Free Republic

Durbin warns other lawmakers of healthcare town hall 'sucker punch' @ 3:39 pm by Jordan Fabian Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) warned other members of Congress against antagonistic audience members at healthcare town hall events who may be funded by industry interest groups. "I hope my colleagues won't fall for a sucker punch like this," Durbin told the liberal blog ThinkProgress. "These health insurance companies and people like them are trying to load these town meetings for visual impact on television," he added. Liberal news sources have recently featured items about conservative and interest groups efforts to pack lawmakers' town hall...

For much of the Bush administration, the media splashed stories of neoconservative conspiracies and cabals. Exposés about mostly Jewish liberals-turned-conservatives charged that they were adherents of the philosopher Leo Strauss and embraced the Platonic notion of the “noble lie.” In his Republic, Plato outlined an elaborate, ranked utopia, a good city (“Kallipolis”) run by a sort of benign natural selection. The philosopher-kings sat atop hierarchies in which occupations were assigned for the citizenry. To justify arbitrary selections, the rulers would make up “noble lies” about divine edicts, making clear that the occupations chosen for lesser folk were god-given. Once the...

House to continue Energy Bill Debate with Possible Vote Today Later today, the House will continue general debate on the American Clean Energy & Security Act, Pres. Obama's climate change legislation. The bill centers on a renewable electicity standard, encouraging the use of renewable energy and a cap-and-trade policy.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's presidency has ushered in an era of centrism, with the country experiencing such a boost in independent voters that they now make up the largest proportion of the electorate in 70 years.

RIGHT-WINGERS who've been making a big deal about Wanda Sykes' performance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner need to stop. I'm not buying all the ranting. There's no way they are as outraged as they've been acting about her remarks at the Saturday-night event. Someone needs to remind people that Sykes is a comedian. And a fairly raunchy one at that. Every year, organizers for this affair search for a smart and edgy performer to come onstage and stir the pot, as the old saying goes. And girlfriend did just that. Gave it a whole lot of elbow grease, too....

Barney Frank's Rental ReversalApril 21, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, we've got a couple Barney Frank spites here. He's always good for a couple sound bites. We thought about getting a Barney Frank translator in here but that would sorta destroy it. I mean, I can do it myself but sometimes it's better to leave Barney Frank un-translated. He was on Tavis Smiley's show, PBS, last night, and Smiley said, "What did you do today relative to low-income housing?" FRANK: One of the causes of the terrible crisis we had over the last few years, which has given us today's...

Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico The White House stands by the president's use of the word "recovered" in describing the role firearms smuggled from the U.S. play in Mexico's drug war. By Major Garrett FOXNews.com Sunday, April 19, 2009 PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago -- What's the difference between "recovered" and "traceable" when it comes to firearms seized in Mexico's bloody war against drug cartels? The White House says none. But that's a distinction with a difference, even if President Obama used the words interchangeably last week to talk about the role firearms smuggled from...

More Roosevelt… Less Jimmy Carter… that’s what this brand needs! Folks, there’s been a lot of scrutiny of President Obama in these first 100 days. It goes with the territory. The attention is brutal no matter who’s in the Oval Office and it always will be. Exposure is something most marketers covet . . .but over-exposure especially of the wrong features can be deadly for a personal brand. That is why, Barack Obama –whom I’ve called a first-rate poli-marketer (see the past few weeks FOX Forum posts here)– had better stop behaving like Jimmy Carter and start emulating Roosevelt. In...

Is Barack Obama an insensitive lout who serves $100 per pound steaks to his elite guests and turns up the heat in the White House high enough to grow orchids while a million of his countrymen are without power and dozens are freezing to death? If not, why not? Solely because that is not the story the media want to tell. Many on the web--but no one in the mainstream media--have commented on the fact that Obama has not even pretended to do anything about the massive ice storm that has disabled much of Kentucky and neighboring states. It took...

Whether they call themselves Communists, Marxists, Socialists, Liberals or Progressives, it’s really just a distinction without a difference. I know there are subtle differences but they’re mostly inconsequential. The goal is the same, but some titles are more comfortable than others aren’t they? “No, I’m not a Marxist! Because…well…I don’t call myself a Marxist. No, no I’m a Progressive.” Whatever comrade, call yourself a Twinkie if you like, it changes nothing. It’s your objectives that matter, and we know what they are so you’re not fooling anyone who is paying attention. But that is exactly the problem isn’t it? Who...

Surprise! Surprise! Former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges has admitted what almost anyone familiar with his reality-challenged rantings already knew: he is a socialist. Hedges explains in Truthdig Why I Am a Socialist (emphasis mine): The corporate forces that are looting the Treasury and have plunged us into a depression will not be contained by the two main political parties. The Democratic and Republican parties have become little more than squalid clubs of privilege and wealth, whores to money and corporate interests, hostage to a massive arms industry, and so adept at deception and self-delusion they no longer know...

"Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have any kind of a social aim, if you think history should serve society in some way; should serve the progress of the human race; should serve justice in some way, then it requires that you should make your selection on the basis of what you think will advance causes of humanity." ~ Howard Zinn (One of academia's favorite historians.)

Looks like ABC News is starting out 2009 with a partisan bang. On its main page, ABC News is hosting a slide show featuring what it is calling the "All Time Dumb Quotes." Now, these are not all strictly political dumb quotes, to be sure. They also have the empty headed Christina Aguilera, that sharp as a tack Jessica Simpson and other denizens of the Hollywood Mensa club among the 16 featured quotes -- and some of them are doozies, too. But, there are six political quotes five by Republicans and one by Tina Fey making fun of a Republican...

A Kansas-based church that has blamed deaths in Iraq on U.S. tolerance of homosexuality has asked Gov. Christine Gregoire's office to approve a "Santa Claus will take you to hell" message to display among other religious statements in the Capitol's third-floor hallway.

Leading social conservatives blasted Newsweek for its current cover story, "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage," which they said misinterprets both biblical scripture and their own political movement. “It doesn’t surprise me. Newsweek has been so far in the tank on the homosexual issue, for so long, they need scuba gear and breathing apparatus,” said Richard Land, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “I don’t think it’s going to change the minds of anyone who takes biblical teachings seriously.” Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council, agreed, calling Newsweek’s cover story “yet...

Apparently, if one calls an Arab-American an A** H*le, Reuters and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee want all Americans to know that this is to be considered a "violent hate crime." At least that is what it seems when looking over the very lose and sloppy definition of "violent hate crimes" in a recent story on the falling numbers of such crimes against Arab-Americans in the U.S. While ostensibly a good story -- discrimination against Arab-Americans has decreased -- it is still odd that Reuters allows this Muslim advocacy group to define even name calling as a "hate crime" and "violent"...

This year is set to be the coolest since 2000, according to a preliminary estimate of global average temperature that is due to be released next week by the Met Office. The global average for 2008 should come in close to 14.3C, which is 0.14C below the average temperature for 2001-07. The relatively chilly temperatures compared with recent years are not evidence that global warming is slowing however, say climate scientists at the Met Office. "Absolutely not," said Dr Peter Stott, the manager of understanding and attributing climate change at the Met Office's Hadley Centre. "If we are going to...

Conservatives put on a spectacular display of scientific ignorance this month in the U.S. Senate. During the debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would regulate carbon dioxide by setting a cap on emissions and allowing emitters to trade carbon allowances, most Republican senators questioned the reality of human-caused climate change or ignored the climate threat entirely and repeated the talking point that the bill would raise gasoline and electricity prices. It was as if they had been locked in an isolation booth for the past decade. Let's go to the highlights. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.: "The vast majority...

National security team nominees are prepared to meet today's challenges and tomorrow's emerging threats, U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden said Monday. "I hope and believe that the American people will come to feel as I do that we brought together one of the most talented national security teams ever assembled," Biden said at a news conference in Chicago, during which President-elect Barack Obama introduced his national security team. "A team prepared to meet the serious challenges we face today and the emerging threats that will confront us tomorrow."Obama designated Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state and said he...

Monday, November 24 An open letter to Sarah Palin: Dear Governor — For the first time in eight years I feel a mixture of joy and anger in my heart. Ms. Palin, I was angered by your inciting of violence at your rallies. It was appalling to hear cries of "traitor", "kill him", "terrorist" and the angry shouting of one man looking at the camera as he went into one of your rallies "Kill another baby, you bastard". And yet you said nothing to quell outcries. John McCain said he was 'proud' of the people who attended your rallies. This...