Free Republic

My first reaction to the attempted murder of a Congresswoman and the successful murder of a federal judge was outrage and horror at what one man could do. The left and the media (but I'm redundant) took it as an opportunity to blame the right and Tea Party types because as Rahm Emanuel once said: "never let a good crisis go to waste". They immediately tied this to conservatives without a shred of proof and before the smoke had even cleared.

Iran is still acting froggy and even threatened today to cure us of our arrogance. Despite the repeated admonishments from the UN backed by threats of a fierce wrist slapping and bed without dinner, Ahmadinejad seems poised to take his nation over the edge. The US Navy has moved anti-missile assets into the Arabian Gulf and placed ground-based Patriots in several nations to fend off a missile attack should the Islamic Republic act on their threats and start a regional war no one wants.

So what?? Well, there I was on Monday morning ready to observe the beginning of activity at a project site I am responsible for-- and who was there before me? And before the contractor hired to begin the work? Yep: New York City-based Laborers Local 78 "representatives". Now understand: they knew the DETAILS of a Contract that had been signed by my company only 1 working day prior! Thanks, McGreevey. Interestingly, their approach is "all or nothing". The employees onsite ALREADY belonged to Local 78! But they insisted that ALL persons hired to do this work must come from a...

Maybe the Governator is realizing that conservative ideas are the only ones that will save his state. ...It's time for new ideas and bold initiatives because Lord knows that spending money we don't have has been a disaster. It would be nice to smack Obama upside the head with reality if this approach works even a little bit.

Here's a novel idea; why didn't we spend some of the stimulus money on more "data storage capacity" instead of funneling it to groups like ACORN? I'm sure we could have reduced the amount we gave to the NEA so that we could upgrade our data storage capacity and allow Americans to see where their money is going. A few less "Piss Christs" and other "art" projects may have been put off but we would at least have some clarity on the stim dollars. Money for community organizers and Democrat votes is good. Transparency is bad. This was predicted of...

That said, I still must stand up for A-Rod as he's facing the worst smear job of his career. Yes, he shamed the game by using steroids but the latest allegations are a different story and the person making those allegations is the same one who tried and convicted the Duke lacrosse players before they even were able to speak before a judge. Once they were exonerated, she never once wrote a word retracting her slurs or apologizing to the players. She ruined the lives of three young men because they were rich, white and, well, men. That person is...

President Bush has said on more than one occasion that his legacy can't be judged now and I agree, the battles are still too clear in our memory and the animosity still too fresh to make any type of assessment. I believe he was right in the respect of his handling of the war against international terrorism. It will be noted as a turning point and a model way of dealing with terrorists that don't represent a nation-state when viewed from a different paradigm a decade out. Here's further proof of what I'm talking about as Obama is rekindling a...

There is no way we can allow the Taliban in concert with al-Qaeda to take over the nuke facilities in Pakistan. One would hope that the Pakistanis would have moved the weapons after the previous attacks and it is imperative that the Obama administration find out if they were indeed secreted out to another location. If not, we must press strongly for providing assistance and if they decline we must insist in the strongest possible terms. If that doesn't work, an invasion may need to be considered. A nuclear al-Qaeda is the worst of all possible scenarios. A tight blockade...

We have gone from a very smart administrator--Michael Chertoff--to a woman who doesn't have the first clue as to what security means and she's in charge of our national defense essentially. What qualification does she have? Answer: none. So now we have a DHS secretary who is absolutely unqualified for the position at a time that Obama is cutting our intel-gathering abilities and al-Qaeda is ramping back up to take us out. I feel really good about our national security right about now.

Dick Cheney is not only smart but he is ruthless and is a shrewd politician. Obama is an amateur and not even remotely in Cheney's league, he should have left well-enough alone but opted to embarrass the Bush administration and neuter our intelligence efforts in one fell swoop by releasing the torture memos that, as I noted earlier, are dubious at best.

And so you have it. A thug socialist leader of a nation that is so poor the citizens leave in droves and trek thousands of miles to sneak into America is telling us that we are terrorists. Nicaragua is a nation that uses torture and violence to sway elections and they are belittling us? Obama sits there and takes it and then doesn't even speak to rebut the slander. Why? Because he agrees with it. America is evil--or was until January 20th of this year. Obama is on a tour that has taken him from Europe to the Caribbean with...

Alas for our left-wing friends, they will not see the objects of their scorn strung up because Obama--at least in prosecuting the War on Terror--knows full-well that he may be required to take steps that would have him answering to Congress in 2013 about the tactics he approved. He's now understanding that Bush took actions he deemed appropriate with arch terrorist Zubaydah who probably disclosed important info that we'll never hear about--info that may have saved lives. It seems Obama is realizing that repelling America's enemies and gaining intel is not like reading from a teleprompter in front of 10,000...

Here we have Americans being held--two by nations that President Bush named as part of the Axis of Evil--and he has opted to do nothing. In other words, he's doing what he always has done when a difficult issue faces him, he is voting "present". We are seeing our enemies try to get a measure of the man and he's not measuring up at all. First it was arresting reporters under dubious charges and now it's escalated to attempted high jacking and kidnapping--a tactic that never would have been used when Bush was in office as those who perpetrated the...

So I say to our new President: Do you think it is in the best interest of our country to allow illegal aliens to live and work here when they take jobs, drive without licenses and kill our best and brightest? Are a million votes worth the life of a beautiful young woman who hadn't yet even begun to enjoy life, had children in her future and who would have taught countless boys and girls about school topics and life? My guess is the answer is yes. Perhaps Obama can come to my town and sit in a town hall...

Hamsher is actually surprised by this? The Democrats are treating bloggers just like they've always treated blacks and other minorities; they wink at you and make you feel special and once they win the election they forget about you until the next one. Mark my words, they will come around in early 2010 and make you feel all warm and fuzzy until we get to December 2010 and they'll blow you off again.

I'm for increasing the special forces as long as the quality is not replaced by quantity. We have the best special forces in the world led by the Navy SEALs and to increase their number with inferior men would be a disgrace. As for the increase in civilian jobs, I worked for the military for ten years. There were good people and bad and as anyone knows, government is not the most efficient operation around. I think slapping contractors is a bad idea as they tend to attract and hold the brightest minds with better pay and benefits. a 13%...

The abortion debate has many little nuances and an even greater amount of battles and skirmishes--every one has significance to both sides. By signing this legislation, Kaine is now engulfed and will be a target for the Planned Parenthood and NOW crowd. They will not abide the leader of the national party to jilt them on this and will be vocal at every opportunity. Yes, to the rest of the country not ensconced in the minutiae of the debate it may seem insignificant but to the abortion industry (yes, industry) it is as big a concern as removing tariffs in...

That's a stunning indictment of President Obama and one of the more overt pieces I've read about the complete lack of trust the left now has in Obama. Yes, he will still have his die-hard supporters who will never admit they were wrong in backing such an amateurish candidate, yet every day we are seeing another major backer question whether or not Obama is up to the job. By throwing in a Hillary quote they throw a little salt in the wound as well by showing that not only us on the right were correct in our assessment but that...

And Obama wants to institute card check. If I were the GOP, I'd hit SEIU upside the head with this as often as possible to show that unions are hypocritical and their oppressive standards will only make American business worse. I'd use charts and graphs and point the finger right at SEIU for daring to treat their employees with such utter disrespect. Who does SEIU think they are, WalMart? Oh wait, even WalMart wouldn't have been this uncaring about the rank and file worker.

I don't really know what bothers me more: the fact that the administration would even propose such an idea or the fact that this is yet another example that Barack Obama has no idea what the hell he is doing. How could he have even contemplated this after railing against the Bush administration and saying he was going to do more for the men and women who were injured serving our country? I mean, what must the scene have been like when the idea was proposed? Obama staffer: "Hey, I have an idea, let's have veterans pay for the healthcare...