Free Republic

The battle over six budget-related measures on Tuesday's special election ballot has generated more than $31.5 million in campaign spending, split the state's labor community and created strange bedfellows on both sides. Supporters, aided by the powerful California Teachers Association and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's business allies, have raised more than $27.6 million to back Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F. Opponents, a collection of unions, anti-tax groups and supporters of children's and mental health programs, have raised $3.8 million. ... the California Federation of Teachers, a smaller rival to the California Teachers Association ... has chipped in more...

Millions of dollars have been raised to fight the linchpin of ballot measures in Tuesday's election, a package that was carefully crafted to discourage big-bucks opposition. Though vastly outspent, opponents of Proposition 1A have parlayed $4.3 million in contributions and anger at state politicians into a solid advantage in recent polls. The measure, stemming from this year's bitter budget fight, would place long-term spending restrictions on state government and extend recent tax increases for up to two years. Major donors to No on 1A, state records show, include the California State Council of Service Employees International Union, $1.3 million; California...

• The Syrian regime has indicated its preference for Obama. Buthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, has written: “The change suggested by Obama is essential not only for the U.S. but for the entire human family.” • Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi called Obama “a Muslim” and said: “All the people in the Arab and Muslim world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcome him and prayed for his success,” although Qaddafi also expressed criticism of Obama’s comments on the future of Jerusalem. • Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said this year: “We like Mr. Obama and we...

The well understood norm in the media is that people don't really want new information so much as they want confirmation of their own cherished views. Psychologists who study reactions to news find that information is processed by people with strong views in ways that reinforce their views. Those who work in the news-and-information media understand that point without the need for controlled experiments. Their base readership, viewership or listenership is generally confined to a like-minded audience. Liberals may tune in to Rush Limbaugh if they are committed political animals who want to know what to be outraged about from...

'No homosexuals in Iran': Ahmadinejad6 hours ago NEW YORK (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad skirted a question about the treatment of homosexuals in Iran on Monday, saying in a speech at a top US university that there were no gays in Iran. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," Ahmadinejad said to howls and boos among the Columbia University audience. "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it," he said. Ahmadinejad was challenged during his appearance on Amnesty International figures that suggested that 200 people...

If you want to stay on the good side of racist David Duke, be sure you don't cross the beloved memory of the godfather of terrorism, Yasser Arafat. That was the lesson WND learned Thursday when Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein reported one of Arafat's confidantes, Ahmed Jibril, confirmed a French medical report on the cause of his death cited AIDS. That was enough to set off the Duke machine, which came to the rescue of Arafat's manhood. "The WND article by Aaron Klein, which came out of the Jerusalem office of WorldNetDaily, couldn't possibly be ZIONIST PROPAGANDA, could it?"...

Under cover of darkness, a convoy of Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M1-tanks loaded with American soldiers pulled up to a mosque Monday night in the al-Qaeda-infested neighborhood of Amariyah. More than a dozen members of Islamic Army of Iraq, a key Sunni insurgent group, and some local residents waited for them, armed with AK-47 rifles and dressed in tracksuits and T-shirts. But the two forces didn't clash. Instead, they shared information and supplies, in a growing push by Islamic Army of Iraq and their neighborhood backers to push al Qaeda's foreign fighters from the formerly wealthy district that includes Baghdad's...

When it came out last month that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had privately opined that Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia had a "very hot" temperament because of her ethnicity, the Latina Republican from Cathedral City wasn't mad. In fact, she said at the time, she was going to keep campaigning for him. In fact, she reportedly told a high school economics class in La Quinta last Tuesday, "I wouldn't kick him out of my bed." The remark, reported by the Palm Springs-based Desert Sun on Sunday, came when Garcia, who is single, was asked her impressions of the governor, who isn't. According to...

Strange bedfellows: It turns out that ultra-hot conservative talk show host Michael Savage is backing Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown for state attorney general. "What can I say? I think he'd make a great attorney general compared to the other guy. By the way, who is the other guy?'' Savage said, when asked why he chose Democrat Brown over conservative Republican Chuck Poochigian. Savage, whose rants can be heard locally on KNEW-AM, is backing up his hot talk with some hot money as well. Savage Productions, which lists Savage as president and his wife, Janet Weiner, as director, has donated $5,600...

Jerusalem police are expected to decide this week whether to allow a controversial international gay pride parade to take place in the city this summer amidst growing international opposition to the event by an unusual coalition of religious Christians, Jews, and Muslims around the world. The super-sensitive police decision, which will be taken by Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter in consultation with Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco, comes after months of simmering tension over the planned August event, with concerns growing of a violent showdown between extremist opponents of the parade and its participants if it goes ahead as scheduled....

Talk of the Morning: The duo is referred to as the Senate's Odd Couple WASHINGTON - Ted Kennedy was three sheets to the wind and Orrin Hatch needed a favor, as Hatch recalls it. A former staffer wanted the conservative Utah senator and Kennedy, the liberal lion of Massachusetts, to speak to a group of Mormon missionaries in Boston. Late one night, Hatch approached Kennedy, who had been tipping the bottle with Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut. "How are ya doin'?" Kennedy said, patting Hatch on the back. "Fine, fine," Hatch replied, then made his pitch for the missionary event....

LAST NIGHT THERE WERE 1,500 CANDLELIGHT VIGILS FOR CINDY SHEEHAN AND ONE BURNING CROSS. Sheehan has become the poster girl for the antiwar Left, because her status as a grieving mother renders the 48-year-old Vacaville, California, native more sympathetic than Medea Benjamin, Ramsey Clark, or Michael Moore (whose website hosts Sheehan’s blog). However, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and racist extremists have also begun gathering around the Gold Star Families for Peace founder.Leading the parade is none other than "former" Klansman David Duke. Duke recently authored the article, "Why Cindy Sheehan is Right!" in which the "fiery" politician criticizes an article written by little...

(AgapePress) - A San Diego "gay pride" organization is facing some public and potentially legal backlash after a convicted pedophile was discovered working at their recent festival. Last month, AgapePress reported that two pedophiles who are registered as sex offenders under Megan's Law were working as volunteers for the three-day San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Festival, which took place over the July 29-31 weekend. After public outcry, the organization issued a press release -- before the festival -- saying the pedophiles had been removed from their positions. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, law enforcement and community groups...

LONDON, England (AP) - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was quoted as saying yesterday that the United Nations must scrap the Security Council and give its powers to the General Assembly, if it ever hopes to become a truly democratic organisation. In a full-page advertisement in The Guardian newspaper, Gadhafi called the UN Security Council "an ugly, forceful, and horrible instrument of dictatorship - an executioner's whip with no appeal against its judgment, even if its judgment is unfair, biased and harmful." The Security Council's five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - have veto...

USFAN, Saudi Arabia – In 50 years, he says, he has married 58 women and has forgotten the names of most of them. He knows he has had 10 sons, but ask about daughters and he counts on his fingers: 22. No, no, 28. No, that's too many. He settles on 25. Saleh al-Sayeri, a 64-year-old shepherd-turned-businessman, says his marital adventures have cost him more than $1.6 million in wedding expenses and settlements for divorced wives. But the man who remembers being forced into his first marriage at age 14 says he would do it a million times over. "Marriage...

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's not surprising that John Edwards says he would be a tougher opponent for President Bush than Democratic front-runner John Kerry. It raises eyebrows when Howard Dean says the same thing. With the race's fourth major candidate, Wesley Clark, quitting the race, Edwards and Dean are ganging up on Kerry, winner of 12 of the 14 nominating contests so far. Dean told CBS News in an interview that will air Wednesday night that he believes Edwards would be the better candidate in the general election, even though Kerry has the advantage right now. "My fear is that...

In a time of more controlled chaos, linking the Rev. Jerry Falwell to French author Michel Houellebecq would be unthinkable. After all, what could the founder of the Moral Majority possibly have in common with uh Franch authair known for novels of emotional desolation and sexual explicitness? Not much -- until lately. Just as politics makes strange bedfellows, religion has paired this unlikely duo -- but not on the topic of religion. That would be impossible given the celebrated Houellebecq rejects monotheism altogether, and Falwell is a famous Christian preacher of the Religious Right. And while both men share an...