Free Republic

The 2004 election renews the Reagan legacy. I wonder why no one has stated the obvious. Bush wins more popular votes than Reagan while at the same time revving up the base to levels not seen since Reagan times. As a big Reagan fan, I am proud -- W is the perfect successor to continue the legacy. His vision of freedom and liberty to all is what counts. I would bet deep down the Iraqis are breathing a big sigh of relief.

Still not fired up to vote, huh? Fair enough: [T]he invasion of Iraq has bogged down the United States in a hopeless war that advances al Qaeda’s recruitment goals and [its] aim of bankrupting the U.S. economy. Was that Ted Kennedy? No. Nancy Pelosi? Um, no. Krugman, Scheer, Clift, Moore, Oliphant, Matthews, Woodruff, O’Donnell? Nope. A pre-nomination speech by John Kerry? No. That was Osama bin Laden. But, don’t just get mad at the far left about the rancid company they keep. Get even. VOTE. http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=5017

Republicans trounced Democrats in a scorecard of key technology votes compiled by CNET News.com that illuminates stark differences in the two parties' voting history in the U.S. Congress over nearly a decade. Senate Republicans scored an average of 61 percent--15 points higher than their Democratic counterparts, who on average scored 46 percent. The gap was mirrored in the ratings garnered by their counterparts in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans boast a 68 percent collective score compared with 52 percent for Democrats. Of the 25 most tech-friendly members of the House, 19 are Republicans. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic...

Vitriol rising We all are watching as the vitriol level from Kerry and his campaign reaches heights never seen before. The outright meanness, made up stories, over the top comments and speeches just keep coming. I never thought I would see a US Presidential candidate stoop so low. But here we are. The Democrats, blinded by their hate, hardly seem to notice. Truly bottom feeding and not Presidential by any measure. Can anyone close their eyes and picture Kerry leading the country. Do it, close your eyes and think about one of Kerry's speeches, if you can remember one. --...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The highest ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib during a court martial Thursday in Baghdad. Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Va., was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge. The sentencing came a day after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight counts of abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees. He had faced a maximum possible sentence of 11 years in prison. The Abu Ghraib scandal broke worldwide in April with the publication of...

Why is anyone surprised we did not find the WMDs the UN said Saddam Hussein's Iraq still had. It amazes me that the world sat breathless while Hans Blix told the UN security council that fateful day --- UN inspectors said Iraq had large stockpiles of WMDs UN inspectors could not find the unaccounted for WMD stockpiles UN Inspectors could not prove Iraq had destroyed the unaccounted for WMDs UN Inspectors had found programs to build illegal missiles UN inspectors had found programs to build illegal drones UN inspectors said Iraq was not complying with UN res 1441 UN inspectors...

The Iraqi Oil for WMD scam, what was it all about I think it is important to connect some dots now. There are enough dots being tossed around by the Democrats, so it's time to dump the fakes, the poseurs, and keep the real dots. Here is my take on the Iraq war and the 'UN-Iraq oil for WMD' scam. Post 9/11 the rules changed. We now know what terrorist will do ... It's necessary to start with the premise that Saddam Hussein wanted to be armed with chemical, and nuclear warheads. Saddam Hussein's goal was to rule the Arab...

NEW YORK -- It is an image from the Vietnam era that most Americans have never seen: a somber John Forbes Kerry, then 27, speaking with a fellow veteran in 1971 about the violence of warfare that both men had participated in. ... snip Yet the film, which is set to open in the United States on Oct. 1, arrives at a time when many voters are skeptical of the hagiography that envelops Kerry's wartime experiences in "Going Upriver," an expression for going into battle. The movie was conceived long before a group of veterans began attacking Kerry's combat record...

snip .. Kerry's reluctance is rooted in a misguided belief that the four-and-a-half month-long slice of his life in Vietnam is so compelling, he can sidestep the current conflict. He is worried that criticizing Bush's war makes him sound weak to non-liberal voters. And he is boxed in by his vote authorizing war and a series of statements offering different explanations for the vote. snip .. But the controversy stirred by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth demonstrates the inherent political risk of banking an entire presidential campaign on a war that still turns baby-boomers against each other and will...

OK, so it looks like Florida is going to get cloberred by CHARLEY. Maybe this doesn't mean anything to you CA types. But trust me, in Florida it's all that is being talked about. Bush could easily turn this to his advantage. I sure hope Bush 43 remembers what Clinton did to Bush 41. Bush 41 may have lost Florida because of him not acting fast enough with hurricane aid. Now is the time to get ready with federal help. Anybody who knows anybody better put out the word. Bush needs on TOP OF AID NOW and be ready. Make...

India and Pakistan seek detente India and Pakistan are holding a second day of talks aimed at building mutual trust on the issue of nuclear weapons. After an initial meeting in Delhi on Saturday, the two sides said the talks were cordial and constructive. A possible ban on further weapons testing, and better nuclear crisis management are under discussion, six years after the two carried out tests. This weekend's talks will pave the way for a meeting between the countries' foreign secretaries later this month. Pakistani Foreign Ministry official Tariq Usman Haider later paid a courtesy call on Indian Foreign...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies are gearing up to create jobs at rates not seen since the height of the 1990s boom, a survey released on Tuesday showed, adding to evidence that job growth will keep the U.S. economic recovery rolling. Following two months of strong government payroll reports, the survey is a boon to President Bush in the run-up to elections and will likely confirm expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates at the end of June as it moves to beat off emerging inflation. Thirty percent of polled U.S. employers plan to add to...

Crude oil futures on Monday slipped further from their record highs reached a week ago, following the recent build in US crude inventories, Opec's increase in its production ceiling and a further unwinding of speculative interest in US crude futures. IPE Brent for July delivery fell 77 cents to $34.90 a barrel in Early morning London trade, losing more than $4 or 11 per cent since its close of $39.08 last Tuesday, which was its highest finish since October 1990. Nymex WTI for July delivery dropped 68 cents to $37.81 in electronic trade and about 11 per cent below its...

By Betsy Pisik THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published December 17, 2003 Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari speaks to reporters after a United Nations Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday.(AP) NEW YORK -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari yesterday chastised war opponents at the U.N. Security Council -- and the United Nations itself -- for failing to help the Iraqi people during three decades of Saddam Hussein's brutal reign. Although he did not list names, France, Russia and Germany were prominent among the countries that had resisted a Security Council resolution authorizing the war in Iraq. "One year ago, this...

(2004-05-28) -- Former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a gracious, respected statesman since George Bush usurped his presidency in 2000, today said he has offered the Bush administration a "sensible proposal to bring peace with dignity to Iraq." In the dignified manner that has become the hallmark of his public utterances, Mr. Gore urged all Americans to "rally behind the president's efforts to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq." "We never want to say anything that would cause our enemies to question our resolve," said the itinerant professor. "I have quietly offered my ideas to the president, confidentially...

WASHINGTON - The economy grew at a 4.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, slightly faster than previously thought and fresh evidence that the recovery possessed good momentum as it headed into the current quarter. The increase in gross domestic product from January through March reported by the Commerce Department (news - web sites) on Thursday marked an improvement from both the 4.2 percent pace first estimated for the quarter a month ago and the 4.1 percent growth rate registered in the final quarter of 2003. The GDP (news - web sites) measures the value of...

NEW YORK - New York officials probably would not have changed security priorities even if they had knowledge of an August 2001 White House briefing paper that warned of terrorists casing city buildings, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani told the Sept. 11 commission Wednesday. Giuliani's testimony was interrupted with angry outbursts by victims' families, including chants of "One-sided!" and "Put us on the panel!" One man, a longtime Giuliani adversary, was tossed out of the hearing after shouting at the panel to "ask some real questions!" The heckling was a sharp contrast to some of the questioning from commission members, who...

With the election season moving into full swing as Americans start thinking about their summer travel plans, it's sadly predictable that politicians will try to curry favor with voters by playing silly blame games and proposing simplistic quick fixes for rising gasoline prices, which are averaging more than $2 a gallon. A case in point is the demand made yesterday by 20 Senate Democrats that the government release as much as 60 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next two months. President Bush is rightly resisting the call. Since 9/11, the administration has been adding...

A previously-unknown software flaw in a widely-deployed General Electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the August 14th northeastern U.S. blackout, industry officials revealed this week. The bug in GE Energy's XA/21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted by GE and a contractor in the weeks following the blackout, according to FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio utility where investigators say the blackout began. "It had never evidenced itself until that day," said spokesman Ralph DiNicola. "This fault was so deeply embedded, it took them weeks of pouring through millions of lines of code and data...

A lot of this drugs and Rush stuff isn't adding up for me. So let me try out a theory here. Read this on http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html If true it gives insight to the behind the scenes goings on. Note that the two were running a Palm Beach-area pharmacy. Now, what if Rush were a legitimate customer of the pharmacy these two owned. Just happened this way. With me so far? So the maid may have been picking up Rush's legitimate prescriptions all along. So if anyone asked, she just says these are for Rush. Cool cover story for the maid/pusher who...