Free Republic

My life is proof that something good can come from something so terrible. And I don't regret my last minute change of heart one bit.

SAN FRANCISCO — The company that owns The Orange County Register in California and dozens of other newspapers on Tuesday became the latest publisher to seek bankruptcy protection, driven into financial despair by a staggering drop in advertising revenue.

Well, it appears the hijacker of that Mexican plane was a religious fanatic from Bolivia. He happened to be a Christian. And even though, thank God, no one was hurt, you can now brace yourselves to hear the political correctness from the left wing using this isolated incident to preach to us that "all religions have their radicals" as if Christians could hold a candle to Muslims when it comes to terrorism. Yep. This will be an equal to 9/11, the London bus bombings, the Madrid train bombings, the Cobalt towers, the countless suicidal bombings targeting Israeli women and children,...

PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people, telling a French newspaper that the bombing of Gaza late last year was an unprovoked attack. "The question is not whether the Israelis want to exterminate the Palestinians. They're doing it openly," Chavez said in an interview with Le Figaro published on Wednesday. The Venezuelan president, who has just completed a tour of Middle Eastern and Arab countries, brushed aside Israeli assertions that its attack on Gaza was a response to rocket fire from Islamist group Hamas which rules the coastal enclave.

Tom Daschle is the human toe fungus of Washington — a persistent infection that may disappear from time to time, but always comes back with a vengeance. Despite abandoning his secretary of health and human services nomination in disgrace in February 2009, the K Street tax cheat who evaded IRS rules for years remains a top White House confidante and policy strategist. In fact, he's leading the drive to save ObamaCare. He climbed up from under the bus back into the Oval Office and onto the sets of "Meet the Press" and "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" to offer his...

Doug Greer says he's not sure which one of his chickens layed the U-shaped egg. Greer said: “I’ve been raising chickens off and on all my life.. But I’ve never ...."

Multiple.

Two op-eds today that systematically and irrefutably rip the facade off of the Obamessiah's administration are worth reading and savoring, and they come from two ladies of very different philosophical and social persuasions. Both ladies find a not-so-odd coincidence of political opinion regarding the case of Obama's dreams for remaking the face of America and its institutions in His image. While the first lady (not the First Lady, thank you) is the faith- and family-driven Sarah Palin and the second lady is the somewhat Nietzchean alternative lifestyle Camille Paglia, the two of them share a commitment to first principles, and...

I am modifying html of a Word document that contains an image. Previously, the image location was an "absolute" location, e.g. src="C:/folder1/folder2/image001.jpg" Now, however, I want the image location to be relative, not absolute. Specifically, I want to keep the html file and the image file in the same folder, regardless of name, and I want the html to be able to find the image file. I thought that this statement would do it: src="image001.jpg" However, when I view the html, I see no image, only that dreaded empty box. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Taxes: Air travel is valuable but vulnerable, subject not only to mishaps but also to greedy tax bites that discourage consumers. Behold, then, two boneheaded schemes from both sides of the Atlantic.Hard to say which is worse. From the U.S., the Democrat-led Congress is mulling the misnamed "Travel Promotion Act" to hit travelers with a $10 tax for visiting the U.S. under the visa waiver program. High-spending Europeans will take the hit. The aim? To promote more tourism through a "nonprofit" company staffed by political cronies and set up to buy advertising. From the U.K., a government advisory Committee on...

Link to AP story on yahoo

No, the debate between Naomi Wolf and Phyllis Chesler isn't dead yet. Quick link summary for those just jumping in: On August 31 Phyllis Chesler wrote a piece at Pajamas Media challenging an article Naomi Wolf wrote about veiled Muslim women for the Sydney Morning Herald. Jamie Glazov, FrontPage's managing editor and a blogger for NewsReal, wrote a post in support of Chesler here. Wolf didn't care for either Chesler or Glazov's characterizations of her position. She left a comment demanding that David Horowitz, NewsReal's Editor-In-Chief, remove Glazov's blog. She also contacted Chesler. Glazov had an additional rebuttal here, Horowitz...

A central pillar of federal election law appeared to be crumbling Wednesday as government lawyers faced tough questioning at a special Supreme Court hearing about whether limitations on corporate and union campaign spending violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

Reform: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wants levies on insurers to pay for ObamaCare and fines for families who don't sign up. We can cut costs and expand coverage without sacrificing freedom.To keep ObamaCare alive, Montana Democrat Max Baucus has proposed a Rube Goldberg scheme of fees and fines on insurers and the uninsured designed to forcibly bring everyone into the loving and protective arms of the nanny state. To help finance his Plan B, Baucus would impose annual fees of $6 billion on health insurers, $4 billion on medical-device makers, $2.3 billion on drug manufacturers and $750...

If you take a tour of Bernie Madoff's penthouse or check out the furnishings in his Palm Beach digs, his beach home or even his yacht, you'll walk away with one clear, albeit disturbing, thought in your mind: The man apparently has a bull fetish. Madoff's got bull statues in his Upper East Side luxury digs. He's got bull paintings in his Palm Beach house. He's got a yacht named "Bull," a smaller boat named "Little Bull" and has T-shirts decorated with bull logos and motifs. Get this: The disgraced financier even has napkins and glassware engraved with "Bull" --...

On Today's Show... September 9, 2009   Don't Be Fooled By the Baucus, Gang of 6 Bill! It's hidden tax increases, including a soda tax.   Preview: Tonight's Speech is All About Obama's Political Fortunes After 112 speeches and remarks on health care, Obama is finally going answer the "big questions." » AT: Obama's Dog of a Health Care Message » Politico: Obama's Media Skills Face Test » Bipartisan? No Meetings with GOP Since April » Nelson (D-MT): Don't Count on My Vote » AP: Obama Disapproval on Health Care Up » Perino: Watch the Media Spin Obama's Speech  ...

Those of us who oppose a massive increase in the role the national government plays in health care ("ObamaCare") do so because we fear the immense and unsustainable national debt it would incur and because we are certain that medical care in America would deteriorate. But there is a bigger reason most of us oppose it: We believe that the bigger the government becomes, the smaller the individual citizen becomes. Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin FREE Here are five reasons why bigger government makes less impressive people. 1. People who are able to take care of themselves and do...

Earlier in the summer, Grady Hospital announced that come September the hospital would be closing down their dialysis unit. Grady Health System officials on Monday, July 13, 2009, set in motion a series of steps that could lead to a change in how Grady delivers dialysis treatment. Officials also announced the merger of two neighborhood health clinics in order to maximize efficiency and save money.

Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken. Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.

Mr. T. and Mr. O go head-to-head for the minds of school kids and their battle to not drop out... Who Won? Find out on The Hippo's Ass Blog!