Free Republic

I don’t know what to say about this that I didn’t already say when she asked The One a stupid question about Israeli nukes at his February presser, so refresh your memory. Grandstanding hack then, grandstanding hack now. In fairness to the left, as much as she prides herself on being a liberal, I think denial about Iran’s intentions is a minority position even on their side. The only question here, really, is whether she earnestly doubts that Iranian nuclear weapons would pose a threat or whether she recognizes that they would but is willing to tolerate them anyway in...

IT'S one doozy of a case of "he said, she said." House Speaker Nancy Pel osi, a senior Democrat, and the White House-appointed CIA director, Leon Panetta, are having a tiff about "who told whom what when" regarding the interrogation of al Qaeda terrorists. Pelosi is claiming the CIA misled Congress about the use of waterboarding against al Qaeda operatives when it briefed the House Intelligence Committee back in the War on Terror's early days. The CIA -- and a host of others -- are saying that it ain't so and that the speaker and the Congress were advised of...

If there is an independent truth commission into the use of alleged torture, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, could find herself in the dock. After a series of incomplete, belated and apparently contradictory Pelosi accounts of CIA briefings to her and her staff, the big question in Washington today is: What did she know about waterboarding and when did she know it? Former Bush consigliere Karl Rove lays out the charges against her here. Fighting fire with fire today, Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to Congress as a diversionary tactic to cover up lies about Iraq...

The US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has accused the Bush-era CIA of misleading her about alleged torture of suspected terrorists and denied her failure to object to such tactics made her complicit. "At every step of the way, the administration was misleading the Congress. And that is the issue. And that is why we need a 'truth commission,'" to look into controversial "war on terror" tactics, said the top Democrat. Ms Pelosi, a key ally of President Barack Obama, has drawn fierce Republican charges that she knew years ago about harsh techniques such as the controlled drowning known as waterboarding...

(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job. Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as "female sex workers"--or FSW--and their handlers as "gatekeepers." "Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social...

Dayton, OH (AHN) - Employees of a Dayton, Ohio store say a man stole several articles of clothing on Tuesday and then filled out a job application before leaving. Police arrested Stanley A. Wright, 49, on misdemeanor theft charges after workers at Deveroes said he stole T-shirts and pants, the Dayton Daily News reported. Wright stuffed the stolen items under his shirt and in the waistline of his pants before he made his way to the checkout counter to fill out a job application. As he left the store, the alarm went off. A manager discovered about $400 in apparel...

WASHINGTON (AFP)--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. and its negotiating partners may have to "show some patience" before nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea can resume. Clinton, speaking at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said both the U.S. and Russia want to try to get the North Koreans back to the six-party negotiating framework. "We may have to show some patience before that is achieved, but we agree on the goal that we are aiming for," Clinton said. The U.S. has been involved in negotiations with the two Koreas, China, Japan...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken met privately with Vice President Joe Biden late Wednesday afternoon to update him on the still-contested Minnesota Senate race. Franken, who said he is eager to join the Senate,

Melissa Harris Lacewell penned "Why blacks are more optimistic about race" for Friday's Philadelphia Inquirer. As might be expected, the associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton University and author of the breathlessly anticipated "Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn't Enough," is very, very happy with Barack Obama. But readers may be at least mildly surprised at what she considers the highlight of his inauguration: But the best part of Jan. 20 was that Barack and Michelle got out of the bulletproof black Cadillac and walked the streets -...

In a rare gesture, House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes sent a letter this week to all CIA employees suggesting that Congress shared some blame for the CIA interrogation controversy and should play a more robust role in the intelligence policymaking process. The letter, which was sent Wednesday and made available to The Washington Times on Thursday, appeared to undercut remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that there was little Congress could do about harsh interrogations, including waterboarding. The Times reported last month that members of Congress, including Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, had been briefed on numerous occasions about the...

Judges could be forced to bow to Sharia law in some divorce cases heard in Britain. An EU plan calls for family courts across Europe to hear cases using the laws of whichever country the couple involved have close links to. That could mean a court in England handling a case within the French legal framework, or even applying the laws of Saudi Arabia to a husband and wife living in Britain.

NY Post: The planes flew over the Verrazano Bridge, buzzed the left ear Lady Liberty and then continued up the Hudson past Jersey City and then circling back toward Staten Island, federal sources told the Post. Thousands flooded the streets downtown as buildings called evacuations.

SNIPPET: "“The time has come for the United States to reclaim its rightful role as a diplomatic leader within the U.N. framework of climate change,” Kerry said. At the end of the first panel, Kerry defended the lack of detail in Stern’s testimony. “In fairness – I said this to Sen. Corker – Todd Stern made it clear to me prior to coming up here that not all of the T’s were crossed and I’s dotted,” the Massachusetts senator said. “I knew he was coming here today without the ability to fully flesh out every single component,” Kerry said. “I...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned Israel's right-wing government on Thursday that it risked losing Arab support for fighting any threats from Iran if it shuns Palestinian peace talks. Signaling U.S. impatience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reticence over peace talks, Clinton said Arab nations had made clear to her that Israel must be committed to the Palestinian peace process if it wants help countering Iran. "For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can't stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts. They go hand...

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The United States risks losing influence to China because it is too slow to deliver aid to needy nations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Thursday. Speaking to a congressional committee, Clinton cited the example of an emergency deal signed by China last month to help bail Jamaica out of its financial crisis. "They (Jamaica) have just signed a memorandum of understanding with China...and now they have got a government-to-government relationship with China," Clinton said. "We have to be sure we have in place the safeguards so that the money goes where we intend it to go," Clinton told...

Meghan McCain says we need to take back Twitter from the creepy people—like Karl Rove, "America’s Toughest Sheriff," and the other undesirables who now follow her every Tweet. Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That’s creepy. I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It’s allowed me to share the less-serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there’s also been a downside: I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We...

There's a new bogeyman lurking in the closet, and this one isn't imaginary. Us. One out of three children aged 6 to 11 fears that Ma Earth won't exist when they grow up, while more than half—56 percent—worry that the planet will be a blasted heath (or at least a very unpleasant place to live), according to a new survey. Commissioned by Habitat Heroes and conducted by Opinion Research, the telephone survey polled a national sample of 500 American preteens—250 males and 250 females. On a sliding scale of anxieties, minority kids have it worst; 75 percent of black children...

GOP strategist Karl Rove gives Meghan McCain the creeps. The daughter of 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain called President Bush's political mastermind "creepy" today because he follows her on Twitter. "Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That's creepy," McCain, 24, wrote on her blog posted on the DailyBeast Web site.

WASHINGTON -- Damn the tea bags. A top adviser to President Barack Obama takes a dim view of last week's anti-tax "tea parties," promoted by organizers in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party. "The thing that bewilders me is this president just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere because he certainly understands the burden that people face," David Axelrod said Sunday. The rallies coincided with the deadline to file income taxes, and gave people a chance also to voice frustrations about government spending and corporate bailouts....

Last week, elected leaders got into the game, sliming their own voters "despicable" and "shameful." Today President Obama's own brain-for-hire (you know the one that does the limited amount of calculation this laughable administration has actually employed) spoke out on CBS's Face the Nation and decided to again slime the tea-parties as "unhealthy." He rabble rouses so while uttering some such about populist anger "mutating into something unhealthy." He then repeats the administration's lie that this President has "cut taxes" for 95% of the American people. Which is something this President did not do.

Here is video of chief Obama adviser David Axelrod today on CBS News' Face the Nation where he described the "Tea Party" movement as "unhealthy," as if it is made up of just a bunch of disaffected oddballs. He defends Obama as having just cut taxes on 95% of Americans, saying the "teabags should be directed elsewhere." What neither the media or the Obama people want to address is that one of the real drivers behind the movement is not the level of taxes today, but what Obama's spending is going to mean for taxes in the years ahead. His...

Advisers manning the “Frank” helpline are informing callers they believed to be children as young as 13 that alcohol is a “much more powerful drug than cannabis” and that using the illegal drug recreationally is not harmful because it “doesn’t get you that high”. Callers are also being told that taking ecstasy will not lead to long-term damage and that if they are in doubt, to “just take half a pill and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.” The advice, given to reporters who rang the helpline posing as young people, has alarmed anti-drugs...

Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term. Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister." He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place. "Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will...

During last year's election campaign, liberal media members treated Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin with a hatred most Americans had never witnessed from the press. On Thursday's "Countdown," MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and his guest Janeane Garofalo defamed fellow citizens who attended the prior day's Tea Parties with the same vitriolic contempt. Garofalo actually called Party-goers "a bunch of teabagging rednecks," adding "this is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up."But that's just the beginning, for what Olbermann and Garofalo engaged in Thursday evening is amongst the most vile, hate-filled attacks on average...

Great, great stuff, even better than her last racist appearance. Garofalo’s a nonentity but Olby’s a bit of a player in cable news, which makes it all the more gratifying that he insists on yes-ing this nutjob to death every time she’s on his show. Stick around for the end of the clip, where she tries to minimize Fox’s ratings — notwithstanding the fact that they’re crushing Kayo into dust. Please, Keith, more of this loon. It makes discrediting your show even easier than usual.

Finance: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a broad "probe" of Wall Street, much like the 1932 Pecora Commission that led to sweeping bank reforms. Good idea. Let the probing begin — with Pelosi's Congress.Named for its chief counsel, Ferdinand Pecora, the 1932 congressional commission dragged influential bankers and stockbrokers before its members for rough questioning — both of their business practices and private lives. The Pecora Commission led directly to the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the creation of the Securities Exchange Commission in 1935 to oversee Wall Street. Now Pelosi's calling for an...

A reportedly corporate-financed grassroots" anti-tax movement, paid for, planned and promoted by right wing think tanks, corporate lobbyists and Fox News Channel, has failed to bring about the "popular uprising" against the Obama administration its creators had hoped for. The day of "tea parties" pushed by Republican operatives and partisan advocacy groups such as FreedomWorks, that sought to protest the Obama government's tax and stimulus policies by encouraging people to 'wave tea bags' brought about only a few hundred "tea-baggers" in most parts of the U.S., despite relentless promotion by Fox News TV hosts. Participants had hoped to rally hundreds...

In news that will be bad for activists hoping to start another American Revolution with a series of protests modeled on the Boston Tea Party, a new Gallup Poll finds that a solid majority of American say the income tax they pay is “fair,” and that slightly more than half classify their own tax burden as either “about right” or “too low.” According to Gallup, their annual April poll on taxes found this year that 48 percent of Americans said the amount of federal income tax they pay is “about right,” 3 percent say it is “too low,” and...

The recent meeting between a deputy of Richard Holbrooke, the United States special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and an emissary of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), is by all accounts a landmark move in the United States' stated aim of involving militant groups in ending the conflict in Afghanistan. The choice of Hekmatyar also indicates just how desperate the US is in finding an escape route from the escalating crisis in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar is a declared terrorist with a reported $25 million price on his head. The 61-year-old engineer from Kunduz province and his anti-government fighters are...

I spent the better part of an hour earlier today scanning the various sites and blogs to try and understand what specifically the Fox-Pajamas tea parties are about. Having absorbed about as much of the literature as I can, I have to say I'm still befuddled. Option 1: It's a protest of the bank bailouts orchestrated by Bush and now Obama. But surely these tea-partiers understand what would happen if we didn't bail the banks out. Are they advocating letting major banks fail? Or are they advocating a Krugman-style government take-over? No idea. Option 2: It's a protest against tax...

WASHINGTON — Tinkering with Earth’s climate to chill runaway global warming — a radical idea once dismissed out of hand — is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president’s new science adviser said Wednesday.

US Vice President Joe Biden said that the United States would no longer "dictate unilaterally" to Latin America, and that it had entered a new era in the historically troubled relationship. "The time of the United States dictating unilaterally, the time where we only talk and don't listen is over," Biden said in Santiago after holding discussions with a clutch of Latin American leaders at a conference at a Chilean beach resort. Biden's five-day visit to meet leaders in the region, including a second stop in Costa Rica, aimed to pave the way for President Barack Obama, who is set...

I have been a financial adviser for more than 25 years. I didn't vote for President-elect Barack Obama, but I wish to go on record as saying that this man will be our greatest president. He will accomplish the improbable. Mr. Obama will unite the disenchanted with the optimists. He will be a servant to all the people and teach us the basic reasons why this is the greatest country in the world. Mr. Obama won't be described as left, right or center. He will be a president who holds his morals in honor of his love of family to...

Often, after victories, athletes like to take a moment to thank God, Jesus, or even the occasional shout out to Allah. But one NMU hockey player stirred up controversy after thanking Our Dark Lord Satan. Melvin Schwarz, a sophomore wood technology major and forward for the Wildcats, thanked Satan for imbuing him with "the strength of the Dark Prince himself." Schwarz has been a self professed Satanist for the past three weeks. According to Schwarz, the conversion has not affected his game play, except for the occasional possession. "As a Satanic-American, I'm entitled to all the rights that Christians are,"...

United Church of Christ committee recommends condom distribution at churches Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2009 / 09:06 pm (CNA).- The HIV and AIDS Network of the United Church of Christ (UCC) is advocating that condoms should be distributed at places of worship and faith-based educational settings. The network called for condom distribution in its March 19 statement issued at a presentation to the UCC Wider Church Ministries Board, the Institute on Religion and Democracy reports. UCC executive Michael Shuenemeyer argued: “The practice of safer sex is a matter of life and death. People of faith make condoms available because we...

A man in Michigan gets a finger stuck inside his vehicle's gas tank. It took about five hours for firefighters to free him, a rescue that included taking part of the tank. What a freakin' moron. I bet this guy voted for Obama.

*snip* Obama told "60 Minutes" interviewer Steve Kroft that criticism of Geithner is natural and that neither he nor Geithner had mentioned the possibility of a resignation. The president, according to CBS, joked that he wouldn't accept the Treasury chief's resignation even if it were tendered, saying he'd respond, "Sorry, buddy, you've still got the job."

Setting a world record today for beating a dead horse, the Democratic National Committee will announce they’ve selected an anti-Rush Limbaugh slogan to be placed on a billboard in the radio host’s hometown. The DNC began soliciting slogans a week ago in response to Limbaugh’s well-known statement that he wants President Obama to fail. “If you’re anything like me, then you’ve had the urge to talk back to a right-wing talk radio host more than a few times. Now you can,” reads an email blast from the executive director of the DNC. “Can you help us come up with...

Won't you please donate to the Joe Biden Brain Transplant Fund.

Not sure about copyright, click the link to view.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., has referred constituents raising concerns over President Obama's eligibility to occupy the Oval Office to an online "fact" organization that relies for its answer partly on information from the Obama campaign. "Thank you for your recent e-mail. Senator Obama meets the constitutional requirements for presidential office. Rumors pertaining to his citizenship status have been circulating on the Internet, and this information has been debunked by Snopes.com, which investigates the truth behind Internet rumors."

She's 50 years old and still causing controversy. No, not Madonna. We're talking about Barbie. West Virginia state lawmaker Jeff Eldridge proposed a bill Tuesday that would ban sales of the busty Mattel doll, and others like her, in the state, just days before the doll officially logs a half century on March 9.

Chad Rogers was just on the radio here and he did not know who Geert Wilders was. Couldn't pronounce his name. And objected to him addressing CPAC because he was "one of those who led us over the cliff." Huh?

CNN Contributor: 'Listening to Obama Give a Speech is Like Sex' By Noel Sheppard Created 2009-03-01 19:30 Did you think listening to President Obama give his address before Congress on Tuesday evening was "like sex?" Republican strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos did, or at least that's what he admitted to John King on Sunday's "State of the Union" a friend said: I think, as a friend told me once, that -- listening to Barack Obama give a speech is like sex. The worse there ever was, was excellent. Honestly, when GOP strategists in the media begin talking this way,...

Crisis in the US newspaper industry By Max Deveson BBC News, Washington. If the economic crisis goes on much longer, will there be any newspapers left in the US to write about it? The Chronicle's owners are set to decide whether to shut down the paper America's newspaper industry has been badly hit by the downturn, and a number of titles face closure. The latest casualty is the venerable San Francisco Chronicle, whose owners on Wednesday announced they were planning to cut a "significant" number of jobs to meet cost-cutting targets, and that if the targets are not met, then...

A couple of years ago, when speaking to a local group, I mentioned that The Chronicle was losing money. A couple in the back of the room rudely applauded. How thrilled those two must have felt when - if - they learned of Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega's announcement Tuesday that the Hearst Corp. will implement "significant" workforce cuts. If the cuts don't pay off, then the Hearst Corp. will "offer the newspaper for sale or close it altogether." Bloggers and e-mailers are crowing. If The Chronicle is shuttered, they'll be dancing a jig. Many conservatives feel a warm glow at...

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano avoids mention of the terms "terrorism" or "Sept. 11" in remarks prepared for her first congressional testimony since taking office, signaling a sharp change in tone from her predecessors. Napolitano is the first homeland security secretary to drop the term "terror" and "vulnerability" from remarks prepared for delivery to the House Homeland Security Committee, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. Tom Ridge, who headed the agency when it was launched in 2003, mentioned terrorism 11 times in his prepared statement at his debut before the oversight committee in 2003. And...

Libyan President Muammar Gadhafi said Israel is to blame for the crisis in Darfur. Gadhafi, president of the African Union, said Tuesday that "foreign forces," including Israel, are to blame for the genocide in the Sudan region. "We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire," the Libyan state news agency Jana quoted Gadhafi as saying, Ha'aretz reported. Gadhafi urged the International Criminal Court to stop proceedings to decide whether to issue a warrant for the arrest...

Note: Photos included. Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/23/Help-is-on-the-way/ THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 11:57 am Help is on the way $15 billion of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be available in just two days, the President announced this morning, just a week after the act was signed into law. "By the time most of you get home; money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health care coverage," he told a gathering of the nation's governors in the State Dining...

(CNSNews.com) – Two top House Democrats told CNSNews.com on Friday that a section in the $787-billion economic stimulus bill that requires the creation of “electronic health records for each person in the United States by 2014” does not mean that the medical records of every American must be included in the new national infrastructure. In the bill, which passed both chambers of Congress on Friday and which President Obama is scheduled to sign Tuesday, $3 billion is allocated for a “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology” to create and meet the objectives of a strategic plan to build a national...