Free Republic

U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul on Monday pledged not to accept campaign contributions from any U.S. Senator who voted for the bank bailout and challenged his opponents to follow suit. Dr. Paul issued this challenge after learning that Trey Grayson has scheduled a Washington D.C. fundraiser co-sponsored by several U.S. Senators, seventeen of whom voted for the so-called TARP bailout in 2008, which was then used to fund an auto industry bailout Congress rejected. "This isn't about holding politicians to an impossibly high standard of agreeing with everything one's supporters say or do," Paul said. "But a primary focus of...

A few months ago, Senator Judd Gregg refused to go ahead with his nomination to Commerce Secretary after he learned that the White House had taken over the work of the Census. "[He] didn't want to be a powerless GOP token, and that's where this was headed." said one friend of his. Judd intimated the Census had “tipped the balance” for his decision. I remember how horrified I was at the time by the very idea and I could understand Judd feeling the necessity for his embarrassing and wrenching action. The idea of the White House subsuming the Census just...

And so we are down to the last few hours of August. Turns out August was one big, scary mother of a month after all, a month that may have Democrats waking up in a cold sweat for months to come.

We’re just loving the service Glenn Beck is providing to America on his Fox News television program, using his crack team of investigators to uncover intriguing and potentially explosive information about key players in our federal government, particularly in the executive branch, whose presence may threaten American sovereignty and security. This past week, Mr. Beck focused on Mr. Obama’s unelected, unvetted, unaccountable czars who have been given the use of gargantuan budgets funded by the use of our personal, hard-earned money (without our permission, of course). Since some of the czars have served prison terms or are self-proclaimed Communists (and...

L.A. County fire has destroyed 74 structures, remains out of control August 31, 2009 The number of homes burned by the Station fire has surged to 74 as the out-of-control wildfire pushed west and north, officials say. Fifty-three homes, mountain cabins and other buildings were destroyed when the fire swept through the hamlet of Stonyvale in Tujunga Canyon. Earlier officials had said 21 homes were lost, mostly in remote areas in Tujunga Canyon and south of Acton. The fire showed little sign of slowing down this afternoon as it threatened 12,000 homes in suburban tracts and desert communities, along with...

East Alton, IL – -(AmmoLand.com)- Winchester® Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years.

A teenager has added fresh rumour to the yeti debate after claiming the beast spied on her in her bikini as she paddled in a river. Justyna Folger was having a dip during a camping trip when a shadowy creature appeared on the opposite bank. 'At first I thought it was a bear but it appeared to be stooping and then it raised itself on to two legs and ran off. I couldn't believe it,' said Miss Folger, 19. The incident was caught on camera by her boyfriend Tadeusz Serafinowski. Yeti-hunters are already flocking to the site in the Tatra...

The State Fair is known for the Midway, the Grandstand shows, and even 'political theater.' That's very evident at the Republican Party booth Monday, where some people are standing in line to make a point. By late afternoon, there were few hardcore Republicans still in line trying to win a $2,500 prize—as part of a 'point' to illustrate what could become common under a Democratic health care reform plan. "Welcome to our new reality television show—standing in line for Obamacare," announced GOP Parry Chairman Tony Sutton. Republicans lined up contestants to stand in line—maybe through Labor Day—to show what might...

Here is the beginning of an article titled "Clinging to the Altar" written by a Reverend in support of gays by Rev. Dale Garver which is identical to Charles Spurgeon sermon with a couple of twists: Joab had little enough religion, yet he flies to the altar when he is pursued by the sword. Many people run for external religion when death threatens them. Then, they go to greater lengths than the Bible prescribes. They not only run to the tabernacle, but they must cling to the altar. First, we see the outward use of ordinances, which doesn't provide salvation....

BOSTON – The push to name a successor to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy gained momentum Monday, with state lawmakers scheduling a hearing on whether to allow an appointee to serve until a special election in January.

End of an Era I was four years old when Ted Kennedy’s brother, Senator John Kennedy was elected President…the first President I was really aware of. I was seven when President Kennedy was shot, a traumatizing event for our family and the whole country. The news reels of that assassination are burned into my brain. I remember Bobby Kennedy’s inspirational run for President and the shocking news, and news coverage, of his assassination. Ted Kennedy, entered the Senate when I was six and has been there for most of my life. Since I was born, one of the three Kennedy...

Similar to the classless act at the Kennedy funeral which had a prayer to the Lord for government run health care! Obama has declared that September 11th from now on shall be known as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Not a bad idea if you are honoring the firemen, police officers and the passengers on Flight 93 who gave their lives trying to save Americans. But.... like the Kennedy funeral which couldn't help but use a religious moment to support a partisan political agenda, Obama's idea of service and remembrance is a bit different from that of ordinary...

Fifty-five million years ago, the world was a much warmer place. The poles were ice-free year-round. Palm trees grew in Alaska. Forests stretched right into the Arctic Circle. There, swamps like those in today’s southeastern United States hosted alligators, snakes, and giant tortoises. Scientists call this time in Earth’s history the Eocene, the dawn of the age of mammals. And climatologists have naturally taken a keen interest in how it began. They know that a dramatic spike in carbon dioxide associated with rapid climate change kicked off the epoch – called the “Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum” (PETM). But what scientists don’t...

Here is video of Laura Ingraham talking with talk show host Nancy Skinner about incredible comments made about Mary Jo Kopechne by a blog poster at Huffington Post. Kopechne died on July 19, 1969 when the late Sen. Ted Kennedy drove the car they were traveling in off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island where she drowned, even as he escaped a failed to call authorities for many hours. The poster actually seemed to suggest that perhaps Kopechne would have felt her death "was worth it" if she could see, what the writer characterized as the incredible career Ted Kennedy went...

Pakistani officials are investigating an explosion at a border crossing with Afghanistan that set ablaze at least 16 supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for NATO troops. Police suspect a bomb planted under a fuel tanker exploded late Sunday at the Chaman crossing in Baluchistan province. The blaze then spread to the other trucks. Sources say at least one person was wounded in the incident. Witnesses report hearing gunfire before the explosion, and police say emergency crews were fighting the fire into Sunday night. Hundreds of trucks, many loaded with NATO supplies, have been stuck on Pakistan's side of the...

A hacker has uncovered a previously unknown bug in Microsoft's Internet Information Services webserver that in some cases gives attackers complete control of vulnerable machines. Proof-of-concept code published Monday has been confirmed to give remote root access to servers running version 5 of IIS on Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4. And according to Nikolaos Rangos, the hacker who released the exploit, IIS6 is also vulnerable, even when a memory stack mechanism known as cookie protection is enabled. The vulnerability appears to be triggered only in limited circumstances, specifically when IIS is set to enable the file transfer protocol and...

If you are an opponent to the current health care reform proposals under consideration, this is how some on the left view you: View at EasyCaptures.com"THE HEIRS OF, YES: BIN LADEN "The striking thing to remember is that this descriptor was not posted on DU or Kos or Firedoglake or some of the other fringe sites. This was posted on mybarackobama.com, Obama's very own Organizing for America website. These are classic Alinsky tactics that we are seeing played out before us over and over and over again. The best, most imaginative writers in Hollywood would not be able to make...

Strong signs that the Obama administration is close to declaring that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are dangerous pollutants are prompting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to request the EPA conduct a public hearing on the scientific evidence underpinning the belief that rising temperatures threaten public health and welfare. Last week, the powerful business lobby filed a request that the agency provide a venue to rebut "largely undocumented and, in the chamber's view, insupportable claims" about the effects of climate change. Chamber officials said they are concerned that any rules capping greenhouse gas emissions could be unduly influenced by...

It isn’t easy to put U.S. defenses back on track after they’ve endured a season of neglect. Gen. William Snow found that out firsthand. Snow’s job, when he arrived in Washington in the World War I era, was to direct the buildup of artillery for the Allied Expeditionary Force. He thought his office should have stationery reflecting the importance of the task. His request was rejected. Rather than fund this extravagance, it was suggested the general purchase a rubber stamp to mark his correspondence. Snow had joined a War Department completely unprepared to fight a war. The Army hadn’t been...

In late July, Arkansas Rep. Vic Snyder was a fired-up partisan, declaring that health care was going to be transformed “under President Obama’s leadership.” By mid-August, the physician and moderate Democrat had been humbled: “I’ve never been a big fan of this public option,” Snyder told a tough crowd of 1,000 people at a town hall in Little Rock. Democrats lost the month of August — not just in the polls and at town hall events but also within their own caucus. The question now is whether they can win September and win back the Vic Snyders. Or reel in...