Free Republic

"What components make a western truly great? That depends on who's asking, as there are so many subgenres and different takes. There's the classic, the Spaghetti western, the singing cowboy western, the comedy western and the contemporary western. We tend to favor the slow-moving epics à la Leone over fast shoot-'em-ups, and our gunslingers and cowboys to be complex, stoic characters faced with morally difficult situations we believe are microcosms for all of life. There were many contenders for this very American genre—even though some of the finest were shot by an Italian. We've also tried to include a couple...

For the first time anyone can remember, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi teared up at a press conference this morning in response to an off-beat question about the current state of political discourse. Visibly struggling to retain her composure, Pelosi recalled a time in San Francisco when emotions ran out of control, obviously referring to the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by an angry former supervisor Dan White on Nov. 27, 1978. "We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance," Pelosi began. Then out of...

Politico is reporting the Dems are expecting an Obama landslide. Some of the talk radio shows (Brian and the Judge for example) are speaking in terms of what McCain should have done, etc. Right slanting pundits are hinting at waving the white flag. Am I missing something? What I see is a stock market lunge today along with some new economic optimism. I see tightening national polling which almost always preceeds the same movement in the individual swing states. The internals of these polls (which are always weighted heavily Democratic) show that McCain is actually doing better than Obama with...

Just wondering what your opinion is about people who post vanities when their opinions could be posted to existing threads.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the subject of Republican criticism for her mode of air travel, flew home nonstop Thursday night aboard a 12-seat military aircraft set aside for use by lawmakers. Republican House members, aided by friendly radio and television talk show hosts, created a political tempest this week, claiming Pelosi was pressuring the Pentagon for the use of an "Air Force Three" and a "flying Lincoln Bedroom." Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, the administration has required the speaker -- then Republican Dennis Hastert of Illinois -- to travel home and on official business using military planes for...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not request a larger plane for personal use to travel cross-country without stopping, Bill Livingood, the House sergeant at arms, said Thursday. Livingood said the request was his, and he made it for security reasons. "The fact that Speaker Pelosi lives in California compelled me to request an aircraft that is capable of making non-stop flights for security purposes, unless such an aircraft is unavailable," Livingood, who has been at his post for 11 years, said in a written statement. "I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has...

A source close to the controversy over the request made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for use of a military plane that can fly to and from her home district in San Francisco, Calif., without having to stop to refuel, tells ABC News that the Pentagon has rebuffed Pelosi's request. The source says that Pentagon officials and the Bush administration have instead offered Pelosi use of the same plane made available to former Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois: a C-20, which seats about 12 passengers and five crew members. A C-20 can make the 700-mile flight to Hastert's Aurora, Ill.,...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The new Democrat speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), made a surprise visit to Baghdad where she urged Iraqi leaders to pursue political solutions to end spiraling sectarian violence. But US and Iraqi officials announced tough new tactics to starve sectarian violence of outside support with US forces now targeting Iranian agents in Iraq for capture or killing. Despite US and Iraqi efforts to increase security in the capital, bombers on Friday killed 15 people in Baghdad's famous pet market. Pelosi, 66, the first female Speaker of the House who...

<p>Did anyone really believe that Nancy Pelosi's recent whirlwind visit to Iraq was truly the "fact-finding" mission she billed it to be? I doubt it. But just in case there are some credulous folks out there, here's proof that rather than trying to find facts, Pelosi wanted to promote a political agenda.</p>

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has traveled to Iraq for a quick fact-finding visit that will include a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

As he and his colleagues noted the historic significance of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's presence on the dais as the first woman speaker of the House, Gibson said that he and Stephanopoulos had shared a laugh earlier about whether she and Vice President Cheney would coordinate their outfits. I haven't checked the transcripts from years past, but I'm quite certain Gibson--or any of his colleagues--never joked about Dennis Hastert conferring with Cheney about tie patterns. (And I'll bet Katie Couric had the sense to avoid it, having been the subject of much sartorial scrutiny herself.)What was worth commenting on, however, was...

You decide

Caption this picture of Hillary!

FAITH COMES BY HEARING--NT ON MP3 [SOLA SCRIPTURA PROVEN] By Quix with appendixes from the FCBH website Pastor Brent, of our church—DESERT HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CHURCH—has partnered with FAITH COMES BY HEARING (FCBH) to collect $25,000 to translate the NT into a South American language. The Seranon sp? people group have had written Scriptures since the late 1800’s as I recall. But the vast majority (90%?) of the population are illiterate. The organization brings together the copyright holders of at least one major Bible translation with the means and resources of translating Scripture into language groups where there is no Scripture...

WASHINGTON - In a critique the White House labeled as "poisonous," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) charged Friday that President Bush is wading too deeply into Iraq and said it should not be "an obligation of the American people in perpetuity." Pelosi said Bush "has dug a hole so deep he can't even see the light on this. It's a tragedy. It's a stark blunder." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino retorted that Pelosi's comments were "poisonous," referring to the portion of Pelosi's statement that asserted Bush is rushing new troops there and betting that Congress won't cut...

January 16, 2007 PELOSI'S TUNA SURPRISE Economists of every political stripe agree that a higher minimum wage will cost some low-skill workers their jobs, says the Wall Street Journal. Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to understand this. Despite leading efforts to pass minimum wage increases, she granted a reprieve to American Samoa, which has a big fish and tuna canning industry, specifically operations run by StarKist and Chicken of the Sea. Both companies are headquartered in California, and StarKist's parent is located in none other than Speaker Pelosi's own San Francisco district. Democrats rediscovered the eternal economic truth that a...

Kink, a Web-based pornography distributor, buys historic S.F. building to film its bondage movies - A friendly band of San Francisco pornographers can't wait to get inside the old armory on Mission Street and start tying people up, artistically. Not only tying them up, but also spanking them, swatting them, cuffing them and whipping them, with sensitivity. "This is going to be very exciting,'' said porn director James Mogul. "What an opportunity.'' The other day, Mogul paid a visit to the cavernous old armory, just to look around. The Moorish-style brick building was recently purchased for $14.5 million by Kink,...

January 12, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Powerhouse New York Rep. Charles Rangel is butting heads with fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi just a week into the new Congress controlled by their party, The Post has learned.

Nancy Pelosi hasn’t been Speaker of the House for two weeks yet and there is already proposed legislation which would be the most significant encroachment ever into the affairs and ability of churches and other organizations to communicate. Under the guise of lobbying reform, Speaker Pelosi and others have proposed legislation greatly expanding the scope of lobbying regulation which would impact churches, pastors, religious denominations, public interest organizations, civic organizations and other nonprofit groups. Even private individuals who voluntarily pay for media to distribute important messages to the general public on political matters would be impacted. So draconian is the...