Free Republic

Here's the way I look at today. Last night, Dems dragged out a vote so that House members couldn't celebrate Christmas with their spouses and the President. When that was accomplished, they went home.Today they took their historic vote. It's Friday the 13th. It's the day the Richard Jewell movies is released. (a hero framed by pols and the media). Isn't that amazing?President Trump is guilty of the crime of standing up to the worst of the swampthings, the Bidens and others who benefitted from regime change manipulations in Ukraine. A crime was decided upon and the bending of facts...

Since the holiday break, Cruz campaign donation solicitations have been ubiquitous. Today I received a phone solicitation. The caller was very polite and in that respect represented the Cruz campaign well.The spiel was that if I donate any amount, no matter how little, it would be tripled by some other donor. I asked who that other donor is, and that I was concerned if that person gave three times as much as I did, they'd have three times the impact. The caller said he'd check with an advisor and get back to me.He did so. The answer was that for...

http:www://safewise.com/safest-cities-America This site lists the 100 safest cities of over 10,000 in population for 2015. (sorry, don't know how to make this computer post the thread. perhaps someone could help me with that)

Diesel engines can run on just about anything, including used cooking oil. An entire industry is emerging to provide brave 'biodiesel' pioneers with the ingredients for petroleum-free motoring. One day last March, my musician friend Jonathan drove up in a Mercedes. This was odd, since Jonathan is so resolutely counterculture that he once tried recording an album in the woods, without electricity. His car's exhaust smelled faintly of french fries, and therein lay the explanation: The new Jonathan Richman tour vehicle -- an '84 300D Turbo -- was running on vegetable oil-derived biodiesel fuel as he and his drummer crisscrossed...

WHDH-TVSWAMPSCOTT, Mass. -- The pastor of a Swampscott church has stepped aside after he was accused of propositioning a 12-year-old girl and her mother. The accusation was leveled against him for alleged comments he made to the mother and her daughter at an Italian restaurant in Chelsea on Tuesday night. The Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement yesterday that the resignation was accepted -- quote -- "in the interest of all parties involved." The statement said that the resignation -- quote -- "does not represent any indication of Father Gillespie’s guilt or innocence." Gillespie did not return a call...

Thank you, Lisa, for that warm and generous introduction. Thank you Zack, and thank you all for coming here today I want to thank the American Constitution Society for co-sponsoring today's event, and for their hard work and dedication in defending our most basic public values. And I am especially grateful to Moveon.org, not only for co-sponsoring this event, but also for using 21st Century techniques to breathe new life into our democracy. For my part, I'm just a "recovering politician" -- but I truly believe that some of the issues most important to America's future are ones that all...

When Moises Rodrigues of Brockton went to the main prison on Cape Verde to visit a group of prisoners earlier this year, he was stunned to see familiar faces. Of the 20 prisoners Rodrigues met with, at least a quarter of the men were from Brockton and few were fluent in Portuguese Creole. "I was shocked when I went to the prison and saw some of the Brockton kids that I didn't even know were deported," said Rodrigues, an alternate to the Cape Verdean parliament. "They were psyched to see me because they could speak with somebody other than each...

BROCKTON — Though all Brockton High School students were welcome to hear Cape Verde Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves speak on Thursday, only Cape Verdean students were invited. "There was clearly a preference given to Cape Verdean students," Associate Principal Susan Szachowicz said Friday, who added that public announcements at school offered the tickets only to Cape Verdean students, but non-Cape Verdean students who asked were provided with tickets to the hour-long assembly. Not all who asked got tickets, said Mark Riccardi, a Brockton High School teacher. He said he knows students who were denied tickets and another student who...

TAUNTON — A man accused of firing a pellet gun into a baby's nursery was attacked in Taunton District Court Friday by the baby's outraged father. Scott Morrison, 40, of 4 Maple Ave., was arrested after he lunged at one of the three defendants being arraigned for the drive-by shooting. Morrison was yelling as he began assaulting the suspect, Christopher Tavares, 21, of 168 Bay St., who returned punches. "Those shots were three feet above my baby's head," Morrison yelled. As punches flew, it took several court officers and police officers to tackle and restrain Morrison, who became enraged during...

For Vermonters who have seen Howard Dean up close and personal for the last eleven years as our governor, there's something darkly comical about watching the national media refer to him as the "liberal" in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. With few exceptions in the 11-plus years he held the state's top job, Dean was a conservative Democrat at best. And many in Vermont, particularly environmentalists, see Dean as just another Republican in Democrat's clothing. As the son of a wealthy Long Island family (his father was a prominent Wall Street insider), Dean's used to having his...

Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt told the crowd at Navy Pier that his father was a Teamster and milk truck driver. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards reminded them he came from a family of mill workers, with "lint in their hair and grease on their faces." And Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry stressed that he was the only Vietnam veteran among the Democrats hoping to oust President Bush. "I cannot wait to stand up and remind him that having a skilled Navy pilot land you on an aircraft carrier in a borrowed suit does not make up for losing 3...

AUGUST 11, 2003 As Vermont governor, the liberal firebrand was a fiscal conservative with close ties to business Howard Dean has fought his way to the front of the Democratic pack jostling for the 2004 Presidential nomination partly because he has won the hearts of so many liberals with his antiwar rhetoric and shoot-from-the-lip style. But who is the real Howard Dean? Is he the left-of-center insurgent being portrayed in the press or the business-friendly fiscal conservative and pragmatic moderate who governed Vermont for 11 years? Many who worked with Dean are astonished at his current image and comparisons to...

Our Judges Should Embody Fairness and Respect Stop Bush from Appointing Unqualified Judges Since February, Senate Democrats have blocked the arch-conservative Migel Estrada from getting appointed to the Federal Appellate Court. It is time for them to step up again The Senate is expected to vote by the end of July on the confirmation of the next truly offensive judicial nominee, Carolyn Kuhl, who has a record of attempting to undermine laws protecting basic civil rights: She favored weakening laws against sexual harassment in the workplace; She supported tax exemptions for Bob Jones University, despite its racist policies; She advocates...

Dear MoveOn member, The votes are counted, the exit polls are complete, and the results from the MoveOn primary are in. Over 300,000 MoveOn members have cast votes -- a turnout bigger than the election turnout in many states -- and news outlets from CBS to Reuters have covered the story as it unfolded this week. The MoveOn primary has allowed hundreds of thousands of ordinary voters to speak at a time when usually only pundits, pollsters, and wealthy donors have influence. Now it's time to put our money where our mouth is. The end of this month -- June...

The Joel Stein Show The Princess and the Plea Mercy for Martha? An ex-insider defends his boss. After watching her wrestle a screeching cat in the bath, this writer's admiration won't be shaken easily by Joel Stein CURTAINS FOR MARTHA? Maybe the SEC is just looking for someone with taste to decorate the big house YOU may turn on her -- toss her panettone recipe, find your own way to scrapbook -- but I will not. Martha Stewart was my first boss and, despite what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims, I don't believe she did anything wrong. Oh,...

Bill Clinton started jogging near his new home in Chappaqua. But on each run, he happened to jog past a hooker standing on the same street corner, day after day. With some apprehension, he would brace himself as he approached her for what was most certainly to follow. "Fifty dollars!" she would shout from the curb. "No. Five dollars!" fired back Clinton. This ritual between Bill and the hooker continued for days. He'd run by and she'd yell, "Fifty dollars!" He'd yell back, "Five dollars!" One day however, Hillary decided that she wanted to accompany her husband on his jog....

WorldCom Stockholders' Boycott Grows By Over 1,000 per Day June 06, 2003 1:50:00 PM ET CHICAGO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of WorldCom stockholders has announced that over 4,500 customers of WorldCom/MCI Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: WCOEQ, MCWEQ), intend to cancel their long distance or internet service if the company's current bankruptcy reorganization plan is approved. "There seems to be a groundswell of anger at big money's use of the bankruptcy process to take assets from individual stockholders," said Neal Nelson, Spokesperson for the WorldCom/MCI Stockholders Group, "We are receiving over 1,000 emails a day indicating that people intend...

On June 11, members of the Massachusetts Education Association have been asked to email their state representatives and senators in a " 'virtual e-day march' to urge legislators to raise revenues by plugging corporate tax loopholes, restoring income tax rates to previous levels and increasing the sales tax and dedicating the increase to education."(You just can't make this stuff up). So, what I'm thinking...if you're from Massachusetts, or know anyone from Massachusetts, forward this to them and ask them to pass it along, and have them email and call their MA elected officials on June 9 and 10 demanding that...

Key vote on ‘partial-birth’ abortions House expected to approve ban, Bush is ready to sign on ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, June 4 — Culminating an eight-year struggle, congressional opponents of an abortion procedure they call partial birth abortion are on the verge of passing a law barring doctors from using it. The House on Wednesday is expected to approve the ban by a comfortable margin. After minor differences with a Senate-passed bill are worked out, the legislation would go to President Bush, who is ready to sign it into law. Congress twice passed partial birth bans, but then President Clinton, citing...

KINGSTON - Silver Lake Regional High School Principal Richard Kelley this morning denied reports that fellow students cheered while two teen-agers engaged in a sex act on a school bus last month. "They were watching, laughing, making comments. They were not cheering," Kelley said. "If they were cheering the bus driver would have known. The bus driver had no idea what was going on." A 14-year-old female junior high school student is alleged to have performed a sex act on a 16-year-old male high school student in a bus on the way to their respective schools on the morning of...