Free Republic

Sen. Trent Lott is being coy about whether he'll run for minority whip in the GOP leadership elections slated for Wednesday. But while Lott plays his cards close to his vest, his presumptive rival, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has already declared himself the winner.

Putin cracks the whip for summit Reports by Adrian Blomfield, in St Petersburg (Filed: 12/07/2006) The Russian authorities have been instructed to banish the poor - and the rain - from St Petersburg ahead of this weekend's G8 summit. Should the horizon darken, the Russian air force will be on stand by to "seed the clouds", pumping ions into the air that supposedly will ensure the rain falls anywhere but on the Konstantinovsky Palace, where leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations will stay. Security forces in President Vladimir Putin's home city have resorted to the type of repression...

WASHINGTON — Reps. Roy Blunt and John Boehner, rivals in the race to succeed Majority Leader Tom DeLay, both claimed progress Monday and released the names of supporters to prove it. The two men maneuvered for support as Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia claimed the votes needed to move up the leadership ladder when elections are held early next month. "He has 140 firm commitments for majority whip," said Cantor's spokesman, Rob Collins. He declined to provide a list. Cantor has been serving as deputy whip under Blunt. Not to be deterred, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., announced he would run...

Multiple people on the Hill tell me that Blunt is in the lead. Those who are whipping for him are getting good feedback. As an added attraction, if Blunt goes into the majority leader position, it opens up the majority whip position, which a number of representatives are interested in. The desire to be majority whip increases Blunt's vote margin for majority leader by those who want to be whip. Update [2006-1-9 11:52:38 by Blanton]: We hear now that Congressman Jack Kingston will be endorsing Roy Blunt. Kingston is close to DeLay and a Vice Chairman of the Republican Conference....

By Brian Whitaker The Saudi Arabian security forces have arrested 110 men at a "gay wedding" party in Jeddah, according to a Saudi online newspaper. Al-Wifaq, which has connections with the interior ministry, said the authorities had raided a wedding hall on Monday night after a tip-off and found the men - all Saudis - dancing and "behaving like women". Eighty men were later released, but 30 appeared in a Jeddah court on Wednesday to face charges, the paper said. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and is punished by flogging, jail or death. The raid was made a day...

After a visit to Iraq last week, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt brought back a story of holiday spirit. "I saw Christmas trees in the Saddam palaces that are now being used as office space. And Christmas decorations in the dining halls," Blunt recalled Monday upon returning to his Springfield office. "And I'm sure virtually every soldier I saw would rather be home for Christmas, but they all also understood what they were doing and felt it was important." Blunt, R-7th, and other representatives traveled to the Middle East to visit troops and assess preparations for Iraqi and Palestinian elections next...

House instituted job of whip at the start of the Civil War There wasn't much celebrating going on in the District of Columbia on the Fourth of July in 1861, except possibly for the custodians on Capitol Hill. Hundreds of temporarily bivouacked Union troops summoned to guard the city had finally moved out of the Capitol to make room for the new 37th Congress assembling for its first session.Without a declaration of war, President Lincoln had put the nation on a war footing. He called upon the state governors for volunteers, ordered the naval blockade of Southern ports and authorized...

Crack that whip! Pelosi is a trip Partisan hack... "Bring the 60's back" Baba Streisand sings a song you must whip it public says the Dems are wrong! you must whip it uh-oh something's going wrong you must whip it now whip them into shape lib them up invoke hate go forward GOP's ahead try to deflect it it's not too late to whip em whip em good When the R's will save the day you must whip it Partisan, but what the hey.. unless you whip it dems won't get their way until you whip em So whip it...