Free Republic

Most would agree that conserving resources and minimizing adverse impacts on the environment make sense, but something has gone terribly awry within the Green Movement. Environmental extremists championing "population control" as a means of protecting Mother Earth show that they have little regard for the human species. Some recent comments by prominent Green advocates suggest that one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce the global carbon footprint is to reduce the population. As means to that end, they advocate aggressive birth control and abortion. Their argument is simple enough: fewer people put less strain on natural resources,...

Pay your taxes or step down -- that's the message House Republicans are sending to Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and subject of a major ethics probe into alleged tax evasion and other violations. House Republicans on Wednesday attempted to pass a resolution to remove Rangel from his chairmanship following the reading of a long and stinging list of alleged wrongdoing. The measure stemmed from a major ethics probe into Rangel's alleged failure to pay his taxes and disclose income on multiple properties -- as much as $1.3 million. But House Democrats were...

August 27, 2009 Democrats accused of using Edward Kennedy’s death to promote reforms The Kennedy family gather in Hyannisport as the coffin of Senator Edward Kennedy is carried on the first part of its journey to Arlington National Democrats were accused of exploiting the death of Senator Edward Kennedy yesterday after immediately trying to use his name to revive President Obama’s flagging attempt to overhaul the US healthcare system. Within hours of Mr Kennedy’s death on Wednesday leading Democrats were trying to turn it into a rallying point for healthcare reform — something that he had called the “cause of...

Health Care for America Now (funded by $40 million from George Soros, moveon.org, and other community organizers) Florida Statewide Rally for Healthcare Reform (Take Action August) Save the Date! Saturday, August 29, Orlando. Floridians from throughout Florida are coming together for Florida's LARGEST mobilization for healthcare reform yet! Buses are being organized for rides as well. More details coming soon! Time: Saturday, August 29 12:00 PM Host: Jessica Pemble Contact Phone: 813-877-6712 Location: Orlando (Orlando, FL) Orlando, FL 32801 Directions: Coming soon! Check back! Take Action August: In August, Health Care for America Now and our partners are making sure...

MSNBC’s David Shuster and Tamron Hall labeled the circulation of a photo of President Obama...a “right wing smear,” and singled out Fox News and Drudge as culprits. They brought on a Media Matters spokesman, who accused these sites of being motivated by a “racist stereotype of an oversexed black man being a predator.” They let this accusation go unanswered (audio clip from the promos and the segment available here). Shuster and Hall promoted the segment on the Obama picture from the start of the 4 pm Eastern hour of MSNBC’s live coverage. A graphic on-screen at the top of the...

Indianapolis - There are new developments in the case of suspects robbing older women who are leaving grocery stores and targeting victims in handicapped parking spaces. Police arrested Ashley Spraddling Tuesday night. She had been on the run. Investigators say Laritha Martin already confessed to three strong-armed robberies. Police say the suspects watched handicapped parking spaces for possible victims like Mary. She was at the Aldi store on East Washington Street on March 20th. She says the suspects snatched her purse and then ran over her with a car, injuring her leg. Another victim suffered a heart attack after getting...

In a complete reversal from his stance Tuesday, Sen. Chris Dodd admitted he inserted language into the federal stimulus bill allowing $165 million in bonuses to those AIG executives. But the president made him! Dodd, chairman of the senate banking committee, finally admitted to CNN (see clip) that his stimulus amendment allowed the universally-reviled bonuses, which went to the very AIG executives responsible for tanking the company.

A pair of reputed stick-up artists hit as many as 23 Houston businesses, mostly adult book stores, as they made off with customers' wallets and cell phones, and, police say, didn't hesitate to grab items off the rack while making their getaways. Investigators are still searching for victims who may be sheepish about coming forward after being robbed in places that specialize in adult entertainment, including racy movies and lingerie. "We want to know if there are any citizens out there who have not reported being a victim of a robbery," Houston police Sgt. Ron Pinkerton, said Friday. That same...

78 Pages of corruption by the numbers...........

Citigroup is reneging on a promise it made to tens of millions of credit card customers in good times. After pledging that it would no longer reserve the right to raise interest rates at any time for any reason, Citigroup now plans to start raising rates for customers who have not had an increase in at least two years. The move appears to backpedal from a commitment that Citigroup executives made to Congress in early 2007 when they tried to fend off greater regulation by promising not to raise rates until an account expires. Citigroup attributed its decision to the...

"I blame the central banks," growled the bond trader, stabbing the air with a forkful of raw steak. "If Alan Greenspan hadn't kept interest rates so low at the start of this decade, we wouldn't be in this mess. Talk about refilling the punch bowl when the party guests are already as drunk as skunks!" "We told you we were not in the business of identifying bubbles, let alone trying to puncture them," replied the central banker, nibbling at a lettuce leaf. "We warned you that credit spreads, emerging-market yields and volatility in stocks and bonds were all too low,...

I stumbled upon this crud a few minutes ago. Keep a barf bag handy. http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/1284

Palin and CNN [Byron York] A bit more on CNN's "quote" from National Review in its story on Sarah Palin. In the CNN interview with Palin, aired today, reporter Drew Griffin said to Palin: GRIFFIN: Governor, you've been mocked in the press, the press has been pretty hard on you, the Democrats have been pretty hard on you, but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you as well. The National Review had a story saying that, you know, I can't tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above. PALIN: Who wrote that...

Tammy Bruce, my favorite lesbian did an interview on Fox News about the disgusting scumbags who wore those sickening,vulgar rags outside of Sarahs hotel in Philthydelphia last Saturday night. http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3150788&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/ I am in range of Philthydelphia and have yet to see any condemnation of this anywhere.

Look at it. It's on his friggin' home page: http://whitehouse.senate.gov/ Disgusting.

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois today exhorted his supporters to get extremely aggressive in their communities to persuade their neighbors to vote for Obama in November.Speaking to a crowd in Elko, Nevada, Obama was quoted by the AP as urging the people to be his 'ambassadors':"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face. "And if they tell you that, 'Well, we're...

Now we know where Obama’s mean, nasty, abusive followers get their marching orders. At a Nevada rally Wednesday, Obama said this to about 14,000 people: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face,” Nice. So much for the politics of hope and unity. So much for teaching our youth how to be good citizens and neighbors. So much for teaching tolerance, respect, and bi-partisanship....

Federal investigators this morning began examining documents in the Poydras Street offices of the shuttered New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation, a nonprofit supervised and financed by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration that ran a home remediation program in 2006 and 2007. Officials arriving just before 10 a.m. at NOAH offices near City Hall, on the 10th floor of an office building at 1340 Poydras Street, declined to speak in detail to a reporter, as one of them said simply that "we're guests" at the offices. But they appeared to be carrying out a subpoena issued last week as part of a...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2008 – Coalition forces killed more than a dozen insurgents who attacked them during a humanitarian-assistance mission yesterday near Putay, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. While approaching the town, a vehicle in the convoy struck a roadside bomb. Coalition forces immediately began vehicle-recovery operations, but the convoy was ambushed by insurgents using small-arms fire. During the fight, another coalition vehicle struck a mine. Insurgents entered homes in an attempt to use them as fighting positions, causing residents to flee. Coalition forces then ensured no women or children were in the area before using precision air strikes against the...

Energy: With the price of oil spiking above $127 a barrel, the search for scapegoats has begun. Some point to the Saudis, OPEC's No. 1 producer. Others blame the oil companies. We have a better candidate: Congress.As President Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia to ask the House of Saud to open the oil spigots a bit wider, Congress showed once again how clueless it is when it comes to energy policy. Underscoring its failure to grasp the nature of our current problems, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday refused to end its moratorium on oil shale development in Colorado. "If...

US military finds sailor in slain taxi driver's case: report Weekend March 22, 2008 The US military Saturday took into custody a deserter in Japan wanted for questioning over the killing of a taxi driver, a report said.The US military, which has been looking for the sailor since early this month, informed Japan early Saturday that he was found in the military hub of Yokosuka near Tokyo, Kyodo News said, quoting police sources. The report said the sailor's credit card was found Wednesday in a parked taxi in which the 61-year-old driver was stabbed to death with a kitchen...

In a move that will allow movie studios to inject racy jokes into the trailers they use to promote their more adult-oriented films, the nation's largest theater chain has decided to permit restricted, "red band" trailers in its multiplexes. The move by Regal Entertainment Group, which operates 6,388 screens in 39 states and the District of Columbia, likely will lead to similar decisions at a number of the nation's other major chains. As last week's ShoWest convention of movie theater owners in Las Vegas drew to a close, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based circuit began notifying the studios of its decision. The...

A 7-year-old girl said she had been raped and repeatedly molested over the course of a year. Police in Montgomery County, acting on information from a relative, soon arrested a Liberian immigrant living in Gaithersburg. They marshaled witnesses and DNA evidence to prepare for trial. What was missing -- for much of the nearly three years that followed -- was an interpreter fluent in the suspect's native language. A judge recently dropped the charges, not because she found that Mahamu Kanneh had been wrongly accused but because repeated delays in the case had, in her view, violated his right to...

Howard Dean: Democrats Should Reach Out To Young Evangelicals May 11, 2007 6:28 a.m. EST Christopher Rizo - AHN Staff Writer San Francisco, CA (AHN) - Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said Thursday that his party should welcome into the political fold young evangelical Christian voters who feel disenfranchised from the Grand Ole Party. "We ought to reach out to those folks ... and not be afraid,'' Dean told an audience of about 125 at a DNC fundraiser Wednesday night, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Dean told the group gathered at the swank Palace Hotel that in the...

ISTANBUL, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Turkish police have detained 46 people on suspicion of links to al Qaeda, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Monday. It said 25 people had been held in the central Turkish province of Konya. A further 21 people had been taken into custody in raids in the western provinces of Istanbul, Izmir and Kocaeli, and in the southeastern province of Mardin. No further details were immediately available. Police in secular Turkey, which has a mainly Muslim population, have carried out a series of operations against suspected Islamic guerrillas since November 2003 suicide bombings by...

Roughing The Spectator By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist | January 19, 2007 Ends up, the most serious injury in the Patriots phenomenal playoff run hasn't been sustained by a player, but by a boy in the stands.

RUSH: You've got to hear this next ad. It's an ad that Democrats are running against Jim Talent in Missouri. They are using children to make you think that Jim Talent wants people to die. BOY: Next summer, I'm going on a camping trip with my friends. On my way home, I'll be in a car accident and I'll be paralyzed for the rest of my life. WOMAN: In 20 years I'll have Alzheimer's. I won't recognize my husband or my kids. LITTLE GIRL: This week my mommy and daddy are going to find out that I have diabetes. WOMAN:...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Nov 4, 2006 (AP)— Since going to Canada to avoid another deployment to Iraq, Corey Glass has considered returning to the United States. But after hearing that a fellow former soldier who surrendered to the military and was ordered to return to his unit instead of being discharged, Glass may not return at all. "They're not going to win the hearts and minds like that," said Glass, 24, who signed on with the Indiana National Guard in 2002. Kyle Snyder, a one-time combat engineer who joined the military in 2003, disappeared Wednesday, a day after surrendering at Fort...

The father of a U.S. Senate candidate on Tuesday tried to dissuade a Tennessee news station from filming a news conference critical of his son, according to the pro-life event's organizers. Brian Johnston, an organizer with Tennessee Right to Life, called a news conference outside the Memphis campaign offices for U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat running for U.S. Senate. Johnston told Cybercast News Service he called the conference to expose Ford's real position on abortion. During the campaign Ford has portrayed himself as moderate on abortion and other issues. But before the planned new conference began, Ford's father,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2006 – Iraqi police and coalition forces captured two insurgents Oct. 9 in Samarra, Iraq, and Iraqi police shut down an insurgent financial operation Oct. 9 in Tikrit, military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi police and coalition forces conducting a joint patrol captured two suspected insurgents who were attempting to enter Samarra by vehicle through a gap in the city’s surrounding berm. A search of the suspects’ vehicle revealed a sniper rifle. The individuals were detained for questioning. The combined patrol also apprehended an individual after receiving small-arms and indirect fire at a checkpoint. After determining the...

Task Force Grizzly soldiers prepare for a night operation in Pashmul, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, in mid September. Operation Medusa, which lasted approximately 20 days, was a successfully operations that effectively pushed enemy insurgents from this region of the country. Army photo by Sgt. Mayra Kennedy Task Force Grizzly Soldiers Eliminate Insurgents Operation Medusa which lasted approximately 20 days, was a successful operation that effectively pushed enemy insurgents from this region of Afghanistan. By U.S. Army Sgt. Mayra Kennedy 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment PANJWAYI, Afghanistan, Oct. 10, 2006 -- A small number of soldiers from the 207th Infantry Brigade...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers, with coalition assistance, captured suspected terrorists in two separate operations near Baghdad yesterday. Iraqi security forces captured one individual believed to belong to a kidnapping and murder cell in the Jabbur area, south of Baghdad. Iraqi forces, with coalition advisors, quickly secured the objective area and entered multiple buildings looking for members of a kidnapping and murder cell allegedly responsible for numerous violent crimes against Iraqi civilians. The targeted individuals had outstanding Ministry of Interior arrest warrants. Iraqi forces detained one individual and departed the area. During their return to base, the Iraqi...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 – An Iraqi police chief survived an insurgent ambush Oct. 3, urging his troops to continue the mission, and Iraqi and U.S. soldiers captured three high-value terrorists and 25 others in Baghdad Oct. 3, military officials in Iraq reported today. The Iraqi police chief was wounded when his patrol was ambushed while in pursuit of suspected insurgents in the city of Baghdadi, Iraq. Col. Shaban al Obeidi was evacuated to a nearby U.S. military medical facility by helicopter for treatment and was reported in good condition. One policeman was killed in the attack. When asked if...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces captured and detained the driver of Abu al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, during a raid Sept. 28 in here. In other developments, the Ministry of Interior issued a no-notice recall of an Iraqi police brigade, which will be pulled out of service and given corrective retraining. “Based on information from a recently detained al-Qaida in Iraq member, coalition forces on September 28th detained a former driver and personal assistant of Abu al-Masri along with 31 others during a series of raids that were conducted in the Baghdad area specifically targeting al-Qaida in Iraq targets,”...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2006 – Terrorists are destined to lose if the U.S. keeps its nerve and refuses to abandon its overseas commitments, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said today at Fort Hood, Texas. “The world can have confidence in the resolve of the United States,” he said. “We will stand by our friends; we will help Iraqis build a nation that is free, secure and able to defend itself. We will confront our enemies on this and every other front in the war on terror. With good allies at our side, we will prevail.” Cheney said the terrorists were...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2006 – Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, prevented a large-scale sectarian attack in Iraq’s Obiedi region, south of Baghdad Sept. 30 after receiving reports that local residents had been driven out of their homes. Soldiers from 2nd Brigade linked up with soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, and conducted a cordon-and-search operation in the eastern section of the Obiedi region. Eight suspects were detained for questioning. In a separate incident, soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 – Iraqi army and coalition forces detained two suspected insurgents and captured a sizable cache Sept. 29 in a combined operation in Khan Bani Saad, Iraq, south of Baqubah, military officials reported. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, and 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, made the find as part of ongoing operations in the town and surrounding villages. The cache consisted of a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, four RPG rounds, one sniper rifle, three hand grenades, seven AK-47 assault rifles, several rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition and...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers today captured a person suspected of complicity in recent murders and kidnappings during a raid in northeastern Baghdad, while another Iraqi operation conducted yesterday near Mahmudiyah netted two suspected terrorists, according to Multinational Corps Iraq news releases. The person caught in today’s Iraqi military operation is believed to be involved with illegal militias and improvised explosive bomb attacks against civilians, officials said. The raid was conducted in conjunction with Operation Together Forward, officials said, with the goal of catching criminals inciting sectarian violence, denying them safe havens and providing for a safe and...

BAGHDAD — Coalition Forces thwarted a potentially deadly attack on the International Zone this week, and officials responded to news reports citing unnamed senior military members as being critical of the Iraqi government. Coalition forces detained an individual suspected of planning a multi-vehicle suicide operation inside Baghdad’s International Zone. They arrested the suspect at the residence of Dr. Adnan al Dulaymi in Baghdad Sept. 29. Dulaymi is the leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the main Sunni parliamentary bloc. Credible intelligence indicates the individual, a member of Dulaymi’s personal security detachment, and seven members of the detained individual’s cell were...

Iron Gunners Lend Firepower U.S., Iraqi soldiers work together to weed out more than 2,000 terrorists. By Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Malec Fires Brigade PAO, 4th Infantry Division CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq, Sept. 28, 2006 -- Soldiers of Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, deployed to Forward Operating Base Scania in support of Operation Constant Solidarity, Sept. 1. The operation was a combined effort between the 8th Iraqi Army Division and MND-B soldiers to weed out more than 2,000 terrorists in and around the city of Diwaniyah. The brigade received its marching orders to deploy Guided Multiple...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2006 – Stryker Brigade soldiers killed a terrorist and wounded another after spotting them attempting to place an anti-tank mine near Muqdadiya, in Iraq’s Diyala province, yesterday, U.S. military officials said. The patrol from Comanche Troop, 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, investigated the scene and found the mine set to detonate on a passing vehicle. An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the mine on site. Iraqi and coalition forces continue to work throughout Diyala province to stop insurgent activity and increase security in the multi-ethnic region, officials said. In addition,...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2006 -- The United States and Pakistan are partners in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and in fighting extremists and terrorists in the region around Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, the U.S. and Pakistani presidents said in a White House news conference today. “We're on the hunt together,” President Bush said following a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. “It's in the president's interest that al Qaeda be brought to justice. And it's in our interests. And we collaborate, and we strategize, and we talk a lot about how best to do this.” Musharraf disputed media...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERMEL, Afghanistan (Army News Service, Sept. 14, 2006) – Spec. Jose Pantoja shows off the danger of his mission along the border region of eastern Afghanistan: a scar on his cheek from an enemy bullet. During one of the longest firefights his company has encountered – nearly four hours long – three others sustained gunshot wounds, and nearly everyone took minor wounds from rocket propelled grenade shrapnel. “One of our guys actually got shot in his helmet,” Pantoja said. “It knocked him down, but he got up and kept fighting.” Engaging in firefights is almost daily life...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2006 – Iraqi army soldiers freed a man who was being held and tortured by members of an illegal armed group in Diwaniyah, Iraq, during a raid today, U.S. military officials said. The captive had been beaten, tortured and bound. He said he had been held for the past three days. He also stated that the four people abusing him fled just prior to the arrival of Iraqi assault forces. The man was immediately treated by medical personnel and then evacuated, officials said. The four suspects are thought to be members of a group engaged in sectarian...

Writing the history of our time in song MIDI - AMERICA Scum, they are nothing but scum...every day they preach to the dumb Hate...they are filled with Bush hate...we knew they...would soon meet their fate They are losers, one and all...BK for Air America We are laughing as they fall...BK for Air America Blame...who are they gonna blame? Their hosts are really lame...I hear a flush...I hear a flush Our side...knows how to do a show Market share's sure to grow...Elder and Rush...Elder and Rush They are losers, one and all...BK for Air America We are laughing as they fall...BK...

Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctionsby John in DC - 9/07/2006 06:02:00 PM This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble. Read it, then read my analysis of it below:September 7, 2006 Mr. Robert A. Iger President and...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2006 – Coalition soldiers killed a known Taliban commander and 15 other militants in Afghanistan Aug. 25, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials said in a news release. Coalition forces engaged Taliban leaders with joint in the central Khod Valley of Uruzgan province, officials said. The Taliban commander and his associates were involved in attacks against the Afghan people, as well as Afghan, International Security Assistance Force and coalition forces, officials said. Coalition forces used deliberate measures to limit the chances of property damage. No damage was reported to a mosque adjacent to the militant’s safe house after...

Whenever I hear New York Senator Hillary Clinton talk tough about terrorism, I'm always surprised that a bolt of lightning doesn't strike her atop her $3,000.00 haircut. If I wasn't so angered by her calculating rhetoric I'd probably roll on the floor laughing each time she spoke with her trademark shrill, piercing voice. She's tough on terrorism as long as it brings her closer to her ultimate goal of sitting in the Oval Office. And with the Clintons, talk is cheap therefore they are all talk. But as far as actions, Bill and Hillary's political history reveals they are easily...

A letter to the Editor; Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns' early-bird special? Any response would be appreciated. Tom MacRae, Peoria3

In the wake of the decision by the New York Times to reveal covert tactics used by our nation to track terrorist financing as a means of defeating them, Bill Keller offered the following as part of his explanation: Since September 11, 2001, our government has launched broad and secret anti-terror monitoring programs without seeking authorizing legislation and without fully briefing the Congress. Most Americans seem to support extraordinary measures in defense against this extraordinary threat, but some officials who have been involved in these programs have spoken to the Times about their discomfort over the legality of the government's...