Free Republic

When I first registered to vote I got some advice from my father which I recently passed onto my son. Register as an independent. That way you’ll have total freedom to vote in any primary. Such was the law in both my home and adopted state. Still is. Now he did this as a way to vote for the least onerous democrat in the primary as a way to limit the damage. Kinda let’s you know how long ago this was. Nowadays they’re all onerous. Still, when I moved north I proudly kept my unenrolled status when I registered. Since...

Democrats 50.56% (91 votes) Republicans 49.44% (89 votes) Total Votes: 180

Please forgive the vanity. I covet your prayers this morning. I'm going on my first job interview in 13 years. I'm well prepared, but lets face it, the landscape has changed a bit since I last did this. Please pray this this goes well.

American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in Gaza ten years ago today. The International Solidarity Movement write this message in her memory. Rachel, a 23 year old woman from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer on the 16th March 2003, whilst protesting non-violently against the demolition of a Palestinian house by Israeli forces. As an activist she spoke out about the injustices that she saw in Gaza. “I feel like I’m witnessing the systematic destruction of a people’s ability to survive. It’s horrifying… Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there...

I'm asking for prayer for my wife. Tomorrow she is having surgery to fix a Chiari Malformation. She's been having symptoms for a long time, but it's gotten to the point when it can't be managed anymore. I think we've got the best surgeon we could get, and have a lot of support from our friends/family, but we covet your prayers.

He was a published author. He inspired a president. He barked at members of Congress and foreign dignitaries. Splash, Vicki and Edward M. Kennedy's beloved Portuguese water dog and a constant presence at the senator's side, bounding and romping as he rumbled through the halls of power, has died. The death of the 13-½-year-old curly-haired canine is eliciting fond tributes, fit for the passing of such a famous fixture of official Washington. Splash, after all, hobnobbed with Elton John, leapt around the Oval Office, and once growled at Joe Biden and Paul Wellstone when the two senators wouldn't stop talking...

Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White House, a new poll shows. Although Brown’s 4-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley is within the Suffolk University/7News survey’s margin of error, the underdog’s position at the top of the results stunned even pollster David Paleologos. “It’s a Brown-out,” said Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center. “It’s a massive change in the political landscape.” The poll shows Brown, a state senator from Wrentham,...

Don't know if this was posted already, but darn, it's good.

Massachusetts taxpayers have just two weeks to recoup some $250 million in capital gains taxes they paid under a 2002 tax increase that was struck down by the courts, but some accountants and tax advocates say the state has not done enough to alert taxpayers to the impending deadline. About 157,000 of the state's 3.3 million tax filers qualify for a refund, which would average about $1,600. The deadline to file is June 30; the payments will be made, without interest, over a period of four years.

CONCORD, N.H. --In 1936, when the Merrimack River overflowed its banks and swept away roads, bridges and buildings from central New Hampshire to the Massachusetts coast, the Army Corps of Engineers took action. The agency built five dams and several reservoirs, seizing thousands of acres of private property in more than a dozen New Hampshire towns. The project, finished in 1963, protected residents downstream, including parts of Massachusetts. In the 1950s, Massachusetts and New Hampshire entered into a deal to compensate those towns each year for lost property taxes. Because Massachusetts received more of the benefit from the dams, that...

A majority of people who moved out of Massachusetts last year report they are very satisfied with life in their new state and would not move back, a Boston Globe poll has found. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said they live in a home that is bigger than their home in Massachusetts was. Fifty-four percent said their standard of living is higher now. The top reason people gave for leaving Massachusetts was a better job, followed by the cost of housing, family ties, and the weather. In a separate set of questions, 50 percent of those surveyed said the cost...