Free Republic

Earlier this evening in the Third Presidential Debate Mitt Romney raised legitimate concerns about the current and shrinking size of the United States Navy. The President responded snarkily by saying that size does not matter because we have these these "things" called Carriers that "planes can land on" and these "things" that go underwater. This pathetic attempt at rebuttal by Obama is quite simple. The first submarine commissioned by the United States Navy was "USS Holland (SS-1)" on October 12, 1900. The first Aircraft Carrier commissioned by the United States Navy was the USS Langley (CV-1) on March 20, 1922. ...

The timing may be off with this post, but there is an observation I've been meaning to point out with regard to Barack Obama's HHS Mandate on religious institutions. Barack Obama in defending the mandate has suggested that it has no impact on "Freedom of Worship". So, exactly where does "Freedom of Worship" appear in the Constitution? It doesn't. The First Amendment provides for "Freedom of Religion". No one to my knowledge has called him out on this significant distinction. Freedom of Religion of course provides for living one's life in concert with the principles of your faith. It unambiguously...

Kathleen Sebellius this past Friday delivered a commencement address at Georgetown University. CNS.com has a fine article with video of the speech. In her comments she seemed to respond to the criticism of Catholic Bishops by quoting from President Kennedy's famous speech on September 12,1960. She stated: “In his talk to Protestant ministers,” Sebelius said, “Kennedy talked about his vision of religion and the public square, and he said he believed in an America, and I quote, ‘where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials;...

I wanted to take a moment to present an objective assessment of the political fallout from Barack Obama's flip flop on gay marriage. First of all it's quite obvious to all as evidenced by the polling that this was not a heartfelt transformation,it is transparently opportunistic. It won't work and given the timing it's awful politics. It might have worked in a booming economy, but this decision as an effort to distract from the economy is insulting. The American People are always focused on the economy, but in our current state of economic stagnation (at best) the amount of publicity...

Shepard Smith likes to close his shows with "From the Journalists at Fox News", a comment that is obviously designed to mark the distinction with prime time commentators. This tag line would not disturb me if it weren't so obvious that his reporting is skewed, not expressly liberal mind because that does not bother me as I'm used to it. It's his pompous,smug demeanor in presenting the "news". At the start of his 3pm show he reported President Obama's flip flop on gay marriage. As he went into the commercial break he said this: "The President Is Now In the...

Picture of T.J. Conrad, 22 years old killed in Afghanistan because of the burning of a Koran. Flesh and Blood shed in the name of printed type. WE apologized for destroying a book, but where's the apology for TJ CONRAD and his now seven month old baby girl pictured here? Why is his life less valuable than inanimate material?

This is likely to be the first of many commentaries on this matter, but I feel compelled to address specific points that have been made to support President Obama's unconstitutional mandate upon Catholic affiliated institutions. Firstly, supporters of the mandate defend the proposition because as they say most Catholics do not agree with the Church on the matter of artificial birth control. Jehmu Green, on Fox News no less cited polling that 98% of Catholics oppose the Church and have used contraception. Juan Williams, also on FOX, cited a FOX NEWS poll that showed 61% of all Americans agreed with...

I have desperately been waiting for a true conservative to step up to the plate and win me over. I had thought Rick Perry was the guy. On the issues as a whole I’m in Perry’s corner. I would prefer his position on the issues to go forward as our standard, but then there was his defense of Texas’ “Dream Act”. I respect Rick Perry defending his position on illegal immigration. He stuck to his guns despite its being a liability in Republican primaries. Most voters disagree with him, but he defended it. Ok. That’s why we have debates after...

It has taken me a couple days to fully compose my thoughts on Wednesday's GOP debate on MSNBC. Like most, I was looking forward to seeing Rick Perry perform on stage for the first time. I like Rick Perry and would gladly support him, but he made two obvious blunders as far as I can see. One can be fixed, the other is his to own. I was and am still hoping that Governor Perry can improve himself as I am no great fan of Mitt Romney. While I prefer Rick Perry on the substance of the issues he failed...

I've been watching coverage of Hurricane Irene. Being a resident of Tampa, Florida, I have been through Hurricane Frances and Jean and the close call of Charley. So, like all Floridians I'm personally aware of what a hurricane or tropical storm can do. As I'm typing this I'm listening to reports that Irene is outperforming its category. I've also been perusing websites and that includes Drudge Report. I've had other concerns of late with Mr. Drudge's site recently, but I am alarmed with links that are downplaying expectations. There are a wide variety of links,but this link to Dr. Simon...

I saw this on Bleeding Green Nation and had to share it. It's hysterical.

George Will did this to Sarah Palin in May. It is interesting that he establishes the same criteria for both women.Once again, conservatives would never tolerate this from anyone else. He suggests that she cannot be trusted with the nuclear football. LInk here: http://kevin-wardsworld.blogspot.com/2011/08/george-will-goes-nuclear-on-michele.html

I stopped in at "Big Papa's Pit" in Tampa for some barbeque and Earl the manager showed a picture he had been sent. I just have to share it. This was on 275 in Tampa

Well, Eagles kicker David Akers tested free agency and was signed by the 49ers. He'll be missed.The picture below is a billboard ad he took out in Philadelphia.A real class act.I hope the Eagles certainly have a sufficient replacement for his consistent performance.

Direct from the pages of brazen hypocrisy. On March 16, 2006 the debt ceiling was raised by a vote of 52-48 in the United States Senate. Every single Democrat, including Obama,Kerry and Clinton voted AGAINST raising the debt ceiling. I wonder why they support raising it now? Here's a copied tally of the votes: YEAs ---52Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bennett (R-UT)Bond (R-MO)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC)Chafee (R-RI)Chambliss (R-GA)Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN)Collins (R-ME)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID)DeMint (R-SC)DeWine (R-OH)Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM)Enzi (R-WY)Frist (R-TN)Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Hagel (R-NE)Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)Martinez (R-FL)McCain...

So, the political chattering class is aghast that Eric Cantor and Jon Kyl have walked out of the Biden negotiations on the debt ceiling. Unless this is posturing to us the conservative "wingnuts" they have done the right thing. It is at this time I want to remind everyone of a little history. We all remember George H.W. Bush's "no new tax" pledge. We all remember him breaking the promise. Most objective observers on all sides concede his re election had he not broken that pledge. Why did he break it? Because of our debt and annual deficits. He was...

Well, John McCain and Lindsey Graham are at it again. Every neoconservatives favorite pair of Senators have subjected opponents of action in Libya and the future of Afghanistan as "isolationist". I'll address the ignorance of the neo conservatives regarding over extension of force in a future post, but right now they need to be called out for their pathetic defense of our current interventions. Let me say that like most or all conservatives I supported invading Afghanistan because as we all know they were harboring Bin Laden. No brainer. I supported the invasion of Iraq on the basis he had...

As I normally do on a daily basis I visited the Drudge Report. On the left hand column there are three links regarding Texas Governor Rick Perry. The first link is this: National Journal: Perry Road Tests Stump SpeechThe second link is this: NBC NEWS:Perry: Stand Up and Stop ApolgizingThe third link? Infowars.com.: Bilderberg Approved Perry Set To Become GOP FrontrunnerThis is apparently not the first time Drudge has linked to that charlatan Alex Jones, but this piece is absolutely ridiculous. Drudge loses credibility by linking such crap on his site. First there's the title. Rick Perry if he gets in...

It is always quite amusing to hear the pundit class talk about the respective electability of the G.O.P. candidates for President. Sarah Palin is routinely ridiculed by the punditocracy largely because she's not part of the club. Last evening's debate was an intriguing forum with telling results. All of the candidates look good and no one made a fatal mistake. Here is my assessment of the candidates. Herman Cain started strong and speaks forcefully on the economic issues,however he loses his step on matters outside his greatest strength. He lacked specifics for all his passion and that is something he...

So, big news in the GOP broke earlier this evening when it was announced that several top campaign employees and consultants for Newt Gingrich's Presidential campaign resigned.The names of those who resigned are not too important as far as I'm concerned because the act of resigning en masse indicates a tragically flawed candidate. The absurdity of this is that former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue who was serving as campaign chair also quit and went on board with former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's competing bid for the nation's high office. We've never quite seen anything like this before.  This episode...