Free Republic

As the 2012 election fund-raising cycle heats up, the onetime darling is finding far less enthusiasm from the showbiz donors who tell THR what went wrong. At this point in the previous presidential election cycle, Barack Obama was a Hollywood heartthrob. The entertainment industry's ardent Democratic activists couldn't dig deep enough into their wallets to finance his ambitious run for the Oval Office. The industry remains with the president, but the disenchantment is increasingly palpable, and even devoted Democrats are approaching his re-election campaign with all the enthusiasm of a studio contractually obligated to finance a dubious sequel. Obama certainly...

Volcker Assumes Smaller-Than-Expected Role With Obama By MONICA LANGLEY WASHINGTON -- As an early supporter of Barack Obama, Paul Volcker gave the young presidential candidate gravitas and advice. He frequently sat by Mr. Obama's side at key economic events, and started carrying a cellphone for the first time, just to be able to brainstorm with the candidate from the campaign trail. In the Obama White House, the role of the 81-year-old former chairman of the Federal Reserve has been more limited. The one-time central banker has been put in charge of a presidential advisory board that hasn't yet had a...

(AP) FERNDALE, Mich. A Detroit man with a history of smashing store windows to grab female mannequins has been accused of indulging his fetish again. Ronald A. Dotson, 39, was arrested and jailed Oct. 9 after breaking a window at a cleaning-supply company to get at a mannequin in a black and white French maid's uniform, police said. A judge Thursday ordered him to undergo a psychiatric examination to determine whether he is competent to stand trial on charges of attempted breaking and entering. "Mr. Dotson went to prison and they haven't helped him," said his lawyer, Edward Cohn. "He...

A judge in Afghanistan said today that Abdul Rahman, the man charged with converting to Christianity, would face the death penalty, or worse, if convicted of the crime. “We could behead him and then throw the book at him,” said the judge presiding over the case, raising the specter that the punishment could include intentional abuse and damage to Mr. Rahman’s copy of the Bible. The threat to the Bible comes as retribution for reported incidents of Koran desecration last year by Americans at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility. Those allegations sparked deadly Muslim riots worldwide. Meanwhile, state governors...

Oh, Canada, what the heck is going on? In a staggering display of in-your-face defiance, the Canadian government now says it will not turn over any members of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's crew if they show up in Canada, including the dictator himself! Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum says his government would give Saddam only to the World Court at The Hague. This unprovoked belligerence comes after Prime Minister Jean Chretien gleefully pilloried the Bush administration over fighting Iraq every chance he got. Chretien and his cohorts have made no secret of their disdain for President Bush, and the Canadian...

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