Free Republic

An Air Canada pilot mistook the planet Venus for another aircraft and plunged his plane towards the Atlantic Ocean to avoid a collision. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/17/16-injured-after-pilot-mistakes-venus-for-aircraft-plunges-plane-toward/?test=latestnews#ixzz1sKAemkMr

LUMBERTON, N.J. (CBS) — A South Jersey man has come up with what he hopes is a solution to a controversy over the American flag that he flew in his yard — a flag bearing the image of President Barack Obama in place of the field of stars.

The auto industry sees other industries getting government bailouts, and wonders why not? Others hear the pleas of the Big Three carmakers and wonder, why? Democratic leaders in Congress crafted a plan to fork over $25 billion to Detroit, above and beyond the $25 billion in loans the government already committed to help the Big Three make more fuel-efficient cars.

<p>A lawyer representing a man arrested in Fairfield for drunken driving says the state’s breathalyzers discriminate against black people.</p> <p>“They are KKK in a box,” said lawyer James O. Ruane of Shelton. “We really have some racist machines here.”</p>

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders told Detroit's Big Three automakers Thursday that they have until Dec. 2 to submit a plan to Congress on how they will use billions of taxpayer funds to bring their companies from the brink of destruction.

President Elect Barack Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff stresses that the new administration intends to “throw long and deep,” right after the kick-off in January, taking advantage of the economic crisis to push dramatic changes in health care, taxes, financial re-regulation and energy.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's historic victory does not bode well for comedians who have thrived on jokes about President George W. Bush, experts say. Obama, who was backed by many Hollywood figures, will be inaugurated on January 20 as the United States' first black president against a backdrop of a global financial crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether because he was the favorite of left-leaning comics, the historic nature of his election or that so far he has made few gaffes, comedians are finding little to joke about so far.

What's with Obama's choice of old-time Clinton cronies and recycled Washington insiders to run the transition to his new politics of change? Can't the anti-Washington-insiders and the president-elect find anyone who isn't a Beltway has-been? Judging by the appointments to his transition committee and leaks about possible top staff and Cabinet choices, Obama appears to be practicing the politics of status quo, not the politics of change.

Ponder this, in one decade the US has removed one Hussein from power in Irag and put another Hussein in power in the US. Go figure!!

Rangel: Obama will save the world

I'm guessing that Paul Krugman and David Brooks don't hang out that much together. So when both turn up on the New York Times op-ed page this morning with columns calling for massive government spending, I'm assuming they came to their conclusions independently. My working hypothesis: if Krugman and Brooks agree on something this important, they must be wrong.

Suggesting Brian Williams and the producers of NBC Nightly News assume a significant portion of their viewership is pretty dumb, the newscast began a story about how, as Williams fretted, “number of rumors and myths and threats that might keep some people away from the polls this year,” by highlighting a flyer, riddled with glaring misspellings and non-words, which made a false announcement about the date to vote. Rehema Ellis, who asserted voter “anxiety is valid,” intoned: “In Virginia, an official-looking flier is on the Internet saying, 'Republicans vote on November 4th and Democrats on November 5th.'” Ellis then decided...

On the first hour of his nationally syndicated radio show Tuesday night, Mark Levin interviewed Republican veep selection Gov. Sarah Palin. She scorned Barack Obama's ideological commitment to higher taxes and noted that the 2001 tapes of Barack Obama radio shows demonstrate that "he had thought even back then that government should redistribute others people's hard earned money according to a politician's priorities." She said it was scary and would "squash the entrepreurial spirit." Partial transcript at link.

Despite cries for a hate-crime investigation, FBI and L.A. police say hanging Palin mannequin just 'bad taste'

Barack Obama laughs off charges of socialism. Joe Biden scoffs at references to Marxism. Both men shrug off accusations of liberalism. But Obama himself acknowledges that he was drawn to socialists and even Marxists as a college student. He continued to associate with Marxists later in life, even choosing to launch his political career in the living room of a self-described Marxist, William Ayers, in 1995, when Obama was 34. Obama's affinity for Marxists began when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Barack Obama has a stunning lack of tolerance for free speech. And one thing Americans can expect from an Obama administration, and a Democratic-controlled Congress, is a legislative attempt to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which will limit free speech and diminish the conservative influence on talk radio. A new ATI-News/Zogby International poll released on Oct. 26 made it clear that those who intend to vote for Obama support re-establishing the Fairness Doctrine.

U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.

The Obama campaign asked Zach Bencal of Londonderry, New Hampshire to sing the National Anthem at an Obama rally there Friday and then told him to forget about it -- they had scratched the National Anthem from the program. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Obama people dumped the Star Spangled Banner to make room for another speaker.

The Colony South Hotel & Conference Center in Clinton Maryland has hosted fundraisers for Barack Obama, held a prayer breakfast for a local Democrat, hosted a meeting for the African American Democratic club and hosted a home foreclosure program for Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer. But now that they had the audacity to put up a McCain-Palin campaign sign on their front lawn they are being threatened with an angry response from Obama supporters.

I think McCain deserves applause for having his priorities straight and for showing real leadership. For the past several days, the media and members of both parties have been scaring the daylights out of the American people by calling this the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression.