Free Republic

The FSSC actually was in favor of recounting until Gore was elected. It was the USSC that stepped in and ended it.

I’m afraid this thread is making a lot of people look very naive. The bill includes specific restrictions on the use of the billions it authorizes.. but doesn’t restrict the trillions elsewhere in the 2009 budget. So yeah, they can’t extract human tissue with THESE needles bought by THESE dollars.. but they can use those OTHER needles over here bought with THOSE dollars.

Electing Obama made this happen, and semantic victories about where the money comes from isn’t going to change the actual result for the embryos.

"which requires that American combat forces leave Iraq's cities, villages and localities by June 30, 2009, and all U.S. troops from the entire country by December 31, 2011."

Those are hard deadlines. It ought to have been a conditional agreement, with military approval on both sides before any troops are pulled.

I swear, the Iraqis just copied in the Murtha plan, and the U.S. didn't fight it because they wanted something signed before that one takes over.

But no one should be too concerned.. this agreement will last right until they try to haul a GI into an Iraqi court for an after-hours bar fight, or a forced honor marriage, and we send some guys in to get him back.

I’d excise Ramesh Ponnuru from your list of reputable conservative columnists. The guy removed himself from serious consideration as an intelligent human being when he wrote that Wasilla was more populous than Delaware.

He was off by a factor of a hundred.

It doesn’t really matter how he made the mistake.. anyone who can put the words ‘Wasilla has more people than Delaware’ on paper no longer needs to be listened to on any subject.

Yes, if he wins the primary, and agrees to step down afterwards.

There are two issues, and neither have any requirement that Stevens doe what’s best for the party.

His current Senate seat is his until January. Even if he resigns, the governor cannot select a replacement.. it would require a special election, and we are too close to the general for that. It’s either Stevens, or an empty Senate seat.

For the election, Stevens can stay in the race, even from prison. He can’t be taken off the primary ballot involuntarily. So here’s the timeline:

1. Stevens drops out before the primary. (The primary winner runs in the general, would hopefully be self-funding considering the lack of name recognition and the short campaign season.)

2. Stevens runs in the primary, but loses. (The primary winner runs in the general; not sure about this happening with the anti-Stevens vote split among 6 Republicans.)

3. Stevens runs in the primary, wins, but then drops out before the general. (The Alaska Republican Party selects a candidate to replace Stevens on the ballot.)

4. Stevens runs in the primary, wins, and then runs in the general. (Sen. Begich, D-AK)

And then they all marched back in to vote on recognition for African American achievements.

Because, protecting America may be important, but not important enough to avoid pandering to a constituency that willl never vote Republican.

I feel this sort of backroom bargaining is why the Republican Party needs to end the winner-take-all scenario. McCain was only able to pull this trick because 2nd place was equivalent to last place.

I don’t know what the ACLU is arguing, based on the first paragraph. I know what the AP says the ACLU is arguing, but since it doesn’t match the facts of the case, I’m not going to assume the AP managed to get this one right. It’s much more likely the ACLU is arguing that a sexual invitation has an expectation of privacy.. which is fine, as long as it also allows a fist as a valid, legal response.

Dealing with the ACLU is like going to a Minnesota airport bathroom.. you may be there for a reason, but it’s disgusting to know who might be standing next to you. Sen. Craig should refute every statement made in his ‘support’ by the ACLU. Then again, so should’ve Rush.

They just love adopting Republicans/conservatives and sending out ‘helpful’ press releases on their behalf.

Why do so many people proudly announce to the world that they are not politicians, while desperately trying to become one? Once D.C. has its fingers in them, they are politicians, no matter what they were before.

The only honest thing for a truly-non-politician to do would be to win the election, then refuse to report to Washington.

> I do not believe a Fed. Department has ever been abolished.

The Cabinet positions of the Navy, and the Postmaster General, were removed. The current single Cabinet position of HEW used to be two; Education and HHS.

None of these decisions actually removed the department they represented, of course.

New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area

7/1/2005 Census - 1,313,787

http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metro_general/2006/CBSA-EST2006-01.csv

On the other hand, the census only dropped 300K by the following year, so unless there was a mass white migration INTO N.O. post-Katrina, there’s no way the net exodus of black voters was anywhere near 600K.

I assume you listen with equal attentiveness to the political discourse from George Clooney, Rosie O’Donnell, and Barbara Streisand. After all, they are also ‘actors’.

An actor, or a singer, has an opinion. So do I. Mine is worth an equal amount as theirs.. and even more if they happen to be idiots. They just have access to a soapbox that broadcasts farther than I can, and also have a lapdog press mindlessly repeating their words. If they weren’t so interested in their own promotion, they would most definitely shut up and do what they are paid for.

Chuck,

Shut up and ‘act’. (as best you can, anyway)

Taking political advice from Chuck Norris/Ted Nugent et. al. is about as intelligent as taking political advice from the Dixie Chicks. None of them are paid for their political acumen.

The PKK is a terrorist organization, and there is no excuse for the regional government of Kurdistan to allow them to operate in their sphere of influence. The majority of Kurds do not support their methods, as they often find themselves included in the violence.

So, it is only because the Kurds openly support the PKKs goal of a unified Kurdistan, pulling in parts of Turkey, Syria, and Iran into the Iraqi section, that the PKK find themselves able to operate with impunity.. killing Turkish soldiers and innocent civilians.. then blending back in with the Kurds, just as the Iraqi terrorists blend in with Iraqi citizens too afraid of reprisals to protest.

I support the government of Turkey in their effort to remove a terrorist threat to their citizens. It is the exact same decision that led us to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps the Kurds will see reason once they understand that no democratic government is going to allow an active terrorist enemy to destroy them.

The announcement by Dr. Dobson is not intended to herald the impending support of a third-party candidate against both Hillary and Rudy. It is intended to torpedo Rudy’s nomination now, while something can be done about it.

You want a unified Republican party? Don’t nominate Rudy.

Republicans weren’t offered a similar choice to have nixed Perot prior to the ‘92 election. If Rudy gets the nod anyway, no one can say they weren’t warned.

> Where is the sea level rise associated with all this melting ice?

When floating ice melts, the water level doesn’t change.

Didn’t you watch Mr. Wizard?

Might want to study up on the differences between the DJIA and long-term debt markets. Not even close to the same thing.

Hindsight is useless to help Iraq, although it may give us a better idea how to handle future confrontations in the region. I have no doubt that we will have them.

We should have retained the Iraqi army, paid for an equivalent Shiite force, assigned them to partitioned portions of the country (with Kurdistan responsible for their own security), put a military council of equal representation in charge of the country with the instruction to plan for a democratic transition on their own timeline. Any attempt at a return to dictatorship would be met with a return visit by our troops, who otherwise would be stationed outside the region.

As it is, disbanding the Iraqi army was the worst decision that could have been made, converting security into insurgency. As it is, Iraq is facing a hellish Catch-22 around November of this year with the referendum on Kirkuk. If the referendum is delayed, the Kurds will join the civil war. If the referendum is held, the Arabs and Turkmen of Kirkuk will be slaughtered. We have no security forces, either internal to Iraq or American military, that can police that area and avoid either outcome.

"if they can tone down the noise for a year the Shi'ites and Sunnis can get on with killing each other in the name of Osama, Mohammed, Allah or any Muslim notability of their choosing."

When you put it that way, I say Sounds good, supply both sides with ammunition, and then when they're done, bomb the winner. Let the smart Iraqis come back in when its over and build a real country.