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There’s an old saying that the only thing wrong with tainted money is that there “taint” enough of it. That might work for universities and other institutions that grace their halls with the names of robber barons, but it’s trouble for political campaigns. The McCain camp recognized that fact of life anew this week. The Washington Post reports that the campaign was stung by its ties to Oregon venture capitalist and political donor Craig Berkman, who was sued by former investors in a fraud case and ordered to pay $28 million in civil damages. Berkman and his wife, the Post...

I'm a lifelong Republican - a supply-side conservative. I worked in the Reagan White House. I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years. In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole's presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp's Empower America. This November, I'm voting for Barack Obama. When I first made this decision, many colleagues were shocked. How could I support a candidate with a domestic policy platform that's antithetical to almost everything I believe in? The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional...

An astrophysicist claims to know the true source of a strange grouping of lights that appeared in the Arizona night sky 11 years ago. Dr. James R. Bartzen said he has indisputable proof that the so-called "Phoenix Lights" were a product of secret man-made technology being shielded from the public. He works at the Russian-American Institute of Space Science. "There are no theories, there is only evidence," Bartzen told ABC15. "The government desires people to believe in space aliens so they don't have to reveal the technologies that both we and the Russians have."

Here's a quick geopolitical quiz: What country is three times the size of Texas and has more than 300 days of blazing sun a year? What country has the world's largest oil reserves resting below miles upon miles of sand? And what country is being given nuclear power, not solar, by President George W. Bush, even when the mere assumption of nuclear possession in its region has been known to provoke pre-emptive air strikes, even wars? If you answered Saudi Arabia to all of these questions, you're right. Last month, while the American people were becoming the personal ATMs of...

The European Union, the "free trade organization with a few added extras," is officially turning into a pan-European dictatorship. The Daily Telegraph reports: "The European Union assembly's political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings. Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP's pan-European Eurosceptic "Independence and Democracy" grouping. Under the rule change, the largest and most pro-EU groups would tighten their grip on the Parliament's political...

The businessman was meeting with clients for lunch at Mimi's Café when he noticed the woman. Sitting a few tables over with her 4-year-old boy, she seemed groggy — yet she was drinking a mimosa. It got worse. The woman ordered a glass of white wine, then another. She was so out of it, the businessman would later write in a statement to police, that she looked ready to fall asleep at the table. When the woman paid her bill and left the restaurant, the businessman was right behind her, cell phone in hand. When she ran a stop sign...

BALTIMORE - A federal judge in Baltimore ordered Westboro Baptist Church members to post their church building and nearly $500,000 more in cash and property while appealing a judgment for protesting a Marine’s funeral. The Kansas church members had hoped to avoid posting a bond while delaying payments in the $5 million judgment a jury awarded Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder who died in Iraq. Westboro church members preach that God kills American soldiers as punishment for the country’s tolerance of homosexuality. They protested Matthew Snyder’s Westminster funeral in March 2006 by waving signs...

Thousands of drivers who ignore their red light camera tickets are receiving an unusual giftfrom Orange County courts: Their cases disappear. No fine. No points on their driving records. Meanwhile, the drivers who face up to their mistake and respond to their tickets face a $346 fine, driving school and sometimes, a spike in their insurance rates. "It's not a real good message to get out there to the public," Superior Court CEO Alan Slater conceded in an interview. An Orange County Register investigation has found that police and court workers throughout Orange County rarely complete the time-consuming process required...

Former President Bill Clinton's decision to reconsider a business relationship with California billionaire Ron Burkle reflects concern those financial dealings may embarrass his wife's presidential candidacy. Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial- disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. LLC. In 2004, Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, said she wanted to ``close the loopholes'' for ``people who create a mailbox, or a drop, or send one person to sit on the beach in some island paradise and...

Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Earlier this year Gore experienced a notable public relations debacle. The Tennessee Center for...

Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear...But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America...and routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain?...... Never mind that the scientific community is divided over what causes global warming, how bad it is and how to deal with it. Gore plays Chicken Little to the media’s applause, insisting that the world...

How many readers have donated hard-earned cash for the Susan G. Komen Breast Foundation? How many of you have run or walked to support a "race for the cure"? How many of you know your breast cancer donations go to the pro-abortion outfit Planned Parenthood? Beware of liberal agendas wrapped in good causes.

FreeRepublic does not allow Media Matters to be posted here.....but this may be very important.... I believe that it is important enough to remain....(moderators will decide)The following post is an excerpt from a wordy article from Oct 3: The claim that the philanthropist Soros funds or has funded Media Matters -- either directly or indirectly -- is false, as Colorado Media Matters noted .....As Media Matters has noted, conservative figures such as media consultant Phil Kent and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly have falsely claimed that Soros channels money to the organization from the Open Society Institute (OSI) through the Tides...

TRANSLATION FROM ORIGINAL SPANISH (EXERPT):"Bank Remittances from USA to Mexico Down 1.3%"Slowdown in USA and Tightened Immigration Actions [Against Illegals] Are Main Causes During the first six months of the year, Michoacán became the state that had the greater decrease remittances from the USA, said the Bank Of Mexico....

Too many people are being diagnosed with depression when they are merely unhappy, a senior psychiatrist said today. Normal emotions are sometimes being treated as mental illness because the threshold for clinical depression is too low, according to Professor Gordon Parker. Prof Parker said depression had become a "catch-all" diagnosis, driven by clever marketing from pharmaceutical companies and leading to the burgeoning prescription of antidepressant drugs. Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), he said the drugs were being marketed beyond their "true utility" in cases in which people were unhappy rather than clinically depressed.

As reported by Tim Blair in the Daily Telegraph, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Lateline host Tony Jones hosted an in-studio discussion Thursday night after the ABC presented The Great Global Warming Swindle, and he was “hotter than a Christina Aguilera video”. “Welcome to our debate on this deeply flawed and utterly mistaken documentary, which is wrong in every regard and was made by a zombie,” Jones said in introduction, [referring to filmmaker Martin Durkin.] ~~ snip ~~ And as reported in the [National Review] Corner by Iain Murray, “A few days ago, my colleague Dr. Marlo Lewis had a column...

The Texas Supreme Court is currently considering the legal briefs in the highly publicized Roman v. Roman frozen embryo case, in which Augusta Roman seeks to implant the embryos created during her six-year marriage to Randy Roman. Randy Roman is trying to prevent this, and won a unanimous decision in the Texas First District Court of Appeal in February. Because this is a new, cutting-edge area of the law, and one which has received little judicial attention in Texas, it appears likely that the Texas Supreme Court will hear the case. Though Augusta Roman says she will raise the child...

One of the ideas behind Stockpickr.com is to allow investors to peek inside the portfolios of the big financial guns to see what stocks they like. Although they wouldn't be considered financial gurus, the Clintons recently liquidated their blind trusts, and we took note. The Bill and Hillary Clinton portfolio on Stockpickr lists the 25 largest stock holdings liquidated by the couple's blind trust, with each holding representing an investment of more than $100,000 each. The flurry of recent news items about former president Bill Clinton and presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's blind trust have focused on the reason why...

This is is a revealing piece from a former global warming supporter on the politically influenced global warming "science:" I devoted six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian government to estimate carbon emissions from land use change and forestry. When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty conclusive, but since then new evidence has weakened that case. I am now skeptical. In the late 1990s, this was the evidence suggesting that carbon emissions caused global warming: Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, proved in a laboratory a century...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The California Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by pro-life and taxpayers groups saying that the state's stem cell research agency is running afoul of oversight and accountability laws. The decision allows the agency to move forward with billions in grants for human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. The state's high court decided against reviewing a state appeals court ruling from February that upheld the legality of the state's multibillion dollar embryonic stem cell research program The appeals court had said the statewide ballot proposal and committee it created were legal despite a lawsuit saying...

It stands to reason that if governments, or their pals in business, don't fix things up, lawyers will enter the void and sue the pants off anyone they can get their hands on. We see it all the time with litigation against cigarette manufacturers, the miners and purveyors of asbestos, and the pushers of fatty foodstuffs ("cheeseburger litigation"). Over time law cases affecting these industries have transferred wads of shareholders' money to lawyers; some has even trickled down to unfortunate consumers. So it's only a matter of time before a global warming litigation industry builds up a decent head of...

"...It should come as no surprise to find Wall Street urging us to go green. There's money to be made – tax-funded profits squeezed out of guilt-ridden consumers and PR-hungry business..." NOT CONTENT with abolishing the economic cycle, the world's central bankers and finance ministers – led by Gordon Brown and ordained by Pope Al Gore the First – now plan a 'New World Order' to fight global warming. A wealth of tax-funded humbug is certain to follow. So it comes as no surprise to find Wall Street and the City of London urging us all to "go green" as...

Not one single day goes by in New Zealand now without a reference somewhere to global warming, and New Zealand’s requirement to comply with the Kyoto protocol. But few people realise that Kyoto was the brainchild of a corrupt multinational energy company, looking to make a buck out of the green movement. KEN RING explains Amidst the talk about the benefits that Kyoto Protocol is sup-posed to promote, it is perhaps forgotten especially amongst the greenies how Kyoto was born in the corridors of very big business. The name Enron has all but faded from our news pages since the...

he city of Seattle will pay $1 million to WTO protesters who were arrested in Westlake Park seven years ago and will clear their records, in a settlement announced today. The money will cover the plaintiffs' legal fees, with the rest divided among 160 protesters, who will get roughly $3,000 to $10,000 per person, said Mike Withey, their attorney. ... The $1 million will come from the city's insurer, not taxpayers, Withey said. The city has already paid $800,000 to settle multiple claims involving police misconduct during the WTO protests. ...

From seMissourian.com: JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Hundreds of opponents of embryonic stem-cell research crammed the Capitol halls Wednesday urging a statewide election on whether to overturn a voter-approved constitutional protection for such research.

VINITA, Okla. -- J.D. Baldridge, 73, has official government documents showing him to be a descendant of a full-blood Cherokee. He has memories of a youth spent among Cherokee neighbors and kin, at tribal stomp dances and hog fries. He holds on to a fair amount of Cherokee vocabulary. " Salali," Baldridge says, his face creasing into a smile at the word. "Squirrel stew. Oh, that was good." What Baldridge, a retired Oklahoma county sheriff, also has is at least one black ancestor, a former slave of a Cherokee family. That could get Baldridge cast out of the tribe, along...

Gardasil isn't exactly an anti-cancer vaccine, but it comes close. It protects girls and women against four sexually transmitted strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), two of which cause about 70 percent of all cervical cancer. It is also extremely controversial, though the nature of the controversy has changed radically since the treatment was invented. This time last year the issue was whether it would be allowed at all, a matter settled in June when the Food and Drug Administration approved it. Today the question is whether the shots should be required. Nearly half the states have been considering measures...

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) is asking whether he can take money from donors who want him to be president, then give it back later. The Federal Election Commission said Wednesday that it will look into the novel question. Obama is indicating that he wants to at least keep the option of using the public financing system for his presidential campaign if he becomes the Democratic nominee. To do so, the Illinois senator could not spend any money from contributors for political purposes, but instead use federal funding that is expected to total about $85...

BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) -- A bird flu pandemic remains a threat that the U.S. health care system must take seriously despite less frequent media coverage and the absence so far of human cases in the United States, experts warned. John Bartlett, an infectious disease expert at John Hopkins University, said the decentralized U.S. health system will make it more difficult to get ready for a possible human pandemic of H5N1 avian virus -- or anything else. He disagreed with the suggestion that the bird flu threat has been overstated by the media. (snip) "And it continues to be just as...

VERNON – It's easy to understand why Leonis Malburg would rather not live here. But for more than 50 years, Malburg has been helping run this dreary municipal oddity, and he has been mayor since 1974. Vernon, about five miles south of downtown Los Angeles, touts itself as “Exclusively Industrial,” and has fewer than 100 residents. Its 5.2 square miles are wall-to-wall with warehouses, meatpacking plants and asphalt. Trucks rumble through the streets. There are no parks – even patches of grass are scarce. An estimated 44,000 people work here every day but return to homes outside city limits when...

Imported models took all 13 spots on the U.S. insurance industry's list of safest vehicles this year, mainly because of a new requirement that all cars and SUV's on the list have systems to keep them stable in an emergency. "The research is so compelling that electronic stability control could help prevent many crashes from happening in the first place," an institute spokesman said. Winners for 2007 models included the Audi A6 in the large car category; the Audi A-4, Saab 9-3 and Subaru Legacy (with optional stability control) for mid-size cars; Hyundai Entourage and Kia Sedona minivans; Mercedes M-class...

The controversy over President Bush's nomination of current Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff for the Federal Western District Court is currently driven by Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback's concern over Judge Neff's attending a gay wedding in 2002. However, the fine print in the news lightly touches on the fact that Judge Neff is a liberal Democrat, and that her pending appointment is a trade-off. Judge Janet Neff and her husband and Labor Attorney David A. Neff are both Democrats. In fact David A. Neff contributed $1,750 to Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow's (D) campaign. Is it any...

The National Democratic Party has spent $50,000 promoting a nominal Republican write-in candidate to succeed former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a move the more prominent GOP campaign called a "desperate" effort to split the write-in vote. The mailout on behalf of write-in candidate Don Richardson describes positions potentially appealing to conservatives who, according to a recent Chronicle-11 News poll, make up at least 55 percent of the district's population. "Don Richardson supports President Bush's Patriot Act," the mailer says. "Do you?" It also says he would put troops on the border to stop illegal immigration, allow law enforcement officials...

For those who do not know the "older definition" of the term 'Chicken Hawk,' it was at one time the term for homosexuals who had a penchant for young, (underage) boys. I received a flyer in the mail today from an organization called Vote Kids (votekids.org) that attacks Rick Santorum as being anti children. On a cursory investigation of this organization, I found more questions than answers. The flyer is typical of many this season (frankly from both sides) full of misstatements and distortions. It accuses Santorum and Bush of being "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and harming children. I went...

Those of us who argue that a system of free enterprise is far superior to one of control by government regulators are always tagged by our foes as lackeys of the rich, the powerful and big corporations. It is true that I often defend wealthy corporations against those who want to loot them. Yet I hold no illusions that corporate leaders are somehow on "our" side when it comes to issues of freedom and property rights. "[I]t's always been true that business is not a friend of a free market," argues Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. "I have given a...

ROME, Italy (AFP) - Italian authorities seized a container full of weapons, including Kalashnikov assault rifles and plastic explosives bound for the United States from Saudi Arabia in May, press reports said yesterday.

AUSTIN — Chanting "Try Rove for treason," Cindy Sheehan and more than 50 other war protesters ambushed a reception before President Bush's top adviser Karl Rove spoke at a fundraiser at a hotel Saturday. One woman was arrested during a scuffle with police after Sheehan and the anti-war demonstrators rushed toward the closed doors and kept chanting loudly after the guests went into the dinner. Rove was speaking at an Associated Republicans of Texas dinner, where ticket prices started at $200 per person. He was not in the Renaissance Hotel lobby during the reception. "I want him arrested. He planned...

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has had one hell of a run. Their success rate is the envy of the activist community; their lobbying for tougher laws and public awareness is largely responsible (or so they will tell you) for reducing alcohol-related traffic deaths since 1982 by a whopping 37 percent. Okay, they give a little credit to the maturation of baby boomers, safer vehicles, airbags and mandatory seatbelt laws. They have captured every flag they initially set out to capture. They got prison sentences for repeat DUI offenders. Flying in the face of the Constitution, they pressured the government...

The New York Times September 24, 2001 Monday Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Editorial Desk; Pg. 30 LENGTH: 545 words HEADLINE: Finances of Terror Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. [snip] Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists. [snip] Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also must be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies....

Wife of former PA chairman met in Tunis with Abbas, both agree to strengthen relations Suha Arafat, the widow of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, has made up with the current chairman, Mahmoud Abbas. The two bridged their divisions on Thursday when Abbas met Suha during his visit in Tunis, and the two agreed to strengthen relations. Abbas and Suha Arafat cut ties when Arafat was lying at Paris hospital. Suha mobilized the Arab press and claimed that Abbas and other Palestinian leaders were attempting to replace Arafat while he was still alive. The declaration was highly embarrassing to the...

Many North Texans are complaining about a controversial program during in which state officials arrest people inside bars in order to crack down on public intoxication. The program began years ago, but during the most recent legislative session, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission asked for and received more money to ramp up the operation. As a result, the TABC hired 100 agents to travel from bar to bar looking for drunk people who could pose a danger in an agent's opinion. TABC officials said the program is proactive policing to cut back on drunken driving, but those arrested said it...

A day after a foiled attack against Saudi Arabia's vital oil infrastructure, an Al Qaeda branch warned in an Internet statement Saturday that there would be more suicide bombings. "There are more like them who are racing toward martyrdom and eager to fight the enemies of God," the posting said. ADVERTISEMENT A successful strike on the Abqaiq complex, near Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf coast, would be devastating. Nearly two-thirds of the country's oil flows through the facility for processing before export. Friday's attack, which was repelled by Saudi security services, demonstrated the country's success in putting tough security around the...

In Port Deal, Clinton Ships Passing in the Night? Thursday, February 23, 2006 @ 6:03:24 PM It appears that a number of people are already profiting from the sale of some operations management of U.S. ports. But it ain't the port guys. Already, it has been established that former Sen. Bob Dole is, well, on the port dole. No surprise, then, that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is also apparently drawing a check (someone should ask her just when she began drawing a check on this deal, as it appears it was some time ago, according to some Senate...

WASHINGTON - Weeks before one of its companies sought U.S. approval for its ports deal, the United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, officials confirmed Thursday. The Bush administration said the money it received from the United Arab Emirates was nearly four times as much as it received from all other countries combined. Other countries, including some in the Middle East, also pledged large contributions but have not yet sent the money. The White House said the $100 million for storm victims demonstrates the close relationship between the two governments now caught in a firestorm...

THE White House sought to distance itself today from the US administration's approval of an Arab company's takeover of operations at major US ports, a day after President George W. Bush vowed to veto any legislation to block the deal. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president was not aware of the pending deal until it was approved and had become public but then checked with cabinet secretaries to make sure they stood by their approval of the plan by state-controlled Dubai Ports World to manage six ports. Mr Bush held a rare news conference on Air Force One...

The local San Diego FOX-6 Channel has just broken the story tonight that the San Diego Chapter of "Kind Hearts" Charity has also had it's finances frozen for having links to terrorist organizations. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were living and taking flying lessons here in San Diego.

France has distanced itself from two former ambassadors facing corruption charges TWO former French ambassadors have admitted earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of oil that Iraq had assigned to them under the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme. The disclosure tarnished France’s moral stand against the invasion of Iraq, and its Foreign Ministry scrambled to distance itself from the alleged illicit activities of Serge Boidevaix, a former director of the ministry, and of Jean-Bernard Mérimée, a former French Ambassador to the UN. Both are facing corruption charges. Jean-Baptiste Mattei, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said: “There is no...

There is no link between sugar and obesity because health problems linked to weight gain are caused by increased consumption of calories and a lack of exercise, a U.S. sugar industry group said Wednesday. "Every major, comprehensive review of the total body of scientific literature continues to exonerate sugars intake as the causative factor in any lifestyle disease, including obesity," Andrew Briscoe, president and chief executive of the Sugar Association, said at the annual meeting of the main U.S. industry group American Sugar Alliance. The Sugar Association promotes the consumption of sugar as a part of a healthy diet and...

Democratic leaders back Dean, don't want 'wimp' By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Sat Jun 11, 2:56 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic National Committee leaders embraced feisty party boss Howard Dean on Saturday and urged him to keep fighting despite a flap over his blunt comments on Republicans. After a meeting of the DNC's 40-member executive committee at a downtown hotel, members said Dean was doing exactly what they elected him to do -- build the party in all states and aggressively challenge Republicans. "I hope Governor Dean will remember that he didn't get elected to be a wimp," said...

"We misled you. And we plan to keep on misleading you." That's essentially what the Centers for Disease Control announced this week. The agency said Tuesday that it has greatly over-exaggerated the number of lives lost each year to obesity. After years of putting the figure somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000, the agency now says the number is just under 26,000, meaning the government has been telling us obesity is fourteen times the threat it actually is, leading policymakers at all levels of governance to prescribe all matter of intrusive, expensive, choice-restrictive public policies aimed at addressing it. A Lexis...