Free Republic

Even kids understand Obama's lack of experience. Barack Obama was seated next to a little girl on an airplane trip back to Washington. He turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger." The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to The Obama, "What would you like to talk about?" "Oh, I don't know," said the Obama. "How about What Changes I Should Make To America?" and he smiles. "OK," she says. "That could be an interesting topic. But...

Joe Biden, the head cheerleader for the Obama administration’s “Recovery Summer” scam, has a tough job. His Recovery Summer lie is melting under the harsh light of reality. In June his sideshow started with much fanfare. We were told the Recovery Summer would bring 3000 clean water projects, 82,000 home weatherization jobs, 800 new National Parks jobs and on and on. In spite of all the cheap talk, week after week during this summer the new unemployment claims have been so awful that when they were “only” 460, 000 it was cause for celebration. Almost half of the 14 million...

Well, somebody got a job with a women’s studies degree. “When Jaime Grant got a phone call suggesting that she leave behind two decades’ worth of social-justice work in Washington and move to Kalamazoo College, in Michigan, which enrolls about 1,400 students, she said the caller must have the wrong person,” Michael Sewall writes in the September 10, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. “But after hearing more about the job offer—to lead Kalamazoo’s new Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership—and visiting the campus, she decided on a big change of scenery.” “When she talked with Kalamazoo students...

A children’s book written by President Obama about famous Americans will be released two weeks after the midterm elections, the AP reports. The 40-page book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” will include the stories of George Washington, Jackie Robinson and Georgia O’Keeffe. Obama will donate the money earned from the book, which will sell for roughly $18, to a scholarship fund for children of military members killed or injured, the wire reports. The cover of the book has an illustration of Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, walking their dog, Bo, the AP says. The book will...

Armed with several charts and graphs, Democrat Mark Dayton on Monday sought to make a brainy, philosophical and "moral" case for his plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans if he is elected governor in November. "I'm going to use the powers of intellectual persuasion," he said at the beginning of his remarks at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "Taxes, I believe, are the lubricant for the machinery of our democracy." And so began a roughly 20-minute speech that featured Dayton guiding the audience through several handouts with statistics on tax burdens and harkening back...

MONDAY EVENING UPDATE: CLOSER AND CLOSER. Ovide Lamontagne continues to close in on Kelly Ayotte in the battle for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination. On the heels of a Sunday night poll showing Ayotte's lead narrowing to 7 percentage points (see item below) comes a primary eve poll released late Monday afternoon by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies. It shows Ayotte with 35 percent, Lamontagne with 31 percent, Bill Binnie with 14 percent and Jim Bender with 10 percent. Other candidates drew 3 percent, with 7 percent undecided.

Via JWF, this is where it all starts to turn around, my friends. This is where the healing begins. "President Obama told a small crowd in Fairfax, Va., on Monday that he would stand in the hot sun with them and “feel their pain.”…"

Why go on a roller coaster? It’s not the destination, it’s the ride — right? Keep that in mind as we plumb the ever-entertaining and decreasingly informative Gallup generic Congressional survey. This week starts with an odd-numbered day, which means Republicans must be leading again. Voila! Forty-eight percent of registered voters favor Republican congressional candidates and 43% favor Democratic candidates in Gallup’s national generic ballot for the week of Sept. 6-12.Registered-voter preferences for Congress since the beginning of August have averaged 48% for Republican candidates and 43% for Democratic candidates, identical to this week’s results. While there have been a...

Today, September 14th is Obama Day at schools across the country. From the White House site: 1:00pm - The President delivers his second annual Back-to-School Speech Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Pooled TV, Open to Correspondents Today is also Primary Day in 7 States and DC: DC, Delaware, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Maryland. There are rules against Electioneering and Passive Electioneering in all districts across this country. A speech by a Democrat Elected official that will be broadcasted to every public school in the country, where the majority of primary polling...

An Iranian diplomat based in Brussels has said he is seeking asylum in Norway.Farzad Farhangian is the third diplomat in Europe to defect from Iran this year in protest at the government's crackdown on opposition groups. His defection follows that of a senior official at Iran's embassy in Finland, who said on Monday he was seeking asylum there. Norway granted asylum to another diplomat in February. There has been no reaction from Iranian officials on Mr Farhangian's asylum claim, but the previous two defections have been met with statements that the diplomats' postings had come to an end. Speaking in...

"The government, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." Abraham Lincoln We have seen the latter part of the above quotation exercised here in McMinn County. We now have the opportunity to see the first part of it carried out. What Lincoln meant was just this: The government of any group of people is in the hands of the people and they must carry on an active part in maintaining...

Tuesday, September 14 Specks and Planks Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew 7:5 Recommended Reading Luke 6:37-42 Early in the film version of the near-disastrous Apollo 13 space flight, astronaut Jim Lovell is in his backyard, looking up at the moon that hangs small in the night sky. He holds up his thumb and it blocks out the entire moon from his sight. How could something so large be obscured from view by something so small? It's all a matter of perspective....

New Polls Show Mostly Republican Leads Fox News is set to release a series of new polls of likely voters in several key states. They were released early to users of their new iPhone app. Florida: Marco Rubio (R) leads Gov. Charlie Crist (I) in the U.S. Senate race, 43% to 27%, with Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) at 21%. Alex Sink (D) is ahead of Rick Scott (R) in the race for governor, 49% to 41%. Nevada: Sharron Angle (R) edges Sen. Harry Reid (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 45% to 44%. Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey (R) leads Rep. Joe...

...The race between Miller-Meeks and Loebsack has been as tight as five-six points recently among likely voters (within one poll's margin of error) as Obama's approval ratings in Iowa have sagged. The two squared off with other minor-party candidates tonight in a debate in Coralville, Iowa. Via the the Globe Gazette: One of the sharpest differences (between Republican challenger Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Incumbent David Loebsack) involved the landmark health care reform approved by congressional Democrats. Miller-Meeks called for its repeal "even though I know we would not be able to override a presidential veto.".. Miller-Meeks would repeal health care legislation...

House Republican Leader John Boehner on Monday clarified his position on President Obama’s plan to raise tax rates on small businesses, releasing an extensive statement exclusively to Human Events saying he was unwilling to accept tax hikes for any American. Boehner said he’s “got a news flash for the White House”—he’s not willing to accept tax increases for any American and that includes job-creating small business owners. “It's disappointing and counterproductive that the President and his advisors have decided to spin my comments yesterday as a sign that I am willing to accept tax hikes on any American. Here's a...

I am the result of a privatized education. I never spent one day in public school from preschool through high school and three years of that I spent being home-schooled. I’m sure having three children at home all day and being solely responsible for their educations drove my mother crazy but she did a great job. We didn’t come out of it with stunted educations or social lives. We thrived actually. Between friends in the neighborhood and being very active in our church and youth groups we were quite busy, our social lives were full and we ended up pretty...

It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal of a story. Instead it was an object lesson in the power of the Internet, and the speed at which hate and misconceptions can travel. My editor wondered why there were no Spanish-language movie theaters catering to the Salt Lake Valley’s ever-growing Latino community. She assigned me to ask around. I talked to someone from the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who didn’t know why anyone hadn’t opened a Spanish-language moviehouse — but thought it would be a neat idea. I talked to an exhibitor who gave me some insight on the...

On the premiere of The Oprah Winfrey Show's final season, the talk show queen announces she will take the 300 members of her studio audience to Australia on John Travolta's jet. "After all this really is my 25th season...my last chance to do something really big...And if you want to take along the ultimate viewers, where would I most want to go...Maybe I should take all of you to the other side of the world. We're going to Australia... We're going to Australia..." Cheering... Say Hello to Capt. Travolta!"

Sometimes guys like a woman with a little meat on her. Other times a woman with a little meat on her will show up to instantly confirm just how completely vapid Camille Paglia said she was.

Enbridge Inc on Saturday started digging up the pipeline that halted nearly a third of Canada's crude oil exports to the United States when it sprung a leak two days ago, but the company does not have an estimate on how long repairs will take. Enbridge said removal of the damaged pipe is complicated by utility lines and sewer pipes near its line, forcing workers to dig by hand or use high-pressure water to expose the oil conduit. It can't yet say when that will be completed or when shipments might resume. The leak was discovered around noon on Thursday...