Free Republic

What a day of contrast in America. In New York Harbor sits the latest warship of the US Navy, whose bow contains tons of steel that once supported the World Trade Center towers, the USS New York. In Washington, DC Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to ram through the House a 2,000 page bill which will rob Americans of their freedom, giving the Federal government unprecedented control over the lives of every American. The warship will be commissioned today, in the name of the American people, to defend their freedom. The Speaker will try to enslave those same people. Make no...

Much has been made by the political left of Richard Nixon's infamous enemies list. The reality is most of those named were people who did not receive presidential Christmas cards or White House reception invitations. In contrast, Barack Obama has a real enemies list the peace prize-winner and his proxies have attacked during the past year, including the minority of news outlets that do not worship the media's latest false idol. In August 2008, the Obama campaign implored the Justice Department to levy criminal charges against those funding an American Issues Project commercial that proved embarrassing to Obama. Days later,...

I just watched a video at Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs blog of then-candidate Barack Obama telling 7 outrageous lies in a row in 1minute and 46 seconds time, which helped propel him into the White House. This has to be a world record for a politician lying. The main reason that he is in the White House is because the Republican Party and Libertarian Party put him there. That is right, not the Democrats, they simply believed his lies, but we could have stopped his election. We all have our work cut out for us if we want to get...

Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn.), from the Senate floor today, likened President Obama's war against FOX News to former president Richard M. Nixon's infamous "Enemies List". Alexander cited numerous recent examples of groups under siege by Obama's White House, including, as left-of center Politico recently put it, attempting to "neuter" the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, similar to Nixon's tactics forty years ago. Alexander should know. He was an aid of Nixon's in the 1970's.

A meme is forming in the popular consciousness that Barack Obama is a do-nothing president. Saturday Night Live recently poked fun at this image in a much-discussed skit, with comedian Fred Armisen as Obama admitting, "When you look at my record, it's very clear what I've done so far. And that is nothing." The ludicrous decision of the Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to Obama -- who had been ensconced in the White House a mere 12 days before the nomination deadline in February -- only solidified the image of Obama as more people-pleaser than policy-maven, more speech-giver...

This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration, Stated a bit more bluntly--how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies. After reviewing this matter with a number of persons possessed of experience in the field, I have concluded that we do not need an elaborate mechanism or game plan, rather we need a good project coordinator and full support for the project. In brief, the system would work as follows: --Key members of the...

For the record, Obama's Hit List is: 1)Glenn Beck 2)Larry Sinclair 3)Rep. Joe Wilson 4)Sarah Palin 5)Sean Hannity 6)Orly Taitz 7)Pat Boone 8)Jon Voight 9)Rush Limbaugh 10)Ann Coulter 11)Rupert Murdoch 12)Jesse Jackson 13)Dick Cheney 14)Bill O'Reilly 15)Toby Keith 16)Rex Rammell 17)Hank Williams Jr. 18)Steven Anderson 19)Saul Anuzis 20)Bill Cunningham 21)Paul Krugman 22)John Rich 23)Wiley Drake 24)Alex Jones 25)Michelle Malkin This purported list is from Globe Magazine (9/22/09 issue) and refers to "25 Enemies Obama Wants To Silence".

I'll tell you exactly whose side Eric Holder and the rest of zeros' administration is on; our enemies, both foriegn and domestic. Every enemy that wants to destroy this country or some aspect of life here has a friend and willing accomplice in this administration. I have never seen such a collection of rabid left-wingers at one place and one time in my life. From liberal academics to liberal activists to liberal journalists, it's all on display. And Eric Holder going after the CIA is just the tip of the iceburg. It's going to get a lot worse

The Obama Administration’s call for its supporters to take down names and addresses of those speaking out against the President’s health care legislation has sparked fears that he is compiling an “enemies list” for future retaliation. “Not so,” says Robert Gibbs, the President’s Press Secretary. “An ‘enemies list’ implies that we would seek to harm those whose names fall into our hands. Nothing could be further from the truth.” Gibbs insisted that the list would only be used for constructive purposes. “There’s a lot of misinformation about the President’s program floating around out there,” he contended. “Getting the correct information...

President Barack Obama said during his Latin America trip in April that he does not believe “if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness.” Unfortunately, he does not understand that is exactly how hostile powers view such American overtures. In the last two months, rogue states Iran and North Korea have been emboldened to conduct missile tests and advance their nuclear programs while rejecting Obama’s diplomatic overtures. Anti-American regimes in Venezuela and Cuba have been able to breathe more easily. And behind...

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese ruling party panel is to propose that pre-emptive strikes against enemy bases be allowed despite the country's pacifist constitution, Kyodo news agency said on Monday, weeks after a North Korean missile launch. North Korea fired a ballistic missile in April that flew over northern Japan after warning that it planned to launch a satellite, prompting the government to deploy missile interceptors to the area . "Japan should have the ability to strike enemy bases within the scope of its defense-oriented policy, in order not to sit and wait for death," Kyodo quoted the Liberal Democratic...

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Defending his brand of world politics, President Barack Obama said Sunday that he "strengthens our hand" by reaching out to enemies of the United States and making sure that the nation is a leader, not a lecturer, of democracy. Obama's foreign doctrine emerged across his four-day trip to Latin America, his first extended venture to a region of the world where resentment of U.S. power still lingers. He got a smile, handshakes and even a gift from incendiary leftist leader Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and embraced overtures of new relations from isolated Cuban President Raul Castro.

AmericanPowerBlog has an article entitled "Barack Obama's European Apology Tour" that does a fine job of cataloging the sheer number of times Barry Hussein sought to point out what a horrible country we've been. I have my own offering focusing on the irony of Obama going to France of all possible places to apologize for American arrogance. At the same event in which Obama took it upon himself to announce to the famously humble French how profoundly sorry he was for America's past arrogance, Barack Obama also shared his vision for "a world without nuclear weapons." This would possibly be...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The phrase "global war on terror" is finished, at least as far as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is concerned. The top U.S. diplomat told reporters Tuesday that the Obama administration has quit using that line to describe the effort to fight terrorism around the world. "The administration has stopped using the phrase and I think that speaks for itself," Clinton said. Clinton spoke as she headed to Europe for a week of diplomatic meetings. The phrase "war on terror" is widely disliked in Europe and elsewhere overseas, where even close U.S. allies suggested...

*snip* Now some, including Rush Limbaugh, would say I am on another enemies list: that of the White House. Limbaugh says there are only a handful of us on it, and if I am on it for defending all of the shareholders out there, then I am in good company. Limbaugh -- whom I do not know personally, but having been in radio myself, know professionally as a genius of the medium -- says, "They're going to shut Cramer up pretty soon, too, but he'll go down with a fight."

JERUSALEM – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Tuesday to work with the incoming Israeli government, but delivered a clear message that could put her at odds with the country's next leader: Movement toward the establishment of a Palestinian state is "inescapable." Clinton also said the U.S. would soon send two envoys to Syria. It was the most significant sign yet that the Obama administration is ready to mend relations with the Damascus regime. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador in 2005, accusing Syria of supporting terrorism. "We have no way to predict what the future with our relations concerning...

The Galileo affair: history or heroic hagiography? by Thomas Schirrmacher Summary The 17th century controversy between Galileo and the Vatican is examined. Fifteen theses are advanced, with supporting evidence, to show that the Galileo affair cannot serve as an argument for any position on the relation of religion and science. Contrary to legend, both Galileo and the Copernican system were well regarded by church officials. Galileo was the victim of his own arrogance, the envy of his colleagues and the politics of Pope Urban VIII. He was not accused of criticising the Bible, but disobeying a papal decree...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday offered North Korea a peace treaty, normal ties and aid if it eliminates its nuclear arms program and stressed her desire to work more cooperatively with China. Speaking ahead of a trip to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China next week, Clinton also said North Koreans deserved political rights, urged Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and, in a comment that may irk Beijing, said Tibetans and all Chinese deserved religious freedom. Searching for a way to end North Korea's nuclear programs is likely to be...

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea appeared to be gearing up Wednesday for another long-range missile test, the latest in a series of provocative acts seemingly aimed at stoking tensions with South Korea and winning the attention of the new U.S. president. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has declared it will scrap peace agreements with Seoul and warned of war on the Korean peninsula. Reports that it could be preparing to test a missile capable of reaching the western United States have added to the anxiety. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday that a vehicle carrying radar equipment was seen...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Iran have a chance to "work out a way of talking" that could lead to understandings on a range of issues, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday. In a hopeful assessment of prospects for improved relations with Tehran, Clinton told reporters at the State Department that the U.S. remains opposed to Iran getting nuclear weapons. She added that the Obama administration hopes the two nations can work out "a better understanding of one another." During an appearance with her Czech counterpart, Karel Schwarzenberg, Clinton was asked about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that...

UNITED NATIONS – President Barack Obama's administration will engage in "direct diplomacy" with Iran, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Monday. Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. But U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice warned that Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program. "The dialogue and diplomacy must go hand in hand with a very firm message from the United States and the international community that Iran needs to meet its obligations as...

CAIRO (AFP) – Arabs were hopeful on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will amend US policy on the Middle East, while Israel expects little change in the wake of its deadly assault on Gaza. Egypt, a close Washington ally with ties both to Israel and Palestinians, urged Obama to place the Palestinian cause at the top of his agenda as the Islamist Hamas faction said it will judge Obama by his acts. "We will judge him by his policies and actions on the ground and how he will learn lessons from the mistakes of the previous administrations, especially that of...

A Muslim scholar chosen to speak at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday is the leader of a group that federal prosecutors say has ties to terrorists. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral. Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to prohibit the use of waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques by ordering the CIA to follow military rules for questioning prisoners, according to two U.S. officials familiar with drafts of the plans. The proposal Obama is considering would require all CIA interrogators to follow conduct outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, the officials said. The plans would also have the effect of shutting down secret "black site" prisons around the world where the CIA has questioned terror suspects — with all future interrogations taking place inside American military facilities. However, Obama's changes...

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping. Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

FReepers - let's get a list of congressional leaders in both houses who are RINO's only - those who pretend to be conservative... We need to know who they are - so we can find conservative challengers to boot them out in the primaries... Let's get a grassroots operation going to educate the public on what conservatism is - visit the Reagan Library, visit heritage.org, etc. I totally agree with Rush's comments over the last two days - conservativism is not dead - people will follow conservatism if they see it in action and not in name only.

UNITED NATIONS -- There are no "Obama 2008" buttons, banners or T-shirts visible here at U.N. headquarters, but it might be difficult to find a sliver of territory in the United States more enthusiastic over the prospect of the Illinois senator winning the White House. An informal survey of more than two dozen U.N. staff members and foreign delegates showed that the overwhelming majority would prefer that Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency, saying they think that the Democrat would usher in a new agenda of multilateralism after an era marked by Republican disdain for the world body. Obama supporters...

In a week and a half, American voters will elect the next US president. Their decision will impact the entire world. Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama now enjoys a significant lead in the polls against Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. For McCain to win, a lot of Obama supporters will need to reassess their choice for president. This week, Obama's running-mate Senator Joseph Biden gave Obama supporters a good reason to change their minds. In much-reported remarks to campaign donors in Seattle on Sunday, Biden warned that if Obama is elected to the White House, it will take America's...

OUR ENEMIES SUPPORT OBAMA If you approve of the message, please send it to everyone you know. Help make it go viral. Our enemies, foreign and domestic, support Barack Obama.

On one fundamental maxim all professional propagandists would agree: It you repeat a lie often enough and loudly enough, sooner or later it becomes accepted truth. Considering the long ignoble record of relentless and vociferous attacks by the Communist-inspired left on our American history, it's a wonder that there can be any true American patriots left. Immediately following World War Two, and up until this present hour, we have been, and are still being, assaulted with vicious and totally unsubstantiated lies and distortions about the history of our great nation. These outrageous falsifications have been repeated so often by so...

Majority Democrats in the California Assembly have rejected two amendments that would have allowed schools to fire any employee discovered to be part of an extremist terror network and require users of school facilities to affirm they are not terrorists. A report from Karen England at the Capital Resource Institute said the amendments were submitted by assemblymen Martin Garrick and Chuck DeVore to a plan that also would allow members of the Communist Party to teach in public schools. "I am appalled that Democrat lawmakers will not agree to these commonsense amendments," said England, executive director of CRFI. "My son...

The Arabs believe we took their land. No amount of propaganda would change the fact that their dunes have become our gardens. “Their” is more important than “dunes.” On the contrary, Israeli education, available to Arabs, emphasize the nobility of nationalism, perseverance, and national liberation struggle on Jewish example; Arabs readily apply the example to themselves. There is not a single example in history where conquerors (and to Arabs, Jews took over their land) lived peacefully with the conquered. The victims were always eliminated to insignificance. Otherwise, acting in the very human (“inhumane”) manner, the victims revolt. They don’t believe...

The Op-Ed "Shills for Chavez" condemned the nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp. for accepting a charitable donation of oil to provide much-needed heating assistance to poor, elderly and American Indian families in 23 states — the same kind of help we have provided to poor families..to help ease the burden felt by consumers depending on this commodity to survive....For three years, we have worked with Citgo Petroleum and Venezuela because they were the only company...to respond. We acknowledge their generosity as we would recognize any...that answers our calls to help the poor. Unfortunately, some find it more appropriate to direct their...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 – As President Bush outlined a full agenda of initiatives tonight during his final State of the Union address, he emphasized that a prosperous future for America “depends on confronting enemies abroad and advancing liberty in troubled regions of the world.” The United States has witnessed stirring moments as liberty advanced over the past seven years, but also sobering images of devastation caused by those bent on preventing it from taking hold, Bush told a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol. “We've seen wedding guests in blood-soaked finery staggering from a hotel in...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday held out the prospect of improved relations with the remaining two members of President Bush's "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, as long as they meet international demands over their nuclear programs. Rice said the Bush administration in its remaining year would welcome fundamental changes in its dealings with the two countries, as well as with Syria, and as an example pointed to warming ties with Libya, which renounced weapons of mass destruction in 2003. "The United States doesn't have permanent enemies, we're too great a country for that," she...

The new target represents an increase in the number and pace of Iraqi refugees entering the country and means that 17 percent of the 70,000 refugees expected to be admitted next year will come from Iraq, officials from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security told reporters...

Global credit crunch batters Venezuela Overnight lending rate climbs as high as 90% after central bank suspends open market operationsBy Polya Lesova, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- In a fresh example of how the global credit crunch is hitting emerging markets, Venezuela's overnight lending rate climbed to as high as 90% Thursday after the central bank said it has suspended open market operations meant for pumping liquidity into the market. (snip) "This story is not an isolated Venezuela story, but rather a developing trend," he said, adding that money markets in both developed and emerging markets aren't functioning well at...

Any roll call of the world's despots is depressingly long. But only a handful of leaders threaten the security of countries well beyond their borders. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, is the latest ruler to emerge from this pack. Rabidly anti-American, Chávez is intent on stirring up trouble -- and he's getting the help of some menacing thugs he counts as friends. Last September, Americans got a surreal introduction to Hugo Chávez. In an address before the UN General Assembly in New York, Venezuela's president launched into a tirade against the previous day's speaker, George W. Bush. "Yesterday," he intoned, "the...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran vowed Sunday to use a new 2,000-pound "smart" bomb against its enemies and unveiled mass production of the new weapon, state television reported. The government first announced development of the long-range guided bomb Thursday, saying it could be deployed by the country's aging U.S.-made F-4 and F-5 fighter jets. "We will use these (bombs) against our enemies when the time comes," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on state television Sunday. Iran often announces new weapons for its arsenal, but the United States maintains that while the Islamic Republic has made some strides, many of these...

CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Troops from Russia, China and Central Asian states will take part in a joint military exercise on Friday designed to show off their alliance's increasing power. About 6,500 troops, mainly from Russia and China, will take part. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan are also SCO members. Russia has fought two wars against Muslim separatists in its Chechnya region since 1994, China says it has been combating Muslim Uighur rebels in its most westerly province and Uzbekistan says it has had to combat Islamist militants. The Russian commander in charge of the exercise, General Vladimir Moltenskoi, said...

Take it from this old KGB hand: The left is abetting America's enemies with its intemperate attacks on President Bush. During last week's two-day summit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown thanked President Bush for leading the global war on terror. Mr. Brown acknowledged "the debt the world owes to the U.S. for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism" and vowed to follow Winston Churchill's lead and make Britain's ties with America even stronger. Mr. Brown's statements elicited anger from many of Mr. Bush's domestic detractors, who claim the president concocted the war on terror for personal gain. But...

HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies. Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited. Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Saturday that a Democratic plan to set an end date for the war gives "our enemies the victory they desperately want." Bush and Democratic congressional leaders are trying to bolster their positions on the Iraq war before a scheduled White House meeting. At Bush's invitation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) are due at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the war, particularly a bill funding the military mission through September. In both the House and Senate, Democrats have attached timelines for...

Somehow, four years on, the debate about Iraq is still animated by wishful thinking. The White House talks as if a surge of 20,000 troops is going to stop a civil war. Democrats argue that when America withdraws its troops, Iraqis will finally take responsibility for their own security. But we all need to face the likelihood that this story isn't going to have a happy ending... And for critics of the war who favor a quick American withdrawal, the analysts had this stark warning: "If Coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during (the next 12 to 18 months) ... we...

It is an article of faith on the Left and among its fellow travelers that the Bush administration stole two elections, made war on Iraq for venal reasons, tortured hapless foreigners, and conducted illegal surveillance of innocent Americans. A corollary of this mindset is that the press, primarily the Washington Post and The New York Times, has a right, indeed a duty, to print whatever they want about the administration—even if the information compromises national security. Not true. The press is not exempt from laws that apply to everyone else. The press is not exempt from laws protecting our national...

Progress for America (PFA) today announced its second ad broadcasting a series of chilling images of past terror attacks against the United States. Lieutenant General Emil R. "Buck" Bedard (Ret.), a three-star general that was stationed in the Pentagon on 9-11 is the voice in the ad, and calls these attacks "cold-blooded murders." The ad is airing on national cable and broadcast television in Missouri. This is the second PFA-funded ad to air in Missouri, and is slated to run through next week. During his 37 years in active duty, Gen. Bedard remembers the terror attacks that predate 9-11, including...

"Ideally, in the case of a right (for example, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures) that could be asserted against government measures for protecting national security, one would like to locate the point at which a slight expansion in the scope of the right would subtract more from public safety than it would add to personal liberty and [conversely]. That is the point of balance, that determines the optimal scope of the right." -- Richard A. Posner, Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency, p. 31 Judge Richard Posner's new book...

Report: Manchester United to show Ronaldo the door, Rooney irate at teammate's role in sending off LONDON – Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, criticized for his role in Wayne Rooney's sending off at the World Cup, won't be back at Manchester United and can expect payback from the star England striker in the future, a British newspaper said. Quoting an unnamed source, The Sun reported Monday that Rooney threatened to “split him in two” when the two next meet. Ronaldo may be wearing a different uniform when that happens. The British tabloid says United will show Ronaldo the door “because of...

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has added his voice to those charging that the New York Times committed treason by revealing details of a government program that tracks financial transactions by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. "That the press wouldn’t have better sense than to leak critical information on terrorists so that they know what we’re doing – that scares the devil out of me,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters. Bunning said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should empanel a grand jury to decide if the Times’ publisher, editors and writers who were involved in the story should be indicted for treason,...

NEW DELHI, May 8 (UPI) -- China and India have submitted a joint bid to acquire a stake in a Colombian oil venture for roughly $800 million, an Indian official said Friday. The China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, and ONGC Videsh Ltd., or OVL, the overseas arm of Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp., offered a joint bid to acquire a stake in the Ominex de Colombia -- a subsidiary of the Texas-based Ominex Resources Inc. "Ominex de Colombia owns a 50 percent stake in oilfields in Colombia. The remaining stake is held by the Colombian national...