Free Republic

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers. And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair...

The latest chain e-mail smear against Barack Obama: He "blew off" troops at an Afghan base to shoot hoops for a publicity photo. The letter was apparently written by a Utah Army National Guard intelligence officer in a linguist unit at Bagram Airfield who claimed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was rude to G.I.s. "As the soldiers where [sic] lined up to shake his hand he blew them off," wrote the Task Force Wasatch "battle captain." But angry Army brass debunked the Obama-bashing soldier's allegations, which went viral Thursday over the Web and on military blogs such as Blackfive. The...

Free Republic is an independent user driven conservative forum funded solely by your donations. We are not affiliated with any political party, campaign, news agency, corporation, or anyone else. There are no stockholders, advertisers, creditors, sugar daddies or string pullers. Thank you very much for making FR the number one conservative site on the net and for your continuing support! Jim

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot...

Protestors Blame War For Pain At The Pump Citizen Action of New York chanted "No more war" Thursday afternoon in front of an Exxon station in Binghamton. The group believes the war in Iraq is the reason for high gas prices. But would an abrupt end to the war cause a quick drop in prices at the pump? That's what the protestors believe. "They're dependent on the Middle East but at the same time if they stop having wars with the Middle East then we won't have to pay so much," said a concerned Binghamton resident. Members of Citizen Action...

Hard Times at Douglass High," is an HBO documentary that aired last June. It captured much of the 2004-2005 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is seen in the documentary is typical of most predominantly black urban schools. Douglass' students are four to five years below grade level. Most of its ninth-graders read at the third-, fourth- or fifth-grade levels. In 2006, only 24 percent of its students tested proficient in reading, in math just 11 percent, and that's an improvement over previous years. Only one student managed to score above...

Sen. John McCain will have his own international summit -- of a sort -- tomorrow when he meets with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the keynote speaker at a three-day seminar at the Aspen Institute in Colorado that will bring together scholars, teachers and others to explore Tibet's history and culture. McCain already had a speech scheduled in Denver, and will then fly to Aspen for a private meeting with the leader.

NEW YORK -- Painfully high vehicle- and jet-fuel prices are propelling popular demands for extracting the estimated 18 billion barrels of petroleum that rest beneath America's coastal waters. After rescinding previous executive-branch objections, President Bush said July 14, "the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." Capitol Hill Democrats claim offshore drilling poses unacceptable ecological risks. This is yet another overblown worry. Democrats and other environmental naysayers cite the 80,000 barrels that spilled six miles off of Santa Barbara, Calif., inundating beaches and aquatic life. This hydrocarbon Hindenburg haunts...

The McCain campaign is slamming Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over a decision to cancel a visit with U.S. troops in Germany. The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.” “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don't know why.” Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs told ABC News in a statement, “During his trip as part of the...

HOW OBAMA HAS IMPROVED HIS CAMPAIGN PLANEJuly 24, 2008Sean Robins NewsBusters has a report today on campaign and reportorial analysis by ABC's Jake Tapper ("Obama Thinks He's President; Denies Media Access") Tapper, who is about as reasonable as an MSMer working for ABC News can be, is all in a snit about how the Obama campaign has been treating reporters, especially those ensconced in Obama One for his "Tour of Duty" through the Middle East and Europe.  Obama, as we've been reading the past few days, has been frightfully unavailable to reporters (I think I've even heard a bunch of...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama has picked up support from nearly all the Hispanics who voted for his rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, giving him a nearly 3-1 lead over John McCain, according to a new poll. Results of the Pew Hispanic Center survey show Obama with 66 percent of the Hispanic vote to McCain's 23 percent. The results represent a ''sharp reversal'' in Obama's fortunes from the primaries, when he lost the Latino vote to Clinton by nearly 2-1, prompting speculation that Hispanics were leery of voting for a black candidate, said Susan Minushkin, the center's deputy director....

Around midnight on July 16, New York Times chief political correspondent Adam Nagourney received a terse e-mail from Barack Obama's press office. The campaign was irked by the Times' latest poll and Nagourney and Megan Thee's accompanying front-page piece titled "Poll Finds Obama Isn't Closing Divide on Race," which was running in the morning's paper. Nagourney answered the query, the substance of which he says was minor, and went to bed, thinking the matter resolved. But, the next morning, Nagourney awoke to an e-mail from Talking Points Memo writer Greg Sargent asking him to comment on an eight-point rebuttal trashing...

With less than six months to go before he would be sworn in as the nation’s 44th president, Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning for the transition. "Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational challenge involved in the transition process and he has tasked s small group to begin thinking through the process,” a senior campaign adviser said. “Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, how he wants it to move forward, and the establishment and execution of his timeline is proceeding apace.” Last month, the...

CONCORD – A federal judge dismissed Thursday a Nashua man's legal challenge that Republican presidential nominee-to-be Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was ineligible because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.

<p>Officials say three people were shot at a community college in Phoenix.</p> <p>Fire department division chief Mark Faulkner says a 25-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman wounded at South Mountain Community College are in critical condition, and a 17-year-old boy is in stable condition.</p>

I don't do vanities, but I spent a couple of days putting this together and I think it came out pretty good... so I thought I'd share it with FR.

FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens do exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

Disfigured fruits and vegetables could be allowed in stores after most European Union members voted to loosen restrictions on produce, officials say. Misshapen bananas and cucumbers could be in stores by next year if reforms on produce rules are carried out, The Telegraph reported Thursday. The Telegraph said produce standards are so strict, many edible foods are discarded by farmers. European agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said she thinks some regulations should also be thrown out for onions, garlic, cauliflower and spinach. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw (misshapen fruit and...

<p>Obama, all his advisers, and the fawning MSM are clueless.</p> <p>As mistakes go, I would say this is the ultimate. A prepared speech (not an off-the-teleprompter gaffe), announced days in advance to the world. How is a mistake this huge possible? There is no chance he misread (misspoke), otherwise, there would be no mention of Belfast in that portion of the speech.</p>

John McCain's vice presidential running mate selection should be put in perspective. In a presidential campaign, there are only a handful of occasions when a running mate has news value: the day of the announcement and the few days following; the nominee's convention speech debut; the joint kickoff rally; and the televised debate with the counterpart running mate. Otherwise, by mid-September John McCain's VP choice will be consigned to secondary media markets in critical electoral states, along with tours through solid red states for fund raising, party-building and local-candidate support. National television and cable networks will include the vice presidential...

A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, suggest scientists. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen after just one portion every two days. The authors said plant oestrogens in foods such as tofu, soy mince or milk may interfere with hormonal signals. However, a UK expert stressed that most men in Asia eat more soy-based products with no fertility problems. Oestrogenic compounds in food or the environment have been of concern for a number of years, but we have mostly thought that...

A BA flight engineer planned to smuggle £5million worth of cocaine into Britain — in a jumbo jet’s NOSECONE. Gary Crane, 51, even staged a dummy run with a fake 20kg package flown from South Africa. Crane was recruited by a smuggling gang as he could move around freely at Heathrow. Pub landlord Raymond Harmes, 49, masterminded the operation in his pub in Stanwell, Middlesex — ironically named The Happy Landing. But they were unaware one of their gang was an undercover cop. And in South Africa it was a local detective who placed the fake drugs on the...

I'm optimistic that in this election we are choosing between two good and uniquely qualified individuals seeking the job with a least a more inherent civility, let alone grasp of history, than we've experienced in the last eight years. This can only be a good thing. I like John McCain. I wouldn't walk across the street to shake George Bush's hand, but I'd walk a country mile, barefoot, to shake McCain's.

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Britain's ruling Labour Party lost a parliamentary seat in one of its traditional strongholds, a stinging electoral setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, results showed on Friday. Defeat in Thursday's poll in the Glasgow East constituency, which Labour won with a huge 13,500 majority at the 2005 election, will fuel Labour discontent with Brown's leadership and could lead to moves to oust him, some analysts believe. The pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) scored a dramatic victory by a slim 365-vote margin as voters in Britain's third-largest city turned against Labour in droves. The result, following a series...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents The Navy WAVES ~ After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. Navy began building more ships and creating new bases and facilities. Facing a shortage of men for active and support jobs, in January 1942 the Secretary of the Navy petitioned the U.S. Congress for a women's reserve. Also in January 1942, the Office of Naval Intelligence began looking to colleges for women who could work in intelligence. Once the training was completed, the women were sworn in as ensigns in the U.S. Navy. Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Polygamous sects that have spread throughout the United States and beyond are "a form of organized crime," largely unchecked by law enforcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday. Sen. Harry Reid says polygamous sects have "wrongly cloaked themselves in the trappings of religion." He is proposing a federal-state partnership aimed at policing such communities. "The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the United States deserves national attention and federal action," Reid said before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.

Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome. I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen -- a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world. I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken...

It was as if the fates had conspired to give Barack Obama the kind of foreign affairs photo-op that a campaign manager would only see in his wildest dreams. Damp, gray Berlin was alive with bright sunshine. A crowd police estimated at more than 200,000 filled the heart of the city. They cheered not only when he talked about global warming or called for a world without nuclear weapons, but also when he spoke of the fight against terrorism and the need for Europe to remain engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq. "In Europe, the view that America is part of...

FReeper hsalaw's recent observation about the Obama "O" logo deserves it OWN thread. From How Obama Has Improved His Campaign Plane [Flying "O" replaces U.S. flag on tail]: ...that big "O" thing looks like the flag is being flushed down the toilet.Literally, as well as figuratively.6 posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:45:10 PM by hsalawBingo! EXCELLENT, hsalaw! You NAILED it! That goofy "O" logo has really been annoying me, and now hsalaw has given us the PERFECT metaphor for the entire Omama campaign!This is a like a WONDERFUL opportunity for some creative FReeper to design a "Sore Loserman"-type parody...

Barack Obama and his associates reveal their racial views.

Berliners Jam Park to Hear, Touch Obama in Concert Atmosphere By Patrick Donahue July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Berlin's city center took on the atmosphere of a rock concert as more than 200,000 people jammed the German capital's Tiergarten park to hear U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. Spectators chanted ``yes we can,'' Obama's catchphrase, as the 46-year-old senator stressed the shared ``burdens of global citizenship'' that bind the U.S. and Europe. Beer and sausage vendors lining the park provided refreshments. ``He's extremely charismatic -- I've never seen anybody like this,'' said Wolfgang Zuchowsky, a 73-year-old retired police officer from Berlin. ``It's...

What else is there to do on Thursdays besides FReep and listen to TSN?! C'mon, eat, drink, breathe SAVAGE?Savage’s websiteLOTS of links to listen to the Savage radio show here!!!

Liberals have done a U-turn on conservative billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens. Formerly reviled for funding the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign against Sen. John Kerry, he's now adored by the Left — unfortunately, for trying to gaslight the rest of us on energy policy. This column recently spotlighted Pickens' proposed plan to get America off foreign oil by substituting wind-generated electricity for natural gas-generated electricity and then using the natural gas to replace gasoline. Already having addressed the proposal's flaws — and Pickens' plan to profit at taxpayer expense from it — let's consider how Pickens' marketing shades...

Georgetown, S.C — "What’s this guy running for, ‘Emperor of the world?’” asked the sunburned fellow at the next table where we stopped for lunch. Mr. Sunburn was holding a copy of The Charleston Post and Courier and pointing to a headline, “Obama pledges to work for peace.” The inquiry, addressed to those sitting beside him elicited only shrugs, so he answered his own question: “Just doesn’t make any sense to me.” The Obama machine’s, “Hope & Change World Tour” has left more than a few people perplexed. Some – like the gentleman beside us at the restaurant – are...

Out here in West Texas we love our guns, we support our troops, and we treasure our freedom. We are an independent bunch and -- pardon me, Senator Obama -- fiercely but not bitterly so. We are proud to have our own things to do with as we choose to, as free people of the freest nation in the history of the world. We also walk around on top of oil: yes it’s far beneath us, but it’s there. And all these aspects of West Texas come together to our astonishment and anger over the fact that our independence is...

58 years later, records unsealed in Rosenberg spy case After 58 years, historians and journalists will have a chance to examine the secret grand jury testimony of witnesses in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The couple was investigated in 1950, tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit espionage and convicted and sentenced to death in 1953. Cold War scholars are hoping the grand jury transcripts will shed light on some nagging questions about the case -- primarily, just how strong the case was against Ethel Rosenberg. The National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Georgetown University...

Did anyone notice that when Barack Hussein Obama spoke to 200,000 people in Germany today (Thursday) that he addressed them as "Citizens of the world.....this is our hour"? He very eeriely, sounded just like I've always imagined that the Anti-Christ would sound when he makes his world debut. I'm not saying he is; I don't think he meets all the qualifictions. Just my observation.

Let me state for the record, I have no favorite in this race. I'm not a political partisan. I view the two candidates as well matched in one respect: they are each equally and fatally flawed, albeit in very different ways. That said, it's troubling to stand by and watch major media outlets drool over one candidate while ignoring the other. The media love Obama, for the moment at least, because he's young, hip and of color. They are bored by McCain for the opposite reasons. One man once described himself to me as being "boringly male and embarrassingly white."...

Ladyinred has been diagnosed with lung cancer and it is bad. It has been there for some time with no symptoms. She has taken a couple of Chemo treatments but they will not be able to cure this. They hope to stop the growth for as long as possible. Please also remember Chadsworth in your prayers, as he is taking this very hard. In a note to me, ladyinred said ..... "I would appreciate your prayers of course, as that is all that can really help me." As Chadsworth told me, the only thing that will make a difference is...

The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, And order'd their estate. The 1982 Episcopal Hymnal omits that stanza, the second of Mrs. Alexander’s original six (not counting the refrain). It also omits her fifth: The tall trees in the greenwood, The meadows where we play, The rushes by the water, We gather every day … Understandable, in both cases. The fifth stanza might possibly be re-cast for a modern child (the hymn comes from Mrs. Alexander’s 1848 Hymns for Little Children), perhaps along lines like: The Xbox and the...

Birds falling from sky in west Amanda O'Brien | July 23, 2008 BIRDS are again dropping dead from the sky in Western Australia, sparking fears of a threat to public health, just seven months after more than 5000 birds died from lead poisoning in the regional town of Esperance. Almost 200 seagulls have been found dead in two days in the popular beachside suburbs of Woodman Point and Henderson, south of Perth, sending baffled authorities into a tailspin. Autopsies have failed to explain the mystery.

An indignant Don Perata made fun of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his brigade of "13 armed escorts" today. The Senate president pro tem was mocking Schwarzenegger as out of touch with the average Californian at a rally protesting the plan to temporarily slash the pay of state workers to $6.55 an hour. Visibly fired up, the Oakland Democrat declared he had only one question for Schwarzenegger now that the governor had revealed his plan to conserve cash during the budget crunch by cutting workers' pay. "Who in the hell do you think does the work around here?" he shouted to...

The 2008 presidential campaign promises to be one of the most memorable in United States history.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – A 35-year veteran police officer with the New Orleans Police Department was suspended, with only 15 minutes left on his last shift, for wearing the wrong uniform shirt. Sergeant Bobby Guidry was moving his personal belongings from his office to his car when he was informed by a supervisor that the older, powder-blue uniform shirt he was wearing was out of regulation. The department had recently changed from the powder-blue shirts to an unpopular all-black uniform following Hurricane Katrina. Superintendent Warren Riley, who has defended Sergeant Guidry’s suspension, says there are plans to switch back to...

(CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that homosexuals should be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military. Homosexual conduct is currently prohibited by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and is cause for removal from the service. Under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy instituted by President Clinton in 1993, however, the military does not ask recruits if they are homosexual, and homosexuals may serve as long as they do not talk their orientation or engage in conduct prohibited by the UCMJ. According to a February 2005 study by the Government...

London: The saying love is blind really did turn out to be true for 16-year-old Jessica Anderson, for she’s getting set to exchange wedding vows with her 50-year-old boyfriend Clive Richards. Richards, a grey-haired father of two, left his third wife Julia for deputy head girl Anderson six months ago. Anderson, a schoolgirl, set up house with Richards, a teacher, and is waiting to become his fourth wife, in September next year, when she turns 18. More offbeat stories | Science updates “Despite common predictions we’re still together and very happy,” the Sun quoted him as saying. “I am frustrated...

After visiting GIs in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq as part the congressional delegation prelude to his campaign swing in the Middle East and Europe, Barack Obama canceled planned visits to the U.S. military bases at Ramsteina and Landstuhl.Landstuhl is where wounded U.S. troops are taken from the battlefield to be stabalized before being flown to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. and other military hospitals back home.Jake Tapper of ABC News reports the Obama campaign issued a statement saying the planned visits with the troops were canceled because it was deemed by the campaign to be "inapprpopriate" because Obama's stop in...

Fountain Of Youth Gushes For Baby Boomers By ANNE McGRAW REEVESIf you're having a hot flash right now, you're hot. Hair thinning? Memory fading? Skin wrinkling? Don't give it another thought, oh, aging baby boomer. Getting older is now chic. The Middle Ages haven't been this thrilling since the exploits of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. Just when those of us born before the swinging '70s are beginning to wonder if the best years are behind us, along comes a set of midlife Midases who prove that age is, indeed, just a number. Everywhere you look —...