Free Republic

Rasmussen has bad news for the spin machine on the Left about the town-hall protests. Despite weeks of attempting to dismiss the outpouring of anger as “Astroturfing,” a strong majority of voters believes them to be genuine, and an increased plurality supports them. In fact, the numbers of those believing the protests to be genuine have increased as ObamaCare advocates have pushed their accusations hard: Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide say that it’s more important for Congressmen to hear the view of their constituents rather than explain the proposed health care legislation. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey...

They think we’re crazy. “They” are the sneering defenders of Barack Obama who can’t fathom the backlash against the president’s nationwide speech to schoolchildren next Tuesday. “We” are parents with eyes wide open to the potential for politicized abuse in America’s classrooms. Ask moms and dads in Farmington, Utah, who discovered this week that their children sat through a Hollywood propaganda video promoting the cult of Obama. In the clip, a parade of entertainers vow to flush their toilets less, buy hybrid vehicles, end poverty and world hunger, and commit to “service” for “change.” Actress Demi Moore leads the glitterati...

wrote yesterday about broadcasters, but I wish I didn't have to write this one: the legendary Ernie Harwell, voice of the Tigers for 42 years, has incurable cancer. Harwell is 91. The grace and strength with which he is responding to this news is staggering, but not surprising. I have had the pleasure of knowing Harwell a little bit through the years, and he is one of the finest people I have ever met in baseball. When I wrote a story about broadcasters last year, I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Harwell telling me he liked the piece....

Following August 19 Baghdad Bombings, Syrian Daily Teshreen Warns Obama: The Syria-Iran Alliance, Which Is Cultivating the Resistance, Has Won a Great Victory – And Will Not Wait Until Hesitant Obama Reaches a Decision In an August 22, 2009 article in the Syrian government daily Teshreen, Nasser Qandil, a former Lebanese MP who is close to Syria, wrote that some in Washington were acting to worsen the security situation in Iraq. Their aim, he said, is to extend the U.S. military presence in the country, which will harm U.S. President Barack Obama in his next election campaign; to promote the...

Via JWF and Gabe Malor, who have to be wondering whether Barack Obama appointed Van Jones as the Green Jobs Czar as some sort of blogger full-employment program. After being a Communist and a 9/11 Truther, will Jones’ support for cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal even register? Maybe it will at the White House: More than 150 demonstrators marched from 14th Street and Broadway to the Oakland Federal Building to demand that the Justice Department re-open its corruption investigation of the Philadelphia Police Department. Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a death row inmate convicted for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia...

Is Gordon Brown still fit for office? A blog posted today by the journalist John Ward on his website notbornyesterday.org suggests that the PM may be in worse health than the public realise. He claims there are signs the PM is taking powerful drugs to control both depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Ward bases his hypothesis on a tip-off from a senior civil servant that Brown has recently been given a "long list of forbidden foods". The civil servant, who works regularly with the PM, told Ward that Brown had been banned from eating and drinking several specific things...

Know the Inner Circle - Anthony Lake, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor (Co-founder of Global Zero) In December 2008, Lake and several other prominent leaders started Global Zero, an organization dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons. The group, which already has over 100 members, will host a conference in 2010.Dombey, Daniel, “Obama camp signals robust approach on Iran,” Financial Times, July 1, 2008. Lake was one of the most prominent members of the Clinton administration to back Obama. He was particularly impressed by Obama’s stance on Iraq – unlike Clinton, the president had opposed the war from the start. Lake introduced Gregory...

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations 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.

DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec, September 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Quebec Superior Court has denied a petition from concerned Catholic parents who wanted exemptions for their children from the province's mandatory relativism program, 'Ethics and Religious Culture' (ERC). In making his decision, the judge, Justice Jean-Guy Dubois, relied heavily on two Catholic sources: (1) the testimony of a Catholic theologian who emphasized that the Catholic Church values instruction in other religions, and (2) the position of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, who did not support "a priori" exemptions based on religion. Even without the support of his brother bishops, Quebec City...

The White House on Friday dismissed as pointless the furor over President Barack Obama's plan to deliver a televised back-to-school speech to the nation's students. "I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school," presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success." Obama's planned address to students has prompted a surprising push-back from some quarters over what the White House sees as an...

WASHINGTON – Alarmed by Israeli plans to build new housing units in settlements and dimming prospects for American peace efforts, the Obama administration on Friday put out a rare and harsh public rebuke of its main Mideast ally. The White House said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's settlement plans were "inconsistent" with commitments the Jewish state has made previously and harmful to U.S. attempts to lay the groundwork for a resumption in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop," White House spokesman Robert...

Here is TMZ video of Rev. Jeremiah Wright at an airport yesterday where he was asked about the "Health Care Bill." He responded: I think the Right Wing is upset because poor people are about to be helped." He also slammed Oprah Winfey saying she is "just an entertainer" who is "not socially conscious," and is therefore not really making an impact. I wonder what Rev. Wright would have said about Van Jones, if asked? (Watch Video)

On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 1 – after a lot of talk by President Barack Obama about transparency in his administration – I snuck into and attended a private meeting held by Obama's deputy secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, Neal Wolin, and Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, who represents North Carolina's 13th congressional district. Also at the meeting were state and federal banking officials, area elected officials and a select group of other handpicked attendees. It was an interesting meeting – however, once my presence was discovered, it clearly agitated many federal and congressional officials, as well...

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker Believes There is Still Room for Compromise on Health Care. BY SHAILAGH MURRAY Republican Sen. Bob Corker stood before a packed high school auditorium this week for his 24th and final town hall meeting of the summer, sketching out his vision for the bipartisan health-care plan he says he is convinced Congress can pass.

In a piece for Rasmussen Reports, Susan Estrich, a democratic strategist, completely makes the conservatives case on the public option. I'm not quite sure what she was trying to get across here, but I think it backfires. Let us take a look.

As revelations keep gushing out about Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” (whatever that is), Van Jones, Americans are baffled as to how a self- professed communist and 9/11 Truther made it through any sort of screening process. Most citizens presume that the president’s appointed Czars and Czarinas are scrutinized by experts. America, stop fretting about how anti-American radicals are getting through the FBI background checks. Because there are no FBI background checks. Anyone with access to Google could have had Jones figured out in about five minutes.

... The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published. The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.” The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP. Gates...

Since Sean Is Off, This Will Be A Quiet Thread Today.

Love Boat

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN has learned that the White House is quietly working to draft health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months. Multiple sources close to the process tell CNN that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday. As previously reported by CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash and CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the so-called trigger option remains very much on the table. Under...