Free Republic

... HH: Can you give us the status on what the Republican position is, you’re the whip, you’re the number two guy in the Republican caucus, vis-a-vis the Bush tax rates, and vis-a-vis START? ... HH: Senator Kyl, the Democrats are trying to throw some smoke in the air on this by saying let’s let the tax hikes go through for people making more than a million a year. Is that on the table in the eyes of anyone in the Republican caucus, that so-called compromise? JK: No. HH: All right. In terms of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal,...

Jules Crittenden comments on President Sarkozy's statement at the United Nations last week: "It's a sad state of affairs when a Frenchman mocks an American president and you have to go with the Frog." Here's what the man said: President Obama dreams of a world without weapons ... but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite. Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993. I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium...

The quality of the reporting on the Valerie Plame/Judith Miller matter has been abysmal. Here are two examples. This Associated Press article is by Pete Yost. For the most part, it is a straightforward account of Judith Miller's appearance in court today. But note Yost's account of the Plame affair that forms the background of the subpoena on Miller: Plame's name was disclosed in a column by Robert Novak days after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, questioned part of President Bush's justification for invading Iraq. Wilson was sent to Africa by the Bush administration to investigate an intelligence claim...

Macy's and Texas School District Win 'Dishonorable Mention' Awards Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington, has the dubious honor of "winning" The Becket Fund's annual Ebenezer Award for 2004 -- a lump of coal in a red stocking sent by FedEx to the person or group responsible for the most ridiculous affront to the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. Principal Mark Robertson cancelled a performance of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol by a private theater group on the high school's campus, claiming that the show would raise serious questions about the role of religion in public schools. Although...

Republican Dino Rossi yesterday inched further ahead of Democratic Attorney General Christine Gregoire after 24 of the state's 39 counties finished recounting ballots in Washington's closest-ever race for governor. The statewide recount continues today and is expected to wrap up tomorrow. But both sides have hinted they might ask for another recount, possibly a hand count that could take up to two weeks to complete. The recount is likely to hinge on the outcome of 710 so-called enhanced ballots in Democratic-leaning King County, where election workers are trying to determine the intent of voters who mismarked their ballots. Meanwhile, the...