Free Republic

Remember last fall when all those gigantic financial institutions that have been bankrolling Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd's campaigns all these years were about to go belly up because of irresponsible lending practices encouraged or mandated by the government thanks to the likes of Sen. Dodd? Remember how the Fed and Sen. Dodd and a raft of others in government said those banks had to be rescued because they were "too big to fail"? Remember how Congress borrowed $700 billion from the Red Chinese and others to throw Sen. Dodd's TARP over those banks to unfreeze the credit market, only to...

Six years ago, I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it. I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism. I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing and Food Stamps. A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all...

Harlem Congressman Gave Campaign Contributions To 3 Dems On Ethics Committee Charged With Investigating Him

Green jobs 'czar' signed 'truther' statement in 2004 By Amanda Carpenter President Obama’s “green jobs czar” Van Jones has been targeted again and again by conservatives for his controversial views and now they’ll have another item to use as fodder. Mr. Jones signed a statement for 911Truth.org in 2004 demanding an investigation into what the Bush Administration may have done that “deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.” His name is listed with 99 other prominent signatories supporting such an investigation on the 911Truth.org website, including Code Pink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodi Evans, comedienne Janeane...

At his living room table, 92-year-old Rochus Misch shows me some of his old photo albums. Private pictures he had taken more than 60 years ago. There are colour images of Mr Misch in an SS uniform at Adolf Hitler's home in the Alps, snapshots of Hitler staring at rabbits, and photos of Hitler's mistress and future wife Eva Braun. For five years, SS Oberscharfuehrer Rochus Misch had been part of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, as a bodyguard, a courier and telephone operator to the Fuehrer. Rochus Misch spent years as part of Hitler's inner circle. Photo Rochus Misch "My...

ormer Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said Thursday that his previous assertion that it was "legitimate to question and examine" charges of CIA abuses of suspected terrorists did not mean he endorsed such an investigation. "Contrary to press reporting and based on the information that's available to me," Mr. Gonzales said during an interview Thursday with The Washington Times, "I don't support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that's a concern that's shared by...

GENEVA (AFP) – The world is speeding towards a climate catastrophe, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday, urging rapid progress in talks to cut emissions and tackle global warming. "Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," the UN Secretary General said in a speech to the World Climate Conference. Ban, who this week visited the Arctic to witness first hand the changes wrought by global warming, warned that many of the "more distant scenarios" predicted by scientists were "happening now." "Scientists have been accused for years of scaremongering. But the real scaremongers...

Last night Zero Hedge obtained some interesting documents from the CDC web site. They contain blank 'forced quarantine' orders from Iowa and Florida regarding novel H1N1 -- including quarantine to a 'secure detention center'-- which appear to be recent -- dated April 2009....{Copy of document} FL Quarantine to Detention Facility Order Apr 09.{Copy of document} FL Quarantine to Residence Order Apr 09

Demonstrating once again that Snuggie is slowly taking over the world, the company has announced plans to hold a runway show during New York fashion week. The invitation apparently promises a stunning display of new looks and colors, including a celebrity host -- Ross "The Intern" Matthews -- who will "dish about the sexiest looks in blanket-wear." Putting in "sexy" and "blanket-wear" in the same sentence certainly seems like a contradiction in terms to us, but we're intrigued nonetheless. What's more, we hear there'll even be some love for the doggies in the runway show, as the looks will include...

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Relations between Switzerland and Libya remain strained, with Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi repeating a call he made at the G8 summit in Italy in July 2009, for Switzerland to be considered a non-country and its linguistic districts to be shared among its neighbours. The rhetoric itself has ruffled few feathers, given Qadaffi’s widespread reputation for stepping outside the usual boundaries of diplomatic talk, but Libya’s upcoming turn as president of the United Nations General Assembly, which opens its new session 15 September, gives him a platform. It will be the first time he has joined a...

BURLINGTON, Ontario, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Greyhound Canada bus line announced Thursday it is ceasing operations in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario because of government policies. In a release from its Burlington, Ontario, headquarters, Senior Vice President Stuart Kendrick said operating losses were mounting and talks with various governments weren't showing any progress. "We have repeatedly asked the federal and provincial governments to change the existing legislative and regulatory regimes that govern intercity bus operations," Kendrick said. "Our financial situation is dire and we are no longer in a position to absorb losses that are almost solely attributable to government...

Ordering pizza in 2012 under Big Brother government

For New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, last Friday was long in coming — the day a federal prosecutor announced that after nearly a year investigating alleged corruption in the awarding of state contracts, he had wrapped up the case without any indictments. The investigation had cast a cloud over Richardson, scuttling a job in the Obama Cabinet and putting in doubt his political future. But even as Richardson and his allies proclaimed his “vindication” and predicted it would catapult him back onto the national stage, the prosecutor handling the case wouldn’t let the matter fade. U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt fired...

Analysis of ancient DNA from skeletons suggests that Europe's first farmers were not the descendants of the people who settled the area after the retreat of the ice sheets. Instead, the early farmers probably migrated into major areas of central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them, says Barbara Bramanti from Mainz University in Germany and colleagues. The researchers analyzed DNA from hunter-gatherer and early farmer burials, and compared those to each other and to the DNA of modern Europeans. They conclude that there is little evidence of a direct genetic link between...

DAMASCUS, Syria – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people. ... "Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters. In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East. "The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of...

Energy saving light bulbs are not as bright as their traditional counterparts and claims about the amount of light they produce are "exaggerated", the European Union has admitted.

The hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon that exploded in July contained chemical weapons, and three Hizbullah terrorists died as a result of the toxins, in addition to eight other terrorists killed by the blast, the Kuwaiti newspaper Alseyassah Kuwait said on Thursday.

Following widespread concern about President Obama's nationally televised address to schoolchildren, parents and schools are opting to forgo the Sept. 8 speech. School officials have been asked to take a break from normal educational activities to allow students to view the speech from the president and participate in recommended brainstorming exercises following the broadcast. Obama will give the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. The speech is scheduled to broadcast live at 12 p.m. EST on C-SPAN and at whitehouse.gov. But parents across the nation are complaining about the speech taking up valuable classroom instruction time and possibly...

Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations Thursday for the $787 billion economic stimulus, but his glowing assessment overlooks many of the program's problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities and project picks that are under investigation.

Once again we see that democracy with Muslims does not change their religious views, or lessen the threat of Islam to the non-Islamic world. Iran assembly approves most of hard-line Cabinet By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and SEBASTIAN ABBOT