Free Republic

Sarasota, Fla. (AP) -- Newt Gingrich has staked his presidential bid on the idea that he's best positioned to defeat President Barack Obama. Yet even some supporters seem to be struggling to buy that claim, an indication that efforts by chief rival Mitt Romney to undercut him may be working. "Beating Obama is more important than everything else," Patrick Roehl, a 51-year-old computer software engineer, said at a Gingrich rally inside a Sarasota airport hangar this past week. "Can Newt win? I'm not sure. He's got a lot of high negatives. The elections are won and lost in the middle....

As a Christian, I will neither defend nor excuse Newt’s past adultery. That said, after watching his ex-wife Marianne go off on him on ABC, as a man, I now get why he supposedly wanted an “open marriage.” Holy crikey. That chick is scary! Hell hath no fury like a furry woman. That’s one angry, gangrenous ex-Gingrich chica right there, folks. Let’s see … what do we have here? Lonely and bitter? Table for one? Now, before I get my inbox stuffed with hate mail labeling me insensitive, calling Newt a cad, and painting Marianne as a damsel in distress,...

I can confirm tonight from multiple sources that phone calls are in fact occurring between Republicans in Washington and among evangelical leaders to raise money for Rick Santorum rapidly. The sources tell me that this is not for a Santorum win, though the evangelicals I spoke to continue to hope it is possible. This is to stop Newt Gingrich. One evangelical leader I spoke to said, “If Newt wins, we won’t be able to make family values an issue in the general.” One lobbyist I spoke to said, “They [the GOP leaders in DC] are really nervous about Gingrich and...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- With the South Carolina Republican presidential primary a week away, former Sen. Rick Santorum on Saturday received the endorsement of 150 influential Christian conservative leaders who are hoping to prevent former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from becoming the GOP nominee. The group, suspicious that Romney's commitment to social conservative causes such as ending legalized abortion is weak, met at a ranch outside of Houston, Texas, in hopes of rallying around one candidate rather than split their votes among three - Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The endorsement came as the Republican...

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Thursday the world was on an "inexorable march toward the abyss," which he blamed in part on the discovery and exploitation of vast reserves of so-called "shale gas" around the world. Shale gas is natural gas locked in rock formations that in the past decade has been found in great abundance around the world and is now considered a top source of future energy. Castro, 85, wrote in one of his occasional columns published in Cuban state media that "numerous dangers threaten us, but two of them—nuclear war and climate change—are decisive and...

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times reports that President Barack Obama has indicated he is prepared to convey information about secret American missile defense technology to Russia: In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority. As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could...

We here at SBSB wish to take the time and congratulate Governor Cuomo on his call in tomorrow's state of the state address tomorrow night in calling for an education committee to look at education across the state. This is an idea we here at SBSB have mulled over in the past.

The couple chose an idyllic resort in the Maldives as the perfect place to renew their marriage vows and pledge everlasting love. But their happiness has turned to humiliation after the wedding video was posted on YouTube and subtitles disclosed that their "Islamic blessing", which was conducted by a hotel employee in the native Dhivehi language, was in fact a stream of insults. "You are swine. The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine. Your marriage is not a valid one," he intoned as the couple held up their hands in prayer, blissfully unaware of...

Representative Rick Larsen (D-Wash) dismissed three legislative aides after learning that they had “tweeted” tales of his on-the-job drunkenness, goofing off, and idiocy. “It’s a simple question of loyalty,” Larsen explained. “Anybody on my payroll is paid to make me look good, to help me be reelected, to serve my needs. If they can’t do that I don’t want them.” Larsen declined to address whether there was any truth to the tweets. “As Pontius Pilate once asked, ‘what is truth?’” Larsen recalled. “The perspectives of these ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ novices cannot be taken seriously. I’ve been in Congress for over a decade....

Politics: You'd think a Republican debate on the economy would be a perfect time to blast Obama policies as an unmitigated disaster. Yet Obama escaped largely unscathed. Whom do these folks think they're running against? If aliens landed Tuesday night and managed to find the GOP debate on Bloomberg TV, they might think the GOP candidates were running against Ben Bernanke, someone named Dodd-Frank, Obama-Care and China. Newt Gingrich focused his ire, for example, on Bernanke, saying he's "the first person to fire." Michele Bachmann went on about Dodd-Frank, calling it "the jobs and housing destruction act." Rick Santorum said...

I'm in the 1%. But I support the 99%Last year, I earned a million dollars on Wall Street, but I'm sick of this society that skews the rewards for work so grotesquely Brad Maher Friday 14 October 2011 12.04 EDT **SNIP** I've chosen this life, of course, and I'm compensated for that financially. But I'm not part of the truly rich for whom taxes are optional, and for whom ever-increasing property prices are a source of entrenching their wealth. Thank God, my earnings permit me to live without the fears of the next energy bill, or phone bill, or medical...

Should we use ethanol for fuel? Certainly. Should we use corn to make that ethanol? Certainly not. Sure, we want to get over our need for foreign oil. Sure, we want to find a renewable fuel for our vehicles. Sure, ethanol could work just fine. But don’t make it from corn. Here’s what I’m talking about. The president and a bunch of powerful people in Congress have been working over recent years to hold up corn-based ethanol as the answer to our future energy-supply needs. When he talks about it, the president says corn-based ethanol is our only hope of...

It does not take a genius to understand why consumer spending is weak. 1.      Unemployment rate is 9% 2.      Real wages are falling3.      Income advances go to the wealthy4.      Middle class is shrinking5.      Jobs hard to find6.      Approval ratings of Congress and Obama at record lows 7.      Consumers have high debt ratios8.      Home prices are still falling9.      Homeowners are trapped in their homes, unable to refinance10.  Boomers need to save for retirement However, those simple facts are far too complicated for a PhD like Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to figure out. Please consider Bernanke puzzled by weak consumer spending Federal...

In the run-up to the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve fueled the housing bubble with its easy money policy. Now, we know that after the crisis struck, the Fed secretly propped up elite bankers all the way from Wall Street to Brussels to the Central Bank of Libya. A Bloomberg news investigation found that while the Treasury Department was pumping $700 billion into banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Fed was covertly operating its own bailout program — the biggest in American history. The Fed's Shadow TARP issued $1.2 trillion in loans to domestic and foreign banks from...

FOR the last three years we have been told repeatedly by government officials that funneling hundreds of billions of dollars to large and teetering banks during the credit crisis was necessary to save the financial system, and beneficial to Main Street... --snip-- Bloomberg reported that the Fed had provided a stunning $1.2 trillion to large global financial institutions at the peak of its crisis lending in December 2008. --snip-- In 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland received $84.5 billion, and Dexia, a Belgian lender, borrowed $58.5 billion from the Fed at... --snip-- Mr. Todd also questioned the Fed’s decision to...

Ron Paul's recent idea on how to ease the national debt is hardly original but none the less worthy of consideration. He has proposed what leftist critics of the status quo monetary system have been proposing for decades: that money printing should be used to fund the government. To give Ron due credit, he is not proposing exactly that. More precisely, he is proposing that the Fed should tear up a bundle of its Treasury securities, which would lower our overall debt total bringing us below the current debt ceiling. Still, the mechanics are identical, if not in reverse order....

The lousy economy has helped push Democrats to the negotiating table in a bid to cut a deal to increase the federal government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit, but the blue team is still hoping to gain some leverage from the nation’s economic woes. In order to keep their party’s rank and file on board, Democratic negotiators, led by Vice President Joe Biden, need to offer some kind of a tax increase as part of a package of cuts being negotiated with Republicans.

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said his company and his industry would be helped, not hurt, if consumers paid higher gas taxes. In an interview published in Tuesday's Detroit News, Akerson floated the idea of a $1 a gallon increase in the gas tax as a way to encourage buyers to purchase smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Greg Martin, spokesman for GM's Washington office, confirmed that the quotes reflect Akerson's and GM's view. Akerson said he would support a jump in the gas tax if it came instead of tighter fuel economy regulations that GM (GM, Fortune 500) and other...

The world continues to collapse upon Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY), and it’s landing on a sensitive part of his anatomy. No, not his crotch. His political viability...Today brings news that Weiner cannot hide from. It turns out there’s a non-profit group called TweetCongress.org that records the Twitter feeds of all congressional representatives in real time. They’ve confirmed that the crotch-shot photo came from Weiner’s TweetDeck application. Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of Yfrog, the photo service that hosted the Crotch of Doom image, shot down the notion that his Yfrog account had been hacked somehow. With the Weiner lie that...

Lawmakers have taken a step to make California more relevant in presidential politics, voting to give the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. The state Assembly passed AB459 on Thursday on a 43-18 vote, sending it to the state Senate. . . .

Unemployment is rising, the federal government is broke, and so are many of the states. Now more than ever America needs its various governments to exercise restraint, and to scale-back on spending. And in the midst of this environment a stunning proposal has emerged in the nearly insolvent state of California: a third income tax. The proposal is actually worse than a mere “additional” income tax – and I’ll explain this in a moment. First let’s look at the “other two” income taxes. For the record, if you’re an American and you work and you earn personal income, your U.S....

Fed head Ben Bernanke, at his first-ever news conference on Wednesday, slammed the door shut on any new QE3 pump-priming. The $600 billion QE2 program to purchase bonds will end on target at the end of June, and that will be that. Mr. Bernanke also suggested that the Fed’s “extended period” for the near-zero federal funds target rate could end in a couple of meetings. Perhaps these announcements suggest a bit-less-easy monetary policy. Perhaps. But Mr. Bernanke had no defense of the sinking dollar, or the inflation it brings, or the drop in middle-class living standards it causes. So it’s...

A game of 20 questions with the Fed Chairman... 1. The rescue packages in 2008-2009 were all aimed at restoring CONFIDENCE to the financial system. Yet from 2001 to 2011 the DXY is down 41.5 and gold is up 473%. Does this not equate to a loss of confidence in the US monetary system? If not how would you explain this phenomena? 2. In March of 2009 you said the ONLY reason you care about Wall Street is because of the affect it has on Main Street. You wanted to become Fed Chairmen to make things better "for the average...

High school senior Jared Dennis wants to join the U.S. Air Force. If you look at his credentials, he would appear to be someone any branch of the military would be happy to have. He has a 3.9 grade point average while taking courses like statistics and Japanese and he plays in a regional orchestra. But when he went through the recruitment process with the Air Force, he was told he is a Tier 2 candidate because he attends an online virtual high school. Less than 1 percent of the people the Air Force accepts can be Tier 2 candidates,...

Cleric says president 'must embrace Islam' or be tried President Obama must embrace Islam as a way of life or face the consequences of a trial under the Shariah Islamic court system, declared British extremist cleric Anjem Choudary. Choudary, founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under anti-terror legislation, is planning a Washington protest later this week in which he says he will call on American Muslims to revolt against the country and implement Shariah law. Read about plans for the United States, in "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize...

A company that tracks roughly half of all U.S. home loans has no right to transfer mortgages, a ruling that could significantly affect the foreclosure process nationwide, a federal bankruptcy judge concluded. Merscorp Inc, a private company known as MERS and owned by large banks and mortgage processors, cannot act as an agent of the banks that own mortgages, wrote Judge Robert Grossman of the U.S. bankruptcy court in Central Islip, New York, located on Long Island. MERS, which stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, tracks more than 60 million mortgages, and has filed thousands of foreclosure actions on behalf...

Almost 39 weeks ago, Kristine Casey set out on an unusual journey to help her daughter and answer a spiritual calling. Her goal was achieved late Wednesday when she gave birth to her own grandson at age 61. Casey, possibly the oldest women to give birth in Illinois, served as a surrogate for her daughter, Sara Connell, who had been trying for years to have a baby. Connell and her husband, Bill, are the biological parents of the child Casey carried, which grew from an embryo created from the Chicago couple's egg and sperm. Crying and praying, Connell and her...

Things should have been nice and chummy at CPAC an hour ago. Dick Cheney strolled on stage to cheers and the inspirational tune of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and got began to present the “Defender Of The Constitution” award to Donald Rumsfeld. However, as the chants of “USA! USA!” died down, a voice screaming “War criminal!” could be heard. And then, as Cheney continued to talk up his former colleague, a shouting match began between supporters of Ron Paul and the rest of the convention hall. The Paul supporters eventually walked out in the middle of Rumsfeld’s speech as...

Dick Cheney just popped up here at CPAC to introduce his old pal and Bush administration colleague Donald Rumsfeld. Fans of Ron Paul turned what should have been a friendly moment before an audience of fellow conservatives into a screaming match and protest action that resembled what a Cheney-Rumsfeld hug at the Netroots Nation convention might look like. Rumsfeld is being given CPAC's "Defender Of The Constitution" award, a concept that apparently rankled Paul supporters in the crowd. Many of them got up and walked out en masse at the mention of Rumsfeld, though some stayed behind in the conference...

Here is an example of JUST ONE Grant offered today.... Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Native Hawaiian Education Program CFDA Number 84.362A Synopsis Full Announcement Application The synopsis for this grant opportunity is detailed below, following this paragraph. This synopsis contains all of the updates to this document that have been posted as of 02/09/2011 . If updates have been made to the opportunity synopsis, update information is provided below the synopsis. . Document Type: Grants Notice Funding Opportunity Number: ED-GRANTS-020911-001 Opportunity Category: Discretionary Posted Date: Feb 09, 2011 Creation Date: Feb 09, 2011 Original Closing Date for...

If you have plans to host a Super Bowl party, you may need to deal with trash talking guests, but you don't have to deal with bags of trash from the party. Do your part by hosting a greener party, no matter what colors your team sports. THE BEER: You'll probably be stocking up on most of your party supplies at the grocery store. If beer is on your list, consider trying a few varieties of organic or locally brewed beers. If you're having a large crowd, renting a keg is both more economical and less wasteful. A full-size keg...

<p>Global inflation is far higher than official statistics reveal, Marc Faber, editor and publisher of the “Gloom, Boom and Doom” report told CNBC on Wednesday, with increases in the cost of living amounting to between five and eight percent in the United States and just below that in Europe.</p>

Decades of autocratic government and a lack of free elections are, of course, the main drivers of the political upheaval in Egypt. But did the sinking dollar and skyrocketing food prices trigger the massive unrest now occurring in Egypt — or the greater Arab world for that matter? In addition to Egypt, the people have taken to the streets to varying degrees in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Yemen. Local food riots have even broken out in rural China and other Asian locales. While the mainstream media focus on the political aspects of this turmoil, they are overlooking the impact...

<p>As we know, massive popular unrest has broken out against autocratic governments in North Africa and the Arab world. Egypt is the biggest story. But to varying degrees, the people have taken to the streets in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.</p>

Mayoral candidate and state Sen. Leland Yee said racist death threats were faxed to his San Francisco and Sacramento offices today. They appear linked to his recent criticism of right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh. The Pima County Sheriff's Office in Arizona recently contacted Yee regarding the April faxes and a possible connection to faxes found during the investigation surrounding the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Yee's office said.

As you can see from the images I took from the video, this did not go the way it was planned. Sometimes you just have to ask, "Whatever happened to that voice in one's head that's supposed to say,""BAD IDEA"! Just so you know, the only things hurt real bad was the truck,the guys pride, and his pocket book.

It’s looking increasingly likely that California will get bailed out by the federal government. The Golden State is $70 billion in the hole. Analysts expect that figure to reach $150 billion within four years — and that’s not including the state’s $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Spending needs to be cut dramatically, but it won’t be; the state is too politically dysfunctional to do that. And the election of big-spender Jerry Brown will only make things worse. (Incidentally, Governor-elect Brown recently described his state’s budget problems this way: “It is much worse than I thought. I am shocked.”) Most conservatives...

The federal government wants automakers to install back-up cameras in all new vehicles starting in late 2014. The plan, announced Friday, received a strong endorsement from insurance industry and other analysts and is likely to get some level of support from car manufacturers. "There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "The changes we are proposing today will help drivers see into those blind zones directly behind vehicles to make sure it...

This would be really funny if it weren't for the fact that so many supposedly informed people, including our president and those who surround him, may actually buy into ideas being proposed at the United Nations-sponsored Cancun climate conference, and will relish the means by which they could be put into place. At the UK Telegraph today, environment correspondent Louise Gray feeds us the following headline and sub-headline: Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world Global warming is now such a serious threat to mankind that climate change experts are calling for Second World War-style rationing...

NIV Bible error - Lucifer AND Jesus are ONE in the NIV. See Isaiah 14:12.

On Monday, during a gubernatorial debate between current Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the subject of illegal immigration arose and Gov. O’Malley used a term that surprised even this jaded observer. When referring to the millions of illegal aliens now residing in the United States, O’Malley called them “new Americans.” Apparently, for the open borders Democrat, anyone whose first act in this country is to violate the law and disrespect our sovereignty, deserves the same status as someone who faithfully observes our immigration laws by waiting years to come here legally, and...

Older households could afford to suffer because they had benefited from previous property price rises, Charles Bean, the deputy governor, suggested. They should "not expect" to live off interest, he added, admitting that low returns were part of a strategy. His remarks are likely to infuriate savers, who are among the biggest victims of the recession. About five million retired people are thought to rely on the interest earned by their nest-eggs. But almost all savings accounts now pay less than inflation. The typical savings rate has fallen from more than 2.8 per cent before the financial crisis to 0.23...

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex. The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011... Because AIDS researchers have been...

http://www.petitiononline.com/Boehner/petition.html Rep Boehner should step down from party leadership after making the comments "If the only option I have is to vote for those at 250 and below, of course I'm going to do that. But I'm going to do everything I can to fight to make sure that we extend the current tax rates for all Americans". In his leadership place should be a real republican like Mike Pence. Sincerely, The Undersigned

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday announced the start of a new website intended to help Californians find jobs in green industries. The website, called Clean Energy Jobs, provides resources to promote jobs in areas such as recycling, clean transportation and renewable energy. The website lists 48 programs that provide training for green jobs, offered through organizations such as community colleges, local workforce investment boards and private industries. In a written statement, the governor said the website's purpose is to highlight "how the state's community colleges and workforce investment boards, labor unions, and employers are working to meet the demand...

The Huffington Post embarrasses itself today with an post made during the 8/28 Glenn Beck rally titled "Beck Borrows Lines From Obama 2008 Stump Speech During DC Rally". What a crock - it's as if the leftists want to try to catch a ride on Beck's populist coattails, or that Obama was the ONLY person to ever suggest that it takes just a single person to change the world. Founding Ideals

"In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer bank accounts faster and drive up overdraft fees, a policy Alsup referred to as "gouging and profiteering.""

RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority has requested that NATO send troops to secure any new Palestinian state in the West Bank. Officials said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has relayed a proposal for the stationing of NATO troops along the borders of any Palestinian state in the West Bank. They said the proposal was drafted in cooperation with U.S. envoy George Mitchell, assigned to accelerate efforts to win Israeli agreement for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2012. "The deployment of NATO forces is meant to overcome Israel's security objections to a Palestinian state," an official said. Officials said Abbas...

Yesterday, Michelle Malkin issued a call to her blog readers to help create new NASA logos to “mock Team Obama’s Muslim-pandering makeover of the space program.” Some of the best logos submitted can be seen below. The logo makeover contest was in response to the latest “Muslim friendly” NASA policies that Obama has foisted on America’s space exploration agency. Yes, this is no joke! Barack Hussein Obama has designated NASA’s new mission to now be, and I quote: “engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science.”

This is a truly remarkable video found at Powerline of NASA administrator Charles Bolden telling al-Jazeera that NASA is now tasked "to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." The agency that sent a man to the moon has been enlisted to improve the self-esteem of Muslims.