Free Republic

North Dakota’s House race saw several debates between the half-dozen candidates pre-convention, but now that the field has been narrowed to two candidates for the primary election I thought it would be useful to have them sit down and engage one another again. Both Kevin Cramer and Brian Kalk were gracious enough to join me for what was supposed to be 30 minutes of questions and discussions but turned out to be more like an hour. Here’s the result: For all the rancor that some perceive as surrounding this race, both candidates were very cordial and agreed on most things...

The Obama campaign machine is ramping up, after going six consecutive years without taking a break. Today, they are offering people the opportunity to voice their feedback on the President's job performance. Obviously, they've only sent this email to supporters. However, we've got the link for anyone to voice their real opinion. Tired of Obama's blame and hype? Tired of his lies and debt? Crash Obama's feedback page and let them know the truth. The best part is that they actually have text boxes where you can enter your own opinions instead of mindlessly choosing between Obama's "accomplishments." So, go...

The Obama White House and its allies in the media continue to pretend that the controversy over the HHS mandate is all about keeping women from accessing birth control, a claim that’s absurd on its face. For instance, Obama appeared in Iowa on Thursday and tossed out this bit of demagoguery: We don’t need another political fight about ending a woman’s right to choose, or getting rid of Planned Parenthood — (applause) — or taking away affordable birth control. No one is trying to take away “affordable birth control.” For that matter, no one is attempting to “get rid” of...

America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen. A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials said. What's more, these new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones...

Repetitious Rhetoric vs. Genuine PoliciesBy: Larry Walker, Jr.According to Barack Obama, “the President’s job is to make sure everyone has a fair shot." But as I explained in Part I, the United States Constitution declares that a President’s real job is, “to the best of his/her Ability, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Whether or not Mr. Obama has abided by the true standard will soon be revealed, with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obamacare. However, when judged according to his self-contrived measure, based upon his job performance to-date, Mr. Obama’s policies actually ensure that...

A new digitally focused media company — the Alabama Media Group, which will include The Birmingham News, the Press-Register of Mobile, The Huntsville Times and al.com — will launch this fall to serve readers and advertisers across the state, according to Cindy Martin, who will become president of the new organization. Break The Alabama Media Group will dramatically expand its news-gathering efforts around the clock, seven days a week, while offering enhanced printed newspapers on a schedule of three days a week. The newspapers will be home-delivered and sold in stores on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays only.

Some bad news for the vehement anti-war set: they've lost the spending argument. A new chart reveals that in the last decade, spending on national security, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined paled in comparison to entitlement spending -- 19% to 65%, respectively. Over to you, infographic: "About 65 percent of federal expenditures over the last ten years have gone towards entitlements,"Paul Miller writes. "By comparison, about 15 percent has gone towards national defense, excluding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq has cost three percent, and only about one percent has gone towards the war in Afghanistan (including the cost of...

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Forty-two of the 827 seniors preparing to graduate next week are twins or triplets, and that makes the Class of 2012 a possible Guinness world record holder for the most multiple-birth students in a graduating class. Martin's 18 sets of twins and two sets of triplets top the current record holders, a 2011 class in Iowa with 14 sets of twins and three sets of triplets.

Friends, it's Sunday night again. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs... Listen Live Info

No, this isn’t a story about Mark Block. Out in the Land of Lincoln, the state is facing a serious shortfall in their Medicaid funding. (A story which is being repeated across the nation, in case you haven’t been keeping score.) But the Governor has a plan! Fear not, citizens. We’ll raise the money to help people with their medical bills by counting on people smoking more. What could possibly go wrong?

The District Governor of the Shechem (Nablus) District in the Palestinian Authority called upon the international community Sunday to intervene quickly and provide the Palestinian Authority with protection from Jews. AlBakri warned that "The ongoing aggressiveness of the settlers will lead to violence in the entire region, the results of which cannot be predicted. The continued violence by settlers requires international intervention, he argued. He said that the Jews are interested in "widening" the cycle of violence in the summertime, in order to cause Arab farmers financial losses. "The escalation in attacks by settlers would not have occurred were it...

Spain is spiralling into the vortex of debt-deflation. This has nothing to do with Greece. It is not the result of fiscal extravagance over the past decade, or other such Wagnerian myths. The country’s collapse is the mathematically certain - and widely predicted - result of ferocious monetary and fiscal contraction on an economy struggling to deal with a housing bust. In Spain, unemployment has reached 24.4pc, or 32pc in Extremadura. More than 1.5m households have no earner at all Monetary tightening by the European Central Bank caused Spanish real M1 deposits to fall at an 8pc rate in mid-to-late...

The Hellfire Missile is great, but personally, I love it when the 30mm Chain Gun is employed. The first few shots may miss some of the bad guys, so they try to run away, praying to Allah for "mercy" the whole time. But then, they all die tired and breathless, knowing Allah has failed them. Actually, not all die, but it's always great to leave a few survivors to tell everyone else what happens when you mess with Army Aviation.

In the most recent messages, three times, the words "financial collapse." To: Jennifer 5/22/12 7:43 PM My child, I say to My children that mankind relies too much upon himself and it is there that you become the victim of your own sinfulness. Heed to the Commandments My children for they are your entrance into the kingdom. I weep today My children but it is those who are failing to heed to My warnings that will weep tomorrow. The winds of spring will turn into the rising dust of summer as the world will begin to look more like a...

The now-70-year-old Cunningham wrote that he plans to live with his brother and mother in rural Arkansas after his prison release. He said he wants to restore his gun rights so he can hunt and compete in sport shooting contests.

It's all about him. Only half webpage down is the recall referenced, but of course, only in terms of himself. Wisconsin has a critical election in a little over two weeks, and we are organizing to help the state chart a new course, and ensure that what happened to this state does not happen to our country in November.

Skip Foppiano of Morada Produce is praying for cool weather. The San Joaquin County grower and packer is thick into cherry harvest season and is short on labor - 20 to 30 percent fewer pickers than he had last year. If it gets too hot, his smaller-than-usual workforce won't have time to get all the cherries off the trees before they rot. Farmers across California are experiencing the same problem: Seasonal workers who have been coming for decades to help with the harvest, planting and pruning have dropped off in recent years. With immigration crackdowns, an aging Mexican population, drug...

In some way, we all prepare for the diversity and changes life is sure to throw at us. But, some put a lot more thought and effort into it than others. They call themselves “preppers” and there are many living among us. When disaster strikes, they’re ready for the worst-case scenarios. In part one of Preparing for Disaster; we introduced you to Justin Teet. Teet lives in a heavily populated suburb of Mobile and is ready to “bug out” if disaster strikes. He has stockpiled provisions for his family, but with a panicked population, he feels the best place for...

New Monthly Donor Campaign During our 1st Quarter FReepathon 145 FReepers and former Readers (Lurkers) became New Monthly Donors, so that meant our generous FReeper Sponsors kicked in an additional $1,450!! Our New Monthly Donor Campaign for our 2nd Quarter FReepathon is already into Round #7! Seventy-Three FReepers are already New Monthly Donors!!! Wonderful and very generous FReeper Sponsors have and continue to donate $10 for every New Monthly Donor. In fact, they have PRE-PAID for the next Forty-Seven New Monthly Donors!! Plus super generous FReeper RonC has already donated $25 for the five New Dollar-A-Day Donors! This added...