Free Republic

So it has always been my theory that Saddam Hussein shipped most if not all, of his WMD's out of the country, to a friendly state, like, I dunno, Serbia. Well what do you know, maybe I was right. Iraq’s missing Air Force jets have been traced to Serbia, where they are mostly in pieces. They have been cannibalized, parted out, or left to deteriorate over he past twenty years. Iraqi officials said they found the planes in the process of trying to trace what Saddam, the former dictator, did with the country’s military assets. The 19 planes, all Soviet-built,...

This is from an e-mail I received. I can not attest to it's truthfullness, can you? Anyway, take it with a grain of salt: Hello All, By now you have probably heard that President Obama came to Montana last Friday. However, there are many things that the major news has not covered. I feel that since Bill and I live here and we were at the airport on Friday I should share some facts with you. Whatever you decide to do with the information is up to you. If you chose to share this email with others I do ask...

It was a far cry from a march on the nation's Capitol, but the rally staged Saturday by the Williamsport Tea Party at Brandon Park clearly sent out a message that more than a few people are upset with their government. Speaker after speaker coming to the microphone on this overcast and humid late morning managed to resonate with the crowd of some 2,800 people as they urged them to take back their country from leaders who are "taking them down the wrong path." Specific political topics such as national health care, socialism and uncontrolled spending came up for no...

This is a really cool, old video from Ronald Reagan, about the evils of socialism. It isn't long, and is well worth your time. The video can be found on site. http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/08/video-ronald-reagan-on-evils-of.html

ALBANY, NY (WAMC) - Come tomorrow, you'll need to dig a little deeper into your pocket to pay for a new vehicle registration or driver's license in New York State... Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports. As of September first, state Department of Motor Vehicles registration fees will go up for passenger and commercial vehicles, trailers, taxis, buses, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and motorboats. The changes were called for in the state budget passed this year. Registration for passenger vehicles, will increase from $44 to $55. The cost of a driver's license or a renewal will rise by 25 percent...

The Internal Revenue Service will expand a program designed to catch tax cheats that searches for inconsistencies between mortgage payments and income. After prompting from an IRS auditor, the agency will study whether it should make greater use of data on mortgage-interest payments provided to it by banks. The IRS currently uses such data to send notices to non-filers who it believes should have filed a return. The data could also be used to target for audits individuals who don't file tax returns, or who report less income than they paid in mortgage interest, according to a letter released Monday...

The Rubber Room The battle over New York City’s worst teachers. by Steven Brill August 31, 2009 Print E-Mail One school principal has said that Randi Weingarten, of the teachers’ union,“would protect a dead body in the classroom.” Keywords Education; Schools; New York City; Temporary Reassignment Centers (Rubber Rooms); United Federation of Teachers (U.F.T.); Joel Klein; Randi Weingarten In a windowless room in a shabby office building at Seventh Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street, in Manhattan, a poster is taped to a wall, whose message could easily be the mission statement for a day-care center: “Children are fragile. Handle with care.”...

The cost of living just went up for Illinois residents, but not because of inflation or other economic conditions. Rather, today marks the effective date for increased taxes levied upon alcohol, candy, soft drinks and personal hygiene products. The taxes, part of the $31 billion capital bill, are designed to offset the costs of infrastructure spending across the state. Starting today a fifth of liquor in Illinois will now cost an additional 81 cents, reflecting a 90% increase in the excise tax on hard liquor. In addition, a 90% increase on the taxation of a bottle of wine and 24%...

Auto makers will release their monthly sales reports Tuesday and they're expected to show the first year-to-year increase since 2007. While the Cash for Clunkers program is getting all the credit, local car dealers are still waiting for their cash. During the month long program, Billion Automotive sold close to a thousand vehicles but has only been reimbursed for 272 of them. Vern Eide sold over 200 cars and has only been paid for 27 of them, and that's fueling lots of concerns in the auto industry. Billion Automotive cashed in during Cash for Clunkers, but owner Dave Billion is...

No love for Harry Reid on the Tea Party Express Posted: September 1st, 2009 09:49 AM ET From CNN All Platform Journalist Jim Spellman Las Vegas, NEVADA (CNN) — As the Tea Party Express rolls out of Las Vegas, there is at least one person who may be glad to see it go: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "There's been kind of an underground gathering of opponents of Harry Reid," said Mark Williams, one of the organizers of the cross country conservative caravan that is making its way towards Washington. Williams says that dislike of the Nevada Democrat is one...

Texas humorist and mystery writer Richard ‘Kinky’ Friedman is announcing this week that he is a Democratic candidate for governor in next year’s elections, 1200 WOAI news reports. Friedman, 64, is making his announcement in media interviews and campaign stops in what his campaign calls’ public spaces’ around the state. Friedman finished fourth in the 2006 election for governor, in which he ran as an independent, running behind Democrat Chris Bell, fellow independent Carole Strayhorn, and Republican incumbent and winner Rick Perry. “Kinky will provide us all with some light hearted entertainment, and that’s all he will get,” predicted Cal...

Happy Tuesday! ... or maybe not, for civilian federal employees. President Obama has decided to reduce pay increases for civilian federal workers from 2.4 percent to 2 percent, citing the economic downturn and the ballooning federal budget as reasons for the cut. "Invoking the 'national emergency' declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the president said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that under pay formulas set in 1990, federal employees with pay levels set according to comparable local wages are set for average pay increases of 18.9%," reports Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal. The...

2009-08-19 200 Years Since Sweden Loses Finland2009 ManeuversExactly 200 years have passed since the last military battle was fought on Swedish soil - bloody clashes between Sweden and Russia. The outcome? A defeated Sweden cut in two – loosing its Finnish eastern half, and fearing attacks from European rivals wiping Sweden off the map. The battles were fierce and numerous -– with field artillery and ship's cannons booming from the shorelines and islands of the southern archipelago up through Finland and to the Swedish northeastern coast - above Umeå – to the small northern towns of Ratar and Sävar where...

Britain's release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi-- the Libyan terrorist whose bomb blew up a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people-- is galling enough in itself. But it is even more profoundly troubling as a sign of a larger mood that has been growing in the Western democracies in our time. In ways large and small, domestically and internationally, the West is surrendering on the installment plan to Islamic extremists. The ostensible reason for releasing al-Megrahi was compassion for a man terminally ill. It is ironic that this was said in Scotland, for exactly 250 years ago another...

A letter written by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in 1971 reveals that he then opposed abortion and supported giving rights to the unborn. “While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life,” Kennedy wrote on Aug. 3, 1971 in response to a letter sent to him by Thomas E. Dennelly, who asked the senator about his stand on abortion. “Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human...

Here is a video report on a Town Hall Meeting held by Sen. Harry Reid at UNLV that was "by invitation only" - and the only people invited were supporters of ObamaCare, with a heavy union presence. When one man tried to get in who was against ObamaCare, he was told to get out. That confrontation is on this report. The man told those keeping him out, that Reid was supposed to be representing him, but he was told that he was not invited and that he should get out. . . . . (Watch Video)

"The most transparent White House in the history of the world still hasn't answered the questions we asked last week," said Glenn Beck sarcastically on his TV show. "You know, tough questions like: 'Why does the president have so many Marxists, socialists, radicals and self-proclaimed communists advising him?'" "This isn't an accident," Beck said. "Obama's radical advisers are there for a reason: They're fighting a revolution — just not the kind with the tri-cornered hats." He gave as an example Van Jones, the president's green jobs czar who describes himself as a "communist."

Federal government purchases make up about 20% of the U.S. economy, yet the United States is almost alone among the major developed nations and China in not having a significant "buy domestic" government procurement program. No single economic stimulus initiative would do more in the short and long term to resuscitate U.S. employment, especially manufacturing employment, and to materially reduce our economy-zapping massive trade deficit than a fair "buy American" program. However, when even a fairly limited program was put forward in February as part of the economic stimulus plan, you would have thought that protectionist cowboys from the U.S....

VAN JONES FEB. 2009 VIDEO HERE.See Video and kindly archive before it is conveniently "removed".This is a speech delivered by White House Green Jobs "Czar" Anthony K. (Van) Jones in Berkeley before a very leftist activist/student group, a few weeks after Obama was inaugurated.A relatively high-quality, recent, clear video of VAN JONES, with somewhat damaging public comments during this talk he made which could be part of the rope to hang his senior White House job. In this speech and presentation, Van Jones uses words such as "Comrades", "Maoists", discusses his strategy now that the White House has been seized...

  Alan Turing, who is said to be the father of modern computer science, was a WWII code-breaker until he was prosecuted by the British government for having homosexual relations. Thousands have now signed a petition calling for a government apology.Turing committed suicide two years after his prosecution in 1954, but was before given experimental chemical castration as a “treatment”. He is most well known for his NAZI enigma code breaking work for the British during the second World War and his helping establish a test to measure the intelligence of a machine which is now known as a Turing Test.So...