Free Republic

For those of you that are curious, Obama's super special, ultra spectacular healthcare infomercial was a dud in the ratings last Wednesday night. ABC's Brarackspactacular Healthcare Extravaganza (I think that was the official name of the show, wasn't it?) went up against the NBC premiere of "The Philanthropist," widely panned as disappointing, and a repeat of "CSI: NY" on CBS, widely seen as already once widely seen. Unfortunately for ABC, its prop"O"ganda special got a dismal 1.2 rating to the 2.0 and 1.8 ratings respectively for the entertainment competition. Apparently the TV show where he's president but plays a doctor...

One of the most disastrous pieces of legislation in decades, one that will be as ruinous as Smoot-Hawley, came before the House of Representatives on Friday, June 26. This bill will further destroy the economy, wipe out jobs all across the country, and is based on what more and more people understand as the pseudo science of global warming, or globaloney as I like to call it. This piece of garbage is as bad as they come. It's called the cap and trade bill. A similar bill like this one has been in play in Australia and it is so...

DANGEROUS COMBO OF RX NARCOTICS * ATE 1 MEAL A DAY, WEIGHED 125 LBS. In addition to the mind-bending painkiller Demerol that the "King of Pop" took three times a day, he also took 3 milligrams of the overwhelming narcotic Dilaudid as well as Vicodin daily. To add to the reality-altering effect of Demerol, Jackson also took a drug called Vistaril, which amplifies the narcotics' effect, experts say. Rounding out the staggering pharmacopia, Jackson scarfed down the muscle relaxant Soma, antidepressants Zoloft and Paxil, anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the heartburn medication Prilosec on a daily basis, a source close to...

The Cap and Trade passed Friday 219 to 212. Here are the House Republicans that made it possible... CA Bono MackDE CastleIL KirkNJ LanceNJ LoBiondoNY McHughWA ReichertNJ Smith (NJ) Thanks for helping to "skyrocket" our energy bills.

Jim Geraghty first wrote that all of Barack Obama’s promises come with expiration dates, and broken promises from politicians are nothing new, of course. However, one usually expects politicians — especially those running on hope and change — to either remain true to their professed core values and the issues that fueled the most passion on the campaign trail, or at least explain their change in the daylight. Obama did neither, nor did he apologize to the man he besmirched endlessly on the campaign trail while adopting the policy that Obama most demonized as a candidate.

Speaking to a group of servicemen in Kosovo, Gov. Sarah Palin responded to a crack made by Sen. John Kerry earlier this week. Sen. Kerry joked he wished Palin went missing along with Sanford. "He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad," she said. "I just wanted to reach out to the TV and say 'John Kerry, why the long face?'," she concluded.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson's six-country tour included a visit with Albania President Bamir Topi. Elder D. Todd Christofferson greets those who attended ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new school in Albania. Elder Christofferson and his wife, Katherine, Elder Johann Wondra, Area Seventy, and his wife, Ursula, and President J. Martin Neil of the Albania Tirana Mission and his wife, Elizabeth, and senior missionaries Peter and Ruth Lynne Snow attended the opening of a school created to educate the Roma ethnic minority in Tirana. The school is designed to teach the Albanian language to the local Roma children. Once they learn Albanian,...

Turkey has urged France and Germany to back its bid to join the EU, rejecting calls for a special partnership rather than full membership. "We will never give up," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Brussels. Turkey's EU accession talks are going at a glacial pace and risk suspension if Ankara fails to open its ports and airports to Cyprus this year. France and Germany want to give Turkey a "privileged partnership" with the EU. But Mr Erdogan insisted "our goal is full membership". He also said it was "populist and wrong" to use Turkey's bid as...

Bishop James Conley, Auxiliary of Denver Denver, Colo., Jun 26, 2009 / 05:50 pm (CNA).- Addressing the National Catholic Bible Conference on Friday morning, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver James D. Conley urged Catholics to be “disciples of the Word” like King Josiah, the priest Ezra and St. Francis of Assisi. Recovery of God’s Word can create renewal and change “hearts and history,” he said.“Too few of us think of God’s Word as exciting or newsworthy enough to be sought out every day. And therefore too many of us miss the most newsworthy event in life – the experience of...

Karen England Sacramento, Calif., Jun 27, 2009 / 08:04 am (CNA).- The Modesto City School Board on Monday voted to allow junior high and high school students to leave campus during the school day for “confidential medical services,” such as abortions, without the consent or knowledge of their parents. The school board adopted the new policy in a preliminary vote of 4-3, the California Catholic Daily says. The board members will take another vote on the issue on July 13.Karen England, executive director of the pro-family lobbying group Capitol Resource Institute, attended the meeting and reported that four people...

Smash windows, tear down fence in protest against Tehran regime STOCKHOLM - Angry demonstrators broke into the Iranian Embassy outside Stockholm on Friday, climbing in through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said. More than 150 people had gathered outside the embassy to protest against the Iranian regime, when some of them attacked the building with rocks and tore down a fence to enter the embassy grounds, police spokesman Ulf Hoglund said.

Surprising to most, the U.S. military's space-age B-2 Spirit was not the world's first stealth bomber. That honor belongs to the Horton 2-29, an experimental jet created by Nazi Germany at the tail end of World War II. However, because it was never in wide use during the conflict, the 2-29's stealth capabilities were never given much of a test. That is, until now.Researchers hired by National Geographic studied the last remaining 2-29 in existence -- locked away in a U.S. government hangar -- and built a replica. They then tested the plane's resistance to the kinds of radar active...

President Obama's unwillingness to provide wholehearted support for the objectives of those seeking to topple the murderous, America-hating regime in Iran has left some observers scratching their heads. But to many old foreign policy hands, Obama's tepid approach has invoked a knowing smile of appreciation for the president's foreign policy "realism." The term "realism" as applied to foreign policy is loosely tossed around. There are Minimal Realists, Maximal Realists, English Realists, American Realists (Condoleezza Rice's self-description), Classical Realists, Neo-realists, and Neo-classical Realists. Calling oneself a realist is often just another way of claiming that you understand reality. Nonetheless, the term...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans concerned about the Obama administration's big spending on economic stimulus, energy and health care are asking, "Where are the jobs?"

In a recent press conference, Les Kinsolving of World Net Daily finally got to ask the question that we've all wanted to ask Obama, "Why won't you show us your real birth certificate?" Press Secretary Gibbs response was startling. He said that the Obama Administration had put a copy of it, one with a raised Seal, on the Internet. That response, more than any other mentioned to date, should have gotten people to their feet shouting, "NO, it's NOT a real birth certificate!" Or, at least, it's not the long-form original. In effect, Obama, by way of his Press Secretary,...

Bricks marked with swastikas on a crumbling building in Brazil have helped historians trace an astonishing plan by Adolf Hitler for a Nazi empire in South America. They have also found some of the young men who were kept as slaves by German settlers and local Nazi supporters. They were known as ‘ Nummernmenschen’ – the number people – as the dehumanisation practised in the concentration camps was exported.

Mahindra says it plans to start sending two- and four-door versions of a truck — here, it is called simply the Pik-Up — to the United States by year-end. Its distribution partner is Global Vehicles U.S.A., an Atlanta-based importer. The second act is to come next year with imports of a version of the Scorpio that I tested, modified for American tastes and standards. snip Mahindra’s American strategy is to offer high value and good mileage from efficient diesel engines. snip For people willing to take a look, the Mahindra should stand out, with quirky looks, a tough-truck résumé and...

Nancy Pelosi et al. got the Waxman-Markey carbon tax bill through the House of Representatives by a very narrow vote yesterday. All accounts indicate that Pelosi pulled out the stops, calling in every favor and twisting every arm she could, to get her “legacy” legislation through. Interestingly, Harry Reid is going to hold the bill in the Senate until this fall, conceding that he lacks the votes to pass it. The Senate, of course, consists of representation per state, not by population. If you parse the demographics, you can understand why Reid may not be able to get a cap-and-trade...

<p>DECATUR, Ala. (AP) - Officials in one Alabama county believe they’ve solved a mystery dating back to the Civil War.</p> <p>Morgan County archivist John Allison recently discovered $493 in mostly uncirculated Confederate currency in a county vault. Some of the serial numbers were in sequence, making it appear the money came straight from the Confederate Congress.</p>

Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district. I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air. More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks. Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is...