Free Republic

President Obama and his family are expected to leave Washington later this week for a 17-day vacation in Hawaii. This will be the First Family´s sixth Christmas in Hawaii since he was elected president, and in keeping with tradition they are expected to spend it on the island of Kailua. The White House announced on Friday that the Obamas will depart next week after what is expected to be a light work schedule for the president in Washington.The president and his family traditionally spend their Christmas break in a rented private beach front residence with spectacular ocean views.

Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary Next, they'll be trying to snuff out officers who are too straight, or too white... (Gazette) A religious rights group is calling for the removal of the Air Force Academy’s top officer after a flap over a speaker planned for a February prayer luncheon at the school.The Military Religious Freedom Foundation says the academy’s choice of retired Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary shows that superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould remains tilted toward evangelical Christianity and tolerates an environment where proselytizing is accepted.Lt. Gen. Mike Gould“We’re done,” said academy graduate Mikey Weinstein, the foundation’s founder and...

WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- A Tennessee Democrat is defending his comparison of Republican health care arguments to Nazi propaganda. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis made the remarks earlier this week as House lawmaker debated repealing the new health care law. Cohen, who is Jewish, said Republicans are repeating lies and spreading false information, much like Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels did about Jews before the Holocaust.

<p>Alpert, who is also seeking the Democratic Senate nomination, said the Times revelations are "pretty striking" and fly in the face of Blumenthal's public image.</p>

When Barack Obama’s two faculty mentors at Harvard Law got in trouble for plagiarism, they were rescued by Dean Elena Kagan. In 1989, Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe hired first-year Harvard law student Barack Obama as his research assistant.  After Obama was elected president, Tribe would gush, "His stunning combination of analytical brilliance and personal charisma, openness and maturity, vision and pragmatism, was unmistakable from my very first encounter." Obama had one other prominent mentor among the Harvard faculty, Professor Charles Ogletree, an African American.  In the run-up to the election, Ogletree would enthuse, "I'm so excited about this candidacy...