Free Republic

Since January of this year, has it occurred to anyone as to why the Democrats are in such a hurry to push their harmful legislation through quickly? I have a theory* about this and it has to do with the realization that with their man in the White House, the current leadership of both Houses understand that they will likely lose their majority come November of 2010. They Understand that once legislation is passed, it will not only take a new Republican majority to repeal their legislation but a super majority. Let me explain… There are 435 seats in the...

How can a comparatively poor, high-immigration town that sits across the border from super-violent Ciudad Juarez be one of the safest big cities in America? By conventional wisdom, El Paso, Texas should be one of the scariest cities in America. In 2007, the city's poverty rate was a shade over 27 percent, more than twice the national average. Median household income was $35,600, well below the national average of $48,000. El Paso is three-quarters Hispanic, and more than a quarter of its residents are foreign-born. Given that it's nearly impossible for low-skilled immigrants to work in the United States legitimately,...

MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President Barack Obama began his first meeting with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday morning at the Russian prime minister's country residence outside Moscow. Obama, on his first visit to Russia since becoming president, held extensive talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, resulting in a framework agreement for a new strategic arms reduction treaty. After exchanging pleasantries, Putin told Obama that Russia is hoping for better relations with the U.S., following the disagreements that arose with the previous administration. "We link your name with our hopes for the development of Russian-U.S. relations," he...

While we are awash in the usual flood of cynical punditry and partisan sharpshooting over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation, it might pay us to pause and reflect on two critical principles of government in a republic, both of which are affirmed by Gov. Palin's action. • Elected office is a public trust — not a personal possession — and it should be held only so long as a person is able to carry out the people's business effectively. When there arises a hindrance — whether self-made or (as in her case) imposed by others — that makes it impossible...

He was a pedophile and it's an outrage that he should be a role model regardless of any musical talent he had.

Honduras essentially has had two dominant political parties, the PNH and the PLH, for most of this century, with the military allying itself with the PNH for an extended period beginning in 1963. The PLH was established in 1891 under the leadership of Policarpo Bonilla Vásquez and had origins in the liberal reform efforts of the late nineteenth century. The PNH was formed in 1902 by Manuel Bonilla as a splinter group of the PLH. Between 1902 and 1948, these two parties were the only officially recognized parties, a factor that laid the foundation for the currently entrenched PNH (red)...

I hope your Independence Day weekend was full of fun and liberty! I've tried not to select a huge amount of stories about the Sarah Palin resignation because it seems the MSM, as usual, is getting distracted by the big publicity item and leaving you to dig for the rest. Luckily for you, you have us! Here are Monday's diggs! http://diggsandburies.blogspot.com/

Everything Bad Is Good for You Don’t swear off stress—or chocolate or booze or tanning the natural way—just yet By Jeryl Brunner Turns out, your guilty pleasures (red wine, video games) may not be so guilty after all. And those pesky side effects of being an adult—stress, anyone?—can actually benefit you too. Read on to learn the positives of your seemingly negative habits. http://www.elle.com/Living/Society-Culture/Everything-Bad-Is-Good-for-You

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said....

BASEL, Switzerland, June 29 (Reuters) - Financial products should undergo registration like medicines to curb investor access until safety is proven, the Bank for International Settlements said on Monday. Policymakers were alarmed at how opaque and complex securitised products collapsed in value as the credit crunch began unfolding from mid-2007, despite being highly rated. This sparked huge writedowns by banks that shattered investor confidence. "In a scheme analogous to the hierarchy controlling the availability of pharmaceuticals, the safest securities would, like non-prescription medicines, be available for purchase by everyone," the BIS, which acts as a forum for the world's central...

Take for example the cigar I happen to be puffing on while I write this wonderful article this beautiful evening. I freely exchanged a certain number of dollars, which I earned by the sweat of my brow, for this wonderfully made cigar. The manufacturer of the cigar, and the store in which I purchased it from, gladly exchanged their fine product for the certain number of dollars that I paid for it.

LISTEN TO THE REAL REVEREND JESSE ON THE INTERNET OR A RADIO STATION IN YOUR AREA......BOND Action, Inc...Educating, Motivating and Rallying Americans! The Jesse Lee Peterson Radio Show Streamed live online from 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. Call in the same times usually. For Live Questions or Comments Call 1-888-77-JESSE(5-3773) You can email comments and questions to radio@bondaction.org For more information on getting The Jesse Lee Peterson Show picked up on a station in your local area call Ermias Alemayehu at 1-877-WE ACT77 (932-2877)

Soviet Era KGB Defector shows how it all was planned. On the media: "Most of these shmucks were afraid to loose their jobs...If you tell the truth about my country you will not last long as a correspondant at the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times...They are dishonest people who lack integrity… intellectual honesty." On Senator Edward M. Kennedy (could apply to BHO et al just as well): "He thinks he is very smart…he is narrow minded egocentrical idiot who tries to earn his own popularity through participation in propaganda farces."

New technology usually goes on luxury vehicles first. GM chose to make its electric Volt a Chevrolet. Was that wise? This is about the Chevy Volt. Here's the question: If you have a new automotive technology, where do you put it? In low-volume luxury cars, which allows for experimentation and a higher price? Or should new technology go to big-selling, lower cost cars, where you can try for a bases-loaded home run, excite the mass of buyers and score big before imitators can follow? There are examples of both strategies. Automatic transmissions and air conditioning went into expensive cars first....

In its 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast a sea level rise of between 19 and 59 centimetres by 2100, but this excluded "future rapid dynamical changes in ice flow". "Larger rises cannot be excluded but understanding of these effects is too limited to assess their likelihood," the IPCC report stated. Even before it was released, the report was outdated. Researchers now know far more. And while we still don't understand the dynamics of ice sheets and glaciers well enough to make precise predictions, we are narrowing down the possibilities. The good news is that some...

J.Crew is using Sasha and Malia Obama to market some of its spring and summer styles, in a press release sent ... ... to reporters Monday afternoon titled "The Obama Girls Bring Some American Style to Moscow." "Malia & Sasha wore J.Crew and crewcuts as they exited Air Fore One in Moscow — stylish in their trenches, they also accessorized with ballet flat shoes," the release says. The notice includes two photographs of Sasha and Malia deplaning Air Force One with their parents and an image of the J.Crew logo.

July 7, 2009                                     Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week                                 in Ordinary Time       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Gn 32:23-33 In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took his two wives,with the two maidservants and his eleven children,and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.After he had taken them across the streamand had brought over all his possessions,Jacob was left there alone.Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.When the man saw that he could not prevail over him,he struck...

MERCED, Calif. – The final price of the University of California, Merced's commencement ceremony featuring first lady Michelle Obama was more than $1 million — surpassing the original estimate tenfold. Private contributions and interest on a private endowment fund have helped cover the cost. UC spokeswoman Patti Waid Istas said that nonstate dollars and other contributions will be used to cover the remaining balance of around $362,338. The school had budgeted $100,000 for the May commencement ceremony. The price tag ended up being $1.04 million. The address attracted about 12,000 visitors, requiring additional transportation, audiovisual and multimedia needs and other...

War is not the answer. That is what we were told about the war in Iraq. But recent comments from Helen Thomas and an old report from the UN seem to confirm the opposite. War WAS the answer and President Bush saved thousands of Iraqi lives by going to war instead of continuing sanctions. Helen Thomas wrote that "We have had six-and-one-half years of the on-going conflict... More than 100,000 Iraqis also were killed and thousands more wounded." So according to Thomas-An average of 15,384 Iraqis died each year of the war. The alternative to war? Continue sanctions. A UN...

Several hundred Uyghur residents clashed with armed police forces in Urumqi on Tuesday, two days after bloody riots in the capital of China's Xinjiang region that state media said left at least 156 people dead and led to the arrests of over 1,400 people. In the latest clash, the residents called for the release of relatives and others who were detained in connection with Sunday's riots, believed to be the biggest ethnic unrest acknowledged by Chinese authorities since communist China was founded in 1949. Police have arrested 1,434 people in connection with the riots, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported...