Free Republic

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush marked himself down as Hispanic on a voter registration form that asked for his “race/ethnicity” in 2009, according to a document posted online by The New York Times. [Snip] Bush was born to two white parents. But he speaks Spanish, married a woman born in Mexico and once lived in Venezuela.

Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor and likely presidential candidate, was born in Texas and hails from one of America’s most prominent political dynasties. But on at least one occasion, it appears he got carried away with his appeal to Spanish-speaking voters and claimed he actually was Hispanic. In a 2009 voter-registration application, obtained from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, Mr. Bush marked Hispanic in the field labeled “race/ethnicity.” A Bush spokeswoman could offer no explanation for the characterization.

On March 30, 2005, Terri Schiavo had her last full day of life on this earth and both her family and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life will never forget the last moments they shared with the woman whose former husband won a court order to take her life.Terri was killed on March 31, 2005 when her former husband won a protracted legal battle against the Schindler family for the right to disconnect her feeding tube. Doctors who examined Terri say she was not in a persistent vegetative state and that her condition could have been improved has she...

Today is the tenth anniversary of Terri Schaivo's death after a 13 day process of killing by starvation. At 5 pm today a Memorial Mass will be celebrated in memory of Terri by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput at the Chapel of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. The 2015 Life and Hope Award Gala will occur at 7:15 pm at the Union League of Philadelphia, 140 South Broad Street. The keynote speaker will be Glenn Beck, who invested much time and effort on behalf of Terri and in support of her family. Glenn spoke at a...

On March 18, 2005, my sister, Terri Schiavo, began her thirteen day agonizing death after the feeding tube – supplying her food and water – was removed. Terri was cognitively disabled and had difficulty swallowing and therefore needed a feeding tube. Terri was not on any “life support”, nor was she sick or dying. Nonetheless, she received her death sentence ordered by Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of Pinellas County Florida. Greer’s order to remove Terri’s feeding tube was in response to her estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, requesting permission from the court to kill his disabled wife....

These are excerpt's from journalist William L. Shirer's "Berlin Diary" for November 25, 1940. Shirer worked for CBS and did radio broadcasts from Berlin but the "diary" contained the stories the Nazis didn't want him to know about or broadcast. "I have at last got to the bottom of these "mercy killings". It is an evil tale. The Gestapo, with the knowledge and approval of the German government, is systematically putting to death the mentally deficient population of the Reich. How many have been executed probably only Himmler and handful of Nazi chieftains know. A conservative and trustworthy German tells...

The Terri Schiavo case was a big turning point for Glenn.... GLENN: If you are a long-time listener of this program, you remember the plight of Terri Schiavo, the really long-term listeners, those that have been with me since I was on WFLA remember I was on the wrong side of the Terri Schiavo case and I remembered what the listener said to me last night. The listener called me on a Friday, and I was against the Schindler family. I was saying pull the plug, pull the plug. A listener called me and said Glenn, you are thinking about...

On a sunny Saturday morning in early March, Bob Vander Plaats walked into the West Des Moines Marriott with a chip on his shoulder. Iowa's evangelical shot-caller had come to meet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was in town for the Iowa Ag Summit, a cattle call that drew the majority of Republican presidential hopefuls. Over the course of the weekend, Vander Plaats had sit-downs scheduled with just about all of them. But not Jeb Bush. A twice-failed gubernatorial candidate who helped boost Mike Huckabee to victory in the 2008 caucuses, Vander Plaats has grown accustomed to presidential aspirants...

“He’s not a conservative.” That’s Rush Limbaugh talking about Jeb Bush. “The ideal, the perfect ticket, for the 2016 election: Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush. Now, they can figure out who’s on top of the ticket on their own, but when you compare their positions, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, on the key, important issues, they are two peas in the same pod.” That, too.

REMEMBRANCE of EASTER 2005 Crowd my eyes, you bevies of daffodils, And you forsythias in throngs of cheer, Dandelion galaxies and fountains of trees. Fill my mouth with the breath of hyacinths, you purple air And you roistering breeze. And you quince-buds so eager, you swelling seeds, You squirrels running stitches across the loom Of woven grasses, inflorescent weeds; Jasmine-bush, loop me with your lariats of perfume. Fill me, small birds, with your versicles, And chuckled replies. She is bleeding from the mouth and eyes. Sate me then, Sun, all dapple and spangle Crowd out all else Lade me...

It was in the early morning hours of Monday March 21st, 2005 that a Republican controlled Congress wrapped up a weekend series of sessions to pass legislation related to Terri Schiavo's case to allow federal courts to consider her right of due process. Final Senate passage of House Bill 203 came at 12:41 am and shortly thereafter President George W. Bush stepped out of his bedroom at the White House to sign the bill in a hallway. There was hope and fear surrounding the legislation. Hope from lawyers trying to save Terri's life and fear from Michael Schiavo. An emotional...

"The sanctity of human life....its not just about abortion......its about infanticide.....and euthanasia." Dr. Francis Schaeffer-Fall 1982 L'Abri Seminar Tour

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (March 19, 2015) — Jeb Bush is betting his political future these days on the hope that pragmatism will trump conservative hostility in 2016. Fresh off his first public tours of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the Republican White House prospect has settled on an early approach for dealing with skeptics on the right, casting himself as a practical but "principled conservative," particularly when explaining his immigration and education positions that put him at odds with the GOP's most conservative factions. Bush often wraps his philosophy in scathing criticism of President Barack Obama. But the former...

...Many of his priorities during his two terms as governor of Florida aligned with those of the Catholic Church — including his extraordinary, and unsuccessful, effort to force a hospital to keep Terri Schiavo on life support, as well as less well known, and also unsuccessful, efforts to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a developmentally disabled rape victim, and to prevent a 13-year-old girl from having an abortion. He even, during his first year in office, signed a law creating a “Choose Life” license plate. He differed from his church, significantly and openly, over capital punishment; 21 prisoners...

HUDSON, N.H. -- Frontrunner? What frontrunner? That was Jeb Bush's message to reporters who tried asking him on Friday about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Like Bush, Walker is sitting atop early presidential primary in this state and among Republicans nationally. And, like Bush, Walker was launching his first New Hampshire trip in years on Friday. A reporter pressed Bush on whether he agreed with Walker, who said this week that maybe he's "the frontrunner" because President Obama decided to weigh in this week on Wisconsin leader's decision to sign right-to-work legislation. "I'm not a candidate, maybe he is, I don't...

At the end of this month, Terri Schiavo will be ten years dead. But she is far from forgotten. Everyone reading these words knows the story, and everyone has an opinion. What began in 1990 as a private tragedy—a vivacious young woman stricken in the prime of life with a severe cognitive disability—became a source of profound cultural division, as likely to spark debate today as when the case first broke into the public’s consciousness. Why has her story remained so potent? Part of it has to do with the high-profile and vituperative legal and public-relations battle between Terri’s...

An unusual request has gone out to wealthy donors writing large checks to support former Florida governor Jeb Bush: Please don’t give more than $1 million right away. The requested limit, confirmed by multiple people familiar with the amount, may mark the first time that a presidential hopeful has sought to hold off supporters from contributing too much money. The move reflects concerns among Bush advisers that accepting massive sums from a handful of uber-rich supporters could fuel a perception that the former governor is in their debt. The effort is also driven by a desire to build as broad...

As Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush was among the nation’s most conservative state chief executives. He’s quietly embarking on work to convince the right flank of the Republican Party that he would be that same kind of conservative in the White House. Eight years removed from office, Bush is viewed by some conservatives as a squishy moderate: a member of the GOP’s most established family with toxic positions on immigration and education standards.For that reason, perhaps none of the likely 2016 candidates has more to gain than Bush at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation’s largest annual conference of...

Jeb Bush was preparing to release the emails he sent and received as Florida governor when he was excoriated by a letter-writer to The Miami Herald. The headline: “Don’t trust Jeb Bush with the power of the presidency.” The subject of many of the emails was Terri Schiavo. The letter-writer was her husband, Michael. Bush’s effort to stop Michael Schiavo from removing his brain-damaged wife’s feeding tube was a defining moment of Bush’s time in office. Bush, a devout Catholic, sided with Terri Schiavo’s parents in the end-of-life dispute and reached for unprecedented authority to intervene. Michael Schiavo said his...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush may find out that Wall Street money will not buy him the love of GOP primary voters like it does mainstream media elites who are rushing to cast him as the 2016 frontrunner. As soon as Mitt Romney announced that he would not make a third White House run, the mainstream press immediately anointed Bush as the clear Republican 2016 frontrunner. They made their pronouncements even though Bush had not yet proven with his speeches that he can be a successful candidate in the digital age and neither had the best ground game nor the...