Free Republic

It is terrible that conservatives are out there distorting the records of each candidate. Or worse passing along wrong information without checking facts. All of them have qualifications and disqualifications. But can we get away from what they say they will do and compare what they actually did when they were afforded governing power? I was talking to a nationally published conservative author and speaker today who had absolutely no clue that Newt Gingrich gave the “keynote” rebuttal AGAINST Al Gore on Cap and Trade legislation. This is a travesty not just of conservative media, but those we surround ourselves...

This is the third in a three part post. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s newly released budget poses an identical strategic challenge to the President as last year. I recommend you watch the President carefully this week to see whether and how he responds. Key strategic point: Last year President Obama’s fiscal strategy was to claim to match Republicans on deficit and debt reduction, then point out that he did so in a way that he claimed better fit the priorities of most Americans. The difference, the President wanted to claim, was not in deficits or debt, but in...

This is the second in a three part post. You will see why I am focusing on displaying proposed results rather than proposed changes. I hope that today’s post drives home my point about the benefits of apples-to-apples comparisons of results without the distraction of the baseline/increase/decrease squabbling. •The Ryan budget proposes a 5% deficit for FY13, lower than the President’s proposed 6.1% deficit for that same year. •Chairman Ryan’s proposed deficits are lower than the President’s proposed deficits in each year of the next ten. The gap widens over time to a maximum of two percentage points in 2021....

This is the first in a three part post. The business of Washington, DC is changing policy. Almost everyone in Washington is trying either to change some element of policy or to prevent someone else’s changes. As a result the public debate centers almost entirely on the fight over how and how much policy would change rather than on what the absolute results would be. Both are important, but public debate usually ignores the results and only argues about the proposed change. That’s bad. In fiscal policy this often leads to endless debates in which both sides agree on what...

Tom Brady got his actress girlfriend pregnant out of wedlock, then promptly dumped her for a new model girlfriend – whom the New England Patriots quarterback married instead of the mother of his child. Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assault by a 20-year-old college student who said the Pittsburgh Steelers QB followed her into the ladies room of a Georgia night club and had his way with her. That followed a previous accusation that “Big Ben” sexually assualted a 31-year-old casino host at a Lake Tahoe hotel. As reprehensible the behavior of both Brady and Roethlisberger, neither pro footballer...

You may have heard about the Popular Resistance Committee and wondered what is was, or how it relates to what’s going on in Gaza and Israel. Here’s a recap: On Friday, March 9th 2012, IAF forces targeted a PRC squad who had been planning a combined terror attack meant to take place via Sinai in the coming days. This sparked a barrage of rocket fire towards the towns in southern Israel, injuring four and causing damage to property. Zahir Kaisi, the senior PRC operative targeted this Friday. Source: http://www.raya.fm/ So who are the PRC? The Popular Resistance Committee was founded...

Cynthia just gets more evil. She is urging people to attend this meeting of rabid Jew-haters. Watch the video of this character.===================================================== The American Grass Roots Tour Saturday March 10th, 2012 - 6:30 to 8:00pm Sponsored by www.VeteransToday.com - Jim W. Dean, Editor and Joining Hands for Justice in Israel and Palestine - Greater Atlanta Presbytery Villa International Atlanta 1749 Clifton Road NE Atlanta, GA 30329 www.VillaInternational.org Join us for an evening with the infamous Gilad Atzmon, the man, his sax, and his social justice causes, on his current book tour - www.wanderingwho.com Gilad writes on political matters, social issues,...

Barack Hussein Obama is the most fiscally unsound, destructive poser to ever take the Oval Office. Obama was NOT elected because he was the BEST choice for America, he was elected because the GOP ran the WORST possible pair of candidates that could be found. Here is the TRUTH America; the GOP, in their all-inclusive BIG TENT mind set are about to give Obama the White House again … UNLESS: we can turn out the Conservative vote like never before as WE hold our noses and vote for what will truly be The Lesser of the Evils. If you have...

...Army regulations require that medevac helicopters follow the Geneva Convention, which specifies that they must be unarmed and display prominent Red Cross markings. Furthermore, Army regulation forbids medevac choppers from entering a combat zone without armed helicopter escort. If armed escort is not immediately available, medevac helicopters remain grounded, regardless the emergency. Once they do go in, they become a conspicuous target for enemy forces, most of whom have never read the Geneva Convention, and would laugh it out of existence if they had.

How would I deal with the threat or the so-called threat of the Iranians, that they are going to disrupt the oil supply? Well I’d be provoking them a lot less because they’re reacting to the provoking of the West saying “we’re gonna put on sanctions”. We have them surrounded with nuclear weapons and we’re claiming that they’re gonna build a nuclear weapon and there’s no evidence for this. So we’re just looking for trouble. We’re building the war propaganda against Iran just as we did against Iraq. And people want to go to war against Iran. And I think...

After months of campaigning, Mitt Romney still appears poised to win a plurality and claim the Republican nomination for election to the Executive Office in 2012. If his numbers hold up in polling against the incumbent president, then Teflon Mitt will almost certainly win a majority of the national vote and send Democrats packing from the White House. But more than likely, Governor Romney will last only a single term in office, just like his predecessor. History would suggest Romney’s victory more or less ensures a second term, yet two factor blocs are in store to prevent that scenario from...

Many western analysts have described the post-Soviet tussle for Caspain and Central Asian energy reserves as the new “Great Game, except this time around, Russia is facing the U.s. rather than the British empire. To a dispassionate outside observer however, what is most striking about the prolonged wrangle between Moscow and Washington for hydrocarbons, military bases and influence is the emergence of an understated sly newcomer who has managed to bag many of the region’s assets – China. There are many reasons for this, despite the fact that both Russia and the U.S. both seemed to hold winning hands. For...

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports for August that U.S. ethanol production rose in August to an all-time high, production averaged more than 869,000 barrels per day (b/d). The Renewable Fuels Association who also collects data calculated ethanol demand at all-time high as well at 911,000 b/d in August, up from 734,000 b/d a year ago. The U.S. is closing in on the million barrel per day milestone. Cheers in some sections, groans in others, but for America, slashing off the equivalent of 750,000 b/d of imported oil is a good thing. Most groans come from the odd couple of...

Investors looking for the next big thing after a hydrocarbon economy have a panoply of options, from solar to wind, as well as biofuels. In terms of quickly ramping up production biofuels clearly win the race, but navigating the PR fluff and reality is not a simple thing. The three main contenders for investor dollars are algae, jatropha and camelina. All have strengths and weaknesses, leaving investors to choose amongst them. Stripped of PR flummery, the only issue is where and when production can begin on a viable commercial scale. Investors who unravel the complexities of biofuel production and have...

Twentieth-century American military history has two iconic dates - 7 December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor and 6 June 1944, D-Day, when the liberation of Europe began. The subsequent vicious Allied fight from Normandy to Germany saw the Nazis largely fueled by a technology that is now being promoted by the Republican Congressional leadership, in collusion with its munificent fiscal campaign energy supporters, as a way to lessen U.S. dependence on energy imports. At issue is the Fishcher-Tropsch coal liquefaction process, developed by energy-poor Germany in the 1920s and expanded by the Nazi regime. Bent on dominating Europe, Hitler’s...

As the dire news continues to leach out of Fukishima, the silver lining in its nuclear cloud is that renewable energy technologies, despite their daunting start-up costs, are receiving renewed scrutiny. Make no mistake - given the trillions of dollars invested over the last five decades in nuclear energy, the industry and its lobbyists will not go down without a fight, promoting new, “safe” reactor designs, etc. etc. etc. But the Fukushima debacle has finally bared the industry’s darkest secret, it inability to manage its nuclear waste. The six reactor TEPCO Daichi Fukushima stored all its waste onsite, and the...

"It is very scary: the flight to gold is accelerating at a faster and faster speed," said Peter Hambro, chairman of Britain's biggest pure gold listing Petropavlovsk. "One of the big US banks texted me today to say that if QE3 actually happens, we could see gold at $5,000 and silver at $1,000. I feel terribly sorry for anybody on fixed incomes tied to a fiat currency because they are not going to be able to buy things with that paper money."

New York City’s vast fleet of vehicles is getting greener. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city is acquiring 50 Chevrolet Volts as part of its strategy to cut air pollution, carbon emissions and gasoline consumption. The Volts are part of a larger group of electric cars to be used by a number of city departments, but the Volts slated to become police patrol cars are likely to get the most attention. General Motors Co. says the Volt will be the first electric car used by the New York City police department, which already has a diverse collection of vehicles ranging...

There's a lot we can learn about this administration from the recent events.

Continuing to face down questions as to why the U.S. Justice Department went easy on prosecuting members of the New Black Panther Party who stood armed with nightsticks outside a Philadelphia polling location during the 2008 presidential election, Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his personal frustration over the criticism that race played a role. During a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, accused Holder’s DOJ of failing to cooperate with a Civil Rights Commission investigation into the decision to dismiss the case. Holder seemed to take personal offense when Culberson read comments from former Democratic...

Colorado and South Dakota can now join Wyoming in the ranks of disappointing setbacks on immigration this year. South Dakota's version of Arizona's SB 1070 died in committee in the South Dakota House this afternoon. Republicans control the "State Affairs Committee" and account for 9 out of 13 of its members. The brief AP report alludes to law enforcement agencies and "other groups" which "work with immigrants" that testified against the bill. In Colorado, Rep. Randy Baumgardner pulled his version of the Arizona-style immigration law. He cited the burden that ACLU lawsuits would impose on Colorado taxpayers in a depressed...

NAMBLA-gate: The Strange Case of Kevin Jennings, Part Two Hay, who inspired Jennings, was not apparently a formal member of NAMBLA. Sean Hannity of Fox News, who has called for the resignation of Obama Education Department official Kevin Jennings, interviewed a former FBI agent, Bob Hamer, who infiltrated the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) and documented their criminal activities. Asked if Jennings had been unaware of Hay’s pro-NAMBLA activities when he said that Hay had been an inspiration to him, Hamer replied that Jennings “knew the agenda of Harry Hay and he certainly supported Harry Hay and Harry Hay...

Cindy McCain, wife of Senator John McCain, has joined a handful of celebrities in a new “anti-bullying ad” by a gay advocacy group. Coverage of the ad has thus far been focused on the significance of Mrs. McCain’s direct opposition to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), a policy her husband supports. However, that detail is a sideshow detracting from a more crucial point. The ad demonstrates the intellectual dishonesty of the radical gay movement. Before we consider the ad’s content, it is incumbent upon us to reflect upon what bullying is and what it is not. A bully is someone...

Perhaps this will set the stage for Congress to preempt the District of Columbia on gun control and restore gun carry rights in our Nation’s Capital. After all the DC City Council seems ill disposed to restore the civil right to arms in the District. For example, today on WTOP.com talk radio, former District Mayor and Ward 8's Council Member said nothing about restoring the right to arms in the District, but did take the time to give WTOP's Mark Plotkin a Realpolitik lecture about how things should be in the District, explaining that that DC Mayor Adrian Fenty lost...

A report posted today at a CNN website claims the "mystery missile launch" on Monday was actually a Chinese missile test. According to the report: China flexed its military muscle Monday evening in the skies west of Los Angeles when a Chinese Navy Jin class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, deployed secretly from its underground home base on the south coast of Hainan island, launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from international waters off the southern California coast. WMR’s intelligence sources in Asia, including Japan, say the belief by the military commands in Asia and the intelligence services is that the Chinese...

When it comes to Progressive, liberal, political hacks masquerading as journalists, it goes without saying that Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann, Matt Lauer, David Gregory, and Chris Matthews are the worst of the species. Their zombie-like devotion to President Obama is simply disgusting. Equally appalling is their always-predictable and generally-shallow rants against conservatives in politics.

The last session of the 111th Congress will begin on Monday, November 15, and the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity intends to be there in force. Mike Proto, spokesman for Americans for Prosperity/New Jersey, announced this morning that AFP-NJ will participate in a nationwide rally on November 15, at 12:00 noon EST, on the West Lawn of the Capitol. The theme of the rally will be, "November Speaks." AFP-NJ Director Steve Lonegan said that the message of the rally would be simple: The people have spoken and we will not tolerate ramming through your liberal agenda in the...

I love all those "green future" commercials companies like Exxon and BP ("Beyond Petroleum") run. They never fail to get a chuckle out of me, no matter how often I see them. I can’t remember who is responsible for the latest one in which an “engineer” and a “teacher” (both actors, of course) speak almost simultaneously in split screen. They both talk about how we need to get off of carbon-based fuels like petroleum. I’ve only seen it once — and will likely see it 100 times more — but my initial guffaw line was when the “teacher,” in exasperation,...

Two years ago, the satirical site Stuff White People Like (SWPL) debuted with the self-description: “This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable.” Author Christian Lander released a book last year compiling the first 100 items in his list, and plans a follow-up release next month titled Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews. Copycat sites have sprung up since then, including Stuff Asian People Like, Stuff Black People Like, Stuff Latino People Like, and Stuff Queer People Like. Though...

“But the biggest problem with conspiracy theories is that they keep us not only from the truth but also from confronting our faults and problems. …This way of thinking relates any given problem to external elements, and thus does not [lead] to a rational policy to confront the problem. He who speaks of ghosts [as the reason behind any given problem] can do nothing to solve it.” “Anyone, who adopts the conspiracy theory becomes so helpless that he ends up surrendering or committing suicide. The thinking of conspiracy theorists shifts between surrender and suicide, between helplessness and passivity, between negligence...

So now what? That’s what Republicans—and their vanquished opponents—are asking in the wake of 2010’s midterm Democratic debacle. Does 2010 foretell similar results in 2012? Can Democrats right themselves? Will an ascendant GOP stumble? What does history tell us about what will transpire two Novembers from now? The party in power generally loses seats in off year contests. Rarely (think 1934) the party in power may witness a pickup. “Draws” are also possible, with no appreciable gain or loss for anybody. But measurable losses for “ins” remain the norm. The “modern” Democratic Party-Republican Party Era (no Whigs. Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, or...

It came as quite a shock to the leader of one women’s organization when Joy Behar, ostensibly a comedian, called Sharron Angle a “bitch” on the “The View” last month. Sonja Eddings Brown, president of The Kitchen Cabinet, told The Daily Caller, “We thought Joy Behar was a classier act than this.” To which we responded, “Ha ha ha ha ha!” followed by, “HA HA HA HA HA!” When our laughter-induced wheezing subsided — and we’re not gonna lie, there may have been some giggle-snorting — the idea for this post was born. Before the obligatory lefty panty bunching begins...

You’re all bloggers, you know. If you’re on Facebook, you have an opportunity to express your opinion with an audience of FB friends. More of us should be taking advantage of this opportunity. Because unless you zealously guard the ideological purity of your Facebook friendlist, limiting it only to other people who also only limit to conservatives, you are bound to log on one day and find some spectacularly annoying and/or downright asinine comment posted to which you must respond. And I mean you MUST respond. (See #10, below.) Now this can be bruising, because text-based arguments get nastier a...

"Sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard"

When I first heard there was to be a Hawaii Five-O reboot with younger actors, my first reaction was the groan of a man tired of television and movies mining his childhood to mostly lame and usually campy effect. Not that the original Hawaii Five-O holds up incredibly well, probably ranking somewhere between Kojak and Colombo.  The Wire, it ain’t.And neither is the new series, but it is lively, witty, beautiful to look at and just plain fun.  It’s like a bigger budget version of the USA Network’s best (and also quite retro) shows, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, and...

Precisely when the phone call came, it’s been so long ago, I couldn’t honestly say. School hadn’t been in session long, and my oldest son was around 10 years old at the time. There was a woman’s voice on the line; she identified herself only as a neighbor. She knew we had just moved to town. She knew I had a son. She also knew the name of my son’s new best friend–and his family’s secret. Her voice was filled with concern, as she instructed me to not allow my son to play at this boy’s house, to never allow...

Is anyone buying that new tone Obama had at today's press conference? Remember who we are dealing with here. This is Obama putting in a call today to the fringe at MoveOn.org. He says the "American people are frustrating and they still want change."

In a last ditch attempt to stem the defeat of Democrats across the nation, President Barack Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA) has just made its final get-out-the-vote push clearly aware that this election is about Obama’s policies. In an email, entitled: “The most effective thing you can do right now,” from New Media Director, Natalie Foster, OFA is urging supporters to call other voters in States, like California, where voting booths are still open. OFA provides a script of what their supporters should say to potential voters, even specifically directing the callers when to pause. Take a look.

Apparently, as Democrats ready for the coming backlash, their strategy of targeting their opponents and intimidating with unjustified allegations also continues. Poll watchers, those who have volunteered to observe the voting process to insure that fraud is not allowed to corrupt a fair outcome, are now being threatened with lawsuits. King Street Patriots, a poll watching group, has been sued by the Texas Democratic Party. Based upon an ethics complaint filed by Texans For Justice, who are linked with funding from billionaire leftist, George Soros through his organization, Open Society Institute, the writing is on the wall. Once again leftist...

On Saturday night, CNN is airing a close examination of one of the strongest and most controversial forces going on in polticis since the Obama administration began -- the Tea Party Movement. In "Boiling Point: Inside the Tea Party," reporter Shannon Travis takes you alongside Lisa Murkowski, Christine O'Donnell, and even aboard the bus of the Tea Party Express to help determine exactly what the movement stands for and why it has become so popular in certain parts of America.

As Election Day 2010 approaches, there is much to be found in the media about the National Rifle Association and its political grades and endorsements. There's another, albeit smaller organization out there working hard to bring us candidate evaluations that gun activists are well aware of, Gun Owners of America, designated "The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington" by Rep. Ron Paul. Because GOA takes a somewhat different approach that can yield different performance assessments, tensions sometimes arise between its supporters and NRA's, along with often acrimonious, even bitter debate. And because this election has such potential to impact gun...

What albums might Leon Trotsky have done some head-banging to if Josef Stalin hadn’t sent an assassin to shove an icepick through his skull? Answer: the 10 Neo-Communist (and some flat-out communist) titles on our list. We count them down from the more benign Democrat-supporters to outright totalitarian radicals. Included in this collection are alternative, rock, rap, folk, and hip-hop titles. We’ve also done our best not to be too obvious with our choices — you won’t find Greenday’s “American Idiot” on this list, for example. We also made the choice to select albums that despite being nauseating in their...

Politicians of all stripes endeavor to invoke the Bible for many reasons. Some try to use God’s Word to score points with the Christian or Jewish communities. Others employ a Biblical analogy or story to drive a point home. A few even share impactful passages out of sincere faith. However, it appears that most politicians — on the Left as well as on the Right — use the Old and New Testaments to prove or further their agenda. One of the most insidious and troubling areas in which politicians have co-opted scripture is the “social justice” movement. Since the 19th...

Could the Democrats in Tucson get any more demented? We’ve already documented how they are busing in SEIU union thugs, trying to commit voter registration fraud, and trying to intimidate Republican candidates at their own events… but now they’re resorting to actual physical violence!? At the first debate at the University of Arizona between Democrat Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Jesse Kelly, a fictitious group called Republicorp showed up trying to convince people that the Republican Party is bought off by Wall St (despite the FACT that most contributions from Wall St went to Obama). Well, it appears that these may...

Today's column concludes a three-part series (see part 1 and part 2, if you haven't already) critiquing "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea," of which Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) is co-author. The focus today will be on the main part of the book's suggested strategy for dealing with us "Insurrectionists" (defined in the book as those of us who believe an armed citizenry is the final obstacle in a would-be tyrant's path). To the book: Isolate the Insurrectionists by embracing the self-defenders and the sporting gun owners. The fact remains that most...

...this is not just about Christian persecution but about the right to choose with whom you share the living space that you are renting out. So, now to the politically correct-pop culture guide to writing a want ad for a roommate. It is to read something like this: Seeking non-faith specific, non-gender specific, not specifically anything in particular generic personage to share a living space.

The author sounds vindictive and mean-spirited who the reader feels has lost his way in life. Everyone knows that boys don’t kiss and tell, and here we have this clod barking as if he is a Philadelphia Phillies fan heckling the San Francisco Giant’s right fielder. As readers we become simultaneously angry about his callous disparagement of women and sorry for whatever is torturing his psyche. You can read an avalanche of reactions to the Christine O’Donnell one night stand claims here and here and satirically here. So who is this fellow who wrote it? That is a less interesting...

Post of my original song and ode to Liberal Democrats, now available on the net, pretty much expressing how most of us feel and think. A Rocker. Made me feel better creating it and maybe fellow Freepers will enjoy it as well. Enough is Enough on NetizenKane.com

Baron Hill has represented the 9th District of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 of the last 12 years. During that time, Hill has been a part of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democrats who consider themselves to be moderate-to-conservatives on many issues, especially fiscal ones. While Hill may have had Blue Dog credentials in the past, over the last couple of years he has revealed his true colors. Along with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, Hill has voted for the failed stimulus package, the healthcare reform act and the cap-and-trade energy bill....

Full story in two parts: Part 1Part 2...“when you say ‘Muslims did this, do you mean Muhammed Ali?’” No, he means “Muslims” those “Muslims” the ones who did it. But what of Muhammed Ali? To my knowledge he never hurt anyone (outside of the ring) but the fact is that due to his association with the Nation of Islam, when Malcolm X was murdered Muhammed Ali did, in fact, state that anyone who comes against the prophet deserves death. Likewise, due to his involvement with Islam, Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam supported the attempts to murder Salman Rushdie for writing,...