Free Republic

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have a packed social schedule this week, with two major galas and a reception for college athletes. On Monday evening, the President will welcome collegiate star athletes to the White House for a reception at 5:45 p.m. The annual event, first held by former President George W. Bush, recognizes outstanding student athletes in more than a dozen sports, including field-hockey, lacrosse, and volleyball. Neither of Obama's alma maters, Columbia University and Harvard University, made the grade. On Wednesday the First Couple will don black tie for the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute...

Gulf state is the fourth Arab country to announce a nuclear program. Kuwait will build four nuclear reactors over the next 12 years, a national nuclear energy official has said. Ahmad Bishara, secretary general of Kuwait’s National Nuclear Energy Committee (KNNEC), said that Kuwait is planning to build four 1,000 megawatt reactors by 2022. Speaking to press in Tokyo, Bishara said construction will begin as early as January. The move would make Kuwait, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, the fourth Arab state to announce plans to build nuclear reactors for energy, after Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. “This is...

Following House Republican Leader John Boehner’s new flexibility on tax cuts during a “Face the Nation” interview, he and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs traded statements Sunday evening as the two sides sought to box in the other. From the White House – “Statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Representative Boehner’s Change in Position on Tax Cuts for the Middle Class: We welcome John Boehner's change in position and support for the middle class tax cuts, but time will tell if his actions will be anything but continued support for the failed policies that got us into this...

...Senator Santorum's speech is a breath of fresh air. In an age of political sound bites and jingoism, he offers intelligent and impassioned reflection. This is a statesman. I vividly remember the fateful day when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was traumatized. I kept a scrapbook in which I collected newspaper articles, and photos concerning it. My mother kept it for me. She also gave me a card made up marking the day of his funeral with a prayer for the repose of his soul. She wrapped it in "saran wrap" and I have it to this day. There certainly...

A parliamentary commission has found they should be tried for the negligence that led to the country's 2008 banking and financial meltdown The Icelandic parliament was expected to meet today to debate the commission's finding and decide whether to appoint a prosecutor and judges for the Landsdomur for the first time since this special court for trying government officials was set up in 1905. "This is a serious accusation against our political system, our politicians, the parliament, stockmarket . . . it is a problem we must confront," Social Democrat Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said yesterday.

Education is filled with problems today.  Lax discipline, unions, lousy teachers, lousy parents, single-parent homes, drugs, and the sad spiritual state of our country. So what do Democrats think we should do?  Send more money to the schools and raise the standards.  What do Republicans think we should do?  Send less money to the schools and raise the standards. Why doesn’t Congress pass a law for all SUV’s to be completely safe and get 50 miles per gallon?  Why doesn’t Congress pass a law that all jobs must pay at least $75,000/year and mandate every state to have 100% employment? ...

Good evening!The week ahead... On the R side, the very hot Delaware primary is Tues. I'm afraid whoever wins, O'Donnell or Castle, will be much damaged, but maybe an R pickup here was unlikely in the first place. Looks to me like confrontations between the conservatives and the R establishment in the state will continue no matter what happens.On the other side, the President had a full - for him - work week last week, so this week he is reverting to his party/vacation mode.He can look forward to a couple of black tie dinners and a WH reception for...

Wisconsin's Senate primary is still two days away but the presumptive nominees are already playing their designated general election roles. Republican Ron Johnson is running a hard hitting ad that accurately depicts Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) as a career politician and Senator Feingold's campaign is whining on their candidate's behalf.

Mike Busey "Film Maker/Host//Director/Rockstar" got the only exclusive one on one sit down interview in the center of the heated Koran burning world controversy w/ Pastor Terry Jones. Dr. Jones did not sit down with any other media Thursday September 9th other than Mike Busey! TO SEE THE ENTIRE VIDEO & STORY GOTO: http://mikebusey.com/main/?p=4382 PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT CAN BE SEEN @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid...

At the time that 2008 article was written, the entire supply of money in the world (“broad money,” i.e., global M3, meaning cash, consumer-account deposits, checkable accounts, CDs, long-term deposits, travelers’ checks, money-market funds, the whole enchilada) was estimated to be just under $60 trillion. Which is to say: The optimistic view is that our outstanding obligations amount to more than all of the money in the world. Global GDP in 2008? Also about $60 trillion. Meaning that the optimistic view is that our federal obligations outpace the entire annual economic output of human civilization.

MIKE CASTLE TEAM PROMOTES BIDEN’S SON AS DELAWARE GOP REFUSES TO RUN CANDIDATE AGAINST DEMOCRAT ATTORNEY GENERAL (WILMINGTON) — The shameful insider political games continue for Liberal RINO Mike Castle and his political team in Delaware. The Chairman of the Delaware Republican Party, who has become... the principal spokesperson for Mike Castle’s campaign for U.S. Senate, has decided to run cover for Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Beau Biden. Astonishingly, Ross and the Delaware Republican Party have decided to not even field a candidate to challenge Democrat Beau Biden as he runs for re-election as Attorney General for the state...

The Muslim cleric behind plans to build a mosque close to the Ground Zero site has blamed politicians such as Sarah Palin for fuelling a "growing Islamophobia" that led to the burning of Korans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The Reverend Terry Jones abandoned his "international burn a Koran day" in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday but there were isolated instances in Tennessee and New York of the Muslim holy book being set alight. "What has happened is that..certain politicians decided that this project would be very useful for their political ambitions," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said,...

Two women were still recovering Saturday after a vicious dog attack the morning before that didn't end until neighbors shot the dogs. Witnesses said that at about 6 a.m. Friday, three loose dogs pounced on 52-year-old Janelle Dalson, who was on a jog through her neighborhood. The woman’s screams woke one neighbor, who came outside to find her fending off the three dogs, which collectively weighed nearly 300 pounds. The whole story

WASHINGTON — A Saudi Arabian diplomat is seeking political asylum in the United States because he is gay and befriended a Jewish woman, and fears for his life if he returns, NBC News reported Saturday. ... "My life is in a great danger here and if I go back to Saudi Arabia, they will kill me openly in broad daylight," Asseri told NBC in an email message. Asseri posted a letter on a Saudi website criticizing his country's "backwardness" as well as the role of "militant imams" that have "defaced the tolerance of Islam," NBC said. In the letter Asseri...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU

'As a consequence of us getting 30 million additional people health care, at the margins that's going to increase our costs—we knew that," President Obama said at his press conference Friday in response to a question about rising health spending. That wasn't how he sold the plan, but, anyway, that's a truism. Here's another: The White House was always going to blame insurance companies for any cost increases, even when its own policies cause them. Witness Kathleen Sebelius's Thursday letter to America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group—a thuggish message even by her standards. The Health and Human Services...

A stunning stat about UK Catholicism   By Phil Lawler | September 10, 2010 5:13 PM The Daily Telegraph offers some interesting graphics as background for Pope Benedict’s visit. Diocese by diocese, the site provides a statistical view of the Catholic Church in 2010, measured against the figures for the same dioceses in 1982, when Pope John Paul II visited the country.On the whole, the overall Catholic population is larger today than in 1982. The number of priests, nuns, parishes, and Catholic schools is roughly the same. The number of children baptized is up a bit; the number of adults received...

Recently, my family and I went to Disneyland in California. In the California Adventure Park, we watched the otherwise splendid Alladin musical. What disturbed me was that in the chorus was a disabled actress in an electric wheelchair. She had no speaking roles and while her counterparts danced to the music she simply rolled her cart in circles. Having an autistic child, I am happy to see the handicapped perform. However ( and perhaps I am sensitive) I fid it distasteful to have someone one stage just to have gratuitous , politically correct window dressing. Obviously she couldn't play Jasmine...

Forgive the vanity, but wanted to put a goal/slogan out there. Here's 30 states who have the political base to elect 60 conservative senators, and form a firewall against RINOs and liberals. 1) MT 2) ID 3) NV 4) UT 5) WY 6) CO 7) NM 8) TX 9) OK 10) TN 11) KS 12) NB 13) SD 14) ND 15) AZ 16) MO 17) AR 18) MS 19) LA 20) AL 21) GA 22) SC 23) NC 24) VA 25) WV 26) KY 27) OH 28) IN 29) FL 30) AK This cycle looks excellent for purging libs and...

The tomb was discovered during the excavation of a large mound -- the Great Tumulus -- at Vergina in 1977. Along with many treasures including ceremonial military equipment, bronze utensils, silver tableware, and gold wreaths, the tomb contained two sets of skeletal remains. Those of a man were found in a gold casket in the main chamber and those of a woman in a smaller gold casket in the second chamber. Both individuals had been cremated and evidence of a wooden funerary house containing a pyre was also found near the tomb. Dr Jonathan Musgrave of the University of Bristol's...