Free Republic

Dear FairTax supporters, Now that the FairTax has gained national attention, defenders of the income tax system have been badly shaken and have gone on the attack in the media with blatant distortions and outright lies. This is a measure of how much we are affecting the nation and a measure of how far our opponents will go to stop our progress. We have seen positive treatment of the FairTax in the last several weeks on ABC News, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The Des Moines Register as well as in The...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other prominent Democrats scrambled to unload thousands of dollars of contributions from one of the party's leading fund-raisers, amid questions about his ...techniques and news [of] a warrant for his arrest... Election-law experts said the pattern raises red flags that justify a probe into whether the wealthy Mr. Hsu was improperly reimbursing the others for their donations... Beyond his $23,000 in personal contributions to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Hsu had raised well over $1 million for the New York senator's presidential campaign, making him one of her top 20 "bundlers." ...[and] hundreds of thousands of dollars...

July 21 lawyer faces investigation over bribery claims Press Association Thursday August 30, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Scotland Yard was today investigating claims that a solicitor who represented some of the July 21 bombers tried to bribe a co-defendant. Detectives were investigating two allegations made about the conduct of Muddassar Arani during the six-month terror trial earlier this year. The inquiry began after the Crown Prosecution Service asked the Metropolitan police to investigate the solicitor's conduct. A police spokesman said: "The specialist crime directorate is currently scoping the allegations and reviewing the material that came out of the trial." The allegations...

"Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest against the economic policies of the government of President Michelle Bachelet, in Santiago."

HARRISBURG -- State investigators last week executed a search warrant on the Capitol basement headquarters of the Democratic Office of Legislative Research in a broadening investigation into whether state employees were used to run several political campaigns last year. The search, carried out shortly after 10 a.m. last Thursday, is part of a probe into former state Rep. Michael Veon, D-Beaver Falls, and whether he used taxpayer funds for campaign activities at the time he served as House Democratic whip. A state grand jury is currently investigating Mr. Veon as well as a half-dozen other Democratic activists, state employees and...

You can’t send two sons off to college, as my husband and I now have, and expect them to succeed if you haven’t taught them some sense of self-reliance. Indeed, that virtue has long been recognized as a foundational mark of the American character. It enabled our forefathers to establish a nation that still serves as a beacon of freedom to the world. No free republic can survive without it. Which is why, like many conservatives, I’m alarmed by the attitude one finds among many Americans today. It’s on display particularly during a heated campaign season, like we’re in now...

'SYRINGE FOUND IN MADELEINE'S APARTMENT' Thursday August 30,2007 By Martin Evans and Padraic Flanagan in Praia da Luz POLICE hunting for missing Madeleine McCann discovered a syringe in her parents’ bedroom, it was dramatically claimed last night. In the latest slur against Kate and Gerry McCann, the hypodermic needle was allegedly found in a cupboard at the apartment where their daughter vanished. According to reports in the Portuguese press, police are examining the theory that the needle could have been used by Madeleine’s parents – both doctors – to administer sedatives to their children to help them sleep. Hurtful and...

In light of recent polls, pundits have speculated that Sen. Barack Obama will need a miracle to win his party’s presidential nomination. After offending many of the nation’s ministers, priests and rabbis in a speech this summer, he’d better have a direct line to the Almighty. Mr. Obama accused conservative Christian leaders of “hijacking” religion several weeks ago. While seeking to impose his own secular agenda through houses of worship, the senator condemns any pastor or priest who disagrees with it. Speaking to one of the nation’s most liberal protestant denominations, the United Church of Christ, Mr. Obama said, “Faith...

It was no surprise last week when GreenStone Media announced the end of its all women, all whining, all the time radio network. In the year since its inception, GreenStone only had 11 stations that carried its programming. The mainstream media was positively orgasmic when GreenStone launched in late 2006. The network was backed by investors like Gloria Steinem, Rosie O’Donnell, Billie Jean King and Jane Fonda who all ponied up $3.1 million. Carrie Lukas of Independent Women’s Forum wrote, “To thunderous acclaim from the liberal intelligentsia, a team of feminist icons -- including Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda --...

Five people believed to be illegal immigrants stowing away on a train traveling through Merkel from California were taken into custody Wednesday, with more believed to be still at large. Railroad officials "suspected there were some illegal aliens riding in some containers on the train," said Merkel Police Chief Bob Jones. "I was tied up at the time, but they got some other authorities in there, and they got five illegal aliens caught and expect there to be some more."

RAF gunner killed in AfghanistanAn RAF serviceman has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. A gunner from 51 Squadron was killed in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, shortly after midnight local time (2030 BST). Personnel from the squadron, based at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, were on a routine security patrol when one of its vehicles was caught in an explosion. Next of kin have been informed. Two other servicemen were hurt. A civilian interpreter was also killed in the blast during the patrol around Kandahar airfield, the main hub for British forces flying in and...

The Kansas City branch of the FBI is warning businesses in light of the Dillons attempted robbery Tuesday. The FBI says it is similar to threatening phone calls received by banks in Missouri and Rhode Island. In Newport, Rhode Island, a man called a Wal-Mart location at 7am. He gave a bomb threat and demanded that the bank there wire money to an account. The bank sent $10,000. Police were able to trace the account, and say the phone call came from out of state. No one was injured, no money was paid and police found no bomb. KAKE News...

"Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, right, speaks as former President Jimmy Carter, left, also a Democrat, looks on at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Ga."

Iran's Choice August 30, 2007 Times Leading Article The Times Rarely has his message been as blunt. Denouncing support for terrorism, arming of Iraqi militias and attempts to place the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust”, President Bush accused Iran of threatening the security of nations everywhere. America, he insisted, would “confront this danger before it is too late”. Within hours of his tough message, US forces in Iraq had arrested eight Iranians, searched their luggage and confiscated their Iraqi escort’s weapons before releasing them. American commanders are taking no chances. They know that Iran is smuggling...

LAKE PARK, Fla. – A South Florida car dealer says he has no plans to stop airing Spanish commercials on English-language TV stations, despite furious complaints from outraged viewers who believe he's catering to illegal aliens and destroying American culture. "I'm enjoying this crazy situation because I know I'm right," says Earl Stewart, owner of Earl Stewart Toyota of North Palm Beach. Stewart has become a lightning rod of controversy for pitching Toyotas in his basic Spanish, while English subtitles are shown on screen. The ads are featured not on typical Spanish-language stations, but rather the Big Three network affiliates...

Dark Lunar Eclipse Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh Explanation: The Moon passed close to the center of Earth's shadow on August 28th. Seen best by skywatchers in western North America, and the Pacific region, the resulting total lunar eclipse was a dark one, lasting about 90 minutes. In this telescopic image taken near mid totality from Yass, NSW Australia, the 85 kilometer wide ray crater Tycho lies near the top right of the shadowed lunar surface. Of course, even during a total lunar eclipse,the Moon is not completely dark. Instead the Moon remains visible during totality, reflecting reddened light...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". portmanteau, plural port·man·teaus or port·man·teaux; noun 1. a new word or morpheme formed by joining two others and combining their meanings; "'smog' is a blend of 'smoke' and 'fog'"; "'motel' is a portmanteau word made by combining 'motor' and 'hotel'"; "'brunch' is a well-known portmanteau" [syn: blend]2. a large travelling bag made of stiff leather. Example sentence: We can go to the motel for brunch to get out of the smog. Etymology: From...

Listening to Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig proclaim in near-thundering terms that he is not gay and never has been gay, I couldn't help but recall hearing Bill Clinton swear he "did not have sex with that woman." All Craig lacked to enforce the comparison was a finger wiggling at the camera. In his case, there was also no trace of bodily fluids on anyone's dress to prove his guilt, but then there was that guilty plea admitting that he had engaged in disorderly conduct in a men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, thereby avoiding admitting that he originally...

Sanctuary cities have had a lot of exposure in the press of late as the illegal immigration debate becomes hotter than a Marine’s M-16 semiautomatic rifle in summertime Iraq. But there are some of you out there who may not know exactly what a sanctuary city is. Simply put, it is a city whose government has policies in place that prevent police and other officials from inquiring about anyone’s legal status, and they are not allowed to cooperate with federal immigration agents. These cities employ a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, similar to the one enacted by former president...

As the Army’s suicide rate hits record levels in the Iraq war, there’s small wonder practically everyone in Congress wants to deal with the parallel emerging crisis of depressed veterans tempted to take their own lives. Everyone, that is, except Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma. He stands alone in blocking final passage of a suicide prevention bill in fear that the government’s record-keeping on troubled vets might somehow crimp their ability to purchase handguns. snip... It is an eminently good thing that the anti-suicide measure would require medical specialists to keep track of veterans found to be high risks...