Free Republic

There is some irony in this report from the SFChronicle about Borders book sellers chain. They have decided not to carry the April-May issue of Free Inquiry because it contains the controversial drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that sent Muslims into such a tizzy a few months ago. Here is Borders Bookseller's reason for this ban: "For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday. I guess we have one more western corporation/media outlet running...

Americans For Prosperity begins a new effort to highlight the ills of earmarking Huge news on the earmarks front from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation: Tomorrow we’re going to announce the kickoff of a nationwide bus tour that will turn up the grassroots heat in support of true earmark reform and spending restraint. And we want you to help us plan our tour! Dubbed the “Ending Earmarks Express,” we’re going to roll out of Washington, DC, onApril 7 and visit the sites of some of the nation’s most egregious and wasteful earmarks. Our inaugural swing in early April is largely...

Now here is the problem John Campbell (R., Calif) has said that he has gotten 63 requests for him to add earmarks into bills in the House so far this legislative session. (Earmarks are spending appropriations added to bills that are unconnected with the spending requests being added. Earmarks are not reviewable by Congress and when added to a bill, it is not necessarily obvious that it is there, nor can Congressmen who has added an earmark be revealed or debated.) In an appearance on the Hugh Hewitt radio show (March 16th), Mr. Campbell said that the totals of these...

Confessions of a Blogger… I have to confess that I have been chosen to deliver an address at the upcoming convention for center-right Bloggers, Blogging Man 2007. The news of this gathering has come out too early. The Internet holds no secret for long, obviously. Within a week or so of the organizer's efforts to begin to line up speakers for their convention, the news began to spread like wildfire and the organizers were deluged with emails asking about the event and Blogs began rumor-mongering about it. So, the event advertising on the Net was launched months too early. And,...

Everyone is saying so. From The Daily Kos, to Juan Williams of Fox News, to Rush Limbaugh, the buzz is all about how badly the revelations of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying corruption will hurt the GOP in 2006. With his double dealing, his supplying large sums of money, trips and other gifts to members of Congress, and his apparent bilking of millions from various American Indian tribes who wished Congress to favorably review their gambling interests the Abramoff scandal seems like a political powder keg just waiting to go off. Rabid Republican haters, like the Daily Kos, are gleefully rubbing their...

The Aviator on National Review Online E-mail Author Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version February 25, 2005, 3:14 p.m. Howard Hughes's Last HurrahWhat The Aviator misses. by John Meroney Fifty-three years ago this week, Howard Hughes found himself locked in a battle against powerful political forces he believed were bent on undermining the free-market system. The billionaire industrialist, airplane manufacturer, and filmmaker became so passionate about the fight that he summoned all his emotional and physical strength to overcome a crippling fear of the public so he could make his case for what he saw as...