Free Republic

Obama spent his Christmas vacationing in Hawaii. Consider this, from gopusa.com: "Although President Reagan could have spent his White House Christmases with family at his beloved ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., he instead stayed in Washington, D.C. This way, his sacrifice allowed Secret Service agents and other aides to spend Christmas at home with their families. He was a thoughtful person." Lest some lib think that gopusa.com is making this up, from time.com: (like Clinton) "President Reagan also remained in Washington over Christmas — reportedly so members of the Secret Service could be near their families" Notice Time's use of...

A couple of weeks ago I was aimlessly changing channels when I came across CBS's "Vegas", a drama about the mob in Las Vegas in the early 1960's. It's a fantastic show, with a strong sense of right and wrong, and I didn't even know that the show existed. So evidently not all of TV is either mindless reality or bland comedy. Any suggestions for other good TV dramas?

There have been quite a few comments here at Free Republic regarding moderator bias during the two Presidential debates, and also during the Vice-Presidential debate. Many FR posters have been taking pot-shots at the MSM and the debate moderators. In my humble (and often misguided) opinion, we are shooting at the wrong target. The real target here should be Romney, and his advisors. They agreed to all of this. What else did they - and we - expect? After all, if you pick up a scorpion, you can expect to get stung.

A 9-year-old Massachusetts boy who earned an all-expenses-paid Disney World vacation through an innovative Facebook experiment gave the trip away to the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

<p>Dispatcher: Okay. Which entrance is that that he's heading towards?</p> <p>Zimmerman: The back entrance...f*cking [unintelligible]...</p> <p>Perhaps with the aid of a computer program, some official will figure out what the "unintelligible" was. But I didn't hear any racial slur. And neither did O'Reilly. Because on O'Reilly's screen was "unintelligible", not a slur.</p>

Rove is very much in a “do I have to do everything myself” mode these days, which is why he’s also running the GOP’s congressional campaign as an independently funded venture. Here he is practically acting as a Romney surrogate on Fox and attacking Herman Cain, because actual Romney surrogates seem unable to.

Terrified diners in London told Tuesday how rioters brandishing baseball bats smashed their way into a top restaurant and forced them to hand over wedding rings, cell phones and wallets. Staff at two-Michelin-starred The Ledbury, in the affluent west London suburb of Notting Hill, were forced to confront the gang of intruders with rolling pins and kitchen utensils Monday evening in a desperate bid to protect customers. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/09/terrified-diners-recount-how-armed-gang-stormed-london-restaurant/#ixzz1UanMjd5W

Police have identified the man they say shot and killed four people inside a New York pharmacy over the weekend, the New York Post reports.

Better examine your next cupcake: British intelligence agents hack al-Qaida's Inspire magazine and replace bombmaking instructions with cupcake recipe.

An episode of Pawn Stars, 100 years from now. A customer walks into the pawn shop carrying a sheet of paper. Rick's grandson: What have you got there? Customer: It's Obama's birth certificate, the actual one he released back in 2011. Rick's grandson (startled): OK...and how did you get it? Chumlee's grandson: Obama...I saw a picture of him bowing to some king. Was Obama the king's butler? Rick's grandson: No Chum, Obama was the 44th President of the United States, between Bush and Palin. Customer: My grandfather was Chris "Tingles" Matthews. Obama gave it the certificate to him as a...

A post by marktwain started a discussion about pepper spray and the like. Any brands out there that you'd care to recommend? Any brands to avoid?

I just watched the news. US ships are firing at Libya. I was out fishing this morning, so I missed the early reports. Did we declare war on Libya? Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power to declare war, so that's what happened...right?

Speaker Boehner has turned down a request to have Frank Buckles, the last US WWI veteran, lie in state in the Capitol rotunda. This is disgusting. Mr. Buckles was more than just a veteran. He represents every doughboy who served in the Great War.

A highlight: Shortly after unlovable Mitt finished speaking, he was upstaged by Sarah Palin, who isn't even attending the conference. A Palin look-alike (a pretty good one, actually) entered the ballroom and immediately attracted a massive crowd. For a moment, everyone thought it was a surprise appearance by the one candidate all the (non-Ron Paul supporting) attendees are actually excited by.

The female police chief of Guadalupe, Mexico, has not been seen or heard from since being abducted two days before Christmas. Erika Gandara was a former radio dispatcher for the police department in the town of 9,000, which is just across the U.S. border, one mile from Fabens, Texas. The previous police chief was murdered and decapitated. ...Many of the houses in Guadalupe have been burned down by the cartels.

Critics have often said of Obama that "it's all about him," that he has a tendency to reference himself no matter what subject he is discussing. Could he do any more to prove them right?

A recent post by marktwain about an open-carry experience of his got me thinking. Some states are open-carry, some are concealed carry. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Which method would you prefer in your state, and why?

Keyes tries to make the argument that Palin is being led astray by some of her advisors. From the article: "Yet the telltale flaw in Palin's supposedly conservative credentials is a proven penchant for relying on advisers who mislead her into decisions that are anything but conservative."

The instant Karl Rove appears on any Fox show, I'm changing channels and won't go back to that show for the rest of the day. I might switch to Cops, I might switch to Ted Nugent's Spirit of the Wild, if it's on. I can't and won't take any more of Rove.

I just received Notice 1400 from our friends at the IRS. I'm sure that you'll get one too. The bottom line is that they will no longer be mailing out tax forms and instructions. You've got to hunt them down yourself by going to the internet, your local post office, etc. After Jan 10, 2011 you can also call to get the forms if "you are experiencing a hardship." All I can say is this: if I have to fill out a form under penalty of law, the least that they can do is send me the form.