Free Republic

From the recent attack on an IRS building in Austin, Texas, to assassination plots by skinheads on Obama, "anti-government 'patriot' groups—militias and other extremist organizations that see the federal government as their enemy—[have come] roaring back to life," reports the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil-rights organization that tracks active hate groups nationwide. The SPLC's just-released annual report entitled "Rage on the Right" found that extremist organizations saw "an astonishing rise," increasing 244 percent from 149 to 512 over the past 12 months. SPLC has added 363 new groups to its annual list, compiled using a combination of hate-group...

Los Angeles — My classroom lay in ashes. The acrid smell of asbestos permeated the thick air in the "C" building, where police had cordoned off the area with bright yellow tape, forbidding the entry of staff and students. The entire wing of our language building would be closed for an entire six weeks. Collateral damage done to the adjacent classrooms meant that a slew of teachers would be "traveling", juggling books, tests, overhead transparencies, and supplies, like gypsies, bivouacking through lunch areas, track bleachers, even lawn areas of the senior quad. Why was an entire school put on hold,...

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was passing out a memo Tuesday advising Democratic campaign managers to define their opponents early and to highlight the differences between moderate voters and tea party-style conservatives.

Californians are pretty sure President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A., but not at all sure about the tea party movement, according to a new Field Poll. Conversely, the survey found that those who identify strongly with tea partiers are not at all sure about the president's true nation of origin. "It's an interesting phenomenon that they are not only rebelling against the growth and size of government, but they are actually questioning the authority of the president," said poll director Mark DiCamillo. Doubts about whether Obama was born outside U.S. soil, and thus constitutionally ineligible to be president,...

President Barack Obama has admitted he failed to unite Americans and change the way Washington works during his first year in office. With his approval ratings falling below 50 per cent, Mr Obama confessed his disappointment at not delivering key pledges of his campaign. "What I haven't been able to do in the midst of this crisis is bring the country together in a way that we had done in the inauguration," he told People magazine. "That's what's been lost this year ... that whole sense of changing how Washington works." Mr Obama, who will mark a year in office...

Did you ever notice that when liberals start criticizing conservatives, they start out by telling us how intellectually inferior we are? Have you noticed how angry it makes them that anybody, as intellectually lacking as we are should have the audacity to question them and their superior intellect? They know what's good for us lesser beings and that if we weren't such a bunch of uncultured rednecks, we would see the error of our ways, we would just drive our pickup trucks, drink our beer, clean our guns and leave the weightier things like governing to them. It's called arrogance...

This is in follow-up to my post on Tuesday: "The Day I asked a question and got the MOTHER of all answers" The implications of the following account is that the President's REAL NAME did not appear on any ballot, in any state. That's just one of MANY implications. Let me preface by saying an AMENDED birth record could indicate that the President was adopted by either Lolo Soetoro and/or His grandparents, the Dunhams. My story: I have serious reasons to believe that Janice Okubo and/or Director Fukino, Department of Health in Hawaii are under duress. Something is preventing Director...

In 2005, when I was working as a speechwriter in the South African parliament, a far-left faction of the ruling African National Congress spun a yarn that accused the leader of the opposition, the intelligence minister, and the Mossad of colluding to frame Jacob Zuma, the faction's chosen presidential candidate. Intelligence agents loyal to Zuma bugged the opposition's parliamentary offices and produced a bogus document that they claimed was a transcript of Internet chats between Zuma's supposed opponents. It was all nonsense, but the conspiracy theory galvanized Zuma's supporters, who soon pushed him to the top of the ruling party...

EDITORIAL: Sotomayor plays the race cardThe Washington Times, LLC A biased judge should not be promoted to a higher court. Yet the Obama administration has not been able to put to rest fears that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor might let ethnic grievances sway her decisions on the bench. That's exactly what it appears Judge Sotomayor did in the Ricci v. DeStefano case, in which she ruled that white firefighters could be denied promotions they clearly had earned. That's why it is worth revisiting the Supreme Court nominee's infamous "wise Latina" speech. The renewed focus on that speech should center...

snip Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Over the past decade, racial groups have become more polarized, not less. A simple example will suffice. A personal friend, a white man who teaches at an inner-city school in Los Angeles County with an almost entirely Hispanic population, polled his students shortly before the 2008 election regarding their parents' presidential preferences. Every hand in the classroom went up for Obama. After class, my friend approached one of the students. "Why are your parents voting for Obama?” he asked a 10-year-old Hispanic girl. She answered him in four words: "Because he's not...

I may get in a lot of trouble for this, but that’s the risk you take with bold statements. And the bill on slavery reparations, currently before a Congressional committee, requires the boldest. Even President Obama stated he was against this a year ago. Why is this bill even in committee? Well, if he isn’t going to say anything, I am. By the way, this is an old song. Never liked it. The issue of reparations for slavery, once a hot topic of political speculation and conjecture among pundits everywhere, not to mention political agitation and racial tension, is fast...

Of all this week's news, this is the only life-changing thing I've seen: "Somali Muslims Changing Small Town" (direct) From the (mainly sympathetic) article: Immigrants are chosen from UN refugee camps. The selected refugees then undergo a few days of cultural orientation and are soon on their way to America. Like me, you probably assumed that the one redeeming feature of such "refugees" was that at least they possessed the industriousness to try and make it to America; that at least they had enough of a personal desire to come to America, to try and get to America by themselves....

Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives. "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general. Race issues continue to...

Is it possible history is repeating itself? As House Republicans defy President Obama over his stimulus package, the party seems to be reverting to form after decades of overreaching ambition and outsized growth; think of the GOP, perhaps, as the Citigroup of politics. Many Republicans seem resigned—even content—to go back to being the party of Barry Goldwater. In other words: We don't care if we're marginalized. In our hearts we know we're right. Never mind that the party suffered terrible defeats in 2008 and 2006, and some thoughtful Republicans (mainly on the Senate side, like Lindsay Graham, as well as...

John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday. And it has decided on Sarah Palin. In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.” Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking? Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.” Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t...

Iran’s Fantasy: A Renewed Cold War between the Infidels Russia and America Walid Phares September 1st 2008 The post-Soviet world has never been closer to what we knew as the Cold War than right now. Iran is pleased. We should all be concerned. New proxy conflicts may soon emerge.The starkest reminder of the new chill came after Russian forces recently executed a military operation inside South Ossetia in Georgia. Ostensibly, the Georgian incursion was to bring back constitutional order. But Russia’s massive reaction has their forces entrenched just miles away from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. Recent statements by Russian and Western...

In the meeting, attendees said McCain promised that, if elected, Congress would pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Some Christian conservatives are so disenchanted by the 2008 Republican field for president that they are mulling whether to desert the GOP and form a third party. We're tempted to say "go ahead." But if religious conservatives don't want to marginalize themselves, they will instead take former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's advice and resist subjecting candidates to a litmus test on abortion or any other single issue. Giuliani and his fellow Republican candidates spoke over the weekend to more than 2,000 "values voters" assembled in Washington by the Family Research Council and other conservative groups. They were literally...

Christian conservatives want more respect. They were instrumental in propelling George W. Bush to power—twice—and now they're feeling neglected. At a "Values Voters" summit in Washington last week, leading evangelicals gathered to speak out and take a straw poll. The survey showed how unhappy they are with the twice-divorced, pro-choice Republican front runner for the presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani. He got less than two percent of the overall vote. (Some Christian activists have threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani wins the GOP nomination.) Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the straw poll of 5,775 conservatives, which included voters...

Paul faithful flock to Spartanburg appearance A little-known Texas congressman seeking the Republican nomination for president visited Spartanburg on Saturday and seemed to arrive with all the makings of rock-star candidate for his party — despite polling low, little name recognition and a relatively small campaign staff. Supporters call it the “Ron Paul Revolution.” You might’ve seen it on signs or T-shirts. Or MySpace. Paul received no less than 16 standing ovations during his hour-plus speech and question-and-answer session at the Summit Pointe Event Center — first, when he entered the room, a second one when a re-entered after...