Free Republic

Remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger who, exactly five years ago, denounced state legislators as "girlie men" beholden to unions because they failed to pass a state budget? He's back, sensing that time is running out on his 2003 campaign promise to stop "crazy deficit spending." "I was sent to Sacramento to fix the broken system," Schwarzenegger said Thursday, demanding that the Legislature close a budget deficit without new taxes. The Republican governor accused lawmakers – implicitly the Legislature's dominant Democrats – of ignoring "waste, fraud and abuse," adding a phrase reminiscent of his famous "girlie man" epithet: "They're just beholden to...

BATH – Twilight is coming on at Willie Minot's farm and the cows in the pasture graze contentedly as another day fades. But one cow nibbles on wet grass apart from the rest of the herd, different from all the others, with their spots, round bodies and, well, attitude. She's taller. She's in that gangly, awkward adolescent phase, wanting to be a part of the crowd, but not quite fitting in. Largely, because she is a cow of a different species. She's a moose. "We looked out about three weeks ago and said, 'Hey, there's a moose," said Minot, who...

You know what lead does to the brain? Obama's decisions explained. It was meant to be a show case for healthy living, with the first lady, Michelle Obama, personally putting hand to pitch fork in a crowd of school children to dig up the first White House vegetable garden in more than 50 years. Instead, an embarrassed White House admitted today that the plot - whose lettuce, herbs and other produce have been consumed by the first family, visiting dignitaries, local school children and a women's homeless shelter - had tested positive for elevated levels of lead.

Youve been hearing a lot about the 2010 CENSUS, like how Obama is letting ACORN run it. Well the news is a lot worse than that, because true to form, Obama is planning to use the census as part of his unconstitutional power grab. As usual the census will be asking what race you are, AND what religion you are. BUT for the FIRST TIME EVER, the census will be asking people how many guns they have, what kind, where they are kept, etc. They will also be asking what organizations you belong to, what magazines you subscribe to, newspapers,...

Just in time for America’s Independence Day holiday, Rasmussen has released its analysis of a poll examining the attitudes of Americans regarding the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence.The Declaration of Independence is one of the two crucial founding documents of the US – the other, of course, being the Constitution. The Constitution is the technical document outlining the structure and powers of the national government. The Declaration establishes the rational foundation for the very existence of this country.Rasmussen’s strategy – and I’m not sure that this was the best idea – was to take various famous phrases from...

Kris Coratti, communications director of Washington Post Media, a division of The Washington Post Company, said the flier “came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication. It went out before it was properly vetted, and this draft does not represent what the company’s vision for these dinners are, which is meant to be an independent, policy-oriented event for newsmakers....

Farah Anwar Pandith Special Representative to Muslim Communities Washington, DC ### MR. WOOD: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome. Sorry for the delay. I think you all know we had some technical difficulties. I’m very pleased to have with us today Special Representative to Muslim Countries [1] Farah Pandith. And Ms. Pandith’s going to brief you on her new position and the Administration’s efforts to create opportunities for dialogue with Muslims around the world. So I’m going to turn it over to her in just a second. I just wanted to ask, before asking your questions, if you could identify yourselves and...

Once upon a time, when cities were poor and suburbs were rich, "urban policy" meant programs to alleviate poverty. But in the last few decades, the cities and suburbs turned inside out. Poverty spread in the aging suburbs, as many encountered rising immigration, unemployment and crime. Wealth flooded once again to the cities, as urban living and enterprise came back in vogue. City and suburb started to look economically alike. Now President Obama has created the Office of Urban Affairs, which seeks to redefine the word "urban." It aims to establish a policy agenda not just for inner cities, but...

Two of the District's top law enforcement officials are warning that dozens of federal prisoners with ties to Colombian rebel groups and international drug rings are a threat to security at the D.C. Jail and pose a risk of escape into the surrounding neighborhood. The concerns have led city officials to ask the federal government for more money to provide security for the increasing numbers of prisoners, who are being held at the District's corrections campus in Southeast. Devon Brown, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC), outlined concerns about such prisoners in a U.S. District Court filing last...

Inside Neverland: The stunning photographs of Michael Jackson's empty fantasy By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE 03rd July 2009 Gone is the zoo with its elephants, tigers and giraffe. The exotic snakes have long since slithered away, and the amusement rides have been dismantled. The gates to Michael Jackson's fabled Neverland Ranch swung open yesterday to reveal a shell of the fantasy the boy-man had created when he was the King of Pop. [Pics in URL]

Despite this fact, PETA members go straight to the gutter to attempt to save potential chickens in distress. Like a deranged cult group, the young and impressionable (almost exclusively female) are recruited, stripped, and sent all but naked into the streets to decry the fate of a chicken, bird, rabbit, you name it. In what should enrage the feminist groups around the globe, PETA objectifies partially nude women in bondage-like 'cage' depictions that reduce women to nothing more than cheap sex objects. In other words, PETA attempts to swap one form of 'meat' with another form of the same. This...

I was asked to write a brief history of the Church of the Incarnation, in Highlands. North Carolina, for a local magazine. The piece was intended to be about the building itself, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built in 1896. But you cannot research the history of a church without also researching the history of the people who brought that church into being. Of the dozen people who formed the congregation for this church, one was Sarah Whiteside Norton. She was the first non-native American child born in the Highlands area, the daughter of...

"Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." --Leviticus 25:10 Inscription on the Liberty Bell

If there was one moment that foreshadowed California's long, sad descent from multibillion-dollar surpluses to deficits as far as the eye can see, it was that day in 1999 when the Senate approved legislation to increase pensions for state workers and opened the door for even bigger retirement checks for local employees. The discussion on the floor of the Senate took less than one minute, and it was tragically myopic, focusing not on how the bill would affect employees generally or on what it would cost the taxpayers but on the goodies the measure would grant to the Legislature's own...

When President Obama announced on June 9 that some financial institutions would be allowed to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program dollars, he said the massively expensive TARP bailout had made money for the federal government. "It is worth noting that in the first round of repayments from these [TARP recipients], the government has actually turned a profit," the president said. Indeed, TARP supporters have long held out the hope that the program might be profitable. But now Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has come up with a proposal to spend any TARP profits before...

John Ziegler Exposes How Palin Derangement Syndrome Works By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive) July 3, 2009 - 11:22 ET Although almost eight months have passed since last year's elections, Palin Derangement Syndrome continues to manifest itself throughout America's press.As NewsBusters' Mike Sargent reported Tuesday, Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum is gravely afflicted with the illness, and needs to see a team of doctors quickly if he ever wants to be taken seriously by anyone other than the extreme Left.With that in mind, Palin documentarian John Ziegler had a fascinating radio interview with Politico's Mike Allen Wednesday that shed some light...

Cardinal Justin Rigali Washington D.C., Jul 2, 2009 / 08:17 pm (CNA).- Pro-lifers and defenders of marriage reacted critically on Tuesday to an Obama administration proposal to use taxpayer funds for abortions in the District of Columbia and to a federal court's denial of a referendum involving same-sex “marriage.”Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a Tuesday letter that no one can support funding abortions in the nation’s capital and still claim to support reducing abortions.“The evidence is overwhelming, and universally recognized by...

I am posting this week-old message from GOA because I called Alexander's office yesterday. I called to review the interminable list of frightening bills being considered by the Senate, and added that I was VERY disappointed with Alexander's votes on the "porkulus" bill AND the confirmation of Harold Koh. The staffer immediately offered EXACTLY the PREVARICATION described below. Unfortunately, I fell for it then - UNTIL I recalled this message, and was able to find it. Now I will call back Monday to let them know that trust is hard won, and easily lost. ************************************** Eight Republicans Help Confirm a...

After being asked when the public should begin judging the success of the nearly $800-billion stimulus plan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered, "I think we should begin to judge it now." Let's take his advice. The administration warned that if we failed to support a stimulus package, unemployment would hit a dire 9 percent by 2010. With the stimulus, unemployment, it claimed, would stay in the 8-percent range. This week, the Labor Department announced that the jobless rate jumped to 9.5 percent, higher than any time since August 1983. It's not as if the administration was close. As...

The fear on the street is palpable. Ever since the election of Barack Obama as President of these United States in November 2008, coupled with the election of a democrat party majority in both the U.S. House and Senate, concern for the United States and personal safety has ignited like a fire in dry grass.