Free Republic

Gallup's latest polling reveals the continuing collapse of the Republican party's base vote. The news is so very bad that there will be only one possible response from GOP party leadership and our radio talkers: Ignore it. --SNIP-- Instead, our congressmen talk to and about Rush Limbaugh like Old Bolsheviks praising Comrade Stalin at their show trials. Rush is right! We see eye to eye with Rush! There is no truth outside Rush! Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and the others have their place and their role. They spoke for an important section of public opinion, and...

Israeli media reports that Hamas took over the first floor of the building that the BBC offices in Gaza last night and fired rockets from there, trapping the journalists above. Despite the fact that their reporters have now escaped the building, the BBC has so far not said anything about this. When I was interviewed on the BBC last week, I commented on the pervasive intimidation of the MSM in Gaza, which is one of the reasons that there were none there when the hostilities broke out. I pointed out that the last journalist resident in Gaza, Alan Johnston, now...

I can't help but notice how the lefties are so silent on the Georgia/Russia activity. But when they do spout an opinion it is that somehow this has to be AMERICA's FAULT this happened.

Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall. A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant." The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan." read full article at Times-Gazette

As dawn broke on March 22, 2004, an Israeli helicopter gunship hovered over the al-Mujama al-Islami mosque in Gaza City. Suddenly, the whoosh of missile rockets was heard, and then explosions. Shouts and screams filled the streets, followed by news bites from all over the world: Hamas's spiritual and political leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, had been killed as he was leaving the mosque to return to his nearby home. About three weeks later, on April 17, Gaza's­ newly chosen Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, was also assassinated from the air. Rantisi had taken extra precautions to protect himself--surrounding himself with...

A new pro-life organization is getting ready to start declaring a list of "collaborators" with the abortion industry, starting with a company that is building a huge abortion business in Denver. Will Duffy, a spokesman for the Collaborators Project, told WND that The Weitz Co., a billion dollar building corporation, has been given a deadline of Jan. 31 to stop work on its Planned Parenthood abortion business in Denver.

AUSTIN — There aren't many college students whose grasp of their classwork can make an immediate and profound difference in someone's life. But at the University of Texas law school, students selected to work in an immigration clinic often defend clients who can't afford to lose their case. "It was hands-down the most rewarding experience of my life. I felt like I had someone's life in my hands," recalls Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, a 27-year-old Austin native and UT law school senior. "There are asylum seekers who are fleeing real danger in their countries, and if they were returned, I didn't have...

It might help the drought that so few flowers are left to water in Atlanta, so many having been thrown at Jane Fonda to celebrate her 70th birthday.The AJC predictably gave her glowing coverage, with only the mention that Fonda has to deal with criticism by Vietnam veterans. Here is one Vietnam veteran who is bothered far more by how the media portray her than by Fonda herself.Now that the threat of communism is gone, the Cold War stand against it is sometimes ridiculed, likened to looking for boogeymen under the bed. Fonda's own affinity for communism is brushed aside...

Operators given probation for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants BROWNSVILLE — Federal officials seized $540,000 from four Harlingen motel owners after they were sentenced to probation for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, an official said Friday. Rakeshkumar Bhakta, 40, and wife Alka Bhakta, 35, owners of the Hudson House motel, and Kamleshkumar Bhakta, 32, and wife Falguniben Bhakta, 30, owners of the Country Side Inn motel, forfeited a total of $540,000 in equity from their businesses, said Nina Pruneda, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Antonio. U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle ordered the owners...

Banks are seeing an untapped resource in providing home loans to undocumented U.S. residentsThe banking industry is opening its doors to a controversial new market: illegal immigrants.

Republicans need all the votes they can get next November if they are to have any hope of retaining the White House and winning back control of Congress. But one group of voters – among whom the GOP has gained considerable ground over the last few elections – now seems about to slip away, perhaps permanently. Hispanic voters are poised to turn several red states blue come 2008, virtually guaranteeing a Democratic presidential victory and a pickup in congressional seats as well, according to a new analysis of Hispanic voting behavior. "Border Wars: The Impact of Immigration on the Latino...

Groups that support a crackdown on illegal aliens havn't settled on their champion in the race for the White House, but there's little doubt which Republican scares them the most - former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a mojor role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. "Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." Just as problematic for the former Arkansas governor, however, is that the...

It's amazing, Mike Huckabee is one of the few politicians who would give the time of day to FR, Gov. Huckabee's Thank you Letter to FReeper and yet by some on FR they in mindless hyperbolic posts basically compare him to the plague. JMO, some FReepers prove the axioms of "fair weather friends" and "no good deed goes unpunished" and also "watch your back", very true.

Larry Durrett knows from his experience as an owner of businesses in Fort Worth that it's not always easy to fill jobs at fast-food restaurants. But if 12 million workers -- the number of illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States -- suddenly leave the work force, the fallout would be dramatic, Durrett said. "I hear people say we should send those people back to where they came from," said Durrett, president of Jacksonville-based Southern Multifoods and owner of about 30 Taco Bells and KFC restaurants in Fort Worth. "We can't. We'd shut down." Durrett and others --...

Christian leaders ask for Muslim forgiveness The signers are a veritable who's who of Christian leaders in the United States. And there's nothing essentially wrong with such a gesture: no community has a monopoly on evil, or is entirely free from it. But it is singularly unfortunate in this instance, since Muslim groups worldwide have never, in any context, offered a similar gesture. Where are the apologies for the jihad conquests and dhimmitude? They will, most assuredly, not be forthcoming. From the Khaleej Times (thanks to all who sent this in): ABU DHABI—Peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians stand as...

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado — More than two dozen illegal immigrants have been let go since Friday because federal immigration agents failed to respond to calls to pick them up, Eagle County sheriff’s deputies said. Eagle County sheriff’s deputies talked to two vans of illegal immigrants Friday and another van was pulled over Sunday on Interstate 70. The majority of the people, who said they were illegal immigrants, were let go after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement either said the agency was not available or did not respond to calls to pick them up, sheriff’s deputies said. Immigration and Customs had...

Federal immigration authorities have laid down new guidelines that will reduce the number of suspected illegal immigrants handed over from cities like Irving for possible deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Dallas e-mailed a set of guidelines to the Irving Jail asking officials not to refer suspected illegal immigrants to them if they were arrested for a Class C misdemeanor. Because of that change, the number of suspects Irving turns over to ICE could drop by 60 percent, city officials said. "We are surprised by this action," Irving Mayor Herbert Gears said. "In fact, we cannot imagine how the...

The Homeland Security Department is suing Illinois to undo a new state law the federal agency says would make it more difficult to enforce the nation's immigration laws. The law is an amendment to Illinois's “Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act" which would make it impossible, says Homeland Security, for employers to participate in a voluntary federal program many currently use to verify whether new employees are legally entitled to work in the U.S...

The Legal Newswire - It is obvious that, after seeing the Fox News Debates on Sept. 5th, 2007, the mainstream media and GOP see Ron Paul as enough of a threat to stop ignoring him, and to start ridiculing him. From using a split screen to show Giuliani smirking as Ron Paul answers his questions, to the background chuckles as he is asked questions, Ron Paul has apparently become the butt of an inside joke. However, with a 33% win in the post-debate poll, it is Ron Paul who should be laughing. Of course, Sean Hannity could not resist making...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ACLU and others are warning of major disruptions when the federal government launches an illegal immigration crackdown next week with a flurry of letters notifying employers that some of their workers have suspect Social Security numbers.

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A Rockville man previously accused of sexually assaulting two little girls, one just 18-months-old, would have left court a free man Monday if federal officials didn't step in. Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy says 23-year-old Mahamu Kanneh was being held on a federal detainer by ICE despite the fact that a Montgomery County judge ordered Kanneh released on his own recognizance after a bond hearing Monday. During the hearing, Deputy State's Attorney Laura Chase argued that Kanneh still presents a danger to the community. Prosecutors are asking that the charges against Kanneh, nine counts of child...

DEARBORN, Mich. — Plans to construct two foot-washing stations continue at the University of Michigan at Dearborn amid concerns that such action would constitute an establishment of religion by the public university. The 8,700-student school near Detroit, which begins fall classes Tuesday, came under criticism in June when it announced that it would spend about $25,000 on the two foot-washing areas that were requested as an accommodation by a Muslim Student Association's task force. The foot baths come while the state is in a budget crisis and tuition and fees have risen at all of the state's public universities, up...

Credit: ZombieTons of you are stunned, outraged, and sickened by the new Flight 93 Memorial, the “Crescent of Embrace.� I called the architect responsible for the redesign, Paul Murdoch of Los Angeles, yesterday for comment. He did not return my call, but he did speak with the Johnstown, Pa., Tribune Democrat, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Neither Murdoch nor his supporters see any problem with the red crescent wrapped around the crash site near Shanksville, Pa., where 40 innocent people were murdered at the hands of Islamic terrorists: “This is not about any religion per se,� Murdoch said...

Let's compare Mike Huckabee to some of the other presidential candidates. The former governor of Arkansas is not as rich or handsome as fellow Republican Mitt Romney, nor is he as heroic and tortured as John McCain. And he's certainly not as intense and operatic as Rudy Giuliani. As for the top Democrats, Huckabee is not nearly as careful and calculating as Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nor is he as dashing and Bobby Kennedy-like as Barack Obama. And he's nowhere near as shiny and pretty as John Edwards. And he certainly doesn't talk as much as Joe Biden. In an interview,...

WASHINGTON -- The debate over illegal immigration has ceased in Congress, but almost nowhere else. Widespread concerns about the impact of illegal immigration on jobs, social services and national security continues to generate intense rhetoric. And some see a dark side emerging, evident in growing discrimination against Hispanics and a surge of xenophobia unseen since the last big wave of immigration in the early 20th century. "I don't think there's been a time like this in our lifetime," said Doris Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute and former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Even though immigration is...

A Bridge to 'Moderate' Islam Is In Fact a Road to Hell Amil Imani - 8/8/2007 Islam is a religion of peace and the great majority of Muslims are not party to any plans and actions of the radicals’- so claim academic pundits, leftist journalists, and hired Islamic apologists. The incantation of these “authorities” is the lullaby that puts the people into a sleep of complacency. Complacency and appeasement on the part of the free world and those well-meaning, non-practicing Muslims, can only serve Islam. There is no chance for co-existence with Islam. All one needs to know is to...

Once again the Associated Press give us more of its prosaic brand of "unfair and unbalanced" news with a Jesse Jackson anti-gun story that doesn't offer a single word to counter his propaganda, their report doesn't present even a hint that there is any "side" but the anti-gun position. We aren't shocked at this, of course, but it needs to be pointed out for the record nonetheless. Jackson faces a trial and possible jail time for his absurd June 23rd picketing of a gun shop in Riverdale, a suburb of Chicago. During the effort to disrupt the shop's business Jackson...

Attempts by cities or other governments to sidestep federal policy and make their own provisions for illegal aliens won't get any attention from the White House, spokesman Tony Snow says. He said such efforts are not under the president's "purview." Snow was responding today to a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House. He asked about the president's reaction to local governments making their own decisions regarding immigration policy. "Reuters reports that New Haven, Conn., will begin issuing to illegal aliens city ID cards to allow them access to city programs and to open bank accounts. My...

Congress fails to adopt lawsuit guards WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Protection from lawsuits for wrongly reporting suspicious behavior has failed to pass the U.S. Congress. The legislation was inspired by a suit brought by a group of Muslim imams who were removed from a U.S. Airways flight to Phoenix before it left Minneapolis last November, The Washington Times reported. Some passengers on the plane said they had seen the imams, behaving suspiciously by praying together before boarding. The imams, who were allowed to leave after several hours of FBI questioning, sued the airline, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission...

A federal judge sentenced a Houston immigration lawyer to more than four years in prison Friday for her role in an elaborate Chinese visa fraud scheme. Yali Huang, 44, cried as she appealed to U.S. District Judge David Hittner moments before the sentencing. She was convicted of conspiracy and visa fraud in February after a two-and-a-half week jury trial that detailed a scheme to file false documents in support of temporary business visa and employment-based green card applications. "Nineteen years ago I came to this country to pursue the American dream," she said, standing before the judge in a green...

That Hamas and the BBC have close relations isn’t exactly a revelation. See here and here, for example. But finally the BBC, the world’s biggest broadcaster, has itself admitted to being in touch with Hamas – the group that unlike other Islamic terror groups, has made a habit of deliberately targeting children (in school buses, bat mitzvah birthday parties, pizzerias filled with kids and so on). A senior BBC executive has confirmed that the BBC held private meetings with Hamas – whose gunmen usually wear ski masks to hide their identity – in the days leading up to the release...

With the White House, the leaders of both political parties and the media all solidly behind the "comprehensive" immigration "reform" bill, how could it be stopped in the Senate, as it was last week? The people stopped it. That is what democracy is all about. When members of Congress began to be deluged with angry letters, phone calls and e-mails from their constituents, they knew the game was over — and that their careers could be over if they didn't pay attention to what the voters were saying. This bill was an insult to people's intelligence from start to finish,...

Phoenix - Arizona leads the nation in population growth. More illegal immigrants cross its border than any other in the United States. Now, in an apparent backlash to those trends, the state is leading the charge to halt illegal immigration by cracking down on employers. Its new law effectively sets up a two-strikes penalty. A business employing an illegal immigrant would have its business license suspended temporarily. A second offense would mean a permanent revocation of that license.

What a Waste. Steve Sailer said it all. [L]et's stop and think about what an enormous waste of six years it has been for the President, aided and abetted by the almost the entire American Establishment, to pursue his delusion of imposing his immigration obsession on the citizenry. Even leaving aside how much better the immigration situation would be if Bush had followed his oath and simply enforced the damn laws, imagine what he would have been able to accomplish legislatively in other areas without wasting time, energy, and political capital on a losing proposition like this. Well, why...

I would like to compile a list of all the companies that are lobbying for amnesty for illegal aliens. It seems to me that there are a lot of interests working behind the scenes and under the radar of the American people. If you know of any company that paid money to our representatives to support the amnesty bill, please post it.

Islamisation of David Keene, American Conservative Union June 27, 2007 David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU), has been moving, along with several other paleo-conservatives like Dinesh D’Souza, towards a partnership with Saudi-funded, pro-Hamas institutions. A forewarning was the appointment of Grover Norquist to the ACU board. A second forewarning was the appointment of Suhail Khan to the ACU board. Then Tuesday, David Keene joined United for Peace and Justice, the ACLU, the Communist Party-USA, as a speaker in the “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice” to “…call on Congress to restore habeas corpus, fix the...

LONDON (AFP) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone called on Britons Saturday not to demonize Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled in the capital, amid fears of a Islamist terror threat. At the same time he criticized Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam, creating a "major problem." "In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims," he told BBC Radio. "They have played a...

“Several months ago, I met with President Bush at the White House to discuss our out-of-control problems with illegal immigration. He asked me if I would help him push immigration reform through Congress and I gave him my word I would. I support President Bush and admire his leadership. I will be forever grateful for his work to try and solve this difficult problem. “President Bush and I made it clear we would not compromise on our guiding principle that securing our nation’s borders must be our first priority. Our plan made unprecedented efforts and provided over $4.4 billion in...

Democrats won both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections in part by arguing that Republicans were incompetent to govern. On immigration, they enjoyed a comparatively united party and cooperation from a Republican White House. More than any other factor, heat from the right killed the bill. But voters elect congressional majorities to solve problems, and Democratic incumbents can expect to pay some price every time they fail. But that fallout almost certainly will pale alongside the damage to future Republican presidential candidates. Hispanics represent the fastest-growing chunk of the U.S. electorate. Their choices help drive the rising swing states...

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. bishops decried failure of immigration reform and its implicit exploitation of millions of people. The position was voiced by Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, California, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration. "As a nation, we cannot continue to employ an immigration system that leads to the exploitation of millions of our fellow human beings," bishop Barnes said. "We cannot accept the toil of a large underclass which does not have full rights in our society. This strikes at the very character of our nation and...

Those of us in the conservative movement have always been friendly to the business community. We believe in low taxes, a light touch on regulation, and we're stalwart champions of the free market. When liberals start talking about limiting CEO pay, harassing Wal-Mart, beating up on oil companies, or generally trying to place new burdens on the businesses, it's always movement conservatives who rise to their defense, even though it's sometimes not in our best political interests. Yes, we probably do fight a little harder because we view businessmen as political allies, but we genuinely, in our hearts and souls,...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who has been under intense pressure from the White House and Republican leadership to support a sweeping immigration overhaul, nevertheless announced today that she will vote against reviving the legislation when it returns to the Senate floor next week. She was joined today by the state's other senator, Republican John Cornyn, who had been expected by the bill's supporters to take such a stance. They had aggressively lobbied Hutchison in hopes of adding her vote to the 60 necessary to revive the stalled legislation. "I could not support (bringing the bill...

President Bush wants Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to resurrect the controversial immigration-reform bill that was pulled last night after a motion to cut off debate failed, White House adviser Dan Bartlett said today. Asked about the bill as Bush prepared to leave the G8 Summit in Germany, Bartlett told CNN the president believes declaring it dead is premature, and he wants Reid to consider putting it back on the table. The plan would allow millions of illegal aliens now within U.S. borders to pay a fine and become legal.

This weekend, federal authorities foiled a stunning terrorist plot by Muslim extremists to kill thousands of our readers, strike the international transport grid, and depress the nation’s economy during its slowest quarter since late 2002 – but enough about that. That was the message of Sunday’s New York Times.  The FBI had prevented four men, including a former member of Guyana’s parliament, from blowing up John F. Kennedy International Airport – and possibly part of Queens. They hoped to ignite underground fuel pipes, setting off a chain reaction of explosions that would envelop the entire complex. The NY Post and...

PRESCOTT – Police are looking for a man they say attacked two members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps as they videotaped and photographed him picking up day laborers Friday at the corner of Lincoln and Grove avenues. At 9 a.m., the driver of the pickup pulling a U-Haul trailer became agitated when he saw the men with cameras and he assaulted one of them, said Prescott Police Lt. Ken Morley. The driver took the digital camera from the minuteman and threw it into a nearby creek. He also tried unsuccessfully to take the video camera away from the other...

Illegals Found Working in State Buildings JEFFERSON CITY - A federal raid discovered cleaning crew members who clean state-owned buildings are illegally working in the country. (snip) Gov. Blunt signed an order to terminate contracts with Sam's Janitorial and is requiring immigration checks on new contractor employees. Sam's Janitorial will join at least 6 other cleaning and janitorial services who have had their contracts terminated since 1998. (snip)...

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Iraq war veterans Matt Howard and Drew Cameron of Burlington entered the Statehouse full of hope Tuesday. State lawmakers were expected to take a strong stand demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. By midway through the day, their hopes had turned to disillusionment after the House voted to delete language suggesting that the troops' presence in Iraq was contributing to its instability. The veterans said their experience was that the American military is contributing to the violence. "I'm very disappointed at the level of discussion," said Howard, 25, of Burlington, who served two tours in...

ATLANTA - Fourteen members of a Carter Center advisory board who worked to build support for the human rights organization started by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife have resigned in protest over Carter's latest book. The resignations, announced Thursday, are the latest in a backlash against the former president's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which has drawn fire from Jewish groups, been attacked by fellow Democrats and led to the resignation last month of Kenneth Stein, a Carter Center fellow and a longtime Carter adviser.

CBS's Lara Logan Declares US Defeated In Iraq; General Abizaid Disputes Claim Posted by Michael Rule on November 27, 2006 - 16:09. On Sunday’s "60 Minutes," CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan insisted the US had been defeated in Iraq. During an interview with General John Abizaid, the top US Commander in Iraq, Logan asserted, "We hear very little about victory in Iraq these days. We hear a lot about how to manage the defeat." It appears Ms. Logan suffers from selective hearing. While many Democrats and some Republicans talk about Iraq as a lost cause, sources such as...

(CNSNews.com) - The antipathy that congressional Democrats have today toward President George W. Bush is reminiscent of their distrust of President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War, a political science professor says. "We see some of the same sentiments today, in that some Democrats see the Republican president as being a threat and the true obstacle to peace, instead of seeing our enemies as the true danger," said Paul Kengor, a political science professor at Grove City College and the author of new book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. In his book, which came out this...