Free Republic

What happened? What are we going to do? Both candidates want tax cuts and yet increased spending in some other areas of government. All this with an included 700 BILLION+ bail out. I know it’s the old “politician trying to win votes” concept but lets be realistic. Cutting taxes and increased spending all on top of a huge messy bail out does not make much sense to me. Ok…I am not an economics major but I do know how to run a house. Let us pretend this was my household budget. It would not make sense to me to find...

SNIP Then, he was informed it was a gay and lesbian bar, we were told she doesn't do those kind of venues. She doesn't do gay and lesbian bars and clubs. I thought it was kind of strange considering she's a lesbian. SNIP

A Pasco County woman was in jail Sunday charged with aggravated domestic battery. Her live-in boyfriend called police to the couple's Castile Lane home during an argument Saturday evening. The victim, Bruce Montle, told sheriff's deputies the argument with Celeste Irene Lagrant, 39, started over a marriage proposal. Montle told investigators that Lagrant slapped, punched and scratched at him. She also threw several knives at him, he said. Lagrant was later released from jail.

My mother, son and granddaughter accompanied me to the rally.We decided against taking the shuttle bus to the event, and instead opted to take our chances and go right to the Courthouse area. At that point, we said a prayer and put the day into God's hands. We never expected it to turn out as great as it did. Getting there early, we found parking 2 blocks from the Courthouse. After a wonderful lunch, our waitress directed us to the back entrance of the restaurant which took us to the Courthouse inside the barricades. It was then my son got...

I'm down in the Florida Keys, TV stations here are out of Miami. I rarely watch the network stations, but last night, I was watching Jeopardy on ABC with my wife. 7:30pm. In 30 minutes, every ad was an Obama ad, and I'd guess that was 8 of them at least. 90% of them were the same ad where Obama hits McCain on alternative energy. Just curious if the rest of Fl is like this or just in the southern part of the state. Thanks

LOS GATOS, Calif. -- A South Bay girl is talking about a freak accident involving a jump rope that sliced off her hand. Two weeks ago, 6-year-old Erica Rix was riding down Daves Avenue in Los Gatos in the back of her mother's SUV on the way back home from soccer practice. Erica was dangling a jump rope out of the window when it got tangled in the axle of the car. SLIDESHOW: Story In Pictures The slipknot on the jump rope was wrapped around her wrist and when the rope wrapped around the tire's axle, it tightened around her...

If you're going to get arrested for breaking into a restaurant, at least drink the most expensive liquor you can find. Charles Lindsey, 41, no permanent address, and Bill Martin, 47, no permanent address, were arrested and tentatively charged with burglary after allegedly breaking into Frieda's Restaurant, 117 State St., Friday morning, drinking most of a $600 bottle of Herradura tequila and trying to get away with several other bottles of high-priced liquor before being spotted by the owner. The owner called police after opening the door and seeing the suspects trying to leave the restaurant through another door. The...

(English-language translation) SAN JUAN - In addition to claiming the lives of four people, the strong tropical wave that has been affecting the island since yesterday established a record rainfall of over 24 inches in some areas within a 24-hour period. Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá reported today that over 24 inches of rain fell in the Municipality of Patillas, which exceeds the record established in 1985 with the rains that affected the Mameyes community of Ponce, where 185 people died. "We expect rain to continue falling throughout the entire island today," the Governor warned during a press conference where he...

(Aircraft slices through roof and stairway, then exits front door) A helicopter carrying two people crashed into a Kenosha family’s home early Sunday, the rotor blades slicing through the two-story structure like a loaf of bread as the aircraft tumbled down a stairway before blowing out the front door and coming to rest on a neighbor’s driveway. While the two helicopter occupants were killed, a couple and their three young children survived unharmed as the cart-wheeling wreckage blew their bedroom doors off the hinges just before dawn. "It was God's hand in this," said Carla Wilson, who was awakened by...

The crowd chanted "Sa-Rah! Sa-Rah!" at every mention of her name. The enthusiastic crowd applauded loudly and waved tiny American flags. The fire chief estimated the crowd at 60,000.

DISCLAIMER: the following is based upon a large birthday party in Boston for my cousin. All of us are Jewish. There were way more than 20 of us there, satisfying the requirement of the central limit theorem for statistical reliability. This took place in Boston, the East Coast capital of lunatic liberalism. All comments and conclusions are mine. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My wife and I were at a large birthday party last night in Boston for a cousin. The talk soon turned to politics. As a conservative Jew I have become accustomed to hearing the worst sort of lies about McCain and...

Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA during [according to the photo caption] the National Anthem. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"?

LANCASTER [CALIFORNIA]- For the men and women flown in to the Antelope Valley to accept a little marble-and-brass immortality on the Lancaster Aerospace Walk of Honor, flying is all it was ever about. Each of those attending Saturday's ceremonies expressed love for the bright sunshine and clear blue skies over Edwards Air Force Base. Each knew the joy of the high-flying exploits best described in Tom Wolfe's classic of narrative journalism, "The Right Stuff," which celebrated the calculated cool, courage and humor of test pilots and astronauts. Ask retired Col. Joe Schiele. He piloted the C-141 Starlifter jet transport on...

What changed recently, other than McCain doing very well in Florida, for RealClear to move Florida back to toss-up? Obama now ahead in electoral map. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5

I am going to keep this short and to the point. I do a fair bit of air travel and have for the last decade or more pondered why CNN is the only station ever available in every airport in the US. Does anyone else ever question this media monopoly which is able to capture the attention of every air traveler in the country? I don't get it. Why does CNN have this exclusive monopoly in public airports? They have the lock on the attention of the millions of air travelers that move throughout the country. Why is CNN allowed...

Esequiel "Paul" Garcia, 30, the owner of Mountain Charley's in Los Gatos, today pleaded not guilty to charges that he ordered the murder of Los Gatos businessman Mark Achilli. None of the other four defendants has entered a plea. Garcia is accused of commissioning the murder through Daniel Chaidez, who allegedly contracted for the crime with his cousin Miguel Chaidez. Miguel allegedly sent Lucio Estrada and Robert Jacome north from Burbank. Estrada is accused of shooting Mark Achilli in his Los Gatos driveway on Mar. 14. Paul Garcia and his attorney, Harry Robertson Today's court session was brief. As usual,...

<p>A securities broker stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly clients he then sent to Nigeria in hopes of collecting an $8.7M inheritance from a "long-lost relative" who e-mailed him....... the ubiquitous and notorious Nigerian e-mail scam......Axel, 69, pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery and grand larceny, and was released on his own recognizance. Axel's need for cash reached a fever pitch in 2005, when he got an e-mail from a Nigerian "lawyer" concerning an $8.75M inheritance...... his firm repaid Axel's clients, and Axel has so far repaid the firm half of what he stole.</p>

<p>William Halby, a Brooklyn tax lawyer, owes back taxes for wrongly deducting more than $300,000 in prostitutes, porn, sex toys and erotic massages, a state tax judge ruled. Halby is divorced, semi-retired and living alone in a Bay Ridge apartment......"I have no social life. I needed that release." Halby said he found his "sex surrogates" - preferably brunettes - through ads in The Village Voice. All told, Halby spent about $322,000 to satisfy his desires....deducting $111,364 for "therapeutic sex" and massages "to relieve osteoarthritis and enhance erectile function through frequent orgasm." He claimed another $2,173 on porn "to enhance sexual performance in lieu of taking Viagra." In 2003, his $101,930 in deductions included $162 for "sexual performance aids" such as lubes, condoms and nipple clamps........... "It must be noted that portions of [Halby's] 'sex therapy' were, in fact, sex for a fee, in violation of penal law," Administrative Law Judge Brian Friedman wrote. Halby recorded each liaison in a "Tax Journal" ......he produced books and articles demonstrating the health benefits of sex, including a 2001 NY Post article about sex workers in Danish nursing homes. Halby is "of counsel" with the Larchmont law firm McMillan, Constabile, Maker & Perone.</p>

If Barak Obama pulls off a win this year, either by legal, or not-so-legal means? Given the current economic climate and other factors...how are you preparing? Are you preparing?

FORT MORGAN, Ala. , Texas — When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery — a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 or another ship from some 70 years later. The wreck, about six miles from Fort Morgan, had already been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969. Researchers at the time identified it as the Monticello, a battleship that partially burned when it crashed trying to get past the U.S. Navy and into Mobile Bay during the Civil War.