Free Republic

Moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said a public option in the health care bill is "universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate" and called it "a roadblock to building the kind of consensus that we need to move forward," on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "[T]herefore, there's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option," she told moderator Bob Schieffer. She said that the president "should be more specific" on where he stands on the public option and called David Axelrod's assertion that

Rifqa Bary, the teenage girl who converted to Christianity from Islam and then fled for her life after her father threatened to kill her, faces daunting obstacles in her quest to be free. As a high-profile apostate, she is Islamists' highest value target right now. And on top of that, she faces a Leftist media that is complicit with those who want to see her dead or institutionalized. Witness the outrageous treatment that Newsweek gave to her story in its September 9 issue, and especially to Jamal Jivanjee, Rifqa's friend and confidante. Newsweek reporter Arian Campo-Flores, said Jivanjee, asked him...

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told me on ‘This Week’ the President will go beyond language in a House bill to make sure no public money goes to pay for abortions under health care reform. Abortion foes argue language in the House bill has too many holes and that taxpayers could potentially subsidize abortions. Sebelius told me there will be no uncertainty with the President's plan. “In fact recently the Catholic bishops came out, after the President’s statement saying that his statement about what he intends in the plan that no public fund would go to fund abortion and the fact...

Taliban announces surrender in Swat Valley after leader Maulana Fazlullah 'arrested' The Taliban has announced its surrender in Swat Valley, one of its major strongholds until a Pakistan Army offensive regained control earlier this summer. By Emal Khan in Peshawar and Dean Nelson in New Delhi Published: 11:00PM BST 12 Sep 2009 Its announcement, made on one of its pirate radio stations, came as its charismatic leader Maulana Fazlullah was reported to be surrounded by Pakistani troops, and there were claims that he had in fact already been arrested. Their collapse in Swat, if confirmed, will deal a serious blow...

It's hard to pick the point made by President Obama that is the most absurd. Still, right up near the top at least is the idea that much of his health care proposal will be paid by finding fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Now, there's no doubt there's plenty there. Yet, no one believes that the President will suddenly wave a magic wand and find it. Remember when the president said he'd go through the budget line by line to find waste, fraud, and abuse. How's that working out? Our budget just increased by about 25%.

September 12, 2009 | 7:24 pm Presenting a brand-spanking-new feature here at Unleashed: "Don't. Just Don't." Here, we'll cover all the ill-advised ideas we silly humans have for dealing with animals. Generally speaking, they don't turn out well. For example: A Boynton Beach, Fla., man told police that he'd been trying to teach his ill-mannered cat a lesson when he carried it to his garage, where he fired his handgun into a flotation device. The resulting noise, apparently, was intended to scare the animal in an effort to convince it to do its business in the litter box (desired) rather...

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod said President Obama is "not willing to accept" that a so-called public option "is not going to be in the final package" of health-care legislation on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "He continues to believe it's a good idea," Axelrod told CBS News Chief Washington correspondent and "Face the Nation" anchor Bob Schieffer about a government-funded alternative to private health insurance. "He continues to advocate it, and I'm not willing to accept that it's not going to be in the final package."

How can the news networks keep broadcasting his same speech over and over again. Geez.

KTLA News 5:55 PM PDT, September 12, 2009 LA JOLLA -- A well-dressed elderly man carrying an inhaler or oxygen tank robbed a bank in La Jolla Satruday, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation officials. The man presented a note to a teller at the San Diego National Bank and made off with an unknown amount of cash. It's unclear whether the suspect had a weapon. The robber is described as a 6 foot, 4 inch tall man in his 70s with white hair, a gray mustache and glasses. Bank Tellers say the white-haired man was wearing glasses and had...

Truth Czar Joe Wilson busted Barack Obama for misrepresenting his nationalized health care plan to the American people: Now he must be silenced. For speaking the truth, leftist hackers are attacking Rep. Wilson's campaign website with a series of attacks. FOX News reported: Rep. Joe Wilson chose an unconventional venue in which to level an attack on President Obama Wednesday night: a joint session of Congress. Now Wilson's opponents are counterattacking him in an increasingly popular venue for political mayhem: cyberspace. Sources close to the South Carolina congressman charge that hackers have blitzed his campaign Web site JoeWilsonforCongress.com with a...

Salina animal control officers thought Angie Cartwright's family pet, Lucey, looked like a pit bull. The officers explained that they were taking Lucey to a veterinarian for a breed check. Salina has banned owning unregistered pit bulls and mixed breeds that are predominantly pit bull since 2005. But Lucey is now back home and Cartwright credits a genetic test kit that helps pet owners identify the heritage of their mixed-breed dogs.

Washington is in the midst of yet another scandal -- but not the kind you'd read about in a gossip rag. Congressional dilettantes are willfully ignoring health-care reform ideas that would cut costs and provide high-quality care to all. Sound nuts? It shouldn't. By refusing to even consider consumer-driven health care (CDHC), congressional leaders are proving that they're more interested in putting the government in charge of Americans' health care than in actually improving patient outcomes. Decades of evidence show that CDHC-style reforms can achieve the stated goal of would-be health reformers: high-quality care at low cost. All the reform...

(CINCINNATI, Ohio) - Joe Wilson, real name "Addison" presents himself as a hard boiled combat veteran, retired Army colonel and all around tough guy. He belongs to "white supremacist" organizations, fought hard to keep the Confederate flag in South Carolina and, when an aide to the notorious racist Strom Thurmond admitted Thurmond had a half African-American daughter, Wilson abused and threatened the woman in an attempt to shut her up. His real record is Vietnam. Born in 1947, Wilson was prime material for the Vietnam War. After taking deferment after deferment for college and law school, in 1972, Wilson was...

As you can tell by the time lapsed photography above, yesterday's 9/12 Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C. far exceeded all expectations. Estimates by local authorities report 1.2 million people attended the rally ABC (and Fox News), said the crowd was nearly double that, with an estimated 2 million people in attendance. As late as the day before the march the White House claimed they had no idea the rally was even planned, which just seems silly as the event was six months in the making, the news was all over the internet (and Fox news), there was a bus...

There is no street in Washington named for the letter “J,” but that hasn’t stopped a group of critics of Israel from forming the “J Street” lobby. It’s like J. K. Rowling’s invisible Platform 9 ¾ at the King’s Cross Station. Befitting a Harry Potter character, J Street performs acts of illusion and deception such as cooking its polling data and presenting it as scientific truth. The “pro-Israel” J Street PAC has cloaked dozens of PAC contributors as plain citizens, when they are actually Arab-American, Palestinian, Islamic, and pro-Iranian activists. All the while, J Street hides the names of its...

"Nobody's Standing up for us so we have to stand up for ourselves"

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html#ixzz0R0k4822N

Few details available about military mission ... except that it succeeded An Atlas 5 rocket has lifted off from Florida carrying a highly classified military satellite. The rocket launched into a nearly cloudless sky at 5:35 p.m. ET Tuesday. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture involving Lockheed Martin and Boeing, handled the launch. Eric Brian, a spokesman for the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, declined to say which branch of the military will command the satellite in orbit. Brian said the rocket carried a $500 million payload. The satellite was made by Lockheed Martin. United Launch Alliance...

Furious Serena Williams Dumped Out Of U.S. Open After She Told An Official: 'If I Could, I'd Take This Ball And Shove It Down Your Throat' By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 13th September 2009 Serena Williams went kicking and screaming out of the semi-final of the US Open tennis championship after one of the ugliest ever endings to a major sports match. Millions of TV viewers around the world saw the irate Wimbledon champion launch a threatening, profanity-laced tirade at a line judge after being called for a foot fault. The extraordinary outburst meant she was docked a point on match...

Obama's youth recruitment continues unabated with last week's co-announcement by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Girls Scouts CEO Kathy Cloninger of a new "Preparedness" patch for Girl Scouts. Yep, the Girl Scouts are the latest DHS/Obama recruits..As Yahoo Daily News reports in an article entitled "US Girl Scouts prepare for war, pestilence," The move is part of a month-long government effort to make Americans better able to cope with natural and man-made disasters. The Doug Powers blog astutely comments, “Man-made disaster” is of course Hopenchange speak for “terrorist attack.” No doubt the Girl Scouts will also be taught that...