Free Republic

Ahmadinejad's Blog Attracts Critics November 26, 2007 The Guardian Robert Tait in Tehran -excerpt- Far from being a repository of fawning admiration, Ahmadinejad's blog has attracted criticism as scathing as that voiced by his known adversaries. Somewhat gleefully, the reformist newspaper Etemad reported yesterday that some respondents were venting their spleen with little regard for pleasantries. One writer - calling himself Sadegh Al Ebrahim - sarcastically congratulated Ahmadinejad on his success in creating new jobs through last summer's decision to ration petrol. "In our city before rationing there were two petrol stations, of which one was always shut. But now,...

Tuesday/Wednesday, November 13/14 - about 4 a.m. Sources inside and outside Iran. A series of explosions rocked the Parchin Military Site (where missiles, including "cruise" type missiles, are manufactured) at Varamin south of Tehran. The Shahab 3, 4 and more recently Shahab 5 solid fuel missiles at the site are hidden in old salt mines in the mountain face in the area, further excavated and furbished for development and manufacture. The main purpose of this Ministry of Defense site, established by the late Shah's father - Reza Shah Kabir - in the early 1900's and taken over by the IRGC,...

The Republican/Conservative blog RedState is up for a WebLog award, specifically "Best of the Top 250 Blogs." Until very recently, RedState was walking away with this award.And then this happened. The huge liberal site DailyKos starting pimping a Democrat blog, Balloon Juice. In just the last hour, Balloon Juice has caught up. So, I have come to shamelessly and blatantly pimp RedState on Free Republic. Vote Early. Vote often (you can vote every 24 hours). Thank you and good night.

Please stop by and vist the unofficial NJ Blog for Mitt Romney: http://mittromneyfornj.blogspot.com/. Created by Alan Moretti. NJ could be in play for Romney, if Rudy is vulnerable after four or five straight losses coming into 2/5 in NJ.

Minutemen Vs. The Race - La Raza "A national Hispanic civil rights organization said Saturday it will not hold its 2009 annual convention in Kansas City because an opponent of illegal immigration was appointed to the city's park board. The National Council of La Raza said its board of directors voted unanimously to pull the conference after being unable to reach an agreement with Mayor Mark Funkhouser over his appointment in June of Frances Semler, a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps." -Source... http://takeastandagainstliberals.blogspot.com/

Here's a great online op-ed laying out why Fred Thompson will win the nomination. Basically, Fred Thompson's federalist principles are connecting with evangelicals and the more conservative people in the Republican party. My favorite part: While James Dobson has had some snarky things to say about Senator Thompson, I really see his federalist stance as an attraction to evangelical voters. Even though Fred has said he wouldn't support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, there are still evangelical leaders supporting him (Gary Bauer and Richard Land, to name a few). Evangelical Christians understand having a life philosophy that affects (in...

I know for a fact that Hezbollah is building defenses and fortifications from which they can launch attacks in the south (where I was two days ago), in the Bekaa Valley, and in Al Dahiyeh (the Hezbollah security square in Beirut, which we covertly entered and moved through twice during our photo-reconnaissance a few days ago). ... he houses are being rebuilt – as they were — with secret interconnecting corridors linking the houses together in a link-by-link network of fighting positions. There are tunnels running beneath the houses linking them with other buildings and adjacent neighborhoods, as well as...

For one with a long history of conservative Republican political participation…and mine goes back to the 1952 presidential campaing of Robert Taft…the rally Saturday afternoon at the Hyatt-Regency hotel celebrating Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) could not have been a greater shock. Taft, son of the 27th president, was constitutionally (and this word is used advisably) unable to demagogue. His message of hoped-for return to the policies of the past did not contain many personal incentives. In place of entitlements he advocated work, instead of farm subsidies he emphasized the free market. He accepted Social Security and few other accoutrements of...

San Diego (1-1) at Green Bay (2-0) - 1:00 PM (Sheridan's Line - San Diego by 4½) I just don't know about San Diego this year. They didn't play very well against the Bears in Week One, although they got the win. Then they were humiliated by New England in Week Two (on SNF to boot). QB Philip Rivers did not look impressive in either game, and RB LaDainian Tomlinson has a total of just 68 rushing yards. Of course, you could say that both games were against good defensive teams, but that's also true this week against Green Bay....

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., may have announced his candidacy for president from Jay Leno's couch in Los Angeles, but when it came to his campaign Web site, he brought his business to Chattanooga. Mr. Thompson's site, Fred08.com, was developed and is maintained by episode49, a Chattanooga-based Web development company. Episode49 also maintained Mr. Thompson's "testing the waters" Web site, ImWithFred.com. "We're totally responsible for Fred08," said Ken Smith, managing partner for episode49. Mr. Smith said the company's relationship with the campaign grew through work episode49 did for the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "That's...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- DailyKos, an influential political Web site that serves as a virtual bulletin board for liberals, qualifies as a media entity exempt from federal campaign finance regulations, the Federal Election Commission said Tuesday. The FEC said the Web site, operated by blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, cannot be regulated as a political committee and can freely post blog entries that support candidates. Conservative blogger John C.A. Bambenek had argued in a complaint last month that the site should comply with campaign finance laws because such entries amounted to "a gift of free advertising and candidate media services." The FEC...

I'm working with a few other people in the Rochester area on creating a conservative website/blog. The blogger software for the webhosting company that we have our website on is WordPress. Unfortunately for me, WordPress uses php, something I know little about. I'd like to have a unique look and feel to the website, a patriotic theme preferably a three column theme. I did find a couple of free themes on the web, but they're two columned. I'd rather a Freeper helped us out with this. If you have any ideas, please post here.

There's plenty of hand wringing in the press about why the state still doesn't have a budget six weeks into the fiscal year. But one member of the media is delighting in the standoff and playing an oversized role in keeping it going: a 39-year-old conservative blogger who spends hours of his workday in bed typing away on an aging Dell laptop, hundreds of miles from the Capitol. Jon Fleischman has never aspired to be a reporter. "Fair and balanced" is decidedly not his thing. "I don't pretend to be objective," the longtime GOP activist said last week in his...

What is the best way for terrorists to wreak havoc in the United States? That was the question posed, and answered, yesterday on the New York Times website by Steven D. Levitt, the University of Chicago professor of economics and author of the best-selling book, Freakonomics. Levitt’s advice to al Qaeda, based upon the economic principle of generating the greatest quantity of harm with the least possible input of resources, would be to learn from the Washington D.C snipers of 2002. He suggests arming "20 terrorists with rifles and cars, and arrang[ing] to have them begin shooting randomly at pre-set...

A Word on “Surrender” by Edmund Snyder August 9th, 2007 From the Wikipedia entry on surrender: "Surrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is often used to surrender, as is the gesture of raising one’s hands empty and open above one’s head.Surrender may be conditional, if the surrendering party promises to submit only if after the victor makes certain promises. Otherwise it is unconditional surrender; the victor makes no promises of treatment other than those provided by international law....

Excerpt - SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 5 — For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive and one of the world’s most famous businessmen. The mysterious writer has used his blog, the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, to lampoon Mr. Jobs and his reputation as a difficult and egotistical leader, as well as to skewer other high-tech companies, tech journalists, venture capitalists, open-source software fanatics and Silicon Valley’s overall aura of excess. The acerbic postings of “Fake Steve,” as he is...

Here’s an endorsement that few Republicans ever get: Trial lawyers strongly supported Fred Thompson when he was in the Senate. "We viewed him as someone we could work with, particularly given he had been an advocate in court for individuals and corporations, and had an innate understanding of what went on in a civil jury," Linda Lipsen, the chief lobbyist for the American trial lawyers lobby group, told the Washington Post. That’s the same group that most Republicans love to hate. Thompson’s background as an attorney made him more understanding of the concerns of trial lawyers and less willing to...

Left-leaning The New Republic (TNR) gained new notoriety in recent weeks by publishing of a trio of columns by the “Baghdad Diarist,” an American soldier who was serving in Baghdad and who wrote under the admitted pseudonym “Scott Thomas.” The stories written by Thomas were shocking and distasteful, telling of actions by soldiers in his unit, such as the exhumation of children’s skeletons (and the wearing of one of their skulls “like a crown”), the purposeful running over of dogs with armored vehicles, and the ridiculing of a female contractor for her disfigured appearance, which was purportedly caused by an...

School textbooks used by Israeli Arabs will henceforth embrace the new historians’ version of history: the 1948 Israeli War of Independence is now officially “al-Naqba” (the Catastrophe), in books vetted by Israel’s Education Ministry. Education Minister Yuli Tamir defended her decision by saying that “the Arab public deserves to be allowed to express their feelings.” The Minister is entitled to believe, of course, that textbooks are the natural conduit for the expression of collective feelings—rather than the preferred instrument of instruction in history. But the real question is not whether Israeli Arabs—or a guilt-ridden minister—should be allowed to “express their...

The US Department of Elections has released the Selected Presidential Reports for the 2007 July Quarterly, and there are a few surprises. No surprise, of course, is that people in the armed services and veterans overwhelmingly support the Republican Party. However, after digging through individual candidates’ contributions by employers, we find an elating (or disturbing, if you’re rooting for Rudy McRomney) trend. The breakdown? Here you go. Direct FEC data