Free Republic

If there is one thing a person could say about me with conviction and absolute certainty, it is that I am a firm believer in the idea of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I have supported the poultry peddler through a number of harrowing assaults on its integrity and claims that belie the tastiness of its products. When the so-called “blog-o-sphere” was buzzing with rumors of KFC labs overflowing with genetically modified, beakless chickens, I was the lone island of rational thought in a raging sea of insanity. I have faced the scorn of friends and the disappointment of loved ones for...

A groundswell of parent opposition to President Barack Obama's speech next week to students on the importance of education has forced many North Texas school districts to question whether to air it live in classrooms. Obama announced the speech weeks ago, but opposition and concerns spread rapidly Wednesday morning through conservative social networking Web sites and radio talk shows. By midday, local school districts say, they were inundated with hundreds of phone calls from parents urging them to not show Obama's speech at school. Some parents threatened to keep their children home from school if the video was aired. "We...

What did I get myself into? Will my kids ever get it? Is this the right curriculum? I can’t do this! Should I really be homeschooling? Are we going to make it through today, let alone a school year?

Politicos, pundits and armchair campaign managers around the country are keeping a close eye on this year’s gubernatorial contest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The stakes couldn’t be higher. In fact, many analysts believe this race (among others) may forecast things to come in the 2010 and 2012 elections – up to and including the battle for the White House. That’s why it’s of little surprise that a branch of the Democratic Party’s media propaganda machine – the unabashedly liberal Washington Post – would, per usual, abandon any semblance of journalistic integrity and rush to the aid of State Senator...

Two years ago, Athanasios Hadjis was a human rights hack, sitting on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal full of other hacks. He mindlessly rubber-stamped the censorship litigation oozing from the Canadian Human Rights Commission and its complainant of fortune, Stormfront member Richard Warman. Here’s a section 13 censorship case, less than two years ago, where Hadjis happily condemned a young woman to a lifetime publication ban, ordered her to pay Warman $3,000 for his hurt feelings (tax free to him), and then fined her another $1,500. That’s a heavy punishment for a woman earning just above minimum wage, and too...

Last night, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) held a private health care “briefing” for members of the Heritage Hunt Golf & Country Club in Gainesville, VA, a higher-end active retirement community. The AARP participated on the “briefing” panel.  This meeting was not open to the general public, but we were there. Connolly is a first term Democrat in a district -- as one staffer at the event described it -- as sixty percent registered Republican. Gauging the level of questioning and the negative reaction of these seniors to the regurgitation of Democrat talking points at the event, these seniors have been...

Charlie Rangel has become the gift that keeps on giving. Between cheating on on his taxes, hiding income or giving campaign donations to the members of the ethics committee investigating him, the NY Democrat has brand new scandal arise on what seems to be a daily basis. Now it seems as if the Congressman is adding fool to his resume. He has decided to become the liberal equivalent of a birther---a Racer, someone that believes anyone who disagrees with Barack Obama is a racist. Last night at a town hall in Washington Heights Rangel said that "bias" and "prejudice" toward...

The Global Finance magazine released the world’s safest banks list for 2009 on February 25th. For the first time they published this mid-year update due to the turmoil in the world’s banking industry. The list was compiled based on the comparison of long-term credit ratings and total assets of the 500 largest banks in the world. The ratings were issued by Standard & Poor's, Moody’s and Fitch. According to Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo “The rating agencies have determined these banks have demonstrated a more prudent and sustainable approach to risk than their peers.”

First a church, now a synagogue. It ain't kosher. A union has placed a huge 12-foot inflatable rat outside the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale to protest the synagogue's use of non-union workers to install windows at its new extension. The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 9, is staging the protest. The union is targeting Diversified Glass, a Bronx company that declined to comment. Synagogue executive director Zev Steinberg said the house of worship's board "is aware of the protests and is evaluating the situation."

A spate of shootings, bombings and military raids left 11 people dead and more than 20 wounded over the past two days in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, officials said Thursday.

Steve Liesman once again stunned me with his lack of understanding of matters economic today, when he commented that "in all recessions since 1970 at least the original part of it (recovery) has been jobless." Yes, Steve, but why is any of this a surprise? What part of this graph isn't instantly obvious to anyone with more than two firing neurons in their head? That's credit and population growth normed to a base of 1970. Population went from roughly 205 million to roughly 304 million during that time, a 50% increase. Outstanding consumer credit went from $128 billion to $2,525...

A few weeks ago, Government Motors dropped a public relations bomb when new chief Fritz Henderson announced that the forthcoming Chevy Volt would get an astonishing 230 miles per gallon (that's 98 kilometers per liter, for our metric-system friends). We'll stop short of calling it a fabrication and instead chalk it up to a classic apples-to-oranges comparison. After all, the Volt will be powered more by coal than by oil. United States EPA mileage guidelines are based on a bunch of hypothetical “typical” driving patterns. And the makers of conventional and plug-in hybrid cars are lobbying hard to change those...

I believe B. Hussein Obama is trying to tell America, through his actions, he just won‘t say it, but I will: “Dear America, I hate you. I hate you because you’re stupid, you’re bigoted and you’re dangerous . I know that you’re stupid because you believe in an invisible man in the sky. Not only does that make you stupid, it makes you dangerous. After all, if you’re that easily led to believe in some invisible man in the sky then you might be led into believing in witches and you might burn people at the stake. I don’t care...

Yes, I know, I am a tad late, but, as is policy, we don’t talk about Sarah Palin’s schedule unless Sarah or her spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, has verified that Sarah is indeed going somewhere. There are just too many flaky promoters using Sarah’s name to sell tickets, without a verification from Sarah, who then try to blame her when she doesn’t show at an event she had never committed to in the first place. So we are not going to help them with that scam. As we reported earlier, Sarah has almost 1100 invitations to speak at events, both paid...

CBS) Amid questions about the safety of the HPV vaccine Gardasil one of the lead researchers for the Merck drug is speaking out about its risks, benefits and aggressive marketing. Dr. Diane Harper says young girls and their parents should receive more complete warnings before receiving the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Dr. Harper helped design and carry out the Phase II and Phase III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved, and authored many of the published, scholarly papers about it. She has been a paid speaker and consultant to Merck. It’s highly unusual for a researcher to...

On September 8, Barack Obama will address every school kid in America, reason number 216 to home school. Obama has already sent out an agenda for the teachers to follow. Again, on the surface, not all that ominous, but this is Barack Obama we are talking about here, a committed communist who was mentored from the tender age of 10 years old by communist Frank Marshall Davis. This is Barack Obama who, in his books, says he sought our Marxist radicals in college as well as the Marxist professors. Those were his people.

Cardinal O’Malley issued a forceful defense of his decision to participate in the funeral of Senator Kennedy; revealed the substance of a conversation he had with President Obama: Catholic bishops are “anxious to support a plan for universal health care, but we will not support a plan that will include a provision for abortion or could open the way to abortions in the future.’’ But the most impassioned part of the cardinal’s blog post is a de facto plea for greater civility among Catholics when discussing divisive issues. He warned against “harsh judgments’’ and attributing “the worst motives’’ to people...

Here is video of Jason Mattera, a conservative, going undercover inside a Pro-ObamaCare group at a Health Care Rally in Reston, Virginia, held by Democrat Rep. Jim Moran. He talks with people inside the Pro-ObamaCare movement, giving the sights and sounds of how they think. Via Jason Mattera/Twitter(Watch Undercover Video)

CBS 2 HD has learned of more alleged back-door dealings and political power peddling by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel. The reigning member of Congress' top tax committee is apparently "wrangling" other politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles. Here's a look at Charlie's so-called "angels" involved in his ethics investigation. Congressman Rangel has been arrogant in refusing to discuss how, as the man who writes this country's tax laws, he failed to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House, lapses under investigation by the...

Gunmen open fire on paramedics in Gary Thursday, 03 September 2009 7:16AM GARY, Ind. (STNG) -- Two men shot at two paramedics Tuesday night after the medics dropped off a patient in Gary, Ind., police said. Gary police Cpl. Gabrielle King said one medic was standing at the rear of the ambulance in the 5100 block of West 4th Avenue with the doors open, and the other was standing at its front at 5:50 p.m. Suddenly, she said, two males drove around the ambulance in a red two-door Geo Tracker and and fired four shots. Next, she said, the men...