Free Republic

ONCE AGAIN, R-A-C-E has emerged as the thorniest rose in American life and politics. Barack Obama's powerful speech on Tuesday may have laid it to rest (for now). Before we wave bye-bye to the trapped-in-the-'50s (1950s? 1850s? 1750s?), attic-crazy Rev. Jeremiah Wright, let's salute him with a multiple-choice quiz:

March 20, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Hope and Change Amid DespairReports of America's demise are greatly exaggerated. By Victor Davis Hanson ‘I think the magic is over.” That’s what French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner recently said about the United States’ global reputation. It’s never been a great idea to rely on the assessments of French politicians, but the daily news coming out of the U.S. — in terms of our image overseas and beyond — does indeed seem bleak. Oil has climbed over $100 a barrel. Gas is nearing $4 a gallon. Gold is at $1,000 an ounce — a...

Ordinarily it takes about 48-72 hours for any major political event to begin to see movement in the polls. Obama makes a speech on Tuesday - you won’t see the effects until Thursday or Friday. But in this case, don’t hold your breath. He didn’t do it. He didn’t explain how he could “transcend race” but sit in a pew for the much-vaunted twenty four years at a Black Liberationist church under Crazy Uncle Hate-Whitey. But we all know why. Obama wanted a political future and he wanted it as a Black Guy. He has to hook into the main...

The New York City Department of Education confirmed yesterday that Gov. Paterson HAS intervened on behalf of Diane Dixon to get her a job that she had apparently been turned down for. About that same time she told the New York Post she had tape recordings proving her close relationship with him. Details available here ++++ Only one day after David Paterson and his wife gave a heart felt speech about their infidelities and how things have been patched up, we get our first serious challenge to Gov. Paterson's position. While Elliot Spitzer's tryst's were of the illegal kind and...

Not All African Americans Embrace Obama Rev. James David Manning Presents An Alternative View of Senator Barack Hussein Obama For all of the emotion coming from Pastor Manning's lips, everything he said was factually true, albeit personal. He actually spared Sen. Obama more humiliation by not discussing more important subjects. He never spoke about Obama's connection to openly racist Minister Jeremiah Wright, or to an indicted real estate scammer Tony Rezko, or his endorsement by Lewis Farrakhan and The New Black Panther Party or his intimate association with a former fugitive bomber from The Weather Underground. For a Post-Racial candidate...

The Murder and Birth of Nations Kosovo was a province of Yugoslavia and the military intervention of the U.S. and NATO, a defensive alliance, was unprecedented. It was far more controversial than the policy of regime change in Iraq, which was a policy of Clinton, Bush and the Congress. Kosovo was never a threat to the U.S., and Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic didn’t even pretend to have weapons of mass destruction. Never before in history have NATO and the U.N. presided over the deliberate destruction of a sovereign state.

I heard it on TV so it must be true. All kidding aside, the last two days have been absolutely brutal for the commodities side of our portfolio and Wednesday, the energy stocks also got whacked. And I don’t know about you folks but I haven’t reached that zen, Buffett-like state where falling prices don’t faze me. They faze me. A lot. In my experience, the periods in which my self-doubts peak are honestly the times I should have been buying. Even in the short time since this website/blog has been up (since 01/2007), the market has already tested me...

Obama Lied About My Dad (The Reagan Coalition wasn't built on Wright-Wing racism) By Michael Reagan FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, March 20, 2008 Most of the media and their fellow liberals were positively giddy over Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday, all but comparing it to the Sermon on the Mount. I won’t deny it was a masterful piece of oratory -- the man can be spellbinding -- but when you stop to consider what Sen. Obama was really doing up there on the podium, invoking the specter of slavery and Jim Crow and the era of “whites only,” it becomes clear that...

Say it isn't so: The Fed chairman, rapidly losing home equity in the housing bust? Bloomberg News reports Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's Capitol Hill home is slipping in value and may soon be worth less than he paid for it. An economist quoted by Bloomberg estimates Bernanke's house has lost $260,000 in value. "Bernanke [pictured] lives in Washington's Capitol Hill area in a four- bedroom, 2,600-square-foot house he bought new in May 2004 for $839,000. Almost four years later, it may not be worth any more, according to real estate records and local agents. More: "'Even though he's the Fed...

But first a word or two from upchuck: Most of the FReeper population does not live near Washington, DC. And, due to the frequent opportunities provided to the DC Freepers, some of us may be a little jealous. So here is the definitive guide to Protesting (FReeping) in DC... (Who knew commuters could be so vicious :) Don't try to block the streets. All you will do is annoy the commuters (you really don't want to do this). The nice police officers are arresting you not because you are breaking the law, but to protect you from the commuters. You...

Initiative Would Exempt Cigar Bars From Indoor Smoking Ban By Austin JenkinsOlympia, WA  March 19, 2008 3:28 p.m. Washington State’s two-year-old indoor smoking ban is facing a challenge. Cigar shop owners have filed a citizen initiative to roll-back part of the law.Dale Taylor is with the newly formed Cigar Association of Washington. He says the initiative would allow smoking in cigar shops, cigar bars, private clubs and service organizations like the Elks.Dale Taylor: “What we’re asking for here is a fair and reasonable exemption to the law that allows a cigar store, for instance like the one I work in,...

As has been noted by NewsBusters correspondents Brent Baker, Kyle Drennen, and Clay Waters, the Mainstream Media has mostly assumed an attitude of respectful awe towards Barack Obama's March 18 speech on race. That emotional awe towards Obama's speech has reached the level of mass weeping in the Leftwing blogosphere. The leftists profess to be so awestruck by that speech that it seems mass crying will soon replace the fainting attacks at future Obama appearances. Confessions of drama queen tearful reactions to Obama's speech has reached comedic proportions on both the Democratic Underground and the Daily Kos. Although one suspects...

WEST COVINA, California (AP) -- A woman was asking a 911 dispatcher for help when her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence. She was shot to death. The woman told the dispatcher someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg said. "Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line," he said. Deputies arrived at the house, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, a few minutes after Wednesday's late morning call. The woman, whose name was not released by police, had been shot several times. Paramedics...

News broke tonight that 3 contract employees violated Barack Obama's privacy by snooping around his passport records for what is said to be curiosity's sake. Two of the employees were fired, the other has been disciplined. There will, no doubt, be a major investigation and the left-wing will go crazy with black helicopter theories. Since nothing is know at this point, MSNBC is now speculating wildly about the Bush Administration being diabolical and being behind this for political reasons. This makes no sense, but it explains why the Obama campaign is jumping all over it. They really need a...

The President today spoke about the National President's Challenge. The President also met with Bahamas' Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, Barbados' Prime Minister David Thompson, and Belize's Prime Minister Dean Barrow along with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He then departed from the White House to spend the Easter weekend at Camp David.Pray for President Bush -- Day 2744 The Vice President visited Afganistan today. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashviliand Thailand Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama today. Today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Terrorists moved to new jail after death threats By Caroline Gammell Last Updated: 1:15pm GMT 20/03/2008 Two of Britain’s most dangerous convicted terrorists have been moved to a different prison after one complained that they were at risk because the jail was dominated by white inmates. Dhiren Barot planned a radioactive bomb plot Dhiren Barot, who planned a radioactive bomb plot involving limousines packed with nails and explosives, and Omar Khyam, who plotted to blow up Bluewater shopping centre, asked to be transferred from the high security Frankland prison near Durham after a series of death threats and attacks. Although...

After stiffing cabdriver, teen girl slashes his throat Hair gel saved him, he told police. By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune Last update: March 20, 2008 - 12:02 AM Roy Carlson Jr. says hair gel saved his life. That was one of the first fleeting thoughts the St. Paul taxi driver had as he struggled with the 15-year-old girl who, seconds earlier, had slashed his throat and stabbed him repeatedly after a cab ride gone awry early Tuesday. After the girl tried to stiff him on a $22 cab fare following a ride across St. Paul, the frustrated driver for Diamond...

JEFFERSON — A penniless transient who spent more than 10 years in an Illinois prison for sexual assault was charged today with killing a Cambridge real estate agent by beating her with a fireplace poker at least nine times and strangling her with her own scarf Tuesday evening.James A. Hole, 34, whose last address was an apartment he shared in Brookfield, Ill., was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, arson and burglary with intent to commit sexual assault in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

John McCain’s campaign got its first opportunity to show how seriously it wants to avoid getting into the identity-politics meltdown in the Democratic primary. The campaign suspended Soren Dayton, a former blogger now working for McCain, for sending the link to a YouTube regarding Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright over a Twitter message: An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama’s patriotism.Soren Dayton, who works in McCain’s political department, sent out the YouTube link of “Is Obama Wright?” on twitter at 12:31 today with the...

A 'dramatization' of Hillary preparing for speeches in Iowa... practicing hand gestures and intonation... Hillaryous!!!