Free Republic

Shantavia Jackson signed her three sons up for football to keep them out of trouble. As a single mother who works the night shift at a Home Depot warehouse 50 minutes away from her house, Jackson relies on the sport to shield the boys from gang activity in her rural Georgia county. They began in a local league five years ago when they were still little, their helmets like bobbleheads on their shoulders. Now 11, 12, and 14, they play in games across the region. Jackson says she passed up a daytime shift at Home Depot so that she can...

According to two knowledgeable sources, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele once raised the possibility of using party money to buy a private jet for his travel. ---snip--- While Steele has not purchased a plane, he continues to charter them. According to federal disclosure records, the RNC spent $17,514 on private aircraft in the month of February alone (as well as $12,691 on limousines during the same period). There are no readily identifiable private plane expenses for Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine in the DNC’s last three months of filings. --snip--- Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele...

The International Relations Center describes Linda Chavez as “George W. Bush's first choice for labor secretary, Linda Chavez is a right-wing pundit, anti-union demagogue, and foreign policy hawk. She has supported or worked for a string of rightist outfits, including the Manhattan Institute, the Independent Women's Forum, and the Center for Equal Opportunity.” Well, we can add traitor to that description. On May 25, Linda Chavez wrote a piece called, “Latino Fear and Loathing.” Chavez also wrote a book called, “An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal." From the words in her latest column, she may be reverting back,...

Michelle Obama, an extraordinary stump speaker and potentially one of Sen. Barack Obama's most effective surrogates, is poised to step up her role in her husband's presidential campaign. "I hate following my wife," Obama joked, speaking at a New York fund-raiser Friday night after being introduced by Michelle. When someone in the crowd yelled that Michelle should run, Obama said, "Yeah, she's too smart to run. It is true my wife is smarter, better looking. She's a little meaner than I am." Hardly that. She is, according to spokesman Bill Burton, the "most important adviser" to the Illinois Democrat... and...

NEW YORK (AP) - Major League Baseball is looking into Barry Bonds' relationships and activities, according to a report in the New York Daily News. Citing anonymous baseball sources, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions that baseball security officials believe Bonds might be at risk of conviction over allegations of tax fraud. The San Francisco Giants outfielder, who has been at the center of baseball's steroid's scandal, has yet to play this season as he recovers from knee surgeries. The most recent Bonds controversy involves him using his own doctors and trainers to treat his injured right knee. The...