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The eurozone crisis might have made EU membership a less attractive proposition lately. Nevertheless talks with applicant countries are ongoing in Brussels. The EUobserver reports that EU states have agreed to invite Montenegro for negotiations on membership, with talks starting as soon as 29 June. EU foreign ministers said Brussels would closely monitor Montenegro's efforts to tackle corruption and organised crime during the accession process that may last several years. Meanwhile, the Swiss daily Le Temps adds that a meeting of EU foreign ministers earlier in the week discussed Icelandic efforts to join the EU 27. "Difficult to believe, that...

East Shore Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, right, joins Wendy Long at last night's victory party in Manhattan. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Attorney Wendy Long rolled to victory in the state Republican U.S. Senate primary last night, and will face U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in the Nov. 6 general election. But Rep. Bob Turner looked to be the winner on Staten Island. With 96 percent of the statewide vote counted, according to The Associated Press, Ms. Long had 69,168 votes, good for 51 percent. Turner had 48,429 votes, or 36 percent, while Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos had 18,307 votes,...

You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning. No, not Mrs Thatcher, but Angela Merkel, the latest big beast of the European political scene to dig her heels in and refuse to go along with the international consensus. The parallels with Britain's own iron lady are striking, though obviously not exact. Mrs Thatcher pledged to use the British veto to block monetary union. I'm going to stand on the track and stop that train, she said. So she stood on the track and was duly run over by the EMU locomotive. No, no, she says, to any...

Unlike Obama, House Democrats will have trouble forging a majority without that demographic. Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously remarked that all politics is local. But this year, it’s the rhetoric of John Edwards that rings truer--in assessing the House race landscape, there are indeed two Americas. President Obama believes the way to win a second term is by rallying elements of the party base, but House Democrats trying to take back the majority face the added burden of winning the votes of increasingly disillusioned white working-class voters. When looking at why Republicans are likely to retain their 25-seat majority--The...

FREEP THIS POLL: Tell The GOP "WHERE TO STAND"

Pleas from Spain and Italy for urgent financial aid from the eurozone to bring down borrowing costs were dismissed by Angela Merkel as divisions hardened on the eve of a critical summit. Germany's Chancellor angrily rejected desperate pleading by Italy and Spain as a Franco-German rift over eurozone debt sharing threatened to unravel efforts to find a fix for the single currency at a meeting of European leaders on Thursday. Before flying last night to Paris for emergency talks with Francois Hollande, the French President, Mrs Merkel told German MPs that instead of more cash the eurozone needed to step...

I'm scared. I fear that even if the Supreme Court overrules most of Obamacare (or did already, by the time you read this), Republicans will join Democrats in restoring "good" parts of the law, like the requirement that insurance companies cover kids up to age 26 and every American with a pre-existing condition. Those parts of Obamacare are popular . People like getting what they think is free stuff. But requiring coverage to age 26 makes policies cost more. Even Bill O'Reilly lectures me that government should ban discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Most Americans agree with him. Who...

Tomorrow, at around 10:30am EDT, the Democrat-left-media complex will launch the most aggressive and sustained attack on the institution of the Supreme Court in the history of our Republic. When the Court throws out at least some portion of ObamaCare tomorrow, President Obama and his partisans on the left and in the media will effectively declare war on the third co-equal branch of government and seek, in every possible way, to undermine the legitimacy of the Court. They have already tried to lay the groundwork for their attacks. Politico today even unearthed disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner to test-drive the...

Okay so I watched the episode tonight and was rather surprised that they made some interesting references to Obama. Episode Synopsis: Leela becomes a campaign manager for a presidential candidate whose birth certificate is missing. Richard Nixon runs for Earth presidency yet again in the 3012 presidential elections. His opponent's legitimacy is called into question when he is incapable of providing an 'Earth Certificate' to prove that he is of Earthly origins. Ok, so they brought back Nixon to "Kick him around", granted the Nixon jokes are getting old, but every time I think I Nixon I curse as he...

AMEN! GOD knows who is HIS! Doesnt matter what humans say about you. Stay the course. Obey HIS WORD/commandments: 1. Love the LORD with all your heart. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Hispanic candidates have suffered political disappointments because of low turnout from their own voters.If there was any doubt about the importance of the Hispanic vote this election year, President Obama laid it to rest with his recent, aggressive courtship of Latino voters. But this month also provided fresh warnings to the Obama campaign that Hispanic voters, despite their growing numbers, aren't all that interested in turning out to vote.The evidence can be drawn from the House primaries that took place in states with significant Hispanic populations over the last month, particularly California, New York, and Texas. In contests from Southern...

BREMERTON, Washington, June 27, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) -A camera captured a dramatic scene last month when an infuriated man stormed up cursing to a pro-life protester holding images of an aborted child by the roadside, tore the signs out of his hands and threw them away before assaulting him in an apparent attempt to destroy video evidence. The conflict began when Kenrick Bradley approached Anti-Choice Project co-founder Andrew St.Hilaire during a protest in front of Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington, on May 2, 2012. Bradley complained that the images were traumatizing to his girlfriend, who had apparently miscarried. “My girl lost...

June 28, 2012   Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr   Reading 1 2 Kgs 24:8-17 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.His mother's name was Nehushta,daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.He did evil in the sight of the LORD,just as his forebears had done. At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,himself arrived at the citywhile his servants were besieging it.Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,his ministers, officers, and functionaries,surrendered to the king of Babylon,...

Gay rights icon Larry Brinkin has been arrested on charges of child pornography, according to San Francisco police. Brinkin, 66, best known for fighting for equal rights on behalf of the LGBT community, was booked into San Francisco County Jail on Friday night. He posted bail and was released Saturday, SF Weekly reports. The San Francisco Police Department seized computers, videos, VHS tapes and a floppy disc from Brinkin and his husband’s home, according to a search warrant obtained by SF Weekly. Police say Brinkin had exchanged emails that contained pornographic photographs involving children as young as 1-year-old being sodomized...

In a move that could significantly expand insurance coverage of weight-loss treatments, a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling in an effort to rein in a growing health crisis in America. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged doctors to identify patients with a body mass index of 30 or more — currently 1 in 3 Americans — and either provide counseling themselves or refer the patient to a program designed to promote weight loss and improve health prospects. Under the current healthcare law, Medicare and most private insurers would be required...

A lack of transparency by top Obama administration officials has prompted an environmental group to sue the Interior Department to determine whether wind power projects are killing large numbers of bats and birds. The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accusing the government of intentionally withholding the information and refusing to comply with requests for certain documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “It’s ridiculous that Americans have to sue in order to find out what their government is saying to wind companies about our wildlife,” ......

Maxine ‘Aunt Esther’ Waters, progress-o-bat from California’s 35th Congressional district, is known to be an addle headed freakshow on wheels with a long standing penchant for making statements that usually indicate that someone is off their ‘meds’. She’s especially got a Jones for the Tea Party in the worst way possible. She’s obsessed. Here are a few classics that have rolled out of Maxine’s pie hole: “I saw pictures of Boehner and Cantor on our screens (at the convention). Don’t ever let me see again, in life, those Republicans in our hall, on our screens, talking about anything. These are...

After desperately trying everything from huge budget cuts to secret negotiations with creditors, the Stockton City Council finally ran out of options Tuesday night and voted to file for bankruptcy. The 6-1 vote was to authorize a day-to-day operating budget, called a pendency plan, that will go into effect when city officials file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Sacramento. That filing is expected Wednesday. Stockton, a river port with 292,000 residents, will become the biggest city in U.S. history to vote itself into bankruptcy. The previous largest bankrupt city was Vallejo, which filed in 2008 and...

I'm curious: with what may be our country's most important Supreme Court decision due tomorrow, what do all you fellow Freepers see as our collective, national future - and your personal future - if ObamaCare is left intact?