Free Republic

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The sign at the entrance to President Barack Obama's new 2012 campaign headquarters says: "Respect. Empower. Include. Win." A swarm of reporters got a sneak peak at the Obama's headquarters on Thursday at a downtown Chicago office building. The 50,000 square-foot space occupying a full floor of the building, is mostly open except for rows of tables sparsely populated by roughly 50 staffers and volunteers. The number of campaign operatives will be increased during Obama's re-election bid and Campaign Manager Jim Messina and other operatives said the space's organization reflects Obama's grassroots campaign style, which is open...

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the combative foil to top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa, is making his first significant power move to cut Issa down to size, demanding authority to stop Issa from issuing congressional subpoenas “unilaterally.” In a Jan. 24 letter, Cummings claims Issa vowed to him privately to aggressively use his subpoena power “more expansively” than past oversight committee chairmen. Congressional subpoena power gives Issa almost unlimited authority to demand documents and compel testimony from the Obama administration. Now, Cummings is pushing to give Democrats input on which subpoenas Issa issues and force a committee vote on any...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that he would help "rein in Israel," according to a report Wednesday in the London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat. According to the report, which quotes what it calls a credible French source, Sarkozy "promised to deal with the matter" during a meeting in which Suleiman expressed concern about a possible Israeli attack and what he called Israel's violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Meanwhile, U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday said Lebanon is key to regional peace.

Just last week Bill Clinton blamed Congressional Democrats for blocking reform of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, via Patriot Room: Going very much against the media meme that the current financial crisis is all George W. Bush and the Republicans’ fault, Bill Clinton on Thursday told ABC’s Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been “resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”

Last update - 21:59 08/12/2005 Muslim nations vow to combat extremist religion, rein in terror By The Associated Press MECCA - Leaders at the biggest-ever Muslim summit on terrorism vowed Thursday to fight extremist ideology, saying they would reform textbooks, rein in the issuing of religious edicts and crack down on terror financing. Kings, heads of states and ministers from more than 50 Muslim countries closed a two-day summit held in Islam's holiest city, Mecca, that had been convened in a bid to address terrorism that has increasingly confronted their own governments and to counter criticism that the Islamic world...

At a press conference and Congressional briefing on Wednesday, May 25th, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) will introduce federal legislation that could cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in federal law enforcement grants to local anti-drug task forces. The legislation, which is being co-sponsored by Representatives John Conyers (D-MI), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Donald Payne (D-NJ), and Ed Towns (D-NY), would prohibit states from spending federal Byrne grants on regional narcotics task forces unless they adopt laws preventing people from being convicted of drug offenses when the only evidence against them is the uncorroborated testimony of a law enforcement officer...

SACRAMENTO - A measure backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to rein in registered lobbyists who also work as political consultants stalled Tuesday in the Legislature after lobbying from a prominent Democratic consultant who is a key target of the bill. The bill, AB 40, sputtered in the Assembly elections committee when no one moved it for a vote. The committee is chaired by former federal prosecutor Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, who used campaign consultant Richie Ross in his race last November. Ross, who is also a registered lobbyist for farmworkers and two large Indian tribes, said Tuesday that he had...

Powell 'pushed out' by Bush for seeking to rein in Israel By Charles Laurence in New York and Philip Sherwell (Filed: 21/11/2004) Colin Powell, the outgoing US secretary of state, was given his marching orders after telling President George W Bush that he wanted greater power to confront Israel over the stalled Middle East peace process. Although Mr Powell's departure was announced on November 15, his letter of resignation was dated November 11, the day he had a meeting with Mr Bush. Colin Powell: the president's 'good cop' According to White House officials, at the meeting Mr Powell was not...

Musharraf to rein in militants By Peter Foster, South Asia Correspondent (Filed: 16/03/2004) President Pervaiz Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that a Libyan al-Qa'eda terrorist was behind two attempts to assassinate him in December. The claims, which Gen Musharraf said would be backed up by television interviews with the suspects, were accompanied by a renewed commitment to root out al-Qa'eda remnants in Pakistan's tribal areas. "The man who organised the suicide attacks against me was from Libya and a member of al-Qa'eda," Gen Musharraf told a meeting of tribal elders in the north-western city of Peshawar. "He gave about two...

Palestinian cabinet pledges to rein in militants after blast By Eric Silver in Jerusalem 21 August 2003 The Palestinian cabinet voted unanimously last night to crack down against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which jointly claimed responsibility for Tuesday night's Jerusalem bus bombing that killed 20 religious Jews and wounded more than 100. After an emergency meeting in Gaza, a senior official told The Independent that a "protracted campaign of political, security and operational measures" had been ordered against the two groups. "The Palestinian Authority will not allow any faction or individual to harm our cause as they did on Tuesday....