Free Republic

SNIPPET: "A radical Tunisian Islamist leader, denied an entry visa into the United States during the 1990s, is scheduled to make two appearances on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's Ennahda Party, will attend a forum on the Arab Spring at the Cannon Office Building, an announcement from the event's sponsor, the Muslim Public Affairs Council's (MPAC) said. He'll also attend a special dinner Tuesday evening. Ghannouchi's Ennahda Party recently won the majority in the first free parliamentary elections since the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali." SNIPPET: "In a May interview with the...

Outsider Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is spending a tumultuous week in Washington courting the GOP establishment. And, at least for now, it seems that the establishment likes him — despite allegations of sexual harassment that continue to surface. Following a series of private meetings with the Georgia businessman early in the week, Republican Members pronounced themselves impressed with Cain and unconcerned about the sexual harassment claims that have dogged the White House hopeful since Politico reported them Sunday. Cain spoke today with Members in several private settings as he sought to boost support for his campaign, sell his controversial...

Wading directly into the spending negotiations on Capitol Hill for the first time in weeks, President Obama on Saturday afternoon called the top Republican and top Democrat in Congress, telling them he supports a deal cutting another $23 billion from last year’s spending levels. In calls to House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, Mr. Obama also said time is running short, according to a White House statement recounting the calls. Mr. Boehner, in Republicans’ weekly radio address Saturday, said there is no final spending agreement but added Republicans’ pressure has pushed...

A Silver Spring man convicted of falsifying immigration documents had threatened to blow up the White House, the U.S. Treasury building, a federal courthouse and a Metro stop, vowing to "slaughter the enemies of Islam," federal prosecutors said Monday in court. Lajqi, an ethnic Albanian who came to the United States through Mexico in the mid-1980s, is a self-described "extremist militant," who said he was trained by Bosnian Muslim rebels, according to court papers. He was angry about American military involvement in Kosovo in the 1990s, and "blamed all Albanian deaths in Kosovo on the United States," the court papers...

The white House and Capitol Hill are no longer listening to Christian voices. Say goodbye to Billy Graham, James Dobson and other Christian influencers who kept political leaders honest and focussed on the God of the Bible. Those days are over. Now there's a strange voice and a foreign god leading the nation -- the spirit of Islam. A friend of mine on Facebook posted an alarming comment on my wall along with a shocking picture of thousands of Islamists praying on Capitol Hill.

When the New York Times covers a weapons program we tend to take note, in part because they do so it so rarely. And when they put it on the front page, above the fold, we take even more note. The Times did just that this morning, trumpeting a tale about how a veteran missile defense sceptic at MIT, Ted Postol, and a Cornell University colleague, George Lewis, performed an analysis of SM-3 tests and came away convinced that the system does not work very well. Now my first reaction was deep skepticism. After all this has appeared to be...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is heading to Capitol Hill for one last strategy session with House Democrats before their health care vote. The vote is planned for Sunday and Obama plans to deliver a final pep talk on Saturday.

DC Stop ObamaCare Press Conference/Rally Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and John Voight, along withother prominent leaders, have called for an urgent DC Stop ObamaCare Press Conference/ Rally this Saturday (March 20) at 12 noon on the Steps of the Capitol Building. We are organizing four buses from the Philly tri-state (PA, DE, NJ) region: (Cost: $35.00) Bus #1, Lansdale/Rockledge Lansdale Location Lansdale Train Station Main & Green Streets Lansdale, PA Departure Time: 7:30 AM Rockledge Location Huntingdon Valley Shopping Center (outside Rite Aid Store) 758 Huntingdon Pike Huntingdon Pike and Rockledge Avenue Rockledge, PA Departure Time: 8:00 AM ****************************** Bus #2,...

Tea Party activists are planning a major rally Tuesday on Capitol Hill, with protesters planning to visit their Congress members' offices to ask them to vote against the health-care bill. Blogger Adam Brickley obtained an e-mail from a staffer in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, telling Democrats how to deal with the protesters: As many of you have read, tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16, 2010, tens of thousands of conservative and Tea Party activists will be on the Hill as part of what they are dubbing a "Surge Against Obamacare." . . . Many of the conservative activists are not opposing...

U.S. Capitol Police have rejected PETA’s plan to bring live pigs to the Capitol because of swine flu fears. In an Oct. 23 letter to the animal-rights group obtained by The Hill, Capitol Police cited a recommendation from the D.C. Health Department and said it was rejecting PETA’s request “due to significant health concerns about the possible spread of the H1N1 virus.” The letter also cited “nuisance concerns” with the plan by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to bring a group of pigs and gallons of swine urine and tons of manure to Capitol Hill.

What was originally being billed as a 50,000 Muslim pray gathering, has now been documented as approximately 1000 Muslims showing up today at Capitol Hill. Muslims are stating that reason for the low turnout was that they were in fear of showing up because of the conservatives who have spoken out against the event. Christians even counter protested there today. I applaud everyone who has spoken out against this event. Remember we still have the numbers here, and within the law we can win this.

Washington, D.C. - On September 25th there will be a national prayer gathering of Muslims on the west front of the U.S. Capitol Building. They are expecting at least 50,000 to attend from mosques all across America. They will gather to pray from 4:00 AM until 7:00 PM. The gathering will take place by the site where U.S. Presidents have been inaugurated since 1981. The organizers say that it was Obama's inauguration speech in January and his speech broadcast from Egypt in June that gave them the idea for this prayer gathering on Capitol Hill.

A mosque in Elizabeth, Dar-ul-Islam, is spearheading a national prayer gathering next month in Washington, D.C., that organizers are billing as the first event of its kind -- organized prayer for tens of thousands of Muslims outside the U.S. Capitol building. The event will not include political speeches or placards, just prayer, said Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam and a main organizer of the event, which is scheduled for Sept. 25.

Capitol Hill is blocking conservative Web sites. http://www.thedcwriteup.com/2009/07/capitol-hill-censors-conservative-web-sites/

Patty Ann Brown just reported via Glenn Beck program that there have been shots fired on Capitol Hill

The staff on Capitol Hill is too white. That’s what a group of frustrated members, lobbyists and aides are claiming as they press congressional leaders to adopt a version of the so-called Rooney rule. The rule, named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, has been credited with significantly increasing the number of African-American coaches in the National Football League. Even with the first black president and African-Americans and Hispanics wielding more power than ever in Congress, there are just two Senate chiefs of staff who are minorities. In the lower chamber, there are only five white lawmakers who have African-American...

<p>Sen. Arlen Specter must feel like one lucky man today. He wasn’t in his Capitol Hill offices when MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan, Gold Star Mom Debbie Lee, Freepers and Free Republic founder Jim Robinson, and other patriotic citizens stormed his office to demand he reverse his position supporting the porkulus bill, aka the Barack-Blowing-Through- Dollars-Scheme.</p>

The Denver Police Department's bomb squad responded to reports of a suspicious package at an intersection near downtown at 2:30 p.m. today. Authorities said the suspicious package was reportedly at East 14th Avenue and Ogden Street in Capitol Hill. Police have closed Ogden from East 14th Avenue to East Colfax Avenue. The street remains closed while police continue to investigate.

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'everybody rise' and we rose and I thought for just a second 'oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' - but...

Despite all the talk in Congress about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it's not so easy greening the Capitol itself. For one thing, there's disagreement over how much it should cost for the Capitol Power Plant--which provides heating and cooling power to Congress--to use cleaner-burning natural gas instead of coal power. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the estimate for the House of Representatives' portion of the bill was about $1.1 million too high.Then there's the broader question of whether the fuel switch should even take place. Joe Lucas, a spokesman for the American Coalition...

More than 400 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be storming Capitol Hill on Tuesday in support of the military operations in Iraq. Vets for Freedom, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit Washington organization composed of combat veterans, set up more than 300 meetings with House and Senate lawmakers. The group supports keeping U.S. troops in Iraq. The visits coincide with much-awaited testimony from Gen. David Petraeus on the situation in Iraq, and will be jump-started by way of a press conference Tuesday with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services panel....

WASHINGTON - A law enforcement official says police are investigating letters sent to Capitol Hill offices showing pictures of a Times Square military recruiting station that was bombed. According to the official, who was briefed on the investigation, the letters included words to the effect of, "We did it." The official did not know which offices received the letters. The small bomb caused minor damage to the New York military recruiting station before dawn Thursday and police were searching for a hooded bicyclist seen on a surveillance video peddling away.

The day James Anthony Williams allegedly stabbed to death a stranger on Capitol Hill, the homeless, mentally ill ex-convict showed up at his probation officer's office agitated, defensive and, the officer wrote, "barely able to hold himself together." Despite intense concerns about Williams' paranoid schizophrenia and violent behavior, the probation officer gave Williams a pair of Metro bus tickets and told him to come back in three days.

An anti-war demonstrator accosted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she arrived to testify at a hearing on Capitol Hill, shouting "war criminal" before being dragged away by security. Members of the Capitol Police department also removed several members of the anti-war group "Code Pink" from the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room, who struggled as they left. The hearing began on schedule and Rice's testimony did not appear to be affected by the incident.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) isn’t an old man, but he’s old enough to remember when calling someone a “conservative” was sort of an insult. In an interview yesterday, the Senate minority leader said that the equation of his youth is reversed. “Ronald Reagan made the term, ‘conservative’ popular,” he said, and now “Democrats are running away” from the “liberal” label. McConnell is in a position to keep them running. McConnell has a tough job, holding a fractious and often fractured group of 49 Republicans together to stop the (forgive the redundancy) liberal Democrats’ agenda of high taxes, illegal immigration, retreat...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Gore -- star of an Oscar-winning movie, former U.S. vice president and the object of 2008 presidential speculation -- on Wednesday took his crusade against global warming to Capitol Hill. Glad-handing like the lifelong politician he was until losing the 2000 presidential race to George W. Bush, Gore called his return to Congress "an emotional occasion." But he did not mince words on what he termed the current climate crisis: "Our world faces a true planetary emergency." Before a joint House panel dealing with energy, air quality and the environment and the Senate Environment and Public...

Washington -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 3 1/2 years into his tenure in Sacramento, pressed anew Tuesday for California to get what he calls its fair share of federal money -- and found a warm reception from the state's newly empowered Democrats in Congress. When he won election in October 2003, the celebrity Republican governor billed himself as the "collectinator" who would use his pull with a GOP president and Republican-dominated Congress to bring home more money. But Congress is now in Democratic hands, and President Bush is cool to some Schwarzenegger initiatives, including his pushes on global warming and universal...

Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January. The horror. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who will become House majority leader and is writing the schedule for the next Congress, said members should expect longer hours than the brief week they have grown accustomed to. "I have bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you had planned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day in...

As the Left continues to push for the legal rights of enemy combatants captured in the War on islamo-fascist terror, we get another glaring example of why military tribunals are necessary. The Judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein said yesterday that he did not believe the deposed leader of Iraq was a dictator. This comes despite a preponderance of evidence of his genocide, corruption at the expense of his people, and overall oppression of the people of Iraq. If this is an indication of the Left's idea of a fair trial, they have succeeded in revealing to the...

WASHINGTON DC -- 25 U.S. Senators are asking that the U.S. president supports the democratically elected Serbian government. The letter argues that Serbia’s role is of vital importance for the future of South-Eastern Europe and America’s regional interests and that Belgrade has grown into a strong U.S. regional partner. “In order to help transform Serbia, the U.S. should support the reforms in the military and the security sectors, encourage cooperation with the Serbian Army and enabling its officers to attend military colleges and courses in the U.S.�, the letter said. The Senators remind that it is Serbia’s strategic goal to...

#1 Michelle Persaud, 27 Staff counsel Michelle Persaud’s delicate features burst into a smile as she describes the mistake many men make with her. Seeing her dark eyes and mocha skin, her flowing black tresses and expansive lashes, they sidle over, take in a breath and start speaking … Farsi!“I just look at them and smile,� the Maryland native, who has no Persian ancestry, says with a chuckle. “I get that all the time.�Persaud is the winner of our annual 50 Most Beautiful contest. But as you will see in the following pages, there is no shortage of beautiful people...

Congressional travelers took all-expenses-paid trips worth almost $50 million over a 5½-year period, with corporations and other private sponsors picking up the tab, according to a report released yesterday. The report raises fresh questions about influence-peddling that began last year when lobbying and corruption scandals erupted on Capitol Hill. “This is really a form of unregulated lobbying that is done completely out of public view,” said Jim Morris of The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit group in Washington D.C. Morris led the center's nine-month study of congressional travel disclosure forms, which was joined by Northwestern University's Medill News Service...

Most residents and visitors on Capitol Hill yesterday said they do not object to the display of the Ten Commandments outside a house just steps from the Supreme Court building, despite the District's ruling that a permit is needed. "I'm an atheist, and I don't agree with their message, but as long as it's on private property, they can do what they want," said resident Justin Cohen, 21. "As long as it's not going to be endorsed by the government, it's OK." Faith and Action, an evangelical group run by Christian activist Rob Schenck, displayed the 850-pound stone monument Saturday...

If the chips fall right for Democrats and their party seizes control of the House, President Bush's agenda on Capitol Hill would fall into the hands of some of his most dogged opponents. It's not just would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, but a boatload of Democrats newly running committees who would determine what legislation gets debated and which programs and agencies get scrutiny. So who are the chairmen to be? _a Polish-American lawyer with a reputation for making witnesses quiver. _a die-hard liberal from New York's Harlem with 35 years in the House. _a free-spending progressive from Wausau, Wis....

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A conservative advocacy group is speaking for Americans who think illegal immigration is out of control and ought to be stopped. The Freedom Alliance, founded by Lt.-Col. Oliver North, said it is launching a movement called the "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Gonna Take it Anymore!" coalition. The group is asking concerned Americans to call, email and fax congressional offices with objections to amnesty for people who come to this country illegally. "Senator Reid won't take immigration seriously until illegal immigrants begin invading Capitol Hill or his cushy office," said Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon. "His wavering on...

Soon-to-retire Rep. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) said today he would personally file an ethics complaint against Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.) for striking a Capitol Police officer should no other House member do so first. DeLay’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview at his Capitol Hill office with reporters, including HUMAN EVENTS Editor Terry Jeffrey. “If nobody in this House files an ethics charge, I am,� DeLay said in response to a question about McKinney. “Her behavior is outrageous. And it’s not the only time.� DeLay was asked if he supported the Capitol Police’s actions following the incident with McKinney, which took...

Ronald Reagan used to say, “There you go again.” The Gipper was known for using that phrase every time someone distorted the truth. He probably never gave a thought to Cynthia McKinney, but he was familiar with her type of behavior. Sadly, we live in convoluted times, an era it which it has become commonplace to see people at all levels of society twist the facts like saltwater taffy. Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who hauled off and slugged a Capitol Police officer, said the officer started the incident by “inappropriately touching and stopping” her after she walked past a...

Top Republicans in the House are buzzing - and scrambling - at news alleging that Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a former San Diego congressman who's pled guilty to bribery and other illegal activities, was wearing a wire for the FBI during the summer and early fall of 2005. The undercover operation, according to senior Justice and federal law enforcement, is part of a broadening investigation into the Jack Abramoff bribes-for-favors scandal now roiling Washington. The disgraced former lawmaker initially began cooperating with federal investigators after they uncovered evidence of his illegal acceptance of bribes in cash and luxury items from at...

Police Find Assault Weapon Near Supreme Court Associated Press WorldStream via NewsEdge Corporation WASHINGTON_Police are investigating a loaded assault weapon found in a parking lot a block from the Supreme Court, a law enforcement official said. Members of the Supreme Court police force discovered the machine pistol on Dec. 2 in the lot in the residential Capitol Hill neighborhood east of the Court and turned it over to the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Friday. The U.S. Capitol is west of the Supreme Court. Officials at the Supreme Court and Metropolitan Police Department would...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Police blew up a suspicious package in a car parked near the U.S. Capitol on Friday, more than two hours after the two occupants told authorities they had an explosive in the vehicle. Police said they were interviewing two men they took from the car to determine if the package was a bomb. (...)At 1:11 p.m., the Capitol Police bomb squad "disrupted" the package -- the police term for destroying it. The door of the car, a 2005 gray Chevrolet Impala, blew open at the time of the controlled explosion. (...)No evacuations were ordered for the Capitol,...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sean Spicer or Kathryn Staczek October 17, 2005 PHONE: 202-226-9000 ~ Blog from the Capitol ~ House Republicans Host First Ever Blog Row The House Republican Conference Invites Bloggers to the Capitol this Thursday for an Exclusive Interview Opportunity With House Republicans. For the first time ever, Bloggers are invited to meet directly with House Members and blog from the Capitol*. Members will be stopping in throughout the day to meet with bloggers and discuss the House Republican record of successful economic policies, their commitment to fiscal responsibility, and the details of the historic proposed budget...

The sports world needs to take illegal steroid use serious. Sports officials are again on Capitol Hill since sports are not taking the problem seriously. The ill effects of steroid use can be fatal. Unfortunately, athletes are being pressured to use steroids to remain competitive. Senator John McCain has sponsored the "Clean Sports Act," which is companion to a House Bill presented by Tom Davis. Both call for a 2 year suspension for first time offenders of steroid use and a lifetime ban for a second offense. It's time to put these measures into law before more athletes destroy themselves...

Several former members of Congress say that Washington's political climate has become so hostile and poisonous over the past decade that it is undermining the government's ability to deal with major problems facing the country. Republicans and Democrats, they say that the level of political dialogue is the worst they have seen in many years, driven in large part by Democratic officials frustrated by a decade of political losses and the incendiary charges made by both parties to get their message heard above the din. Timothy Roemer, the former Democratic congressman from Indiana, agrees. "There is not only a poisonous...

Social Security reform could be for Republicans the kind of donnybrook that health care reform was for Democrats in 1994. The magnitude of the political risk is staggering. On Capitol Hill, many Republicans wonder if they are being led off a cliff. What does President Bush think he's doing? Well, he says, there's a Social Security crisis. "The crisis is now," Bush said in December. But he must know this isn't true. Economically speaking, stabilizing Social Security's long-term finances is a task of only middling difficulty and importance; it requires no fundamental change in the program and need not be...

Meet the new Monica Lewinsky. Jessica Cutler, a 24-year-old mailroom clerk and phone receptionist, worked for Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, until last Friday -- when he fired her for using Senate computers to post to an Internet Web log that chronicled her trysts with six different men in Washington. Cutler's partners reportedly included government officials who gave her money for her sexual services. Diary excerpt: "I just took a long lunch with F and made a quick $400. When I returned to the office, I heard that my boss was asking about my whereabouts. Loser." In another entry, Cutler explains:...

Flu Shots Easily Available on Capitol Hill // All Congress members able to obtain them quickly // Capitol's attending physician urged all 535 lawmakers to get vaccines even if young and healthy. People of all ages who are credentialed to work in Capitol can get shot, with no further questions asked, WASH POST splashing on Wednesday newsroom sources tell DRUDGE... MORE...

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Friday extended "my deepest apology" to Iraqis brutally abused in U.S. military prisons and said he favors compensating them for their suffering. "These events occurred on my watch. As Secretary of Defense, I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. At the same time, he brushed aside Democratic demands for his resignation. Asked whether he could remain effective in his post, he said if he believed he could not, "I'd resign in a minute." "I would not resign simply because people try to make...

The Open Park Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, launched the first public outdoor wireless Internet hotspot in the nation's capital today. The free service provides coverage in front of the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the Capitol Visitors Center site. The Capitol Hill hotspot is the initial step in Open Park's plan to provide free public wireless Internet service across the National Mall. Open Park is using the popular WiFi technology employed in home networks and coffee shops. The group's free hotspot "will give the public outside the Capitol the same quick Internet access for research, e-mail and...

Did John Kerry Lie About Abortion? 2/23/04 While the Democratic primary has gotten more interesting with Senator John Edwards' strong showing Tuesday in Wisconsin, it still looks like Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts will be going head-to-head with President Bush in this fall's election. This makes things interesting for voting Catholics — after all, Kerry likes to tout his Catholic faith to prospective voters. Of course, this isn't always an easy thing to do, given the senator's strong support of abortion. His strategy for getting away with this, though, is the same one used by so many "Catholic" politicians:...