Free Republic

OK all you FR cookers, it's 4:30 AM,Have you got your meat on yet??Stoked up the fire in the pit about 3:am, got the brisket on about 3:30,will put the ribs on about 10:am and the chicken about noon for a mid afternoon feast.FReeper friends, neighbors and kin folk will be here today to enjoy one anothers company and celebrate whats left of our liberty and freedom.What are other FReepers doing today?? Tell us about it and please, the more pics the better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0wr8egTnYw

The Present: I wish those attacking Sarah and her family had to walk a mile in her shoes. She has been attacked without mercy by the liberal socialist left and the elitist RINO right. She has been besieged with petty ethics complaints. She and her family have been smeared by late night TV hosts. Never have I witness such a personal attack on a politician. And where are her defenders? Seems the GOP is just fine with Sarah, her husband and two young daughter taking the full fury of the Marxist propaganda machine. Seems the GOP is just fine with...

Mortgage defaults have surged to record levels amid rising unemployment and falling home prices. Lenders are expected to move quickly to clear up backlogs as moratoriums on foreclosures expire. Reporting from Washington -- Just as the nation's housing market has begun showing signs of stabilizing, another wave of foreclosures is poised to strike, possibly as early as this summer, inflicting new punishment on families, communities and the still-troubled national economy. Amid rising unemployment and falling home prices, mortgage defaults have surged to record levels this year. Until recently, many banks have put off launching foreclosure action on the troubled properties,...

KABUL—Militants exploded a vehicle outside the gates of a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunbattle that ended when American troops called in airstrikes, officials said. Two U.S. troops were killed and four were wounded. More than 30 insurgents were killed by the airstrikes in Zerok district of Paktika province, said Hamidullah Zawak, the provincial governor spokesman. The multi-pronged attack near the Pakistan border came as thousands of Marines in southern Afghanistan pursued the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001, trying to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local...

Most recent........

~snip~ Palin ended 2008 with a striking run of personal successes in high-profile popularity polls. According to a poll by Gallup she was the second most admired woman of the year, after Hillary Clinton. Time magazine chose her as the world’s fourth most influential person, behind Barack Obama, Henry Paulson of the US Treasury and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Last week she triumphed in an annual poll, commissioned by a property website, as the person Americans would most like to have as their neighbour. She finished ahead of Oprah Winfrey, the television chat show queen, and Michael Phelps, the...

The goal of European diplomacy is to show that if a nation such as Iran takes on one of the EU member states, it takes on all of them. But this is not the Four Musketeers: there are 27 EU nations, all with their own foreign policy objectives. The EU was very quick to condemn Iran for the way it cracked down on presidential election protests last month. But EU co-ordination began to break down with the arrest of nine British embassy staff. Britain won a strong statement under the Czech EU presidency. A British request for the mass withdrawal...

I was almost overcome by government insanity overload the other evening and writing this was the cure . . . In 2010 we have to turn the House around big time and get the Senate going that way to. I don't want to ever vote for another politician. I only want to vote for people who know, value and act on the principles that created our great country and are selfless enough to help this country get on track by serving up to two terms. Cut the federal government to 1/3 its present size. Stoke the engines of wealth creation...

This was sent by a Deputy Sheriff. The New Fashion Rage In Mug Shots These are actual Police Photos...too funny. Just think about this for a second: Did you ever see anyone arrested wearing a Bush T-shirt, or for you older guys, an Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, or even Nixon, or Bob Dole shirt. Obama must be proud of his supporters!

I seem to remember an excellent medley of US Service songs and other patriotic songs which were synced up to a sideshow showing pictures of the various branches of the military and other patriotic themes. It was very long but very well done and was on someone's personal site. If anyone knows what I am talking about it would be great, if not post some other interesting items for the 4th of July.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Mq9HAE62Y Will you marry me Michaela... or Nicola?

Sarah Palin: What I've Learned The full-length version of our controversial interview with Alaska's governor (first excerpted here last month) reveals the former vice-presidential candidate's perspective on John McCain's choices, her daughter's marriage, God's guidance, and her perceived "hotness."UPDATE: Scroll down for Web-only quotes on wisecracks, American priorities, and more By: Ryan D'Agostino We had flutes and trombones around the house. For my siblings and me, music was important to give us some balance. If it weren't for music, our entire social life, our avocations, all would have had to do with sports. Everything I've ever needed to know...

Although Obama sympathizers managed to derail what would have been the area’s largest Tea Party, they cound not stifle the movement. Over 7,000 patriots came to Jim Miller Park in Marietta to voice their disgust with Washington’s deaf ears. Video and photos available in the original article.

I went through Obama’s Townhall video, and I did some research on some of the things he said. Here’s what I found: What Obama said: About 2/3 of the cost of the reform that we're proposing is just re-allocating the money that's already in the system. You, the taxpayer is already paying for it. Now, 1/3 of it, we're going to have to pay for it by increased revenues. What I've proposed is that if we capped the itemized deductions, that very wealthy people, the top 2% use on their income tax so that they're getting the same tax breaks...

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired four missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, in what was likely to be seen as a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday. The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range missiles, could further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the U.N. resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday and the fourth at about...

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,...

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,...

The reputation of diamond as the hardest material around is under threat. Researchers in China and the United States recently determined that two naturally occurring substances surpass diamond’s resistance to scratching and indentation. They calculated that the mineral lonsdaleite—made of carbon, like diamond—is 58 percent harder than its famous cousin. And wurtzite boron nitride beats diamond’s hardness by about 18 percent after being subjected to pressure, which alters its atomic bonds. Still, in the short term diamond will continue to dominate in practical applications such as saws, drill bits, and industrial abrasives, since the newly studied materials are extremely rare....