Free Republic

In today's Washington Post, Bill Kristol asks tauntingly "[T]he mainstream media and the Republican establishment. … tend not only to dislike and disdain Palin, they also want to bury her chances now as a presidential possibility. What are they afraid of?" That's easy to answer: They -- we! -- are afraid that Palin's distinctive combination of sex appeal, self-pity, and cultural resentment has a following in today's GOP. We are afraid that it is not utterly inconceivable that she could win the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, and we are afraid that if she did so she would lead the...

SCIENTISTS say they have discovered a wonder drug that could help people live up to ten years longer. Rapamycin is a bacterial product found in soil samples on remote Easter Island in the South Pacific. It works by inhibiting a protein called TOR that plays a key role in cell growth. Rapamycin is widely used to stop transplant patients rejecting their new organs.

To win back the White House, Republicans would do well to follow some common-sense guidelines. 1. No drama. We don’t care if the drama is self-inflicted (Mark Sanford) or follows the contender like a magnetic rain cloud (Sarah Palin). If you can’t control yourself, your family, your finances, and your own life, people won’t trust you with the party or the country. Maybe it isn’t fair to penalize those who are victims of a hostile media storm, but if between now and 2012 People magazine has more material on the candidate than the Economist, it really is time to exit....

LOS ANGELES - Millions of fans from around the globe gathered along Sunset Boulevard to pay final respects to California today, as a slow moving funeral procession transported the eccentric superstar state's remains to its final resting place in a Winchell's Donuts dumpster in Van Nuys. The self-proclaimed 'King of Pop Culture' died last week at 160, in what coroners ruled an accidental case of financial autoerotic asphyxiation. The death sent shock waves across the world and sparked an outpouring of grief by rabid fans. "I don't care what the tabloids and the Wall Street Journal say," said a weeping...

Allies Sour on Effort as Obama Woos Industry Vice President Biden, with the American Hospital Association's Rich Umbdenstock, discusses a deal with hospitals on health-care reform. (By Ron Edmonds -- Associated Press) The Obama administration, hoping to boost its health-care reform effort with financial concessions from the hospital and pharmaceutical industries, is instead confronting deep dissension on several fronts within Democratic ranks and possible defections among key constituencies. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), lead House architect of the landmark health legislation, warned yesterday that he is not obligated to abide by deals struck recently by the White House, Senate Finance...

The Enernet is now the focus of ethernet co-inventor Bob Metcalfe. Metcalfe, a Silicon Valley legend, is on a mission to harness the power of the Internet to make electric power systems more efficient. He describes this concept as the Enernet, short for the energy Internet. "Some energy people are hostile about Internet tycoons wandering into their space," he said in a recent interview. "My response to them is: We let you have the space for the last 50 years and you haven't solved the problem." Metcalfe, 63, is an outspoken icon of technology who co-invented the ethernet technology standard...

SAN DIEGO, California, July 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The general counsel for the National Education Association (NEA), America's largest teacher's union, complained last week of the "conservative and right-wing bastards" that are "after" the NEA. At the same meeting, the NEA rejected a proposal that would have ceased their abortion advocacy, and went on record in support of same-sex "marriage." "We are not paranoid, someone really is after us," said General Counsel Bob Chanin in an address to NEA affiliates on the occasion of his retirement. "Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates? I...

What does $10 million buy? Many of you might buy property and become rental owners. Some of you might retire and live a life of leisure. Still others might decide they would like to help out those injured or in need, perhaps including those left in the dust by the federally bailed out and bankrupt GM and Chrylser. I just submitted a proposal to build a four-story, 40,000 square foot museum that should end up costing less than that to build, barring major design changes by the owners. The owners will have a fully functional and operating museum for less...

It's Sarah Palin's Party By R. A. Mansour Sarah Palin is the Jacksonian "outsider" now. The latest Rasmussen polling numbers were quite instructive. Palin's biggest group of supporters are young, unmarried, and not social conservative evangelicals. Her supporters do not view her as the social conservative candidate. Social conservatives prefer Huckabee as a candidate in 2012; however, they think just as highly of Sarah Palin as they do Huckabee. Sarah Palin's considerable base of supporters are attracted to her because she is the Beltway Outsider. She is the ordinary American who is fed up with the arrogant and incompetent Beltway...

July 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Newspapers, blogs, talk-shows on radio and television are full of discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's supposed call for a "new world order" or a "one-world government." These ideas are, however, neither based in reality nor a clear reading of the Pope's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, the release of which yesterday spawned the heated discussion. The Pope actually speaks directly against a one-world government, and, as would be expected from those who have read his previous writings, calls for massive reform of the United Nations. Confusion seems to have come from paragraph 67 of the...

In light of my recent posts on rejecting the term reverse racism, and commentary on how some blacks use their race to be jerks, I am saddened to bring you this latest installment. The media frequently will not report a hate crime against whites as a hate crime, and authorities are just as bad. Anyone who remembers the Christian-Newsom Murders will understand what I’m talking about. Ohio is the latest such circumstance where a blatant racist group of blacks attacked whites, but they are hesitant to call it a hate crime.

Proft Surprised by Dillard’s Entrance into the [Illinois Governor's] Race as a Republican from Proft for Governor campaign July 8, 2009 In anticipation of State Senator Kirk Dillard’s announcement this morning of his candidacy for Governor, GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft issued the following statement: "I want to welcome Sen. Dillard to the race, though I admit to being a bit surprised he decided to run as a Republican. I want to make it clear from the outset, as a point of differentiation, that I will refuse any offer made by President Barack Obama to appear in Dan Proft...

President Obama — in an inspired move — named Dr. Francis Collins head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins is one of the world’s leading scientists. He is a physician-geneticist known in part for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project.

California acted illegally by trying to cut Medi-Cal fees by 10 percent last year for doctors, pharmacists and others who treat 7.1 million poor people, a federal appeals court ruled today. The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was a victory for health professionals and their patients but a blow to the state, which is mired in a $26.3 billion budget deficit. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have imposed further Medi-Cal reductions this year, which could be thwarted by the ruling. "The cuts that the governor is attempting will also be stopped," said...

Opponents of President Obama's "Cap and Trade" Legislation have won a temporary victory today as the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee backed off on pushing the bill forward this summer. In fact, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said it would not be taken up by the Senate until September. This about face by Boxer, who had set a deadline of early August to complete work on the bill, is undoubtedly a result of strong opposition from the American people, the announcement by Democrat Robert Byrd that he will oppose the bill, and falling poll numbers for President Obama . ....

David Keene, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union trashed Sarah Palin publicly today on NewsMax. However, a quick search of Mr. Keene's recent political contribution history reveals the following: David Keene, Managing Associate of the Carmen Group Lobbying Firm, and Head of ACU, Alexandria, VA. Political contributions in 2008 election cycle: KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 5/1/07 $1,000 Specter, Arlen (R) KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $800 Specter, Arlen (R) KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $200 Specter, Arlen (R) What I want to know is, how does a guy like this...

Media Matters for America, a liberal news media watchdog, is castigating MSNBC for interviewing former Congressman Tom Campbell about California's budget crisis without identifying him as a Republican. "During a discussion about the California budget crisis on the July 8 edition of MSNBC's Morning Meeting, host Dylan Ratigan interviewed former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA), but at no point disclosed that Campbell is a Republican," Media Matters said in a report. "Ratigan introduced Campbell as "a former California state budget director" and 'currently an economics and law professor at Chapman University,' and also stated that Campbell has 'the best budget familiarity.'

Our country currently finds itself in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and, as during all economic crises, people search for the answer as to why this has happened. Not only have large financial firms been affected, but also mainstays of American industry such as GM and Chrysler, all the way down to the Mom & Pop stores on Main Street. The easy way out is to blame the traditional scapegoats: foreign governments, fraudulent businessmen, and greedy speculators. But the real villain is far more sinister; the organization entrusted with maintaining a stable dollar and touted...

This is good news:A federal judge in June threw out seizure of three fake passports from a traveler, saying that TSA screeners violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Congress authorizes TSA to search travelers for weapons and explosives; beyond that, the agency is overstepping its bounds, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley said. "The extent of the search went beyond the permissible purpose of detecting weapons and explosives and was instead motivated by a desire to uncover contraband evidencing ordinary criminal wrongdoing," Judge Marbley wrote. In the second case, Steven Bierfeldt, treasurer for the Campaign...

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on "the Wall Street Bubble Mafia" --investment bank Goldman Sachs. The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good. " Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also...