Free Republic

As the father of two young girls who have shown such poise, humor, and patience in the unconventional life into which they have been thrust, I mark this Father's Day—our first in the White House—with a deep sense of gratitude. I observe this Father's Day not just as a father grateful to be present in my daughters' lives but also as a son who grew up without a father in my own life. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told....

Believe it or not, this isn’t the most foolish comment from Kareem Dale at the Atlantic Council awards last week. Dale takes his job as Minister of Culture in the Obama administration a little too seriously. He rails against the supposed “second class” status given the arts in America:

When a foreign journalist asks the president of the United States a chuffy question about American exceptionalism, one would expect either a quick, sharply worded dodge or a long, diplomatic evasion. What no president before the current one would have attempted was to take up the issue like a professor leading a seminar on foreign affairs. But that’s just what Obama did at a NATO news conference. Commenting on American exceptionalism is like trying to tell a friend about a complex movie or a great meal. You’re bound to get something wrong, and you’ll certainly leave out important parts. Presidents...

The last time a Democratic President asked a New Hampshire Republican to serve in his Cabinet, a move was made at the next Republican National Convention to formally run the fellow out of the Grand Old Party. Cooler heads prevailed. We don't expect the same fate to befall Sen. Judd Gregg, but he may want to keep history in mind. Frank Knox was the New Hampshire Republican in question. His party bona fides were unquestioned up until the call from Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940 on the eve of World War II. Four years earlier, Knox had been the Republican...

Roland Burris, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's controversial choice to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the US Senate, has already begun work on his memorial in Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago's South Side. His tombstone boldly proclaims, "Trail Blazer" and includes a list of his accomplishments. See the memorial for yourself and tell us what you think it should say in light of recent Blago-related events.

By Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 22, 2008 Officials are casting doubt on an early projection that 4 million to 5 million people could jam downtown Washington on Inauguration Day, saying it is more likely that the crowd will be about half that size. D.C. authorities said the earlier estimates, provided by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), were based on speculation surrounding the historic nature of the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the nation's first African American president. After weeks of checking with charter bus companies, airlines and other sources, they're reassessing. "It's more of an...

Senior Clay Edwards’ photo won’t be in this year’s Bracken County High School yearbook. He’ll be listed as “not pictured.” For Edwards it wasn’t missing picture day or a case of the flu that kept him out of his last yearbook and the class of 2009 composite – it was a dog collar and makeup......

As I sat through another interminable middle school award ceremony that lasted longer than the contest itself, I pondered how the self-esteem movement has wrecked this country. I had plenty of time since well-meaning adults were handing out participation medals to every eager participant. This current financial calamity is the logical result of the self-esteem movement. Don't get me wrong, I think self-esteem is wonderful when sprung from a healthy self-image and buoyed by real accomplishments. But like diversity, it is worthless when pursued for its own sake. Presidents Clinton and Bush were full of self-esteem as terrorists plotted the...

The Making of an American DictatorAll the ingredient are here:_____________________________________ His own personal Army:Obama Vows To Create 'Civilian National Security Force'...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."_________________________________ Denying the right to self-defense:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhuVu42MwCM _____________________________________ Disarming the population:“I don’t believe people should be able to own guns.”- Obama to prof. John Lott http://johnrlott.tripod.com/MedvedShowLott1.mp3 Watch this video if you don't think it's possible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG1ANlNgztM&feature=related _____________________________________ A tremendous arrogance for power:'I WILL CHANGE...

ContentType:Spot Development; ContentElement:FullStory; Breaking:True; By MIKE GLOVER and DAVID ESPO Associated Press Writers DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Despite John McCain's prediction of an upset, Barack Obama reached for a landslide Friday, invading his rival's home state with TV ads and building a lead in early voting in key battlegrounds as the presidential race headed into a hectic final weekend. McCain charged that Obama, bidding to become the first black president, "began his campaign in the liberal left lane of politics and has never left it. He's more liberal than a senator who calls himself a socialist," he added in...

This is a video of Barack Obama telling a partisan crowd today that John McCain is "out of time". He also thanks John McCain for toning down the rhetoric last night at his own forum...pay attention to the crowd reactions when Obama talks about McCain's service and to the toning down of his remarks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8ZWuU4U-M

Wall Street is a financial Head-Smashed-In, where ego carries the hordes over the precipice Carl Mortished: World business briefing Head-Smashed-In is a buffalo jump in Alberta, Canada, a communal kill site where the Plains Indians drove herds of North American bison off the edge of a cliff. Over thousands of years, the Plains tribes developed the skill of goading buffalo towards a precipice. As the animals thundered towards the drop, those in front would try to stop but the sheer weight of the stampeding herd pressing from behind would force the buffalo over the edge. Unesco has designated the buffalo...

A photo essay of Barak-O-polis at the link.

Obama & Pelosi: Political Godlings Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are intelligent, hardworking politicians with boundless self-esteem. Uber-achievers that they are, they've abandoned pedestrian politician dreams and instead are grasping at divinity: Here's a Speaker Pelosi quote from Politico:“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.” Here is a Senator Obama's quote upon his winning the nomination: "I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that...

I know this may come off as callous and insensitive to some, but it has to be said. While I have no animus against Tim Russert, I am again in amazement how thoroughly the news world has been turned on its head because of the death of one journalist. One of them.

The Sunday Telegraph spent three days with the man most likely to be the next president of the United States, riding on his bus and plane, as a campaign that still sees itself as a guerrilla force built on his victory in Tuesday's Florida primary John McCain got to sit in the Oval Office last week. What's more, while there he received the quiet blessing of Nancy Reagan, widow of the man every Republican candidate wants to emulate. In fact he was visiting a replica of America's most famous office, at the Reagan presidential library in California, the venue for...

French "mathlete" Alexis Lemaire showed off his rare mental agility Thursday, claiming a new world record after working out in his head the 13th root of a random 200-digit number in just 72.4 seconds... The number was so long it ran over 17 lines. Lemaire, who says he doesn't consider himself a nerd or a geek, then took just over a minute to identify two quadrillion, 397 trillion, 207 billion, 667 million, 966 thousand, 701 as the 13th root. In other words, the number multiplied by itself 13 times produces the 200 digit number originally generated by the computer... "I...

Talk about a case of false bravado! Just about everybody who watched the recent Comedy Central book interview (video) of Chris Matthews by Jon Stewart about Matthews' book, "Life's A Campaign," agrees that it was complete disaster for Matthews who exclaimed at one point, "This is the worst!" The opinion that Matthews came off horribly is almost universally shared by all observers whether conservative or liberal. However, Matthews himself is now claiming that everybody else is all wrong about that interview as you can see at the tail end of an Examiner.com article about the 10th year anniversary party for Hardball: On a...

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.htmlFriday, September 21, 2007  NEWT ... A CANDIDATE?  Newt Gingrich said that he might still consider throwing his hat into the ring if he can raise $30 million by November. After our American Solutions workshop on the FairTax next week, he is going to spend the month of October seeing if he can bring that money in. By November 1st, he will decide whether or not to run. Remember what I said on the air the other day? A caller asked me what I looked for in a presidential candidate. I answered that I wanted someone who really...

Plenty of gamers would give their left arm to be included in Grand Theft Auto IV. Miami attorney Jack Thompson, however, claims that he's depicted in the game and wants out. And he threatens to block the release of GTA IV if Rockstar doesn't comply....