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America, the Dependent by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2011 So much for the new era of fiscal responsibility. The federal government’s dependency drones have been spared the chopping block. After vowing to eliminate funding for President Obama’s bloated $6 billion AmeriCorps social justice army, House Republicans retreated — and will shrink the AmeriCorps budget by a minuscule 6.7 percent. Politicians originally sold AmeriCorps as an alternative to big government — a program to “renew the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community throughout the United States.” With bipartisan support, the program has morphed into an all-purpose progressive...

Congressman Joe Sestak has moved ahead of incumbent Arlen Specter in their Senate primary match-up with just over a week left before Pennsylvania Democrats go to the polls to pick their nominee. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Democratic Primary voters in the state shows Sestak earning 47% of the vote while Specter picks up 42%. This marks the first time Sestak has held the advantage in the race. Specter’s support has slipped from 48% in March to 44% a month ago to 42% today. The numbers for Sestak have been going in the opposite direction from 37%...

Not a great singer, but it works----this guy in a basement is writing and producing some cool conservative stuff. Same guy that just did "No Rules for Radicals" Here's the new one: Goodbye Miss America Let's help him out...  Share, share, share

Ms. Nisreen Abdul Raoof plays with an orphan at the Deep Strike farewell to the children of the Kut orphanage at the Rehanah Al-Haydaryah Family Park, June 26. Nisreen said they came up with the idea to have a farewell in the park so the American forces could say goodbye to the children. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — Children from the Kut orphanage were treated to an evening of games, gifts and entertainment at the Rehanah Al-Haydaryah Family Park by 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade, June 26."It was an...

Good-bye. A few months ago, I posted some information on bank financial strength. The post was a complex table and it took me sometime to make the post. Not long after, I forget but perhaps 10 or 20 minutes, the post disappeared. Figuring I made a mistake, I posted it again. This time I was pretty sure I posted it correctly. It disappeared within a few minutes. To verify that this was what was happening, I posted a third time. It again disappeared immediately. I never received any feedback from FreeRepublic on this matter. It annoyed me, but since I...

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch parties and run for reelection in November 2010 as a Democrat, he announced today, a decision that could have wide-ranging consequences for the Senate and President Obama's agenda. Specter told reporters that he received a "bleak" poll Friday from his advisers that showed virtually no chance of him winning in the GOP primary next spring against Pat Toomey, a former Republican House member who recently led the conservative Club for Growth. He said that the loss of several hundred thousand GOP voters who left the party in 2008 to vote in the Democratic presidential...

Happy April Fools Day, Everyone!!!! I would be the FOOL to be leaving my most favorite site in the whole wide world! Show your support to keep our forum alive and well - OK?

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 17, 2009 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Bush RecordTHE PRESIDENT: Good morning. For the last eight years, I have had the honor of speaking to the American people Saturday mornings through this radio address. In hundreds of broadcasts, I have talked to you about important issues affecting our security and our prosperity. And today, in my final address, I want to send a simple and heartfelt message: Thank you. Eight years ago, Laura and I left our home in Texas to come to Washington. Through two terms...

More than 50 day laborers stood, bored, anxious and mostly silent, in the sun-blasted parking lot of a Home Depot here last week, tracking the ebb and flow of customers and hoping for work. The hours crawled by. Six, maybe seven men scored jobs. The rest just waited... Two years ago, when the economy was booming and home-building was thriving, many of these same laborers were working every day. Now, they are lucky if they work twice a week, many of them say. Their lives have become a test of wits, patience and hope. Simple lives have become simpler. The...

APRIL FOOL'S! How could I ever leave such wonderful friends, and the greatest forum on the net? Hugs to you all! Now, go trick some other unsuspecting friends.

In the end, there won’t even be fragments.If nature is left to its own devices, about 7.59 billion years from now Earth will be dragged from its orbit by an engorged red Sun and spiral to a rapid vaporous death. That is the forecast according to new calculations by a pair of astronomers, Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and Robert Connon Smith of the University of Sussex in England. Their report, to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, is the latest and gloomiest installment yet in a long-running debate about the...

After 30 years, Navratilova's Czech again Tue Mar 11, 3:12 AM ET Tennis legend Martina Navratilova said Tuesday she has regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing communism in the country of her birth to live in the United States. "I lost it at the time I defected. I got it back on January 9," Navratilova told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo. The 51-year-old former world champion said she was maintaining dual nationality and keeping her US passport. Born in Prague, Navratilova fled to the United States in 1975 at the height of the Cold...

After 9 years, 9,217 postings and 158 original threads I have decided to leave Free Republic. I haven't arrived at this decision lightly, FR has been a huge part of my life for a decade. I've learned a tremendous amount from interacting with people here. A lot of my beliefs have been challenged, and I've had to rethink things I on many occassions. There are not too many places where you can learn from sincere people in an atmosphere of open discussion. My reasons for leaving are twofold. First, and most importantly, I think I'm graduating. I've probably gotten whatever...

I need a bit of advice. I do not own a notebook/laptop computer, this will be my first purchase. Offered to me NEW: a Toshiba Satellite A135-S2326. Windows Vista Basic (I know, I know...bugs/monster memory eater), 80gb hard drive, 512M of RAM. 15.4" screen. The price after rebates: $350. I might eventually upgrade the RAM to 1 or 2GB. This is going to be used primarily for a child being homeschooled, maybe to watch DVDs during travel, light internet usage in airports, etc. Nothing massive. Is $350 a good price?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR stars paid respects to former chairman Bill France Jr. on Thursday in a short, simple funeral service that was far more fuss than he would have wanted. About 2,000 people filled the Performing Arts Center at Bethune-Cookman University to say goodbye to France in a send-off for a man who loved hot dogs, fishing and, more than anything else, NASCAR. "That's enough — let's go. You're burning daylight," Daytona Mayor Glenn Ritchey said as he wrapped up his remarks in a service that ran less than an hour. "That's what he would probably say to...

About me: Lurker - since 1998 Member - since 1999 In self-imposed exile - since April 2007 The tone of the debate and the attacks on long-time fellow Freepers for the cardinal sin of daring to support Rudy Giuliani in early 2007 around here have really saddened me. Instead of fighting the enemy FR is now imposing an 'ideological purity' test on FR members. The well-oiled train has gone off the rails and Mr. Robinson risks becoming the next Joe Farah - a fellow who started a great website for conservative news and opinions, but who gradually drifted off to...

Wayne Brown gave up $40,000 in income to move from the Bay Area to Kansas. And he feels great. It got to be too much last year for the college information-technology officer: the commute to downtown San Francisco that sometimes took two hours, the housing-price spiral and the high-wire borrowing that paid for it. ``I would find myself sitting in traffic,'' Brown recalled, ``screaming at people.'' When the Kansas job came up in early 2005, Brown and his wife, Teresa, sold two Bay Area homes and happily settled in a suburb of Kansas City. They have never looked back. The...

FORT HUACHUCA — He was loved. He was mourned. He was buried. So it was Wednesday for Army Cpl. Casey Lee Mellen, who was killed in action in Iraq on Sept. 25. It was the last day of public remembrances for the 21-year-old Case, as his family called him. Their private grief will continue, but Wednesday his wife, father, mother, sister and nephew were surrounded by many people in a comforting embrace at the Main Post Chapel and later at the committal area of the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Led by Pastor Tommy Simpson, who read passages from the...

The long goodbye By Toby Helm and Brendan Carlin (Filed: 06/09/2006) Tony Blair has caved in to pressure from his MPs, it was reported last night, by setting May 31 next year for his resignation as Labour leader. An eight-week leadership election campaign will follow allowing a new leader — the favourite being Gordon Brown — to be chosen by July 26, when Mr Blair will step down as Prime Minister. Labour sources cast doubt on Mr Blair lasting until May No 10 described the claims as "speculative" but refused to deny their accuracy. The development followed a day in...

Wednesday, Jun 07 Rick Kaplan Resigns: "He Has Led MSNBC Through A Period Of Impressive Growth" "I want to thank Rick for his service to MSNBC," NBC News president Steve Capus said in a message to MSNBC employees at 4pm. "Over the last two and a half years, Rick has been a tireless champion for the network and all the hard work you do each and every day. He has led MSNBC through a period of impressive growth especially in primetime. You, the staff at MSNBC, are enormously dedicated and have built a rock-solid foundation for our future growth. MSNBC...

A court in Bangladesh has sentenced 21 Islamic militants to death for their involvement in 400 simultaneous blasts across Bangladesh last year. On August 17 last year, 400 bombs were detonated in Bangladesh, exploding in almost every city and town. It was a violent confirmation that Islamic militancy was thriving in the country, despite determined government denials. The outlawed militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) claimed responsibility for the blasts. The JMB wants Bangladesh to be ruled by strict Islamic law. Twenty-one men, all aged between 20 and 25 have now been sentenced to death by hanging for their involvement...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the execution of convicted killer Michael Morales. Justice Anthony Kennedy reviewed the case, then sent it to the full court, which denied Morales' final appeal at 6:29 p.m. EST, according to court spokesman Ed Turner. "The court entered orders denying the request for stays of execution," he said. The Supreme court was the only legal option left for Morales, 46, who is scheduled to die from lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison for killing teenager Terri Winchell, of Lodi. He would become the...

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan told world business leaders Wednesday the United Nations during his tenure had initiated a "new mindset" on human rights, law, the nature of war and the role of corporations. In his swan song to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Annan said his legacy after 10 years in office, which ends in December, was reaching out beyond governments to businesses, celebrities and non-profit groups to promote the United Nations' work. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks during "A New Mindset for the UN" session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January...

The Ceaucescu moment in Paul Martin's short, disgraceful career as prime minister, the instant it was clear the jig was well and truly up, occurred not this year but last; not during the long, slow humiliation of the present election campaign, but in his hour of maximum triumph, perhaps the finest achievement of his premiership: the luring of Belinda Stronach, by means of a Cabinet bauble or two, into the Liberal fold. You remember: the press conference, a nervous Ms. Stronach, a beaming prime minister. Someone asks about the political impact of her defection, just days before that crucial vote...

BAGHDAD, Jan. 19, 2006 – Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli accepted authority as the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq from Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines in a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Camp Victory here today. Vines served as the commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, N.C., before replacing Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz as the MNCI commander in 2005. From Iraq, Vines will return to his previous position as commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg. Chiarelli comes to MNCI from his position as the commander of Task Force Victory, from Heidelberg, Germany. During...

12/16/2005 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- The 94th Fighter Squadron flew its last F-15 Eagle sortie today, marking the squadron’s official evolution to F-22A Raptor operations. The “Hat-in-the-Ring Gang” is the second squadron at Langley to convert from the F-15C/D -- a strictly air-to-air fighter -- to the Raptor, which has air-to-ground capabilities. Pilots from Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon units will move into the 94th to ramp up Raptor operations. “From the operator perspective, we see it as a way to better equip the force,” said Lt Col. Dirk Smith, the squadron commander. “It’s more than...

Dec. 2. — With the final words “God bless everybody in here”, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000th prisoner to be put to death in the USA since the death penalty was reinstated a quarter of a century ago. His death came after both Governor Mr Mike Easley and the US Supreme Court declined to intervene and stop the execution. “Having carefully reviewed the facts and circumstances of these crimes and convictions, I find no compelling reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdicts affirmed by the state and federal courts,’’ Mr Easley said in a statement issued a...

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's growing pool of lawyers are being tapped to provide paralegal services for customers from the United States as the next frontier in the country's booming outsourcing sector, executives say. ADVERTISEMENT Companies in India are offering trained lawyers using legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexis/Nexis to provide law firms in the United States with low-cost research, writing and analysis in a move to capture a market worth billions of dollars. "We did a survey of corporate houses in the US in which 86 percent identified the high cost of legal services as their number one...

In FR News today, the forum formerly known as “Free” Republic went downhill at an amazing speed. Moderators insanely restrict the postings of fellow conservatives and this long time FReeper JesseP will have no more. The $72,000 pledge drive, told to me by Jim Robinson himself is primarily going to fund his personal expenses along with two of the mods. In other words when the wife receives a gift, it is paid for by fellow FRreepers donations. This Ex FReeper will now be calling his bank and canceling the donation made this weekend and it is suggested that others do...

<p>WE had peace and prosperity with the last legitimately elected President. Now with the selected one, we have war, recession, high gas prices, and hurricanes. Your hero worship of Chimpy McJimBeam is beyond moronic.</p> <p>Bye Bye. Consider yourself banned.</p>

"Goodbye, farewell and amen" Life's changes are always such that you never expect them, and they take a minute or three to get used to when they occur. My life is taking a turn now that is forcing me to give up writing Ramblings' Journal. I've accepted a new position that will preclude me from continuing my writings here. So I'm pulling the plug on R/J in order to focus on the new opportunity that has been placed before me. Contrary to the opinions of others, I'm not running for office (I don't have the patience), nor am I joining...

I've been thinking about this: Has anyone considered that, maybe, Governor Blanco DELIBERATELY delayed acting because she knew she would create a human trajedy she could then blame on the President? The Mayor may be in on it too, but I can't believe that the governor of a state, faced with images of desperate people in New Orleans on TV, wouldn't have picked up the phone and BEGGED the President to move the ENTIRE military to her state/cities. I mean, think about it: These people had been trying to "get" President Bush for years! The Jersey Girls (9-11 widows) didn't...

I am an independent and have become uneasy about what is happening in Iraq. The constitutional crises now going on is pitting the various factions against each other. What bothers me the most, however, is the fact that Iraq is on it's way to becoming a country ruled by islamofacists. I realize this was not our goal, but the reality is our policy there has created a situation that does exactly the opposite of what we wanted. How does this benefit the US?

This thread has been pulled. Pulled on 07/23/2005 10:40:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson, reason: Censorship Goodbye FreeRepublic,I'm off to Liberty Post. It was good while it lasted........Please ban me NOW Jim!

When it comes to the law of unintended consequences, the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance "reform" is rapidly becoming a legal phenomenon. The latest example comes courtesy of the Federal Election Commission, where officials are being asked to extend the law to the very people it is supposed to empower: individual citizens. snip The problem facing the FEC is that McCain-Feingold broadly restricts coordination with, and contributions to, political candidates. So what is the agency to do with all those people who use their Web sites to praise a candidate? Computers and Web access cost money, which could be construed as a financial...

Dan Rather's farewell... cartoon by FReeper IPWGOP (aka Linda Eddy) click here for really large version This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

As of today pullout of the Ukrainian peacemaking contingent from Iraq is number one task, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko claimed presenting new Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko today. According to an UNIAN correspondent, the President said that the Ukrainian servicemen fulfilled their tasks in Iraq at a high level, and now the diplomats and other departments will start the work for implementation of the Ukrainian national interests in this question. V.Yushchenko has said that the rules and schedule of pullout of the peacemakers must be the principle questions, which have to be co-ordinated with the partners of Ukraine for the...

How does a registered forum member go about closing out/canceling their registration? Although I wasn't here much I am spending to much time online and I no longer wish to post anywhere on the net so I need to know how to do this?

(CBS/AP) Sen. Mark Dayton said Wednesday he won't seek a second term next year, saying he doesn't believe he's the best candidate for Democrats because of his distaste for fundraising. "I do not believe I am the right person to lead the Democratic Party in Minnesota," Dayton said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "I cannot stand to deal with the constant fundraising necessary" to run a successful campaign, Dayton said. "I choose to devote all of my time and energy to the job that Minnesotans elected me to do," he said. Dayton has been widely seen as vulnerable....

My name is Mary Katherine, and I reside in the state of Ohio. I am a registered Republican. I grew up in a small town with very strict parents, attend church every Sunday, and have generally tried to live a good and decent life. I have been married for 15 years, have 3 children, and I am a stay at home mother. I am personally opposed to abortion, I believe in small government, and I cheered when welfare was overhauled. I am personally opposed to gay marriage, and I deeply believe this country needs to do more about the divorce...

The last word, for now; humorist gives jokes a rest By DAVE BARRY Sun, Jan. 02, 2005 There comes a time in the life of every writer when he asks himself -- as Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Hemingway all surely asked themselves -- if he has any booger jokes left in him. For me, that time has come. I've been trying to entertain newspaper readers since the '60s, when I wrote ''humor'' columns for the Haverford College News. I put ''humor'' in quotation marks because when I go back and read those columns today, I don't get any of the jokes....

Ditto, Tom...Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says goodbye.     This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

“And I thank the poor reporters, if you can understand what I am saying. They are always asking later, ‘Mr. President: What did he say and how did he say it?’” — Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), acknowledging that his heavy Southern accent causes problems for Senate stenographers, as he delivered his farewell speech yesterday after 38 years in office Post’s Broder bids goodbye to reporting Famed scribe will continue to write columns regularly First, it was Tom Brokaw deciding this would be his last campaign before stepping down as NBC-TV’s “Nightly News” anchor. Then, it was The New York Times’s...

I posted this a couple of months ago. But I thought it would be good to do it again. The more liberal lurkers and other see it the better. Somebody post it on the DU board!

It recently occurred to me that the one-party democracy of the USSR is not much worse than the present system at home.Since Nader is not a candidate with a serious chance of victory, the choice is between Democrat or Republican, and in a 2000 debate, Bush and Gore agreed on 39 separate issues! Those who are further from the centre such as moderate socialists have no voice, which is sad considering that the combined Gore/Nader vote of centre-left held the majority over Bush. The people are always doomed to vote for the lesser of two evils. only in the democracy...

For Immediate Release Tuesday, August 24, 2004 KERRY CAMPAIGN BACKTRACKS ON FIRST PURPLE HEART AWARD Campaign Says May Have Been Self-Inflicted Washington—In a reversal of their staunch defense of John Kerry's military service record, Kerry campaign officials were quoted by Fox News saying that it was indeed possible that John Kerry's first Purple Heart commendation was the result of an, unintentional, self-inflicted wound." "GARRETT: And questions keep coming. For example, Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2, 1968. But in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes he and his crew, quote, "hadn't been...

WASHINGTON – John Kerry stands by his claims in 1971 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that U.S. soldiers in Vietnam regularly, and as a matter of official policy, committed war atrocities against innocent civilians, according to a top campaign official. John Hurley, national director of Veterans for Kerry, denied on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, that Kerry had overstated the case against the war when he returned home as a spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. A new ad by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth targets Kerry's comments in 1971 as giving aid and comfort...

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Saturday night urged President Bush to "stand up and stop" what he called personal attacks on him over his combat record in Vietnam. At a fund-raiser attended by about 750 people, Kerry said the attacks by a group of Vietnam veterans and former Swift Boat commanders have intensified "because in the last months they have seen me climbing in America's understanding that I know how to fight a smarter and more effective war" against terrorists. "That's why they're attacking my credibility. That's why they've personally gone after me. The...