial next month for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman were officials of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. They received classified information from Lawrence Franklin, an analyst at the Department of Defense, which they passed on to an Israeli diplomat, and to journalists. They are the first private citizens ever to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. ..... But it's more likely prosecutors will use the Plame precedent to get journalists to disclose their sources. The NSA leak investigation issaid...

"Indicting Hillary" film preview available on line A new film to be released in May 2006 is intended to prevent Hillary Rodham Clinton from ever living in the White House again. A 10 minute preview of the film is now available for viewing and downloading on line. Video Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8571783130742638160&q=peter+f.+paulThe film, "Indicting Hillary: One man's quest to hold Hillary Clinton accountable", tells the almost hard to believe story of Peter F. Paul's business relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, which culminated in a series of events to benefit Hillary's Senatorial campaign, sponsored by Paul to the tune of $1.6 Million dollars. His contributions were never...

Rosen: Our silly little 'addiction' Sometimes you get great life lessons in unexpected places. Kudos to Scott Adams, the cartoonist who writes the Dilbert comic strip. Adams cut through the fog and gave his readers a valuable insight into the real-world international politics and economics of the energy conundrum. In a recent strip, Dilbert readers were treated to the following exchange: Dilbert: I'm thinking about buying a more fuel-efficient car. Dogbert: Why? Dilbert: It's my patriotic duty to reduce this country's dependence on foreign sources of oil. Dogbert: Why? Dilbert: Because then the countries that hate us will have less...

Newsradio 850KOA presents "The World According to Ann Coulter" Tuesday, March 28 at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, February 25th at all Ticketmaster centers and at the Paramount Theatre box office. Starting Monday, February 20th listen to Colorado's Morning News and the Mike Rosen show all week to win tickets before they go on sale. Insider members will have a special opportunity to purchase tickets before they go on sale in a special email. <-- Sign up here--> --- Directions to The Paramount Theater in Denver

Rocky Mountain News   To print this page, select File then Print from your browser URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_4374613,00.html Rosen: Bias can't be ignoredJanuary 6, 2006In the game of squash, the winning strategy is to control the "T," the lines where the service boxes come together in the center of the court. Similarly, the pathway to credibility in the war of ideas is to create a public perception that you serve up information and analysis from the political center. That's why accurate political and ideological labeling matters. And it's why the liberal media deny their liberal bias, much as a vampire...

A fund-raising committee for Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $35,000 civil penalty and to concede that reports it made to the federal government understated by more than $700,000 donations to a California celebrity gala held to benefit her Senate bid. The agreement between the committee, New York Senate 2000, and the Federal Election Commission ends the campaign finance regulation agency's inquiry into a complaint filed in 2001 by an entrepreneur who financed the fund-raising concert, Peter Paul.

It's time for the 18th annual Media Research Center's awards for the most biased, manipulative or downright goofy quotes from liberals in the "mainstream" media. I'm honored to serve, once again, on MRC's distinguished panel of conservatively biased judges. Here are some of the highlights from among the winners and runners-up of Best Notable Quotables of 2005:

The pendulum swings both ways. Last year in Denver, it was Mayor John Hickenlooper proposing to replace the city's traditional "Merry Christmas" sign with one that said "Happy Holidays." The mayor wisely backed off in response to the public outcry, as did the Parade of Lights, this year, reversing its policy barring religious floats. Earlier this month, Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, issued a directive instructing the architect of the Capitol to drop the name "Capitol Holiday Tree" - adopted in the late 1990s under the authority of no one who's now willing to admit to it -...

Rosen: College: No free lunches December 16, 2005 If you want something and don't have the money to pay for it, you have two choices: You can save up until you're able to buy it or you can borrow the money and get what you want now rather than later. This works well with the purchase of a house or a car. It also makes sense for a college education. Borrowing is the fun part. Paying it back can be less pleasant. So say students who have posted their gripes online in something called the Student Debt Yearbook, a project...

Rosen: Education friends, foes December 9, 2005 'Mike Rosen is no friend of public education." This assertion was passed on to me by an ally, a lonely free spirit within the public education establishment. It wasn't his view, mind you; it was the opinion of one of his colleagues. Au contraire, Pierre. That indictment couldn't be further from the truth. Who could possibly be opposed to an educated public? It's the pathway to success in our society. I'm very much a friend of rigorous programs to create an educated public. And I'm also committed to our traditional approach of funding...

Liars lying about lies, by Mike Rosen Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech on Nov. 21 at the American Enterprise Institute defending the administration's Iraq policy. This was part of a long overdue counterattack against the tactics of the president's political critics and their allies in the liberal media. Cheney made a particular point of setting the record straight about his criticism of some of the critics. He said, "Several days ago, I commented briefly on some recent statements that have been made by some members of Congress about Iraq. Within hours of my speech, a report went out...

Rosen wrote the following prior to Daly resigning, before he could be fired. I thought leftists didn't believe in preemptive strikes. Rocky Mountain News   To print this page, select File then Print from your browser URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_4265408,00.html Rosen: Another nutty professorNovember 25, 2005It's not just the University of Colorado at Boulder that harbors wacko, America-hating lefties. Behold, the sequel: "Son of Churchill." At Warren County Community College in rural New Jersey, John Peter Daly, an adjunct English professor, went off the deep end last week in an outrageous e-mail to a student. The student was Rebecca Beach, a freshman...