Free Republic

Al Gore today likened the challenge of global warming to the threat from Nazi Germany and the Axis powers, the Times of London reports. Gore reminded a British audience that “Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War II,” saying the situation now is no different. “We have everything we need except political will but political will is a renewable resource.” “The only way politicians will act,” Gore continued, “is if awareness raises to a level to make them feel that it’s a necessity.” Our descendants’ reaction “will either be ‘what were you thinking,...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the chief culprits in the housing crisis because they encouraged people who could not afford payments to borrow money, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

Speaking at this week’s Personal Democracy Forum in New York, boyd said that even among people with access to the Net, long-held social divisions of race, class, and income are starting to play out online, particularly among teens now starting to choose which social network they prefer, MySpace or Facebook. “Social media don’t eradicate social divisions,” says boyd, an expert in NextGen behaviors for Microsoft and a senior fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. “[Social media are] making the old social divisions obvious in totally new ways.”

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The global economy is beginning to pull out of recession but the recovery is expected to be sluggish, according to the latest economic update from the International Monetary Fund released Wednesday. The IMF raised its forecast for growth in 2010 to a 2.5% rate, which is higher than the 1.9% growth rate forecast in April. There is much less concern about systemic failure in the financial system. A gradual recovery in the U.S. seems on track, the IMF said. Japan is stabilizing after a dismal first quarter.

The mainstream media loves to tell the public about how "unreliable" the blogosphere is as an information source. However, there is a huge story out there that is only being covered by the blogosphere, in particular at Watts Up With That?, which is currently being completely ignored by the MSM.It is about a significant disagreement between the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Energy Secretary Steven Chu over the amount of worldwide CO2 emissions if the United States acts alone should a climate bill pass in both Houses of Congress. Basically EPA's Jackson says that such a bill, if...

The International Monetary Fund raised its 2009 growth forecast for Asia's developing economies from 4.8 percent to 5.5 percent but cautioned Wednesday that a sustained rebound will depend on recovery in developed economies. The Washington-based IMF cited improved prospects for regional giants China and India. It raised its 2009 growth outlook for China by one percentage point to 7.5 percent and for India by 0.9 percentage points to 5.4 percent. "The upgrade owes to improved prospects in China and India, in part reflecting substantial macroeconomic stimulus, and a faster-than-expected turnaround in capital flows," the IMF said in a report on...

Paula Reed Ward and Dennis B. Roddy reported today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Federal prosecutors filed corruption charges yesterday against a onetime defense contractor who has ties to both John Murtha and a suburban Johnstown defense contractor currently under criminal investigation. Richard S. Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., was accused of accepting $200,000 in kickbacks. He is charged through a criminal information and is expected to plead guilty. The indictment of Ianieri represents the first charges leveled as a result of investigations into firms receiving defense earmarks – many of which benefited former aides and...

Bad news for Gordon Brown. Mark Malloch-Brown, the highly regarded Foreign Office minister, will announce he is leaving Government tomorrow. It’s bad news not because it’s a surprise - it isn’t - but because he’s the biggest success among the goats (government of all the talents) who has proved invaluable both at the FCO and in No10. With his bulging contacts book, he has helped Mr Brown navigate the diplomatic circuit, and has played a crucial role brokering not just the PM’s influence at the UN but in Africa and beyond. He’s been contemplating a move back to the private...

As a result, suburbia produces a large portion of ideological drones, individuals who assume liberal politics is the default position of the enlightened and sophisticated. Not only are they exposed to little dissent from the PC agenda, but any contrary opinions are rarely voiced due to social ostracism. Until recently, the conservative suburbanite or elite academic had no forum in which to vent his conservative opposition. He was surrounded by conforming, high intelligence liberals, espousing almost identical positions on the controversial issues. But recently, this conservative has found a proper outlet for his frustration and his unwillingness to accept the...

As a result, suburbia produces a large portion of ideological drones, individuals who assume liberal politics is the default position of the enlightened and sophisticated. Not only are they exposed to little dissent from the PC agenda, but any contrary opinions are rarely voiced due to social ostracism. Until recently, the conservative suburbanite or elite academic had no forum in which to vent his conservative opposition. He was surrounded by conforming, high intelligence liberals, espousing almost identical positions on the controversial issues. But recently, this conservative has found a proper outlet for his frustration and his unwillingness to accept the...

Col. Richard Kemp Formerly commander of British forces in Afghanistan Col. Richard Kemp told a conference in Jerusalem on June 18, 2009: "Hamas' military capability was deliberately positioned behind the human shield of the civilian population. They also ordered, forced when necessary, men, women and children from their own population to stay put in places they knew were about to be attacked by the IDF. Israel was fighting an enemy that is deliberately trying to sacrifice their own people, deliberately trying to lure you into killing their own innocent civilians." Click here to read the full presentation. Click here to...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Governor Palin's resignation -- announced last Friday -- fueled speculation that she may be setting up a run for president in 2012. A new USA Today/Gallup poll asked several questions and the results were very interesting.

Boehner: Biden's lying about stimulus By: Alex Isenstadt July 8, 2009 10:50 AM EST Vice President Joe Biden is invading House Minority Leader John Boehner’s back yard tomorrow to tout the success of the stimulus package, but Boehner is redoubling his attacks, accusing the vice president of lying about the economy. “I found it…interesting over the last couple of days to hear Vice President Biden and the president mention the fact that they didn’t realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in,” Boehner said. “Now this is the greatest fabrication I have seen since I’ve been in Congress.” “I’ve...

This past February, in a stunning disregard of their fiduciary responsibilities to the American People, the Congress voted on a stimulus bill that they hadn't read. This one bill single-handedly increased the national debt by 160%. The bill was over 800 pages, and the members of the House received the bill at 11 pm the night before they were to vote on it. The vote couldn't be delayed because Nancy Pelosi was going on vacation to Italy. When the House Energy committee passed the "cap and tax" bill. The legislation was over 900 pages, once again the people voting for...

Today at 3 o'clock, 4 minutes, 56 seconds, it will be 3456789 (time and date together).

SACRAMENTO -- The state will pay $335,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from a crash involving former state Sen. Carole Migden. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Steven Gevercer said Monday that state officials have agreed to pay the sum to 33-year-old Ellen Butawan of Vallejo. Butawan sued Migden and the state after suffering minor injuries when Migden rear-ended her in May 2007 along Interstate 80 corridor in Solano County. Witnesses reported Migden talking on the phone and driving wildly in her state-owned SUV before the crash.

more pics in the link

WASHINGTON -- Government investigators smuggled bomb-making materials into federal buildings past the police agency charged with protecting those buildings and found numerous other gaps in security, according to a congressional report. The Government Accountability Office said investigators carried bomb-making materials past security at 10 federal buildings. Security at these buildings and a total of about 9,000 federal buildings around the country is provided by the Federal Protective Service, a target of the probe.

If the May 19 special election scared Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers into action, they aren't showing it. Fifty days after voters rejected a Capitol driven ballot package in a rebuke of Sacramento politics, California lacks a budget-balancing agreement and is paying bills with IOUs for the second time since the Great Depression. Democrats and Republicans continue to squabble over how deep to cut state services and whether to use the crisis as an opportunity to enact permanent changes that shrink state government. They have shifted back to closed door meetings after reaching few deals in public. In public,...

He coulda been a contenda! He coulda been the first Black President instead Colin Powell is a discredited Republican armchair political pundit whose opinion is just as valuable as the “Obama-sexual” Chris Matthews. Listening to Chris Matthews talk about Barack Obama is like listening to your father talk about having sex with your mother, Yuk! And listening to Colin Powell speaking for Republicans is like listening to Benedict Arnold speaking for America (yeah… that’s just not working Mr. Powell!). So after his much ballyhooed endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama it seems that Powell is showing buyers remorse...