Free Republic

You have every right to be mad, Chicago. Something smells rotten in Denmark, and the stench is making everybody hold their noses on this side of the Atlantic. Honk if you hate the IOC process. This was the most frustrating defeat in Chicago's recent sports history. This beats them all, worse the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the 2008 Divisional Playoffs or the Bears losing to the Colts in Super Bowl XLI. This is worse than your favorite No. 1 seed being knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. At least we know how they...

PRINCE William's military deployment to the Falkland Islands has reignited the row over the archipelago's sovereignty. "This circumstance only serves to once again highlight Britain's ongoing military presence in land and sea areas that are part of the Argentine Republic's national territories," an aide to Foreign Minister Jorge Taina said today. Argentina claims ownership of the islands it calls the Malvinas. Prince William will be sent to the Falklands by the Royal Air Force to serve as a search and rescue pilot for a period of three months, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports. He completes his 18-month RAF course later this...

That personal foul was so dirty I can't even begin to describe it. The Cardinals player was on his knees after being nailed by JH, then this **bleep** starts beating him on the head. The dude tries to get up again. JH beats him down again, like 3 more times. Classy, Mr. Harrison.

How the Palin email hacker suspect was caught Thomas Lifson September 20, 2008 TGDaily, a tech site, explains how the suspected Palin email hacker, 20-year-old David Kernell, a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and son of Democratic Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell, was caught. He used a proxy server supposed to anonymize his identity, but the owner was quite upset at being used to cover illegal activities, and was also contacted by the FBI. Read the further details here. It is obvious from posts the hacker made that he was fully conscious of breaking the law. There is some...

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 18, 2008 12:52 AM No, really. The Obama camp and its media water-carriers are seriously accusing John McCain of “cheating” in his appearance over the weekend at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church forum because he was in his motorcade when the program started– and then escorted to an empty room without media hook-ups. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell spread the unsubstantiated rumor that somehow McCain heard Obama’s questions while on his drive. The nutroots went, well, nuts. The NYTimes piled on (“Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t In a ‘Cone of Silence’“). The McCain camp has protested. And now we have...

The summer games are underway in Beijing after no small amount of debate over whether the United States should participate due to China's human rights violations. That debate is over now, but controversy continues. Foreign journalists have gotten a first-hand taste of China's Internet restrictions, one American tourist was murdered and another injured by a Chinese madman who then killed himself, and three Americans protesting religious oppression have been detained and then ejected from the country. However, for some DUmmies, the real controversy is how doggone good the United States is at winning medals, as you will see in...

The Senate has unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States. That is the good news for the presumptive Republican nominee, who was born nearly 72 years ago in a military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, then under U.S. jurisdiction. The bad news is that the nonbinding Senate resolution passed Wednesday night is simply an opinion that has little bearing on an arcane constitutional debate that has preoccupied legal scholars for many weeks.

"The illegal tactics the New England Patriots evidently employed Sunday against the New York Jets -- capturing signals and corresponding audio with a sideline camera -- might have allowed the Patriots to sniff out blitzes had security officials not intervened, scouts and coaches said. "With the computer and video technology, you can dial it up at halftime," an AFC personnel evaluator said. "You can say, 'This is their such-and-such blitz. We'll give you the signal, the code word, and let you know it's coming.'" " (emphasis added).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Copperhead Chronicle Al Benson, Jr. Articles Guess What Folks--Secesson Wasn't Treason by Al Benson Jr. More and more of late I have been reading articles dealing with certain black racist groups that claim to have the best interests of average black folks at heart (they really don't). It seems these organizations can't take time to address the problems of black crime in the black community or of single-parent families in the black community in any meaningful way. It's much more lucrative for them (and it gets more press coverage) if they spend their time and resources attacking Confederate...

Britain forced Argentina to invade the Falkland Islands, the members of General Leopoldo Galtieri's family said yesterday in their first interview since the 1982 conflict. The widow and children of Argentina's former military ruler claimed that the war was engineered by Britain to avoid negotiations that could have led to the loss of sovereignty over the islands. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in the Buenos Aires apartment where Galtieri lived with his wife Lucia until his death in 2003, his son Carlos said: "I am convinced the English wanted the conflict to happen. They had realised they were going to...

The Saints may have lost the NFC championship, but you certainly couldn't tell from the mob of fans that came out in New Orleans at 1:00 in the morning to welcome them home. And, fans that arrived home from Chicago were just as supportive of their team even though many of them took in some extremely crude comments from Chicago fans. In fact, Saints fans say it was cold in the ‘Windy City,' but not nearly as cold as some of the people there. Those Saints fans tell 9News that some Bears fans made reference to Hurricane Katrina in their...

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was created by Congress to inform the public about the impact Abraham Lincoln had on the development of our nation, and to find the best possible ways to honor his accomplishments. The President, the Senate and the House of Representatives appointed a fifteen-member commission to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and to emphasize the contribution of his thoughts and ideals to America and the world. The official public Bicentennial Commemoration launches February 2008 and closes February 2010, with the climax of the Commemoration taking place on February 12, 2009, the 200th anniversary of...

Republicans have declared a 21-17 victory in the fight for control of the Michigan Senate, but Democrats are questioning voting irregularities in Oakland County and Saginaw-area districts. Democrats said a large number of absentee ballots were torn during a vote count in Oakland County's Bloomfield Township and had to be duplicated by hand. Hand counts in Oakland County and outside Saginaw lasted into early hours of Thursday. Democrats said they are reviewing their options but have not decided whether to ask for recounts. Senate Republicans called Democrats sore losers and have denied any irregularities.

NORMAN, Okla. -- University of Oklahoma president David Boren sent a letter to Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg on Monday, asking him to push for the Sooners' game against Oregon to be eliminated from the record books and have the Pac-10 officials involved in the game suspended for the remainder of the seasonhttp://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2593369

UPDATE: Looks like Bill is going to need a case of Pepto, email from overseas, guess what “bootleg” movie is showing up? Told you, can’t stop the flood. Look for the “Berger Cuts” to show up on You Tube any day now.

Columbus -- Ballots were sabotaged in Democratic areas, including Cleveland, and double-counted in Republican strongholds during the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, said critics bringing new charges of rigging to favor George W. Bush. Those critics include advocacy attorneys and community groups led by voting rights attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who had also filed an unsuccessful suit challenging the election. They sued Secetary of State Ken Blackwell in federal court Thursday, hoping to preserve the paper ballots from that election until they can further examine their theory. By federal law, the secretary of state can destroy the ballots 22 months after...

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — The leading GOP candidate to replace U.S. Rep. Bob Ney is eligible to run in the primary, a county elections board ruled yesterday, denying a complaint filed by the brother of one of her opponents. The Tuscarawas County Board of Elections voted 2-1 along party lines against the challenge, which asserted that state Sen. Joy Padgett could not run because she already lost an election this year. One board member, Socrates Space, abstained from voting because his son, Dover law director Zack Space, is the Democratic candidate who will face the winner of the primary in...

Presidential election protests will call for ballot-by-ballot recount MONTERREY, Mexico - Supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount. Protesters gathered outside the country’s 300 electoral districts before heading to the capital, where a mass rally is planned for Sunday to denounce official results showing conservative Felipe Calderon as the apparent winner of the July 2 election. Carrying signs that read “Vote by vote! No to electoral fraud!” and wearing yellow, the color of Lopez Obrador’s Democratic Revolution Party, dozens of...

BERLIN (AP) -- Zinedine Zidane cut short his dazzling World Cup and closed his career with an ugly head butt -- and a loss. The France captain was given a red card for slamming the crown of his bald head into the center of Italy defender Marco Materazzi's chest after the two exchanged words while walking down the field in extra time. The game was tied 1-1 when Zidane was sent off, head bowed, in the 110th minute Sunday. Without their sharpshooting captain, France couldn't unlock Italy's defense and went on to lose in a shootout, 5-3. Zidane's strike was...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A massive crowd, estimated at 280,000 by authorities and 400,000 by organizers, has protested the conservative victory in Mexico's presidential election, which the leftist candidate challenged in court. "We are requesting a ballot-by-ballot recount," said leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, drawing rousing cheers from the crowd that packed Mexico City's huge downtown Zocalo square and neighboring streets. "We are certain we triumphed on July 2," he said, claiming widespread irregularities marked the electoral process that gave victory by a razor-thin margin to conservative Felipe Calderon, of the governing National Action Party (PAN.) He called for nationwide...

After a huge push from the illegal alien lobby, Chris "King of Amnesty" Cannon defeated Team America endorsed Candidate John Jacob 56-44% in Utah's 3rd congressional district.While we are obviously disapointed in the result, the campaign was still a victory for the cause of secure borders. Cannon accredits his win to "extremists" who backed Jacob (i.e. us) and turned off voters. This couldn't be further for the truth. If he didn't have to hide from his pro-illegal record, Cannon would have coasted to victory. In order to defeat a political novice, Cannon had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Jacobs Concedes, Cannon Moves on to General Election June 27th, 2006 @ 11:12pm SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, challenged by a political newcomer who accused the five-term incumbent of being soft on illegal immigration, was leading in Utah's Republican primary Tuesday with more than half of precincts reporting. Cannon led John Jacob 58 percent to 42 percent, or 19,575 votes to 14,395 votes, with 313 of 623 precincts reporting. That includes 100 percent of returns from Juab, Beaver and Millard counties. The 3rd Congressional District race focused primarily on who stands taller in opposition to Bush's...

Actor Ben Affleck has made it very clear where his sympathies lie in the Leakgate affair -- and it isn't with the White House. Appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Affleck charged that President Bush "probably also leaked” CIA agent Valerie Plame's name and so "if he did, you can be hung for that! That's treason!” He continued: "You could be killed. That's not a joking around Tom DeLay 'I'll do a year, I bribed the state officials with corporate money.' That's like they shoot you in the battlefield for doing that.” Affleck also called DeLay a "criminal."

SAN ANTONIO--More than one political venture has met an unseemly end in the hardscrabble landscape of South Texas. It was here, in 1948, that Box 13 gave Lyndon Johnson a dubious 87-vote primary victory, crushing former Gov. Coke Stevenson's Senate aspirations. It was here, two years ago, that a bitter primary fight for a House seat shattered a friendship between two Hispanic Democrats. And it was here, this month, in a rematch of that contest, that a blogger-led quest to defeat a mainstream Democrat and drive the party further to the left smashed head-on into the realities of local politics....

Director Oliver Stone says he doesn't know if America is ready for his upcoming film about the September 11 terror attacks, but stresses the movie is a human rather than political account of the tragedy. The often controversial three-times Oscar-winner said "World Trade Center", to be released this year around the fifth anniversary of the attacks, documented a day in the life of two men trapped at the scene, their rescuers and families. Speaking to an audience during a question and answer session late Monday at the Bangkok International Film Festival, Stone was asked if Americans were ready for the...

BERLIN (Hollywood Reporter) - Turkey's "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq," an action drama that depicts U.S. troops in Iraq committing multiple atrocities, is setting new box-office records in its homeland. The movie has sold more than 3 million tickets since its February 3 release, according to Turkish tracking agency Kenda. The current record-holder for ticket sales in Turkey is "G.O.R.A.," which drew 4 million admissions in 2004. "'Valley of the Wolves' will maybe reach 5 million," a Kenda representative said... Billy Zane stars as the evangelistic local U.S. commander, a Col. Kurtz-like figure intent on retaining control of the various...

(snip)....Under a three-year contract that went into place Feb. 1, state agencies are directed to buy all their office supplies from Atlanta-based Office Depot. In the past, agencies had been allowed to choose from several companies, including several North Carolina suppliers. "The small businesses are the ones who pay the most taxes back to the state," said Christopher Sharpe, vice president of Piedmont Office Suppliers in Greensboro. "It won't put us out of business, but it will definitely hurt the bottom line." He estimated the contract will cost six independent suppliers in the state more than 100 jobs and $24.5...

Al Gore, the Vice President under President Bill Clinton and the losing 2000 Democratic Party presidential candidate, last Sunday was in Saudi Arabia, bad-mouthing the United States. Was Gore’s motive money and political ambition? America’s government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Gore told a Saudi audience at the Jiddah Economic Forum. Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up,” said Gore, and held in “unforgivable” conditions. Gore did not mention that 15 of the 19 terrorists who carried out mass murder on September 11 in the United States were Saudis. Nor did Gore mention...

It is more than 20 years later, and Milo Hamilton hasn't forgotten. Not a single minute. Not a single incident. Not a single insult. Not a single word. And now the words are his -- more than 4,000 of them in an explosive chapter in his new autobiography that savages Harry Caray from beginning to end. ''I just felt nobody really knew him,'' Hamilton, who succeeded Jack Brickhouse as the Cubs broadcaster in 1980, said Wednesday from his home in Houston. ''I think it's time they did.'' IN HIS WORDS ''I see [the statue of Harry Caray] every time the...

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, promoting his book in New Mexico, said that Iran simply wants peaceful nuclear power, not nuclear weapons, and that US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, already has a speech written for the coming US nuclear bombing of Iran. “We just don’t know when, but it’s going to happen,” Scott Ritter said to a crowd of about 150 at the James A. Little Theater on Sunday night. Ritter described how the U.S. government might justify war with Iran in a scenario similar to the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He also argued that Iran...

Fracas erupts at GOP caucus By Mark LaFlamme, Staff Writer Tuesday, February 7,2006 LEWISTON - Stavros Mendros just wanted to keep the peace. The Republican county caucus was over and most participants had left. But there was still a small group of people there and an argument was getting heated. "There were some pretty nasty words being said. I just kept trying to calm it down, calm it down," Mendros, a city councilor, said Monday, two days after a scuffle at the Republican caucus. "The whole way it developed and exploded just made no sense." Bruce Boutilier, 40, of Auburn...

DETROIT -- Dear Seahawks fans: I've been tough on your team the last few weeks. I've called your club the Sea Frauds and said they didn't belong in a Super Bowl. After watching Sunday night's game, I believe that more than ever. But, as I've also written, your team was blessed all the way to Detroit. This was the first Super Bowl that found itself with two Cinderella stories. These Steelers, the AFC's bottom seed, weren't exactly Terry Bradshaw's Steelers of the late '70s. But although these Steelers were favored by 4 -- and although I picked them 24-14 --...

Upon further review, SportsNation finds insufficient reason to get excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Sunday. By beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, the Steelers gave Jerome Bettis the perfect parting gift as the burly running back heads into retirement. The Steelers also became just the third franchise to win a fifth Super Bowl, although SportsNation voters still rank them behind the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys for dominance during the Super Bowl era. But while Pittsburgh fans can revel in the moment of Antwaan Randle El's strike to Hines Ward and savor the...

Final confirmation of Supreme Court nominee expected Tuesday WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Judge Samuel Alito stands just one step away from a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court after a spirited ninth-inning campaign by some Democratic senators to block his nomination fizzled Monday evening.The final vote on Alito's nomination is now scheduled for Tuesday morning, and, with at least 57 senators on board, approval is virtually assured.Alito's supporters in the Senate, as expected, cleared the final roadblock Monday when senators, by a vote of 72-25, decided to cut off debate and proceed to a final vote, rebuffing an attempt by...

DIRECTOR Steven Spielberg says moviemakers have become much more politically vocal since the re-election of President George W. Bush. In remarks released by Newsweek magazine yesterday, Spielberg said: "I just feel that filmmakers are much more proactive since the second Bush Administration. "I think that everybody is trying to declare their independence and state their case for the things that we believe in. No one is really representing us, so we're now representing our own feelings, and we're trying to strike back."

I'll keep this short and bitter. Every god damned blue state senator who failed to sign on to the Alito filibuster MUST be fought in the primaries and replaced. The Democratic party has failed the rank and file members. It is time to take back the Democratic party from the right wing, loser hacks who have been fumblingly, failingly controlling it and the candidates put forward. I can't believe how many people tell me that they believe the DLC and right wing democrats are really Republican operators. IN the OpEdNews.com/Zogby people's poll I just ran in Pennsylvania, about 29% of...

CNN's CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: 'IRAQ WAR HAS BEEN A DISASTER' Mon Jan 30 2006 21:56:52 ET CNN's top war correspondent Christiane Amanpour now says the Iraq war has been a disaster and has created a "black hole." Amanpour made the comments Monday evening on the all-news network. "The Iraq war has been a disaster. It's a spiraling security disaster," Amanpour explains to Larry King. "It just gets worse and worse." MORE

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) failed today to address rumors that Nevada Senator Harry Reid will step down next month as Senate Minority Leader. Reid has been stung by revelations that his political action committee (PAC) accepted more than $60,000 in contributions from Indian tribes linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Biden avoided discussing either the Reid situation or any upcoming changes in Senate Democratic leadership. Reid is no stranger to scandal, having been the subject of a 1979 Justice Department probe into allegations that Reid — then Nevada Gaming Commission chairman — had received bribes...

WASHINGTON -- Long-smoldering Democratic dissension flared openly Friday as liberals sought support for a last-minute filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito against the advice of leaders worried about a backlash in the 2006 elections. "I reject those notions that there ought to somehow be some political calculus about the future. ... The choice is now," said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential candidate and a White House hopeful for 2008. He said it was imperative to fight for "those people who count on us to stand up and protect them." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announced she would...

"Senator Clinton will vote against cloture, thereby supporting the filibuster of Judge Alito’s nomination," said Philippe Reines, press secretary to Sen. Clinton.

Filibuster Alito by John Kerry Do I support a filibuster? The answer is yes. Yesterday Senator Kennedy and I spoke with our colleagues about it. I don't have a shred of doubt in my opposition to Sam Alto's nomination. I know Senator Kennedy does not either. He has truly been a great leader in the effort to oppose Judge Alito. I spent a lot of time over the last years thinking about the Supreme Court and who America needs on the highest court in the land. So I don't hesitate a minute in saying that Sam Alito is not that...

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained on Thursday that Louisiana is not getting its fair share of hurricane aid from the federal government. Blanco said that Louisiana suffered 70 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but that it is not getting an equivalent amount in aid. "We are all American citizens, we cannot allow ourselves to be treated like second-class citizens," the governor said during an update on rebuilding to the New Orleans city council. Sam Jones, Blanco's deputy director of community programs, pointed out that Louisiana got only $6.2 billion out of $11.5 billion in Community...

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 10:00 p.m. EST President Bush Blamed for Mine Disaster Less than 24-hours after 12 of the 13 workers trapped by a West Virginia mine explosion were found dead, critics were already politicizing the disaster, with at least one mine safety expert blaming President Bush. "This mine should have been closed," former director of the National Mine Safety and Health Academy, Jack Spadaro, told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" Wednesday night. "There were too many serious [safety] violations and the record is very clear," he added. Asked why the allegedly unsafe mine continued to operate, Spadaro...

Global petition to stop the war in Iraq Date: 5 Jan 2006 GLOBAL CALL FOR NONVIOLENT CIVIL RESISTANCE TO END THE U.S.-LED MILITARY OCCUPATION OF IRAQ Contact: dm@aglobalcall.org Global Call to Action Voluntown, CT, USA Our website: www.aglobalcall.org FROM: Nobel Peace and Literature Laureates Cindy Sheehan and other peace and human-rights activists Religious leaders of various traditions Prisoners of Conscience Former government ministers Poets, authors, journalists A Global Call for Nonviolent Civil Resistance at U.S. and British government installations around the world has been issued by Nobel Peace and Literature Laureates along with Cindy Sheehan and other peace and human-rights activists, religious...

A too-close-to-call federal election campaign in Canada has spurred the nation’s beleaguered Liberal leader to try and cling to power by attacking the nation’s oldest ally and largest trading partner. That Canada sells 83% of its world exports to the United States and some 50% of all Canadian jobs depend either directly or indirectly on those exports seems irrelevant right now. It’s a bizarre world Up North these days. Prime Minister Paul Martin is in the fight of his political life against Conservative leader Stephen Harper and that’s obviously why he’s been trying to whip up anti-American fervor in the...

DePaul U Confronts Amerikan "Empire" By Steven Plaut FrontPageMagazine.com | January 3, 2006 Q: How do you know when America has crossed the line into an oppressive, occupational empire? A: When DePaul University begins studying it. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DePaul and its Dean, one Chuck Suchar (a sociologist), have officially announced a “College Theme Series” entitled “Confronting Empire” for the 2005-6 academic year. This is a DePaul faculty initiative involving the participation of various departments and programs throughout the college. The organizers call themselves the “Empire Committee,” sounding like something out of Star Wars. Naturally,...

Nevadan told he'll get chilly reception "Don't lump me in with Jack Abramoff. This is a Republican scandal." HARRY REID WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to take on Republicans in their own backyards when he visits five "red states" next month to promote a theme that Republican-led Washington is corrupt and needs to be cleaned up, a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.Reid, the Senate minority leader, has scheduled a three-day tour with stops in Phoenix; Denver; Salt Lake City; Pocatello, Idaho; and Omaha, Neb. All are in "Republican red" states that President Bush carried in the 2004 election. "He...

DENVER (AP) - The Air Force Reserve is discharging a lieutenant colonel accused of causing thousands of dollars in damage by defacing cars bearing pro-Bush bumper stickers, his lawyer and military officials confirmed Friday.