Free Republic

THE Obama administration is getting ready to throw the proposed Eastern European-based US missile-defense system under the bus. The move is a sop to the Russians (and to lefties here at home) -- but will render us increasingly vulnerable to the growing Iranian nuclear/missile threat. It's sheer madness -- yet another major foreign-policy fumble in its Pollyanna-ish effort to make everything right with the world. True to form, the Obama-viks are bending over backward to please the Russkies in hopes they'll finally come around on helping curb Iran's runaway nuclear and missile programs. As a result, Team Obama will likely...

Yale University has removed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad from an upcoming book about how they caused outrage across the Muslim world, drawing criticism from prominent alumni and a national group of university professors. Yale cited fears of violence. Yale University Press, which the university owns, removed the 12 caricatures from the book "The Cartoons That Shook the World" by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen. The book is scheduled to be released next week. A Danish newspaper originally published the cartoons - including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban - in 2005. Other Western publications reprinted them. The following...

On March 13, 2008, ABC News broke the story that Barack Obama's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had made a number of incendiary statements from the pulpit of Obama's church in Chicago. The most inflammatory of those remarks was Wright's notorious "God damn America" sermon. The news set off a media firestorm. "God damn America" was in the papers, magazines, the Internet, television, radio. It was everywhere, except one place: the news pages of America's most powerful newspaper, the New York Times. In the days, weeks, and months following the ABC report, the Times' news pages repeatedly failed to...

It’s fairly simple, really. Tens of millions of American parents don’t trust him. The upset over this morning’s presidential address to schoolchildren isn’t about the partisan divide, it’s about the president’s arrogance. After seven months of crammed-down-your-throat Obama agenda, half the country has had a bellyful. After seven months of being told that they don’t matter, half the country is returning the sentiment. They don’t trust him with their children not because they’re paranoid, but because he’s not trustworthy. He has shown himself to be an enemy to their values and beliefs – to be hostile to their families and...

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea. 'A giant woolly rat never before seen by science' Link to this audio A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from...

PA destroys 45 tons of spoiled food and settlement goods Published today 18:47 www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=224225 Hebron - Ma'an - Palestinian customs agents destroyed 45 tons on Monday of what they said were spoiled foodstuffs and products from Israeli settlements which are banned in the Palestinian market. According to officials, the expired products included chocolates, dates, jams, juices, coffee. Most of these products were found to have been labeled with false expiration dates. The products which were determined to have come from Israeli settlements were mineral waters, pickles, fireworks, biscuits, and toys. The governor of Hebron Hussein Al-Araj attended the destruction of...

Ill Winds for Climate Change Bill By: Tait Trussell FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, September 08, 2009   Is the Senate prepares to take up the House-passed climate bill – variously known as climate control, cap-and-trade, or energy taxation – the hurdles to passage appear impassible.  One hurdle is the forbidding price tag of cap-and-trade legislation. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study finds that government at all levels – federal, state and local – will have to raise $16.6 billion in added revenue to buy carbon allowances if cap-and-trade becomes law.  Then there is the cost to tax payers. According to...

We can speculate endlessly on why Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to investigate interrogation techniques and detainee abuse by the CIA, a charge already investigated by the Justice Department several years ago and deemed to be baseless or beyond prosecution. Yet whatever the reason––whether misplaced idealism or partisan politics––this decision reveals the delusions and dysfunctions that afflict our culture and leave us more vulnerable to the enemy. The most important cultural delusion is what one can call juvenile utopianism. This is the creation of unreal expectations and the attempt to realize them in a hard world of...

To cite just one terrible example, a New York City teacher is paid more than $100,000 not to teach. Thank her powerful union. Brandi Scheiner believes she is a political prisoner. Held against her will in what is euphemistically dubbed a "rubber room," the 56-year-old woman likens her two-year captivity to being imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. Alas, it's unlikely the Red Cross will hear her case. She's a New York City public school teacher who, like about 600 fellow NYC teachers, has been removed from the classroom for alleged incompetence or other charges that include being drunk in the classroom...

There is no doubt about it: Network television desperately needs a comeback this fall. A 2008-09 season that produced only one clear new hit and saw several solid veterans slump was followed by a summer in which tumbleweeds could be seen blowing across ratings charts. And all of this happened amidst a whirlwind of well-known challenges, from the floundering economy to audience fragmentation to an increasingly empowered viewer dictating the when and how of consumption. And while every year the white knight known as the upfront marketplace comes galloping majestically along to save the day, in 2009 the broadcast nets...

Here is video yesterday of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs aboard Air Force One where he told reporters it's sad so many people seem to want to start an "An Animal House Food Fight," referring to criticism of President Obama's School Speech he will give today. Of course, no mention was made of the original plan - since dropped by the White House - to have children write out how they can "help" or "support" the President. That is a key component as to why there was such outrage when this whole thing surfaced. . . (VIDEO)

At least 23 House Democrats already have told constituents or hometown media that they oppose the massive healthcare overhaul touted by President Barack Obama. If Republicans offer the blanket opposition they’ve promised, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can afford to lose only 38 members of her 256-member caucus and still pass the bill. Most Democrats opposed to healthcare reform argue it costs too much, imposes a new tax and fines businesses that don’t provide insurance to employees. Some fear that the bill would subsidize abortion. Many other Democratic members, including those berated by protesters at raucous town hall meetings in August,...

Word For The Day, Tuesday, September 8, 2009 In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". estivate [es-tuh-veyt] -vi 1. to spend the summer, as at a specific place or in a certain activity. 2. Zoology. to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, snails, insects, and small mammals. [1620–30; < L aestīvātus, ptp. of aestīvāre to reside during the summer (akin to aestīvus of or relating to summer); see -ate 1 ]

When the "tea party" movement kicked off in April to protest record federal spending bills, trillion-dollar deficits and higher tax burdens, its members were fiercely independent and opposed any suggestion that they bond with a larger umbrella group, preferring to work within their local communities. But that go-it-alone approach is changing as a result of the war over health care, and the Tea Party Express tour is leading the way. The Tea Party Express - a caravan of buses, speakers and entertainers who have been holding protest rallies in cities and towns across the country - is heading to Washington,...

Since Israeli intelligence, working with an Iranian dissident group, first disclosed Iran's nuclear program in 2002, the United States and Europe have held one wild card up their sleeve in case diplomatic negotiations with Iran broke down. That wild card was a final sanction to be levied against gasoline imports into Iran. Western powers have always have always relied upon Iran's lack of refining capabilities as a final plan for choking the belligerent nation into submission. However, news surfacing in past days has intelligence officials concerned that gasoline sanctions will no longer apply enough pressure to challenge Iran's pursuit for...

Liberal Democrats like to say that if our government took all the money spent on the Iraq war it could pay for health insurance for all of the uinsured. Well, that may be, however, the Iraq war was a matter of national security. Regardless of what one believes, the purpose of the war was to prevent another terrorist attack. However, there is something liberal Democrats can do to help the government pay for the uninsured. This won't require changing the insurance status of the 90% of Americans who are very satisfied with the current system. Liberal Democrats just need to...

Scouts will soon have to survive without their trusty penknives on camping trips thanks to Britain's growing knife crime culture. Scouts used to be allowed to carry sheath knives on their belts New advice published in Scouting, the official in-house magazine, says neither Scouts nor their parents should bring penknives to camp except in "specific" situations. Scouts have traditionally been taught how to use knives correctly, using them on camping trips to cut firewood or carve tools.At one point Scouts were allowed to carry a sheath knife on their belt as part of their uniform although this is no longer...

Every time I write about how the modern culture seems dead-set on destroying the confidence of America's little boys, I am swamped with e-mail. It seems that everyone with a son or grandson has a story to tell about how manhood and chivalry are under attack. Last week I heard from a dad, Bill, who echoes the sentiments of many: "The boys are getting emasculated and wimpy/passive as they're now intimidated by girls due to fear of sex harassment charges and pro-female/anti male societal/educational tilts." Sadly, he's right. As a mom of two sons and a youth leader I have...

Public discussion about the character and fitness for office of presidential candidates is at the core of the First Amendment's command that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the Freedom of Speech." Yet Congress, in its zeal to impose onerous campaign-finance restrictions, has made political speech a felony for one class of speakers. Corporations and unions can face up to five years in prison for broadcasting candidate-related advocacy during federal elections. Is outlawing political speech based on the identity of the speaker compatible with the First Amendment? Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine the...