Free Republic

Given that moonbats love their useless polls, here are some numbers from Rasmussen Reports that are sure to get their wings flapping. And yes, I am cherry picking the report just as Harry Reid and his losers love to do. Following President’s Speech, Public Remains Divided on Iraq - By a 50% to 38% margin, women want Congress to force a troop withdrawal. By a 49% to 43% margin, men disagree. - Among those who saw the speech, 53% said that Congress should support the President’s approach while 36% disagree. - By a 49% to 43% margin, those who saw...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The troops "surge" in Iraq is improving the security situation in the country, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told Congress on Monday. He said U.S. forces could be reduced to pre-surge levels by next summer. Before Petraeus began to testify, the head of the House Armed Services Committee challenged Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to convince him that the war effort in Iraq is worth continuing. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, told Petraeus and Crocker that he was particularly curious whether reconciliation among warring Iraqi sects is imminent. "I hope, General Petraeus and Ambassador...

WASHINGTON - An independent assessment concluding that Iraq has made little political progress in recent months despite an influx of U.S. troops drew fierce pushback from the White House on Thursday and provided fresh ammunition for Democrats who want to bring troops home. The political wrangling came days before the report was to be officially released...

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush's Iraq war strategy, congressional auditors have determined. The Associated Press has learned the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline. That's when Bush is to give a detailed accounting of the situation eight months after he announced the policy, according to three officials familiar with the matter. The officials, who...

I believe that most here are now aware of the NASA GISS temperature data that was corrected by a Canadian researcher, Steven McIntyre, now shows the hottest year in the USA is not 1998, but rather the year 1934. This post is just to point out two things: 1) the order of the hottest years and 2) the media coverage of this hugely important data correction to US yearly temperatures. From the corrected data posted by NASA, it now shows the correct hottest years as follows, beginning with hottest:http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.D.txt 1934 1998 1921 2006 1931 1999 1953 1990 1938 1939 1954...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge ordered the Bush administration to issue two scientific reports on global warming, siding with environmentalists who sued the White House for failing to produce the documents. U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled Tuesday that the Bush administration had violated a 1990 law when it failed to meet deadlines for an updated U.S. climate change research plan and impact assessment. ... The plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace — said the ruling was a rebuke to an administration that has systematically denied and suppressed information on global...

I came across the word "freeper" in the Urban Dictionary. The definitions that some people posted are hilarious. If you need a chuckle for the day, this should do it for you. Follow the link.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) -- Rep. William Jefferson pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of soliciting more than $500,000 in bribes while using his office to broker business deals in Africa.

LONDON (Reuters) - An 18-year-old waitress and part-time jazz singer is in line for a multi-million dollar record deal after performing for George Clooney at the Cannes film festival.

"What happens to the GOP if amnesty is enacted?" It's a peculiar question given the posts I have read since before, and after, the 2006 mid-term elections regarding teaching Republicans a lesson. My Houston, Texas Congressman (John Culberson) and two Texas Senators fought hard against the amnesty immigration bills. But since the Republicans are being "taught a lesson" by ultra-conservatives these fine conservatives who represent me in both Houses have been sidelined. So by teaching the Republicans a lesson what did you expect other than for amnesty to pass? It's sort of a captain obvious moment, don't cha'think! Reduce the...

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's centre-right opposition made solid gains in local polls but Prime Minister Romano Prodi avoided a drubbing in his first major electoral test a year after taking office, according to provisional results on Monday. Ten million people were eligible to vote in the elections on Sunday and Monday, with opinion polls suggesting six out of 10 Italians think Prodi's fractious centre-left government has not done a good job.

(CNN) -- Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications. Sectarian violence could erupt on a scale never seen before in Iraq if coalition troops leave before Iraq's security forces are ready. Supporters of al Qaeda could develop an international hub of terror from which to threaten the West. And the likely civil war could draw countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran into a broader conflict.

I like going through the U.S. Treasury's "Monthly Treasury Statements" to look at the receipts, outlays, deficit, and/or surplus. This time I looked at the yearly revenue going back to 1997 and especially the increase in revenue from the 2003 Tax Cuts. REVENUE: 2003 - $1,782,108,000,000 2006 - $2,406,681,000,000 That's approximately a 35% increase in federal revenue from the year 2003 to the year 2006. That's very impressive. The subsequent years showed very slow growth and virtually none during the Clinton years from 1997 onward. 1997 - $1,578,955,000,000 1998 - $1,721,421,000,000 1999 - $1,827,302,000,000 2000 - $2,025,038,000,000 2001 - $1,991,044,000,000...

According to the U.S. Treasury's "Monthly Treasury Statement" -- which they release every month ten days into each month -- the year-to-date statement for the recent months of October, November, December, and January show a 10% increase in receipts taken in by the Treasury from the same months of the past fiscal year. In addition, the months of December and January show a surplus of $41 billion and $38 billion respectively. This is a total surplus gain of about $50 billion from the same months of the past fiscal year.

"CLINTON: Good evening. Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world. The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government -- a government ready to live in peace with its...

Since the multiple bombings in Shroja market district on the 12th, Baghdad hasn’t seen any major attacks and there’s a tangible decrease in all kinds of attacks. Not only official statements say so (Defense ministry officials said today that attacks are down by 80% in Baghdad). It’s a reality I live in nowadays, at least in my neighborhood and its surroundings. It is also what I hear from friends and relatives in other parts of the city. We are hearing fewer explosions and less gunfire now than two weeks ago and that, in Baghdad, qualifies as quiet. I agree with...

These MISLEADING headlines to stories by the liberal media gets my blood boiling! TITLE: U.S. opposed to cease-fire with Hezbollah LEAD IN: WASHINGTON - The United States held the line Thursday against a quick cease-fire deal in the Middle East, increasingly isolated as world powers and the United Nations demanded an immediate end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants. * And NOWHERE in the article did one single US official suggest such a thing! SEAN MCCORMACK: "He was talking about a cessation of violence in the context of a lasting, durable solution, which is exactly what we have been...

President Bush in his meeting with Russia's Putin, suggests to Putin that Russia should model Iraq's democracy. ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a suggestion from U.S. President George W. Bush that his country should emulate democracy in Iraq. During a joint news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg, Bush said he raised concerns about democracy in Russia during a frank discussion with the Russian leader. "I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a...

My subject title doesn't make sense, does it? How coud the U.N. be disarming Iraq from WMD while allowing them WMD at the same time. Is there a 4th dimension of space that I am not aware of? Chemicals allowed for export to Iraq by other countries: - Sodium Cyanide - Hydrogen Cyanide - Phosgene Well golly, gee-whiz... those chemicals are WMD with a world history of being used as chemical weapons. The U.N. is a complete joke! They are looking for chemical weapons while allowing Saddam to purchase chemical weapons! Yeah, that's the ticket! Makes good sense to me!...

For the month of April 2006 the Federal Government took in $315 billion and had a surplus of $118 billion. That $315 billion sets a record for monthly receipts. And the previous record surplus (years 1981 - 2006) was $189 billion under President Bush in April of 2001. April 2006: http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0406.txt Monthly Receipts, Outlays, and Deficit or Surplus, Fiscal Years 1981 - 2006 http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts.pdf