Free Republic

Former Fannie Mae chairman Jim Johnson was dumped from Obama's vice presidential search team, but he's still playing a behind-the-scenes role on the campaign. Former Senator Tom Daschle, a top Obama backer, emailed a select list this afternoon that he and Johnson would be leading a briefing intended largely for Clinton's campaign brain trust next month. "Jim Johnson and I have scheduled another informal breakfast discussion and update on the campaign early next month," he wrote to a list including Senator John Kerry, James Carville, and Richard Holbrooke, as well as Clinton's former top campaign aides, including Howard Wolfson, Geoff...

MOSCOW -- No matter how powerful the Russian government may appear nowadays, it hasn't been able to quell nostalgia for some of the country's most brutal leaders. Dictator Josef Stalin made the final cut Wednesday in a Kremlin-backed contest to identify Russia's most significant historical figure, though he was stripped of almost one million votes organizers called "illegal." The "Name of Russia" contest is part of a broad effort by the Kremlin and state media to strengthen national pride, drawing on Russia's Soviet and Czarist past. But the campaign has turned into a political minefield.

In democratic societies, every great surge of the government’s size, scope, and power rests on a foundation of fear, and the present occasion is no exception. The president, the secretary of the treasury, congressional leaders, and the vultures now swarming Washington to pick the remaining flesh from the taxpayers’ bones would have us believe that unless the colossal rip-off now being formulated in Congress is enacted, the future will be too horrible to contemplate. Journalists, as usual, are doing their part to create an atmosphere of fear. Reports characterize the bailouts as “a bid to unlock the flow of credit”...

It looks like the Democrats are shocked by a nominee who actually takes the initiative to show some leadership in the economic bailout bill as evidenced by the reaction of Democrat activist and CNN political contributor Donna Brazile. Appearing on a panel yesterday hosted by Campbell Brown which also included Gloria Borger and Tony Blankley, one could almost hear the song, "Don't Worry, Be Happy," in the background as Brazile assured us over and over that "progress" on the bailout was being made so there was no need for the nominees to appear in Washington except to passively cast a...

This election year has generated a lot of talk about the role of America’s military in the Middle East. Less frequently does the conversation turn to what’s really at the heart of the matter – whether we, as Americans, are committed to a world blessed with freedom for all humankind. The microscopic critiquing of what went wrong, what went right, and how well we’re doing is all very important, particularly if we want to continue to conduct a successful military campaign. But often we forget to “zoom out” and take in the larger picture. Two nonprofits, the LOOC (Lives Out...

Hank Paulson’s $700bn rescue package has run into difficulty on Capitol Hill. Rightly so: it was ill-conceived. Congress would be abdicating its responsibility if it gave the Treasury secretary a blank cheque. The bill submitted to Congress even had language in it that would exempt the secretary’s decisions from review by any court or administrative agency – the ultimate fulfillment of the Bush administration’s dream of a unitary executive. Mr Paulson’s record does not inspire the confidence necessary to give him discretion over $700bn. His actions last week brought on the crisis that makes rescue necessary. On Monday he allowed...

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - General Electric lowered its outlook for third-quarter and full-year earnings Thursday, citing unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. The company also has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining a ’AAA’ credit rating, and is taking steps to bolster its capital and liquidity position.

Like, we really believe this..........pollsters have really lost the plot.

Credit Crisis: Everyone's chiming in on the financial mess, but we have yet to hear a better idea than that set out by our Treasury secretary and Fed chief. Congress should act on it without further showboating or delay. Watching the same politicians who created this mess grill Mssrs. Paulson and Bernanke yesterday about what they intend to do about it was almost surreal. Where, for example, does Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the leading recipient of Fannie Mae campaign cash, get off acting so self-righteously when he and his panel were asked to move quickly...

Pakistan airport on high alert following bomb threats guardian.co.uk, UK - [Sep. 25, 2008] Pakistan is already on high alert after a massive bomb devastated the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday, killing 53 people. ...

Airframe Chute's Failure Forces Real-Live Bail-Out... ANN has learned sume surprising details surrounding the recent loss of a non-conforming flying prototype of the Cessna SkyCatcher LSA during exclusive conversations with personnel from Cessna Aircraft and BRS Parachutes. Cessna's prototype Model 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft crashed thursday afternoon near Douglass, KS on what was described as a routine test flight, but a Cessna spokesperson now describes as an extensive evaluation of the aircraft's smpin matrix... this particular test being devoted to "Full-Power, cross-controlled spins." (snip) Cessna has been pretty open adn up-front with the matter, at least to the extend...

The CAC’s agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers’s educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism. In the mid-1960s, Mr. Ayers taught at a radical alternative school, and served as a community organizer in Cleveland’s ghetto. In works like “City Kids, City Teachers” and “Teaching the Personal and the Political,” Mr. Ayers wrote that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression. His preferred alternative? “I’m a radical, Leftist, small ‘c’ communist,” Mr. Ayers said in an interview in...

In politics, timing is everything. Don't you think that in quiet places where they can't be heard, there aren't some involved in the 2008 political race who aren't whispering aloud questions about whether the almost whirlwind speed at which the entire financial market has melted down seems more than coincidental? Would they be guilty of unjustified paranoia -- or would they be justified in at least pondering the issue? Oh, I forgot. When conservatives or Republicans -- or even members of the Clinton family -- dare to suggest that there might be some mischief afoot, or that some unacknowledged media,...

Don't Mention the Kim Jong Il's Illness! By Moon Sung Hwee, from Jagang in 2006 [2008-09-24 18:10 ] Read in Korean Despite strong regulation by the North Korean authorities, rumors about Kim Jong Il’s illness spread quickly through the students who took part in the parade at the September 9 commemorative events for the founding of the North Korean regime. A source from North Hamkyung Province reported on Tuesday that “The story that the General (Kim Jong Il) had fallen down spread fast and widely among the college students who participated in the parade. They said that the General got...

Meditate on Him Today's Scripture “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them” (Psalm 105:2 AMP). Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When you meditate on God’s Word and His marvelous deeds, it will change you! It will begin to drive out old, negative thoughts and fill you with His strength and power. How does that happen? Imagine that you are holding a glass of dirty water in your hand. It’s full of all kinds of particles, sand and dirt. If you were to pour fresh, clean...

The West Virginia Wesleyan College Poll for The State Journal shows Republican John McCain with a double-digit lead in West Virginia in the presidential campaign. Story by Ann Ali Email | Bio | Other Stories by Ann Ali While polls pop up with numbers attempting to predict a presidential winner, the West Virginia Wesleyan College poll for The State Journal tracks the profiles behind the numbers. The poll, conducted this week by Orion Strategies, questioned 600 "likely voters," with emphasis placed on duplicating the West Virginia electorate as closely as possible in regard to party affiliation, age, gender and district...

The U.S. government has decided to once again chuck the Constitution and take on the debt of trillions of dollars. I don't believe the 700 billion figure for a moment. The funny thing is no one is surprised. I mean the Constitution is nothing. It has been trashed for so many years that this latest little debacle is just another bump in the road. Or is it? Frankly, I think it is the last throes of our government which will be changed to the New World Order. For years the New World Order conspiracy theorists were laughed at and called...

MANCHESTER, Conn. -- Instead of dropping “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from its reading list, the Manchester school system has decided to hold seminars for teachers on how to deal with issues of race before bringing the book back to classrooms. The goal of the seminars is to put the book into perspective and create a dialogue on race, white privilege, satire and stereotyping, which were also issues when Twain published it in 1885.

Overstock CEO Comments on President Bush's Speech Outlining Bailout Plan Wednesday September 24, 10:56 pm ET 'Is Something Not Worth Doing Worth Doing Well?' asks Byrne SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK - News) chairman and CEO Patrick M. Byrne comments on President Bush's September 24, 2008 speech outlining the President's market rescue plan. ADVERTISEMENT Dr. Byrne commented: "This bailout is necessary to save the bacchanal that is our US financial system. However, at the core of the administration's plan is the assumption that Wall Street is worth saving. It is not. For years Wall...

WASHINGTON -- Years from now in journalism schools, they will call it the "Taranto Principle." At least, that is what they will call it if they still have journalism schools years from now. In the future, the great republic may only have blog schools, those being schools where students are taught to sit in their underwear in front of their luminescent laptops and pound out semiliterate diktats to an -- for the most part -- unobservant world. Today the amalgamation of all this indignation is called the "blogosphere." Its competing rants are treated occasionally as significant in the media, though...