Free Republic

Barack Obama, the weapon. In a laughingly predictable trajectory from the summer of free love through the protests of the war in Viet Nam, the baby boomers have a firm hold on the reins of power in this country—from the media and the board room to the corridors of Congress. Because they really are nihilists, if you scratch off the materialist veneer they now wear, they want nothing so much as they do death. And not just their own, individual demise. They want America dead, toe-tagged, on a slab. And they chose, in the urbane, polished, smooth and charismatic Barack...

Louis Gill doesn't like to turn anyone away. The director of the Bakersfield Homeless Center in California has taken to laying out cots and mattresses between the shelter's 174 registered beds to cope with the rush of homeless families brought to his doors by the financial crisis. "Last year we saw a 34 percent increase in homeless families and a 24 percent increase in homeless children," he said. "Why do we go beyond capacity? Because in a just society a child should not have to sleep outside or in a car." Gill is a frontline witness to the change in...

Give me a break: Michael Jackson was not some sort of cultural giant Friday, July 10, 2009 By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez I have watched the fawning nonstop media coverage of the death of Michael Jackson with skepticism this past week. Yes, premature death is tragic. Upon that we can (mostly) all agree. What I cannot agree with, however, are the repeated claims that Mr. Jackson: was a musical genius; broke down racial barriers; was a brilliant singer; was a great dancer; changed American culture. The book "African American Education" by Walter Recharde Allen details the rampant double standards applied by the...

In Michigan, Deficits Defy Years of Cutting By MONICA DAVEY Published: July 11, 2009 LANSING, Mich. — Long before California resorted to i.o.u.’s to pay state bills, and before New York’s political insurrection made a mess of this year’s budget planning, and even before the recession pushed dozens of other states into their worst fiscal distress in decades, lawmakers here were cutting. The cuts started in the 2002 budget year, when some prisoners were ordered to sleep two to a cell. Then came cuts to state colleges in 2003, and orchestras, zoos and operas in 2004. Medical payments for the...

According to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, we only have 96 months left to save the planet. I’m impressed. 96 months. Not 95. Not 97. July 2017. Put it in your diary. Usually the warm-mongers stick to the same old drone that we only have ten years left to save the planet. Nice round number. Al Gore said we only have ten years left three-and-a-half years ago, which makes him technically more of a pessimist than the Prince of Wales. Al’s betting Armageddon kicks in January 2016 – unless he’s just peddling glib generalities. And, alas, even a...

July 11, 2009 Jackson death may have been 'homicide', says police chief (Rusty Kennedy/AP) MIchael Jackson is reported to have been taking a cocktail of drugs James Bone in New York The Los Angeles police chief has raised the prospect of a homicide charge over the death of Michael Jackson. Homicide does not necessarily mean murder — it could mean a manslaughter charge against a doctor. Jackson, 50, died last month in mysterious circumstances but is reported to have been taking a cocktail of drugs including the potent anaesthetic Diprivan, also known as propofol. Los Angeles police are investigating Jackson’s...

SFAHAN, Iran — Iranian scientists have become the first in the Middle East to clone a cow as part of the country's stem cell research, the leader of the project said Saturday. The male cow, named Bonyana, was born Saturday in the city of Isfahan in central Iran, said Dr. Mohammed Hossein Nasr e Isfahani, head of the Royan Research Institute. Besides its nuclear activity and nascent space program, Iran has sought to highlight advances in other technologies such as cloning and medicine. The government set a goal to become a regional leader in advanced sciences and technology by 2025....

CLAIMS that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has Jewish roots are making the rounds in the Middle East, stemming from a blog published by the son of a prominent pro-Ahmadinejad cleric. Mehdi Khazali, whose reformist politics differ sharply from those of his clerical father, Abu al-Kassam Khazali, wrote on his website that Mr Ahmadinejad had changed his family name on his ID card from Saburjian, which, Dr Khazali said, suggested a Jewish background. The younger Dr Khazali, director of the Hayyan Cultural Institute in Tehran, was reportedly among those arrested during the protests that followed the June 12 Iranian elections. Reports...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Brushing aside the criticisms of pundits and politicos, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she plans to jump immediately back into the national political fray — stumping for conservative issues and even Democrats — after she prematurely vacates her elected post at month's end. The former Republican vice-presidential nominee and heroine to much of the GOP's base said in an interview she views the electorate as embattled and fatigued by nonstop partisanship, and she is eager to campaign for Republicans, independents and even Democrats who share her values on limited government, strong defense and "energy independence." "I will...

Kirk co-sponsors Dem's cyberbullying bill Saturday, July 11, 2009 Resulting from the tragic situation in Missouri, where a 13 year old girl committed suicide over things being written about her on a social network, "cyberbullying" will be added to federal statutes defined in U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez' HR 1966 as (a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or...

WASHINGTON – Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden angrily struck back Saturday at assertions the Bush administration's post-9/11 surveillance program was more far-reaching than imagined and was largely concealed from congressional overseers. In an interview with The Associated Press, Hayden maintained that top members of Congress were kept well-informed all along the way, notwithstanding protests from some that they were kept in the dark. "One of the points I had in every one of the briefings was to make sure they understood the scope of our activity 'They've got to know this is bigger than a bread box,' I said,"...

If Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) are moderate Democrats, what kind of Democrat does that make President Barack Obama? You can bet that the president wouldn’t like the answer — and with good reason. The increasingly regular use of the phrase “moderate Democrat” to identify the purple flank of the caucus is creating a rhetorical opening that could quickly turn into a more-than-moderate problem for the rest of the party. “What you don’t want to do is to give the Republicans the fodder to be able to say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got these moderate Democrats with us...

Not only can’t they get the name right, they don’t have their facts straight. And they have no idea about Free Republic and the FReepers! The FReepers are the absolute best posters on the Internet, bar none! And the FReepers have made Free Republic the number one conservative site on the Internet and in the world for 13 years running! Thirteen years! Three hundred thousand members! Thirty million posts!! And all of this on a shoestring budget! No star glittered IPOs or stock offerings! No commercial sponsors or advertising contracts of any kind! No sugar daddies! No BIG Bucks donors!...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano imposed strong new standards on Friday for a federal program that lets local police enforce immigration laws...if you want to go to the link to read...http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/07/11/20090711iceagreemhttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/07/11/20090711iceagreements0711.htmlents0711.html

chrb writes "Two British men have become the first to be jailed for inciting racial hatred online. The men believed that material they published on web servers based in the United States did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law and was protected under the First Amendment. This argument was rejected by the British trial judge. After being found guilty, the men fled to Los Angeles, where they attempted to claim political asylum, again arguing that they were being persecuted by the British government for speech that was protected under the First Amendment. The asylum bid was rejected and...

Even though NY Islamic hate preacher Yousef al-Khattab has openly called for attacks on non-Muslims, he is still free to roam the streets trying to recruit more people for his destroy America as we know it cause. Message to our authorities, Islamic hate speech destroys societies from within. Look at the UK. Please ask yourself what is more important. Being politically correct, or protecting life as you know it for your families future generations? To view the video....

CAPE COAST, Ghana (AP) — President Barack Obama says a slave site reminds him of humanity's potential for "great evil" but also gives him a reason for hope, given the progress African-Americans have made since leaving the castle as slaves. Obama toured a seaside fortress that the British used as slave dungeons during the 17th century. Obama said the site reminded him of a recent trip to a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.

Just watched the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” I think that’s the name. It was not a good movie. It had an interesting concept and anytime a movie is about the end of the world it is interesting. At least it is to me. There have been several movies lately on the end of the world and most of them are about how we lame humans are responsible for the end of days by not taking care of the environment. It’s hard to not see the political and Hollywood ideas and agendas in so many movies these days....

Here is video of Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, talking with ABC News last night, July 10, 2009, and saying he believes that his son was the victim of "foul play." He also said he thinks Michael Jackson's children should be raised by he and his wife, Katherine. . . . . . (Watch Video)

His name was Ivan Mazepa, a Ukrainian Cossack chieftain who allied with Sweden's Charles XII to fight Russia's Czar Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava, 300 years ago this week. .... The Swedish-Ukrainian alliance suffered a crushing defeat at Poltava. Charles died from a battle wound and Mazepa fled to today's Moldova, where he also died soon after. Poltava helped shape Europe's geopolitics for three centuries. Russia's emphatic rout of Sweden and its Cossack allies signaled its emergence as a European superpower and ensured Russian dominion over Eastern Ukraine for the bulk of three centuries. Peter constructed a...