Free Republic

"In 1989 I took Rush Limbaugh's radio show off the air in St. Louis..." Jeff Long had his first "encounter" with Rush way back in the early days of his syndicated radio show. But there was more to come. Jeff would end up working in Rush's home town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He would meet Rush in person but there's more. And at the link below what Paul Harvey used to call on the radio "the rest of the story"... So many memories of Rush that for me include memories of the music that Rush loved. He would play songs...

Jamaican singer Millie Small has died at the age of 73 after suffering a stroke. The star was most famous for her hit single My Boy Lollipop, which reached number two in both the US and the UK in 1964. It remains one of the biggest-selling ska songs of all time, with more than seven million sales. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell announced her death and remembered her as "a sweet person... really special". It was Blackwell who brought Small to London in 1963 and produced her version of My Boy Lollipop, showcasing her childlike, high-pitched vocals. "I would say...

Physician, heal thyself. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he hopes to introduce legislation later this year to restructure government-backed mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Hey, Barney. Where the hell were you years ago, when change and reform at Fannie-Freddie MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY MATTERED? Oh, that's right. Here you were: ''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is...

The Republican arguing with power-hungry Barney Frank is Patrick McHenry. McHenry rose to offer an amendment that would exempt American Samoa from the stem-cell bill — a clear dig at the fact that Samoa, which is home to StarKist factories that employ nearly 75% of the island’s work force, was conspicuously exempt from the minimum-wage bill that had passed the day before. Why is that important? Because StarKist is a branch of Del Monte Foods Co., which has its headquarters in San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi’s district. Frank was not amused. This is sure to be four of the most eventful...

WASHINGTON - There were no cowboy hats, no cowboy boots. The only fur coat on the rack was a fake one. While 50,000 revelers celebrated Thursday night at nine official balls across the city, a couple hundred people chose the company of fellow liberals at an "Alternative Inaugural Ball" downtown. The ball raised $65,000 for the Independent Action political action committee, which supports non-incumbent Democratic candidates. "Instead of our constituency staying home and being miserable, we decided to celebrate our hard work," said the PAC's executive director, Ralph Santora. Comedian and radio show host Al Franken was one of the...

Polls are the genital warts of election year. They are the swarming gnats in your Jell-O salad, the dead escalator in your shopping mall, the sour milk in your coffee. Because clearly, if you attempt to follow any of them, the AP polls or the American Research Group polls or the Newsweek polls or the ABC News polls or the CBS News/NYT polls or the Zogby polls, you can only conclude one thing: These polls are designed solely to mangle your head and confound your synapses and elate you and titillate you and then plunge you into instant despair and...