Free Republic

Call this a concerted effort by the media to assassinate the character of an ordinary guy for calling out a liberal politician for wanting to raise taxes. Journalists covering Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Ill., haven’t asked tough questions about his tax proposals – specifically who will see their taxes increase, decrease or stay the same. So “Joe the Plumber” did it for them. Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, known as “Joe the Plumber,” was mentioned many times during the Oct. 15 presidential debate because he confronted Obama on taxes while the candidate was canvassing neighborhoods in Toledo, Ohio on Oct....

Not only was the driver of a Ford Bronco that fatally struck a 12-year-old girl unlicensed, but San Jose police say she is also an illegal immigrant, renewing the debate over whether undocumented people should be allowed to apply for driver's licenses. The revelation that Adriana Fierro De Marin, 31, is in the country illegally struck yet another chord with the family of Breanna Slaughter-Eck, still reeling from the loss of the Hoover Middle School sixth-grader. "I'm worried that she just might flee now and walk away from all this," said Joe Castro, the man who raised Breanna for the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has finally gotten a motorcycle license after riding his Harley-Davidsons for years in movies and off without one. A spokeswoman for the governor, Margita Thompson, said he passed both a written and a riding test and got the required permit on Monday, nearly six months after he crashed one of his Harleys into an S.U.V. pulling out of a driveway while riding near his Los Angeles home with his 12-year-old son in a sidecar. The governor, who needed 15 stitches on his upper lip, said at the time that he had not bothered to get...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Assembly has voted to restrict the use of ultrasound machines for personal use, approving a bill that would allow them to be sold only to licensed professionals. Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu introduced the bill after "Mission: Impossible III" star Tom Cruise bought an ultrasound machine to see images of his unborn child. The actor's fiancee, Katie Holmes, gave birth to the couple's daughter, Suri, last month in Los Angeles. Doctors and technologists typically receive years of training to perform ultrasound exams, which help obstetricians check a baby's health. Cruise was criticized by doctors who said...

I keep trying to like Gov. Schwarzenegger, but again am disappointed by his inability to relate to the rest of us out here. It cost me $380 to get my bike back after having it impounded in a random traffic stop. I guarantee that I am less a risk on my motorcycle than the governor is on his based on results. Yet the Los Angeles city attorney says in not issuing Schwarzenegger a citation, "It is a minor matter that would have only resulted in a traffic ticket." Why isn't he demanding that the police write him a ticket for...

The prosecutors in Michael Jackson's child molestation and conspiracy trial apparently feel they've already won their case. On Wednesday night, the whole lot of them — DA Tom Sneddon, Ron Zonen, Gordon Auchincloss, their wives and families — all celebrated at the Hitching Post restaurant in Casmalia. The Hitching Post, cousin of the Buellton restaurant featured in the movie "Sideways," is considered the best restaurant in the greater Santa Maria area. Sneddon was so happy that he actually embraced celebrity crime reporter Aphrodite Jones. She told me he was in a jubilant mood, and the most outgoing of all the...

<p>LOWELL, Mass. (AP) City officials say they shut down they believe was an illegal cosmetic surgery clinic operated by a couple who are not licensed physicians.</p> <p>Sipha Ouk, 43, and his wife Dary Hour, 32, both of 121 Andrews St., were arraigned Monday on a charge of illegal possession of hypodermic needles and syringes, and more charges could be filed, according to police Lt. Mark Buckley. The couple was released after the arraignment.</p>