Free Republic

Illustration by Matt Wuerker Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress. On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control. “I had felt they would be pointless,” Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) told...

Rick Sanchez, a CNN anchor, provoked a tempest in a Twitter this week when he said he'd be a rich guy if he "sold out as hispanic and worked at fox news." The commentary on the episode mostly centered on whether working at Fox News Channel constituted "selling out," with left-wing bloggers defending Sanchez and conservatives weighing in on Fox's behalf. But the real outrage in Sanchez's statement isn't what he implied about Fox News; it's the whole idea that an individual is capable of "selling out" others who happen to share his race or ethnicity. First, a bit of...

Jane Cooper makes money by untangling health-insurance hassles for other companies' employees. If 100 million of us get dumped onto some "public option," as predicted, Cooper does not expect to be out of business. Quite the contrary. "The amount of frustration in dealing with public entities is going to be significant," said Cooper. That's neither threat nor prediction, just understatement based on what anyone could now see. So Cooper will be in demand. She runs Patient Care, a Milwaukee company that contracts with about 230 employers nationwide to be the one-call-fix-it line for health insurance. For a small monthly fee,...

CHICAGO — Members of the country's oldest black sorority are suing to remove their president, alleging that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of the group's money on herself — some of it to pay for a wax statue in her own likeness. In the suit filed in Washington, D.C., the Alpha Kappa Alpha members also alleged that international President Barbara McKinzie bought designer clothing, jewelry and lingerie with the sorority credit card. She then redeemed points the purchases earned on the card to buy a big-screen television and gym equipment, the lawsuit said. "This is extraordinarily shocking if...

Thursday July 30, 2009 Prominent Nun Ridicules Healthcare Vote Delay over "Insignificant Details" By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., July 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A prominent Catholic nun who is pushing for health care reform has dismissed concerns over Obama's health legislation - which pro-lifers say includes the "largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade" - as "insignificant details," according to a Catholic News Service (CNS) report.The remarks were given at an interfaith prayer breakfast July 28 in Washington, D.C. where several religious speakers urged hasty passage of health care reform.  Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the national Catholic...

AUSTRALIA has officially ended its six-year military presence in Iraq three days ahead of the deadline. Some 20,000 members of the army, navy and air force have served in Iraq since 2003. The honour of being the last Digger to leave the strife-torn country went to Corporal Don Mander. He stepped aboard an RAAF C-130 Hercules transport aircraft at Baghdad International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, the last of 12 Australian personnel embedded within US units operating in Baghdad. They arrived home last night. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia's troops did a "fantastic'' job and Iraq has now achieved "a...

Drug policy still makes enemies of the common folk Imagine a foreign army occupies the state of Indiana. Its commanders are concerned that local Hoosiers don't like the foreigners in their midst, displaying that dislike practically every night by setting off murderous roadside bombs every time a patrol goes by. And because the local people are at odds with the occupation forces, they offer those troops precious little help or intelligence as they pursue their military mission. The commander brings in some experts to find out why his troops are so unpopular. They interview the local farmers. And the answer...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's top prosecutor insisted Thursday that freedom of expression in Venezuela "must be limited" and proposed legislation that would slap additional restrictions on the country's news media. The new law would punish the owners of radio stations, television channels and newspapers that have attempted to "cause panic" and "disturb social peace," Attorney General Luisa Ortega said. It also would punish media owners who "manipulate the news with the purpose of transmitting a false perception of the facts." "Freedom of expression must be limited," Ortega said. Ortega urged lawmakers to consider her suggestions as they debate a...

Moreover—and this is a point I haven’t seen others make—when Gates was shouting in the hearing of passerbys that Crowley was a racist, Crowley must have regarded this as a threat to his entire career. Allegations of racism could result in losing his job, being publicly disgraced, being unable to get another good job—the end of everything he’d worked for all his adult life.

You've no doubt seen the media trying to portray so-called "birthers" as fringe, lunatic conspiracy theorists. Even Fox News' Bill O'Reilly has taken several shots at the movement without first accurately reporting on what the movement is about. http://conservativebrawler.blogspot.com/

The proposed Obamacare national health insurance plan would dictate medications, treatments and mental health services, choose for you the coverages you are allowed to have and operate with real-time access to individuals' bank accounts , according to a new analysis of the hundreds of pages of plans. And it's worse, a critic said, than China's mandatory one-child policy. "In the same way that the bill pushes elderly or the sick toward euthanasia, it is a pill that would cause economic suicide," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel. "It's a euthanasia bill for America."

If it's a medical emergency, Erie County 911 will respond, but there is one address many of its dispatchers know by heart. They find Scott Graham usually waiting at that Buffalo address for his ambulance several times a week. "Sometimes two times a day," Graham told 2 On Your Side. He suffers from Sickle Cell Anemia, a blood disorder. If left untreated, it can block blood flow to limbs and organs. "It feels like somebody shooting me with battery acid, and I'm stepping on razor blades, and I'm having a heart attack at once," he said talking about the pain...

After seven weeks of trying, investigators looking into President Barack Obama’s abrupt firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin are still unable to answer the most basic question of the whole affair: Why did the president do it?

Swine Flu Epidemic Of 1976 inspired the vaccination of 40 Million people a little known fact was that those vaccinations caused devastating side effects to over 4000 victims. The frightening revelations about this event are the similarities today. A company by the name of Baxter international has the contract to vaccinate 4 billion worldwide. The problem is very few know that Baxter recently was caught sending tainted Bird Flu vaccines to 18 countries. This vaccination that KILLED the host it was tested on was caught just in time.

THE health-reform debate on Capitol Hill is skipping over the key issue: "Universal insurance" means less care for people who have coverage now -- especially the elderly. And the "compromises" now under way only make the problem worse. Here's a point that's no surprise except to the "reformers": People with insurance use more health care. President Obama seeks to cover 50 million new people. Where are the extra doctors, nurses and so on going to come from? Neither the administration nor anyone on the Hill has proposed anything to add to the supply of medical services even as they plan...

If anyone might have the right to revel in a bit of health-care schadenfreude, it’s John Dingell. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman ought to feel lucky he’s foregone the pleasure. -- snip -- Mr. Waxman and Mrs. Pelosi head into recess with one comatose climate bill and one wounded health-care project. Now comes the long hot summer month where the nation gets to think about this some more. If the speaker wants to make use of her vacation, she could always get on the phone to Michigan. Mr. Dingell might have some advice.

“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!” —President Ronald Reagan Life Legal Defense Foundation continues to watchdog the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and in doing so found the latest attempt to promulgate embryonic stem cell research by “educating” children. Let us introduce you to Senate Bill 471. Titled “The California Stem Cell and Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009,” the purpose of SB 471 is purportedly to train up a new generation of...

The game began as one person tipped backwards, beginning a ‘domino effect’ that toppled the 40 remaining mattresses. In a twist, the final person to fall landed on a conveyor belt where he was furnished with a teddy bear, a sleep mask, a duvet and a pillow. The mattress made its way along a platform and into the back of a waiting delivery van, whereupon it dropped onto a bed frame. As a final touch, a young woman leaps into the bed, joining the original sleeper. The van doors close and the newly assembled bed and its occupants are driven...

Civil Rights – Then and Now The Ku Klux Klan was the Terrorist Arm of the Democrat Party By Frances RiceSimple Sambo and Ignorant Mammy By Frances RiceThe Democratic Party Owes Blacks An Apology By Frances Rice Democrats Perpetuate Voting Rights HoaxTHE POLITICS OF BLACKNESS: “Unsung Heroes-Frances Rice and the National BlackRepublican Association” by Barbara HowardThe 150th anniversary of the Republican National Committee and black Republicans – Michael Zak op-ed in The Washington TimesApology of the Democratic Party of North Carolina for 1898 Wilmington Race RiotsDEMOCRATS GIVE LONG-OVERDUE APOLOGY FOR 1898 ATROCITIES AGAINST BLACKSReparations Petition to Congress Demanding a Formal...

Construction sites warn drivers of danger ahead, proceed with caution. Cyber sites have now become hazardous terrain at reader forums, and it bodes well for readers at American Thinker to be aware of the often elusive pitfalls of Trolls at Work. What is a Troll, you ask? According to Scandinavian folklore, "... a Troll is ‘an obnoxious creature bent on mischief and wickedness' who lives in hiding under a bridge, ready to strike fear and chaos is the hearts of innocents passing by." Transplanted from a home under a bridge to the cyber world, a Troll "is someone who posts...