Free Republic

President Obama yesterday rolled out the red carpet -- and handed out doctors' white coats as well, just so nobody missed his hard-sell health-care message. In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama. A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama's pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress.

More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith. The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, i

Is there any possibility of repeating a period in history when the nation's jobless rate reached 25 percent and economic output fell by one-third, as it did during the Depression? "Zero, just zero," said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economics professor. "Ten percent, that could happen. If we got to 10 percent, that would be pretty spectacular for the U.S. But it would take a lot of mistakes (by Congress) for a long time . . . if Congress takes the ball and it fumbles."

I posted a squib on the National Review Web site about a robo call I received from John McCain. (Virginia's primary is Tuesday.) The call stressed that he would, if elected, be a down-the-line limited government conservative who would never raise taxes, would defend life, would enforce immigration laws and would win the war on terror. The candidate is trying, I said, to meet conservatives "more than halfway." The response of readers was, shall we say, emphatic. One lady wrote that she would never vote for him as "He is the most disloyal, ill-tempered man and he brings out the...

On our tenth day in Pakistan, my colleague Tighe Barry and I, both human rights activists with CODEPINK and Global Exchange, were arrested at gunpoint by agents of the Pakistani government. We had just left a student rally and were driving down the streets of Lahore with a car full of Pakistani journalists and lawyers. Two cars and six motorbikes came screeching up, blocked our car, piled out with guns drawn, dragged the journalists and lawyers out of the car, beat the bystanders, and hijacked the car. With the two of us huddled in the back surrounded by shouting police,...

To believe that this corruption will simply evaporate when the Bush presidency is done is to underestimate the permanent erosion inflicted over the past six years. What was once shocking and unacceptable in America has now been internalized as the new normal. This is most apparent in the Republican presidential race, where most of the candidates seem to be running for dictator and make no apologies for it. They’re falling over each other to expand Gitmo, see who can promise the most torture and abridge the largest number of constitutional rights.

Is it just me or are we all getting pretty tired of FNC’s abuse of “Breaking News” and “News Alerts”? It amazes me that you can’t watch one day’s worth of programming on America’s “fair and balanced” network without being assaulted by these false overtures. The producers at the FNC must think we are the dumbest viewers in the history of television news. The recent fires in Southern California provided almost every anchor on Fox with the opportunity to over-dramatize the events of the day. I’ve never seen so many “Breaking News” reports on one story in my life. And...

Anti-Bush tracks among masters on hard drive that are taken The Department of Homeland Security may be substantially hipper than previously known. Chris Walla, the guitarist and producer for indie rock legends Death Cab for Cutie, says border guards seized a computer drive containing the master tracks for his upcoming solo album last month when a courier tried to deliver it to Seattle-based Barsuk Records from a studio in Vancouver, B.C. "I don't know what red flag could possibly have gone up at the border," Walla said Wednesday in a phone interview from Portland. Walla said he had been working...

<p>MERIDA, Mexico — President Bush, seeking to rebuild ties with Mexico, pledged Wednesday to intensify efforts to overhaul U.S. immigration laws and crack down on illegal drug trafficking. Bush said that he senses there has been a change of attitudes in Congress about updating immigration laws, from skepticism last year to recognition now that changes are in U.S. interests. "I will work with Congress, members of both political parties, to pass immigration law that will enable us to respect the rule of law -- and at the same time, respect humanity," Bush said in a news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Bush, facing a huge fight within his own party for his immigration plan, called it an important but sensitive issue. "I say important because a good migration law will help both economies and will help the security of both countries," Bush said. "If people can come into our country, for example, on a temporary basis to work, doing jobs Americans aren't doing, they won't have to sneak across the border."</p>

A Roman Catholic couple say they’re being driven from the church over the archbishop’s opposition to their same-sex union. After Daniel Poirier and Jack Murphy of Meteghan Centre got married in May, the two 69-year-olds placed an announcement and photograph in The Chronicle Herald. When the notice appeared, the couple’s priest at Stella Maris in Meteghan told them that Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, head of the Halifax archdiocese and administrator of the Yarmouth diocese, which includes Meteghan, had directed that they could no longer receive communion or assume any leadership position in the church. That meant Mr. Poirier could no longer...

I knoe vanity threads are frowned upon - but considering the circumstances, it wouldn't hurt us to vent and debate what happened yesterday. In the last week of the campaign, mnay leading GOP'ers (inlcuding, but not limited to, Ken Mehlmann, Hugh Hewitt, etc) spoke of a blue wave. Not a tsunami-like blue wave - but a blue wave strong enough to help us keep control of Congress. I'd like to pose this question to you. Was there ever REALLY a blue wave? Was there a wave - but it wasn't strong enough and soon enough? Or was the GOP establishment...

In his most recent article on WND, "Will disgruntled conservatives really collude with Democrats?" conservative spokesman David Limbaugh seems to be planting seeds of encouragement for frustrated conservatives who have been stunned during the George W. Bush Era. Although Mr. Limbaugh correctly states that there will be additional problems with a Democratic takeover in the upcoming Nov. 7 election, his attempts to encourage the aforementioned participants to continue to hold their noses and vote for the lesser of the evils is a bit discouraging. For God-fearing Republicans, it's the same old story election in and election out. If we don't...

It's become more and more obvious that Republican apologists are going to be able to get away with blaming the upcoming "stunning" defeat on the Foley "scandal," rather than the fact that large chunks of its base and other normally dependable voters are going to stay home in disgust over the several years of: Wild-eyed pork, earmarks, and increasing government size and power. intentions to put Gonzales and Miers on the Supreme Court. Failure to engage the strongest enemies of the US, in particular Iran. Horrible mismanagement of the Iraq occupation. Passing and signing the Campaign Finance Reform act. The...

Dear Rush: Pardon my French, but you’re full of s***! As I listened to your show last week, you chose to criticize and attack conservative Americans like myself who feel the Republican Party does not deserve to win in November. Rush, since when did you become such a shill for the GOP? Choosing the party over the base is a very disappointing move to this long time listener. I’m very disappointed in you, Rush Limbaugh, you’ve lost touch with the reality that is life for the common man in America. I heartily recommend you take pause and reconsider your programming...

I am your typical Republican "supervoter." .... But I'm seriously considering ending that streak this Nov. 7. ... I'm also a contrarian -- a conservative with libertarian leanings. Combine all these characteristics, then mix in the aggregate Republican record, allow the ire it has created to rise and bake it for a few years and here's what comes out of the oven: A party base that's mad as hell and no longer willing to rationalize GOP failures. It's a base whose crust grows darker and thicker -- i.e., angrier -- when prominent conservatives and Republicans -- politicians, pundits, radio talk-show...

When he was 12 years old, the boy who would grow up to be the man who took on the U.S. vice president was walking in San Francisco with his family. They turned the corner and came upon a civil rights demonstration - concerned citizens waving signs, chanting their disagreement, indignant over some current injustice. Before his parents knew what was happening, the boy grabbed a sign and began marching intently, joining the protest as enthusiastically as if it were a pickup baseball game. "I was raised to have a social conscience," says a matter-of- fact Steven Howards. He is...

We have lived as if in a trance. We have lived as people in fear. And now—our rights and our freedoms in peril—we slowly awake to learn that we have been afraid of the wrong thing. Therefore, tonight have we truly become the inheritors of our American legacy. For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering: A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.

This column is going to make me very unpopular with Republicans. I don't care. It must be said. Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government. I sincerely regret this is the case. I would much prefer that there were a real viable alternative to the Democrats, who are not only unworthy, but also unacceptable. But wishful thinking is not going to protect our country. Wishful thinking is not going to expand freedom, promote justice and restore morality to...

GOP unworthy of governing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This column is going to make me very unpopular with Republicans. I don't care. It must be said. Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government. I sincerely regret this is the case. I would much prefer that there were a real viable alternative to the Democrats, who are not only unworthy, but also unacceptable. But wishful thinking is not going to protect our country. Wishful thinking is not going to expand freedom, promote...

Flamboyant Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens tried to kill himself by overdosing on pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after a friend intervened, according to a police report obtained Wednesday. Owens left the hospital late Wednesday morning, giving reporters a "thumbs up" but making no comment as he was driven away in an SUV. Publicist Kim Etheredge said in various interviews Wednesday with Dallas-area media that the police have gotten the story wrong. She said she was with Owens, who was having trouble because he'd