Free Republic

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The number of tanks belonging to the Russian armed forces will be cut to 2,000, a Russian Defense Ministry source told Interfax on Wednesday. "As part of the armed forces reform, the General Staff endorsed the organizational structure of the Armor Forces within ground brigades and the Navy's coast forces. The Armor Forces will include two independent tank brigades and over 20 tank battalions within permanent alert brigades," the source said. The independent tank brigades will be stationed in the Siberian and Moscow Military Districts, he said. "The overall number of tanks of various versions,...

As the focus turns from rebuilding the Republican Party in 2009 to winning elections in 2010, look to three savvy women to lead the way for liberty next year. Sharron Angle is a former member of the Nevada Assembly who was narrowly defeated in a Congressional primary two years ago. At her website, she sharply criticizes the national debt, the continued growth of government, and mounting Congressional spending. In 2010, Angle is likely to run against the vulnerable U.S. Senate Speaker Harry Reid (D-NV). Terri McCormick is a former State Representative from Wisconsin. Elected in 2000, she self-imposed a term...

It is with utter disgust that I write this about the newly seated poseur in chief occupying the White House in what I supposed to be the leader of the free worlds seat. Barack Obama has shown his weakness and allegiance to tin horn dictators and oppressive leaders everywhere, even worse that that we saw in the late 1970’s under Jimmy Carter, unarguably the worst president ever in the history of the United States of America, until now. In what a blind person could see was a rigged election, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was retained in power over that theologically...

Recently the politically correct City Council's Education Committee passed a resolution for the Department of Education to add two Muslim holidays to the school calender. Thankfully NYC Mayor Bloomberg has shot it down.

We never know how God will use us in His divine providence to accomplish His will, but we do know His providence in how things unfold. God used my mother to save the life of Pope John Paul II through a series of events that led up to the day he was shot. My Mother, Claire LeBlanc, (photo top right), led pilgrimages to Rome for over 20 years. In advance of her trips, Cardinal Medeiros of Boston would write to the Vatican to arrange for a group pass to the Papal audience that would be waiting for her upon...

...events in Honduras also need to be understood in the context of Latin America's decade of chavismo. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez was democratically elected in 1998, but he has since used every lever of power, legal and extralegal, to subvert democracy. He first ordered a rewrite of the constitution that allowed his simple majority in the national assembly grant him the power to rule by decree for one year and to control the judiciary. In 2004 he packed the Supreme Court...Any judge who rules against his interests can be fired. He made the electoral tribunal that oversees elections his own political...

The Honduran army kicked out leftist President Manuel Zelaya who was elected in 2006 for one 4 year term, but intended to maneuver stay on the job after 2010. Having goals in mind similar to those of Barack Obama, Zelaya has not finished converting his country into the paradise that other countries under Marxist dictatorships have produced. Many of us are outraged that Barack Obama joined his leftist/communist friends in the Organization of American States, the UN, and Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro in condemning what is in reality a refusal of the people of Honduras to fall under unending...

Government officials accompanying President Shimon Peres in Kazakhstan accidentally left behind secret documents, including details of his itinerary, and threw security officials into a panic. The president’s spokeswoman confirmed to Israel National News that the documents had been forgotten and placed the source of the blunder in the Foreign Ministry.

MADISON, Wis. - The number of abortions performed in Wisconsin dropped slightly last year to its lowest level since the state began keeping records three decades ago, according to a state report released Tuesday. The state Department of Health Services study found that 8,229 abortions were performed in Wisconsin last year, down from 8,267 in 2007. The number of Wisconsin abortions has now fallen for five straight years, since 10,557 abortions were reported in 2003. The 2008 number also was the lowest since Wisconsin started tracking abortions in 1974. Although the drop was small, it was hailed by anti-abortion advocates....

have been assigned to read a poem at the fourth of july family gathering. need help. anyone got a fave patriotic or otherwise appropriate poem?

Wenzel Strategies survey shows Ohioans favor Strickland proposal for slots at Ohio horse tracks, but incumbent governor does not appear to profit politically from the idea Kasich leads incumbent Ted Strickland 44%-35%, with 21% undecided Portman leads Fisher 39%-33% in U.S. Senate race with 27% undecided Portman leads Jennifer Brunner 43%-31% with 26% undecided

A Sombrero for Uncle Sam The Constitution in the Crapper byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D.thelastcrusade.org Those who count the vote decide nothing. Those who count the voters decide everything. Joseph Stalin It will determine which states gain seats in Congress and which ones lose them. It will divert billions in federal funds to states and cities with the greatest number of illegal aliens.It will support the conviction that America has become a bi-lingual country.It will allocate of billions of taxpayers’ dollars to special interest groups, such as NAACP, Fundacion Azteca, Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition, and Acorn.The dice have been loaded.The...

A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair has touched off a blistering exchange of insults among high-profile Republicans over last year’s GOP ticket – tearing open fresh wounds about leaks surrounding Palin and revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days. Rival factions close to the McCain campaign have been feuding since last fall over Palin , usually waging the battle in the shadows with anonymous quotes. Now, however, some of the most well-known names in Republican politics are going on-the-record with personal attacks and blame-casting....

While many on the left are reveling in the downfall of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford after he disclosed his affair with a woman in Argentina, there's a sympathetic figure being overlooked that might have the necessary background to fill the void left by the governor should he resign. On CNBC's June 30 "The Kudlow Report," Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Steve Moore explained his close relationship with the Sanfords and raised a new political possibility. "This is such a tough thing for me Larry, because as you know Mark Sanford has been a long-time friend of mine," Moore...

Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan blasted the MSM for failing to get the details on Trig Palin's birth. He concluded his post with "I believed then and I believe now that the MSM is too concerened with their own reputations and too deferent to power to even ask the questions. Which is another betrayal of their core purpose. And why they are dying. And deserve to." "Too concerned with their own reputations"? Really!? Wow. I haven't noticed the MSM displaying a lot of concern with their reputation as they fawn and slobber over every move Obama makes. That doesn't do much, in...

... [Bloomberg has] overseen a large expansion in annual school spending, to $22 billion from $13 billion, with the additional money pumped in from Mr. Bloomberg’s budget and from the state. And that has allowed them to reshape the system to reflect the central elements of the mayor’s philosophy: smaller schools, relentless assessments of progress, and higher salaries for administrators to attract top talent. A New York Times analysis of seven years of education spending has found a number of changes in how dollars are allocated. There are now 1,075 more principals and assistant principals, even as overall student enrollment...

Check out the latest video from Steven Crowder

For once, even 638 horsepower might not be enough. As I slot the ZR1's six-speed shifter into first and tilt my gaze toward the flag girl, for reassurance I give the throttle a quick stab with my heel. The supercharged V-8 responds with a shock wave that momentarily warps my vision and clouts my stomach like a 7.2 on the Richter scale. Maybe I have a chance. The finish line lies one mile in the distance, somewhere beyond the heat waves; after reaching it, I'll be at very high speed and won't have a lot of tarmac left to stop....

Unions are spearheading the attack on our healthcare system and none more so than the Service Employee's International Union and its sister organization the CNA. The ten talking points that the California Nurses Association has put out in order to rev up its membership to support a universal, single payer healthcare system is interesting, to say the least. In this posting, I'd like to reply to each of them with a little rebuke of my own. But first I’d like to remark on the ham-handed style in which these talking points were written. The class warfare rhetoric here is more...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Former boxing champion Alexis Arguello, considered one of the best lightweights to step in the ring, has been found dead. Presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo confirmed Arguello's death early Wednesday.