Free Republic

File this under more US congressmen going abroad to rip our country. Once again we can thank Democrats for this insult to America. Democrat members of Congress, and the Congressional Black Caucus decided to take a trip to Cuba in order to mend fences, so to speak. As is typical of Dems traveling outside the US these days … they just ended up insulting Americans again. Check out the heaps of praise our elected representatives lay upon the Communist pig, Castro.

Carrying a wish list for more federal funding and a message about the economic clout of Southern California, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and 230 business and civic leaders will launch a lobbying assault today on Washington, D.C. Leading the Access Washington trip taken annually by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Villaraigosa plans to use his access to the Obama administration to push for a bigger chunk of the federal economic stimulus package. Villaraigosa has traveled to the nation's capital three other times in the last months to meet with federal officials about funding for Los Angeles. "The mayor is...

Howard Dean appeared on the Daily Show and said definitively that the Michigan and Florida delegations will be seated. (H/t Scott Jacobs.) The video is here. Representative quotes: STEWART: If I were designing a plan to submarine your chances, and again, you don’t have to follow my advice here, I would take the state that was, let’s say crucial to the Republican election chances — lets, let’s call it Florida — and I would find a way to insult them. Maybe not seat them at the convention, that sort of thing. Then I would pick a Rust Belt state, maybe...

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to Lead Delegation of U.S. University Presidents to Latin America Delegation to Promote U.S. Higher Education, Encourage International Students to Study in the U.S. FOR RELEASE: August 8, 2007 Contact: Rebecca Neale Casey Ruberg (202) 401-1576 Washington, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced that she will lead a delegation of eight U.S. college and university presidents with the U.S. Department of State to Chile and Brazil from August 18-24, 2007, touting the importance of higher education partnerships and exchanges between the United States and other nations. While in Latin America, the delegation...

Richardson, in North Korea, tours USS Pueblo Tuesday, April 10, 2007 By FOSTER KLUG ASSOCIATED PRESS PYONGYANG, North Korea -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday toured a U.S. warship captured by North Korea in the 1960s that is now used to inspire anti-American sentiment in the reclusive communist regime. The North Korean colonel who served as Richardson's guide smiled as he told the governor the ship was an example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson and his traveling companion, former Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, were then shown bullet holes circled in red paint and a...

BAGHDAD — A U.S. congressional delegation visited Baghdad Sunday. The Delegation, led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, consisted of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, making his sixth trip to Iraq, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana and Rep. Rick Renzi, also from Arizona. The delegation landed at Baghdad International Airport and traveled to various locations in Baghdad by military convoy. The congress members visited the Shorga marketplace and interacted with local merchants while walking the streets with Gen. David H. Petraeus, commanding general, Multi-National Force–Iraq. “It’s a resilient people here in Iraq,” said Graham. “We went to the market...

29.11.05 | Hugo Chavez's spinmeisters love to sing the mantra "Venezuela wants to have the most cordial relations with the USA, based in mutual respect and understanding..." Well, how does the barring a BIPARTISAN US Congressional Delegation, from entering Venezuela, bodes with the aforementioned predicament? It was not enough, for Chavez, to have orchestrated with Kirchner, riots and the subsequent media attack on Bush in Mar del Plata. Nor it was sufficient for him to call President Fox a "lapdog of the empire" -one has to love the irony in light of the dynamics of the Castro-Chavez marriage... Now the...

TEHRAN: Iran confirmed on Sunday that hardline president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad will attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September, dismissing any possible US visa restrictions in the wake of allegations of his role in the US embassy siege. “Yes, Mr Ahmadinejad and the accompanying delegation will go to New York to take part in the UN world summit, he will also meet with the Iranians there,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Asefi again denied US allegations about Ahmadinejad’s possible role in the 1979 hostage-taking at the US embassy in Tehran following the Islamic revolution, a...

Letter to John Kerry: It's a Matter of Honor, Sir Written by Arnold Beizer Friday, October 15, 2004 Letter to Candidate John Kerry Dear Sir: We all know you have failed and neglected to sign Form 180 authorizing release of all your military service records as President George W. Bush has done, despite your broken promise on national television to news reporter Tim Russert to do so. Instead, you have repeatedly stonewalled on this character issue and left a question of honor on the minds of every American. You have called your own honesty into question by refusing to be...

A US Congressional delegation arrived in Libya Friday on a one-day visit to meet with leader Moammar Gadhafi and other officials, a government official said. The delegation of six members of the House of Representatives, invited by Libyan government officials, arrived in the coastal city of Sirte earlier Friday. The group first met Al-Zanati Mohammed Al-Zanati, speaker of the People's Congress. Details of their talks were not available. They are expected to meet with Gadhafi before their departure Friday evening. In January, another congressional delegation and a separate trip by Representative Tom Lantos marked the first visits to Libya by...

Article: Good Intentions, Bad Idea HONOLULU: Some unsolicited advice to professors, congressmen, former diplomats and anyone seeking a Nobel Peace Prize nomination: If you really want to help resolve the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula, stay home. Such delegations are always well intentioned but generally not very helpful in actually resolving the crisis. True, former President Jimmy Carter's mission to Pyongyang in 1994 did help save the day, moving the Clinton administration and Kim Il Sung, father of North Korea's current leader, back from the brink of sanctions and possibly war. But 2004 is not 1994 and heads...

With the Associated Press reporting that the California county-to-county, down-and- dirty signature count of residents endorsing the Gov. Gray Davis recall is officially only halfway to the magic number of the near 900,000 needed, state-wide political figures on both sides of the aisle are being variously mum, circumspect, or outspoken on the controversial effort to strip the beleaguered governor of his office. Proponents have been spinning that the raw signature count is more like 800,000. Many of the 53 members of the U.S. House of Representatives hailing from the Golden State are of the mind that the local state legislators,...

The Texas State GOP Convention was held in Dallas, Texas on June 7-8, 2002. The following are personal observations and activities from a Freeper's first time attendance as a delegate at this convention. Thursday, 6 June 2002 I drove up from Houston with two other H.A.T. Freepers (Humblegunner and Flyer, they were my guests). Since the schedules would vary between delegates and non-delegates, we drove in separate vechiles, forming a two-car convoy. The drive took about 3-1/2 hours and we checked into the hotel ahead of schedule. This was set-up day for the convention exhibits. The FR booth was already...