Free Republic

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments from campaign finance reform advocates and opponents in a case many insiders say will be the most significant decision in more than 35 years. The case the court will hear, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, has the potential to overturn key elements of campaign finance law that prevent corporate spending on elections, a move that would open the door to millions of dollars that could not be spent previously. “This is the biggest case in campaign finance law, really, since Buckley v. Valeo in 1976,” said Rob Kelner, a partner at...

Members of the Iraqi Security Forces examine a villager's paperwork during operation "Enforce the Law VI" in the Rashaad Valley of Kirkuk province, Sept. 2. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. KIRKUK — A joint security operation between the Iraqi Army (IA) and Iraqi Police (IP) dubbed "Enforce the Law VI" was carried out in the Rashaad Valley, Sept. 2. This was the first mission entirely planned and conducted by IP and IA in the Rashaad Valley, said Capt. Jesse Prince, commander of Troop A, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division."All...

Conservative movement traveling toward Washington, D.C.Conservative roadshow The Tea Party Express rolled into suburban New Lenox this Labor Day, drawing an expectation-breaking crowd of thousands who decried President Barack Obama, his health care initiative and stimulus spending. Organizers said they expected 200-400 people to attend the rally, but were blown away when a crowd -- which some claimed was north of 10,000 -- gathered with American flags and signs denouncing big government. New Lenox's Chief of Police, Bob Sterba, guessed the crowd was likely around 8,000 strong. A precise count was not available. Sterba said that one event organizer even...

Spc. Rachael Potts and an Iraqi engineer prepare to run dirty water through a solar-powered water filtration system at Forward Operating Base Hammer, Sept. 5. Photo by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann, 82nd Airborne Division. BAGHDAD — In an effort to provide a better quality of life for the citizens of Iraq's Ma'dain region, U.S. paratroopers here put their time and energy into learning how to set up and operate a solar-powered water filtration system, Sept. 5. Paratroopers assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division- Baghdad implemented a self-powered, energy efficient water filtration system to provide the...

Obama credits Unions with creating modern benefits like paid leave and minimum wage . The facts are that unions had nothing to do with the federal laws that created both. In fact Unions opposed the passage of federal laws that provided such benefits. At a federal level FMLA passed in 1993 provides provides for only 12 weeks of unpaid family leave to workers that work at a business with 50 or more employees. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Family_Leave. At the time of the law's passage about 30% of workers nationwide received such benefits, and today about the same number do so. FMLA did not...

Even when an Obama aide is forced to resign after it's revealed he's so radical he signed his name to 9/11 conspiracy theories and belonged to Marxist revolutionary groups, The Washington Post is still buttering him up as a "legendary" and "towering" figure of the environmental movement. This leaves the question: how radical then, is the environmental movement? (And yet, notice that's the Post's indirect way of suggesting someone's a left-wing warrior.) On page 3 of Saturday's newspaper, reporters Garance Franke-Ruta and Anne Kornblut used the L word, legendary: Jones, a legendary figure in the environmental movement, has worked for...

KOLKATA: After trying to fob off Indian officials and investigators all of Sunday night, one of the pilots of the United Arab Emirates air force aircraft detained at Kolkata airport since Sunday finally admitted to the plane carrying a consignment of weapons. The C-130 Hercules among the biggest transport aircraft in the world was on its way to Xiangyang, China, from UAEAF's Western Air Command base in Abu Dhabi. Although the UAE government had the necessary clearances from Indian authorities for the flight to land in Kolkata, it had not informed that the aircraft would be carrying weapons. Indian Customs...

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event Arlington, Virginia September 8, 2009 The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous....

September 6, 2008 India: Where Christians Are A Target For The Religious Murder Mobs Rhys Blakely in Bhubaneswar Namrata, a young Christian villager who was injured in an attack by a Hindu mob. The mob appeared an hour after sunset, armed with axes, clubs and paraffin. The carnage that followed would have been much worse if the Christians of Gadragaon, a remote village in northeast India, had not been warned by text message: “The Hindus are coming to kill you.” The alert gave most enough time to flee to the jungle, where 114 of them would hide for a week,...

This is what greeted Gov Granholm (Mi) when she finished her Bridge Walk today. These are State Union Employees who are not impressed with our Governor.

China alarmed by US money printing The US Federal Reserve's policy of printing money to buy Treasury debt threatens to set off a serious decline of the dollar and compel China to redesign its foreign reserve policy, according to a top member of the Communist hierarchy By Comment on this article Working for the Yankee dollar: Beijing is said to be dismayed by the Fed's recourse to 'credit easing' Photo: Reuters Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China's green energy drive, said Beijing was dismayed by the Fed's recourse to "credit easing". "We hope...

September 11, 2001 was a defining moment for me and everyone in my generation. We were young and watched something we could have never imagined. It will imprint us and our politics for the rest of our lives, which is what the Democrats are afraid of. Yes, I will remember it: as a day when Islamic terrorists attacked American soil; a day of patriotism; a day to honor the fallen; a day to thank a soldier; a day to be thankful for my family; and a day to work and to live … not as a day to turn it...

The speech is a total display of malignant narcissism. Not only does Obama talk about himself excessively, the speech seems to be aimed at students who probably remind him of himself when he was young and encourages those students to be like, well, himself. Asking students to help out their community is asking them to follow his foot steps—he being a self-described “community organizer.” But more importantly, directing the speech to the students with discipline problems and telling them that they, too, could become the next Michael Jordan or inventor of the iPod is encouraging the President’s one enduring trait:...

Are you going to Washington D.C.?

Not long ago at Fort Bragg, N.C., the country's largest military base, seven soldiers sat in a semi-circle, lights dimmed, eyes closed, two fingertips lightly pressed beneath their belly buttons to activate their "core." Electronic music thumped as the soldiers tried to silence their thoughts, the key to Warrior Mind Training, a form of meditation slowly making inroads on military bases across the country. Think military and you think macho, not meditation, but that's about to change now that the Army intends to train its 1.1 million soldiers in the art of mental toughness.

WOODBURY, N.Y. – A New York man is donating his 320th pint of blood this week, making him one of two people in the U.S. who has given 40 gallons. Seventy-five-year-old Al Fischer of Massapequa (mass-ah-PEE'-kwah) plans to reach the milestone Tuesday, 58 years after he started giving blood. According to a New York Blood Center official, only 83-year-old Maurice Wood has donated more blood than Fischer. Wood is a retired railroad inspector from St. Louis. Fischer, a print shop operator, donates blood about six times a year. He says he and Wood are engaged in a friendly rivalry and...

Tea Party Patriots gathered to protest various Obama policies today as President Obama gave a speech to union members at Riverbend/ Coney Island in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nearly 200 people gathered along Kellogg Ave. as Obama came and went today. Enclosed find photos by timestax.

Man Held After Kissing Daughter By Gary Duffy BBC News, Sao Paulo Fortaleza has had problems with sex tourism in the past There is growing controversy in Brazil over the arrest of an Italian tourist held after kissing his eight-year-old daughter in public. Witnesses told police the man allegedly touched the girl in an intimate way. Under a strict new law partly designed to combat child sex abuse in South America's largest country, he faces eight to 15 years in jail if convicted. The unnamed man has been in custody for almost a week. A new attempt to secure his...

CNN actually spoke of Obama losing support. Granted it was among whites - so it fits their template. But it's a start.

Link.