Free Republic

CARACAS, Venezuela — Russia has opened a $2.2 billion line of credit for Venezuela to purchase weapons including armored vehicles and surface-to-air missiles, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday. Venezuela is buying more arms because it feels threatened by Colombia's decision to give U.S. troops greater access to its military bases, Chavez said. Repeating a frequent theme of his presidency, the socialist leader said the United States would like to invade Venezuela and seize the country's oil fields. He said the bases in Colombia could help the U.S. stage such an attack.

Reporting from New York - Serena Williams will be fined $10,500 for behavior deemed "unsportsmanlike conduct," and also for racket abuse after her obscenity-filled and aggressive reaction to a critical foot fault called during her 6-4, 7-5 U.S. Open semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters on Saturday night. There will also be further investigation of the incident according to a statement released by the U.S. Open, "The Grand Slam rule book also allows for an investigation to be conducted by the Grand Slam Committee Administrator to determine if the behavior of Ms. Williams warrants consideration as a Major Offence for which...

Country Club Hills mayor Dwight Welch said today that the girlfriend of Christopher Kelly has "lawyered up" and is no longer talking to police investigating the Saturday death of the former top Rod Blagojevich adviser. Meanwhile, the Cook County medical examiner's office said this afternoon following an autopsy that a determination of cause and manner of Kelly's death was "pending further studies," meaning officials need to conduct additional investigations to officially rule whether Kelly committed suicide. At a morning press conference, Welch also said police are searching for a man who went to Oak Forest Hospital while Kelly was being...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez. Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela—the first by a Russian president—to extend Moscow's reach into Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. Chavez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia's growing presence in Latin America as a reflection of declining U.S. influence.

John Sweeney, stepping down after 14 years at the helm of the AFL-CIO, urged union leaders Sunday to keep up the fight to reform health care and overhaul labor laws so workers can form unions more easily. "We're on the cusp of the greatest advance in labor law reform in 70 years, but we're taking heavy fire from the corporate captains of deceit," Sweeney told about 1,000 union members at the federation's convention. He said efforts to pass health care legislation have been met with "a firestorm of meanness, stoked by politicians playing on fear, racism, nativism and greed."

Yesterday, CNN reported that at the Tea Party protest in Washington DC, Nazi imagery and a poster of President Obama as an African witch doctor were popular images. A friend and former law firm colleague who spent hours at the protest says this isn't true. He tells me: "I saw a couple of signs out of thousands that said 'Hitler gave good speeches too' and a few of the Obama zombie like images that have been around the internet." But CNN is "simply making [it] up" when it claims that Nazi imagery and a post of Obama as a witch...

MILITARY bases and navy ships will be turned into virtual fortresses under plans to beef-up security in the wake of a major terrorist plot. Taxi drivers and other members of the public will be banned from entering military bases without getting high-level clearance after an urgent review found Australia's frontline defence facilities were among the least protected in the world. The top-secret review also found Australia's top defence brass would be vulnerable to a terrorist strike and recommended their leafy military showpiece, at Duntroon in Canberra, be turned into a secure compound. Among sweeping reforms, the review calls for bases...

At the end, it give a good paneramic view of the actual crowd...sure looks more than 70k !!!

ACORN fires back at critics after stingBy S.A. Miller Sunday, September 13, 2009 The liberal activist group ACORN, reeling after hidden-camera videos showed its employees giving tax advice to a woman posing as a prostitute, went on the offensive Saturday by accusing conservatives of smearing the organization to undermine President Obama's health care overhaul plans. The group already had fired two employees in Washington and two in Baltimore who were caught in the sting videos, but the flap prompted the Obama administration late last week to cancel plans for ACORN to work on the 2010 census. The Baltimore video, which...

If you have Firefox with Google as default search engine and you mistakenly type Joewilsonforcongress.org you go to a fact check type site that says "Joe said Obama lied but he didn't" Don't click on the link I do not want them to get hits on that blog. This is blatant politization of the search engine process. Now, to change your firefox so it does not use Google in the address bar live search: Type about:config hit enter. Scroll down and find browser.search.defaultenginename Change from Google to Yahoo (others work too, ymmv)

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Lehman's liquidation filing , the US President will on Monday warn that there remains much to be done to ensure the problems of the last 12 months do not happen again. Speaking just 10 days before the start of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh – at which world leaders are set to discuss curtailing bankers' bonuses among a raft of potentially restrictive reforms – he will also put the amount of capital banks hold on their balance sheets back at the top of the agenda, acknowledging that the demise of Lehman and...

Most parents have experienced their young children getting restless when waiting for a meal in a restaurant. But not many get the bill at the end of it with a message describing their offspring as a 'little f*****'. This is what happened to parents Craig and Kimberley Cartin at a Mexican restaurant in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where they received the receipt which had 'Thanky you littell f*****' written on it. ... Fuming Craig, a 34-year-old administrator, said: 'I couldn't believe my eyes. The meal was indifferent anyway but to be abused on the bill is unbelievably offensive. 'I consider myself...

September 14 Monday Fayetteville FairTax September 14, 2009 from 7:30pm to 8:30pm – Cliffdale Library Speaking engagement for the SouthGate Community Watch Program Organized by Scott Manning | Type: fairtax, event September 16 Wednesday Jarrod Martin September 16, 2009 from 7pm to 8:30pm – Peace Luthern Church Jarrod Martin has agreed to come out to talk with us at a meeting of the Beavercreek Liberty Group. Jarrod holds the seat in Ohio's 70th district. Jarrod is a Repub and is a staunch Fair tax advoca... Organized by Phil Claypool | Type: special, meeting September 17 Thursday Fayetteville FairTax September...

One wounded Marine meets a wounded Soldier. One runs for Congress, the other lives on the streets. After 3 year LeGer will get some VA support. Daniel Gilyeat, a Marine, lost his left leg to an IED in Iraq. Joseph LeGer, a Soldier, lost his left leg to an IED in Afghanistan. Beyond their service and injuries, the two American Heroes are a contrast in experiences. LeGer stood with an uncovered wound. Gilyeat stood with a mechanical leg. Gilyeat said he asked questions, scratched....

Because of the weather the day before, my husband and I waited until the last minute to decide whether or not to go to the DC Taxpayer Tea Party. On Saturday morning, it was overcast and cool so we decided to drive into Silver Springs and take the metro. We found ourselves in the same car with people carrying furled flags. They had driven in from Michigan. We all did introductions and began a conversation that lasted all the way into DC. They were enthused, pleasant, witty yet serious people who did not like the direction the country was taking...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A man accused of crawling into bed with a 5-year-old boy last Friday and raping him was in court Tuesday. Joe Juillermo Fajardo, 26, has no known criminal record according to prosecutors, but Mike Vaughn, a deputy prosecuting attorney, said allegations against Fajardo are disturbing. “The defendant entered an occupied home at night, crept into the bedroom of a 5-year-old boy and preceded to rape him,” he said. The child’s mother, who declined to be identified, said Fajardo was in her son’s bed and was naked. She said she woke to hear her son’s screams shortly before...

The government's temporary guarantee program for money market funds is set to expire on Sept. 18. There is little chance the year-old program, put in place during the height of the financial crisis, will be extended past next week. The guarantee applies only to money funds that paid premiums to participate in the Treasury Department's insurance fund. Almost all funds did initially, although some that invest only in U.S. government securities later dropped out. The guarantee covered balances that were in participating taxable and tax-free money funds when the program started Sept. 19. "It's extremely unlikely" the program will be...

Investment banker turned author, John Talbott, is accusing big business of bribery and predicts another crash is just around the corner. Any signs of economic recovery being seen around the world are due to huge stimulus packages, which will only prop up economies for about a year. "Where is the consumption demand going to come from to drive the local economies?" he asks. "I can tell you it's not going to come from US consumers any more - they are tapped out." Crippling debt, high unemployment and the retirement of baby boomers means people's ability to spend will diminish. "Stimulus...

video report from the D.C. rally yesterday.

I do not lament the death of big media in this country, in fact I applaud it. It is not only technology that is hastening the downfall of the newspaper or the big television networks, it is their ideology. The business model of the newspaper does not work anymore, news is more efficiently delivered online-even if its paid for. The New York Times could save a bundle of money by giving all of its subscribers a free Kindle and stop printing the paper edition. Think about that. What if your big local paper announced it would give you a Kindle...