Free Republic

Here’s one of my favorite stories explaining how the Middle East works. It was told by Muhammad Hussanein Heikal, the famed Egyptian journalist. Like all Heikal’s stories, it may or may not be true, which is also part of the lesson being taught. When Muammar Qadhafi first became Libya’s dictator, Heikal was dispatched to meet and evaluate him by Egypt’s ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser. After returning to Cairo, Heikal was quickly ushered into the president’s office. “Well,” said Egypt’s president, “what do you think of Qadhafi?” “He’s a disaster! A catastrophe!” “Why,” asked the president, “is he against us?” “Oh...

In a memoir being published this month, Senator Edward M. Kennedy called his behavior after the 1969 car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne “inexcusable’’ and said the events may have shortened the life of his ailing father, Joseph P. Kennedy. In that book, “True Compass,’’ Kennedy said he was dazed, afraid, and panicked in the minutes and hours after he drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island with Kopechne as his passenger. He admitted that he had “made terrible decisions’’ but said that he had hardly known Kopechne, a young woman who had been an aide to his late...

“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12

As he retreats to Camp David for a final summer getaway, President Barack Obama is mapping out a post- Labor Day plan to regain the political offensive, including a private meeting next Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . After taking office with a two-thirds approval rating, Obama has watched it slip closer to 50 percent. Over the summer, he lost ground on the health care debate and other aspects of his crowded agenda, and his dealings with Congress — controlled by fellow Democrats — also worsened as worries increased about losses in next...

All of our 75 million senior citizens tossed under the ObamaCare bus have one more reason to storm the town hall meetings. Once Obama's death panels get to work seniors won't live long enough to enjoyof the energy savings they have been promised to break even from buying higher priced CFLs instead of using energy hog incandescent lightbulbs . Retailers like Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart will soon have Health and Human Services government mortality tables displayed in their lightbub aisles alongside info on lumens and lightbulb life. Typically CFLs cost four to six times as much as incandescents but...

Boeing (BA) CEO Jim McNerney is eager to move the company to China. Whether moving Boeing to China means shifting its headquarters from Chicago to Beijing is up in the air. But Boeing already has $600 million in supplier partnerships with China -- such as a deal with Shenyang Aircraft Corporation to build an assembly for the 787's vertical fin. And Stan Sorscher, who spent 20 years at Boeing before taking a post at the Society of Professional Engineers in Aerospace (SPEEA) in 2000, told me that engineers he spoke with believe that McNerney is hooked on the idea of...

The recent viral prairie fire over White House "Green Jobs Czar" VAN JONES being discovered (by your's truly) on a video made in Berkeley, CA, made earlier this year calling Republicans a less-than-flattering A-word obscenity, and also questioning "How's The Capitalism Going For You This Year!?" is the tip of the iceberg.I've notated various points in the Czar's controversial, hour-long mid-February presentation, and where these public statements by Jones occured in the video, for further research and dissemination purposes.

Here is a new Naked Emperor News video with the audio of Obama Adviser and Green Jobs Czar saying in 2008 he had a goal of moving the United States from "suicidal capitalism" to a "Green Economy" that will "push it and push it and push it" until it "tranforms the whole society." He said "Complete Revolution is on the table," and the "Green Movement" would be the engine to bring it to pass. . . . (Listen to Audio)

KTLA-TV: A 65-year-old man had his finger bitten off Wednesday evening at a health care rally in California. About 100 protesters sponsored by MoveOn.org were having a rally supporting health care reform. A group of anti-health care reform protesters formed across the street. A witness from the scene says a man was walking through the anti-reform group to get to the pro-reform side when he got into an altercation with the 65-year-old, who opposes health care reform. The 65-year-old was apparently aggressive and hit the other man, who then retaliated by biting off his attacker's pinky

Despina, Moon of Neptune Credit: NASA, JPL, Ted Stryk Explanation: Despina is a tiny moon of Neptune. A mere 148 kilometers across, diminutive Despina was discovered in 1989, in images from the Voyager 2 spacecraft taken during its encounter with the solar system's most distant gas giant planet. But looking through the Voyager 2 data 20 years later, amateur image processor (and philosophy professor) Ted Stryk discovered something no one had recognized before -- images that show the shadow of Despina in transit across Neptune's blue cloud tops. His composite view of Despina and its shadow is composed of...

GROVE--Right-thinking Americans can only hope the country will survive the next 16 months of the Obama administration until the Republicans can regain control of Congress, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Wednesday. “I never dreamed I would see an administration try to disavow all the things that have made this country different from all others,” Inhofe told more than 300 people at a town hall meeting in the Grove Community Center. “I have never seen so many things happening at one time so disheartening to America.” Inhofe found a highly receptive audience. Many wore T-shirts of a local organization called Get...

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The Lefties are at it again. Having completely destroyed that fine word, “liberal,” along with the enlightened 18th century sensibilities that went with it, they have now moved on like locusts through the lexicon, and want to be called “progressives.” An astonishing number of conservative commentators are going along with it. Not me. It is always easy to point out the flaws in liberal ideology so big you could drive a truck through them. But recent events keenly expose the utter absurdity of referring to liberals as “progressives.” The policies they advance, the behavior they display in support of them,...

Despite their control of all three branches of government, this has not been a good summer for liberal Democrats. Their healthcare “reform” bill, which has yet to be fully written, much less fully funded, has been exposed at town hall meetings as a power grab over life and death with the strong possibility that “do no harm” will be replaced by a utilitarian approach to treatment. The cap-and-trade measure (dubbed “cap and tax” by The Wall Street Journal) appears in trouble. Closer scrutiny has revealed it as one more reach into our pockets by politicians who never have enough of...

Senate Democrats are revisiting proposals to raise taxes on high-income people to help pay for an overhaul of the health-care system.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan wishes he had resolved concerns about financial guarantees before Olympic officials wrote a newly released report on the city, but the leader of Mayor Richard Daley's bid said Wednesday that he sees no remaining issues that can't be fixed before a host city is selected next month.

Papa Possum'sNew World Nursery Rhymes Political Poetry for Traitorous Times Historia Dea Stili(Historia, Goddess of The Stylus) Of Tigris and Euphrates and         Civilization's day, men still can read the records baked         cuneiform in clay. Of Egypt's three millenia         through which The Nile rolled, men still can see The Pharohs' deeds         on papyrus enscrolled. Of Marathon, Thermopylae, Plataea         men still speak, and those inclined can read accounts         penned in the Ancient Greek. ...

be his friend in return for a freeze on building for Jews in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, according to Politco.com editor Ben Smith. The relationship between the two leaders has been termed as chilly even before they met in Washington earlier this year. "Netanyahu’s at a pivotal moment,” a senior U.S. official told Smith. “Depending on what he decides, he could wind up with a very strong relationship with President Obama and potentially become a historic figure in Israel." Ron Dermer, spokesman for the Prime Minister, declined to comment on the report.

Recently the Obama administration filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law, called The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), discriminates against gays. This was surprising because at the same time government lawyers have been instructed to defend it. In fact, Department of Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Act. The administration's legal strategy so angered gay activists that they claimed the president is backtracking on campaign promises. Last week as a response to the pressure from numerous gay groups, the administration flip-flopped, vowing to repeal DOMA. The administration’s...

August was the worst month of Barack Obama's presidency. And he seems to know it—he is now planning to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress 232 days into his administration in a desperate attempt to save his biggest domestic priority, overhauling health care.