Free Republic

How can one feel sorry for James Cayne? The potential losses of the chairman and former chief executive of Bear Stearns must rank up there with the biggest in modern history. The value of his stake in Bear Stearns collapsed from about $1 billion a year ago to as little as $14 million at the price JPMorgan Chase offered for the teetering bank on Sunday. Still, Mr. Cayne was paid some $40 million in cash between 2004 and 2006, the last year on record, as well as stocks and options. In the past few years, he has sold shares worth...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday apologized to Sen. Barack Obama for a security breach in which three State Department contractors inappropriately reviewed the Democratic presidential candidate's passport file. The episode raised questions as to whether the actions of the three contractors, two of whom have been fired, were politically motivated. "I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed," Rice told reporters. "None of us wants to have a circumstance where any American's passport files are looked at in an unauthorized way," she said. Rice, who spoke...

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and WSFL-TV will be sharing a roof. The company says cooperation between the two will help generate content that can be shared across print, broadcast and the Internet. In a strategic move that could be repeated elsewhere, Tribune Co. announced Wednesday that its South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami-based WSFL-TV would merge operations, with the TV station's staff moving to the newspaper's Fort Lauderdale headquarters. The move goes further than any previous newspaper-TV station collaboration, said Ed Wilson, new president of Tribune Broadcasting. He said the merger would give advertisers "a single point of contact" for reaching...

Are liberal Democrats less likely to have social lives than conservatives? According to Karl Rove, the answer to that question is yes. The Republican guru all but made that argument explaining why he thought liberals are more likely to be on the web than conservatives. "I hate to sound sort of diffident about it but it strikes me that a lot of people on the right have got active lives and are doing other things," Rove said. "The idea of spending a lot of time on the internet and taking their talents and displaying them there is not something [conservatives]...

It's Friday afternoon with Tony again.  1-877-9-NO-SPIN (1 877 966-7746)  Tony is now the substitute teacher on Bill O'Reilly's radio show, airing Fridays from 12:00pm - 2:00pm EST on a station near you. A number of streams are available here.  You can find a number of rebroadcasts that run well into the evening. Also,  there is a stream available from Tony's old homies at Fox news This show is also available on XM Radio Channel 168

Call him Barack O'Bama - for he's got the luck of the Irish. The very week he faces his toughest obstacle ever - one that may still derail his candidacy - Obama gets a near-game-ending pot of gold. It now appears certain that Hillary Rodham Clinton's efforts to rewrite party rules in a desperate search for a lifeline have failed. Her absurd proposal of counting her "wins" in Michigan and Florida - long after everyone agreed they wouldn't count - has been laughed off the table. And now, it appears, there won't even be any revotes. While revotes are the...

Iranian Entanglements McCain was right the first time — Iran is helping al-Qaeda in Iraq. By Christopher W. Holton In recent weeks, two news reports have circulated about Iran’s relationship with al-Qaeda. On Tuesday, March 18, Sen. John McCain repeatedly stated that Iran was aiding al-Qaeda in Iraq. Later, however, he retracted this statement. Senator McCain was right the first time. In fact, al-Qaeda and Iran have a rather long history of cooperation. A few days before Senator McCain’s unfortunate retraction, a senior military adviser to the Barack Obama campaign, retired Air Force general Merrill McPeak, was quoted in the...

CHERBOURG, France (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Friday to reduce France's nuclear arsenal but said nuclear deterrence remained a "life-insurance" in the face of new threats from states like Iran. "Countries in Asia and the Middle East are rapidly developing ballistic capacities," he said in a defence policy speech to mark the inauguration of a new-generation nuclear submarine named The Terrible. "I am thinking in particular of Iran," which is "increasing the range of its missiles while serious suspicions weigh on its nuclear programme," said Sarkozy. It is "of course the security of Europe that is at stake," he...

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Thursday, March 20, 2008 The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows John McCain’s lead growing against both potential Democratic opponents. McCain currently leads Barack Obama 49% to 42% and Hillary Clinton 51% to 41% margin (see recent daily results). African-American support for Clinton has collapsed, falling to 55% in the general election match-up. Obama, on the other hand, earns solid support from African-American voters but attracts only 36% of white voters in a match-up with McCain. Over the past month, McCain has gained ground in Ohio, Michigan, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Both...

Foreign fighters have become disillusioned with jihad in Iraq and have begun to exit the theater, US military officials reported yesterday. These fighters comprise al-Qaeda in Iraq’s best resource for suicide bombers, and their loss gives them much less operational capability. AQI leadership has not yet given up the fight, but prospects for replacements look grim: A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say.

While drinking my morning coffee, I watched an editorial from the president and general manager of our local ABC affiliate. He seemed to be genuinely hurt by the turn the presidential primaries have taken. He concluded, “And the most toxic political ism of all, racism, has sparked a firestorm touching all voters --- black, white, male, female, young and old. “This week Senator Obama felt he had to address the elephant in the room. Even at the highest levels -- whether it is a prominent minister or a former vice-presidential candidate --when it comes to the issue of race, Americans...

Under the vaulted ceilings of St. Margaret Mary's Church in Oakland, a revered tradition once forsaken has gained new life. About 300 Roman Catholics go there every Sunday to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, a rite rich in symbolism that has been on the margins of Catholic life for more than four decades. But over the past year, decrees by Pope Benedict XVI have given the traditional Latin Mass greater official standing in the Catholic Church, opening the door for some churches to go back to it. Now, at St. Margaret Mary's, grandparents practice the rituals of their childhood. Young...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a restaurateur turned politician, called on his former colleagues in the restaurant business Thursday to stop selling bottled water to customers and start serving local tap water instead. The mayor made international headlines last year when he banned city government from spending tax dollars on bottled water for its employees, saying the containers clog landfills and pollute the environment. But his new request that restaurants make the switch is just that - a request. "Not every restaurant is going to be able to afford to do this," Newsom said, noting that restaurants make a significant...

Let's ask the hard question about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Is he as far outside the African American mainstream as many of us would like to think? Because Barack Obama's speech on race in America was so candid about both the legitimacy of black and white grievances -- and the flaws in those grievances -- it carried the risk of offending almost everyone.

HH: It is the day that we are joined by Mark Steyn. We always enjoy that. All of his writing is available at www.steynonline.com. Mark, I’m wondering if you were as dispirited by the five year look backs at the invasion of Iraq as I was yesterday. MS: Yes, I think it’s clear that Iraq has actually dropped off the media radar screen since the surge proved to be working. As far as the mainstream media are concerned, no news is good news. Good news is no news from Iraq. So if things are going well, they tend not to...

I got an email the other day with the subject: "Will Steyn Stand By Young People F---ing?" Er, well, thanks awfully, but I'd rather not. I've reached the stage in life where I prefer to turn in early with a mug of cocoa and The Queen Mum: A Life In Pictures. Oh, it's a film? Who knew? Certainly not Canadian taxpayers, even though they paid for it. In 2006, the homegrown share of the Canadian box office was just four per cent. So the other 96 per cent went to the Hollywood behemoth? Not at all. The Great Satan had...

Christ has died, Christ has Risen, Christ will come again.... "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32) The Stations of the Cross, Background and History From the earliest of days, followers of Jesus told the story of his passion, death and resurrection. When pilgrims came to see Jerusalem, they were anxious to see the sites where Jesus was. These sites became important holy connections with Jesus. Eventually, following in the footsteps of the Lord, along the way of the cross, became a part of the pilgrimage visit. The...

As police sped toward West San Jose on Wednesday night where Homer Bejarano Resendez lay fatally shot, the city of San Jose was accelerating through one of its bloodiest stretches in years.

Having grown up in both the Pentecostal and Methodist faiths, Sunday worship was a staple of my weekly routine. Thus, when I relocated to Washington during the 80's finding a church home was very important to me. For almost 10 years I canvassed the nation's capitol seeking a church that would nourish my spirit and challenge my aspirations. As I tried out local churches, I began to notice a consistent theme: the sermons were highly political charged. Understandably, this being the nation’s capital, there is perhaps a heightened political awareness among the general populace. However I believed, perhaps naively, that...

Mayor Gavin Newsom revealed the first scant details Thursday about plans for the Beijing Olympic torch's April 9 stop in San Francisco, including the likelihood that it won't pass through Chinatown, and he emphatically stated that no one would be denied the right to protest its presence. Newsom made his comments hours after the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco was attacked by arsonists early in the morning and shortly before a Board of Supervisors committee heard 4 1/2 hours of public testimony mostly critical of China's human-rights record. Despite the emotional pleas for supervisors to condemn China over human rights,...