Free Republic

The multimillion-dollar deals cut with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and others to win the 60 votes needed for the historic health care reform bill gave President Barack Obama the margin he needed to fulfill a central campaign promise — but may also have upped the ante for future presidential horse trading. With the bill hanging in the balance, Nelson won a provision exempting his state from paying the usual share of costs for new Medicaid patients. The deal critics have dubbed the Cornhusker Kickback is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over 10 years. Before a close vote...

Ellen Goodman is morally troubled. The liberal columnist for The Boston Globe surveys the moral landscape and laments "there's no shame in the game." Goodman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, whose observations are predictably liberal and feminist, but also marked by a keen eye for cultural detail. I still remember a column she wrote almost thirty years ago about an abandoned church being transformed into a condominium. In "Whatever Happened to Shame?," published in the December 18 edition of the Boston paper, Goodman reports that The New York Post has hired Ashley Dupre, the prostitute at the center of the...

Now that Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership have secured the 60 votes needed to override any potential move by Republicans to block the measure, Congress is set to force the public into a 2-trillion-dollar healthcare deal that the U.S. cannot afford. With multi-trillion-dollar deficits and a national debt that stands at 12 trillion (106 trillion when you include unfunded liabilities), the healthcare bill that Obama and his talking mouthpieces in the state-run media refer to as 'historic' will set into motion a truly 'historic' snowball effect that will end in complete bankruptcy and financial and economic ruin.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has apparently issued an ultimatum to four bishops embroiled in the Irish Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal — to either quit or be fired by the Vatican.

Rumors have been circulating for several days through Charlotte’s Eastover neighborhood that former U.S. Sen. John Edwards bought a home here for his admitted former mistress, Rielle Hunter. And now the National Enquirer is reporting in its Dec. 21 issue that Edwards has, in fact, bought a house here that the Charlotte Business Journal has identified as a residence on Providence Road. Edwards, the vice presidential nominee on the 2004 Democratic ticket and a presidential candidate last year, saw his political career derail after details of the affair emerged. In late 2007, the Enquirer first reported claims from an...

ClimateGate Research Unit Disables Its Website By Noel Sheppard Created 2009-12-14 10:03 The Climatic Research Unit at the heart of the ClimateGate [0] scandal has taken down most of the information previously available at its website. Prior to November's release of controversial e-mail messages and documents from Britain's University of East Anglea, there was a separate website for the institution's CRU that allowed readers to review articles and studies created by and for the Unit. Now, no matter what link one tries to access via a Google search, it directs you to a page that reads: "Due to the present...

After nearly a month and counting since the story broke on the biggest scandal in scientific history, a major daily newspaper has finally undertaken a thorough examination of the evidence in the Climategate scandal. Granted, the newspaper in question is not in the United States but the U.K. And still, even after a month the television news broadcasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC continue to ignore the story.

It certainly did not take a long time for one of the world's greatest athletes to fall from grace. Just a few weeks ago, the only news Tiger Woods made was on the golf course. Then suddenly, everything changed. In one incredible, tragic moment, Woods became persona non grata. How did this fall from grace occur? Why did this shining star in the world of professional sports virtually destroy his career and marriage in one fell swoop? Because he could. Propped up by celebrity, ego massagers and roadies, Woods could get anything and everything he wanted in an easily accessible...

Which Prostitution Scandal Is Worse, Tiger Woods or Max Baucus?December 11, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, Tiger Woods. New York Daily News today. It actually looks like an AP story: "Tiger Woods was into threesomes and shelled out more than $60,000 to cat around with high-priced hookers, a Hollywood madam claimed Thursday. 'One of his favorites was Loredana Jolie,' Michelle Braun told the Daily News, describing the gorgeous blond as a Playboy model from Sicily who's been living in New York since age 14. 'She's a stunning girl,' said Braun," who I guess is the madam here. "'He went out...

While the United Nations attempts to force every citizen in every nation on earth to disarm, touting the exceeding wickedness of guns, apparently firearms are preferred by U.N. officials themselves--particularly when their spokespersons are placed in the most uncomfortable position of having to answer questions about Climategate.

House of Lords, 8 December 2009: Lord Turnbull: My Lords, on first reading the Committee on Climate Change’s latest progress report, I found it an impressive document. It was broad in scope and very detailed. But the more I dug into it the more troubled I became. Below the surface there are serious questions about the foundations on which it has been constructed. There are questions in four areas-the framework created by the Climate Change Act 2008, the policy responses at EU and UK level, the estimate of costs and finally the scientific basis on which the whole scheme of...

We already know that the Obama Administration and the state-run media (SRM) represented by Couric, Williams, and Gibson have suppressed information on the bombshell 'Climategate' scandal, so why should we believe them on anything else? Obama stated in a speech this week that his 'stimulus' packages were working, that millions of jobs had been 'created or saved,' and that the economic figures indicate the first stages of a turnaround.

As the climategate scandal continues to unfold exposing the biggest scientific fraud in human history, the smoking guns abound. The so-called 'hacked' emails between fraudulent scientists who succeeded in perpetrating the hoax were not hacked at all. They were leaked...by an insider who is now a heroic whistleblower.

Dear fellow member of the American Physical Society: This is a matter of great importance to the integrity of the Society. It is being sent to a random fraction of the membership, so we hope you will pass it on. By now everyone has heard of what has come to be known as ClimateGate, which was and is an international scientific fraud, the worst any of us have seen in our cumulative 223 years of APS membership. For those who have missed the news we recommend the excellent summary article by Richard Lindzen in the November 30 edition of the...

Republican Glenn Richardson has been dogged by talks of an alleged affair with a lobbyist and has admitted to struggling with depression. He leaves office Jan. 1. BY RICHARD FAUSSET Atlanta - Embroiled in a strange and unsavory drama involving a suicide attempt and allegations of an affair with a lobbyist, Georgia's powerful House Speaker Glenn Richardson, a Republican, said Thursday that he would resign. The announcement by Richardson -- a hard-charging, family-values conservative -- came amid Republicans' mounting calls for his ouster and fears that a lingering sex and ethics scandal could harm the Georgia GOP in next year's...

World Agenda: Oil-for-Food scandal 'a warning for all at Hopenhagen'December 7, 2009 Delegates to the climate change conference in Copenhagen should remember the dread words “Oil-for-Food”. World leaders plan to design global “Cap-and-Trade” system — which could grow to $2 trillion (£1.22 trillion) — to limit greenhouse gas emissions in a last-gasp bid to reverse global warming. Environmental critics such as James Hansen, the Nasa scientist considered the “grandfather of global warming”, have made conceptual objections to Cap-and-Trade, which they dismiss as ineffectual. But even if the system is created, there are enormous pitfalls. Key parts of Cap-and-Trade have a...

Jaimee Grubbs -- a 24-year-old cocktail waitress who broke the news to Us Weekly that she had a 31-month affair with Tiger Woods -- says the golfer, 33, never wanted to use protection. "He didn't use a condom," says Grubbs, who adds that Woods also didn't ask if she was on birth control, either. "It wasn't even discussed. He just never used one." Apparently, he also didn't use condoms while bedding 33-year-old restaurant manager Mindy Lawton, according to Lawton's sister, Lynn. "She said he never wore condoms," Lynn told British tabloid, News of the World. "I was so worried she...

Leaked emails from the Climatic Research Unit show how the world's weightiest climate data has been distorted.

Even the BBC didn't let this scoop get away. A segment on the Dec. 3 broadcast of BBC's "Newsnight," showed the implications of the story behind the so-called "ClimateGate" scandal are more than just e-mails concealing data, but an incompetence analyzing the data by way of faulty computer code. John Graham-Cumming, a British programmer known for the open source "POPFile email filtering program" explained how the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) had wholesale problems with its computer programming analyzing climate change data, with billion, if not even trillions of dollars, on the line. ...more (w/video)...

So Senator Baucus is nominating his girlfriend for U.S. Attorney jobs, while she was on his staff: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30228.html While Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson is holding hearings to get money from the credit card industry (according to his own former staffer): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/04/AR2009120402256.html?hpid=topnews

November was a horrendous month for global warming propagandists, what with somebody hacking into the computers of East Anglia University's Central Research Union (CRU) and exposing thousands of emails detailing how climate change data had been systematically cooked. Now it looks like December could be another bad month because the Copenhagen Post Online brings word of an exploding scandal in the Scandanavian nation involving massive fraud in the trading of the Danish CO2 Quotas Register. That's Denmark's cap-and-trade system in which companies buy and sell carbon emissions credits. The Obama-Waxman-Markey and Boxer-Kerry global warming cap-and-trade bills now before Congress are...

Japan's leader apologizes for donation scandal PROBE DOGS PRIME MINISTER Family linked to fake campaign contributions By Blaine Harden Tuesday, December 1, 2009 TOKYO -- For politicians in Japan, the road to scandal usually winds through construction companies, defense contractors or a mistress. For newly elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, the road leads to his mother, an octogenarian heiress. Prosecutors have traced about $10.4 million that Yasuko Hatoyama, 87, gave to her son over a five-year period ending in 2008, sources in the investigation have told major news outlets in Japan. Some of that money was reportedly funneled into fake...

For a couple decades now too many members of the American celebrity and sports class have made millions The Madonna Way: pimping their deviant behavior into fame and fortune — shoving their thug lives, drug lives, and sex lives down our throats and, unforgivably, the throats of our children. With only “at least I’m not a hypocrite” as an excuse, these irredeemables have waged a war to destroy morality, and heaven help those who complain or demand restraint, for we will mercilessly be ridiculed and demeaned as suburban hypocrites, Puritans and worse.

Spotted this in the "Tiger answers fan emails" section of his official website. It's dated Nov 20. No wonder his wife was ready to take his head off lol: Do you enjoy playing so far away from home? I can imagine that, now that you have children, it's got to be hard to be so far away from them. — Rupert from Houston You're exactly right, Rupert. Now, it's very difficult to leave Elin and the children, and I'm sure it's only going to get tougher. Once Sam and Charlie start school, it won't be easy to take them out...

Us Weekly has just posted a voicemail allegedly left by Tiger Woods for his alleged mistress -- Jaimee Grubbs. In the call, you hear someone who sounds just like Tiger telling Jaimee to remove her name from her own voicemail, because Tiger's wife Elin "went throught my phone and may be calling you." As we previously reported, Jaimee bragged about her relationship with Tiger to co-workers and even played them this voicemail at work.

Duke’s Lombard May Plead Guilty Bethany Stotts, December 1, 2009 Neil Offen at the Herald Sun reports that alleged sex offender and Duke University employee Frank Lombard may be preparing for a plea agreement: The U.S. Attorney’s Office will file an “information” today in Washington, D.C., District Court against Lombard, charging him with sexual exploitation of a minor. The filing of an information is a legal maneuver by the prosecution that is an alternative to a grand jury indictment, “with the defendant agreeing to be charged by information,” said Ben Friedman, a spokesman for the attorney’s office in the nation’s...

Several other women are coming forward claiming they had affairs with Tiger Woods, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively. What’s more, one of these women claims to have proof in the form of voice mails from the golfing great. The voice mails are said to be explosive.

Surprise: Hacked e-mails have revealed that sober, empirical, fact-loving scientists at the heart of global-warming research behave like a crazed group of Delta girls engaged in a flame war to paint the Kappas as a bunch of nasty skanks. It may not be the biggest scandal since Watergate. But what appeared to be a clear path to massive cap-and-trade legislation just a few months ago now resembles a Jenga tower, and the scandal looks like the tile that will bring the whole thing down. The British scientists at the Climatic Research Unit of East Anglia University and their correspondents, some...

Science depends on good quality of data. It also relies on replication and sharing data. But the last couple of days have uncovered some shocking revelations. Computer hackers have obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. These e-mails, which have now been confirmed as real, involved many researchers across the globe with ideologically similar advocates around the world. They were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global warming claims. The academics here also worked closely with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Yesterday Brian Williams delivered an NBC Nightly News report about President Obama attending the Copenhagen global warming summit. Guess what hot topic was left untouched? If you had guessed Climategate you would have been correct. Not only Williams but also the other TV networks, with the exception of FOX News, have completely ignored what is considered to be the biggest scientific scandal in history. However, new Climategate revelations made by the Canada Free Press about a White House connection to the scandal will soon make it much more difficult (and ridiculous) for the networks to ignore. Canada Free Press editor...

At this time, it is a rumor -- unconfirmed -- and suspect at that, but word of a Tiger Woods affair is spreading quickly on the Web this morning. One of the primary sites fueling the speculation is Media Take Out, which calls it an "explosive rumor," though carefully notes "allegedly cheating" in the headline. Media Take Out writes, "MediaTakeOut.com just got its hands on this week's National Enquirer and it is EXPLOSIVE!!! According to them, Tiger Woods is CHEATING with a woman named Rachel Uchitel." The rumor has since found its way to various blogs, Web sites and tweets...

The headline on this Guardian article is pretty sanitized: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/23/climate-change-emails-uea "Climate change email hacking to be looked into by University of East Anglia" But you don't have to read very far to see that the media has zero interest in investigating the content of the emails. They want the leakers destroyed; as do the scientists.

Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent 'cover-up' emails a month before they went publicBy Carol Driver Last updated at 10:10 PM on 25th November 2009 The controversy surrounding the global warming scandal today deepened after a BBC correspondent admitted he was sent the leaked emails more than a month before they were made public. Paul Hudson, weather presenter and climate change expert, claims the documents allegedly sent between some of the world's leading scientists are of a direct result of an article he wrote. In his BBC blog two days ago, Hudson said: 'I was...

"This is not a smoking gun, this is a mushroom cloud" - That's how world-renowned climatologist Patrick J. Michaels described revelations contained in a 61Mb ZIP file that shows the systematic attempts by climate "scientists" to lie, manipulate evidence, and go to extraordinary lengths to stop the publication of any information or data which did not support the man-made global warming theory. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. In this leaked files are 1079 emails and 72 documents that thoroughly expose the lie underpinning Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth". Remember this, as...

Italy's beleaguered prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will face fresh embarrassment on Tuesday with the publication of a book written by the call girl who claims to have slept with him at his mansion in Rome. Patrizia D'Addario said the 73-year-old premier changed into white silk pyjamas and dressing gown after asking her to spend the night with him at the end of a lavish party at his palatial residence. She felt as though she had entered a "harem" when she attended the soirée, with 20 glamorous young models and starlets competing for the favours of the prime minister, who she...

LOCK HAVEN - Student government leaders at Lock Haven University could be facing impeachment over a controversial trip to California and an alleged cover-up about attendance at a national conference there. A large group of angry students turned out Wednesday night at a Student Cooperative Council meeting, demanding action against leaders who did not attend a conference despite traveling to Los Angeles and staying for nearly a week. University officials also came under fire for allegedly failing to follow university policy in regard to the trip. The student Senate made a motion to impeach SCC President Christopher Lunden, Vice President...

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is about to put her political future in the hands of a jury. Dixon goes on trial Monday on theft charges. She's accused of hitting up her wealthy developer pals to donate thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards to needy families. Prosecutors say she used those gift cards for her personal shopping instead.

More than 30 US politicians, among them seven members of a defence procurement committee, are being investigated in congressional ethics inquiries into influence-peddling, according to a document leaked accidentally on to the internet. The disclosure sheds light on a process by which billions of dollars a year are spent on defence projects that the Pentagon does not want and which limits funds available for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. House Representatives named in the document include John Murtha, the chairman of the House Defence Appropriations Sub-committee, who added so-called “earmarks” worth more than $100 million (£61 million) to...

This past March, Heather Heidelbaugh, a Pennsylvania Attorney, testified before Congressman Jerrold Nadler's Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties subcommittee about the fraud perpetuated by ACORN. Her testimony alleged violations of the election code, fraud and misrepresentation, and violations of equal protection and due process. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) was shocked at the testimony and called for a probe of the Democrat's favorite tax fraud group but Nadler's response was to stonewall. When the Congress voted to cut off funds to ACORN not only did Congressman Nadler vote against the resolution, but make speeches against cutting off the funds saying...

"...White House Lawyer for “ethics and government regulation,” Norman Eisen, had this to say, "We think it is no accident that we have had one of the most scandal-free starts of any administration in modern history.” ...Eisen said there have been only three waivers in some 2000 posts filled...Mr. Eisen, check your math, sir. Lobbyists working for the Obama Administration include…Bill Lynn, William Corr, Mark Patterson, Jocelyn Frye, Cecilia Munoz, Naomi Walker and Patrick Gaspard... Assistant Secretary of State Richard Verma was a lobbyist (team Obama decided he didn’t need a waiver because…well, because they decided he didn’t need one),.....

Politically speaking, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada is about as battered as it gets. The Republican senator in June acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign aide, who was married to his best friend, who has castigated Ensign in television interviews as a shameless Lothario. In recent days, after the New York Times reported on Ensign's efforts to silence his mistress' husband, Doug Hampton, the Senate ethics committee launched an investigation and talk surfaced of a possible FBI inquiry. Ensign has said he won't resign, and Nevada's GOP is widely considered too emasculated to push him out. Regardless of what...

DETROIT — Scuffles erupted as several thousand Detroit residents jockeyed, pushed and shoved Wednesday to get free money being offered to only 3,500 of the city's recently or soon to be homeless.

The National Organization for Women has sharply criticized comedian David Letterman, accusing him of promoting a hostile, uncomfortable work environment. "The latest Letterman controversy sheds new light on the widespread objectification of women in the workplace," NOW said in a statement Tuesday. "Most women can attest to the fact that many workplaces are plagued with inappropriate behavior by men in power." The "Late Show With David Letterman" host admitted last week on his CBS program that he had sex with unnamed employees and had testified about those liaisons before a New York grand jury as part of an alleged extortion...

The Acorn chief executive, Bertha Lewis, met with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington this morning. It was one of several appearances she has made in the weeks since conservative videographers, posing as a pimp and a prostitute successfully elicited advice from the group’s counselors on tax evasion and securing housing for a brothel. But if critics and even some supporters are looking for an “apology tour,” they are not getting one. Ms. Lewis, rather, provided a defiant answer to her critics, even while acknowledging that the behavior of the Acorn workers who were caught on tape was...

Talk about killing two birds with one stone. As Congressional Republicans prepare to introduce a bill to calling for Charles Rangel to step down from his position as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee saying his ethics problems make him the poster boy for institutional arrogance, the Democrats are looking to push him out totally and have Governor Paterson run for Rangel's seat in 2010. CBS News in New York reported on the political scheme today.

Gerald Shargel, the lawyer for alleged David Letterman extortionist Robert Halderman, says Letterman is a "master at manipulation"-- and hinted there's more to the sordid story, which Letterman bared on national TV last week. "So to think that David Letterman gave the entire story, and there's nothing more to be said, it's simply wrong," Shargel told Ann Curry on this morning's "Today" show. Shargel, who made the rounds on the morning news shows, was on to defend Halderman, a "48 Hours" producer who's accused of attempting to shake Letterman down for $2 million -- or else go public with...

Long before Stephanie Birkitt was revealed as David Letterman's squeeze, the funnyman was known to surround himself with beautiful young staffers who ministered to his daily needs -- and favored women when it came to promotions. Holly Hester, who interned for Letterman in the early '90s while she was a student at NYU, said yesterday the two had a steamy, secret affair for a year. She said Letterman called her one day and asked her to the movies, and they soon began seeing each other on the sly. "I was madly in love with him at the time," Hester told...

Sources: ‘Late Show’ staffers were unaware of Letterman’s bombshell Fri Oct 2, 4:29 pm ET Much of the buzz around David Letterman’s late-night revelation keeps circling back to one question: Why was the studio audience laughing? Viewers who watched it on TV or online immediately took to Twitter to express everything from bewilderment to outrage over the audience's reaction. Shawn Ryan, creator of the FX show "The Shield," opined, "What a fascinating confession/comedy act from Letterman. Audience didn't know how to respond at parts." Another Twitter user going by the handle "Brain" stated, "Letterman audience clapped when he said he...

On April 9, 1965, a 34-year-old lawyer named Charles Rangel took out a low-interest mortgage to renovate his childhood home — a row house on West 132nd Street that he had just inherited from his grandfather. The $39,350 loan came from a New York City program to develop low-income housing. Rangel and his sister Frances were to use the money to turn the family home in Central Harlem, which Rangel affectionately called Buckingham Palace, into six apartments. While Rangel may have thought he scored a sweetheart deal, the loan came back to haunt him during his first run for Congress...

Elizabeth Edwards is threatening to divorce her husband, John, after learning of allegations he had committed adultery with more than one woman, the National Enquirer is reporting. According to the Enquirer, the allegations are in a book proposal by former Edwards aide Andrew Young in which he says he falsely claimed to have fathered Rielle Hunter's 19-month-old daughter, Frances. Edwards had an affair with Hunter during the 2008 presidential campaign. According to The New York Times and other reports quoting sources, Edwards is considering declaring he's the little girl's father, which he has previously denied. "Elizabeth was read portions of...