Free Republic

A former FBI agent said Saturday that he was leaving after more than a decade because of the "relentless" and "scorched-earth" attacks on the agency "from politicians with partisan goals."

WASHINGTON — Not everyone thinks imitation is the best form of flattery. In fact, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando took such offense at a parody website aimed at unseating him that the freshman Democrat has asked that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder investigate the Lake County activist who started the anti-Grayson website “mycongressmanisnuts.com.” Specifically, Grayson accuses Republican activist Angie Langley of lying to federal elections. His four-page complaint highlights the fact that the Clermont resident lives outside his district, but that Langley still uses the term “my” in “mycongressmanisnuts.com.”“Ms. Langley has deliberately masqueraded as a constituent of mine, in...

GOT SCREWED, USA -- Complaining about officiating is a time-honored sports tradition. It's much easier to believe your team got screwed than it got whupped because anger is more manageable than sadness. It's sour grapes, plain and simple. But, America, please forgive Seahawks fans if they sound a little bitter and paranoid after the rest of the country got its sweet, little fairy tale with Jerome Bettis winning Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit. It just seems a bit too tidy, considering how things went down. Here's the rub: No intelligent person, and that includes Pittsburgh fans, watched...

NEW YORK -- Vice President Dick Cheney's feud with Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel was perpetuated Wednesday when the 75-year-old congressman said Cheney "ought to be ashamed of himself" for a remark about his age. Months of verbal attacks from Rangel turned into a back and forth on Monday when the 64-year-old vice president said Rangel is "losing it," later adding that "Charlie is a lot older than I am, and it shows." After an appearance at City Hall on Wednesday, Rangel was asked when the dispute would die. "I think it ends when he apologizes for attacking me as a...

By Patrick O’Grady VeloNews editor at large This report filed August 19, 2005 A few irate letter-writers have suggested that we keep politics out of cycling here at VeloNews.com, and we can see their points, once they've removed their Bush-Cheney 2004 caps. After all, the liars, cheaters and dopers infesting politics might teach cycling's liars, cheaters and dopers a few new tricks, and God knows it's already tough enough to tell who's on the up and up these days, no matter how much blood gets drawn or spilled. Still, if the daily papers are going to cover the Recreationist-in-Chief's mountain-bike...

Editor, the Tribune: From a few reports, I have heard Karl Rove is the one who is mentioned in the Time magazine reporter’s notes. If he is the one who retaliated against the CIA agent by leaking her name to the press, he should be immediately fired, arrested and prosecuted. Where is the outraged press? The press and the Republican Party repeatedly attacked and prosecuted former President Bill Clinton for lying about a consensual sex act that had no direct effect on any American, and yet the Bush administration lied to all of Americans about the reason for the Iraq...

ST. LOUIS - (KRT) - Bill Moyers denounced on Sunday the right wing and top officials at the White House, saying they are trying to silence their critics by controlling the news media. He also took aim at reporters who become little more than willing government "stenographers." And he said the public increasingly is content with just enough news to confirm its own biases. Moyers spoke in St. Louis at a conference on media reform. His reports have appeared on the Public Broadcasting System since the 1970s. He was an aide to President Lyndon Johnson and is a former newspaper...

For those hoping that a second term would cool the seething resentment of George Bush and his supporters over having to live in a democratic society, it was a sobering moment: Bush Resubmits 20 Nominations for Federal JudgeshipsDec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush will resubmit 20 federal judicial nominations, reigniting a battle with Democrats who accuse the nominees of hostility to abortion rights and the environment.The list includes seven of the 10 candidates whose nominations failed during Bush's first term because of Democratic filibusters that blocked Senate confirmation votes. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called the nominees...

The Americans have Daniel Pipe, the Dutch had Pim Fortuyn, the French have Brigit Bardot, the Italians have Oriana Fallaci, and the British have Robert Kilroy-Silk. They are all anti-Islamic bigots, zealots, extremists and fanatics, driven by their intense hatred and racism. The words of such people have contributed towards the legitimisation of the violence inflicted in place like Iraq. Furthermore, it encourages brutality amongst their soldiers, no surprise to hear the incident of an Iraqi prisoner viciously kicked to death. One can only imagine, all the other cases that do not get reported. Torture and execution has become routine...

<p>WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A member of the board of the National Press Foundation has resigned her position because of plans to present Fox News' Brit Hume with an award.</p> <p>Hume, the managing editor of Fox News and its chief Washington correspondent, was selected to receive the NPF's Taishoff Award as Broadcaster of the Year during a Feb. 19 awards dinner.</p>

Dumb. That’s how people all over South Carolina characterized the state Democratic Party’s decision to require voters to declare they are Democrats if they want to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary. Consider Herb Hoefer, a 52-year-old state social services worker. He plans to show poll workers his registration card, but he will not sign the oath. And if they try to stop him from voting? “I’ll tell them to stick it in their ear; I’m voting,” Hoefer vowed. Mike Grogan, a 45-year-old produce manager for Publix, called himself an independent but said he will not sign any pledge. “I’ll just...

<p>Voters from any party will be allowed to cast ballots Tuesday in the Democratic presidential primary, but the chairman of the state Democratic Party is asking one group to stay away. GOP mischief-makers.</p> <p>Joe Erwin, the chairman, said Sunday he welcomes votes from independents and "disaffected" Republicans who "seriously" support one of the Democratic candidates. But he said loyal Republicans who want to fill ballot boxes with votes for the weakest candidates aren't welcome.</p>

The media vs. Howard DeanDemocrats haven't voted yet, but reporters have got the story: The former Vermont governor is angry, gaffe-prone and unelectable. How do they know? Republicans, and anonymous Democrats, told them so. - - - - - - - - - - - -By Eric BoehlertJan. 13, 2004  |  When the Washington Post introduced readers to Howard Dean in a long Page 1 feature July 6, part of a series of "meet the Democrats" candidate profiles, the paper went for the jugular, literally, with a cartoonish, unflattering description to open the article: "Howard Dean was angry. Ropy...

OELWEIN, Iowa (Reuters) - Dale Ungerer, a 66-year-old retiree from Hawkeye, Iowa, succeeded on Sunday where eight Democratic presidential hopefuls have failed -- he made front-runner Howard Dean show a flash of his much-discussed temper. The former Vermont governor had just finished his standard stump speech blasting President Bush for, among other things, his Iraq policy and his stewardship of the economy. He asked, as is his custom, for "questions, comments or rude remarks in the New England tradition." Ungerer, wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Mr Fix It," rose to his feet and condemned what he called the incivility...

A study of television news coverage of the war in Iraq says ABC’s World News Tonight was the most antiwar — far more than CBS, NBC or Fox. — USA Today, September 9 Antiwar? What are we to make of that word, exactly? For starters, it brings to mind a twelve-year-old study on press coverage of the Catholic Church by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the same outfit that did the study mentioned above. The findings then: press coverage is anti-Catholic. The center, which works to maintain a neutral image, did not use exactly those words but did...

Three years after helping render punch-card voting systems obsolete, Broward County voters have proven that no election system is foolproof. In Tuesday's special election to fill state House seat 91, 134 Broward voters managed to use the 2-year-old touch-screen equipment without casting votes for any candidate. How so many happened to cast nonvotes remains a riddle. Unlike with punch cards or paper ballots, there's no paper record with electronic voting that might offer a clue to the voter's intent.

DEMOCRATS TAKE FIRST STEPS TO SUPREME COURT As expected, district court rejects request for stay The wheels are in motion on the Democrats’ appeal to a federal three-judge panel’s decision that the Texas Congressional map is both lawful and Constitutional. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas denied all relief requested by the plaintiffs on Tuesday morning. By Wednesday morning, the Jackson plaintiffs and the Congressional intervenors had filed a request for emergency stay with the District Court, the first step on the way to the nation’s highest court. This morning, the District Court made the expected...

Despite recent reports of an improved economy, hunger and homelessness are on the rise, according to a study of 25 major cities by the U. S. Conference of Mayors. “This survey underscores the impact the economy has had on everyday Americans,” says conference president, Mayor James E. Garner of Hempstead, N.Y. “The face of homelessness has changed and now reflects who we least suspect.” For example, 61 percent of people requesting emergency food assistance in the cities surveyed held jobs. The annual “Hunger and Homelessness Survey,” released in late December, reports that requests for emergency food assistance increased by an...

<p>Chris Loarie has waged a battle against the boarders, inventing something he calls skatestoppers (search) &#8212; metal brackets that serve as mini speed bumps and can render almost any surface unskateable.</p> <p>"We've got customers that have, just here in San Diego, spent upwards of twenty, twenty-five thousand dollars replacing broken granite simply because of skating and biking," said Loarie, whose business Intellicept sells the product.</p>

Legislators slam A&M over legacy admissions Role of family ties in acceptance called 'institutional racism' By TODD ACKERMAN Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Blood ties to alumni, sometimes known as the other affirmative action, are the deciding factor in the admission of more than 300 white Texas A&M University freshmen annually, according to data provided by the school. Such students -- known as "legacy admits" -- equal roughly the overall total of blacks admitted to A&M each year. Only a handful of black students a year are admitted because of legacy points. "That's a lot of kids being advantaged because A&M...