Free Republic

When President Obama was asked last week about the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and the $9 million bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein he responded by saying, Hmmm...that doesn't jibe with what he said last December on 60 Minutes: "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street." And it doesn't jibe with the message delivered to banks by Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in January of 2009: "People really hate you, and they're starting...

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has hospitalized Monday night after falling at home. According to reports, the 86-year-old senator was taken to the hospital after taking a spill at his New Jersey home. "The Senator was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure," spokesman Caley Grey told WABC News in New York. Grey told the Bergen Record that it was not clear whether the senator suffered any injuries. Only Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who is 92, is an older member of the Senate. The New Jersey senator first served in the Senate from 1983 to 1995. He ran again for...

<p>LONDON -- The University of East Anglia says it will conduct a new review of the science published by its scandal-hit Climate Research Unit.</p> <p>The university says the presitigious Royal Society science academy will help find independent scientists to run the new inquiry.</p>

BREAKING NEWS:Lawyer for Indian Accused of Involvement in Mumbai Attacks Is Shot Dead, Police Say BBC Headline Ticker Only

Each campaign, expecting turnout surge among casual Republican voters, hammers away at conservative credentials. By Jason EmbryAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, December 13, 2009 Recent statements and strategy decisions have made clear that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison believes it is Republicans — and not independents or Democrats, as some others have suggested — who can lift her to victory over Gov. Rick Perry in the March GOP primary.Hutchison's campaign expects a surge of voters who support Republicans but do not regularly vote in Republican primaries. And to appeal to those voters, she has in recent weeks stressed her support from...

A new federal rewards program dishes out cash to people who turn in friends, relatives and employers for fudging their tax returns. For 24 years Vincent A. Spondello toiled away as an accountant for a group of related companies known as Monex, a large Newport Beach, Calif. precious metals dealer. A trusted employee, he prepared tax returns and was given such tasks as overseeing the destruction of old corporate documents. It turns out that some records that were supposedly destroyed he took home instead. In May Spondello sent 25 boxes of original Monex papers to the Internal Revenue Service--documents that...

Three U.S. banks in Florida, Arizona and Kansas failed on Friday, bringing the year's tally to 133 and taking a $250 million bite out of the federal deposit-insurance fund as the credit crunch claims more victims. Miami-based Republic Federal Bank was closed by regulators, and Boca Raton, Fla.-based 1st United Bank agreed to assume its deposits. Republic Federal Bank had $433 million in assets and $352.7 million in deposits as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Its failure will cost the deposit-insurance fund $122.6 million. The bank failure is the 13th in the Sunshine State this...

Hollywood & Howard Zinn’s Marxist education project by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2009 The two most important questions for society, according to the Greek philosopher Plato, are these: What will we teach our children? And who will teach them? Left-wing celebrities have teamed up with one of America’s most radical historians to take control of the classroom in the name of “social justice.” Parents, beware: This Hollywood-backed Marxist education project may be coming to a school near you. On Sunday, December 13, the History Channel will air “The People Speak” – a documentary based on Marxist academic Howard Zinn’s...

An interpretive evaluation of the Copenhagen Climate Change Treaty Draft from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change working group dated September 15th, 2009, Page 122, Item 17, is presented below, and should concern every citizen in the United States. This section shows several anomalies, other than simple spelling errors. It indicates foremost, unclear yet emphatic proposals that if left unchecked will radically shift responsibility from unsuccessful countries to successful countries. It fails to show a method of delivery, or specifics to apply any form of real action, opening the door for both gross interpretation and unjustifiable control. If...

<p>As the science scandal known as ClimateGate grows, the largest U.S. physicists' association is finding itself roiled by internal dissent and allegations of conflict of interest over a forthcoming review of its position statement on man-made global warming.</p> <p>The scientist who will head the American Physical Society's review of its 2007 statement calling for immediate reductions of carbon dioxide is Princeton's Robert Socolow, a prominent supporter of the link between CO2 and global warming who has warned of possible "catastrophic consequences" of climate change.</p>

Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, who has been charged with mistreating an Iraqi suspect in the bloody slayings of four U.S. contractors,... Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics...

A construction worker who was convicted of a rape that never happened is officially a free man after the judge who had sentenced him to 20 years in prison today dismissed the charges against him — and apologized. "This court had harsh words for you in imposing sentence" back in October 2006, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers told William McCaffrey. "I want to convey my personal regret for having participated, albeit unknowingly, in this injustice," said Carruthers. "Given the startling turn of events, I now retract what I said about you." READ: Fake-rape gal's tale a wicked plot to...

Dear xxxx, On Tuesday, we wrote to you about the vote the U.S. Senate was taking on the Nelson-Hatch amendment to the health care reform bill. As you will remember, this amendment was virtually identical to Stuapk-Pitts ban and would have prevented women from using their own money to purchase private health insurance that provides comprehensive reproductive health care. The good news is that the amendment was defeated by a vote of 54-45. The great news is that both Senators Warner (D-VA) and Webb (D-VA) voted against this egregious assault on women's reproductive health care. While we still have a...

Freep this poll at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/quickquestion/2007/november/popup5895.htm

December 7th, 2009 3:29 pmDirective Number 9 During the Algerian war, the terrorists promulgated an order which with variations would provide the backbone doctrine for information warfare into the 21st century. Dr. Cori Dauber, the author of the SSI monograph “The YouTube War: Fighting in a World of Cameras in Every Cell Phone and Photoshop on Every Computer” describes the ground zero of the modern information Jihad. The Algerians’ “Directive Number Nine” argued that it was better to kill one man where the American press would hear of it than nine where no one would find out. What Khattab realized...

Click to see video, "The Foot Soldiers." Contains some graphic images.Last night the Senate defeated the Nelson-Hatch amendment, which would have prohibited government from paying for abortion in the healthcare reform bill, like the Hyde Amendment currently does. Despite the fact that most Americans do not want their government to pay for abortion with their money, the Senate gave into Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby. That means that the Senate health care bill -- along with its other problems -- is a baldly PRO-ABORTION bill. We have to STOP it. Please contact your senators TODAY and urge them to...

Apple releases MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.8 Apple releases MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.4 Apple releases SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0 Apple releases AirPort Client Update 2009-002 which is recommended for all Macs Click on the Blue or BLack Apple Menu on the upper left of the Menu Bar, then select Software Update. . ." and follow the dialog box prompts to update your Mac if necessary...

As multinational military forces have left Iraq, international petroleum companies have eagerly descended -- seduced by the long-term potential of vast oil reserves off-limits to foreigners for decades. Yet lingering violence, legal questions and political uncertainty make doing business in this country a gamble. In the first international oil auction held last June, widely seen as a failure, the Iraqi government awarded a firm contract to only a consortium of British Petroleum and the China National Petroleum Co. to further develop the Rumaila field over 20 years. Iraq recently forged an initial agreement with a group comprising Exxon Mobil and...

Headline at CBS News:Sarah Palin Almost Gets Tomato in Face, but Jeremy Olsen Has Terrible AimLede:NEW YORK (CBS) Maybe Jeremy Olson should have practiced with a target first before attempting to pelt Sarah Palin with tomatoes at a book signing in Minn. Dec. 7.The above was written at the CBS News page CRIMESIDER: The True Crime Destination From the Producers of 48 Hours MysteryThe article was posted by Carlin DeGuerin Miller.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia is pleased to announce that Virginia's pro-choice license plate will soon be available for pre-order. The proceeds from the sale of these plates will go to Planned Parenthood affiliates in Virginia to provide comprehensive, reproductive health care, like annual gynecological exams and sexually transmitted infection testing. In order to move forward with the license plates, we must pre-sell 350 plates. We hope that you will be one of the many proud Virginians displaying the plate. To see a preview of the license plate, please click here. When the plate goes on sale, it can be...