Free Republic

On October 28, 2012 Ukraine will hold their first democratic parliamentary elections since agreeing to new rules in November 2011, a significant achievement in reforming the electoral process. The current government has made headlines during the past year, including in the U.S., because it is going through a complicated reform process. Ukraine is a place where economic freedom and embrace of democracy are still the exceptions and not the rule, and the current government needs the support of the West. However, recent events could make it easy for the U.S. to take the wrong angle and accidentally push the country...

The Oval Office isn't the place to learn on the job. That was the line from both Hillary Clinton and John McCain in 2008. In fairness, that's always the argument the more experienced candidate uses against the less experienced candidate (just ask Mitt Romney). But Barack Obama seemed a special case, easily among the least experienced major-party nominees in U.S. history. A Pew poll in August 2008 found that the biggest concern voters had with Obama fell under the category of "personal abilities and experience." In a "change" year, Americans swallowed those concerns and voted for the change candidate. Four...

Why isn't this on the news? Would they report it if he said he was a socialist? Well I guess not because even after his redistribution of wealth video surfaced yesterday, the corrupt media did not report it. We are going to have to figure out a way to make people understand the media needs to go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsobm33ATC0&feature=player_embedded

In Rogers Arkansas, Walmart recently asked employees and their friends with iPhones to test out a new self scan-and-go app. It's one of a few mobile initiatives Walmart is working on that could one day replace or aid its many cashiers.

Try to define progressivism . In fact, ask progressives to try to define progressivism . All we really know is that they’re, well, progressing. They and their ideas and their politics are always changing, evolving. This means that what they believe and hold fast and dear today may not be what they believe and hold fast and dear tomorrow, or decades or a century from now. For instance, when progressive heroine Margaret Sanger started her American Birth Control League a century ago, she was seeking birth control for, among other purposes, what she and fellow progressives termed “race improvement.” She...

<p>"And I confess the progress didn't come quickly, and it did not come easily," President Obama said about his time as a community organizer in Chicago. "Sometimes it didn't come at all. There were times where I thought about giving up and moving on. But what kept me going day in and day out was the same thing that has sustained the Urban League all these years. The same thing that sustains all of you. And that is the belief that in America, change is always possible. That our union may not be perfect, but it is perfectible."</p>

Do your best!!

Street artist Shepard Fairey, who designed Obama 'Hope' poster, arrested for graffiti in Boston NY Daily News | February 7th 2009 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/02/07/2009-02-07_street_artist_shepard_fairey_who_designe.html ________________________________________________________From Shepard Fairey's official website (ObeyGiant.com):Check it out! I got a thank you note from Barack Obama. If he is elected, maybe I have a get out of jail free card. All kidding aside, I’m honored to be acknowledged by someone so important to the future of our country. Also, the Obama campaign asked me to do a poster illustration for sale on their site. It should be out next week on barackobama.com.-Shepardhttp://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out ________________________________________________________ Here is the 'thank...

The Obama campaign released a seven-minute Web video on Monday highlighting the president’s first-term accomplishments, contrasting them with the challenges he inherited from the prior administration. The video teases a new campaign slogan, "Forward," and while it doesn’t mention Obama’s likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, it blames GOP policies for the still-sluggish economy. The ad begins by focusing on events from January 2008 onward, sketching a downward-trending timeline detailing mounting job losses, the foreclosure crisis, the stock market plunge and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, with pictures of former President George W. Bush beneath.

The creator of the Barack Obama "HOPE" poster pleaded guilty Friday to criminal contempt, saying he made a "terrible decision" in 2009 to destroy some documents and fabricate others in a civil lawsuit pertaining to The Associated Press photograph he relied upon to make the poster. Shepard Fairey entered the plea in federal court to the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum potential penalty of up to six months in prison. Sentencing was set for July 16. The criminal case originated after the artist acknowledged he had fabricated information in a lawsuit he brought against the AP in February 2009....

First lady Michelle Obama cites 'remarkable progress' on the economyBy Alicia M. Cohn - 02/01/12 07:54 AM ET First Lady Michelle Obama cited "remarkable progress" on the economy during a speech for a small crowd of high-profile Hollywood names in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. "In the last three years, we've worked hard to get out of this mess and we've made some remarkable progress," the first lady told a group of about 135 supporters at a private campaign event for her husband. She listed President Obama's accomplishments on healthcare reform, the removal of troops from Iraq and the repeal...

Several people have become interested in a quite controversial topic called "AGENDA 21." They have requested being on a ping list for this topic. While I do not have time to do a thorough treatment of this subject, nor am I in any way an expert, I am willing at least for a time,to ping people as I run across articles which might pertain to this concern. It might be good to start with an examination of just what it is or might be. To kick this discussion and exploration off,I did a Google search (just for fun) on "Agenda...

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Koch Industries is looking to fill 2,500 job openings across the nation thanks to the commercial growth of most of its subsidiaries. Company officials said most of the 300 job openings at Koch Industries and 10 of its subsidiaries in Wichita are new, professional positions in areas such as information technology, accounting and engineering, The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/t02aP1) reported Friday. "Most of the job openings are due to growth as opposed to replacement," said Jeff Morris, director of talent development for Koch Industries. "It's a good problem to have," he said of the overall job openings....

About the It Gets Better Project The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The It Gets Better Project wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone — and it WILL get better. What is the It Gets Better Project? In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a...

Are we better off now then 3 years ago when Obama trash-talked the Bush economy? No. All measures are worse: Poverty, Employment, Income, Health Insurance Premiums, The Price of Gas, Home Values, Deficits, Debt ...

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years. “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members...

The majority of Russians remain dissatisfied with the progress of democratization in Russia, a new poll has found. The Moscow Times reports that 62 percent of people recently polled in an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre survey answered that they are “dissatisfied with the development of democracy in Russia.” This number, however, is down marginally from the 73 percent who were dissatisfied with domestic conditions twenty years ago. Meanwhile, those who believe the country is showing progress are largely supporters of the ruling "United Russia" party, are under 45 years of age, and generally active Internet users. [Editors’ Note: Given...

On Jobs And Safety Net, Lawmakers Must Focus On Hard-Hit Minorities By Angela Glover Blackwell, Special to CNN August 5, 2011 Angela Glover Blackwell says blacks and Latinos hardest hit by unemployment She says debt deal leaves out unemployment insurance, job-creating investments Failure to do so will cost economy millions of jobs, gamble with U.S. future, she says Blackwell: Leaders must focus on robust, inclusive jobs agenda to ensure no one left behind (CNN) -- Last month, the Center for American Progress highlighted the stark and disproportionate impact of the ongoing jobs crisis on people of color, with unemployment among...

ABC has word that the deal is still tentative, but here is the outline: Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion Instead of Harry Reid’s bogus war savings, a commission will be appointed to recommend cuts totaling $1.8 trillion, thereby equaling the amount of the debt ceiling increase. That’s certainly an improvement over the Reid plan if the other cuts actually happen. I have my doubts whether the Democrats will follow through or simply use what they’ve already agreed to to demagogue the issue some more. So the bottom line is that both...

Some may have seen Mr. Díaz, a Democrat and a Pentecostal minister, as the Latino representative on the issue, but several same-sex couples in Queens — from Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico — would debate that, if they were not so busy planning their weddings. “He pretends to speak for all of us, for Latinos, and I really do not think he does,” said Ana Maria Archila, a Colombian who decided on Friday night to marry her longtime partner after the State Senate voted to make same-sex unions legal.....Advocates for the two groups say that immigrants and gay...