Free Republic

Republicans looking for resurgence in the Northeast will probably need some stumbles by President Obama and the Democratic majority, but they are getting the pieces they need to take advantage. The GOP is expected to fill several key holes in its Northeastern recruiting puzzle in the coming days and weeks, with candidates set to emerge against Reps. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) and Jim Himes (D-Conn.) in the near future. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has already sent out a fundraising e-mail asking donors to contribute to Corning, N.Y., Mayor Tom Reed’s campaign against Massa. Reed has yet to officially enter...

Two liberal Democrats launched into a verbal argument that turned physical on the floor of the House Thursday night during a debate over an appropriations earmark one was seeking, according to Roll Call. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., split apart from a heated conversation and began yelling at one another. “You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well. “You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away. But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted: “I’m not going to approve that earmark!”

Documents released by Nixon Library show US tried to pressure Israel to sign Nonproliferation Treaty. 'If Israel elects to go the nuclear route it would cause a fundamental change in the US-Israeli relationship,' says unsigned memo, including 'our long-standing concern for Israel's security' Associated Press Published: 06.25.09, 22:23 / Israel News Inside the Nixon administration four decades ago, American officials weighed options to pressure Israel to declare that it had a nuclear weapons program. US officials concluded Israel was "actively working to improve its capability to produce nuclear weapons on short notice." In an unsigned National Security Council memo, prepared...

*SNIP* California has 55 electoral votes. A Democrat can't win the White House without winning California. "Obama to California: Drop Dead," is not the kind of Sacramento Bee headline that the president or his party can afford.

The only time that I can remember feeling sadness about the death of an entertainer was the death of Frank Sinatra. Sinatra's career spanned nearly six decades. It included an Oscar along with all sorts of musical accolades. I don't remember the media going into quite this sort of a saturated obsession when Sinatra died. It's true that Sinatra died mostly of old age. Yet, Sinatra was exponentially the better singer, actor, and entertainer than Michael Jackson.

As Neda Soltan lay dying in the streets of Tehran last week, my mind turned to the memory of Jane McCrea, the young woman whose death is credited by some historians with helping the Americans defeat the British at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. Having been killed and scalped by British-allied Indian scouts in upstate New York just before one of history's most significant battles, McCrea became something of a frontier martyr and symbol of freedom. Her death served as a rallying cry for freedom among the American revolutionaries. We can only hope that the tragic death of Neda...

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."

Democrats' plans to pass major health care legislation have been stymied, at least for the moment, by the Congressional Budget Office's cost estimates. To the consternation and apparent surprise of leading Democrats, the CBO scored Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus' latest offering at $1.6 trillion over 10 years, while it scored the completed sections of Sen. Christopher Dodd's bill at $1 trillion. Presumably, the incomplete sections would cost more.

The American Civil Liberties Union released a report (together with a You Tube video) attacking the U.S. government's efforts to shut down terrorist-financing charities. The report was based on 120 interviews, 115 of which were conducted with Muslim community leaders and other Muslims "directly affected by" U.S. government policies regarding the charities. It suggests (contrary to a substantial body of evidence) — that the U.S. government was wrong to have acted against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, the Global Relief Foundation and other charities accused of raising money for terrorist organizations. The report...

House Narrowly Passes Bill Designed to Influence Earth’s Climate by Restricting U.S. Industry and Imposing Costs on American Families(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill yesterday that is intended to influence the Earth’s climate by limiting the emission of carbon and other designated “greenhouse gases” within the United States thus imposing costs on American families. The conservative Heritage Foundation estimates that by 2035 the bill would cut the Gross Domestic Product of the United States by $6,790 per family of four and impose $4,600 in carbon taxes per family. The Heritage Foundation analysis countered an analysis...

American adults from young to old disagree increasingly today on social values ranging from religion to relationships, creating the largest generation gap since divisions 40 years ago over Vietnam, civil rights and women's liberation. A survey being released Monday by the Pew Research Center highlights a widening age divide after last November's election, when 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Democrat Barack Obama by a 2-to-1 ratio. Almost eight in 10 people believe there is a major difference in the point of view of younger people and older people today, according to the independent public opinion research group. That is the...

About two months ago, I heard from an old friend with whom I had lost touch. Most of what he had to say revolved around his relationship with a man with whom he is now living. (snip) He said he and his boyfriend needed a church that is more tolerant. I’m going to recommend that he give The Episcopal Church of the Advocate in Carrboro, North Carolina a try. Until a couple of days ago, the Advocate website (www.ouradvocate.org) had a list of the members of its vestry, which included Frank Lombard. But after Lombard was arrested for allegedly trying...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The Air Force says it has successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base, firing it to targets in the Pacific Ocean.

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096333.html Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is set to announce a plan to freeze demolition orders on around 70 percent of unauthorized construction in the east of the city, Haaretz has learned. The municipality would also negotiate compensation terms with families evicted from the remaining 30 percent. The plan represents a departure from earlier statements, in which Barkat spoke out against illegal construction by Palestinians in East Jerusalem. According to various estimates, Jerusalem has some 20,000 unauthorized buildings, home to around 180,000 people. The demolition of each house requires considerable legal efforts and a heavy police presence, amid fears that protests...

The upheaval in Iran offers the Obama administration a host of fresh foreign policy opportunities. Not the least of them is a chance to creep away from the corner into which it has painted itself in the Arab-Israeli peace process. President Obama began with a broad strategy of simultaneously pressing Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states to take concrete steps toward peace. By the time Iranians took to the streets, it had allowed that broad front to be narrowed to a single point: a standoff with the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu over whether "natural growth" would be allowed in...

(2009-06-27) — Senate Republicans today introduced an “innovative alternative” to the 1,300-page cap-and-trade climate change bill which passed the House 219-212 virtually-unread Friday night as the nation sat transfixed by wall-to-wall coverage of the death of an iconic pop singer. Supporters said the GOP-sponsored ‘Michael Jackson Energy Act’ will clear away a raft of environmental regulations that currently discourage construction of nuclear power plants, and will spark energy independence while reducing emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. The 1,897-page Michael Jackson Energy bill includes more than a thousand pages of uninformed speculation about the cause of the performer’s death, gossip about...

Video comparing President George W. Bush's Marine Corps welcome to President Obama's.

Remember the good old days—when dissent was patriotic? Fuggedaboutit. Dissent isn't merely unpatriotic now. It's downright treasonous. Just ask Paul Krugman. If, like virtually all House Republicans and a handful of Dems, you don't agree with the likes of Henry Waxman on the need to take radical measures on the climate, you're guilty of . . . "a form of treason." Treason against the planet, to be precise. That was Krugman's formulation in his New York Times column of today, Betraying The Planet. Krugman has obviously drunk deep from the carafe of Al Gore Kool-Aid, writing:

But seller of 'Obama's birth certificate' dodges administrators to post 3rd time Editor's note: Since publication of this story, the auction item has been removed for the third time. None of the item identification numbers in this article remain valid. An eBay seller who previously promised to deliver a certified copy of President Obama's actual birth certificate – from a hospital in Mombasa, Kenya – has twice had his listing removed from the popular auction website. In a third listing, however, the seller calling himself "colmado_naranja" has explained why the birth certificate was twice yanked by eBay administration.

Regardless of the scientific merit behind doomsday predictions of global warming, President Obama and Congress seem intent on instituting a U.S. policy regime to address the specter of climate change.The debate on the most effective way to "green" America--cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, tough energy standards and regulations, some hybrid approach, or sticking to open markets--will be a heated one. With affordable green technologies still in development, policymakers need to recognize that the economic cost of limiting U.S. production of greenhouse gases on U.S. consumers and companies will be high--high enough to question whether the costs are worth the equally uncertain...