Free Republic

When men and women join the American military, they take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies. It’s an oath we all take very seriously, but when they leave the service, many veterans lose a tangible way to continue to fulfill it. They also lose the brotherhood and camaraderie that go along with serving our country in the armed services. A new veterans group, called Veterans in Defense of Liberty, has risen up to fill both voids.

Tea Partier: Alert the captain! There's a huge iceberg up ahead and we're headed straight for it! If we don't turn the ship aside now, we're doomed! Liberal: Well, that's not a very popular message. I mean, turning the ship aside would require interrupting the shuffleboard tournament. Tea Partier: The whole ship is going to be shuffling off to the bottom of the ocean if we don't change course! Liberal: You're probably just saying that because the captain's black. Tea Partier: What? That's crazy! Liberal: That's exactly what a racist would say in this situation. Tea Partier: What does not...

Jim Beam and Kid Rock, The Secret to Getting Things Done? Even though they’re not familiar with his songs, I hope the Vietnam vets attending the Kid Rock concert Tuesday night at Van Andel Arena receive an acknowledgment from the star of the show — and maybe a few of the fans at the sold-out event. It’s been more than 40 years in the making. To understand the significance of what is happening Tuesday, we need to go back to the mid 1960s, when Grand Rapids resident Rick Falls joined a handful of other teenage and 20-something soldiers from around...

A PPP poll shows that Michele Bachmann is easily the first choice of Minnesota Republicans to run for the Senate in 2012. 36 percent say they prefer her as the nominee, compared to 20 percent for Tim Pawlenty and 14 percent for Norm Coleman. I have no idea whether any of these three is interested in running for the Senate in 2012. But I think this poll adds credence to some of my speculation about what to expect in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries. I've been suggesting that, if she runs, Sarah Palin might be able to attract 30 to...

One of the TV networks aired its America's Ten Most Fascinating People of the Year Special. Kim Kardashian was one of the people selected. Nothing against this young lady, but what has Kim Kardashian done, other than being Kim Kardashian, to be bestowed the high honor of a place on the list of ten most fascinating individuals in the country? I remember the old days when fame did not come so cheaply; one had to achieve something unique. I have decided to offer my "Top Ten Most Fascinating Tea Party Individuals/Groups of the Year." Number ten on my list are...

The new al-Qaeda magazine called Inspire has created quite a stir with its articles explaining various ways to kill Americans. Yet despite the presence of no less than three American citizens on the terrorist publication’s staff this is pure amateurish stuff. For example, the magazine advises would-be terrorists to use pick-up trucks to mow down American pedestrians. This shows ignorance of the fact that pick-up trucks are too proletarian for elite American areas unless they are from lawn services and are carrying actual mowers. Elsewhere, any privately owned pick-up truck probably has anti-terrorist, pro-American bumper stickers, so unless the terrorists...

My friend the Crazy Uke is a mortgage guy; he’s getting me another refi. Years ago - oh, decades - we sat up all night in the back booth of a college restaurant and argued politics; now we sit around the kitchen table of the house he helped us buy, sign endless forms and documents, then pour a drink and agree about politics. I changed. He didn’t. As the son of Ukrainian DPs, he had anti-Soviet and anti-statist ideas poured into his marrow as he grew up, and his accounts of his parents’ lives during the famine and the war...

If you’ve followed Ed’s coverage on Hot Air, you know that Minnesota has a genuine choice in its gubernatorial election this year. The GOP has endorsed Tom Emmer, a solid conservative in the Chris Christie mold. The DFL’’s endorsement (the Minnesota term for “Democrats”) depends on an August 10 primary – but as this is written former Senator Mark Dayton has a commanding lead over the DFL-endorsed candidate (speaker of the MN House Margaret Anderson-Kelliher) and former state Rep. Matt Entenza. Yes – that Mark Dayton –...

While visiting relatives I attended the 4th ff July parade in Crosby, MN. I found it rather encouraging that the same crowd which stood and offered their respect when the flag and veterans passed by was less than enthused when Amy Klobuchar followed shortly thereafter. Even with her sycophants marching alongside and attempting to encourage "spontaneous" applause (i.e. they would start clapping approximately every one block) her reception was less than "warm"... If I had only known she was attending, I would have brought a sign: "Less "Twilight", more Constitution!"

President Obama is acting all tough now, saying he wants to find “whose ass to kick” about the oil crisis. He really is a tough guy of action. Don’t believe it? Then just look at some of the things he’s said at recent speeches: TOP TEN BARACK OBAMA TOUGH GUY LINES 10. “See what I have on here? These are my ass-kicking pants. Stop calling them mom jeans.” 9. “Time to open a can of whupass! …Oh, but not this can; it isn’t certified organic.” 8. “I am here to kick ass and chew arugula, and I’m all out of...

WANTED: Experienced blogger to take up residence adjacent to Random House CEO Markus Dohle to conduct consistent surveillance on the Dohle family and provide regular blog posts on their activities. Minimum six-month commitment. Experience as a voyeur or peeping tom a big plus! Will provide advance finances to locate and rent accommodations in Scarsdale, New York.

The new health 'reform' law rammed through Congress by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and just signed by President Obama, will force you to buy expensive, federal government-approved insurance on penalty of hefty fines and even imprisonment. This is an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of federal power. The ink of President Obama's signature on bill was barely dry when the attorneys general of 14 states filed suits contesting the new law, asserting that it is unconstitutional and abridges states' rights. So far, ACORN-endorsed Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has taken NO STEPS to protect Minnesota's sovereign rights,though she's been asked...

Recently, the Washington Post published an editorial, "Climate Insurance," insisting that "the Earth is warming," and that humans have been partly responsible. There are "few reputable scientists who would disagree," the paper said. The Post was displaying its continued fealty to the official story. Nothing had changed, the paper was telling us. It would be ignoring the accumulating snowball of reports from news media around the world that have cast more and more doubt on the official theory. A few days earlier, on a National Public Radio program in Washington, John Broder, who covers global warming for the New York...

Valentine's Day cards featuring Obama, Pelosi, Gore, Franken, etc. It's hard to believe but apparently someone at the RNC headquarters has a sense of humor. The majority of these are actually witty! Enjoy!

Fresh off liberals getting thumped in Virginia, New Jersey, and most recently Massachusetts, the left are now in a full-fledged panic, and they're doing all they can to quickly blur the obvious teachable moment: that the GOP can win by boldly going way to the right of the Democrats. The Daily Kos recently released an odd poll of Republican voters -- and now The Politico and other liberal organizations are trying to use the results to churn waters that are actually relatively calm. The GOP had better not bite.

... The mainstream media had won their control over the news because they owned the means of reaching vast numbers of people. Suddenly, advances in Internet software and network technologies made it possible for just about anybody to publish to a worldwide audience. Grassroots journalism was born. With the rise of the Internet as a resource for news and information, skepticism over the accuracy and reliability of mainstream reporting grew, and by the middle of the decade bloggers and Internet news websites had cut significantly into the MSM’s influence. But from the perspective of January 2010 it’s clear. At the...

The U.K. security company that started a firestorm after claiming recent Windows security updates caused a widespread "black screen" lock-out of users' PCs has retracted its claims and publicly apologized to Microsoft. "It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context and may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft," Mel Morris, the chief executive of U.K. security firm Prevx, said in an entry on the company's blog Wednesday. "This was never our intention and we have already apologized to Microsoft."

After-sale warranty firm says 17% of Apple's laptops fail within three years Apple's line of laptops ranked fourth in a multi-year reliability survey of nine notebook makers, according to a study of 30,000 portable computers published today by a company that provides after-sale warranties. SquareTrade, which broke out the warranty claims of its customers by manufacturers, said that Apple took the No. 4 spot, behind ASUS, Toshiba and Sony, which held No. 1 through No. 3, respectively.

Bernard Goldberg is getting a good bit of attention for something he said on O'Reilly tonight -- that documents show the CBS investigation in 2004 revealed that George Bush volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam. The following is from his website, Bernard Goldberg.com (via Newsbusters):

White House adviser David Axelrod is going to try to start his own viral e-mail responding to attacks on Obamacare. It will include responses to eight “myths” about Obamacare, and since I know all of you come to IMAO as your primary news source, I obtained those myths and the White House’s response so you can see them here: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT OBAMACARE MYTH: Obamacare will institute “death panels” to judge who should live and who should die. FACT: People deciding who will live and who will die will be single Obama-appointed bureaucrats, so no panels are involved.