Free Republic

Here's a revealing glimpse into how a delusional, incompetent, pathological liar has managed never to hold a real press conference and yet remains a credible public figure. She avoids the filters - i.e. skeptical journalists - and deploys one simple propaganda tool: (Requests to interview Palin for this article, specifically about her experiences in the 2008 campaign, were turned down. Her former communications aide Meghan Stapleton explained that "with her Fox exclusivity, we are denying requests for articles and stories right now.") The reason I banged on and on about Palin's bizarre story about her fifth campaign prop during the...

When groups such as the Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam and various other black nationalist organizations appealed publicly for social justice, they were soundly denounced by white America as dangerous radicals and militants. Fed by a national negative media frenzy, law enforcement created a brutal covert and overt crackdown that included killings, beatings, arrests and destruction of character and property. These actions created a fear that shut down many groups. While civil rights organizations were meted with similar negativity, they had some liberal white press and philanthropy, even white and Jewish members and martyrs. The entire human rights/civil...

Just this week a militia group and the tea party movement intersected. Mike Vanderboegh, former leader of the Alabama Constitutional Militia, recently called for hundreds of thousands of gun owners to “point their muzzles at the hearts of tyrants” when discussing ways to oppose recent congressional legislation. He also encouraged breaking of Democratic Party leaders windows to get their attention. He said “To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW.” After this, there was a rash of such incidents. And, today 7 militia members were arrested in FBI raids in the midwest...

THE NUMBERS are in, and there can no longer be any doubt that President Obama’s stimulus bill, passed just over a year ago, helped pull America from the brink of economic catastrophe, in part by creating millions of jobs that would not otherwise have existed. All of the major economic research firms that have studied the stimulus’ effect have come to this conclusion. Still, though, it’s ridiculous to deny, as many have, that adding 2.5 million jobs was a poor use of government funds. Stimulus opponents, often motivated by strictly ideological or political concerns, have repeatedly claimed that the bill...

Since 2004, alliance has transcended political differences.BY CHRIS CASTEELWASHINGTON — Some Oklahomans who saw Sen. Tom Coburn hug President Barack Obama after the president’s recent speech to Congress were probably perplexed. Some weren’t too happy about it. "We had about 50 letters that were highly critical of him hugging me and me hugging him,” Coburn, R-Muskogee, said in an interview last week. "But you need to separate the difference in political philosophy versus friendship. How better to influence somebody than love them? "I’m not aligned with him politically. I don’t know what people back home in Oklahoma would be worried...

The media is ruthless. There's no getting around it. No matter how diligently we argue that a certain candidate was unfairly attacked, there is no denying that any candidate, whether black or white, liberal or conservative (especially conservative), male or female, will experience the wrath of the media's brutal assault. I read the last issue of the Spectator about Sarah Palin and I have several issues with it. The first is his claim that the media was overly harsh when ridiculing her policies and behavior. Yes – I'll admit that the media was unnecessarily critical when it scrutinized almost every...

The pilgrimage that brings more than 2 million Muslims to Mecca every year tends to make them more religiously observant and also more tolerant, a huge study of Pakistani pilgrims suggests. Hamoud al-Massri, of Egypt, says that after this year's hajj, he will read more about people of different cultures. Muslims who undertake the hajj "return with more positive views towards people from other countries," are more likely to say "that people of different religions are equal," and are twice as likely as other religious Muslims to condemn Osama bin Laden, the study found. "People become more orthodox yet more...

Beethoven: Revealing His True Identity   In the 15th and 16th century, written history underwent a massive campaign of misinformation and deception. With the European slave trade in full swing, Afrikans were transported to various parts of the world and were stripped of every aspect of their humanity, and in most of western civilization, were no longer considered human. This triggered a wholesale interpretation of history that methodically excluded Afrikans from any respectful mention, other than a legacy of slavery. This can result in being taught, or socialized, from one perspective. In this instance, historical information tends to flow strictly...

Let's try for a moment to read the mind of an Al-Qaeda operative in the remote mountains of Waziristan as he listens to the news on the radio. His worldview has been roiled recently by two events - one confounding his image of the West and the other confirming it. The upsetting news for our imaginary jihadist is the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States. This wasn't supposed to happen, in Al-Qaeda's playbook. Their aim was to draw the "far enemy" (meaning America) ever deeper onto the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Instead, the jihadists...

For several years, I've been writing about Bushenfreude, the phenomenon of angry yuppies—who've hugely benefited from President Bush's tax cuts—funding angry, populist Democratic campaigns. I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence, of the Bush-era Republican Party, that they're voting with their hearts and heads instead of their wallets. Last week's election was perhaps Bushenfreude's grandest day. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Barack Obama, who pledged to unite the country, singled out one group of...

Tuesday's Republican debacle was, as the social scientists say, "over-determined." It had many causes. Was it brought on by congressional corruption, Bush administration incompetence, intellectual exhaustion or John McCain's failings as a candidate? All of the above -- and then some. In 2006, voters set out to punish Republicans for loose practices in Washington -- most spectacularly the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- and the mishandling of the Iraq war. This year, they decided that Republicans deserved another whipping, even before the September financial meltdown added yet another black mark against the Bush administration.

There was more war than there was peace on the McCain-Palin ticket, American voters are starting to learn, especially in the last few weeks of the presidential election as top lieutenants serving the senator from Arizona became increasingly appalled by the freelancing ways of the very well-dressed governor from Alaska. McCain barely knew Palin when he chose her. And aside from those few rallies when they appeared together, for instance in Hershey, Penn., one week before polling day, they barely spoke to each on the trail, especially towards the end. The recriminations will be flowing both ways. Palin, who has...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin hadn't been back home in Alaska for a full day and her staff had begun fielding requests Thursday for postelection interviews, including from Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and others. "The intensity of all the interest is amazing. Everyone wants to talk to her," he said. Aides to McCain and Palin, meanwhile, responded to reports of tension between the two sides over the Republican Party's purchase of more than $150,000 worth of clothing for Palin and her family, and accusations that Palin was ill-prepared for her role. Randy Scheunemann, McCain's foreign policy adviser,...

You're lucky to live through big history. And you're living through it. The explosion of joy in large pockets of the country Tuesday night was beautiful to see, and moving. For me, at the end of the evening, looking at live shots of the throngs in Chicago's Grant Park, I flashed back to 1960 and how it felt, as a child, to see that the grown-ups had elected a Catholic president. I can't say we stood taller—we were Irish, we already stood tall—but yes, there was a wave of feeling: "What a country," "What a development!" The other day, when...

Conservative talk radio yakkers took to the airwaves yesterday as though they were approaching the guillotine, all doom and gloom the morning after Barack Obama’s presidential victory. “The process of rebuilding the conservative movement has begun,” declared Rush Limbaugh. WTKK-FM (96.9) host Jay Severin played a clip of Obama’s acceptance speech, then told the president-elect to “go screw yourself.”

In London's historic "Inns of Court", barristers practise law in the shadow of the distinctive medieval Temple Church. But does English law really owe a debt to Muslim law? For some scholars, a historical connection to Islam is a "missing link" that explains why English common law is so different from classical Roman legal systems that hold sway across much of the rest of Europe. It's a controversial idea. Common law has inspired legal systems across the world. What's more, calls for the UK to accommodate Islamic Sharia law have caused public outcry.

DAYTON, OHIO -- As Sen. John McCain prepares to accept the Republican presidential nomination this week, his party's four-day convention will be notable in part for who isn't attending. Compared with past GOP conventions, a surprising number of prominent lawmakers and candidates will stay away from the festivities Sept. 1 to 4 in St. Paul, Minn. -- chiefly citing tough reelection battles, previous commitments or other scheduling conflicts. At least 10 incumbent senators, plus several Senate candidates, have sent their regrets. Only three incumbents in hotly contested races, including Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, will join the partygoers....

Nearly seven years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the war on terror in this city has evolved into a quiet struggle against a phantom foe.