Free Republic

...France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, on Monday urged other countries to adopt proposed new measures of economic output unveiled by a panel led by Joseph Stiglitz...Naturally, one consequence of the commission’s proposed "enhancements" to gross domestic product data would be to improve instantly France’s economic performance by taking into account its health service, expensive welfare system and long holidays and throwing some kind of number out on that. At the same time, the commission’s changes would downgrade US economic output...

PASS CHRISTIAN — Gail Nicholson chokes back tears talking about how close to death her stepson came while serving in Iraq. “I can’t think about it without even crying,” she said. “The specifics are a little bit more than I can accept without getting upset.” Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Nicholson, a 1992 graduate of Pass Christian High, received the Bronze Star on Saturday in Jackson for saving as many as 20 troops on Feb. 16, 2005. On that day in Iraq, the Mississippi National Guardsman volunteered to walk in front of patrol units and search for explosive devices. He and...

A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a man who broke into the garage of his off-campus residence early Tuesday, a Baltimore police spokesman said.

An ACORN affiliate has just submitted applications for over $6 million in government funding, despite the controversial videos of the organization’s workers aiding a child prostitution “promoter.” Employees with the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in Washington D.C., Baltimore and Brooklyn told uncover investigators posing as a pimp and a prostitute how they could circumvent the law. ACORN has already fired four of the workers. But it claims the tapes have been “doctored” and “edited.” A third video implicating the ACORN workers was released today. Meanwhile, the ACORN Institute, one of many ACORN affiliates, has applied for...

...it is becoming painfully obvious that Brokaw man should no longer be appearing on television as he has totally lost touch with the present. Remember the Presidential debate he moderated? Whether you supported Obama or McCain one thing about the debate just about EVERYONE agreed on was that it was BORING The people in the audience got to submit a question (and more from the internet) but Tom Brokaw got to select the questions. Brokaw picked questions that only he cared about...The latest example of Brokaw's tentative grasp on reality happened on Meet the Press this past Sunday as he...

There was another thread posted earlier referencing a statement from Senator Casey’s office regarding his vote not to eliminate federal funding for Acorn. The post stated the following: “ACORN has never received any federal money” and “as a non-profit is not permitted to be involved in political activities.” In addition, because of the aforementioned, the amendment was frivolous and not worthy of the Senator’s time. I was not aware of how funds actually flowed to Acorn, but if you look at their website this is what they state: Does ACORN Recieve Federal Funding? The Association of Community Organizations for Reform...

The nation was truly comforted by the class and dignity of President Bush.

Several Chicago readers and Twitterers report that ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson told WLS-AM Chicago talk show hosts Don Wade and Roma this morning that the reason he hasn’t covered the ACORN scandal is that he didn’t know about it.

President Obama and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd owe Rep. Joe Wilson an apology. All three made news for what they had to say during, or in regard to, Obama’s remarks Sept. 9 to a joint session of Congress. All three said things that were either demonstrably untrue — or at the least, impossible to prove. Yet only the South Carolina Republican has offered an apology — and, ironically, only Wilson faces further discipline. Even more ironic, the declaration that got Wilson in trouble (and deservedly so) was a spur of the moment, emotional, gut-level, not-screened-by-anyone-else response to something...

As of a few moments ago Bloomberg broke a story suggesting that the US government would be selling off its stake in Citigroup stock. As much as I'm for the US Government and Taxpayer getting away from any of our illegitimate TARP children, Bloomberg's story is just off. here is no such thing as a profit on the sale of this stock when, as a nation, we are into Citi Bank for much more than what was placed into Citi Stock. Specifically, from Bloomberg's article and confirmed via Pro Publica there will be at least $25 billion in warrants left...

What’s important about prostitution and human trafficking is that they are specific triggers for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO. The RICO law is designed to enable the Justice Department to go after criminal enterprises. It defines “racketeering activity” as including importing illegal aliens for immoral purposes, falsifying identification documents and immigration papers, mail and wire fraud, and the sexual exploitation of children, among others.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale University officials are apologizing for an e-mail notifying students about a job-search workshop named "Killer Cover Letters" that was sent out as police investigate the killing of a graduate student. The e-mail was distributed Monday, the same day the chief medical examiner's office identified a body found in a university laboratory building as that of 24-year-old Annie Le. She went missing last week, and her body was found in a wall Sunday.

During the 2008 CPAC convention, George Bush only mentioned the word “conservative” once, in the closing — and apparently that was no accident. A new book by the man who wrote the speech for Bush, staffer Matt Latimer, retells the story in Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor, and Byron York relates it in today’s Washington Examiner. When Latimer tried to include supportive language about the conservative movement, Bush attempted to set his speechwriter straight: “What is this movement you keep talking about in the speech?” the president asked Latimer.Latimer explained that he meant the conservative movement — the...

The Framers of the Constitution knew that the document founding our democracy must be the anchor of liberty and the blueprint for its preservation. Wisely, they provided a balance of powers to ensure that no individual and no single arm of government could ever wield unchecked authority against the American people. Nearly 250 years later, these critical lines of separation are being obscured by a new class of federal officials. A few of them have formal titles, but most are simply known as "czars." They hold unknown levels of power over broad swaths of policy. Under the Obama administration, we...

He's talking about this now on the radio. ACORN workers in San Bernadino advising Hannah to not educate the underage honduran girls working in their brothel.

A Constitutional Lawyer and has read the entire health care bill and has some comments, not about the bill, but about the effects on our Constitution. It's a broader picture than just health care reform. All of you and those to whom you communicate had better situp and pay attention; Once this sort of thing happens, it will be irreversible.

How many times during the last eight years did you hear that George W. Bush was a dangerous right-wing extremist? Probably too many to count. What you heard less often were expressions of the deep reservations some conservatives felt about Bush's governing philosophy. Conservatives greatly admired Bush for his steadfastness in the War on Terror -- to use that outlawed phrase -- and they were delighted by his choices of John Roberts and Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. But when it came to a fundamental conservative principle like fiscal discipline, many conservatives felt the president just wasn't with them....

Entrapment n. In criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal. It's turning into quite the morning for NBCers to defend the left on Morning Joe . . . First, Chuck Todd flatly rejected the notion that the MSM failed to adequately report on Van Jones, suggesting coverage...