Free Republic

President Obama when asked about the attacks from conservatives that he is waging a "war on religion" said that he finds it "puzzling," particularly because of his first job as a community organizer in Chicago, working with churches where he says he spread the "social gospel." In an interview Monday with Des Moines television station WHO he said of the charges, "I find this very puzzling, because my first job, my first real job out of college, was working with churches in low-income communities, trying to make sure that the social gospel was made real, that people were getting help."

The war between the sexes will never be easy to win because there are too many incentives for men and women to lay down their arms and call for a truce, if not a tryst. Nothing is more powerful than that image of Adam giving up all for Eve. He chose to leave paradise and work for a living rather than lose the woman he loved. (Besides, he couldn't spare another rib.) In the Darwinian scenarios, a caveman pulls cavelady by the tresses to demonstrate his toughness at the end of the hunt and to show who's boss. When Gloria...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "What the [bleep] is Politico doing?" said the man on the phone. "And how the [bleep] are they getting away with this [bleep]?" Reporters rival sailors for their proficiency in profanity, and one of the most experienced political journalists in Washington was cussing a blue streak Thursday evening as he railed against the shoddiness of Politico's reporting on the Herman Cain "scandal."

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held a briefing Friday and countered many of the claims made by House Republicans in another briefing held earlier in the day. “It’s been day 185 of the Republican majority in the Congress and we have still not seen one jobs bill come to the floor,” said Pelosi. “This is obviously reflected in jobs number this morning.” The Democrats, on the other hand, “have put probably twenty job initiatives on the floor and the Republicans have rejected every one of them,” declared Pelosi. The former Speaker of the House also pointed to the number of...

Indeed, arguing that "suit-and-tie" Islamists have penetrated Western societies and are manipulating the legal system to their advantage -- including by imposing aspects of Islamic law, winning special privileges for themselves, and, of course, shutting down criticism of Islam -- Daniel Pipes has singled out Ellison as representing a far greater threat to Western civilization than Osama bin Laden. ...

The Democrats and the Left have once again succeeded in their most well worn, time tested and effective tactic: diversion. For the past six days the country has been watching the spectacle of the Republicans and those on the right defending themselves from absurd and trumped up accusations. This strategy has been so successful over the years that the Left and their allies in the media are now so emboldened that they will literally create any accusation out of whole cloth in the assumption that the Republicans in Congress and on the national stage, as they have in the past,...

Congressional Republicans raised new concerns this week about the Obama administration's firing of Gerald Walpin, who served as inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service. GOP lawmakers said White House visitors logs contradict statements made by the former chairman of CNCS, the agency that oversees AmeriCorps.

Muslim-American interns who have served in Congress should be respected, and not subject to questions about their patriotism, House Judciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said Thursday. Responding to allegations from Republican lawmakers that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sought to plant Muslim "spies" in the Capitol, Conyers issued a scathing statement on his colleagues' accusations. "It shouldn't need to be said in 2009, and after the historic election of our first African-American president, but let me remind all my colleagues that patriotic Americans of all races, religions, and beliefs have the right - and the responsibility - to...

WASHINGTON - Inland Rep. Joe Baca disputed criticism from a housing advocacy group and another lawmaker that he and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus added to the national housing crisis through overzealous support of programs that enabled unqualified buyers to purchase homes. Baca, D-Rialto, said he has worked to increase responsible homeownership among minorities. He rejected an advocacy group's assertion that the Hispanic caucus was warned about lenders targeting Latino buyers with risky subprime and adjustable rate loans. Baca also denied any link between a $25,000 donation to his own foundation and his decision to co-sponsor housing legislation pushed by the...

Reporting from Bogalusa, La. -- Barely three weeks since America elected its first black president, noose hangings, racist graffiti and death threats have struck dozens of towns across the country. More than 200 such incidents -- including cross burnings, assassination betting pools and effigies of President-elect Barack Obama -- have been reported, according to law enforcement authorities and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. Racist websites have been boasting that their servers have been crashing because of an exponential increase in traffic. And America's most potent symbol of racial hatred, the Ku Klux Klan, is reasserting itself...

At least since September 8 the extreme left has been pushing a lie that Governor, then Mayor, Sarah Palin "charged rape victims for rape kits" performed upon them in the Alaskan town of Wasilla. The charge stems from a May 22, 2000 article in the local Wasilla paper The Frontiersman and has been spun from a comment made by the Wasilla Police Chief. This comment was somehow made into a Sarah Palin policy. Evidence of the incident, though, shows no involvement by Palin at all.

EAST OF BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - The U.S. military commander in Iraq stepped up accusations over the weekend that Iran was inciting violence there and said Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad was a member of the Revolutionary Guards Qods force. In Baghdad, Iraq's government raised the death toll from a shooting involving U.S. security contractor Blackwater to 17, from 11 previously. A spokesman accused the firm of "deliberate killing" and said its guards fired without provocation. Washington accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards' elite Qods force of supporting militias who have attacked U.S. troops. General David Petraeus, speaking at a U.S. military base...

SACRAMENTO — Shortly before she was fired from her job Friday, the executive director of a state board appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accused its members of attempting to undermine a criminal prosecution of chiropractors and interfering with disciplinary actions against members of the profession. Catherine Hayes told the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which includes two friends from the governor's bodybuilding days, that it has been acting illegally and has deprived Californians of a strong regulatory agency that is supposed to protect the public. Hayes read her statement to board members, who then went into a closed session to...

It stinks. I'm sure that is the initial response of most people of faith and family values. However, for the secular Left it's an "ah hah!" moment of glee.

Former Postal Official Denies Accusations Thursday August 31, 2006 9:46 PM WASHINGTON (AP) - The former head public affairs official of the U.S. Postal Service is denying charges made by the agency's inspector general alleging improper activities ranging from overspending to excessive drinking. Azeezaly Jaffer left the agency June 30, declining at the time to discuss his reasons. A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive hotel bill at a three-day event in Washington, of bypassing the Postal Service travel agency in order to obtain travel promotional benefits, and spending extravagantly on...

Hearing continues in Iraq rape-slaying By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago U.S. soldiers accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl drank alcohol and hit golf balls before the attack, an investigator said Monday at a U.S. military hearing to determine whether they should stand trial. Criminal investigator Benjamin Bierce said he interviewed one of the accused, Spc. James P. Barker, on June 30, and recorded graphic and brutal details of the alleged assault on March 12. Bierce was testifying on the second day of the hearing to determine whether five U.S. soldiers must stand...

Investigator: Drinking preceded killings By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer U.S. soldiers accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl drank alcohol and hit golf balls before the attack, an investigator said Monday at a U.S. military hearing to determine whether they should stand trial. Criminal investigator Benjamin Bierce said he interviewed one of the accused, Spc. James P. Barker, on June 30, and recorded graphic and brutal details of the alleged assault on March 12. Bierce was testifying on the second day of the hearing to determine whether five U.S. soldiers must stand trial in the rape-slaying...

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham are among the many Republicans whose ethical misconduct have prompted Democratic strategists to conclude that the Republican-run Congress has fostered a “culture of corruption.” But in the run-up to an April 11 special election in California’s 50th District, which Cunningham vacated after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, it is a Democrat — Francine Busby, an educator and school board trustee — who has had to defend herself against Republican attempts to link her to lobbyists. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) this week unleashed a television attack on Busby,...

As the President struggles to regain his footing, his supporters — and there still are a few — wonder why his job approval rating is so low. The economy is in good shape, home ownership is up, gas prices are coming down, we haven't suffered a terrorist attack in our country for four years, and our military might toppled a terrorist regime in a matter of weeks. Besides showing off their ability to make sows ears out of silk purses, why are the Democrats so compelled to attack, not only the President's policies, but his character, as well, by accusing...

FORT BLISS, Texas — A military jury cleared an Army sergeant Friday of all charges that he abused a detainee at a U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan (search). Sgt. Duane M. Grubb (search), from the Cincinnati-based 377th Military Police Company, is the third soldier from this company to be acquitted on charges of striking and otherwise abusing detainees in Bagram (search), Afghanistan. The all-male jury of four officers and four enlisted men deliberated for about a half-hour. Grubb and another soldier were accused of striking Zarif Khan (search), an inmate whose behavior earned him the nickname "Timmy," after a mentally...

LONDON (Reuters) - Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway on Tuesday angrily rejected new U.S. accusations that he profited from the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq. The flamboyant parliamentarian, an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, challenged Congressmen to charge him with perjury and pledged to fly out to Washington on the next plane to defend himself. U.S. congressional investigators say they have evidence that Galloway profited from the U.N. program. They also allege he knowingly made false or misleading statements to Congress in May when he denied the charges. The Senate governmental affairs subcommittee on investigations will hand...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Thursday that President Bush is "losing credibility with the American people" because of his policies regarding the war in Iraq and the controversy involving Karl Rove. The American people have lost trust in Bush's trust and integrity "because his administration is playing politics with our national security," Dean said in a press release. "The president must keep his word and put patriotism ahead of partisanship," the former governor of Vermont continued, adding that Bush "must demonstrate that he values protecting CIA operatives fighting on the front lines in the war on terror over...

Democrat leaders and editorialists accusing Karl Rove of treason for referring to CIA agent Valerie Plame in an off-the-record interview are ignorant of the law, according to the Washington attorney who spearheaded the legislation at the center of the controversy. Vanity Fair photo - (do they look angry about her "outing?") Plame's circumstances don't meet several of the criteria spelled out in a 1982 statute designed not only to protect the identity of intelligence agents but to maintain the media's ability to hold government accountable, Victoria Toensing told WorldNetDaily. Toensing – who drafted the legislation in her role as chief...

Now, two years later, it's been revealed that, despite his earlier denials, Rove did in fact disclose to at least one journalist, Time magazine's Matt Cooper, that Wilson's wife (whom he did not cite by name) worked for the CIA. That's all the wolves were waiting for: Now they want Rove indicted, convicted, flayed and filleted — and then locked up on Devil's Island. And fired, too. For starters. But what really happened? Did Karl Rove commit a crime? We'll reserve final judgment, pending the outcome of the probe. But it appears not. Every news media organization that filed briefs...

The phony controversy, which featured reporters asking 30 questions about this matter at the Monday White House press briefing, demonstrates how Republicans and conservatives come under fire for doing nothing wrong. No matter how many questions they ask, there is still no evidence that Rove broke the law. The White House position-that Rove did not disclose classified information-remains intact. The only new development is that the White House will not say anything further on the case, which is somehow being interpreted by the liberal press as a contradiction of what the White House previously said. But there is no contradiction....

A lawyer for presidential adviser Karl Rove has disclosed that his client spoke with a Time magazine reporter just days before the name of a CIA operative was leaked to the media, but he did not leak the confidential information. Rove attorney Robert Luskin said that Rove did not reveal any secrets, and, furthermore, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has assured him that the adviser is not a target of his investigation. According to Luskin, Rove spoke to Time reporter Matthew Cooper in July 2003 - a week before media reports revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife...

By now it hardly needs saying that, contrary to the animadversions of Dick Durbin and Amnesty International, Guantanamo Bay bears no resemblance to Nazi concentration camps, Soviet gulags or Khmer Rouge killing fields. Millions of people were murdered in those places. The sum total of those killed at Gitmo is … zero. But perhaps the critics of U.S. detention practices are correct in saying that this is damning with faint praise. Who wouldn't expect the "land of the free" to behave better than the most monstrous regimes in history? So let's use a better comparison. Look at how the United...

Remember that much-publicized Jayson Blair case at the New York Times, in which a coddled reporter was found to have been making up facts for his newspaper stories? Jayson Blair's actions were greatly deplored and led to his firing and the resignation of his editor. Now, the Sacramento Bee in my hometown, finds that it has had on its staff a columnist whose journalistic inventions over her twelve years of employment may dwarf those of Jayson Blair. The liberal Sacramento Bee reported on Sunday, June 26, that its investigation of columnist Diana Griego Erwin's politically correct, three-times-a-week, human-interest columns reveal...

A defense contractor with ties to Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house . Mitchell Wade bought the San Diego Republican's house for $1,675,000 in November 2003 and put it back on the market almost immediately for roughly the same price. But the Del Mar house languished unsold and vacant for 261 days before selling for $975,000. "My whole life I've lived aboveboard," Cunningham said. "I've never even smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don't cheat. If a contractor buys me lunch and we meet a second time, I buy the...

IT'S NOT EASY for Senator John Kerry these days. Having failed to capture the White House and facing the likely prospect of getting steamrolled by Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nod, Kerry has been doing all he can to stay on the national radar screen. His latest tact, on display at a town hall meeting in Massachusetts on June 2 and eventually reported on by the national media, has been to suggest that he lost the presidential election because too many voters were, basically, ignoramuses and that the major media should now seek his guidance on which issues...

Sandy Berger is caught cramming top-secret intelligence documents down the front of his pants. Dan Rather is caught using forged documents to try to influence a presidential election. John Kerry slanders a million of his "band of brothers" in bogus testimony before Congress and then continues to lie for the next 30 years, claiming that in 1968 he was sent by Richard Nixon (who wasn’t president yet) to Cambodia on Christmas eve (which never happened), hearing the Vietnamese "sing Christmas carols" (the Vietnamese are Buddhists and don't celebrate Christmas) and being fired upon by the Khmer Rouge (which didn't become...

The Liberals howled at "Justice Sunday." Way too 'uppity' of Senator Frist to speak about a political issue, a majority rules vote on judges, from a Baptist church in Kentucky and simulcast to over 1,000 other churches — when the church isn't predominately Black! Conservatives condemned Democrat hostility to 'people of faith' and not one of their church leaders was a practicing homosexual. That Religious Right is not supposed to speak out in public. Or serve as judges. Or get elected. Or even vote. But millions did in '04. Liberals hate that and covet the votes. Liberals just don't understand...

It's been just over three months since George W. Bush began his second term as president. Yet criticism of his foreign policy is no less feverish than it was this early in his first term. This time however the animus is directed against him via his nomination of John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The smear campaign against Bolton has gone on far too long. If the Foreign Relations Committee can't bring itself to endorse him soon, the White House ought to make good on its threat to force a showdown vote on the Senate floor....

Howard Dean, who promised to change the way Democrats speak about the issues, has accused Republicans of being "evil," "corrupt" and "brain dead," attacks that are reminiscent of the angry language he used against the Republican Party in the 2004 campaign. The fiery former presidential candidate and Vermont governor was elected to run the Democratic National Committee after promising to reach out to voters, especially in Republican states, with a new and more positive outreach message aimed at expanding his party's shrinking base. But a review of his speeches on the stump in the past month or more shows that...

It looks like Teresa Heinz Kerry is rubbing off on her husband. And on Sen. Hillary Clinton. For the Republican Party, this is a very good thing. You'll recall that last month, Mrs. Heinz Kerry put on her shiniest tinfoil hat and blamed the Democrats' loss in November on rigged voting machines. As reported in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mrs. Heinz Kerry openly questioned the election results and fixated on areas of the country where optical scanners were used to record votes. "Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Mrs. Heinz Kerry intoned, and it...

In 1987, after he was exonerated of corruption charges, former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan issued the classic plea of the wronged man: "Which office do I go to get my reputation back?" Whichever office it is, Ahmad Chalabi may want to apply there as well. The leader of the Iraqi National Congress has been the most unfairly maligned man on the planet in recent years. If you believe what you read, Chalabi is a con man, a crook and, depending on which day of the week it is, either an American or Iranian stooge. The most damning charge is...

It's bad enough that we spend so much of our time spewing hatred towards one another over politics, the one thing we all used to agree to hate together. The least we can do is get the terminology right for heavens sake. I recently heard a young college moron [A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive, but accurate.] refer to...

Teacher had '01 reprimands Berwyn district warned suspect A longtime South Berwyn School District 100 band teacher charged last week with sexually abusing five students was twice reprimanded in 2001 for "inappropriate touching" of students, but school officials never notified police or the state's child welfare agency, authorities said Monday. Robert Sperlik Jr., 45, of the 2300 block of Westover Avenue in North Riverside was ordered held without bail Jan. 17 on five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, one count of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of kidnapping that allegedly took place between 1999 and 2001, said Cook County...

Those who believe the Nov. 2 election was fraught with fraud or conspiracy that kept Democrat John Kerry from winning the White House should talk to Lana Morgan, supervisor of elections in Florida's Lafayette County. That county, along with about two dozen others in the state, has been the subject of intense speculation on the Internet because while 83 percent of residents are registered Democrats, Republican President Bush won 74 percent of the vote. But that's the way it always has been, Morgan said. "We're in the Bible Belt. There's still enough people that have got enough Christian in them...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Democratic candidate John Kerry accused President Bush on Tuesday of hiding bad decisions and raised the specter of bad news still to be revealed. Bush invited Democrats to cross over to his campaign as it began its final week, arguing that their party was no longer led by men of strength and resolve. Kerry said a stream of bad news coming out of Iraq showed the Bush administration glossing over the reality of the situation there. "Mr. President, what else are you being silent about? What else are you keeping from the American people?" Kerry...

O'REILLY ACCUSER DEEP IN DEBT The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained O'Reilly accuser Andrea Mackris' financial records which show a combined debt of nearly $100,000... Developing...

Although it is really funny to watch, most of us are getting a bit weary constantly hearing about Dan Rather and his Democratic Party/Kerry campaign-fueled accusations in memogate. This time, the deception of CBS was easily identified and publicly exposed. Unfortunately, that is not always true with the liberal propaganda generally spewed by "Old Media." Quite often, they get away with it. CBS and Dan Rather now want us to believe they were "misled." No they weren't. Terry McAuliffe at DNC and the Kerry campaign had those memos first. CBS admits that their news producer, Mary Mapes, has been searching...

Bush’s Honorable Air National Guard Service Commentary by: Col. John H. Wambough, Jr. USAF (Ret.) George Bush and I were fighter pilots. Lt. Bush flew F-102s in the Air National Guard (ANG) -- 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS); I flew F-105s in combat -- 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS). Both our flying assignments were inherently dangerous -- Lt. Bush's because of the high performance nature of the fighter interceptor aircraft he was flying, the training required to fly the F-102, and the high risks that come with all weather (night and day) intercept missions. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic National...

Violations alleged in Senate race Mike Madden Argus Leader Washington Bureau published: 05/13/2004 Thune, Daschle camps trade accusations about breaking campaign law WASHINGTON - Forget about lawn signs and television commercials. The latest weapon in the South Dakota Senate race is a law book. With new campaign finance rules in place for the first time in almost three decades, political strategists hope to exploit alleged violations by their rivals to gain an edge in the contest, which may be the tightest Senate race in the nation. Now, aides to Republican candidate John Thune say fliers mailed to advertise this month's...

Kerry Lied......Good Men Died!! In sworn testimony before a Senate committee, John Kerry falsely accused American soldiers of atrocities in VietNam. He also admitted that HE committed atrocities in VietNam. If Kerry lied to Congress, he should be held in contempt, and charged with perjury. If he told the truth he should be arrested and court martialed. Read his entire testimony, and make sure you vote in the poll: Should a man who falsely accused American troops of atrocities be Commander-In-Chief?? The hypocracy of John Kerry is staggering..........

Mon Oct 6, 5:10 PM ET ATTENTION EDITORS: CAPTION ADDITION Rhonda Miller speaks during a press conference while accusing California Republican gubernatorial candidate and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (news) of making unwanted sexual advances towards her during the filming of two different movies in the 1990's at her attorney's office in Los Angeles, October 6, 2003. Miller, who said she worked as a stand-in and stunt double on the Schwarzenegger film 'True Lies' and Terminator 2,' alleged the actor had groped, photographed and nibbled her breasts on the set of 'Terminator 2.' REUTERS/Larry Downing

What about all this stuff? WARNING: Gathering WMD storm a crock. See what Clinton told nation in 1998...The Guardian Fully Retracts BOTH Powell/Straw Story AND Wolfowitz "It's All About Oil" StoryCIA convinced truck-trailers held bioweapons labs ^ IRAQ: WMD source 'was senior Iraqi officer'FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing THE ROAD ENDS FOR WMD ON WHEELS Coalition forces enter possible WMD site Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq (**Of special note--post #58, by Archy) U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD (NBC training school, antidotes) Chem-weapons lab believed discovered BRITS' CHILLING CHEM-NUKE...

High-flyer quits amid plagiarism accusations By David Usborne in New York 30 May 2003 One of the most prominent writers at The New York Times has fled the newspaper after suffering a two-week suspension pending an investigation into a feature article he wrote almost a year ago on Florida oystermen that allegedly relied too heavily on the contributions of a freelance contributor. Rick Bragg, who won a Pulitzer prize in 1996, announced his resignation, saying that staying on would "only lead to more tension". He added: "I don't want to have that tension in my life, and I do not...

EWTNews 31-May-2002 -- EWTNews Brief REPORT: LAW REASSIGNED THIRD PRIEST DESPITE ACCUSATIONS BOSTON, May 30, 02 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston in 1998 reassigned a third priest the archdiocese knew had been accused of sexual misconduct with teen boys, reports the Boston Globe today. The revelations came in a new batch of court-released documents that are part of the civil case against Paul Shanley, the former priest accused of molesting boys and young men. The Globe said the documents show that Cardinal Law returned Father Ronald Paquin to ministry despite 13 complaints between 1990 and 1996 that alleged...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000036072may22.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation Education: A decision to require corroboration before an inquiry caused an uproar on campus. From Associated Press BOSTON -- The Harvard faculty met Tuesday and unanimously approved a new committee to study the university's overall sexual misconduct policy, said Harvard Assistant Dean David Fithian. The action was taken to calm an uproar on the campus over a faculty vote May 7 that had changed university policy. Click HERE to read the rest.