Free Republic

A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot. In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D'Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars. It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for...

Since 2006, the Taliban have made a dramatic comeback in Afghanistan after being driven from the country in 2002. As security has deteriorated, they have steadily taken control of more and more territory. In response, a new strategic plan for Afghanistan has been formulated by General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of ISAF and US Forces - Afghanistan. On Dec. 3, 2009, this plan was approved by the Obama administration. While there are several important aspects of the strategy, such as political development, economic development, counter narcotics, and the police and justice system, this article will focus on the military aspect.

MARJAH, Afghanistan -- U.S., Afghan and British troops were in the early stages of securing the town of Marjah Saturday, with thousands of infantrymen moving in on foot after helicopter-born soldiers seized two central shopping bazaars. The airborne troops landed before dawn, opening the first major military push in the latest surge of U.S. and allied forces into Afghanistan. So far, the troops have encountered only hit-and-run resistance from Taliban fighters, who have been taking potshots from compounds before moving out as the allied troops returned fire. Afghan officials said five Taliban had been killed; there was no word on...

MARJAH, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers spearheading the ground assault reached the outer rim of the Taliban-held town Saturday, as a major offensive began to break the extremists' grip over a wide area of their southern heartland. Punching their way through a line of insurgent defenses that included mines and homemade bombs, the ground forces reached the main canal that marks the northern entrance to Marjah. Five Taliban fighters have been killed and eight arrested since the offensive began overnight, said Helmand government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. He said troops had recovered the bodies of the dead militants. The...

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo7HiQRM7BA Description: Carly for California released FCINO, exposing Tom Campbell as a Fiscal Conservative In Name Only. Since his flip-flop into the Senate race, Campbell has been calling himself a fiscal conservative based on his time as a member of Congress nearly two decades ago, hoping that voters will ignore his recent support for more government spending, increased borrowing, a $16 billion tax hike and a 32-cent gas tax increase.

Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counterattack designed to help save Harry Reid’s political career. First, Reid’s allies plan to distribute the NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere — including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS programs. Separately, the Congressional Black Caucus plans to issue a new statement Monday, defending Reid and brushing back Republicans. “Senator Reid’s record provides a stark contrast to actions of Republicans...

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, Nigerian would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was indicted by a Michigan grand jury for attempted murder and sundry other criminal charges. The previous day, the State Department announced that his visa had been revoked. The system worked. Well, it did for Abdulmutallab. What he lost in flying privileges he gained in Miranda rights. He was singing quite freely when seized after trying to bring down Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit. But the Obama administration decided to give him a lawyer and the right to remain silent. We are now forced to purchase information from this attempted...

The killing of the three Fatah operatives in Nablus by the IDF over the weekend could trigger a third intifada, Fatah officials warned on Sunday. But the new intifada, they said, would be different from the first two - this time it would be directed against the Palestinian Authority. During the funerals of the three men, all veteran members and leaders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, thousands of Palestinians chanted slogans accusing the PA of collusion with Israel and calling for an end to security coordination with Israel and the dismantling of the PA. For several hours...

The Senate's healthcare bill is fatally flawed, a senior Democrat atop a powerful committee said on Wednesday. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee and co-chairwoman of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said that the Senate's bill is so flawed that it's unlikely to be resolved in conference with the bill to have passed the House. "The Senate health care bill is not worthy of the historic vote that the House took a month ago," Slaughter wrote in an opinion piece for CNN's website. Slaughter argued that while the House bill is far from perfect, the Senate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RUnRO1ISB0 Ayad Jamal Al-Din on Al-Arabiya TV - January 3, 2005

Video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erk22YkMybA Saudi Arabia uses fighter jets against Yemeni Houthi rebels. Both Yemen & Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of arming the rebels. Why did Arab satellites carriers drop Iranian Al Alam TV? And will the war of proxies lead to a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran ?

Public Policy Polling: Perhaps the greatest measure of Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor. Given the horrendous approval ratings Bush showed during his final term that's somewhat of a surprise and an indication that voters are increasingly placing the blame on Obama for the country's difficulties instead of giving him space because of the tough situation he inherited. The closeness in the Obama/Bush numbers also has implications for the 2010 elections. Using the Bush card may not...

What is an Islamist foreign policy, exactly? Is it identifying with Muslims and their suffering, or is it identifying with anti-Western regimes even at the cost of Muslims' best interests? Turkey's foreign policy under the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government demonstrates that far from protecting Muslims and their interests, it is the promotion of à la carte morals – bashing the West and supporting anti-Western regimes, even when the latter hurts Muslims. Since coming to power in 2002, the AKP has dramatically changed Turkey's foreign policy. The party has let Ankara's ties with pro-Western Azerbaijan, Georgia and Israel...

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rafie al-Issawi discussed with the chief of Google company on Sunday investment opportunities available in Iraq’s communications sector, according to a release by Issawi’s office. “Issawi and Eric Schmidt took up ways to launch investments in the communications field with the objective of providing better services for Iraqi citizens,” read the release as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an engineer, Chairman/CEO of Google Inc. and a former member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. He also sits on the board of...

In a SPIEGEL interview, Charles Krauthammer, the leading voice of America's conservative intellectuals, discusses Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, the president's failures and the state of the United Nations and the international community. SPIEGEL: Mr. Krauthammer, did the Nobel Commitee in Oslo honor or doom the Obama presidency by awarding him the Peace Prize? Charles Krauthammer: It is so comical. Absurd. Any prize that goes to Kellogg and Briand, Le Duc Tho and Arafat, and Rigoberta Menchú, and ends up with Obama, tells you all you need to know. For Obama it's not very good because it reaffirms the stereotypes...

The White House’s extraordinary assault on the Fox News Channel will end in tears – and not for Rupert Murdoch, Fox’s owner. The Obama administration has embarked on a high-risk strategy of shooting the messenger, in effect blaming its plummeting poll ratings on alleged political bias at the number one 24-hour cable news network. As Anita Dunn, the Mao-quoting White House communications director put it in an interview with The New York Times: “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent. As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t...

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, says bringing peace and security to Afghanistan and Iraq represents a major challenge, but one that the US is committed to achieving. In a wide-ranging interview with Al Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara, Gates spoke about: the US strategy for peace in Afghanistan facing a "war of necessity", the divide between two wars, fighting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan's role in the region, the "threat" of a nuclear Iran, maintaining allies in the Middle East, and US ties with Latin America.

Sri Lanka's army has said it will be happy to give training to members of the Pakistani military. It says Islamabad has requested the training because of the country's success in defeating the Tamil Tigers. In May, the government announced the end to a decades-long war with the rebel group. The army's new commander told the BBC that Pakistan had already asked if it could send its military cadets to train in counter-insurgency operations. "We'll give a favourable response," Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya said of the request..

Blanche Lincoln Calls Constituents Un-American, Then Reconsiders Oh, Blanche Lincoln, blue senator in a red state, you must act more wisely than this: “It’s so sad, because it’s diminishing to the process, it’s diminishing to our outcome,” Lincoln said in a conference call with reporters. “I think it’s sad that they choose to do that. I think it’s un-American and disrespectful.” She later retracted, saying she doesn't actually think everyone who disagrees with her is un-American: “Although I do believe that some of these protesters are disrespectful of other citizens in the audience who truly want to ask questions about...

The Palestinian Authority has closed down the West Bank offices of Arabic satellite news channel al-Jazeera. The self-rule body said al-Jazeera promoted a negative view of its work and that the coverage is biased. It comes a day after a guest on the station accused Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of collaborating with Israel to have Yasser Arafat killed. The channel - based in Doha - said it was "stunned" by the Palestinian Authority's decision. But the BBC's Arab Affairs Analyst, Magdi Abdlehadi, says the controversy surrounding al-Jazeera's broadcast reveals more about the crisis within Mr Abbas's group than about the...