Free Republic

A week ago, I didn't know Sean Hannity beyond the television personality. Recent events, however, brought us together through our shared philosophy that freedom and the rule of law, rather than arbitrary and inconsistent actions by government bureaucrats, provide the foundation for economic prosperity.I wrote a column that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last Friday telling the story of how the city of Los Angeles has unfairly harassed my business, Creators Syndicate. Hannity invited me on his show to talk about it, and I knew I had an ally. Creators had a tax dispute with the city 15 years...

Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices. A Justice Department official told the Associated Press that Holder plans to make a final decision within the next few weeks. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on a pending matter. *snip* Obama has expressed reluctance to having a probe, saying the nation should be "looking forward and not backwards" when it came to Bush-era abuses.

<p>The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.</p>

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed deep concern on Sunday at the Honduran military's arrest and expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya from the country. "As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement. "Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said. (Editing by Patrick Rucker)

OBAMA'S JUSTICE DEPT WILL ALLOW NON-CITIZENS TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN GEORGIA Any shot for Americans to take back this country from the hard left in 2010/2012 is looking increasingly dim .... Obama Justice Department Decision Will Allow Non-Citizens to Register to Vote in Georgia (hat tip Clyde) Decision Bars Georgia From Continuing Voter Verification Process Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process Atlanta - “The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification...

THE furor over the huge federal spending under President Oba- ma - a $1.75 trillion deficit, 13 percent - obscures an even more basic question: Does he know what he is doing? That is, does he know how to do anything other than spend? His stimulus package, of course, took no special ability: He left the details to Democrats in Congress. But his two other major initiatives - his banking- and mortgage-relief plans - are both flawed and unlikely to solve their respective problems. Indeed, they're so wide of the mark as to prompt questions not of Obama's ideology but...

Caroline Kennedy's interest in the U.S. Senate seat now held by Hillary Clinton is making for lots of talk, about whether having the Kennedy name is enough to qualify her for the position. Kennedy, who's 51, has been a very private person until her very public support of Barack Obama, and this week she's saying publicly she's interested. Reaction here in Syracuse: Outgoing Congressman Jim Walsh, honored by the Onondaga County Legislature for 20 years of service to the area, says 'Well, I think you have to earn this." He points to Clinton's tenure and asks 'Why did she come...

With all but one precinct re-counted in the Minnesota Senate race, Franken campaign attorney Marc Elias is claiming Franken leads Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) by four votes. The number from Franken's internal tally does not include the Minneapolis precinct where 133 ballots went missing. The Franken count includes the thousands of disputed ballots that both campaigns objected to during the recount process.

Stuffed ballot boxes and state-run media were once the stuff of tinpot dictators and communist regimes, from Kim Jong Il's North Korea to Hugo Chavez's Venezeula, from Saddam Hussein's Iraq to Fidel Castro's Cuba. Once, we would look at these countries and wonder how things could ever have gotten that far out of hand. And then we'd be thankful that such things didn't and couldn't happen here in America. Fast forward to 2008, and the formerly unthinkable has become reality. The ultra-liberal group ACORN, under whose aegis Sen. Barack Obama got his start in politics and with whom he's had...

If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose. Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges. That an Obama loss will be due to racism is becoming as normative a liberal belief as “Bush Lied, People Died,” a belief has generated intense rage among many liberals. But “Obama...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has shown little in the way of leadership since taking office in 2007, but at least he could follow the advice of the experts he has surrounded himself with. He didn't even do that much this week when he ignored their recommendations to remove City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, who is under investigation for possibly intervening in a police probe of a violent street gang. Against the better wisdom of his own staff and legal advice from the city attorney's office, Dellums chose to allow Edgerly, 56, to work in City Hall for another month until her...

ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel. The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is...

Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents. Advertisement Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday.

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

A year later, Gap continues to censor Christmas At Gap, the score is "holiday" 172 and "Christmas" 3 At Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, Christmas hardly exists. For these three companies, all owned by Gap, the only items listed as having anything to do with Christmas were a pair of boxer shorts and a child's sleepwear set. Last year, when Gap also censored Christmas, we contacted the company. The company refused to change their policy of censoring Christmas. This year the company has continued their practice of censoring Christmas from their stores and promotions. The only conclusion one can...

Surfer's Baja tale is warning to others Camping trip ended in robbery, assault By Terry Rodgers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 19, 2007 Pat Weber didn't plan on being part of a crime trend that has generated worldwide buzz this past week, but he didn't have much choice. The Encinitas resident and surfing instructor got lost on a dirt road in Baja California last month while looking for a surfing spot called Cuatro Casas. He and his girlfriend decided to park for the night on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Just after sundown, two men wearing ski masks approached Weber's motor...

Mexican soldiers jailed in killings ASSOCIATED PRESS June 6, 2007 MEXICO CITY – Nineteen Mexican soldiers have been sent to a military prison after troops allegedly killed two women and three children whose vehicle didn't stop at an army checkpoint, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. Advertisement The family was traveling to a funeral in a van Friday when it was ordered to stop at a checkpoint near the village of La Joya in Sinaloa state, local media said. When the van failed to stop, soldiers reportedly opened fire. Police identified the dead as Alicia Esparza Parra, 17; Griselda Galaviz Barraza,...

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

Much of the Venezuelan media has aggressively opposed Chavez's populist "Bolivarian revolution," though not without reason: The former coup-plotting colonel is well on his way to destroying what was once the most stable and prosperous democracy in Latin America. Some newspapers and television stations openly sided with attempts to oust the president via coup, strike or national referendum. Having survived all three, a strengthened Chavez is moving to eliminate critical journalists and create in Venezuela the kind of state-controlled media environment in which a minister of information is all-powerful. The first step was a new media content law, adopted by...

'THE DEVIL CAME TO THE UN YESTERDAY... Bush, I have the feeling you are going to live the rest of your days as a nightmare... We need a psychologist to analyze Bush... YANKEE IMPERIALISTS GO HOME'...