Free Republic

During the campaign, I wrote a piece called "Why Won't Obama Talk About Columbia? — The years he won't discuss may explain the Ayers tie he keeps lying about." So now, nearly six months into the Obama presidency, the mainstream media has finally done a bit of the candidate background reporting it declined to do during the campaign — other than in Wasilla — and whaddya know?  The New York Times unearthed a 1983 article called, "Breaking the War Mentality," that Columbia student Barack Obama wrote for a campus newspaper. The article shows that Obama dreaded American "militarism" and its "military-industrial interests," while effusing enthusiasm...

U.S. officials say Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this week. It would be the highest-level contact the Obama administration has had with Zelaya since he was deposed last week. Zelaya is expected in Washington on Tuesday following an unsuccessful attempt to return to Honduras over the weekend that deepened the country's political crisis. The State Department says the administration remains committed to seeing a restoration of democratic order in Honduras and deplored the use of force against Zelaya's supporters.

Breaking on Fox.

“With the price tag of Obama-care likely to exceed $1 trillion, moderate Democrats face a simple choice. They can jump off the cliff with the president, or they can stay true to the principles that they have espoused throughout their careers,” wrote an adviser to Republican John McCain. Matt Drudge is making a big deal about what Kevin Hassett wrote about California’s problems becoming President Obama’s problems. But what Hassett said about the president’s takeover of the health insurance industry is what is the real news. We all know Obamanomics is tanking because he borrowed what will be $2 trillion...

Here is video of Willie Geist debunking the belief that the ghost of Michael Jackson appeared on live TV July 2 when Larry King was being given a tour of Jackson's Neverland Mansion. Geist also shows a man being shot with "Roman Candles" in observance of July 4. Both stories are odd, but interesting. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid today published some of the messages he has received from Hondurans upset at the international media's pro-Zelaya news coverage. He called for thorough, balanced reporting of events in Honduras, rather than acceptance of the ousted leader's explanation that he was deposed in a "military coup." "The so-called 'military coup' in Honduras was a successful effort by Honduran patriots to preserve their constitutional system of government from an international alliance of communists and socialists backed by Iran," Kincaid wrote in a column published at aim.org. "I continue to receive messages from Honduran citizens upset at...

Teen who Allegedly Mutilated 19 Cats Fits Profile of Sociopath, Detective Says A south Florida teenager accused of killing more than a dozen cats fits the profile of a sociopath and responded with laughter when police first spoke to him about the cat deaths, a detective said in an affidavit released Monday. The 10-page affidavit notes that Miami-Dade County detectives used an electronic device to track 18-year-old Tyler Hayes Weinman's car and traced his cell phone before charging him with the macabre crimes. The tracking device showed the car had stopped near places where at least two dead cats were...

The inventor of the Rubik's Cube is about to confound the world with a new puzzle called The 360, an executive at Rubik brand said in England. "It doesn't need batteries and looks as though it should be quite easy," said David Hedley, the brand's vice president. "But it is incredibly complicated. There are some really cunning tricks to it." The 360, which goes on sale next week, was invented by Erno Rubik, 64, the reclusive Hungarian professor who has sold an estimated 350 million Rubik Cubes since 1980, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday. With Rubik's new game, players must...

The well-shined boots, the perfect marches, the fittest figure. Staff Sgt. Michael F. Johnston is the U.S. Army’s new standard bearer. The Lincoln Pius X High School graduate was recently named 2009 Drill Sergeant of the Year after a week of exhausting competition against six other drill sergeants. “And, of course, I was just ecstatic,” said his mother, Joan Johnston, of Lincoln. Her son has been to Afghanistan twice, but he spent the last year and a half teaching recruits the ups and downs of combat. Sometimes he has to yell, he said in a phone interview from Fort Benning,...

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say the dean of Villanova University's law school was involved in a prostitution investigation before resigning last week. State police say Mark Sargent was seen leaving a suspected house of prostitution in suburban Philadelphia just before a raid Nov. 25. He was not charged. Instead, police say Sargent was one of two customers who provided information to authorities prosecuting the case. The owner of the Kennett Township home recently pleaded no contest to promoting prostitution; two co-defendants pleaded guilty to the charge.

Religion is at the heart of dispute over the Temple Mount, but maybe not the way you think. To the Jews it is the site of the Two Holy Temples erected to God. It is also one of only three places in the Tanach (the Jewish Scriptures) that talks about a financial transaction where a Jew purchased the land. Scholars believe the transaction was written about to show Jewish ownership of that land: King David then bought the site from the Jebusites, as it is written (II Samuel 24:24): "David bought the threshing-floor... for fifty pieces of silver." Ever since...

BOSTON – Tim Wakefield was in the weight room when Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell ducked his head in Sunday morning and said that the knuckleballer was wanted in Terry Francona’s office. The office door was closed when Wakefield arrived; when it opened, Wakefield saw a stream of teammates – Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett and Jason Bay – all walking out with All-Star packets for the July 14 game in St. Louis. Francona, with a solemn face, beckoned for Wakefield to enter. The charade didn’t last. Francona, a better manager than actor, cracked up, and...

Saskatchewan marriage commissioners should be allowed to refuse to perform same-sex unions if it violates their religious beliefs, the state government says. The province's Saskatchewan Party government is seeking a legal opinion on whether its proposed legislation is in compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday. Provincial Justice Minister and Attorney General Don Morgan told the CBC the state government will propose two options to the court -- one that would allow existing marriage commissions to refuse to perform same-sex marriages and another in which a religious exemption would be granted to...

Mummy, where are my stripes? Pure white Bengal tiger astonishes keepers By Daily Mail Reporter 06th July 2009 A beautiful rare snow white Bengal tiger doesn't have to earn her stripes because she was born without them. [Pic in URL] The playful six-month-old cub called Fareeda is so unusual none of her kind exist in the wild today and she is the first-ever to be born in Africa. Her parents Geena and Shiva are both white Bengal tigers and carry the gene for white colouring. Enlarge Fareeda is a snow white tiger cub who only has stripe markings on her...

July 06, 2009 Sarah Palin: The Best is Yet to Come By J.R. Dunn The response to Sarah Palin's surprise resignation last Friday clearly reveals the limitations of the American political class, right, left, or what have you. There's an old academic joke, probably apocryphal, about Count Metternich, Austria's foreign minister during the Napoleonic era. While attending the Congress of Vienna, Metternich is sleeping off a banquet when one of his aides bursts in at three in the morning. "Your excellency! Count Nesselrode, the Russian ambassador, just died." Metternich jerks awake. "Died, you say? What a terrible thing! I was...

Here is complete video of the joint press conference held today in Moscow between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Obama announced that the two had agreed on a treaty that will reduce the Nuclear Arsenals of the two nations by up to one-third. . . . . (Watch Video)

Facebook board member Marc Andreessen, who just launched a new venture fund, said in an interview with Reuters (published Monday) that he expects the company's revenue to be in excess of $500 million in 2009, and that in five years it'll be well into the billions. "Generally speaking, people who are selling their stock in Facebook now are making a mistake," he told Reuters regarding the fact that since an initial public offering is still a ways off, Facebook is permitting some employee stock sales to Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian firm that invested $200 million in the site in...

THE HOOVER FED: HARRISON AND YOUNG While secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover had been a severe critic of Strong’s inflationary policies. Unfortunately, however, Hoover was in favor of a different form of easy money and cheap credit. When he became president, he tried, like King Canute, to hold back the tides by continuing to generate cheap bank credit, and then using “moral suasion” to exhort banks and other lenders not to lend money for the purchase of stock. Hoover suffered from the fallacious view that industrial credit was productive and “legitimate” while financial, stock market credit was “unproductive.” Moreover, he...

The latest global averaged satellite temperature data for June 2009 reveals yet another drop in the Earth's temperature. This latest drop in global temperatures means despite his dire warnings, the Earth has cooled .74°F since former Vice President Al Gore released "An Inconvenient Truth" in 2006. According to the latest data courtesy of algorelied.com: "For the record, this month's Al Gore / 'An Inconvenient Truth' Index indicates that global temperatures have plunged approximately .74°F (.39°C) since Gore's film was released." (see satellite temperature chart here with key dates noted, courtesy of www.Algorelied.com - The global satellite temperature data comes from...

July 6, 2009 Barack Obama makes basic error over balance of power in Kremlin Tony Halpin. President Obama has made his first mistake in Russia even before he arrives in Moscow today. His attempt to cast Vladimir Putin as yesterday’s man and to drive a wedge between the Prime Minister and President Medvedev demonstrates a misreading of relations in the Kremlin. Mr Medvedev is in office but not in power and whether he becomes President in more than name depends on Mr Putin’s support and intentions. Mr Medvedev may represent a more accommodating face of Russia but this is only...