Free Republic

Rep. Kind of Wisconsin has introduced legislation that he proudly proclaims will track the body mass index (BMI) of your child from age 2-18 . . . .

"Because you asked: Jerusalem is mentioned 142 times in the New Testament, and none of the 16 various Arabic names for Jerusalem is mentioned in the Koran. But in an expanded interpretation of the Koran from the 12th century, one passage is said to refer to Jerusalem," Netanyahu said.

As if it were some quaint eccentricity to find on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court, President Obama has praised retiring Justice John Paul Stevens as "a fierce defender of the rule of law." Now enters the chorus echoing the strain: He's "the justice who stood for the rule of law," proclaimed one of Stevens' former clerks on CNN.com; "the Rule of Law Justice," trumpeted another in the Washington Post; a "stalwart adheren[t] to the rule of law," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on the Senate floor; and so forth . . . .

The lead article on MoveOn.org’s Web site yesterday and this morning is headlined, “It’s Getting Ugly.” “Right-wing extremists are disrupting town hall meetings with attacks on President Obama’s plans for health care and clean energy,” it says. “But we’re showing Congress that ordinary Americans continue to support his agenda for change.” If visitors to the site then click on a link labeled, “Get materials to attend a town hall near you,” they are directed to a list of three suggested statements and a question they can use at town hall meetings, as well as additional links to ready-made posters that...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – A taxpayer watchdog group marked “Cost of Government Day” Wednesday – the day when the average American has earned enough gross income to pay his or her share of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal, state, and local level. * * * * Of the 224 days required to pay off one’s share of the cost of government in 2009, 111 of those days account for federal spending, 49 days account for state and local spending, and another 65 are needed to pay for regulations imposed by all levels of government.

Believe it or not, in 1685, John Locke pointed out "a close parallel between state-established religion and a health care mandate."

Newt's warning about N.Korea's threatened "satellite" launch and "criminal negligence" of Obama's dismantling and defunding of our missile defense systems.

". . . . The absurd implied premise of the Bible-quoting liberals is that bigger government is a way to 'love thy neighbor.' In fact, government programs encourage a life profoundly centered on self, and make us increasingly spectators to the plight of our neighbors. . . . "

. . . . Voting to re-elect the president is imperative for anyone who believes an unflinching, lucid assessment of the evil confronting us is an important part of ensuring that liberty shall not perish. . . .

. . . . It is hard to imagine a more dangerous trait in the commander in chief than a proclivity for creating a false sense of security. But perhaps an equally dangerous practice is to engender alarm when there is no reason for alarm. Kerry's public statements, it turns out, show a history of acting out both extremes. Compare, for example, Kerry's reassuring letter home with his anti-war antics soon thereafter. Given his own account of the "everything's okay" letter, one imagines his family left with the impression that Kerry faced no danger on the battlefield, that his tour...

"As you recall, John's hair flips from right to left; mine flops left to right. (I tell you this in confidence because, to my knowledge, it has yet to be publicly observed.) . . . " ". . . I'm John Kerry, and I actually disapproved of this message, before I decided to approve it."

Dear Insight: My formerly unnamed source, wishing now to be identified simply as "Slacks," claims to have taken the following letter from the garters of former National Security Advisor, Mr. Sandy Berger.

Another Kerry Letter Surfaces? Posted August 11, 2004 By Roger Banks Dear Insight: My formerly unnamed source, wishing now to be identified simply as "Slacks," claims to have taken the following letter from the garters of former National Security Advisor, Mr. Sandy Berger. The last paragraph suggests that news of the Berger scandal broke just as Kerry was finishing the letter, an incongruity that casts some doubt on Slacks' veracity. On the other hand, Mr. Berger's accidental pantalooning of top-secret documents appears to have been habit-forming, and he may have involuntarily heisted Kerry's latest epistle even after the scandal became...

"America deserves a president who understands subtleties. After three years of black and white, I intend to restore confusion and ambiguity to the White House."

From "Many Shades of Folly" by Roger Banks; published in NewsMax and The Legal Times. Advancement in age guarantees no corresponding advancement in wisdom, as Shakespeare's uncrowned Lear attests on the heath of his personal and political ruin, lamenting, "I am old . . . and foolish!" But, alas, one need not invoke Elizabethan tragedy to recognize this time-honored principle. As revealed in Sen. Zell Miller's magnificent new book, A National Party No More, the marriage of old age and folly is a daily matinee in Washington, especially among leaders of the author's own Democratic Party. In words that are...