Free Republic

Officials of the declining 4.9 million Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have revealed what God’s priorities are in the U.S. presidential campaign. And remarkably, the divine priorities was very akin to the Democratic Party’s priorities, if not further to the left. Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, with three other ELCA officials generously wrote both presidential candidates a public letter with the divine guidance. Although famed Protestant Reformer Martin Luther championed the Bible as God’s exclusive revelation, modern ELCA activists have located more useful counsel in the secular welfare state and environmental agenda. “The Scriptures are clear about God's concern for...

On June 26, the Stop War on Iran Campaign initiated an emergency call to action to oppose a war on Iran on the weekend of Aug. 2 and 3. A major march is being planned Aug. 2 in New York. Demonstrators will assemble at 12 noon in Times Square at 43rd Street and Broadway. Other places, inside the U.S. and worldwide, are organizing local actions.

Democrats are getting desperate. Even with all their pomp and circumstance and rhetoric about their dominance of the political arena, they are taking the steps of a desperate party. Case in point, their leveraging of relationships with nefarious characters and out-of-touch liberals to raise money for fledgling Democrat Senate campaigns across the country. Last week Politico reported that, “Los Angeles’ top liberal female activists are planning the political fundraiser for Sept. 27 at a private home.” According to the article, “The idea started with alums of the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, a Reagan-era power PAC that included Jane Fonda, Kate...

GULFPORT -- Notably mild-mannered Republican Sen. Thad Cochran shocked many earlier this year with comments about John McCain's volatile temper. He has since mended fences with the GOP presidential nominee. But as first reported at sunherald.com, Cochran told the Sun Herald he witnessed a confrontation between McCain and a Sandinista rebel decades ago in which McCain "got mad at the guy and he just reached over there and snatched him." --------------------------------------- "McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerilla group here at this end of the table and I...

I found this in my local paper on-line. They found it on the democrashield web site.(The local person wrote) http://democrashield.com/2008/01/07/thank-a-democrat/ :I think some people would be interested to learn this. For those of you who can't or won't go to the website, I cut and paste it. Hope you all enjoy. I was watching C-SPAN today when I heard something I couldn’t help but comment on.During an interview with the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, a conservative African-American woman called in and stated “the Democrats have done nothing for me.” The problem here is that statement is completely...

<p>REPUBLICAN US presidential candidate John McCain has got some unexpected support from his former Vietnam War jailer, who said he would vote for the former navy pilot if he could.</p> <p>Speaking to the BBC from Haiphong, Tran Trong Duyet also insisted that Senator McCain's assertions that he was tortured during his time at the prison were lies, and that no one held there was ever subjected to torture.</p>

U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS GIVEN CAPITALISM BLACK EYE Every year the Milken Global Conference hosts a roundtable of Nobel laureates in economics, chaired by the financier Michael Milken. This year's discussion, held in Los Angeles April 29, includes Gary Becker (1992), Myron Scholes (1997), Michael Spence (2001) and Ed Phelps (2006). In this excerpt, the Nobel laureates discuss the depth of the U.S. financial crisis, its effect on the rest of the world and the commodity price rises for oil and food. By Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, Michael Spence and Ed Phelps Michael Milken: Almost 50 percent of the world's...

Too bad, because an otherwise fascinating story about the scramble to build a counterterror apparatus after 9/11, the merits of coercive vs. non-coercive interrogation, and the stings that nailed Abu Zubaydah and KSM is going to be submerged in a debate over their decision to publish the lead interrogator’s name against his wishes and those of CIA chief Michael Hayden. Here’s the obligatory editor’s note justifying the decision. Quote: "After discussion with agency officials and a lawyer for [the interrogrator], the newspaper declined the request, noting that [the interrogator] had never worked under cover and that others involved in the...

Why Do We Call Them 'Democrats'? By Lance Fairchok We all knew it even though Democrat spokespersons denied it. Worried that the negative connotations would affect their electability and their eyes glued to the capricious winds of public opinion, they invented new words for the old ideology such as progressivism and communitarianism. Apparently, the camouflage is no longer needed. The masks are off. They now openly call for the nationalization of private business, the establishment of universal entitlements and increased taxation to pay for them. Why worry about socialist labels? The electorate is complacent, prosperity has numbed our senses and...

In Saudi Arabia, the government refused to allow the question to be asked at all. Pro-American feeling does not necessarily translate into pro-American action. People across Western Europe mourned the 9/11 attack. But a Gallup poll conducted the week after 9/11 found that only 29% of the French, 21% of Italians, 18% of the British, 17% of Germans and 12% of Spaniards supported military action against countries that harboured terrorists. Iraq is not the reason that NATO has trouble persuading European governments to send troops to fight in Afghanistan. Anti-American feeling is often an artefact of propaganda. Anti-Americanism becomes stronger...

WASHINGTON - A New Jersey congressman says he is one of at least three lawmakers whose computers have been hacked from China, apparently in search of information about political dissidents and human rights legislation. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-4th Dist.) said today that in December 2006 and again in March 2007 his human rights subcommittee's computers were attacked by a virus that security officials told him were "intended to take control of the computers." "At that time IT professionals cleaned the computers and informed my staff that the attack seemed to come from the People's Republic of China," said Smith during...

THE home of grand opera will soon be staging a different kind of tragedy. La Scala in Milan has commissioned a musical version of An Inconvenient Truth, the apocalyptic eco-documentary presented by Al Gore, the former American vice-president. Gore will be replaced on stage by a cast of tenors and at least one soprano as the story of man-made climate change is told. The makers believe this format will be more suited to the 230-year-old opera house than the graph-heavy lectures given by Gore in his Oscar-winning 2006 film. Gore, 60, will pick up a writing credit for his part...

Return to the Article June 07, 2008The Audacity of the DemocratsBy Rocco DiPippo There was a pre-Lewinsky time, before moral relativism blurred America's vision, when associating with people like Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers would have automatically excluded someone from attaining the highest office in the land. Back then, anyone with well known connections to such America-averse personalities would have been rejected by a super-majority of the electorate during primary season and almost certainly blocked by the Democratic Party before they could have gotten to within a mile of the White House. But those days -- when patriotic, true...

Members of Congress interviewed by Cybercast News Service on Thursday were split on what to do about huge amounts of oil within U.S. territory that remains untapped because of U.S. laws and regulations. A report released by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last month estimates there are 139 billion barrels of untapped, recoverable oil onshore and offshore in the United States. Two Republican congressmen say they support removing regulations in order to drill for the oil, while two Democrats say they oppose immediate action. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told Cybercast News Service he was aware of the...

CHAPTER ONE IN THE WEB Ten years I labored in the cause of Communism. I was a dedicated "comrade." All my talents and efforts were zealously used to bring about the triumph of Communism in America and throughout the world. To me, the end of capitalism would mark the beginning of an interminable period of plenty, peace, prosperity and universal comradeship. All racial and class differences and conflicts would end forever after the liquidation of the capitalists, their government and their supporters. A world union of Soviet States under the hegemony of Russia would free and lead mankind on to...

Politicians have been coming up with all sorts of fancy schemes to combat the current gas prices ... they've done everything except actually come up with a logical, long-term solution. But this hairball scheme, out of all the schemes out there, might be the most ridiculous to date. Here are the basics: http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23183.html ** Representative Paul Kanjorski is a Democrat from Pennsylvania. His plan would establish a "Reasonable Profits Board" in which the government will determine whether or not a company's profits are excessive. ** H.R. 5800 would tax industries' windfall profits. The bill would set up a Reasonable Profits...

The heart, if not the soul, of Spain’s capital, Madrid, is its bustling financial district. Thousands crowd daily into the skyscrapers that overlook the district’s main square. Thousands more shop at a branch of El Corte Inglés (Spain’s Macy’s), attend soccer games at Bernabéu Stadium, or ride the subways, trains, and buses whose lines converge here. Terrorists had hoped to strike this densely packed urban space in early 2008. But unlike the devastating coordinated suicide bombings of March 11, 2004, which killed 191 train commuters and wounded 1,600, this plot did not originate with al-Qaida or any of its loosely...

Liberals - VS- Troops In Quotes . Liberals Vs. The Troops In Quotes In honor of Tom Harkin's latest moronic comments about John McCain not being a good candidate for President because he spent too much time in the military, I present to you, "Liberals Vs. The Troops In Quotes." Enjoy the Left-Wing version of "supporting the troops!" Quote:"...This NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work." -- Washington Post blogger, William Arkin Quote:"Through every Abu aib and Haditha,...

Americans are well acquainted with presidential candidate Barack Obama’s legendary pledges to bring “change” to America’s political and social landscape. (For example, see here and here and here.) Indeed, “Change We Can Believe In” is the slogan that adorns the homepage of his campaign website and so many of the placards displayed by the supporters who attend his speaking engagements. His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, is also well practiced at issuing calls for change. Her “Change and Experience” ad campaign was but an outgrowth of her 1993 declaration, as First Lady, that “remolding society is one of the great challenges...

Bay Area longshore workers are planning to gather Thursday to protest the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially thwarting activity at the region's ports, according to members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Brandon Taylor, an operations manager for GSC Logistics, a warehousing, distribution and transportation company at the Port of Oakland, said today that the company had known about the protests for a few weeks and is planning to get all containers out of the port today and Wednesday in order to prevent halting production. He said the good news is that it is a slow time...

My e-mail box is over-flowing with alarming news from Pa. where the Gathering of Eagles witnessed a 14-year old boy attacked by Peace Thugs. This news is so disturbing and so typical, that a website has now been established to document this intensifying level of violence against patriotic Americans. Peace Thugs Exposed! Dan Maloney, my friend and GOE NY Coordinator writes about this outrage. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Iraq War Veteran and Family Assaulted! April 22, 2008 Peace Fascists, College Professors and Hillary Supporters assault Iraqi War Veteran and Family while citizens do nothing to intervene. Edinboro, PA, Apr. 22 For the second...

I've decided to pay a visit to this MoveOn.Org function. I understand many Arizona democrat lawmakers and even a disturbed, delusional left-wing mental patient talk show host named Jeff Farias will be speaking. I will be correcting some of the factual errors I have a feeling could possibly arise. I welcome any company. This Thursday at Noon, Phoenix State Capitol. 1700 W. Jefferson.

Columbia University is warily edging toward the 40th anniversary of its greatest disaster, the 1968 student uprising and occupation of five buildings, eventually cleared by vigorous and sometimes brutal city police. The revolt was led by Students for a Democratic Society, which was protesting Columbia's affiliation with a U.S. Defense Department think tank - and other students who were teed off about, among other things, the university's plans to build a gymnasium in Morningside Heights. (Protesters labeled it "Gym Crow.") Today, as another controversial war rages - and many current Columbia students bitterly oppose the university's current Harlem expansion plans...

BEIJING (AFP) - China bluntly told the world Olympics chief Thursday to keep out of politics, in a tart exchange on human rights following days of protests that have shadowed the Olympic torch around the world. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the Games were in "crisis" following the demonstrations, and urged China to respect its pledge to improve its rights record before the event begins in August. China fired back that Rogge should keep politics out of the Olympics, which Beijing hoped would showcase its much-touted "peaceful rise" to power -- but which have instead become a public...

While many Democrats for political reasons are calling upon President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Peking many DUmmies as well as other Democrats really think the U.S.A. should be BANNED from the Olympics altogether. All those millions of Chinese who were starved to death by Mao during the Great Leap Forward? No big deal according to the DUmmies when compared to the massive crimes of the U.S.A. as you can see in this mea culpa THREAD titled, "Should the U.S. be banned from The Olympics?" How much you want to bet that this DUmmie...

A little lesson on the history of the Olympic torch relay: You might think, as I did before Tuesday, that it was a representation of everything that is good in all of us. That its history was lush with goodwill. Maybe you thought the relay dated back to the ancient Greeks, that it was a dramatic tribute to mythology. Prometheus stealing the fire from Zeus. Those of us who watched, as the torch was carried across the Cascades and into a high-school stadium in Wenatchee on the Fourth of July in 1984, felt inspired. Wasn't that what this relay was...

Bill on tap to dry up ALL drinking, driving By Laurel J. Sweet and Mike Underwood Monday, March 17, 2008 - Updated 10m ago EmailE-mail PrintablePrintable Comments(89) Comments LargerSmallerText size ShareShare Rate(5) Rate A Taunton state representative wants to make Massachusetts the first state to declare driving under the influence of alcohol - even one green beer - flat out illegal. Rep. James Fagan’s legislation would slash the current .08 blood-alcohol limit recognized nationwide as the standard for being legally drunk to .02. Federal government research indicates a 160- to 240-pound man would register .02 sipping one glass of wine...

'100 Dead' In Anti-China Protests In Tibet By Sky News SkyNews - 9 minutes agoChina has locked down the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and set a deadline for rioters to surrender following the worst violence in 20 years. Beijing said that 10 people had been burnt to death during a day of unrest, while Tibet's government-in-exile in India warned that the number could be much higher. In a statement from its northern India base, it said: "We have unconfirmed reports about 100 people had been killed and martial law imposed in Lhasa." The government said it was "deeply concerned" by...

REPORT:  Military Recruiting Centers Under Attack by Anti-War Activists - All Across America * VIEW THE REPORT (PART A) - HERE *ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS EXPOSED (PART B) - HERE * VIEW OUR NEW TV AD CAMPAIGN - HERE

Arriving in the Port of Oakland at 6 a.m. last Thursday, the grey-blue colossus auto carrier Century Highway No. 3 carries enough cars to fill all the parking lots surrounding the Giants stadium — a mere fraction of the average 368 million annual tons of autos, toys, and other goods moving through the 29 ports along America's Pacific coast. Could there be a force of man or nature powerful enough to interrupt this perpetual merchandise tsunami? Would you believe — San Francisco radical peaceniks? On May 1, the usually bustling ports along the West Coast will become still, as members...

After 30 years, Navratilova's Czech again Tue Mar 11, 3:12 AM ET Tennis legend Martina Navratilova said Tuesday she has regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing communism in the country of her birth to live in the United States. "I lost it at the time I defected. I got it back on January 9," Navratilova told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo. The 51-year-old former world champion said she was maintaining dual nationality and keeping her US passport. Born in Prague, Navratilova fled to the United States in 1975 at the height of the Cold...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US dropped China from its list of the world's worst human rights violaters, but added Syria, Uzbekistan and Sudan to the alleged offenders in an annual report released Tuesday. The State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report showed China, which has raised hopes it will improve human rights by hosting the 2008 Olympics, had parted company with countries like North Korea, Myanmar and Iran.

North Korea publicly executes 15 starving refugees fleeing to China in desperate search for foodLast updated at 00:05am on 6th March 2008 North Korea has publicly executed 15 starving people, mostly women, for illegally entering neighbouring China in search of food, an aid group said yesterday. The 13 women and two men were shot on a bridge in the north-eastern town of Onseong as local residents watched. It was the second mass execution to be reported this week. The group of 15 were sentenced to death for illegally crossing the border into China or for helping others to do so, to...

Andy Garcia is urging fashion-conscious rebels to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Latino revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara because they remind Cubans of terrible times. The actor accepts that Guevara stands for rebellion and is seen as a hero to many, but he sees the revolutionary as a butcher who killed millions of his countrymen. Argentine-born Guevara helped current Cuban leader Fidel Castro overthrow General Fulgencio Batista's government in a guerrilla revolution in the late 1950s. Garcia, who left Cuba when he was five, says, "I'd be curious to go around and ask them how much they really...

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban President Raul Castro is taking over leadership of a country whose government believes its citizens are not working hard enough. The state-run newspaper recently ran an article headlined "Work: Option or necessity?" The writer pointed out that, judging by the number of people in the streets during the day, many Cubans don't seem to be on the job. They have few motivations to buckle down: Salaries average about $15 per month on the island, and Cubans get monthly food rations even if they don't work. Watch a report on the realities in Cuba » "There...

Early last week Buzz Krohn of Columbia, MD discovered That guy called me Horse pucky! That's the nicest thing [sniff] anyone's said to me in a long time! a fundraiser was planned at a nearby community college featuring an awards ceremony honoring members of Code Pink. Trooprally posted this thread to alert FReepers. Buzz played the biggest part in gathering info and getting the counter protest organized. The ceremony and fundraiser was organized by the local chapter of Women in Black. What grand honor were the WIB bestowing on Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, and Gael Murphy? VAGINA WARRIOR AWARDS!...

Fidel Castro Steps Down...

This is directed to Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU Arizona, pertaining to her recent letter to the Herald, subject: “ACLU protects American values, civil liberties.” Concerning the imaginary virtues of that organization, her prognostications are derived from their Web site, which carefully orchestrates both its past and defined benevolences. Yes, the ACLU on rare occasions picks and chooses what and whom to defend that are diametrically opposed to the philosophies of that organization just to give itself an air of legitimacy. The fact is the ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, a devout Marxist, which was determined...

Berkeley Code Pink Out-Gunned By Move America Forward Pro-Troop Supporters February 12, 2008 - Berkeley, CA - PipeLinenews.org - As the nine member Berkeley City Council prepared to decide the fate of the city’s Marine Corp Recruiting Center, Move America Forward - the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization - took to the streets, confronting a rag-tag group of counter culture lefties, including members of Code Pink, a group much in favor with California Democrat legislators. Starting at 5am conservatives streamed into the notoriously radical city of 100,000, carrying the dual themed but unified message of support for both our...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama's presidential bid is a "revolutionary" phenomenon in the United States. "It's not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. ... but yes, they are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change," the Sandinista leader said Wednesday night as he accepted an honorary doctorate from an engineering university. Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. He returned to office last year via the ballot box. In statements broadcast...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US grocery chain Trader Joe's said Monday it would stop selling food imported from China due to customers' concerns about the products' safety. "Our customers have voiced concerns about products from this region and we have listened," Trader Joe's spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said in a statement. "All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China are scheduled to be out of our stores by April 1," she said. "We will continue to source products from other regions until our customers feel as confident as we do about the quality and safety of Chinese products."

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

Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions. -- The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.

Historians credit left-wingers with coining "politics of fear" to belittle Sen. Joseph McCarthy's campaign against communists in the U.S. government. The phrase went into hibernation in the 1960s, a torpidity even warmonger-in-waiting Lyndon Johnson's daisy-girl ad couldn't disturb, only to reemerge in the 1980s to denigrate Ronald Reagan's Cold War-winning strategy. These days, the phrase has become the lefties' No. 1 rhetorical trump card against the war against Islamic terrorism. To them, Americans have more to fear from the Bush administration than from the terrorists who seek to bring America to heel. Sen. Barack Obama uses it in almost every...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INDIANAPOLIS (January 31, 2008) - “Osama bin Laden couldn’t have said it better,” American Legion National Commander Marty Conatser said of the Berkeley City Council Resolution, which tells the Marines that they are not welcome there. “Disgraceful, disloyal, ungrateful. These words are too kind in describing the actions of the public officials in Berkeley, who voted for this disgrace. Nonetheless, our Marines continue to bravely serve and in so doing, allow Americans to spout such foolishness. The American Legion not only strongly condemns this action by the City Council but also believes that a sincere apology is...

If John McCain rolls on Super Tuesday then it is time for all Freepers living in remaining primary states to cross-over in your respective primaries and vote for Obama on the dem ballot. It's our best opportunity to stop her because she will crush McCain in November.

Key U.S. senator proposes company to buy mortgages Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:23pm EST By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is proposing to set up a government-sponsored company that would buy distressed mortgages in an effort to save Americans from foreclosure. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released on Wednesday, Sen. Christopher Dodd said he envisioned an entity with an initial capitalization of $10 billion to $20 billion that would buy troubled mortgages, give them a markdown and pass on the "discounts ... to homeowners in the form of...

Maoists are turning cannibals. They eat human flesh to terrorize villagers. This was revealed by the residents of Bandiguda, 45 km from the district headquarters town of Malkangiri. The district police, under the leadership of daredevil SP Satish Kumar Gajbhiye, risked in organizing a community policing programme in a far-flung area, known as the Red Terror Zone of the district. On August 3, 2007, the people of Bandiguda saw Mukunda Madhi of their village being lifted by 'Papular Dalam Commander' Bhagat, as Mukunda was suspected by the Maoists as a police informer. Next morning, Mukunda was brought back to the...

North Korea has become more and more receptive to help from United Nations agencies, mostly due to the country's dire need of food and other aid, a special rapporteur from the U.N. said Friday. Vitit Muntarbhorn, a U.N. special rapporteur on North Korean human rights currently visiting Tokyo, assessed Pyongyang's reception of help from U.N. agencies since the devastating floods last August as a "constructive development." The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the North's crop yields decreased 7 percent in 2007 from a year earlier to some 3.8 million tons. The official, however, also noted that...

China's new employment law effective Jan. 1 attempts to provide greater protection and benefits for more workers. But what we are already seeing is the creativity of employers to find ways to circumvent the new rules to avoid being saddled with higher costs. Over the last 12 years, in an avalanche of economic opportunity, about 200 million farmers in China have migrated to the cities, taking manufacturing, trade and construction jobs. (Incidentally, there are about 300 million more of these workers ready, willing and able to migrate over the next 20 years). This mass migration has overwhelmed the regulatory authorities...