Free Republic

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- California's campaigns introduce candidates not only to the state's voters but to its immensity. In Bakersfield, Meg Whitman, 52, the former CEO of eBay who is campaigning for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination, learned about carrots. In 1968, the Grimm brothers were selling vegetables at a roadside stand in Anaheim. They moved to Bakersfield and today Grimmway Farms and one rival provide 80 percent of the nation's carrots, partly because the brothers figured out how to make the vegetables pleasingly uniform in shape. Who knew? Whitman didn't, and the story, which she tells enthusiastically and at...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI has not escaped the economic downturn, with donations hit by the global financial storm, official figures showed Saturday. The Vatican City ended 2008 with a deficit of 15 million euros (21 million dollars) and had been affected "like other states, by the economic and financial crisis", a statement said. Gifts from churches to the head of the Roman Catholic Church had gone down, particularly at the festivals of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and came to around 54 million euros (76 million dollars), the Vatican said This represented "a small drop due to...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - July 5 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "Called to be saints." - Romans 1:7 We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely...

Bank of Korea Likely to Buy Gold for 1st Time in 11 Years JULY 04, 2009 10:02 The Bank of Korea has not purchased gold for 11 years, but is expected to go on a gold buying spree, as the world’s central banks have bought the commodity since the global economic erupted in September last year. A Bank of Korea official said yesterday, “The bank has begun to set up a plan to manage foreign exchange reserves for next year. It has also closely watched central banks in other nations and trends in the global gold market. Given the changing...

Report says NKorea's Kim convalescing by the sea Sun Jul 5, 2:46 am ET SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has been living at an east coast villa since mid-May and is likely convalescing after reportedly suffering a stroke last year, a newspaper said Sunday citing U.S. and South Korean intelligence.

It took the Obama administration less than eight hours to side with Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega over the ouster of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. As we have come to expect, Mr. Obama got it wrong again, but this time, nobody noticed. The U.S. news media, preoccupied with the sudden demise of Michael Jackson, ignored the event in Central America. For those who care about things more important than the passing of a "pop music legend," here's the rest of the story: Manuel Zelaya, a wealthy rancher and agribusiness executive but self-described "poor farmer," won...

Arizonans will get a second chance to decide if they want residents here to be able to opt out of any national health insurance plan approved by Congress. Without debate, the state Senate on Monday voted 18-11 to put a proposal on the 2010 ballot that would constitutionally override any law, rule or regulation that requires individuals or employers to participate in any particular health care system. The House already has approved the measure. HCR2014, if approved by voters next year, also would prohibit any fine or penalty on anyone or any company for deciding to purchase health care directly....

National and local conservative activists rallying in Schenley Park Saturday said their organizational firepower is leagues ahead of where they were in 1994, when Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolution picked up dozens of congressional seats. If so, President Obama and his allies in the House and Senate might want to pay attention to what happened yesterday morning on Flagstaff Hill. Hundreds of people showed up to boo Obama and Democratic economic and national health care policies at the Pittsburgh Independence Day Tea Party.

Opponents -- and even some former allies -- were quick to criticize Sarah Palin's announcement Friday that she will step down as governor of Alaska. The suddenness of the decision have some thinking that she's tired of political life; that she'll hit the lecture circuit to rebuild her financial fortunes; even that she'll become a "conservative Oprah" Palin, though, posted to her Facebook page yesterday that she has a "higher calling": "I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values . . . how sad that Washington and the media never understand; it's...

I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem. Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an...

"Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me." That's the complaint of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the anti-Semitic, radical minister who was Barack Obama's spiritual mentor for two decades. In other words, a nefarious group of people around Obama are forcing the president to behave contrary to his interests and instincts. Such are the Sauron-like powers ascribed to Obama advisors who, having eaten of the fruit of the matzo, now control the president and vast swaths of the nation. "Them Jews" around Obama have been the object of much attention, especially eliciting the adoration of secular Jewish liberals who...

New appraisal rules under fire Critics charge that a new system is fostering the use of appraisers willing to work for low fees and who are willing to conduct home appraisals far outside their typical areas of activity, leading to low-ball appraisals that can hurt builders, real estate agents, consumers and lenders. By Kenneth R. Harney Syndicated columnist WASHINGTON — It's by far the hottest controversy in real estate this summer and it could directly affect the value of your house — probably negatively — by tens of thousands of dollars. The issue concerns lowballed valuations and the new rules...

A Letter to Our Readers By Katharine Weymouth Sunday, July 5, 2009 Dear Reader: I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only...

The accomplished Alaskan governor can gaze into the face of tiny Trig and inherently know that she still has much to learn, even from her little guy. Meanwhile, her less accomplished critics gaze mostly into TV cameras (and mirrors) and have convinced themselves that they already know it all. Well gosh darn. Who is right? Palin v. the pundits demonstrates a profound disconnect that explains not only how and why the pundit class remains so incapable of understanding her (and much of America), it is a decent microcosm of the bigger political debate going on in this country. To the...

How hedge fund wives are learning to cope New York’s super-rich are feeling the pinch — but don’t feel too sorry for them. The party had to end Tatiana Boncompagni On a recent sunny afternoon in New York City I was talking with a girlfriend who happens to be a hedge fund wife. She was complaining about her husband, once a highly compensated trader whose fund had closed down and who now, in her opinion, wasn’t doing enough to find a job. The couple had been bickering non-stop about their cashflow problems. From behind a pair of oversized black lenses,...

Former congresswoman and current crazywoman Cynthia McKinney is spending a little time in an Israeli hoosegow this week. Only a matter of time, you say? Well, she isn't there because of the time her father blamed her electoral defeat on the "J-E-W-S." Nor, as far as we can tell, is it due to her habit of roughing up cops—although there's no official word about her demeanor when her Greek-flagged Gaza-blockade runner was boarded by the aforementioned J-E-W-S in uniform. McKinney found herself in dangerous waters as part of her new affiliation with the Green Party (she was their presidential nominee...

There is a point in tournament poker where one player doesn't have the chips to play out the next raise, but they have great cards, so they call "all in." At that point, nobody can raise them and the hand gets played out -- either to a game changing win or a total loss for the person who made the call. It appears Sarah Palin decided she and her family could no longer deal with the thousand cuts, so she is "all in." Palin may well decide to stay home and make macaroni and cheese for the kids, but history...

Anyway, when I was out there playing golf I was still working, still doing show prep. And about this health care, do you remember hearing the news that the unions are going to be exempt from the Democrat health care tax? You hadn't heard this one? Oh, good. See, it's a good reason for me to come back. "The best chance for compromise legislation on health care may be a plan under construction in the Senate Finance Committee that would pay for a public plan in part by taxing some worker health benefits." Your health package, your benefits package from...

Debtwatch 36 July 2009: It’s the Deleveraging, Stupid Published in July 4th, 2009 Posted by Cassander in Debtwatch, USA Steve Keen’s Debtwatch No. 36 July 2009 “Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over.” – Herbert Hoover, responding to a delegation requesting a public works program to help speed the recovery, June 1930 “The past may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme” Mark Twain In the last six months, the phrase “Green Shoots of Recovery” has entered the economic lexicon. It appeared to some observers that the global recession was coming to an end,...

Harlan Muth isn’t organizing Sarah Palin’s presidential campaign, but pledges as soon as someone does, “I’ll be with ’em. In the meantime, the Marion maintenance contractor is turning heads with his “Sarah Palin 2012” poster prominently displayed on his van. “It’s getting a fantastic response,” Muth, 63, said. “So many people give me the thumbs up or honk when they see it. Some people get out of their cars and ask me where they can get a poster.” Muth, who spent 23 years in the Air Force before settling down in Marion, couldn’t find a Palin 2012 sign, so he...