Free Republic

The two-year extension is worth $68 million and includes a $37.5 million signing bonus and a $30 million injury guarantee, a source told [Adam] Schefter. Roethlisberger had one year at $12 million left, meaning he will make $80 million total over the next three seasons. The extension all but guarantees Big Ben ends his career with the same franchise that drafted him in 2004. “I am grateful to the Rooneys and the Steelers organization for continuing to believe in me," Roethlisberger said in a statement announcing the deal. "It has always been a goal to play my entire career in...

A U.S. Navy surveillance ship was harassed by an Iranian fast attack craft while entering the Persian Gulf on Saturday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday. USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) was transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the early morning on March 4 with three other coalition ships when the ships were approached by several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fast attack craft, the official told USNI News. One of the IRGCN craft maneuvered 600 yards in front of the 2,300-ton Invincible and “went dead in the water,” the official said.

<p>ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – New York State environmental officials are trying to nip a huge, dangerous plant in the bud.</p> <p>The giant hogweed, a monster plant with flowers the size of umbrellas and sap that causes blisters and blindness, is spreading across New York. The Department of Environmental Conservation is asking for help locating outbreaks.</p>

As senior Naval officers back First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope's criticisms of the ability of the Navy to fight in Libya, Commander John Muxworthy, who sailed to the Falklands with the Royal Navy Task Force, looks at the ignominious end of a symbol of the once-mighty British fleet. The image is a poignant symbol of Britain’s rapid decline as a maritime power. With her metallic carcass exposed, the once mighty aircraft carrier HMS Invincible languishes in a Turkish port, being broken up for scrap. The ship was once the pride of the Royal Navy, a hero of the...

Invincible IgnoranceBy PAUL KRUGMAN December 15, 2010, 9:24 am So Republican members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission are going to issue their own report, placing primary blame on the government — because it’s always the government’s fault. And according to reporting at the Huffington Post, all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases “Wall Street” and “shadow banking” and the words “interconnection” and “deregulation” from the panel’s final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal. Yep. It was all...

FLASH!!! Dixie Chicks Natalie Manes just now blamed the Free Republic for their downfall on "Hardball." She claims the FR had an organized effort to bring them down.

Limbo (Late Lat. limbus) a word of Teutonic derivation, meaning literally "hem" or "border," as of a garment, or anything joined on (cf. Italian lembo or English limb). In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific vision until Christ's triumphant ascension into Heaven (the "limbus patrum"); or (b) to the permanent place or state of those unbaptized children and others who, dying without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of original sin alone...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rode an extraordinary wave of popularity in his first year, thanks to a blend of celebrity, political smarts, and a bit of rookie luck. But the so-called Governator now faces so much criticism that many wonder whether he might be a mere mortal after all. The Republican governor who negotiated tough agreements with Democrats, charmed legislators with visits to his smoking tent and met rapturous crowds at shopping malls across California has hit a sophomore slump, marked by a series of actions that his adversaries are calling naive and even hypocritical. His state...

Correspondents Report - Sunday, 7 December , 2003 Reporter: John Shovelan HAMISH ROBERTSON: Well, staying in the United States, with the first Democratic primary just over one month away in Iowa, not one of the nine candidates seeking the nomination has won broad endorsement across the party. While the former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, is leading in the opinion polls, the party establishment is yet to embrace him. In fact, there's a growing view that if Howard Dean does win the nomination, President Bush could make a clean sweep among conservative southerners. Underlining the uncertainty in the party, the...

Quinnipiac University Poll. Oct. 23-27, 2003. N=1,262 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 2.8. . "Suppose the general election for president were being held today, and the candidates were [see below] the Democrat, and George W. Bush the Republican, for whom would you vote?" Bush HillaryRodhamClinton SomeoneElse(vol.) Wouldn'tVote(vol.) Don'tKnow % % % % % 10/03 50 42 2 3 4 9/03 52 42 1 2 3 7/03 50 43 1 2 3 6/03 52 40 1 2 4 1-2/03 52 41 2 2 3

With an uptick in his approval rating to 56 percent – higher than Reagan at this point in his presidency – George W. Bush seems to have weathered his summer squall and to be well-positioned to do what his father failed to do: Win a second term. The resurgence in the president's ratings appears due to two factors: the California recall election that riveted the nation – and in which the face of the Democratic Party was that of Gray Davis, and of the GOP that of Arnold. Second, the bull market, with the Dow nearing 10,000 again. If Wall...

If you are a Democrat, then this column is for you. If you are reading this and hoping one of the Democratic candidates can win the 2004 presidential election and unseat George W. Bush then yes you need to read this column. Even if you are holding out hope Hillary will throw her hat in the ring and sweep to the White House you need to read this column. You need to read this and realize this fact. The Democratic candidate will lose next year. No matter who it is. Dean, Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman, even the crown jewel of the...

There’s no dispute among historical scholars, as I’ve written before, that one characteristic common to all great politicians is a lucky streak. Luck comes and goes, but when it really matters, a leader makes the most of it.Imagine, for example, if the midterm elections were held this fall rather than a year ago. Is there any doubt that George W. Bush, despite bundles of cash and clever strategists, would see his party suffer severe defeats to the Democrats at both the Congressional and statewide levels? As it is, the president will begin his reelection campaign in earnest next summer with...

<p>"It will take an extraordinary united all-people's front with a movement on the ground to defeat the Bush right-wing agenda in 2004," declares the online manifesto. "It can be done with the combination of the labor vote, the women's vote, and African-American and Latino vote, combined with the youth vote, the peace vote, the environmental vote, the senior vote, the farm vote, etc., all of whom are pledged to work as they never have before."</p>

The recent dip in President Bush’s poll ratings has given Leftists a brief glow of euphoria. Perhaps, they muse, the President is beatable and the Democrats will soon be the majority party again. This is a pipe dream. Whatever the future holds for Republicans - and there is some reason to believe that the GOP may someday divide into two varieties of conservatism - the future of the Democrat Party is clear. Indicative of the demise of Democrats are the very poll numbers cited by Leftists. Bush is down? Yes, when pitted against a hypothetical Democrat, but when pitted against...

<p>September 18, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush holds a comfortable lead over Democratic 2004 wannabes - as well as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton - in a poll released yesterday. Bush holds a 15-point lead over Democratic front-runner Howard Dean and a 10-point lead over Clinton as well as double-digit leads over other Democratic contenders according to Quinnipiac University's national poll.</p>

<p>President Bush would trounce all of his Democratic challengers in the 2004 presidential race, according to a poll released yesterday in which he bested all comers by at least 10 to 15 percentage points.</p> <p>The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll said Mr. Bush was favored 53 percent to 38 percent over both Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, 52 percent to 41 percent over Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and 51 percent to 39 percent over Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. "Is George Bush unbeatable?" Suddenly this summer that became the question du jour of cable TV and the Sunday talkfests. That it is being asked suggests that many consider it impossible that President Bush will lose to any of the current crop of Democratic candidates. From every standpoint—history, issues, money, persona—the defeat of George W. Bush in 2004 appears improbable. Consider history. In the twentieth century seven Presidents were defeated or declined to run again, for one (or more) of four reasons: perceived failure as a war leader, economic distress, a...