Free Republic

Sen. Mel Martinez will hold a health care forum tomorrow in Hialeah with Sen. John McCain and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. “This is going to be a frank discussion with health care providers, patients, and other stakeholders to air concerns about the current system and what steps Congress should take to address the problems," the retiring Martinez said in a statement.

Here is video of Dick Morris tonight telling Sean Hannity that as President, Barack Obama is "totally inept." He made the statement in response to a question from Hannity on how Obama has done. Morris added the word "catastrophe" to describe how Obama is doing politically. . . . (Watch Video)

Today, the spirit of appeasement is alive and well. Authoritarian states like Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela bully, bluster, build up their forces and project their power. Threatened countries like Israel, Honduras and Georgia -- who in the past might have counted on the U.S. for assistance -- must now seek their own path. The White House ponders grand bargains that will settle the world's problems and placate the aggressors. Our leaders listen, analyze, promise and apologize. All the while, the world's dictators look longingly at maps and contemplate what frontiers previously denied them are slowly beginning to materialize.

Bangladesh flight hits toilet jam A Biman Bangladesh airlines flight from Dhaka to London was delayed by nearly 10 hours - because all five of the plane's toilets were blocked. The airline said staff took two hours to fix the problem, which had been caused by passengers trying to flush away paper cups and other rubbish. The plane's departure was then further delayed to fit in with a night flight ban at Heathrow airport. A Biman official said there had been no mechanical fault with the aircraft. 'Passenger-created' Wing Commander Asaduzzaman, director of engineering at Biman, said most of the...

A disgusting, un-American tactic is coming to Maine. As they did in California, homosexual activists are preparing to harass and intimidate people who donate money to support the pro-marriage ballot question, to be voted on in Maine this November. In California they posted the names, addresses, and dollar amounts of people who donated to the Proposition 8 pro-marriage cause. They even posted Google maps with locations of their houses. As a result people were viciously harassed. Business were boycotted and picketed. Some people even lost their jobs when their pro-gay employers found out. Now one of those California groups is...

In all honesty, I've have to admit to no small amount of satisfaction at the direction in which the Republican Party MIGHT be headed if current party leaders are willing to take their cue from the actions and behaviors of two conservative stalwarts named Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. For those who were living on another planet the last few days, the former Vice President just fired off another broadside from the battleship Cheney's 16-inch guns, basically calling Barack Obama gutless in the fight against the jihadist (and Islamofascist, to be honest) threat. He also made sure there was no...

A Catholic Archbishop reportedly told a sexual assault victim to "go to hell" in what a Victorian magistrate has labelled "appalling" conduct. According to court documents, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart told the woman to "go to hell, bitch" after she knocked on his door in the early hours of a morning in March, 2004. Archbishop Hart had been granted an intervention order against the woman after she began pursuing him over her abuse by priest Barry Whelan in 2001, The Age reports. The archbishop later apologised to the woman but last night told The Age he "did not recall" his...

The homosexual movement in Vermont is using a new transgender-rights law to force schools to recognize "transgender" students and provide unisex restrooms for them in middle schools and high schools-- a beginning of expanded demands in the future and the forced legitimization of transgender behavior targeting children. The homosexual movement is using their familiar tactics: (1) They've identified a "tansgender" victim - a 16-year-old girl who dresses so convincingly as a boy that she sometimes gets nasty comments when she enters a female restroom. (2) The put in place a legal tribunal - the Vermont Human Rights Commission (similar to...

Professor Igor Panarin, whose book “The Crash of America” is just out, claims that by November the book will be yesterday’s news. Panarin believes President Obama will lead his country to a breakup. Panarin compares Obama to former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. “Obama is “the president of hope”, but in a year there won’t be any hope. He’s practically another Gorbachev – he likes to talk but hasn’t really managed to do anything. Gorbachev at least had been a secretary of a regional communist party administration, whereas Obama was just a social worker. His mentality is totally different. He’s a...

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi blasted Israel at a special African Union summit on Monday on the eve of celebrations to mark his 40-year rule, accusing the Jewish state of causing all the woes facing Africa. Israel is "behind all of Africa's conflicts," Kadhafi told some 30 African leaders gathered under a huge tent at Tripoli airport for a summit focused on solving the continent's trouble spots, including Sudan's Darfur and Somalia. However the one-day meeting ended without proposing concrete steps to do so, the leaders merely adopting a "Tripoli Declaration" and a plan of action "to find...

* More than 70 dwellings confirmed destroyed * Over 6,000 homes under evacuation orders * Fire crews retreat from key mountain summit (Updates with new damage toll, evacuees, news conference) By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A massive wildfire roaring through mountains north of Los Angeles forced some firefighters to retreat on Monday as the toll of engulfed homes rose sharply and flames menaced Mount Wilson, a broadcasting hub and site of a historic observatory. Fire officials said at least 71 dwellings had been destroyed since the blaze erupted last Wednesday -- 53 clustered in the foothill...

"You know what it is - he is good at charisma politics, but not at issue politics. And they're worlds apart."

Another Sen. Kennedy in Massachusetts? Speculation grows about former congressman Joseph Kennedy II Aug 31, 2009 WASHINGTON - Another Kennedy just might occupy the Kennedy seat in the Senate. Amid the emotional public outpouring over the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, talk of a successor has focused on his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph Kennedy II, the 56-year-old former congressman who could return to politics after a decade's absence. "Even though he's emotionally drained right now, he can't help but be moved by the enormous flood of affection and respect from all over the country," said veteran...

David Diskin is a local atheist and he says he’s had enough. He’s upset about the city council invocations. (Especially when the prayers mention Jesus by name.) So he wants to stop all ...

THE RECLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE Cour­tesy of Black­iswhite, Impe­r­ial Con­sigliere. Pass it on. WHEN IN THE GENERATIONS SUCCEEDING the one that pledged their lives, their for­tunes, and their sacred honor to usher in the birth of the world’s only truly free nation, Liberty’s Prog­eny incre­men­tally ceded their birthright to the gov­ern­ment con­ceived and designed to serve a free peo­ple, and not be its ser­vant, this gen­er­a­tion is awak­en­ing to the ter­ri­ble mis­take that we, and our ances­tors allowed to hap­pen. Charged with the ter­ri­ble knowl­edge that comes with opened eyes, we now take up the long abdi­cated duty to rouse our...

Parishioners at St Mary's church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th century monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard's works... the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville's writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra. A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three "box like" shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further...

President Barack Obama is cutting federal employees’ pay increases next year because of the budget deficit. In an Aug. 31 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Obama said he would use his power to reduce the federal employee pay raise set for January 2010 from 2.4 percent to 2.0 percent. “The growth in federal requirements is straining the federal budget,” wrote Obama. His letter said a 2.4 percent increase would cost $19.9 billion more than the 2 percent increase he proposed in his 2010 budget. The Congressional Budget Office last week set the fiscal year deficit at $1.6 trillion,...

A Sickening Healthcare Call! Thursday, August 20, 2009 As the debate about healthcare rages, religious “leaders” are weighing in. In a recent teleconference, pastors from around the country gathered to discuss the issue with the White House (and record it for later non-partisan use). As I listened to the call, I had to fight to keep from hitting the stop button. The call began with a prayer led by a female pastor from Georgia (one of several female ministers, deacons and church leaders in what was an obvious nod to feminists, and the theological and political left) then descended into...

<p>MIAMI (Reuters) – Police in a Florida city used the promise of economic stimulus checks to lure 76 people to their arrest on a variety of outstanding warrants.</p> <p>The Fort Lauderdale Police Department set up "Operation Show Me the Money" to round up people wanted on charges ranging from second-degree murder to guns and drug charges to failure to pay child support.</p>

When Han Yanmin replaced his motorcycle with a low-cost minivan, he rejected Chinese carmakers and opted for General Motors. "GM technology makes it very reliable," Mr Han, a 32-year-old Beijing deliveryman, said while waiting to unload his nine-month-old Wuling Sunshine at a vegetable market. "All the folks in my village have bought Wulings." Detroit-based GM, majority-owned by the United States government after emerging from bankruptcy, has boosted vehicle sales on the mainland 43 per cent this year, helped by state subsidies and prices starting at 25,800 yuan (HK$29,278). That is less than 20 per cent the cost of a Chevrolet...