Free Republic

Complete Title: The Soros Summit - Free Beacon exclusive: Inside the secret Miami meeting of George Soros’s liberal conspiracy ### A secretive network of left-wing billionaires and their political operatives descended on the luxurious Biltmore Hotel in Miami over the weekend to discuss strategy for the coming elections. The location of the conference had been kept a closely guarded secret by the members and guests of Democracy Alliance (DA), a collection of ultra-wealthy liberal donors formed in 2005, and is reported here in a Washington Free Beacon exclusive. Attendees roamed the grounds at the 150-acre tropical resort on their way...

A high school girl repeatedly begged for mercy while she was being tortured by her companions who finally took her outside, forced her to strip and shot her in the back of the head so she couldn't tell authorities what happened, Allegheny County Police said Tuesday. Rodney Lee Burton, 21, of the 1500 block of Oak Street, North Braddock, and Brittany Williams, 19, of the 200 block of McCutcheon Lane, Penn Hills, were arrested on charges of criminal homicide for the shooting death early Sunday of Dana Marie Pliakas, 17, of Murrysville. Services are scheduled this afternoon for Pliakas, a...

According to Fox59 of Indianapolis, US Rep. Dan Burton is to retire. More to come.

Well, I’ve just finished scouring the White House visitor logs. Regular readers know I seem to be one of the few in the media who actually does such a thing. Regular readers also know that I’ve pointed out time and again that the logs are incomplete, misleading, obtuse, and designed to make it as difficult as possible to figure out who has visited and when. So, it is no surprise that neither director Tim Burton nor actor Johnny Depp — hosts of the big 2009 Hollywood Halloween bash at the White House — show up in the visitor logs. At...

It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist. A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all. “The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with...

Early this morning, it has been reported, first by the “Day of New London” and “WTIC AM 1080″ sports news reported that Robert G. Burton, of Greenwich, CT, USA, and a printing company magnate, sent a six-page letter to the University of Connecticut Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway, reasons being that there was a number of major disagreements by Mr. Burton of the managing style of Mr. Hathaway. In other words, a major donor family calls it QUITS.

The lesson of 1998 is reflected in those two Rasmussen polls: Don't investigate "birther" allegations or Ground Zero Mosque developers or Reverend Wright, or anything else that would bee seen as partisan. DO aggressively analyze and investigate the devastating financial impact that Obamacare will have on the Republic. If they GOP takes the latter route, then they will do the nation a great service and reap political rewards. If the GOP takes the former route, then they risk awakening the Ghost of Investigations Past, and the failure that he will bring.

ASCAR got what it needed most Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway when Jeff Gordon assaulted Jeff Burton after the two crashed during a caution period. Just when the sport had become predictable and stale, there's nothing like two drivers slugging it out . NASCAR has seen its numbers dwindle in terms of interest and popularity. While they like to blame the economy for that dip, there are some in the garage area who believe fan apathy has played a role as drivers became too corporate, too mindful of the reaction from sponsors and team owners. And no driver represented that...

Here is video of White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton saying that it is “not true” that President Obama told Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl in a private meeting that he will not complete the Border Fence because there is no chance Republicans will support “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” if he does. Kyl told a Tea Party Crowd that Obama told him exactly that in a private Oval Office meeting. Burton would not use the word “lie,” but he said emphatically it is “not true.” Let’s see, do I believe Sen. Jon Kyl or Barack Obama is telling the truth. That’s...

It is funny – or blatant chutzpa – that Democrats are attacking some Congressional Republicans, such as Burton, for wanting the rule of law to apply despite public outrage against BP, while these very Democrats defended (or didnt attack) just days earlier a Democrat member of Congress, Mr. Eldridge, who physically attacked a student who merely asked Eldrige a question. The way I see it, Dems: Bring it on! Let’s show a clip of Eldridge’s behavior side-by-side with Republicans demanding that the courts or current regulation, rather than-Obama arm-twisting, should decided how BP pays for their mess. Take it to...

As "Avatar" comes to the end of a historic three-month run, Walt Disney Studios' "Alice in Wonderland" took most of the 3-D screens and opened to an eye-popping $210.3 million worldwide.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement about the security failures surrounding al Qaeda operative Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day: "The details surrounding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to kill hundreds of Americans on Northwest Flight 253 amount to what is a phenomenal breach of security. This al Qaeda operative offered no shortage of red flags, but none caught the eye of intelligence and security officials. Reports indicated that the laundry list of warning signs includes Mr. Abdulmutallab, who was on the terrorist watch list, buying a one-way ticket with cash, not checking...

Pressure the Pentagon to dismiss charges against three Navy SEALS Rep. Dan Burton: Save the SEALS PetitionRepresentative Dan Burton (R-IN) is leading the Save the SEALs mission to pressure the Pentagon to dismiss charges against three of our magnificent Navy SEALS who are accused by savage barbarian Ahmed Hashim Abed of punching him in the mouth; or the stomach, or something. SNIP The SEALs are an elite force, not prone to impulsive behavior. In fact, a superhuman self discipline is a job requirement. Terrorists, on the other hand, are instructed by HQ to cry abuse when taken into custody by...

Megan Kelly pierced the veil of yet another White House lie on this morning’s America’s Newsroom. Her guest was White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, who dismissed the idea that the White House was compiling an “enemies list” as silly. Burton explained the purpose of having asked people to send the White House the email addresses of anyone making “fishy” claims about Obama’s plan to ration health care and sentence the elderly to earlier deaths, to tax the healthy to pay for substance abusers and illegal immigrants, and to reduce the supply of doctors by imposing government restrictions on...

SAN FRANCISCO - Former state Democratic leader John Burton was accused of sexual harassment Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by the director of his non-profit organization dedicated to helping California's homeless children. Kathleen Driscoll, who is on medical leave as executive director of the San Francisco-based John Burton Foundation, filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court. "Burton made inappropriate sexual advances on a regular and ongoing basis, used vulgar and profane language and publicly humiliated Driscoll with sexual comments and behavior," the lawsuit stated. "Burton has a long history of being abusive, crass and profane."

Another federal agency, and another appointee of President Bush's, is stuck in the klieg lights of ethics allegations. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Wednesday why Lurita Doan, administrator of the General Services Administration, allowed a White House aide to brief her managers on the Republican Party's prospects for 2008. Doan calls herself an "unabashed entrepreneur." She has also raised $200,000 for the Republican Party. GSA is the government's landlord and office supplier. In her testimony, Doan preferred to emphasize her entrepreneurial efforts. But Democrats were interested in other things: a contract that she tried to award...

A posting of an unredacted instant message sessions between Rep. Mark Foley and a former congressional page has apparently exposed the identity of the now 21 year-old accuser... ABC RELEASED TRANSCRIPT OF ONE CHAT BETWEEN FOLEY AND A MAN WHO WAS 18 AT THE TIME OF THE INSTANT MESSAGE EXCHANGE.... NETWORK STATED THE MESSAGE WAS TO 'UNDER AGE' TEEN... DEVELOPING... ABC ONLINE GLITCH LEADS TO IDENTITY OF FOLEY ACCUSER; FEATURED IM EXCHANGE WAS WITH 18 YEAR OLD

On 'The SPEED Report,' Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on SPEED, SPEED NASCAR reporter Bob Dillner reported that the winner of the first race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup and his Richard Childress Racing teammate had a performance advantage. As darkness falls upon New Hampshire International Speedway, we have learned that there was an issue with the winning car of Kevin Harvick and also his teammate, Jeff Burton, in postrace tech. That issue surrounded the actual rim of the race car. The team apparently manipulated that rim to act as a bleeder valve to release air pressure from...

On Saturday, March 26, 2005, while watching "Viewer Favorites" on your public television station, I was shocked and offended by the singer Eric Burton - formerly of the group "The Animals" - wearing a Che Guevara shirt while performing a song on a segment of your presentation. As a Cuban American, as a writer and a filmmaker, I am acquainted with the Che as a mass murderer who executed, without trial, many Cubans at La Cabaña fortress in Havana as well as in the Sierra Maestra Mountains before 1959.

Clink in the URL above for the new Tim Burton "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" trailer. The song will worm its way into your brain. Depp, on the other hand, looks disturbingly like Michael Jackson.

MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews didn't like it one bit Thursday night when Rep. Dan Burton, who was on hand to discuss Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to Congress, accused him of airing a biased report that painted Allawi as a Bush administration puppet. After "Hardball" correspondent Norah O'Donnell explained in her news package, "It was as if Allawi's comments had been written by President Bush's speech writers," Burton blew the whistle. "I was a little disappointed that Norah O'Donnell indicated that President Allawi's speech was written by the White House," he told Matthews. "That is a bias that...

Faced with multibillion-dollar cost overruns on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge east span project, the Schwarzenegger administration on Monday blamed Bay Area officials and said the Bay Area must find the money itself to finish the project. The surprise announcement throws the seismic retrofit project – just one-third done – into limbo and appears to jeopardize a planned 2011 finishing date.

SACRAMENTO - Sacramento's most powerful Democrat is trying to quietly kill a pair of bills backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would crack down on special-interest influence in the state Capitol. With less than three weeks left in the Legislature's two-year session, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said Wednesday that he would continue to block the measures, which would temporarily stop campaign consultants from lobbying the politicians they helped put in office. ``They're dead,'' Burton said of the bills. After the bills won support in the Assembly and a key Senate policy committee, Burton redirected them -- against the...

<p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget doesn't ``blow up boxes'' as he promised, but at least it lights some fuses.</p> <p>Legislative Democrats, on the other hand, have responded by crawling into boxes and pulling down the lids. They'll have to do better than crying, ``Save the status quo.''</p>

<p>SAN JOSE -- This time around, Assembly Member Nicole Parra is leaving nothing to chance.</p> <p>The Hanford Democrat is determined to leave this weekend's state Democratic Party convention with an official party blessing for her re-election bid this coming November against Bakersfield Republican Dean Gardner.</p>

<p>Senate President Pro Tem John Burton called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal "unworthy" Monday in an opening skirmish of what promises to be another extended budget battle.</p> <p>"I don't see any hope and aspiration there," the San Francisco Democrat said, referring to Schwarzenegger's description of California last week as "an empire of hope and aspirations."</p>

<p>Senate President Pro Tem John Burton promised Monday to fight the governor's new budget plan, arguing it provides a big tax break to car owners paid for by service cuts to the poor and disabled.</p> <p>The San Francisco Democrat, who holds status as perhaps the Capitol's most influential lawmaker given his tenure and his party's majority hold on the Legislature, drew a bright line between himself and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on what might be considered the first day of budget negotiations.</p>

<p>A strange and wonderful thing has happened as liberals have watched Republicans tighten their grip on the U.S. House of Representatives: They have suddenly discovered the threat to competitive elections posed by "gerrymandering," or the process of politicized Congressional redistricting. And they're right.</p>

<p>After the 1980 census, Democratic Rep. Phil Burton of California manipulated the state's political map to give his party five new congressional seats. He jokingly told his friends it was his contribution to modern art.</p> <p>The maneuver also made him the father of modern partisan gerrymandering. Since then, as Congress has become evenly and bitterly divided, the redrawing of districts to benefit one political party has reached new intensity, spawning fights from Pennsylvania to Florida to Michigan. Other brawls, involving such issues as how often a state may redistrict, have occurred in Texas and Colorado.</p>

The short honeymoon is over. As of Monday, Nov. 17, Arnold Schwarzenegger is California’s 38th governor. Now he has to horse-trade with California’s leftist Legislature and John Burton, who was unable to attend the inauguration ceremonies, instead playing golf in a previously scheduled tournament. Burton did have time the following day, however, to sink his fangs into Schwarzenegger over his promise to overturn SB 60, the law ex-Gov. Davis signed granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants: "I say the issue is racism. Do you think if these people were white and not brown-skinned we would be talking about it? I...

Voter Revolt Goes On... The landslide victory of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California should have sent a clear message to state legislators: ''Quit the petty partisanship and get work done for the people.'' The recall passed by double digits and Arnold was elected over his Democrat opponent by 17 points – a massive margin. If that doesn’t give him a mandate, it’s not clear what would. Californians are expecting Arnold to usher in a fresh brand of politics that puts the people first. And they’re expecting that the Legislature will work with him. Unfortunately, many Democrat legislators have failed to hear...

Democratic Senate President Pro Tem John Burton's assessment of California's recall election was that an unlucky Gray Davis just happened to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not our fault, in other words. Assuming he believes what he says, it is astonishing that even a Sacramento politician could so completely have his head on backward. The Legislature was in fact the main target of voters, more so even than the isolated, distrusted and now dismissed Gov. Davis. As abysmally low were the governor's poll ratings, the Legislature's were worse. At one point, Davis' approval ratings dropped...

McClintock did not identify Burton by name, but he said in an interview later that day that he had talked to a congressman about the campaign. After summarizing for the lawmaker Schwarzenegger's positions on various issues, McClintock said, he had won a convert. "You're doing the right thing," he quoted the congressman as saying. But Burton, an Indiana Republican, came forward Thursday to say he had placed the call — and to dispute any suggestion that he had told McClintock that he should remain a candidate. Burton said he had been unwavering in urging McClintock to step aside so that...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis had urged Democratic legislators to take action by June 1 to cancel a scheduled $28 monthly aid increase for 1.2 million poor Californians who are elderly, blind and disabled.</p> <p>Davis didn't relish trimming the Supplemental Security Income program, but the Democratic governor's proposal would have saved taxpayers $324 million. Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, quickly got Democrats in his caucus to acquiesce, and the administration was halfway there.</p>

<p>In hopes of breaking a budget impasse, Senate Republicans on Thursday said they will propose a flood of spending cuts in coming days and demand that Democrats debate their merits on the Senate floor.</p> <p>Word of plans to introduce dozens of budget amendments, likely on Monday, came as budget negotiations remained at a standstill and the days dwindled leading up to a new fiscal year next Tuesday.</p>

The Boston FBI and its Justice Department bosses allowed mob informants to lie and commit multiple murders for four decades during ``one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement,'' House investigators concluded in a final report for Congress. Federal law enforcement did ``incalculable damage to the public's respect for the rule of law'' through actions in Boston from 1965 until now, House Government Reform Committee lawyers said in a report titled, ``Everything Secret Degenerates: The Justice Department's Use of Murderers as Informants.'' The evidence unraveled was so threatening to the government that the FBI offered a...

Congressman Dan Burton yesterday called for further investigation into why Boston FBI agents did not act sooner to open James ``Whitey'' Bulger's safe deposit box in London given that they knew about the box for six years, according to one source. Burton, who suggested federal marshals take over the case from the FBI, said: ``I think in two months, three months, if they haven't gotten the job done, we might do whatever we can to bring in the U.S. marshals or whatever agency we can to get this done.'' Burton's committee has spent two years investigating the FBI's ties to...

JACKSON—Party-switching in the Legislature, rumored in the works since Democratic Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck’s conversion a month ago but put on hold by Trent Lott’s fall from grace, is apparently about to crank off as lawmakers come to town next Tuesday for their 2003 session. Reports were that that at least two Democratic senators, and possibly four House members, will jump to the GOP. Supposedly, say Republican insiders, conversions will be spread out over a few days rather than all at once. Two Senators thought most likely to switch were Travis Little of Corinth, the Senate President Pro-tem and Tuck’s...

US lawmakers against curbs on suing vaccine firms Reuters, 12.11.02, 7:22 PM ET By Maggie Fox and Joanne Kenen WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate vowed on Wednesday to get rid of controversial provisions, slipped quietly into the Homeland Security Act, that they say benefit vaccine makers at the expense of children with autism and other diseases. But one of the authors of the provisions said they were meant to ensure the country will have vaccines to give children. Vaccine critics say they can cause autism, and many have filed lawsuits....

The next Congress should repeal a provision in the homeland security bill that protects drug companies like Eli Lilly from lawsuits, urged a handful of lawmakers and autism activists at a Wednesday press conference. Proponents of the provision, however, argue that lawsuit immunity is necessary to make sure that companies continue to offer life-saving vaccines to combat bio-terrorism. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) plan to introduce legislation next year to undo the grant of lawsuit immunity to companies that have used a vaccine preservative called thirmerosal, which contains ethylmercury. Some believe that there is...

<p>Though time is running out on his chairmanship of the Government Reform Committee, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., continues to push for copies of surveillance videotapes and still photos taken on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.</p> <p>A tip from a police officer who claimed to have seen tapes of the 1995 explosion turned out to be false. But Burton's committee, which has subpoenaed the Office of Naval Intelligence, still wants to know if videotape exists that could prove or disprove reports of a Middle Eastern-looking John Doe No. 2 getting out of the Ryder truck, which blew up minutes later, killing 168 people. The feds maintain that executed bomber Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols acted by themselves.</p>

Police officer misled investigators, House committee chairman says 2002-11-13 By Larry Margasak Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A House committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate a police officer it alleges misled congressional investigators by claiming he saw a videotape of a Middle Eastern man leaving the truck used to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. J.W. Reser, the policeman, told investigators he viewed the surveillance tape while working as a contract employee for the government, including Army and Navy intelligence, but officials from both services said they knew nothing about Reser or the tape, the committee...

--- Does a Trail Exist? --- Published November 4, 2002 by Forest Glen Durland Copyright 2002 by Forest Glen Durland Contents Introduction Treasures attracting various types of people. Gold Fever!!! Tracks - Footprints in the Sand. Here is where the action starts. Definitions Land Swap Game - Here's the routine. Players in the Game References and sources of documentation with excerpts to help research scholars. End Note   Introduction Only facts are presented with links to documentation. The readers are free to check that documentation and form their own conclusions. There definitely exists a big bucks scam involving the swapping...

<p>SACRAMENTO – Dueling child-care bills that would have disclosed the criminal histories of workers in California's licensed child-care industry will die today as the legislative year comes to a close.</p> <p>Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, authored SB1335, which would have disclosed the details of criminal histories of felons and those with long and recent conviction records. But Gov. Gray Davis said last week the bill didn't go far enough and promised to veto it. That forced the bill onto the Senate's "inactive" file this week, meaning it will never make it to the Senate floor for a vote.</p>

<p>The Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, was back sniffing around Oklahoma City last week looking for reasons to believe that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had help.</p> <p>They found plenty. Committee lawyer Marc Chretien interviewed at least six people who claimed to have seen McVeigh keeping company with foreign-looking men in the days, even minutes, before the bombing on April 19, 1995.</p>

<p>James E. Burton, the head of the nation's largest public pension fund, has accepted a position as chief executive of the World Gold Council in London.</p> <p>The decision follows Burton's announcement in May that he planned to leave this year as head of the California Public Employees' Retirement System.</p>

<p>Amid the revelations of mismanagement at the State Department creating gaping holes in our border security, the Select Committee on Homeland Security in Congress is considering stripping visa authority from the State Department and moving it into the new Department of Homeland Security. Although putting Homeland Security in charge of key decisions on border security is the obvious and best answer, there is at least a compromise the Select Committee needs to consider in the absence of full reform.</p>

<p>The Legislature's Democratic leaders twisted arms, paid some political gate fees and resorted to some slick parliamentary maneuvering last week to gain approval of the year's most heavily lobbied bill, one that empowers the Air Resources Board to reduce so-called "greenhouse gas" emissions from cars.</p>

<p>Democrats accused of stalling on sending the bill to Davis to thwart a referendum.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO – The nation's first greenhouse-emissions rule for cars is only a 30-second walk from Gov. Gray Davis' desk and being signed into law.</p> <p>But nine days after legislators passed it, the landmark bill remains unceremoniously deposited in an off-white government-issue steel file cabinet in the office of the Assembly's chief clerk, E. Dotson Wilson. Davis has not even seen the eight-page document.</p>

<p>He cloaked it in the shell of another bill, using budget chaos as cover.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO – Calls, e-mails and letters poured in - from former President Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actors Edward James Olmos and Paul Newman, and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman - urging California lawmakers to approve the nation's first law to cut tailpipe emissions of global-warming gases.</p>