Free Republic

Well, this is just a little editorial from summer to FR, to let you know how the Dem activists are all complaining about: No Free Speech in the Dem Party. What a shock-er-ooo, eh? Seems that two pro-Lamont campaigners (both Dem activists) were tossed out for living and breathing near Clinton and Liberman during Clinton's rally for Liberman. And, the Dem activists are all confused about this -- and, mighty peeved. They say they've got the video on HuffPost HERE. (Actually, I could only get a commercial to come up there.) They've got the Dems underground complaining about it HERE....

Scenes from “MySpace: The Movie,” created by David Lehre. The 11-minute parody of... MySpace and its users has had millions of hits since it first appeared on the site YouTube on Jan. 31. EVEN as David Lehre’s “MySpace: The Movie,” ... spawned a high-profile feeding frenzy, some of the Hollywood agents, managers and lawyers who were clamoring to represent him didn’t know much about who he was... “It’s their fear of not being a part of it,” said Scott Vener, Mr. Lehre’s manager... ,,,“Their nightmare is a direct feed from moviemaker to audience,” said Walter Kirn ... Geoffrey Gilmore,...

THIS is my last education column after four years.... The columns about teachers generated the most mail... As readers know, I’m not a fan of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 federal law aimed at raising education quality. Instead of helping teachers, for me it’s a law created by politicians who distrust teachers. Because teachers’ judgment and standards are supposedly not reliable, the law substitutes a battery of state tests that are supposed to tell the real truth about children’s academic progress. The question is: How successful can an education law be that makes teachers the enemy? Even No Child’s...

The bad news for New Jersey Democrats is that they have now written the script for the world's cheesiest political horror movie. To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect.

NEW YORK A number of Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat readers were upset with a cartoon saying that The New York Times' motto is "All the Treason Fit to Print." The June 28 cartoon was by Mike Lester of the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune and Cagle Cartoons. Lester drew Uncle Sam holding a copy of the Times that featured a front page with the headline "All the Treason Fit to Print" and the subhead "U.S. Anti-Terror Program: Details Inside." Uncle Sam says "I hate getting American soldiers' blood on my fingers," as his hand drips red. Democrat Associate Editor Mark Hohmeister, in...

On this July Fourth, our Independence Day, let us consider patriotism. And let us first consider what patriotism is not. Patriotism is not a flag-burning amendment. It is not a lapel pin. It is not red, white and blue bunting on a political platform. It is not the property of any politician or political party. It is not associated with a particular strategy in Iraq. And while these rituals are admirable ways of expressing affinity for our nation, patriotism is not the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem. Uniquely among nations, the United States was founded on principles so...

Florida's Favorite Governor, Jeb Bush Gov. Jeb Bush told the first graduating class of this community's high school Saturday to be giving, be grateful and be humble. 'As you become adults, I hope of each of you continues giving of yourself,' he urged the 65 graduating students during a commencement address held in a courtyard outside The Villages Charter High School. The governor also said the students showed character last year when many of them helped clean up debris in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. When the students look back on that, they should 'be grateful for all the wonderful things...

ENERGY CRISIS Florida well placed to lead drive for ethanol By JEB BUSH www.myflorida.com Increasing ethanol use can benefit our environment, strengthen national security and fuel the economic engine of free trade, creating a win-win-win for the United States. Given the importance of energy to our long-term economic strength, the United States should establish a plan to pump 15 billion gallons of ethanol into the marketplace by 2015 -- twice the amount required by the Energy Act of 2005. To achieve this, the United States should expand ethanol production, create new domestic production and import more international supplies. Florida is...

The world's largest cruise ship -- Freedom of the Seas, which arrived this week in New York Harbor from Southampton, Britain Wielding a scissors, a woman who helped raise more than 400 foster children over 27 years snipped a ribbon to christen the world's largest cruise ship Friday while it docked near the Statue of Liberty. "I name this ship the 'Freedom of the Sea.' May God bless her, Royal Caribbean and all who sail upon her," 56-year-old Katherine Louise Calder said in the ceremony televised live on NBC's "Today." She then cut the ribbon to release a giant bottle...

WASHINGTON - The nomination of Gen. Michael V. Hayden to take over the CIA would trigger a fresh battle over the secret warrantless surveillance program he oversaw on behalf of President Bush, a debate that could help shape the contours of the fall midterm congressional elections, officials in both parties said yesterday. Barring a change of heart, aides expect Bush to name Hayden tomorrow as his choice to succeed CIA director Porter J. Goss, who resigned under pressure Friday. Hayden, a former director of the National Security Agency and now deputy director of national intelligence, has become the most forceful...

New Circuit Judge Karla Foreman Wright, left, embraces Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince after Quince administered the oath during an investiture ceremony Thursday at the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow. Karen Destiny Moses, center, and her brother, Damien Foreman Moses, play with flags during Thursday’s investiture ceremony for their great aunt, Karla Foreman Wright. A group of children participated in the ceremony during the Pledge of Allegiance. BARTOW -- Karla Foreman Wright beamed Thursday as family members, friends, colleagues and well-wishers celebrated her pioneering achievements in the local judicial system. Wright is the first black circuit judge in...

Two D's and you're out. At least five Palm Beach County principals' jobs are on the line this year as the school year moves into its home stretch, Superintendent Art Johnson said. Two years, he believes, is plenty of time for middle- and high-school principals to turn their schools around, even if they have long-standing reputations of student underachievement. "My position has been double-D schools get a new administrator," Johnson said. "Sometimes my staff says two years is not enough. At other schools, a principal has made a change in almost no time." Johnson's prime example is Jon Prince, who...

April 14, 2006 – Kuwait Gov Bush enjoys a meal with troops in Kuwait. Jacksonville, Fla., resident, Army Capt. Suzanne Love, speaks with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Saturday morning during a governors’ delegation visit to troops that also included the governors of West Virginia, Iowa and Indiana. April 15, 2006 – Iraq Following a short speech from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to Iraqi soldiers during a governors’ delegation visit to the troops, the governor pauses to speak to an Iraqi soldier. April 15, 2006 – Iraq Governor Jeb Bush poses with Soldiers of the Florida National Guard during his recent...

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein yesterday accelerated his drive to hold educators accountable for student achievement, announcing that New York City's more than 1,400 schools will be graded each year just like students, from A to F. Principals whose schools persistently fail could be removed, he said. Mr. Klein said schools' grades would be determined largely by a more sophisticated analysis of annual standardized test scores. In addition, officials would look at a new set of satisfaction surveys, to be completed by parents, teachers and students. Any effort to remove principals based on the new grades could require changes in...

From Schedule date: April 9, 2006 -- Suunday, :07:58AM EDT Rutgers University: James B. Jacobs, NYU School of Law

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush made it clear Friday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Bill Nelson, regardless of who asks him to run. "No, hell no," Bush said when asked whether he would consider replacing U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris as the Republican candidate if she ends her faltering campaign to challenge the Democratic incumbent. He said he often is asked about getting into the contest. What if his brother, President Bush, called? "No. (Not even if) Pope Benedict calls," Bush responded. "I'm not doing it, trust me. I...

TALLAHASSEE — When students go to school, they usually have to go to school. That is, walk into a classroom setting, sit down with a teacher and scribble some notes while surrounded by their peers. The Internet age is changing that, and state lawmakers seem ready to jump on the wagon for good. Committees in the [FL] House and Senate advanced bills with little opposition Tuesday that would make Florida's pilot "virtual school" program a permanent reality. The [FL] state Department of Education has been paying private companies to run a pilot program that allows 800 students from kindergarten through...

SEN. Hillary Clinton is a 3:1 favorite to be the next president, according to our favorite oddsmaker, Danny Sheridan, followed by Sen. John McCain at 6:1, and Rudy Giuliani and George Allen at 7:1. Sheridan, who correctly predicted on Page Six in 1991 that underdog Bill Clinton would win, lists several reasons why Hillary could be the first woman president: "George Bush and the Republicans have blown it with Iraq and the economy. The thought of having Bill Clinton as her adviser is like having two good vice presidents (him and her running mate) . . . I'd respectfully suggest...

TALLAHASSEE -- Virtually every parent in the state could receive a taxpayer-provided voucher to send their children to private school under a plan approved by a Senate committee Wednesday. The plan would also override the state constitutional ban on the use of public money for religious instruction. While Democrats howled that the proposal would kill the public school system and require the state to fund Taliban schools in Florida, the lukewarm endorsement from Republicans to Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal portends future failure for the effort. It was the latest twist in Bush's torturous efforts to overcome the Florida Supreme Court...

TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR 2008 DEMOCRATS 1. Don't feel my pain - give me something to alleviate it. Democrats don't want to be told what's wrong with America. They want to be told what you plan to do about it. They're not looking for the diagnosis - they know what ails them. They want the cure. The candidate most focused on "solutions" will have the advantage.   2. Leave Bush out of it. We know why we don't like him. Tell us why we should like you instead. They hear enough Bush-bashing and engage in it themselves. They assume all the...