Free Republic

President Joe Biden has been dogged for months by pro-Palestinian protesters calling him “Genocide Joe” — but some of the groups behind the demonstrations receive financial backing from philanthropists pushing hard for his reelection. The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker, according to a POLITICO analysis. Two of the organizers supporting the protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates...

Ironically, despite making Mitt Romney’s former company Bain Capital and other private equity firms the target of its latest attack, the Obama campaign held a near-$36,000 per plate fundraising dinner at the home of Tony James, president of the nation’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone Group. Citing the president’s latest Romney-hit-piece, Glenn Beck blasted the hypocrisy shown by the president when it comes to private equity firms. Obama’s condemnation of private equity hinges on the familiar narrative that the industry is renown for commandeering companies and slashing jobs, leaving untold numbers jobless — which is why it is doubly ironic...

According to a Michigan Republican State Committee (MRSC) member, Romney backers in statewide Republican leadership roles, including the governor and attorney general, pushed for an open Michigan primary. These open primary rules allow voters to vote in either party’s primary without declaring any party affiliation. As the governing body of the state Republican Party in Michigan, the state committee every four years determines the methodology of awarding delegates in the presidential contest. Although Michigan voters are not registered according to party affiliation, political parties can take steps to make it more difficult for political opponents to have a say in...

The United States should investigate the American backers of activist flotillas that challenge Israel's naval closure off the coast of Gaza, an Israeli human rights group said Monday. Shurat Hadin (Israel Law Center) chairwoman, attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner has sent a letter asking US Attorney General Eric Holder to look into the “Free Gaza” movement (FGM). Free Gaza is a US-based group which aims to undermine Israel's control of waters off the Gaza coast. The Free Gaza organization is providing military assistance to Hamas by attempting to break the Israeli blockade while Hamas continues its attacks on Israeli civilians, Darshan-Leitner said....

WASHINGTON - Advocates of a bill promoting openness in government are fuming that a Republican senator is blocking a vote on the measure. Dozens of journalism and advocacy groups supporting the Open Government Act say it would speed up the government's response to public requests for information under the federal Freedom of Information law. But Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., says the Justice Department has "uncharacteristically strong" objections to the bill. In a statement Thursday, he said he will block a vote until both sides can work out the differences. Supporters of the bill are irate. "This...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, is helping organize support in the House behind the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Among the pitches he is making to his colleagues is that McCain is the only Republican in the field so far who can put California in play in 2008. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the argument has been persuasive among some members. "California is a pretty important state, and a monster state," Shimkus said. "For us to not even compete there is ridiculous. Dan makes that case." Lungren, Shimkus and a handful have been organizing breakfasts and...

Washington -- Organizers intended Monday's "Day without Immigrants" to prod Congress to allow the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens. But if anything, the rallies seemed to energize House foes of such a policy and put its supporters -- a bipartisan coalition in the Senate and President Bush -- on the defensive against conservatives angered by the sight of demonstrators waving Mexican flags and singing a Spanish-language version of the Star Spangled Banner. --snip-- House majority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, denounced a resolution passed last week by the California Senate endorsing the work boycott, and he...

SACRAMENTO — A television ad campaign portrayed as an independent effort to help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been bankrolled partly by a group with deep ties to his political operation. An official with the New Majority, a Southern California Republican group at the core of Schwarzenegger's fundraising apparatus, said its members have given about $1 million to the Washington, D.C., business group that is the public face of the ads: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. By pumping the ad money through the chamber, well-heeled New Majority members have bypassed requirements that their donations be publicly disclosed. And they skirted the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Two months after voters rejected Proposition 77, supporters of the redistricting measure announced a new initiative campaign Wednesday to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from lawmakers. "I think there is broad agreement across the political spectrum that our current political system is broken, and that one of the reasons it is broken is that we have politicians drawing their own political boundaries," said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org, a political watchdog group. "Democrats, Republicans, independents - everyone agrees that is an inherently corrupt process and it must be changed." The new initiative...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A small group of teachers and lawyers who are seeking class action status for a lawsuit against the California Teachers Association was drowned out by screams and chants Thursday as they tried to hold a news conference outside the union's office. The National Right to Work Foundation, which filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose on behalf of six named teachers and professors, claims the CTA is illegally collecting a $60 levy in each of the next three years to pay for electioneering. The union voted to raise dues by that amount in hopes...

LOS ANGELES – A bipartisan group of politicians – including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – announced their support Tuesday for a federal bill that would ban reproductive human cloning without harming embryonic stem cell research. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said Californians showed their support last November for stem cell research by approving Proposition 71, which provides $3 billion in state tax-exempt bonds to fund such California-based research for 10 years. Schwarzenegger also said he supports a Senate bill co-sponsored by Feinstein, a Democrat, that would make human reproductive cloning or attempts to clone humans a...

The blood is in the water. The sharks are circling. Now it is time for the main course. Lower the tank and drop in the political corpse of Tom Delay. Democrats are whipping themselves into a frenzy — as are their allies in the press — over the impending political death of Tom DeLay. The Majority Leader is helping fan the flames by holding up rifles at NRA rallies while asking for more bullets. But if you are scoring this one at home sports fans, expect to see a flurry of revelations coming out about the Democratic leaders in the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - When they organized a $1 million fund-raiser for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February, Sacramento Kings owners Gavin and Joe Maloof's family casino business was negotiating a deal that would net them millions from running what could be one of the world's largest casinos, according to interviews and state records. Six months later, Schwarzenegger announced a deal for a tribal megacasino that will be managed by a company partially owned by the Maloofs. The Maloof fund-raiser means that Schwarzenegger, who campaigned on a refusal to take money from Indian gambling interests, received huge contributions through those connected to...

SACRAMENTO -- Latino lawmakers like Kern County's Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and Sen. Dean Florez seldom find themselves in a tougher political spot than they are in right now. That's one result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demand that the Legislature repeal the new law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver licenses -- or face the threat of a referendum on the ballot next March. "It's a tough decision for a lot of us," said Florez, D-Shafter. It is especially tough for Parra. She is a Democrat running for re-election in a west-side district with a large Latino population, but with a...

BoycottBush.com is listing the Top 30 Consumer Corporations that back the Republicans: 1 MBNA $3.0m 2 Philip Morris $2.9m 3 Microsoft Corp $2.4m 4 Bristol Myers Squibb $2.1m 5 Pfizer $1.9m 6 Enron $1.8m 7 Citigroup $1.8m 8 Time Warner/AOL $1.6m 9 Amway $1.3m 10 Glaxo SmithKline $1.3m 11 Exxon Mobil $1.2m 12 News Corp $1.2m 13 General Electric $1.1m 14 Limited Inc $950k 15 BP Amoco $950k 16 American Airlines $900k 17 Schering Plough $900k 18 Anheuser Busch $850k 19 Chevron Texaco $800k 20 Revlon Group $760k 21 American Home Products $740k 22 PepsiCo $720k 23 Walt Disney...

<p>With less than two months to go, the number of voters ready to replace Gov. Gray Davis continues to grow as he faces pronounced defections among those critical to his success -- Democrats, moderates and Latinos.</p> <p>The latest Field Poll, released today, found that 58 percent of likely voters now support the Oct. 7 recall, compared with 37 percent who oppose it. The spread is much wider and much worse for Davis than it was just a month ago when 51 percent supported the recall and 43 percent opposed it.</p>

<p>Supporters of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis on Monday plotted potential court challenges to a Republican-led recall campaign and prepared to take their counterattack public Tuesday.</p> <p>They said all options were open.</p> <p>"We're looking at everything in terms of who's handling petitions, what the people were being told, whether people who were circulating petitions were legally able to do so or not," said Nick Velasquez, spokesman for Taxpayers Against the Recall.</p>

<p>One of the groups seeking to recall Gov. Gray Davis took its fight to state court Thursday in hopes of speeding up signature counting and forcing an election this fall.</p> <p>The Recall Gray Davis Committee petitioned Sacramento's 3rd District Court of Appeal, asking it to override a decision by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley that recall backers claim is designed to slow down the process and delay the election until March.</p>

<p>If the recall election makes the ballot, Gray Davis expects to survive the same way he did in November's election: by making voters dislike his opponents even more than they dislike him.</p> <p>Darrell Issa, who hopes to be the main opponent, could be the perfect target.</p>

NASHVILLE -- Their leader says he's not interested, but that hasn't stopped Al Gore fans from trying to get him to run. About 100 people turned out Saturday for a rally on Bicentennial Mall aimed at persuading the former vice president to once more run for president. They promise more efforts in the future. Gore, who lives in Nashville, did not attend the rally. He said in December he would not run in the 2004 election, but that has not discouraged some supporters. "I believe Al Gore can see what's going on in this country, and he knows it's not...