Free Republic

Coming on the heels of the Winter Soldier retread that once again portrayed U.S. soldiers as bloodthirsty maniacs, antiwar protestors converged on Washington D.C. this week for another major antiwar protest. At least, that’s what the organizers promised to deliver. The protests kicked off on Tuesday night with “Sound the Alarm” at Union Station. This demonstration was modeled after “Frozen Grand Central,” a piece of performance art carried out at Grand Central Station in January. The idea is that a large group of people suddenly freeze in place, in the middle of a busy train station, for five minutes. If...

Johnson County, Kansas DA Phill Kline may become the first to bring down a local Planned Parenthood operation on a host of criminal charges including failures to report sexual abuse of minors, criminal late term abortions and forged records. The legal wars between Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and Kline boil down to two simple points: first, Kline alleges -- and has taken to a grand jury -- evidence that Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri routinely fails to report sexual abuse of children and its doctors perform illegal partial-birth abortions; second, that this particular Planned Parenthood -- which...

Barack Obama’s personality and speaking ability have made him a media darling since the 2004 Democratic convention. But campaigning in Iowa, his unfocused optimism has rapidly declined into the same old tired liberalism. Obama -- like all liberals -- believes he knows what’s good for you: in fact, better than you do. Obama’s standard stump speech, repeated over and over in Iowa, says in part that politicians shouldn’t tell people what they want to hear but what they need to hear. Implicit in that is Obama’s belief that he knows more than Iowans do about the issues that should be...

Controversy erupted last night after Republican presidential candidates participating in the CNN/YouTube debate received a question from an undisclosed gay activist and supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr told candidates he was an “openly gay man,” member of the “California National Reserve”, and asked “why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians?” He did not mention that he is a member of the LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee and a co-chair on Hillary Clinton's National Military Veterans group. Kerr was in the...

There is so much evidence of Hillary Clinton’s corruption, you’d think even a reporter for a mainstream news outlet would have to stumble over enough to write or talk about it. But ever since her husband popped up on the national scene, the media has downplayed every scandal. Now, a new book on the Democratic presidential frontrunner examines why Hillary became a media darling before she even set foot in the White House. Media Research Center President Brent Bozell’s “Whitewash” details the media’s efforts to protect the Clintons again and again. The White House travel office mess, “Filegate” and so...

The swirling social conservative endorsements of Republican presidential candidates continued yesterday when the National Right to Life Committee endorsed former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. At a press conference yesterday morning, Executive Director David O’ Steen said the 58-member NRLC committee voted Sunday based on three critical factors: his 100% pro-life record, his commitment to the unborn and his electability. “He is well-positioned -- best positioned to be President of the United States…for unborn children,” said O ‘Steen. Thompson came under fire from pro-lifers recently when he recently said he would not support a human life amendment. Questioned on this point,...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) agrees with the Bush Administration’s imposition of new, strict sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is involved deeply in global terrorism and supporting the insurgent forces in Iraq, as he said in a conference call with bloggers Thursday. McCain said the US should proceed with sanctions but encourage like-minded nations to engage as well. “We could have a significant impact on the Iranians if other European countries…who share our views and values, vote for this too,” he said. The senator said he recognized the Russians would pose a problem that we would “have to go...

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence is one of the strongest opponents of the Democrats’ attacks on free speech and especially their plans to kill conservative talk radio by re-instituting the so-called “fairness doctrine”, the unconstitutional regulation requiring government mandated, balanced political coverage. A former talk radio host himself, Pence is also fervent about “The Free Flow of Information Act”, to protect confidentiality between reporters and sources, which passed by a vote of 398-21 last evening. Yesterday, speaking with reporters and bloggers at The Heritage Foundation, Pence said he encountered a telling Bible verse in his morning devotions. “Where the Spirit of...

With some conservatives eagerly awaiting the announcement of a Newt Gingrich presidential run, the former House Speaker launched his inaugural Solutions Day in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday. The two day event kicked off with Gingrich’s opening address that outlined the problems facing America and how citizens could fundamentally address the challenges. “American people are tired of red versus blue…the American people do want red, white, blue and that means bringing us together,” Gingrich said, repeating a line he’s used to color the face of Solutions Day in the past week. He derided the concept a divided country (one of former Sen....

If you don’t believe that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is dangerous to American national security, “Crisis in the Americas”, a new film produced by the American Security Council Foundation, will convince you. ASCF drew from their 1980's video series about similarly threatening countries during the Cold War, called "Peace through Strength." The new series, called "Defending Freedom", educates the public about the dangers America faces via Venezuela’s oil-rich dictator. “Crisis in the Americas” documents the close alliance Chavez shares with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Chavez’s eerily parallel ideologies and close coalition with Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took his best shot at befriending the members of America’s largest and most influential gun rights organization today in a speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA). Emphasizing the need state and local government to control crime and gun laws, Republican presidential candidate Giuliani made sure to highlight personal freedoms and said the 2nd Amendment “is just as important as free speech” and every other part of the Constitution. Giuliani said that gun rights improved under President Bush and guaranteed that they will continue to improve even more if he becomes President. “The...

Fact: 54% of voters in the 2004 election were women and that’s good news for Hillary Clinton (D-NY). According to various news reports, Clinton employs six full-time staffers specifically for women’s outreach -- more than any other candidate -- to reel in the female vote. For now, Clinton leads Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the Democratic race by a 42-23% (according to the latest RCP poll) margin and will likely take the nomination for 2008. She knows how critical that female vote is, which is why she participated in a Women in Public Policy (WIPP) event yesterday. Clinton used the...

A gaggle of Code Pink anti-war protestors lined the sidewalk of the Upper Senate Park yesterday bearing signs that read “healthcare not warfare”-- one of the sign holders an overweight smoker. Another was a nose-pierced man in a suit wearing a feathery pink crown. But the circus sideshow was overshadowed by a platform of tan and red-shirted men and women standing in representation of Vets for Freedom and Families United, a grassroots coalition of Gold Star and Blue Star families. The two groups came together Monday and Tuesday in effort to rally Congress in support of the troops and their...

Duncan D. Hunter never thought he would follow in his father (presidential candidate Duncan Hunter)’s political footsteps. He hadn’t planned on joining the Marines either. But 9/11 changed America and Hunter’s life dramatically. Today, he is serving his third combat tour -- the first two in Iraq -- in Afghanistan. And his wife is campaigning as his surrogate for San Diego, California’s 52nd Congressional District, the seat Hunter’s father now holds, including the cities of Alpine and La Mesa. Hunter’s wife Margaret stepped in to carry the campaign on after he was called from the reserves to go overseas. Now...

Kirk Johnson, formerly the Deputy Director for Assessments in the Joint Strategic Planning and Assessment office at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, met with bloggers yesterday to help the community understand the elements that comprise the security improvements in Iraq that result from the troop surge. Fresh from Iraq (he left less than two weeks ago), Johnson relayed his take on the progress report, mentioning that the surge was initially put forth last year as a “new way forward.” Like any new plan, the surge required some tweaks. Johnson, who was also the chief statistician for Ambassador Ryan Crocker, said...

Fred Thompson had left us wide eyed and impatient. He’s been the novelty non-candidate for months now -- the starry-eyed crush of the Republican Party. He’s flirted with those left unfulfilled by the current stock of candidates -- including pro-choice, pro-illegal immigration and flip flopping Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, respectively. The time finally came for Thompson to step into the race -- but not before bypassing one more debate session and trading chuckles with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. “I’m running for President of the United States,” he told Leno late Wednesday night, adding that, “it’s...

A huge number of Americans own stocks and bonds, but some of the largest investors are company, state and federal pension plans. With the financial power of these pension plans exercised by a few experts, most people have been unaware that the pension plan on which they rely -- or in which their state government invests -- may be supporting terrorist governments. US law prevents direct investment in terrorist states, but companies that do business with those countries are lawful investments for US pension plans. To reverse that, Missouri, Louisiana, California and other states are leading a national effort to...

After the immigration bill was killed, we let ourselves breathe a little easier. But just because that battle was conquered doesn't mean we don't have a long way to go. Last week's deportation of Elvira Arellano -- an illegal immigrant who'd been hiding out in a church for over a year -- has lifted the issue to the bubbling surface of controversy once again. My own Montgomery County is the center of a specific battle right now. An ID card is apparantly being issued by immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland. According to the Washington Examiner, the group has provided...

The more time passes, the less the public cares for a political parade of presidential candidates. Yesterday’s Democratic debate on ABC began with no frills when moderator George Stephanopoulos broached the question: “Is Barack Obama experienced enough to be president?” The answer is no, but none of the Dems would say that directly. Leading the race at 27%, according to an ABC poll, Obama’s response regarding diplomatic relations with volatile nations in the previous debate has generated heat with Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY). Clinton has said Obama’s ideas to meet with foreign leaders -- in places like North Korea and...

Six Democrat candidates for President stepped cautiously onto a Los Angeles stage last night. Two of them -- Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska Gov. Mike Gravel, were a bit more comfortable than the others, being the only ones who have declared themselves in favor of gay marriage. The other four -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill), Sen. John Edwards (NC), and Gov. Bill Richardson(NM) -- cautiously framed their responses proving that brevity is not only the soul of wit, it’s sometimes a pol’s only camouflage. The Dems succeeded last night only in muddying their already...