Free Republic

Chief Justice John Roberts is not stepping down from the Supreme Court, despite a celebrity gossip report, a source very close to Roberts told Fox News. RadarOnline.com reported Thursday that Roberts, 55, would be resigning for personal reasons. But the source said the report is "completely untrue." There is "no medical issue, no issue at all," the source said, adding that there is not even a 1 percent chance that Roberts is considering resignation.

.......... But West is also no stranger to controversy. In a Chronicle story last year, he acknowledged to reporter Joe Garofoli that he took a risk -- and a possible hit to his political future -- when in 2002, he represented Marin County native John Walker Lindh, the ''American Taliban.'' He recalled then that when Morrison & Foerster partner James Brosnahan asked him to join Lindh's four-member defense team, he said he had to be assured that Lindh did not take up arms against Americans -- and didn't help plan the Sept. 11. 2001, terrorist attacks. .............. West is connected...

<p>The owners or operators of about 20 sight-seeing aviation companies and flight schools estimated today that they lost about $200,000 in revenue when their operations were substantially restricted or shut down altogether during President Obama's Christmas vacation here.</p> <p>Representatives of the affected companies are asking federal officials to reimburse them for the losses they suffered during the Obama stay from Dec. 23 to Jan. 4.</p>

David Obey: Challenged by Sean Duffy, Reality TV Show Alum Posted: 03/1/1065 Comments + Join the discussion »TEXT SIZE:AAAPRINT SHARE Celebrities in politics are not a new phenomenon. Athletes and actors particularly seemed drawn to the spectacle of the affairs of state. Bill Bradley and Tom McMillen prepped for Congress in the National Basketball Association, Jim Bunning was known as a major league pitcher before Kentucky sent him to the Senate, and Steve Largent and J.C. Watts groomed Oklahoma voters to love them on the gridiron and not at the Gridiron dinner. In California, Hollywood has produced in the past...

A report that the state of Texas forwarded the DNA from hundreds of newborn babies to a military database without parental permission or knowledge raises some very alarming questions about what was done and why, according to a national expert in DNA privacy.

I’ve read the WaPo profile, looked at their website, watched the two videos below, and I still don’t quite get it. They’re claiming, essentially, to be nonpartisan and less interested in pushing particular policies than in “dialogue” and “cooperation” for their own sake. Which, given the realities in the Senate, is a very thinly veiled way of calling for fewer filibusters and more Democratic — sorry, I mean bipartisan — legislation. Here’s their statement of principles, for what it’s worth; assuming they stick around, it’ll be fun to watch how this changes once the GOP has a majority in both...

Obamanomics hastens the day of reckoning While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They're at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided instead that...

BREAKING NEWS-Wall St. Journal Ticker Chilean seaside resort of Pelluhue has been washed away; municipality had about 1,000 residents

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ``needed'' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if...

Beck just said he thinks "I contend that most Americans are libertarians because they want that freedom . . ." So why don't they vote that way Glenn? Why do we have abortion laws? Why aren't drugs legal? Why do voters reject gay marriage? Why do we have laws regulating banks? Why has every proposal to privatize Social Security much less abolish it been rejected? Why do we have "entangling" foreign relationships? Why do we have trade and immigration laws? Libertarian Party Platform

Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber – but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.” In an unusual display in the normally sleepy chamber, Bunning – without the support of GOP leadership – has blocked efforts to quickly approve a series of extensions to measures that would otherwise expire Sunday, including unemployment insurance and the Cobra program that allows people who lose their health benefits to continue getting coverage. And that has led to a furious exchange...

Senate Democrat “moderates” probably slept well last night, but no House Blue Dog should have. In the marathon Blair House healthcare “summit,” the Chicago Obama family made it perfectly clear that the Senate Dems are protected “made men” but the House members are expendable in Obama’s pursuit of nationalizing healthcare. The summit convened after a round of new polls showed -- again -- that most Americans don’t want Obamacare. A Quinnipiac poll showed Americans disapproved of Obama’s healthcare plan by 54-35 percent. Rasmussen said 56% opposed and 41% approved, and both Pew Research and PPP said 50% were opposed to...

RATHER HAVE MY CHILD DIE THAN USE A GUN? If you were having trouble understanding anti-gun people, this will not help. A high school math teacher named Doug Van Gorder wrote a letter to the Boston Globe decrying the idea of having self-defense guns in schools. In part of his letter, he shows what can surely be described as one of the most telling views into the minds of gun banners. "But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in...

Side One of the Jefferson Airplane's classic 1967 album 'Surealistic Pillow' gets a heavy workout in the Coen brothers' latest film, 'A Serious Man,' loosely based on the directors' own coming-of-age in suburban Minnesota in the era of acid rock. Bar mitzvah boy Danny listens to 'Somebody to Love' on transistor-radio earphones to get through Hebrew school. The powerful voice on that hit single belonged to Grace Slick, one of the first true female rock stars, and one of the most unrepentant characters to emerge from the hedonistic '60s. Her appetite was legendary, even among her famously indulgent peers. And...

You gotta hand it to the agents of the regressive right for playing the weakest imaginable hand so well. I'm talking about the Lee Atwaters and Frank Luntzs of the world, who both understand human psychology (read fear) and are absolutely pitiless about employing it for purposes of assisting the rich and powerful in raping the rest of us. If you can get past the absolute amoral viciousness of these sociopaths, you have to admire their handiwork at some level. (Oh, wait a minute: correction. Lee Atwater actually did apologize for some of his crimes against humanity. Of course, it...

<p>Washington Feb 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Bob Dole is recuperating in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center according to spokesman, Michael Marshall. Dole, who is 86 years old, is undergoing treatment after a battle with pneumonia. He has been in the hospital for approximately three weeks. The respiratory illness has weakened Dole and he may need more time to fully heal, according to his spokesman.</p>

Bill O'Reilly Advocates Gun Confiscation in Interview with Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes Last night Feb 18th, Stewart Rhodes appeared on Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly show The Factor in response to the previous nights appearence of the SPLC's Mark Potok who once again attempting to smear Oath Keepers. both videos are below Mark Potok on Bill O'Reilly - Wed. February 17th http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNf3ZtiKAD8 Stewart Rhodes on Bill O'Reilly - February 18th http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Po8LLjIlDw After the show with Stewart, The internet lit up with articles and comments all over the place discussing Bill O'Reilly's comments supporting gun confiscation during Hurricane Katrina as...

The AZ/DC Blog at AZCentral.com reports that J.D. Hayworth who is now officially running for US Senator Arizona versus John McCain in the GOP primary recentinly called Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate because of concerns about identity theft. In a interview on CNN late Monday Hayworth used the example of fugitive Vietnam War protester Howard Mechanic. In 2000 Mechanic ran for Scottsdale City Council under an alias "Gary Tredway." The blog quotes Hayworth as saying "For every race across the country, especially with identity theft in the news, it would be great that people can confirm who they...

Count ‘Em Up In 1790, it took 650 Census workers to count 3.9 million people – 6,000 people per census taker. (Quick Study: “Census 2010”) Today, it takes 650,000 census workers to count 308 million people – 474 people per census taker. Today’s census workers have so many more advantages. Census by mail takes care of two-thirds of citizens, while cars, telephone, and computers cover the other third. If we made today’s census workers ride horseback and use pencils and scraps of paper like they did in then, could we get productivity back up to 1790 levels?

The now-infamous video of a 15-year old Seattle girl being brutally attacked while not one, not two, but THREE security guards --- and numerous other bystanders --- literally stood by and took no action is stoking outrage nationwide. Americans are wondering why the victim, robbed and knocked unconscious after repeated kicks to the head, wasn’t assisted in any way. Most chilling is the sight of one of the guards standing directly over the girl as the events unfolded--- doing absolutely nothing. The private security firm, contracted by Seattle Metro Transit, follows a policy of “observe and report,” not getting involved...