Free Republic

Meg Whitman Republican, Governor of CaliforniaCalifornia’s economy is in turmoil. With a $15 billion deficit and an unemployment rate significantly higher than the national average, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman may be just who the state needs at the helm to turn things around. Whitman’s business portfolio includes work for some powerhouse brands including Procter & Gamble, Disney and Hasbro. But she is best known for her tenure at eBay, during which time she grew the company from 30 to 15,000 employees. Now that’s job growth. To call her business savvy seems an understatement. Whitman’s goal is to channel...

George Will: 'I don't know how many laws that breaks but I'm sure there are some'...

Here is complete video of President Obama's school speech today, where he urged America's school children to take "personal responsibility" for their lives. While that is a wonderful message to convey, it is at odds with what Obama does with his own Democratic voting blocks. He tells children to take "personal responsibility," but he only wants to expand government to do for people what they often should be doing for themselves. This speech was all about Obama. The children were a backdrop to help him break out of the tailspin he's been in for weeks. But his message is not...

Glenn Beck: "This week, by the end of the week, you will see that something that everyone feels in their gut is wrong but nobody's really exposed it. It's going to be exposed this week. And, you will see by the end of this week that people will go to jail."

A top senator is calling for fines of up to $3,800 on families who fail to get medical insurance after a health care overhaul goes into effect. The plan from Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana would make health insurance mandatory, just like auto coverage. It would provide tax credits to help cover the cost for people making up to three times the federal poverty level. That's about $66,000 for a family of four, and $32,000 for an individual. But those who still don't sign up would face hefty fines, starting at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for...

President Obama's nominee at the Department of Homeland Security overseeing bioterrorism defense has served as a key adviser for a lobbying group funded by the pharmaceutical industry that has asked the government to spend more money for anthrax vaccines and biodefense research. But Dr. Tara O'Toole, whose confirmation as undersecretary of science and technology is pending, never reported her involvement with the lobbying group called the Alliance for Biosecurity in a recent government ethics filing. The alliance has spent more than $500,000 lobbying Congress and federal agencies -- including Homeland Security -- since 2005, congressional records show.

President Obama has decided that another oration will rejuvenate his health-care agenda—despite having given 27 speeches entirely on health care, and another 92 in which it figured prominently. We'll see how tomorrow night's Congressional appeal works out, but the important maneuvers are taking place in the cloak rooms, as the White House tries to staple together a majority. The latest political gimmick is the notion of a "trigger" for the public option: A new government program for the middle class would only come on line if private insurance companies fail to meet certain benchmarks, such as lowering overall health spending...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday invited representatives from a group of six world powers, including the United States, to Tehran, but he said negotiations over his country's right to a nuclear program would be off the table. Discussion on the nuclear issue, he told reporters at a news conference, is "finished." "We will never negotiate on the Iranian nation's obvious rights," he said, adding that Iran would not halt its uranium enrichment efforts. Ahmadinejad said Iran had prepared a proposal for breaking the deadlock on its nuclear program, and he asked diplomats to come to Tehran to pick it...

Lucky The Injured Turtle Comes Out Of His Shell After Receiving New Legs... Made Out Of Furniture Coasters By Mail Foreign Service 08th September 2009 [Pics in URL] It's not every day you see a turtle sliding around with furniture coasters attached to his undershell. But after Lucky the box turtle was attacked by a raccoon, owner Sally Pyne, 60 had to come up with a shatterproof solution. Sally said: 'He was in so much pain, I was ready to let little Lucky go, but Lucky, wasn't ready to give up. He was shoving himself around on his two back...

"If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify." (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #33) Today another court hearing is being held with respect to the effort to get at the truth concerning Barack Obama's Constitutional eligibility for the Office of President of the United States. Obama faction representatives at the U.S. Justice Department are moving to...

Dems Held Hearings on Bush 41's Speech to School Kids

Fascism. It’s the ultimate political epithet, the atomic blast that ends calm and measured debate. This makes those who seek to be reasonable and persuasive understandably reluctant to use the word… and those who aren’t interested in either reason or persuasion eager to hurl it at their opponents. There is nothing surprising about the visceral emotions conjured by the mention of its name. The history of fascism is written in the blood of innocents, on a scale that challenges the limits of human imagination. Our natural repulsion from the concept of fascism, coupled with the way it has been cheapened...

Here is a video of a firetruck in Valley Village, CA that has been partially swallowed by a sinkhole. (Watch Video)

MONTPELIER — Democratic Vermont Auditor Tom Salmon is switching parties to the GOP. Salmon announced his plans today, saying he is frustrated with the Democrats’ handling of the budget, and says the party has moved too far to the left. Salmon says he plans to run for auditor next year, but says if Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie does not run for governor, there’s a very slim chance he might. Salmon says he’s been considering switching parties for some time and says the Republican party is the closest to accepting the realities of the times. He says when he returned...

On Wednesday, President Obama will address Congress to give what is being described as a “make-or-break” speech on health care. With polls indicating most Americans oppose President Obama’s vision for health care reform — and are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Mr. Obama himself — the administration felt it necessary to roll the dice in order to salvage what Obama considers to be his chief domestic priority. Reforming health care was supposed to be the defining moment of Obama’s legacy, his signature achievement. Therefore, it is not an understatement to suggest the nature and content of this upcoming speech — how...

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...

Oh crumbs – it seems up to half of all Britons have been injured... by a humble biscuit. Flying fragments and daredevil dunking in scalding tea have all led to millions suffering at the hands of their favourite snack, according to fun research. Among the more unusual – and daft – injuries are a man who poked himself in the eye with a biscuit and people who have fallen off chairs while reaching for a tea-time treat. One biscuit in particular was ruled more dangerous than the rest – the custard cream, which received a risk rating of 5.63 by...

It's only a first step but, this is big. A new player has entered the ring to compete against the dollar and Treasury securities. China’s finance ministry said China will issue Rmb6bn ($879m) of bonds in Hong Kong on September 28, in a move to “improve the international status” of the currency and to help mainland companies raise funds in the offshore bond market, according to FT.

Amazing how the Drive-Bys take Obama at his word when they said the speech wasn't changed, Rove disagrees...

Nothing political just praises the poop eater-Ghandhi, throws in the womanizer, communist-meeting-attender King and me me me. "Obama replied. "He's somebody I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. (Martin Luther) King" with his message of nonviolence. "He ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics," Obama said of the inspirational leader Mahatma Ghandi. At another point, Obama told the students that "a lot of people are counting on me." /sarc on the nothing portion