Free Republic

<p>FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin promises to limit her enthusiasm during her visit to North Carolina's Fort Bragg.</p> <p>The former Republican vice presidential candidate planned to sign copies of her new memoir at a post store Monday. Army officials say Palin will not make a speech, pose for photos, or personalize notes in the books she signs.</p>

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday that a proposed ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman cannot go forward, reaffirming an earlier ruling that such a vote would be discriminatory. The board cited the city Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination against gay men and lesbians. The board decision, which will probably be challenged in court, means the D.C. Council can move forward with its plans to vote on a bill next month to legalize same-sex marriage. The council on Tuesday scheduled a vote for Dec. 1. "We have considered all of the...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Cancer experts fear new U.S. breast imaging guidelines that recommend against routine screening mammograms for women in their 40s may have their roots in the current drive in Washington to reform healthcare. Critics of the guidelines, issued on Monday by the U.S. Services Task Force, an independent panel sponsored by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Quality, say the new guidelines are a step backward and will lead to more cancer deaths. Here are some of their concerns. * Dr Carol Lee, chairwoman of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission, said she fears insurers -- both...

"...These soldiers were entrusted to carry fully automatic, military assault rifles when deployed to Afghanistan, where the shooter was about to be sent. But in America, these same soldiers are disarmed when on base. From the Associated Press: Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises...."

According to an intelligence source speaking to the Northeast Intelligence Network, forensic analysis of Nidal Malik HASAN’s computer and other media determined that HASAN had routinely visited al Qaeda and Islamic terrorist web sites in months and weeks leading to last week’s massacre at Fort Hood. According to this investigative source, HASAN also downloaded material from the web site operated by former Dar al Hijrah mosque leader and terrorist facilitator Anwar Nasser al Awlaki. As reported here, al Awlaki was an imam at the Dar al Hijrah mosque in Fall Church, Virginia in 2001, where he advised and facilitated two...

This year's conference of the Francophone European Association for Bahá’í Studies (Association francophone européenne des études bahá’íes, AFEEB) on 24 and 25 October 2009 in Luxembourg discussed the future world order and global governance. The programme included a presentation of the concept of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) by the Chairman of the Committee for a Democratic U.N., Andreas Bummel. Outlining the path towards a directly elected world parliament, Mr Bummel stressed the "spiritual dimension" of the efforts. "The establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly would represent a changed consciousness. For the first time in human history such a...

A judge in Milan convicted 23 Americans today of the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003, culminating a landmark trial that gave a look into the secret world of CIA renditions of terror suspects. Judge Oscar Magi acquitted three Americans, including the former CIA station chief in Italy, because they had diplomatic immunity when a secret team abducted militant cleric Abu Omar in Milan and flew him to Egypt, where he underwent months of torture and abuse. The Americans were tried in absentia, and given that the U.S. government has long declined to cooperate with the prosecution, it seemed...

The Federal Reserve Banking System has been around almost one hundred years. It has never been audited. The Fed answers to no one. The Fed has loaned over twelve trillion dollars of taxpayer money, our money. To whom? Only the Fed knows. Recently the chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, was called before Congress and when asked who received loans and bailout money, he told Congress it was none of their business.

Former police association contractor charged with snooping on 'Joe the Plumber' Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:42 AM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch A former contractor for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police has been charged with rummaging through state computers to retrieve confidential information about "Joe the Plumber." Brett A. Gerke, 52, of 2329 Woodcreek Place on the Far North Side, is charged with attempted unauthorized use of property. Gerke entered a diversion program on Oct. 2, which typically results in the dismissal of a criminal charge. He has not entered a plea. The charge is a first-degree...

A Georgia judge has blasted attorney Orly Taitz, who has handled a number of court challenges to President Barack Obama's eligibility under the constitutional demand the Oval Office be occupied only by a "natural born" citizen, fining her $20,000 for what he called "frivolous" court actions, and he then mocked the concern over Obama's background. "Although counsel's present concern is the location of the president's birth, it does not take much imagination to extend the theory to his birthday," wrote U.S. District Judge Clay Land in an order released today. "Perhaps, he looks 'too young' to be president, and he...

John McCain's campaign is still being audited by the Federal Elections Commission, while Obama – the only presidential candidate in history since the public finance system was established to decline public funds during the general election – may have escaped similar scrutiny by the FEC. An FEC spokesman told WND that the commission is obligated to complete an audit of McCain's campaign because he received public funds during the general election. "Under regulations, that is automatically audited by the FEC once you receive public funds," he said. "For the Obama committee, there's a possibility, just like with any other committee,...

Barack Obama is fighting a lot of political wars these days. The most important, is the war over the war in Afghanistan. Then there's the war over health care. And spending. And the environment. And financial regulation. And on and on. They're all serious and time consuming. But the war that has become unexpectedly intense in recent days isn't about any particular policy. It's the war over personnel -- the president's choices to fill important but not necessarily high-profile jobs in his administration. Some of Obama's choices have been people with radical pasts -- or radical presents. Others are so...

The B-Cast: How Obama's 'Coalitions of Power' Are Key to 'Stealthy Agenda'

In a 24-page filing littered with all-caps, bold, and underlined text, Birther attorney Orly Taitz is demanding that a federal judge recuse himself in a case that has morphed from a soldier's attempt to resist Barack Obama's orders to what Taitz sees as a prosecution of herself. Taitz alleges that Judge Clay Land met with Attorney General Eric Holder, who was allegedly spotted at a small coffee shop across from Land's courtroom in Columbus, Georgia, on the day of a Birther hearing. A strange affidavit by one Robert Douglas describes the putative sighting of Holder, sans entourage, who "probably thought...

A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release notes and summaries of former Vice President Dick Cheney's 2004 interview with Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald in the CIA leak case, but is allowing the deletion of what may be some of the most interesting details in the documents. In a ruling issued Thursday morning, Judge Emmet Sullivan flatly rejected claims by both Bush and Obama appointees at DOJ that the entirety of the records should be withheld because their disclosure could discourage White House officials from cooperating in future investigations. The judge said the prospect of such inquiries was...

Patrick Gaspard, considered one of the most powerful figures in the Obama White House, is a "longtime ACORN operative" and former union official, according to a report posted Monday on the American Spectator's online blog. Gaspard's name recently surfaced as the official President Obama dispatched to urge beleaguered New York Gov. David Paterson not to run for another term. Paterson insists he'll continue to run for governor even without Obama's support. Gaspard has extensive ties to organized labor and community-organizing groups. One measure of his influence in the White House: He holds the same "political affairs director" title that belonged...

The ACORN vote in the House is stunning news. Just 48 hours after Republican Leader John Boehner introduced the "Defund ACORN Act," the bill -- which most Republicans thought Democrats would do anything to block -- passed by a resounding 345-75 vote. It would never have made it to a vote had not the Democratic leadership decided to allow it, and the winning total included 172 Democrats. Yes, 172 House Democrats voted to totally cut off funding for an organization that has worked for years on behalf of Democrats nationwide. Couple that with the 83-7 Senate vote to cut off...

In the war on the czars, Glenn Beck and the GOP are picking up reinforcements from an unlikely source: the Democratic Party. The Fox News host and leading Republican lawmakers have been hammering President Barack Obama for weeks over a proliferation of policy “czars” — presidential appointees who don’t have to be confirmed by the Senate and aren’t easily held to account by Senate oversight committees. Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin joined the anti-czar chorus Wednesday, asking Obama to detail the roles and responsibilities of all of the czars in his administration and to explain why he believes the...

James O'Keefe's foray into filmmaking may cost him a few years in the slammer. O'Keefe and fellow conservative activist/budding investigative journalist Hannah Giles were the ones who dressed up like a pimp and a prostitute, respectively (or not), and went to the offices of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in D.C. and Baltimore looking for advice on how to buy a house. The resulting video caused quite a commotion and resulted in the firing of four ACORN employees, as well as other repercussions for those who support the organization. In Maryland, it's against the law to...

The FBI since the September 11 attacks has forged ties with a number of Muslim groups linked to a secretive organization that calls for the methodical takeover of the United States. HUMAN EVENTS has obtained an eight-page memo written by Washington Field Office officials which celebrates the way the FBI, whose mission is law enforcement, has created these "partnerships." Critics, some within the FBI, say the bureau is increasing the statue of groups whose long-term ideological goal is to bring Islamic law to America through jihad, or struggle. A former agent told HUMAN EVENTS the bureau is dealing with the...

Today, President Barack H. Obama appointed yet another “czar”, making the announcement at an AFL-CIO Laborious Day picnic in Cincinnati today; Ron Bloom will make the 33rd Obamic Czar, counting Van Jones, who just resigned but will surely be replaced with a less explosive (but every bit as Marxist) appointee, and after Obama taps someone else to fill Bloom’s old position as Car Czar. Thanks to Glenn Beck, who has done a bravura job of journalism, here are the Czars; entries in blue are those Czar positions created expressly by Barack Obama: Richard Holbrooke — Afghanistan Czar Jeffrey Crowley —...

Just when you thought the New York Times could not be any more partisan, biased and hypocritical, they go and pull a stunt that would make Janeane Garofalo blush.

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The founders of the National Republican Trust PAC (NRTP), Scott Wheeler and Peter Leitner, are set to release a powerful expose on Barack Obama's unelected shadow government. The book, "Shadow Government: What Obama Doesn't Want You To Know About His Czars," scheduled for release in mid-September is available for order at GOPTrust.com. Several thousand copies have been pre-ordered by the public. -- Adolfo Carrion, former Bronx Borough President with a history of taking bribes and putting the interests of his donors above those of the community was named Director of Urban Affairs by Obama....

Obama choice of Czars in his Shadow Government has cast doubts about his judgement and raises questions about his plans for America that conflict with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The men's restroom on the second floor of the Volusia Mall Sears is no place for children, police said Wednesday with the release of surveillance photos of a man believed to have made sexual advances toward a 13-year-old boy. "Our biggest fear is children going into these bathrooms, especially with these predators circling around," Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. "It was just a matter of time before something like this was going to happen." The boy, visiting from Illinois with his godparents, was propositioned two weeks ago in the restroom, Chitwood said. The man was in a...

The purpose of this thread is to secure a commitment from each local Principal to provide an opt-out so that no one is forced to endure Obama's subtle, presumptuous speech. Below, I will provide a sample of reasonable letters we want the Principal to sign. If refused, we know where they stand and will take the appropriate action against them. Here is an article of how they roll in Colorado. http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/09/douglas_county_school_allows_p.php It would be useful if the only comments on this thread are how to do this, report your results and contact information for the press to report and follow-up...

Obama's choices for his Shadow Government has exposed the direction he wants to take the United States. Almost daily, as the backgrounds and views of these appointees become known, it is becoming a wake-up call to Americans that a threat is growing to the freedoms that were once taken for granted. And just how precious are the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

State officials are examining whether public money has been improperly used to pay for Islamic mosques on charter school campuses in Blaine and Inver Grove Heights. Chas Anderson, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education, said officials will study Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy's (TiZA) use of state "lease aid'' grants, which were created more than a decade ago to help charter schools rent adequate facilities. "If it is subsidizing a mosque, in our view, that would be a violation of state and federal law,'' Anderson said. The probe is the latest in a series of church-vs.-state conflicts involving TiZA...

B. Hussein Obama, we know about the company you keep. In your case the distance is further than you think. The Confessor knows the depth of the well from which you came and the people know your talk is cheap. This is part two of a look at your czars, the people you said we should judge you by, so let the judgment begin: Joe Goebbels, Behavioral Science Czar. Okay, so Goebbels is dead and the position is currently vacant, but on July 30th, 2009, at the behest of B. Hussein Obama, Congress held a hearing on the creation of...

Page down until you come to the video. Glenn Beck Interviews Rush Limbaugh Video

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor's large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.

President Obama's Shadow Government has begun to attract attention as more is known about the people he has appointed to positions that need no Congressional approval.

<p>A Florida teenager could face felony vandalism charges for allegedly gluing posters depicting President Obama as the Joker onto public property, FOXNews.com has learned.</p> <p>Clermont, Fla., Police Capt. Eric Jensen said the state attorney will review evidence to determine whether to charge the unidentified teenager with gluing "dozens" of the posters last week to the city's light poles, public and private buildings, bridge overpasses, road signs and a mailbox.</p>

When President Obama today awards a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk, it may mark the first time in history that the nation's highest civilian award has been granted primarily on the basis of someone's sex life. As the White House announcement explained, "Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977." Yet Milk served in that office for less than a year, so that hardly qualifies him for the Medal of Freedom. Milk was also assassinated...

Do you remember that 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate which concluded -- to virtually everyone's astonishment -- that four years earlier Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program? Publication of that NIE cut the ground out from under the Bush administration's efforts to prevent Iran from getting its hands on a nuclear bomb.  After all, why pressure the mullahs in Teheran to stop a program they'd already abandoned?  And, of course, the NIE's conclusion was cited by President Bush's political enemies as (further) evidence that the President and his team were so driven by their hard-line ideology that they (as...

The White House has taken on a wider role in forming a backup government in case a crisis forces officials to leave Washington. Government officials familiar with the plans tell The New York Times that the initiative began during the final months of the Bush administration, and the Obama administration decided to leave it in place. The White House Military Office will now lead the way in installing a “shadow government” should officials have to leave the capital because of a terrorist strike or some other catastrophe. The contingency plans include moving those officials to Mount Weather, Va. and running...

Barack Hussein Obama’s long-form birth certificate no longer exists! It was destroyed in 2001 when Hawaii went paperless. This startling revelation was reported by Joseph Farah, founder, editor and CEO of Worldnetdaily.com in his article questioning whether or not the story regarding Obama’s eligibility is still relevant. Farah reports that CNN researchers contacted the Hawaii Public Health Department about the missing long-form birth certificate and they were told that the original no longer exists. According to Farah Hawaiian authorities’ story to CNN was that it was destroyed in 2001 when Hawaii went paperless. (see story)

The man who ran the CIA from 2006 through January says he wasn't told by then-vice president Dick Cheney not to brief Congress about a covert program aimed at members of al-Qaida, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports. Gen. Mike Hayden's statement is at odds with a New York Times report Sunday that said the CIA: Withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney is getting a "bum rap" over reports that he ordered the CIA to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress, two former U.S. intelligence officials told CNN Monday. Former Vice President Cheney reportedly told the CIA to withhold information about a counterterrorism program. According to both officials, any intelligence program of "great sensitivity" is first approved by the White House after a series of meetings. In any such situation, once the administration decides to pursue a covert program, there is discussion on whether Congress needs to be briefed, the officials...

The NHS is telling pupils they have a 'right' to an enjoyable sex life in a leaflet being sent to schools. It encourages them to consider an 'orgasm a day' as a way reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke.And if they can't get sex, the leaflet says children should consider masturbation.  The advice appears in guidance circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers. It says experts have for too long concentrated on the need for 'safe sex' and loving relationships - while ignoring the main reason people have sex, for enjoyment.But family groups condemned the guidance last...

Reporting from Mecca, Calif. -- An hour before dawn in the camp of last resort. Dozens of men and a few women are asleep in the beds of pickup trucks, in the back seats of cars or on flattened cardboard boxes in the dirt behind the Toro Loco market. The air is cool, but the terrible sun is close at hand. Martin Zavala is wrapped in a blanket, his head resting on a Scooby-Doo pillow, a pack of Marlboros under his neck. Thieves prowl at night and will snatch what is not secured. Drunks and meth-addled tweakers tease the dozing...

The Supreme Court announced Monday it will not give further consideration to a lawsuit brought by a fired CIA agent and her husband against high ranking Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney. The decision is a victory for Cheney and his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. They and nine unnamed co-defendants were sued by Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband Joseph after her CIA cover was leaked to reporters.

The FDA says consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products immediately. All the over-the-counter products contain zinc. Scientists say that ingredient may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell.

An official responsible for monitoring how federal funds for volunteerism are spent told FOX News he was fired by President Obama for doing his job, and suggested it was payback for investigating the alleged misuse of grant money by the Sacramento mayor, an Obama backer. Gerald Walpin, who until last week was the chief internal watchdog for AmericCorps and other service programs, suggested "political pressure" was behind his ouster. He said he worried the action will have a "chilling effect" on other inspectors general. Obama gave little explanation for the decision, writing in a letter sent Thursday that he no...

Federal officials say a Washington, D.C.-area couple has been arrested and accused of spying for Cuba. Officials say both are former U.S. government employees -- he from the State Department, she as a Congressional aide. One official says the spying went on for more than two decades. We expect to learn more details later today when a federal indictment is unsealed. For now, officials will not disclose the names or any other details....

The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons. The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an on-line newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That publicity set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document was made public. On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New...

Facefwd.com <> The charges stemmed from an incident at a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day when three members of the party were accused of trying to threaten voters and block poll and campaign workers by the threat of force - one even brandishing what prosecutors call a deadly weapon. The three black panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint in the last days of the Bush administration with violating the voter rights act by using coercion, threats and intimidation. Shabazz allegedly held a nightstick or baton that prosecutors said...

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday declined to file corruption charges against a former California lawmaker, clearing the way for his campaign for Oakland mayor next year. ... The announcement ends an investigation into former state Senate leader Don Perata that stretches back to 2004 and extended to his family and circle of political associates. ... Federal prosecutors released a statement saying only that they were declining to file criminal charges but did not say why. They said they could not "disclose our deliberative process."

Justice Department (through Solicitor General Elena Kagan) urges Supreme Court not to hear appeal from former CIA officer Valerie Plame, after lower courts threw out her lawsuit claiming damages from alleged scheme to invade her privacy by exposing her as a CIA employee. Plame’s exposure led to conviction of Cheney aide Lewis Libby on obstruction of justice charges. -- Josh Gerstein (3:31 p.m.)

In an escalation of arguments over closing a prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, a top Pentagon official says members of Congress must rethink their opposition to accepting these detainees into the United States. Michele Flournoy is President Barack Obama's new Pentagon policy chief. She says members of Congress need to remember that closing the stigmatized prison in Cuba will mean hard choices for everyone. She spoke after Senate Democrats said they won't pay for closure until the administration delivers a satisfactory plan for what to do with the detainees.