Free Republic

People don't always get what they deserve in this world, so it is gratifying to see when someone does. It happened Wednesday when a California parole board insisted that Susan Atkins, a 61-year-old amputee with incurable brain cancer, live her few remaining months in prison rather than the embrace of her loved ones. This may sound like pointless excess inflicted on someone whose crime, committed 40 years ago, is ancient history. But even to mention Atkins without first mentioning her victims is an affront. In 1969, she repeatedly thrust a knife into an innocent woman who was eight and a...

Firm relies on Venezuela oil As Joseph P. Kennedy II contemplates a race to reclaim the Senate seat held by his family for nearly half a century, his most formidable obstacle may not be a Massachusetts politician but a political leader some 2,000 miles away: President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Over the past four years, Citizens Energy Corp., the signature nonprofit founded by Kennedy in 1979 as a political launching pad, has grown from a local charity serving 10,000 Massachusetts homes a year into a national effort delivering free fuel to 200,000 households in 23 states. And Kennedy, a former...

It’s one thing to be offensive. It’s yet another thing to be offensive, and to be clueless about it. And President Barack Obama seems to be landing in the “another thing” category these days. It has been quite well established that August was a bad month for the President, himself, as well as for his legislative agenda. Today he clearly needs to do some repair work with the American people, so as to prevent further free-fall of his approval ratings, and perhaps more importantly, to prevent further decline in the level of “trust” with which Americans view him. So what...

Three churches in Phoenix have brought a legal action against the city because one pastor already has been convicted and other churches are being threatened over the "noise" from their bells, some of which have rung out to the community for decades. The lawsuit has been filed by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish, First Christian Church and Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church. The dispute focuses on the city ordinance that even city officials have conceded is vague, according to the lawsuit. Nevertheless, on the strength of neighbors' complaints and the existing statute,...

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to descend upon the nation's capital next weekend to voice their concerns about what they call Congress' "nonstop tax-and-spend agenda" in the first-ever Taxpayer March on D.C. The three-day event will begin Thursday morning at the D.C. Armory in Southeast Washington and is expected to end Saturday with a march from Freedom Plaza down Pennsylvania Avenue to a rally on the U.S. Capitol steps. Participants can attend workshops and lobby their congressmen while attending rallies on health care and the economy. The National Park Service says it has issued permits for more than...

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey - joined by bloggers Baseball Crank and Moe Lane - notes that Los Angeles public schools won't be in session next Tuesday when President Obama delivers his speech to the nation's children. Neither will those in the Boston schools. Or the New York City public schools. Or those in Seattle, Buffalo or Eugene (Oregon). It's the Obamatuerism of the day on this one, but it may be indicative of a new theme concerning the Obama administration's managerial and strategic political competence. All presidential teams tend to get high marks during their honeymoons. But the Obama honeymoon...

Morning Devotional "In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." - Philippians 2:15 We use lights to make manifest. A Christian man should so shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in his daily actions. Lights are intended for guidance. We are to help those around us who are...

The best observation that any politico can offer on the three-way U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania between Republican Pat Toomey and two Democrats, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter, is that it’s complicated. So many unpredictable dynamics can affect it, including the economy, health care, the war in Afghanistan, and people's perceptions of President Obama, Congress and the two political parties. Pretend the Pennsylvania electorate is normally distributed in a bell-curve along an ideological spectrum. Now pretend two different scenarios divide the electorate; the candidate with the most people on his side wins, right? If the candidates...

Van Jones quits... see article at this link

Fair Game They Left Fannie Mae, but We Got the Legal Bills By GRETCHEN MORGENSON PRECISELY one year ago, we lucky taxpayers took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants that contributed mightily to the wild and crazy home-loan-boom-turned-bust. In that rescue operation, the Treasury agreed to pony up as much as $200 billion to keep Fannie in the black, coughing up cash whenever its liabilities exceed its assets. According to the company’s most recent quarterly financial statement, the Treasury will, by Sept. 30, have handed over $45 billion to shore up the company’s net worth. It...

We are wretched creatures We cannot dwell upon the conduct of the Jews, my dear people, without being struck with amazement. These very people had waited for God for four thousand years, they had prayed much because of the great desire they had to receive Him, and yet when He came, He could not find a single person to give Him the poorest lodging. The all-powerful God was obliged to make His dwelling with the animals. And yet, my dear people, I find in the conduct of the Jews, criminal as it was, not a subject for explanations, but a...

Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance By JENNY ANDERSON After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one. The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to...

For the past several months, the federal building on Poydras Street has seen a steady stream of New Orleans police officers trudge in and out, all of them testifying before grand jurors gathering evidence of possible civil rights violations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- allegations that center on police misbehavior. Federal agents, meanwhile, have been studying police e-mails and documents obtained by subpoena -- as well as through a surprise search warrant executed on the New Orleans Police Department homicide office -- in an attempt to ferret out exactly what happened in the chaotic days after the storm....

When the White House press corps finally grilled White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones last Friday, a reporter asked how the administration could reject "conspiracy theories" about his birth certificate while employing someone who previously charged the U.S. government with masterminding Sept. 11. I found that to be an interesting juxtaposition. Could the answer be as simple as the White House has no respect for truth? Will reporters and even some clamoring to position themselves as respectable "conservatives" and critics of Barack Obama figure out that deception and deceit are at the very core...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones quit late last night after pressure mounted over his extremist history first exposed in WND. The last straw for Jones was being caught on tape in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through. He admitted after the statements were released that the comments were "inappropriate" and "offensive." "They do not reflect the experience I have had since joining the administration," Jones said in the statement. Jones was also linked late last week to efforts...

Chavez minister vows more Venezuela radio closings * Radio stations to be pulled after 34 closed in August * Critics say hits free speech, government says democratic * Anti-Chavez TV network in the spotlight over coup rumor CARACAS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela will pull the plug on 29 more radio stations, a top official in President Hugo Chavez's government said on Saturday, just weeks after dozens of other outlets were closed in a media clampdown. Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello closed 34 radio stations in July, saying the government was "democratizing" media ownership.....

I am putting out a call to Catholics all over the country whose children attend Catholic schools. Please call your pastor and the diocesan superintendant of schools on Tuesday morning and ask if Obama’s brainwashing and propaganda address for the Socialist Party of American will be shown at your Catholic school. Demand that it NOT be shown, if they have plans to do so. Many Catholic schools are showing this film wihtout the parents’ knowledge or permission. What is the request that the children pledge to “help Predient Obama” if not an attempt to pre-empt parents and recruit your children...

As offshore havens comply with transparency demands, a growing number of ultra-wealthy Americans are handing back their passports Private client lawyers and relocation specialists are reporting a surge in wealthy Americans living abroad who are prepared to give up their citizenship to avoid the scrutiny of US tax authorities. Although such a move means they have to pay an exit tax, lawyers say this is a price people have become more willing to pay this year, now the fall in asset values has reduced the size of the imposition. Jay Krause, a partner at private-client specialist law firm Withers, said:...

6 Koreans Missing After River Near Border Surges Six South Koreans camping and fishing along a river flowing from North Korea were missing Sunday after it suddenly rose, possibly because a new dam in the North released a large amount of water without warning, The Associated Press reported Sunday, quoting officials. About 200 rescuers were trying to locate the missing people along the Imjin River, fire official Park Ju-il was quoted as saying. He said their identities were not immediately available. Gyeonggi provincial official Choi Kwon-rak said a North Korean dam just north of the border may have released large...

Mention Sarah Palin’s name in polite company and you’re sure to ellicit a firestorm of indignation from all sides of the political spectrum. And even though it’s a foregone conclusion that her name is a catalyst for those who support “all that is wrong with the country,” (regardless of political striping), we’ll journey to that dismal land of Palin-bashing and irrationality. Sarah Palin represents a stereotype to many people. Almost a throwback to the era of Mad Men. However, if there’s an undergirding insanity in the body public, it’s not Sarah’s beliefs, but those who abhor her. Unmistakable among the...