Free Republic

I’m not writing her off. No matter how many gaffes she makes, no matter what she writes on her palm, she is not going away. In fact, she may very well be the Republican nominee in 2012, and if the economy hasn’t recovered by then, there’s an outside chance she could win the White House. She is already the favorite among Republicans. A Newsmax-Zogby poll of January 28 had her garnering 22.2 percent of Republican voters, compared to Romney’s 19.4 percent, Gingrich’s 12 percent, Huckabee’s 11 percent, and David Petraeus’s 5.4 percent. She was greeted as royalty at the Tea...

How should we characterize the economic period we have now entered? After nearly two brutal years, the Great Recession appears to be over, at least technically. Yet a return to normalcy seems far off. By some measures, each recession since the 1980s has retreated more slowly than the one before it. In one sense, we never fully recovered from the last one, in 2001: the share of the civilian population with a job never returned to its previous peak before this downturn began, and incomes were stagnant throughout the decade. Still, the weakness that lingered through much of the 2000s...

INTENT OF THE LAW What seems equally clear is that Warren and the town of King have misapplied the law; however, broad its language, Article 36A is entitled “Riots and Civil Disorders.” According to a local blogger who personally investigated the incident and described it at saradactyl.com, no such civil disorder existed. The Youtube video she produced on the incident is below.

Sarah Palin and The Tea Party movement are making many headlines these days as they fortify their position as the key opposition against President Barack Obama. Make no mistake about it. Sarah Palin is going to run for president in 2012. And, the millions of morons who follow her with every beck and call will vote for her. She'll get a lot of votes. And, she very well could unseat President Obama in 2012. Sarah Palin has now captivated the hearts and minds of conservatives across the country by being the face of the divisive Tea Party movement. She spoke...

Three months after a rift between GOP party leaders and grass-roots conservatives led to the special election loss of a historically Republican-held seat in upstate New York, another campaign melodrama is taking shape in the same district. Doug Hoffman, last November’s Conservative Party nominee in New York’s 23rd District who is vying again for the seat, is refusing to rule out running as a third-party candidate this year if he fails to win the Republican primary. And his leading backer, Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, told POLITICO that he refuses to endorse any candidate other than Hoffman — raising the...

LYNNWOOD — Lawns with grass taller than 8 inches are now illegal in this city. Placing the restriction on unsightly yards was one of several steps the City Council took on Monday to tighten up its nuisance ordinance. Provisions also were added to rules governing overnight parking of trucks in residential areas and “mother-in-law” apartments. “It is unfortunate that this ordinance has been tagged as the ‘grass ordinance,’ since there is only a couple of lines in the whole ordinance addressing lawns,” Councilman Loren Simmonds said. “This is not government weighing in on little people. We are simply trying to...

The tea-party movement has no leader. But it does have a face: William Temple of Brunswick, Ga. For months, the amiable middle-aged activist has been criss-crossing America, appearing at tea-party events dressed in his trademark three-cornered hat and Revolutionary garb. When journalists interview him (which is often—his outfit draws them in like a magnet), he presents himself as a human bridge between the founders' era and our own. "We fought the British over a 3 percent tea tax. We might as well bring the British back," he told NPR during a recent protest outside the Capitol. It's a charming act,...

Rick Synder: Is He MI's Revenge Of The Nerds?

The Tenth Amendment Town Hall Special Event: Tenth Amendment Town Hall Exploring Solutions to Restoring Texas' Constitutional Rights February 15, 2010 - 8:30am to 1:30pm - Plano, Texas You are invited to a very special event hosted by the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC).    Trillion-dollar bailouts, record deficits, a proposed government takeover of health care, job-killing environmental regulations, and looming tax increases.  The excessive power being wielded over states and individuals by the federal government must stop.  The Tenth Amendment Town Hall hosted by TCC will serve as forum to explore solutions to both restore the constitutional rights of the...

http://duffyforcongress.com/ http://obeystimulus.com/ Sean Duffy is running for Congress in Wisconsin's 7th District and is looking to retire current Democratic congressman, David Obey, who helped author the 787 billion dollar stimulus passed last year. Sean is currently getting nationwide exposure in such venues as Time Magazine, National Review Online, and the Wall Street Journal. Is he the next Scott Brown? Show your support Free Republic! http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1958119_1958112_1958125,00.html http://article.nationalreview.com/422186/could-obey-be-coakleyd/kathryn-jean-lopez http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704130904574644672185089720.html

The Daily Beast has a piece from Mark McKinnon and Myra Adams musing on the possibility that Barack Obama could nominate Hillary Clinton for a Supreme Court seat this year. It's obvious why Clinton might want the seat; few think her ambitions end with the secretary of state gig, but it would be awhile before she could run for president again. And the authors posture that Obama is concerned enough about his legacy that he wants to wipe away the wounds caused by stepping over her on the campaign trail. Plus, "she's as smart and as qualified as any prospect...

The U.S. should support an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear installations if the Jewish state, fearing diplomacy has failed, ultimately takes that course of action, stated former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Asked whether the U.S. should support an Israeli strike, Huckabee replied, "Absolutely." Huckabee was speaking in a WABC Radio interview with Aaron Klein, WND's senior reporter, who has been hosting a weekend show on the New York mega-station.

It's always nice to see Hollywood pitch in and do its bit for the nation. In WWII, Tinsel Town mobilized to help defeat the Axis powers. Today, the heirs of that proud tradition are going all out against today's forces of evil - medical insurance companies. At least, that's the impression fans of Fox's "House M.D." got from the show's Feb.8 episode. Detailing a hectic day in the life of Princeton Plainsboro Hospital Administrator Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), three of the episode's four story lines involved insurance. In one story line, a former patient was suing the hospital for...

Over ONE MILLION copies sold! On the NYTimes Bestseller List for 19 weeks, 12 weeks at #1!Buy it… read it… live it!“Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Takebackacademia.com That's the newest project we've been working on! Check it out. See what goes on in classrooms across the nation. Brought to you by students and The Harrington Report. You know who they are, they're those outspoken professors who rarely teach but rather bloviate in an attempt to indoctrinate the captive audience. They are some of the most powerful people in America; they have the ability to affect the public consciousness and manipulate the ideas in the public's mind. Our mission at Take Back Academia is to have students take interest, take charge, and take back academia. We want...

The nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was just defeated on a cloture vote 52-33. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.), and Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) all voted against cloture.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but someone has to do it. The “Miss Me Yet?” billboard (inspired by Jonathan Maney’s t-shirts) is cute. But let’s not get carried away with nostalgia. President Bush put America on the proper war footing after 9/11 and deserves much credit for doing so, but he also: 1) joined with open-borders progressives McCain and Kennedy to try to force shamnesty down our throats; 2) massively expanded the federal role in education; 3) championed the Medicare prescription drug entitlement using phony math; 4) kowtowed to the jihadi-enabling Saudis; 5) stocked DHS with incompetents and cronies;...

Sorry to be so very late, had very important business trips, also had to get ready for winter storm tomorrow.

Angela McGlawon is a big friggin GUN GRABBER!!!! Listen to Angela, in her own words - youtube

Subject: Great Orators of the Democrat Party IN YEARS GONE BY: 'One man with courage makes a majority.' - Andrew Jackson 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' - Franklin D. Roosevelt 'The buck stops here.' - Harry S. Truman 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' - John F. Kennedy NOW: And from today's Genius Democrats.............. 'It depends what your definition of 'is' is?'' - Bill Clinton 'That Obama - I would like to cut his NUTS off.' - Jesse Jackson 'Those rumors are false .......

Sarah Palin will be in Orlando March 12 for a special speech. This is the date when the 2010 campaigns will begin in earnest, so it will be great, and a very big deal. Am arranging a special section for FReepers. A special two night discounted hotel package will be avaiable for FReepers only on that weekend. Remember, it's warm and no snow in Orlando. Watch FR for details and discounted hotel/travel/tickets.

The leftist pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood has released a new report calling for children as young as ten years old to be given access to contraceptives and taught to be "sexual beings"...

Over at The Faculty Lounge, there are some pictures of sit-ins from the early 1960s. Regarding a 1963 sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi, TFL writes: “By one account, members of the all-White Jackson police force stood guard outside, while several FBI agents (the guys in back wearing shades) ‘observed’ from inside. That White guy at the counter, that’s Tougaloo professor and community activist Hunter Gray (John R. Salter) who helped organize the Jackson sit-ins. And that’s blood on his shirt. All of the protesters had been covered in slop, and some were beaten with brass knuckles and broken bottles.” The non-violent...

Newspapers Blast NOW for Saying Tebow Ad Promotes Domestic Violence Washington, DC -- Just as they defended the pro-life Tim Tebow commercial before it aired during the Super Bowl, newspaper columnists are defending the commercial from the latest attack by the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW) claiming it promoted domestic violence. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5983.html

Sen. John McCain's daughter Meghan McCain, who has crafted an image for herself as a voice for young Republicans, took on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement on ABC's "The View" on Monday. --snip-- McCain also took a shot at the Tea Party convention, where Palin was the keynote speaker last weekend. The convention also featured former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who said in his speech, "People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House -- name is Barack Hussein Obama." Tancredo added, "Thank God John...

Tea party-backed candidate Debra Medina is closing on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in Texas’s Republican gubernatorial primary, increasing the odds the race led by Gov. Rick Perry will be thrown into a runoff. According to a by Public Policy Polling, Medina, a nurse who’s now a businesswoman, had the support of 24 percent of likely Republican primary voters, trailing the three-term senator by only 4 percentage points. Perry, who’s leading Hutchison by double-digits in several polls, got 39 percent in the latest survey. If none of the candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the March 2...

GOP strategists fret that RNC Chairman Michael Steele's unorthodox management style will mean missed opportunities in November. Every time Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele gets into trouble, a burst of good news for the GOP bails him out. But Republican strategists fret that his unorthodox approach to his job could leave the party short of cash -- and short of the electoral gains that it might otherwise achieve. Republicans, even those who have never been fans of the outspoken Steele, have concluded that trying to oust him would cause the party more pain than it's worth. Still, the RNC's...

Below is the entirety [VIDEO] of Andrew Breitbart’s remarks during his Keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville last weekend. During Breitbart’s 33 minute long address, he threatens to upend the entire media establishment, calling them out on their hypocrisy while demanding they change their ways, or else.

It was readily discernable that New Mexico was in trouble when a local radio ad for a mattress store made reference to “your sleep partner”… This bill is relevant to both heterosexuals and to homosexuals. The heterosexuals demand that the government commit to offering them the benefits without themselves making a marriage commitment. Homosexuals who, given the choice, may or may not want to get married are demanding marriage benefits even while having chosen a lifestyle to which marriage does not pertain (although, this is litigiously changing). Demanding benefits while choosing against marriage is tantamount to wanting an athlete’s body...

If you’re the President of the United States or one of his political appointees and you’re ideologically opposed to new oil and natural gas development offshore, what do you do when the public registers its overwhelming support for new drilling in public opinion polls?You dance, delay, and deceive. You speak melodious words about seeking the wisdom of the public in making these decisions and then ignore evidence of the public will when you get it, or worse, you hide it.First came the dance. In August 2008, after soaring gas prices and a dramatic shift in public opinion caused President Bush,...

The issue is that of tolerance, diversity and general open mindedness. This is what the atheist soldier, the MRFF [Military Religious Freedom Foundation] and Pedro Irigonegaray are lacking. Practicing tolerance, diversity and general open mindedness would mean that the atheist soldier would attend events where prayers were said and understand that even though it is not their way, those who fight to protect our rights—which according to the Declaration of Independence are given to us by “our Creator…nature’s God”—are not to be excluded from the freedom of religious expression. This is so even on government property as the historical context...

MADISON, Wis. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a threat assessment of local pro- and anti-abortion rights activists before an expected rally last year, even though they did not pose a threat to national security. The DHS destroyed or deleted its copies of the assessment after an internal review found it violated intelligence-gathering guidelines by collecting and sharing information about "protest groups which posed no threat to homeland security," according to a department memo written last year. The report was only shared with police in Middleton and with the director of the Wisconsin Statewide Information Center, an intelligence-gathering...

Obama Admin Admits It Tracked Abortion Groups in Wisconsin Madison, WI -- The Department of Homeland Security admitted today that it improperly conducted a threat assessment on pro-life groups in Wisconsin. The assessment came before an expected rally last year in response to the University of Wisconsin Hospital board decided to allow abortions. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4796.html

Democrats in Congress are holding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accountable for his part in the collapse of healthcare reform. The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. The share of the blame comes as cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor. Last week he had to apologize after a report surfaced that he called liberal groups “retarded” in a private meeting. While Emanuel has quelled that controversy by meeting with advocates for people with disabilities, on Capitol Hill he’s under...

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the city of King NC has received approximately six inches of snow over the last seven days. Apparently, that snowfall, coupled with limited power outages, was frightening enough that, last Friday February 5th, 2010, King Mayor Jack Warren declared a local state of emergency pursuant to North Carolina General Statute § 14-288.12. ... With the stroke of a pen, the mayor stripped them of their fundamental right to travel, to peaceably assemble, and to openly bear arms as enumerated in the North Carolina Constitution. In addition to the denial of fundamental and...

Last May, I wrote about why I thought Florida governor Charlie Crist was an acceptable fiscal conservative (the Cato Institute had given him an "A" on its Fiscal Policy Report Card) and why I believed he gave Republicans the best chance to retain Florida's U.S. Senate seat. Even though I was chided by fellow conservatives for saying something favorable about the governor, who had embraced Obama's nearly $1 trillion stimulus package (which by the way has failed to reduce unemployment), I believed that a more important goal was to stop the Democrats from strengthening their filibuster-proof Senate majority. I subsequently...

Imam Zaid Shakir came to speak at my school, Claremont McKenna, on December 9th to respond to the “tragedy of Ft. Hood.” Rather than respond to the massacre of American servicemen, Shakir spent the evening indicting the United States – saying “we were born in genocide.” The reason for the Ft. Hood Massacre, according to Shakir? Not jihad or Islamic fundamentalism, but the “pervasiveness of violence in our society” and because of Americans’ “easy access to guns.” Zaid Shakir – Final [1] from The Claremont Conservative [2] on Vimeo [3]. For those wondering who Mr. Shakir is, he’s the go-to...

Some say it’s time to make document gender-neutral CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire penned the nation’s first constitution in 1776, binding until the end of the Revolutionary War. With the war won, the state in 1783 ratified a new one that opens with the words, “All men are born equally free and independent.’’ Now, some say another rewriting is in order. The word men might once have referred to those with rights and power, but no longer, and the constitution should be amended to reflect as much, says a group of New Hampshire legislators seeking to excise the word men...

On Capitol Hill, there's a war being fought over the War on Terror, and so far, Republicans are winning. Or at least they're winning the Battle of Miranda. GOP lawmakers believe they are having some success in the effort to stiffen the spine of the Obama administration as it makes policy for dealing with captured terrorist suspects in the future. Even as the administration defends its decision to grant accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, the president himself is hinting that things might be done differently in the future. "Should the practice of reading suspected...

"It looks like the [warming] empire strikes back. Obama is attempting to engineer a global warming bailout. This is a classic response of the federal government: Bail out a corrupt and dying industry," Marc Morano, editor of the watchdog site ClimateDepot.com, tells Inside the Beltway.

Washington- The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate. Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service. "Whether we like it or not, climate...

GLENN BECK, the most listened to Talk Show Host among White House Peeps (4 out of 5 Marxists agree)! Welcome Sick Twisted Freaks! It’s a morning thread, so bring your coffee and doughnuts! FRink Phrases: "Cloward and Piven" “Blow your mind” “Fatty fat fatso” “Having an ADD moment” “That’s FANSTASTIC!” And of course anytime Pat does his Arlen Specter voice is cause to FRink! Feel free to FReepmail any suggestions to add to the list! ENJOY!

Listen Live: Sound Off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 9 a.m. to noon ET (Daily Thread)Sound Off Connecticut is a popular conservative/libertarian call in talk show hosted by Jim Vicevich weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon ET. Although based in Connecticut, the show welcomes callers from all over the United States! This is your chance to sound off America! Call into the show toll free (800) 966-9842! Listen to the LIVE AUDIO STREAM at http://wtic.com - it's free and NO registration is required! If you're in southern New England listen over the air to WTIC 1080 AM, the 50,000 watt...

Now on the books--“Every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States … shall register with the Secretary of State."

guraWe’ve made no bones of the fact that McDonald v. Chicago is our favorite case of the current Supreme Court term. The case has it all: a hot-button political issue (gun control), a set of fascinating constitutional questions, and plenty of pre-game controversy. For those who aren’t familiar with the case, we suggest you get up to speed by reading Jess Bravin’s story on the case, from last March, as well as our blog post on Bravin’s article. That backdrop sets up nicely a story in Monday’s Washington Post on some early wrangling going on among lawyers working on the...

The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) is warning gun owners about a new attempt by the state legislature to quietly stifle gun ownership even further throughout the state, known as HB 180. In what is already one of the most hostile anti-gun states in the country, this bill would impose sweeping new regulations on gun shops that would increase costs and excessively complicate the process of purchasing a firearm. For instance, it would make even the very existence of all gun shops subject to the arbitrary whims of the Illinois State Police by creating yet another intrusive government licensing process...

No one has vested more hope in the tea-party move ment than the Democrats. For all the scorn and abuse they've heaped on the tea-partiers, they've counted on them for salvation. The tea-partiers would push the GOP out of the mainstream. They'd tar the party with their bumptious extremism. They'd stoke a Republican civil war. The tea-partiers would, in short, redeem the Obama administration's political fortunes no matter what. This was the oft-repeated theory, shot through with a perverse hopefulness and woeful misunderstanding. One wonders if Democrats can overcome their contempt for the tea-partiers -- whom they call "tea baggers,"...

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel about the president's proposed health care reform summit today, asking if the "President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?" Referencing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius telling Sam Stein of the Huffington Post that President Obama is “absolutely not” resetting...

If one had to read one columnist to appreciate the state of contemporary left-wing commentary, my nomination would be Frank Rich of the Sunday New York Times. No well-known leftist columnist better exemplifies the worst aspects of today's left. Virtually every piece is filled with anger, filled with ad hominem responses to arguments, filled with insults of opponents and at the same time devoid of intellectual arguments. A Frank Rich column is essentially a weekly tantrum meant to make his readers nod in agreement and reinforce their contempt for those who differ with them. I offer this past Sunday's column...

At a crucial stage in the Democratic primaries in late 2007, Barack Obama rejuvenated his campaign with a barnstorming speech, in which he ended on a promise of what his victory would produce: “A nation healed. A world repaired. An America that believes again.” Just over a year into his tenure, America’s 44th president governs a bitterly divided nation, a world increasingly hard to manage and an America that seems more disillusioned than ever with Washington’s ways. What went wrong? Pundits, Democratic lawmakers and opinion pollsters offer a smorgasbord of reasons – from Mr Obama’s decision to devote his first...