Free Republic

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself. Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down. Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated? The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced...

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right. So why do it? It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're...

Leave it to the liberal print media to find some way to kill everyone's Olympics buzz. For instance, did you know that the choice by the U.S. Olympic Committee to have Ralph Lauren stitch the threads for Team USA's opening ceremonies uniform was an unfortunate nod to racism and classism and a futile, nostalgic clinging to America's waning WASP empire? That according to Sameer Reddy (pictured at right, photo via Newsweek) in an August 20 online exclusive for Newsweek

-- A South Carolina senator is fielding negative reactions after he posted a picture of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden with a controversial comment on the state legislative Web site. S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant said he "wanted to make people think." But after the public reacted negatively to the image, Bryant said he will take it down. The image shows bin Laden and Obama with the text: "the difference between Obama and Osama is just a little b.s."

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Republican state senator from South Carolina is being criticized for a post on his blog that shows photos of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden wearing similar clothing, along with a line that states the difference between the two is "a little B.S." The image was posted on Sen. Kevin Bryant's blog on Friday without an explanation from the politician. It appears to be a photo of a T-shirt, with images of bin Laden and Obama wearing turbans and the words "OBAMA" AND "OSAMA," with the "B" and "S" each highlighted in red. The American-Arab...

Afew weeks ago, John McCain made a little joke at his wife's expense. Referring to her alma mater -- Cindy McCain is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she was a cheerleader and sorority sister -- he called it "USC, the University of Spoiled Children." It's not an original joke, of course -- it's been around for ages, possibly even as long as John McCain himself -- but it said a lot about the man who wants to be president. ...Visit any college classroom -- at the University of Spoiled Children, Harvard, Yale, Puget Sound, doesn't matter...

What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are? Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required. Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph...

Via Media Matters: During the March 31 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist repeatedly mocked Sen. Barack Obama’s bowling performance — which Scarborough called “dainty” — at a March 29 campaign stop at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Deriding Obama’s score, he said: “You know Willie, the thing is, Americans want their president, if it’s a man, to be a real man.” Scarborough added, “You get 150, you’re a man, or a good woman,” to which Geist replied, “Out of my president, I want a 150, at least.” Later in the show, after NBC...

We thank Michael Gargano for his resignation as Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. More importantly, we thank you- the current student body, and especially those who participated in the recent general student strike-for issuing the final blow to his career at UMass Amherst. Since Gargano's arrival in 2003, Student Affairs has attempted to… 1. Gentrify our campus by: - Cutting staffing and operating budgets for the Everywoman's Center, the Stonewall Center, and the ALANA support programs by approximately 50% - Allowing the University' outreach efforts to disintegrate: since 2003, the campus has lost all of its major grant-funded outreach programs,...

Looks like the bedwetters have gotten themselves into quite an ironic pickle. The Supreme Court is deciding on a case of voter ID requirements in Indiana. By now you know the liberal arguments ... it disenfranchises the poor, the minorities, the elderly, blah blah blah. Well it looks like someone didn't do their homework. Faye Buis-Ewing is 72 years old. She has become a "poster child" for the disenfranchised voter that will be protected under a voting system with no ID requirements. But now we've discovered one minor problem. Not only is Faye registered to vote, but she is registered...

Comedienne Rosie O'Donnell has hit back after she was named the world's most annoying celebrity by insisting all stars are irritating.

THEY SAY YOU can't fight City Hall, but last Friday Joey Vento stood tall (at 5-foot-5) in the center ring of the circus to answer a discrimination complaint filed against him by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Vento's been a handy punching bag for the press. Local editorial writers and columnists have vilified him as a racist, a nativist, a know-nothing, a do-badder, because of his (now world-famous) 4-by-9-inch sign at the window of his Geno's Steaks that reads: "This is America. When Ordering, Please Speak English." Some believe that is hate speech. For some reason (hate, perhaps?) the...

The president's warmongering remarks on the Iranian threat suggest he is psychotic. Really.Forget impeachment. Liberals, put it behind you. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shouldn't be treated like criminals who deserve punishment. They should be treated like psychotics who need treatment.

Conservatives claim to be in favor of stable families, small businesses, hard work, private schools, investment and homeownership. So why in the world are so many on the right attacking the family of Graeme Frost? Frost is the 12-year-old from Baltimore who delivered the Democrats' reply to a radio address by President Bush in September. The seventh-grader pleaded -- in vain, it turned out -- that the president not veto Congress's $35 billion expansion of the children's health care program known as SCHIP. A car crash in December 2004 left two of Halsey and Bonnie Frost's children comatose, Graeme with...

The epithet of choice these days for Republicans who oppose any expansion of government’s role in health care programs is “socialized” medicine. Rudy Giuliani has used the “s-word” to denounce legislation that would enlarge a children’s health insurance program and to besmirch Hillary Clinton’s health plan. Mitt Romney has added a xenophobic twist, calling the Clinton plan “European-style socialized medicine,” while ignoring its similarities to a much-touted health care reform he championed as governor of Massachusetts. Other conservative critics have wielded the “s-word” to deplore efforts to expand government health care programs or regulation over the private health care markets....

Regarding Fran Eaton's Aug. 26 column calling the South Suburbs an abortion-free zone: I remember a number of years back when doctors and clinics advertising that they were doing abortions in this area were threatened, set fire to and picketed, which is likely another reason there are not many openly-broadcast abortion clinics in the South Suburbs. That subject aside, I would like to address the many inconsistencies and illogical arguments in Eaton's column. Eaton name-calls liberals whom she says get "hot and bothered" about resistance to using tax dollars for fixing social ills. Interpretation: Rich people hate when they are...

In these days of 24-hour news cycles churning out forgettable headlines about interchangeable celebrities of no importance, it's nostalgic to be reminded of a time when sensational news spawned complicated conspiracy theories that could be followed for years. Arthur Bremer, an emotionally troubled young busboy from Milwaukee convicted 35 years ago of attempting to assassinate segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace, will be released from prison this year. Today's reporters probably only dimly remember Bremer or the serious speculation that he could have been a patsy at the center of a criminal conspiracy masterminded by former CIA operatives working for the...

To some, it is a "corporate coup d'etat," a conspiracy by big business to turn Canada into the 51st state by stealth. Others see it as a plot to destroy the U.S. by forcing it into a North American union with "socialist Canada" and "corrupt Mexico." It is the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a sprawling effort to forge closer ties among the three nations in everything from anti-terrorism measures to energy strategies to food-safety and pesticide rules. Launched two years ago by then prime minister Paul Martin, President George W. Bush and his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, at the so-called...

'Hundreds' cancel trips, homeowner threatens to move out Telluride: Some of the ski fans who have patronized Telluride, Colo., now are calling the ritzy resort "the land of radical liberals" and canceling planned vacations there because the town board voted to approve an ordinance calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. One ski club of 175 people already has made plans to go elsewhere, another skier has threatened to sell his home there and another critic predicted the town soon would bow to Mecca. "It's huge, unbelievable," said Telluride Mayor John Pryor. "Ski groups are canceling...

President Bush, at podium, speaks to members of the media prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony ... At this morning's ribbon-cutting for the newly renovated White House Briefing Room, President Bush dropped in just long enough to rub reporters' noses in his cheerful refusal to take them seriously. ... the president was in full frat-boy mode, clowning around during introductory remarks by C-SPAN's Steve Scully. ... Bush apparently felt Scully went on too long. "I like a good, short introduction," Bush jeered as soon as Scully gave up the podium. Here's the transcript. "We missed you -- sort of," Bush...

Description on main page of website: "Some of us — hopefully most of us — are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't."

I’m not backing off. I tried to remove myself from the political realm of the US, what BushCo is turning into an Evil Empire, but the blatant audacity of George commuting Scooter’s sentence (he’s not ruling out a full pardon —and you know he will) has dragged me kicking and screaming back in… Did we ever think that the criminality and arrogance of the Nixon White House would be eclipsed in our time with nary a “baaaah” from the Sheeple in Congress?… The recent commutation of I. Scooter Libby’s sentence, however, was the straw that broke my camel’s back of...

Coulter is a prime suspect in the theft of the nation's moral compass. (SALEM, Ore.) - When we grow up we are taught the difference between right and wrong. Well before reaching adulthood, we are supposed to have a sound understanding of the bottom line, and a reasonable appreciation for the fact that mistakes carry consequences. But moral decay, divisiveness and polarity are the order of the day in 2007. As a society, it seems like we no longer aspire to be chivalrous. Instead we go for the most outrageous, the most shocking, the most revealing, and the least-clothed. And...

Just when you thought the New York Times couldn't sink any lower than its chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger ranting how he was sorry America wasn't a socialist and pacifist nation, the money-losing paper manages to surprise you.That's really the only thing you can say after reading Times Arts tv critic Alessandra Stanley's attempt to cast the popular-but-fading Fox show "American Idol" into the 2000 election controversy. Yes, you read that correctly. According to the Times, the reason that teenage girls looove tuning in is because Al Gore didn't beat George W. Bush.The lunacy is just too funny: “Idol,” now...

No young person who has ever followed politics with the ferocity of a sports fan, no citizen who has been an idealist for at least a few hours, hasn't daydreamed about a third party or independent candidate – a third party winner, actually. At some point everyone with a civic soul, no matter what their ideological flavor, has yearned for an independent spirit to break through the homogenized, cuisinarted horse manure that is modern American politics. Yet we are stuck with the same two parties, ad nauseam. It's like a world where there are two baseball teams, the Yankees and...

I have been in a couple of conversations today about my colleague Nick Anderson's most recent animated editorial cartoon. OK, I initiated the conversations. Sue me. You're going to watch Nick's animation, as you should. I bow to no one in my admiration for Mr. Anderson's talent, and I love the way he brings editorial cartooning into something resembling the present. How many other editorial cartoonists would know the Black Eyed Peas from Andy Williams? But. You knew there'd be a but. In this case, the but is a butt. I am not going to discuss the politics of the...

Democrats Call for New Direction From Rubber Stamp Republican Congress In two years, Republican-controlled 109th Congress has done nothing for American people Washington, D.C.—Yesterday’s release of three pages of the National Intelligence Estimate that state plainly that the Bush Administration’s failed strategy in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism and made America less safe lays bare the need for a Congress that won’t simply rubber stamp failed White House policies. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic leaders from House and Senate today joined to call for a new direction. From Iraq to the...

LONDON, Sept. 18, 2006 — Three words suddenly have a lot of Westerners worried and, it must be said, likely making some wrong assumptions about modern Islam. "Yaum al Ghadab" is Arabic for "Day of Rage." When the Qatari Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for a Day of Rage this Friday in response to Pope Benedict XVI's remarks about Muslims, it might have sounded like a call for street violence. But if there is trouble Friday, and there could well be, it will not be because of language but because of what some people choose to do after they have...

The Left-Wing blogosphere is now in an UPROAR over the fact that part 1 of The Path To 9/11 aired last night. Although there were a couple of disclaimers in the movie that it was fictionalized as well as some minor editing changes (primarily the removal of the scene where Sandy Berger hangs up the phone on the team trying to capture Osama bin Laden) the main thrust of the movie is quite clear: the Clintonistas were not serious in their attempts to stop terrorism. As could be be expected, the loony left is OUTRAGED that this movie has...

Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck have crafted an insightful and heartfelt look at the experiences of the Dixie Chicks over the last three years, chronicling the often bizarre consequences of singer Natalie Maines' anti-Bush wisecrack on a London stage. Maines' statement is captured in "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing," as are the meetings where they plot how to circumvent the core country audience and, eventually, how to reroute a tour and cancel shows due to poor ticket sales. It's the rare thorough documentary on a musical act whose dilemmas are faced in the here and now, one that should...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 30, 2006 CONTACT: Brendan Daly 202-226-7616 Pelosi Statement on Rumsfeld Remarks Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to Secretary Rumsfeld’s remarks he made yesterday to the American Legion convention in Salt Lake City: "Secretary Rumsfeld's efforts to smear critics of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy are a pathetic attempt to shift the public's attention from his repeated failure to manage the conduct of the war competently. If Mr. Rumsfeld is so concerned with comparisons to World War II, he should explain why our troops have now been...

Just wanted to send a note and say hey and tell you about one of the darnedest things. And I gotta say it is one of the clearest examples of how CONservatives (not to be confused with honest conservatives) have managed to convince so many people so many lies are in fact the truth. This is indeed a rather mind numbing stor ... eh ... no ... actually it's what I'd expect. So here's what happened, Droppings: Somebody with the screen name of "presidio9" picked up my piece Green diets vs. global warming and posted it on the Internet message...

DENVER -- Democrats pounced on Colorado's Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and his newly chosen running mate Janet Rowland on Tuesday for comments she made five months ago comparing same-sex marriage to bestiality. In a March 17 broadcast of the Rocky Mountain PBS program "Colorado State of Mind," Rowland said homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle, adding, "For some people, the alternative lifestyle is bestiality. Do we allow a man to marry a sheep?" Democrat Bill Ritter's campaign called the remarks "insensitive, close-minded, derogatory and crude" and demanded an apology. "This shows just how far to the right and out-of-touch the...

So L.A - The Chris Ayres Weblog IT BEGINS with a caricature of Al Gore — grossly overweight and dressed like a Victorian industrialist — pointing an umbrella at an overhead screen of climate data. The former vice-president’s audience is made up of cartoon penguins, who — in spite of the increasingly balmy conditions in Antarctica – snore at his global-warming lecture and fantasise about going to see X-Men 3. “What is Al Gore’s new movie, An Inconvenient Truth, all about?” reads the video’s description on YouTube.com, where it was posted. “Global Warming? The Environment? Or something much more BORING?...

Click the link below to access a video that lasts about 5 minutes of Janeane Garofalo and some Metrosexual zot bait (that visits FR frequently) give their opinion of what goes on at FR and what FReepers are all about!! Click Here then click the image of Jeanine Garafalo!

DNC Chair Howard Dean: "If Karl Rove had been indicted it would have been for perjury. That does not excuse his real sin which is leaking the name of an intelligence operative during the time of war. He doesn't belong in the White House. If the President valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove then Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but its not very good news for America."

The Dixie Chicks and their camp will continue their struggle this week to figure out where their own Mason-Dixon Line lies on a map of America's arenas. The reason is that ticket sales for their upcoming road run, the Accidents & Accusations Tour, have not as gone as they expected; basically, in many Southern states and Midwest markets, the Chicks have not been forgiven for perceived political sins of the past. Concert industry watchers say some radio station chiefs are extending their boycott of the group's recordings to include advertising bans for the group's concerts. "Obviously there are political overtones...

The results of the California 50th Congressional District special election have been in for only 8 business hours and ALREADY the DUmmies and the Leftist Blogosphere are crying "VOTE FRAUD" via their favorite culprits---Diebold Voting machines. Apparently the DUmmies were NOT satisfied with their "moral victory" and wanted a REAL victory. And the only way to achieve such a victory in this election is to act like sore losers and WHINE about vote fraud as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD petulantly titled, "Results of Busby/Bilbray U.S. House Special Election in Doubt!" Yes, there is no DOUBT about...

Why Jon Stewart isn't funny By Michael Kalin | March 3, 2006 THE SELECTION of Jon Stewart as the host for Sunday night's 2006 Oscars undoubtedly marks a career milestone for the aspiring king of late-night comedy. Unfortunately, however, the ascension of Stewart and ''The Daily Show" into the public eye is no laughing matter. Stewart's ever-increasing popularity among young viewers directly correlates with the declining influence of progressive thought in America. Coincidence? I think not. Let me explain.

The BEST thing about the defeatism now prevalent among the Left, is the HILARIOUS material such an attitude provides as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD titled, "We are past the point of partisan solutions to our nation's problems!" DUmmie IndianaGreen (recently Tombstoned from DUmmieland for daring to disagree with Pied Piper Pitt but now allowed back in) wrings his hands over the fact that the Left will NEVER get back in power via the ballot box. His solution? Either non-violent mass marches against the EVIL Bush regime ala Gandhi's Salt March in 1930 or exile. Of course,...

No room for a laughingstock It is humor that often drives the final nail in the political coffin. The images of Gerald Ford falling on his face and hitting spectators with golf balls outlived his presidency. Jimmy Carter endured the Iranian hostage crisis and the misery index, but he had no comeback to the million yuks that followed his battle with an attacking rabbit. All of which is to say that Deadeye Dick Cheney is history. He is the Dead Veep Walking, whether he knows it or not. Ridicule is fatal. It's not just late-night comedians declaring open season on...

Capitol Police may have dropped charges against antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and apologized, but that apparently hasn't made her any less angry over her arrest, or how she was treated as it happened. Sheehan was one of two people kicked out of the audience of President Bush's State of the Union address in t-shirt-related incidents Tuesday night, but she was the only one arrested, on unlawful conduct counts. She was wearing a t-shirt that alluded to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq: "2245 Dead. How many more?" Also removed was Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla.,...

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address....

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. CindySheehan's diary :: :: There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the...

The Wal-Martification of AmericaI don't expect you to shed any tears about Aron's closing. Unless you grew up in L.A. as I did, you've probably never even heard of it. Aron's was this used record and CD store that I discovered 30 years ago. It was a quirky place, an audiophile heaven where there was never any telling what offbeat treasure you might find. More to the point, it was “my” place, a store where I spent endless hours browsing for rarities and oddities you could never find elsewhere. To this day, no trip back to L.A. is complete without...

The confirmation of Samuel Alito will contribute towards a total reorganization of this form of government. The Rehnquist era started the shift of the power to the states and away from the federal government - away from the Congress, away from the federal agencies, away from the regulatory system created to protect employees, consumers, investors - the people of America The Roberts-Scalia-Alito-Thomas-Kennedy Court will not only continue the work of the Rehnquist Court and make the rightward turn more dramatic - it will also preside over the expansion of presidential powers in ways never before imagined. But even more importantly,...

Boxer’s letter is as follows: On December 16, along with the rest of America, I learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without getting a warrant from a judge. President Bush underscored his support for this action in his press conference today. On Sunday, December 18, former White House Counsel John Dean and I participated in a public discussion that covered many issues, including this surveillance. Mr. Dean, who was President Nixon’s counsel at the time of Watergate, said that President Bush is “the first President to admit to an impeachable offense.” Today, Mr....

It must be said that subsequent events have not made life easy for those of us who were so optimistic as to support the war in Iraq. There were those who believed the Government's rubbish about Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Then the WMD made their historic no-show.Some of us were so innocent as to suppose that the Pentagon had a well-thought-out plan for the removal of the dictator and the introduction of peace. Then we had the insurgency, in which tens of thousands have died.Some of us thought it was about ensuring that chemical weapons could never again be...

Commentary: Also, bloggers -- I want to hear from you NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Sad to say, at the start of the holiday season, I'm a typical journalist. That means I am one of the many now reeling in the wake of the Judy Miller and Bob Woodward fiascos. And yes, I'm cringing in the corner as Maureen Dowd flexes her columnist's muscles and shamelessly bullies Miller in print. I'm waiting helplessly for columnist Robert Novak to be a mensch and finally do the right thing by going public with his role in the CIA leak investigation. I'm a typical...

Last March, at a workshop aimed at empowering girls to confront bullies, I listened as girls recounted tales of being harassed and intimidated. One girl's voice cracked as she spoke of a student who cursed at her and tried to trip her in the hall of her school. We learned that bullying is "the unjust exercise of power of one individual to humiliate, frighten, denigrate or injure another." That day, a national expert said it's not just victims who have to stop bullies; bystanders need to speak up too; otherwise they're enabling the bullies. So today I'm standing up to...