Free Republic

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — More than a half-century after federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white school, efforts to desegregate Little Rock's classrooms are at another turning point. The state wants to end its long-running payments for desegregation programs, but three school districts that receive the money say they need it to continue key programs. And a federal judge has accused the schools of delaying desegregation so they can keep receiving an annual infusion of $70 million.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and fellow Americans: Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country. We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that has made things worse. This past week, reporters have been asking “What will this speech mean for the President? What will it mean for Congress? How will it affect their polls, and the next election?” But the millions of Americans who are watching right now: they don’t care about politics. They have real life concerns. Many have spent months...

Lackawanna County Judge Terrence R. Nealon admitted Wednesday to committing "a lapse of ethical judgment" seven years ago by privately advising local Democrats on how to oppose a county voting plan in a case over which he was asked to rule. Judge Nealon, a lifelong Democrat, admitted his lapse after being shown a copy of an email he sent to prominent Democrats on how to oppose the plan. The email was obtained from a confidential source by The Times-Tribune, and the judge confirmed he wrote it. Read Judge Terrence R. Nealon's email HERE (.pdf) Judge Nealon had been a contender...

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, who claims she was falsely smeared as a racist while she herself falsely smears Republicans and Fox News as racists, said this morning that she would like to see BigGovernment.com, the website that made her famous, shut down for the good of the country.CNN's American Morning reported on Sherrod's demand:She said if Breitbart's site were shut down, "That would be a great thing, because I don't see how that advances us in this country ... at a time when we should be trying to look at how we can make space for all of us...

Here's a dose of reality. The father of teen sailor Abby Sunderland told The NY Post that he's broke and had signed a contract to do a reality show, "Adventures in Sunderland," about his family of daredevil kids weeks after she set off on her doomed and dangerous solo sail around the globe. Laurence Sunderland, a sailing instructor who lives in the middle-class Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks with his pregnant wife and seven kids, opened their home to film crews four months ago.

"She wants 100 percent divorce, 100 percent custody of the children, and half of everything. And she won't be changing her mind," a confidant of the Swedish stunner told the British tab[loid News of the World]. The hard-line stance stems from Woods' refusal to seek help for his twin addictions to sex and pills, the paper reported. ...

Is the New IRS Wealth Squad Coming for You? Smart Money, Oct. 27, 2009 Being wealthy has its downsides, chief among them the higher risk of an IRS audit. Now, amid the continuing debate over whether the government is doing enough to combat financial fraud, comes news that gives the uber-wealthy – or maybe even the “merely” wealthy – yet another reason to fear Uncle Sam’s attention. In a speech before the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman announced the recent formation of a new unit, dubbed Global High Wealth Industry Group, which will focus on the...

DETROIT — Even if Chrysler LLC gets additional government loans, it could face another cash shortage in July when revenue dries up as the company shuts down its factories for two weeks to change from one model year to the next, its chief financial officer said. CFO Ron Kolka, in a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press, said the company planned for the $4-billion (U.S.) it received Jan. 2 to last through March 31. The company is talking with the government's autos task force about getting another $5-billion, and faces a March 31 deadline to complete its plan to...

Us” meaning the GOP, of course. I appreciate his willingness to beat himself up in the name of regaining the public’s trust, but, er, is the man of Steele being perhaps a bit too self-deprecating here? Even Beck’s taken aback by the brutal candor of it (but in a good way!)

Congressman Richard Baker (R) announced Tuesday that he will resign his seat "no later than February 6" to become the chief lobbyist in DC for the $1.8 trillion hedge fund industry. Baker's resignation will prompt yet another special election. Baker was first elected to Congress in 1986, and had been openly pondering retirement for months. A special election could be set for as soon as March 8 -- the same day of the special election to fill the US House seat left vacant by the election of Bobby Jindal (R) as Governor. State Representative Don Cazayoux (D) was already an...

He is the former president of one the largest Communist countries in history. But Mikhail Gorbachev now has an unlikely new job - In an ad that will appear in magazines worldwide later this year, Gorbachev is shown in the backseat of a car riding through Berlin, with one of the luxury brand's bags at his side. The fee he received for the fashion shoot – estimated at several hundred thousand dollars – will go toward supporting programmes at the Gorbachev fund, according to The International Herald Tribune.

(April 4, 2007) -- A near perfect offseason in New England now is being interrupted with a reminder that not everything is ideal in Patriots Nation. Free-agent cornerback Asante Samuel, whom the Patriots slapped with their franchise tag in February, is so displeased and discouraged with his contract talks with the team that he now is open to the idea of playing elsewhere and will seek a trade. "This is to let everybody know that I'm not happy anymore and things are not going well," Samuel said in his first public comments since the Patriots franchised him. "At first I...

DETROIT -- Followers of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan didn't disappoint him Sunday. They braved ice-slicked highways and glassy sidewalks to nearly fill the 65,000-seat Ford Field stadium to hear Farrakhan's annual Saviours' Day address, which he used to prepare his followers for the future. If they were looking for a fiery Farrakhan, they found him in a more than two-hour speech in which he heaped condemnation on America's failing war in Iraq as well as the civil war between Shiites and Sunnis that threatens to split apart that country. What fascinates me most about Farrakhan's style of leadership...

Jesse Jackson: Hollywood Needs 'Diversity' Newsmax.com Feb. 22, 2007 As seemingly half of Hollywood converged on a fundraiser for Democratic presidential aspirant Sen. Barack Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was huddled elsewhere with Universal Studios president Ron Meyer over his own campaign - to increase industry diversity. "We must go to each of the companies and agencies and urge them to make the industry open up and expand the market and the opportunities," Jackson said Wednesday during an hour-plus interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "After all, we once did not know how big baseball could be until everyone could play....

Pastor Mac Hammond's congregation at Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park reacted strongly Sunday to his appearance in the wake of a watchdog's group complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that he violated federal tax law and a front-page Star Tribune article examining his financial dealings: Worshipers gave him a prolonged, cheer-laced standing ovation. "Y'all better sit down; I'll get too choked up to minister," drawled Hammond, 63, pastor of the nondenominational megachurch, which has almost 10,000 members. He called questions about his financial dealings "a misunderstanding" of his prosperity-gospel ministry, which holds that following God's word leads to...

For more than 26 years, Congressman John P. "Jack" Murtha (D-Penn.) has not been truthful about his involvement in Abscam, court records and the complete video of his meeting with the FBI show. In recent years, only a 13-second video of Murtha's videotaped meeting with the FBI agents was publicly available. TAS has obtained a copy of the full, original video from a source close to the Abscam investigation on the condition of anonymity. The court transcript is publicly available at the National Archives. (Too see the full video, click here. For a transcript of the meeting, click here.)

WASHINGTON--Baby boomer and former President Bill Clinton is laying plans to celebrate his 60th birthday in grand style with a charitable fundraising extravaganza in New York late next month that will include an invitation-only concert by the Rolling Stones and contributor packages that run to $500,000 and higher. Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, who has generally avoided high-profile participation in her parents' political and philanthropic activities, is serving as co-host of the three-day party. She will host a Saturday brunch on a weekend that also features a golf tournment at the Bayonne, N.J., Golf Club, multiple receptions and a dinner at the...

In three of the Gospels, Jesus warns that each of his disciples may have to "deny himself" and even "take up his Cross." In support of this prediction, he contrasts the fleeting pleasures of today with the promise of eternity: "For what profit is it to a man," he asks, "if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Generations of churchgoers have understood that being Christian means being ready to sacrifice. But for a growing number of Christians, the question is better restated, "Why not gain the whole world plus my soul?" For several decades, a philosophy...

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez today said Cuban leader Fidel Castro was now able to leave his bed and hold conversations following stomach surgery that required him to temporarily hand over power to his brother. "This morning I learned that he's doing well, that he's already standing up out of bed, he's talking - more than he should, because he talks a lot," said Mr Chavez during a conversation with Bolivian President Evo Morales broadcast on television. "He has sent us regards." Venezuelan government sources yesterday said Mr Chavez does not have a trip to Cuba on his agenda despite media...