Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Routers) In an effort to drive a wedge between moderate Germans and those more extreme, the State Department issued new rules today, stipulating that the word "Nazi" was not to be used by department employees to describe the enemy. Germany recently declared war on our country, as part of its alliance with Imperial Japan, which itself attacked us at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii a little over a week ago, and with which we are now at war. "Nazism has a great many admirable features," said a department spokesman at Foggy Bottom, "and we want to make clear that despite...

Barack Obama showed his deft political touch today, and demonstrated his keen insight into the lives of the little people in this country, with a speech that is sure to be worth at least thirty points in Pennsylvania in the upcoming primary: You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade...

Barack Obama won’t wear an American flag on his lapel, but on the wall of his Houston campaign office: a Cuban flag with a picture of Communist mass murderer Che Guevara. Video link: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5700252&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1 ....And that flag is no fluke. Here’s another one. (Video, as again the Houston news anchors don’t even notice the big image of Che Guevara staring them in the face.) Link: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/News/Politics/Detail?contentId=5668120&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.14.1

It had to happen. President Bush’s bungling of the war in Iraq has been the talk of the summer. On Capitol Hill, some of the more reliable Republicans are writing proposals to force Mr. Bush to change course. A showdown vote is looming in the Senate. Enter, stage right, the fear of terrorism. Yesterday, the director of national intelligence released a report with the politically helpful title of “The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” and Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, held a news conference to trumpet its findings. The message, as always: Be very afraid. And don’t...

Hollywood goes carbon neutral Entertainment biz is second largest polluter in Los Angeles By STEVEN KOTLER The equation is pretty simple. The more carbon dioxide that's dumped into the atmosphere, the warmer the atmosphere gets. Human beings are major CO2 contributors, of course, but the entertainment industry also does its part. In fact, a recent Los Angeles study found that the entertainment business was the second largest polluter in the city behind the petroleum industry. From the generators that provide power on sets, to the energy used in studio office buildings, to the airplane flights to move a production around...

It is inevitable. Some prominent American will want to be the first on his block to pronounce the shahada and become an official worshipper of mohammed. The publicity will be too delicious, and the ego-augmentation unmatched. The desire to associate such a successful assassin, murderer, rapist, misogynist, slave-holder and all-around in-your-facer with The One True God, is nothing compared to the lure of a celebro-american associating himself with the mosque of what's happening now. Cynthia McKinney and John Conyers do not count. Neither does Noam Chomsky. The CNN-worthy frisson of "reversion" has to be present for this prediction to be...

If only working-class and poor people would register and vote, liberal Democrats would win every election-that's what we thought, until November 2, 2004. Democrats work on voter registration, Republicans work on vote suppression. So tens of millions were spent on Democratic voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts over the summer and fall. But on November 2 we discovered how wrong we were. Turnout in poor and working-class precincts was unprecedented, but many of those voters cast their ballots for George W. Bush-especially white people from non-union households, especially outside of cities. How did the Republicans do it? How did they get...

Home Depot ignored Alan R. Sporn for almost two years, but a $1-million court judgment got the company's attention. The Laguna Hills businessman had his Social Security number stolen, which ended up in a dozen requests for Home Depot credit. The fiasco hurt Sporn's credit rating, but the home improvement giant that prides itself in customer service brushed off his concerns — until he filed a lawsuit, won and then tried to collect the money from a company bank account.

WOODRUFF: As we've seen in our coverage all this week, online blogs are receiving a lot of attention. And some say their influence is overstated. With me now again, Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," and political analyst Stu Rothenberg, of "Roll Call" and the "Rothenberg Political Report." Stu, let me start with you. We just heard Howard's report giving us a look at who some of the bloggers are. But you're a long-time political observers, analyst. What do you make of the blogs? STU ROTHENBERG, "ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT": Well, I think blogging is simply another vehicle for people getting...

Their heads swimming in despair over the events since November 2nd, many Far Lefties have reached a fork in the road. Do they flee to Canada (or hopefully even further away) or do they stay and fight President Bush (Chimp, Shrub, or simply *, as they call him)? And if they stay, what does "fight" really mean? There are three things to remember while reading the montage of DU threads set forth below:1. They believe they're living in 1930's Germany.2. They have a breathtakingly arrogant view of their importance.3. Everyone else is stupid.After 35 years of activisim, here are my...

California professor flunks Kuwaiti's pro-U.S. essay By George Archibald THE WASHINGTON TIMES A 17-year-old Kuwaiti student whose uncles were kidnapped and tortured by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's invaders more than a decade ago said his California college political science professor failed him for praising the United States in a final-exam essay last month. Ahmad Al-Qloushi, a foreign student at Foothill College near San Jose, Calif., said he was told by professor Joseph A. Woolcock to get psychological treatment because of the pro-American views expressed in his essay. "Apparently, if you are an Arab Muslim who loves America, you must be...

Flexing their new muscles, Congressional Republicans seem intent on reigning as a dissent-smothering monolith. First, House G.O.P. members slavishly obeyed the maneuver by Tom DeLay, the majority leader, to render his control of the caucus ethics-proof by making it possible for a party leader to keep his post even if he is under indictment. His counterpart in the Senate, Bill Frist, was more discreet but no less ham-handed. He has engineered a rules change designed to cow the few Republican moderates who may still be willing to nip back at demands for party fealty. The rule undercuts members' independence by...

Our witty editor/commentator was contacted by The Daily Show to discuss a story they are producing involving Canadian conservatives who are sick of the liberal government, and are thinking of moving to the US. Here is his reply...

Exit polls reveal that President Bush may have miscalculated in endorsing pro-abortion Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter in his primary battle against conservative challenger Pat Toomey. Immediately following his narrow win, Specter was quick to declare his independence from the President and re-assert his pro-abortion credentials. After his November 2 win, Specter repeated the mantra, asserting that if he were to become Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pro-life judges need not apply. Originally believing that a strong GOP Senate candidate in Pennsylvania could put the state's 21 electoral votes in the Bush column, the President campaigned with Specter and...

The re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush has driven some Americans to gaze wistfully north. As a service to our U.S. readers, we offer a primer on what to expect when crossing the Peace Bridge for good: 1. In Canada, bush is a term that refers to the wilderness, which is the only place guns are allowed. 2. Our country is a union of the French and the English. Given Henry VIII and all that, you can see why we have never claimed to be a nation united under God.

Recently a friend noticed the political sticker on my car and asked, ''Why are you voting for him?'' I replied, ''Because I'm a Christian.'' He said, "I don't trust people who mix their religion and politics.'' I answered, ''I don't trust people who don't! If your religion doesn't affect the important choices of your life, it's not worth much. And if your politics are opposed to your religious values, something is wrong with one or the other--maybe both.'' Far too long have Christians allowed the voices of the liquor industry, organized gambling humanist education, loose morals, sexual perversion, pornography, criminals'...

BUSH HAS LEARNED THAT Washington is not Texas, where he could work with moderate Democrats to achieve bipartisan goals. There are precious few Democratic moderates these days in the national government, and certainly not in the Senate. And a Republican president, especially one with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, should not seek accommodation with liberal Democrats. Bush tried that in his first term with Ted Kennedy and he got burned. Trying to find a middle ground with the likes of Chuck Schumer and Barbara Boxer is a non-starter.

ABC News correspondent Carole Simpson, who through 2003 served as the anchor of World News Tonight on Sunday and who now travels the country for ABC News to talk to high schoolers about how to consume news, lashed out at how the election results reflect the triumph of the "stupid" and how the red/blue maps match the slave versus free states. She opined at a National Press Club forum shown live Monday night on C-SPAN: "I look at the election, and I'm going, 'Well, of course our kids are not bright about these things because their parents aren't.'" She also...

Secession, which didn't work very well when it was tried once before, is suddenly red hot in the blue states. In certain precincts, anyway. One popular map circulating on the Internet shows the 19 blue states won by Sen. John Kerry -- Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland and the Northeastern states -- conjoined with Canada to form the "United States of Canada." The 31 red states carried by Mr. Bush are depicted as a separate nation dubbed "Jesusland."

Secession, which didn't work very well when it was tried once before, is suddenly red hot in the blue states. In certain precincts, anyway.      One popular map circulating on the Internet shows the 19 blue states won by Sen. John Kerry — Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland and the Northeastern states — conjoined with Canada to form the "United States of Canada." The 31 red states carried by Mr. Bush are depicted as a separate nation dubbed "Jesusland." The idea isn't just a joke; one top Democrat says, "The segment of the country that pays...

Democratic strategist James Carville said yesterday that the Democratic Party's losses last Tuesday were no fluke, and that they need to rethink exactly who they are and provide something more than a litany of policy proposals.     "The underlying problem here is, there is no call to arms that the Democratic Party is making to the country," said Mr. Carville, the architect of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign win. "We've got to reassess ourselves. We've got to be born again." Democrats are debating what went right and what went wrong in last Tuesday's election, in which President Bush won re-election...

Do you know how to cure a chicken-killin' dog? Now, you know you cannot keep a dog that kills chickens, no matter how fine a dog it is otherwise. Some people think you cannot break a dog that has got in the habit of killin' chickens, but my friend John Henry always claimed you could. He said the way to do it is to take one of the chickens the dog has killed and wire the thing around the dog's neck, good and strong. And leave it there until that dead chicken stinks so bad that no other dog or...

Sherry Lansing, the soon-to-be-retired Paramount studio honcho and friend of Sen. John Kerry, is said to be "depressed." Actress Sharon Stone, who stumped for Mr. Kerry in Wisconsin, reportedly was "traveling" yesterday. It wasn't clear whether the "Basic Instinct" star had fled the country, as she had hinted that she might do if the Democratic nominee lost. There were tears and tribulations. Long sighs and short tempers. Shock and bawl. For a rich and powerful demographic used to getting its way, Hollywood was downbeat yesterday as President Bush — more heinous than a mid-February release date to so many celebrities...

FAT MIKE, musician Fat Mike is not a happy man. "When I see a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on a car, it's time to slash their tires," he says, calling from the offices of his Fat Wreck Chords label. "When I run into a tourist with a Southern accent, I tell them to get the f -- out of San Francisco. We're at a culture war. I'm angry at them." Leading up to the election, the member of Bay Area punk bands NOFX and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes did more to mobilize progressive and young voters than certain red-state...

Conservatism Won the Election, Left's Hatred Causing Self-Destruction November 8, 2004 Listen to Rush… (...cover the on-going hatred causing the left in America to fall all to pieces) BEGIN TRANSCRIPT Ladies and gentlemen, I have to fly to Washington after the program today. I'm delivering a speech. I agreed to do a speech about four months ago to a group, the Heritage Foundation, and four months ago they asked me to do this speech analyzing the election. So I rolled the dice and said, "Okay, I'll do it," because I figured four months ago that we were going to...

This section contains statements and speeches by Ms. Streisand. We Must Have Patience ...Barbra Streisand Posted on November 8, 2004 In response to the results of the Presidential election last week, I would like to share with you a quote from Thomas Jefferson. Although written in 1798, I feel his words speak perfectly to the strong sentiments of frustration and disappointment 48% of the country feel. "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that...

Five days and counting, and our long awaited national healing is still having trouble gaining traction (hat tips: Blair, Ace, LGF, Treach). In the fervent hope that they will help our progressive fellow citizens find the will to endure another Bush dystopia, here is a fresh batch of "healies." Previous reasons to be cheerful can be found here and here). Bush may have won the Wal Mart vote, but you mopped up at Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca. In the next election, you can win back the hearts and minds of swing shoppers with money-saving store specials on organic...

Players involved in the notorious 60 Minutes II story, reported by Dan Rather, which employed dubious documents regarding President Bush’s National Guard service, may have been rooting for a John Kerry victory. No, it wasn’t that old bugaboo liberal media bias as much as it was a bias toward saving their own skins. The report from an internal investigation into the documents mess was purposely being held until after the election. Pre-election, the feeling in some quarters at CBS was that if Kerry triumphed, fallout from the investigation would be relatively minimal. The controversial piece’s producer, Mary Mapes, would likely...

President Bush has endured years of lies and fear-mongering by the Democrats, yet the media declares after he is re-elected that he needs to reach out ("Bush Unbound,' Editorial, Nov. 4). If they want a seat at the table, they need to start crawling on broken glass with heads bowed. They also need to understand that they can be credited with energizing the president's base as much as the campaign itself. Liberals need to get over themselves. Bush won, overwhelmingly. He needs to set his agenda and stick to it. Apex, N.C. ***** Bush not only won the electoral vote...

Chief Justice William Rehnquist is battling thyroid cancer. Three of his colleagues on the Supreme Court are over seventy. There is no doubt, this presidential term, as to whether George W. Bush will have the chance to name justices to the Court. The only questions worth asking now are who, how, and how many. "Moral Values," Filibusters, and the Fate of Roe v. WadeThe most obviously pressing question, given the possible chief justice vacancy, is who President Bush's nominees will be. During the 2000 presidential campaign, in a telling comment, Bush named Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas as the Supreme...

 FOUR MORE YEARS -- A MANDATE    No Mandate?    The 'Mandate' Double Standard    Flashback 11/16/1992 - Clinton's "Mandate For Change" (So when does the MSM say this about GWB?)     Classic Quotes from the Imploding Left Q:"What are the best things in life, Conan?" A:"To defeat your enemies in battle and to hear the lamentations of their women."    CNN's Sesno: Dowd, Krugman 'Out of Touch'     capitol gang - liberals going bonkers     O'Donnell on McLaughlin group running his mouth again..    Insane Left (please see the cover of the Boston Phoenix)    The 'Tolerant' Left Lectures the...

Sunday Symposium: Moral values? In my world - as a stay-at-home mom living in the Riverwest area of Milwaukee - I see a lot of progressives/liberals with very strong family values. I interact with families in this community through neighborhood organizations, schools, church and play- roups. These are people who are very careful about what their children eat, read, watch and do. These progressive families - mine included - make many financial sacrifices so they can be with their children as much as possible. Many of the families choose to have one parent stay at home, or both parents work...

Anti-American feeling was one of the reasons behind the shock departure of the former dean of Wellington's Anglican cathedral. Speaking from the United States, Douglas Sparks said Kiwi kids taunted his children for being Americans and told them they hoped Iraqis would kill American soldiers. "We realised six-year-old children don't come up with those kinds of statements on their own. They have to have heard it from some other adult or influential person in their lives. "My daughter came home from school and said, `I am so upset about what George Bush has done to my life'." Despite receiving an...

This is news? A few days ago Barbara Plett, a BBC Middle East correspondent, broadcast a report about the airlifting of Yassir Arafat to Paris. She informed her listeners: “When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry … without warning.” She went on to talk about Arafat’s “ambivalence towards violence” (an interesting phrase for the man who effectively invented modern-day terrorism) and to castigate Ariel Sharon for having “demonised” the man responsible for a campaign to murder as many Israeli citizens as possible. For some reason, Ms Plett’s words have prompted...

On November 2, 2004, over 59 million Americans voted for him (according to the media)...but NOT ME! * Over 59 million Americans voted to retain a President who was quoted as saying that Osama bin Laden (the mastermind behind the deaths of over 3000 people) is "not important"...but NOT ME! * Over 59 million Americans voted to approve the slaughter of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi men, women, and children over nonexistent weapons of mass destruction...but NOT ME! * Over 59 million Americans voted to approve the second class citizenship of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans...but NOT ME! *...

Howard refuses to congratulate Bush Nicholas Watt, political correspondent Monday November 8, 2004 The Guardian Michael Howard deepened his feud with the White House yesterday when he pointedly refused to offer the traditional post-election congratulations to George Bush. Angered by a White House edict banning him from meeting the president - as punishment for criticising Tony Blair over Iraq - Mr Howard said it would be wrong for him to express any view on the poll. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph the arch-Atlanticist was asked whether he was pleased that a fellow rightwinger had beaten a liberal. He...

Sunday, November 7, 2004 Posted: 9:48 AM EST (1448 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- A 25-year-old from Georgia who was distraught over President Bush's re-election apparently killed himself at ground zero. Andrew Veal's body was found Saturday morning inside the off-limits area of the former World Trade Center site, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A shotgun was found nearby, but no suicide note was found, Coleman said. Veal's mother said her son was upset about the result of the presidential election and had driven to New York, Gus Danese, president...

Thought these needed to be Photoshopped

The day Sen. John Kerry conceded the election, Dorre Kleinman, 35, was in a horrendous mood. She was trying to get on the subway with her 1-year-old daughter, who was in a stroller. "I swiped my card and signaled for the token-booth person to buzz me through the wheelchair entrance," says Kleinman, who lives in Brooklyn Heights. "He claimed I didn't swipe my card. I demanded that he let me in, and he refused, so I started screaming and yelling. Finally, just to shut me up, he let me through. As I walked by his booth, I gave him the...

In the biggest fight of his charmed life, John Kerry swung between bewilderment and anger when things didn't go his way on the campaign trial. "I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot," the Massachusetts Democrat sighed to a staffer when President Bush's poll numbers surged in April. "Why the f--- didn't he take it?" he wondered when Republican Sen. John McCain refused to be his running mate a half-dozen times. "It's a pack of f---ing lies, what they're saying about me," he shouted at an adviser as a group of Swift boat veterans stepped up attacks on his Vietnam...

Either I have gone mad or I live in a country literally overrun by idiots ___ feel like I'm living through Ragnarok. The Norse Armageddon tale is unique in that all of the participants, powerful gods in their own right, knew long in advance of their deaths yet still fought bleakly towards destiny, powerless to prevent it. Like that war of yore, the battle lines in the American electorate were drawn long ago. The figurative Winter of Winters has fallen on the literal November 2nd, with Republicans and Democrats alike trudging toward mutually assured destruction. How else do I explain...

You know what makes me nervous about President Bush? It's not his facial expressions. Nor his verbal clumsiness. I don't care about his alleged weakness at the podium. What concerns me more than anything else is his demonstrated weakness at our borders. Immigration enforcement is the six-ton elephant in the room. Barely two sentences were devoted to border control in the first presidential debate, despite the fact that the major issue of the showdown was leadership on national security. Both President Bush and Sen. Kerry bloviated about throwing more money at the Department of Homeland Security, while ignoring the fundamental...