Free Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzpRZnnrjrs An empty suit? A Republican who hopes to prevent Democrat Evan Bayh from winning his third U.S. Senate term in 2010 is running his first commercial. The ad features Marlin Stutzman, a state senator from Howe, standing next to a suit on a hanger. "I don't approve of sending empty suits to Washington," he says, an implication that the moderate Bayh shifts with political winds. Stutzman is emerging as the front-runner among three Republicans who have entered the race. The empty suit commercial is running only on cable channels right now. Political observers think that to seriously challenge Bayh,...

In Indiana, practice for 'civilian surge' in Afghanistan State Dept. enlists Afghans to help prepare Americans for mission CAMP ATTERBURY, IND. -- Outside a scruffy, two-story building, armed and flak-jacketed U.S. soldiers stood watch under a sagging Afghan flag. Inside, the provincial governor, a Hamid Karzai look-alike in a striped robe and Karakul cap, pleaded with two tribal elders to get along. Only the Taliban would benefit from their dispute, the governor's aide said with a nervous click of his worry beads. An American at the table asked to speak. If they couldn't settle their differences over landownership, he gently...

FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- A Meijer's Department Store in Northeast Fort Wayne is preparing for what could be an onslaught of customers looking for a chance to meet a big star in the world of politics. Sarah Palin didn't get elected Vice-President, but she figures to be a huge hit at an event here in town on Thursday. Palin will only be in the city a short time to sign copies of her new book, but the possibility of getting to meet her up close and personal is expected to draw supporters like a magnet. The Meijer at...

Bishop John D'Arcy has announced his retirement over the weekend. Bishop D'Arcy holds the priestly duties of the Fort Wayne/South Bend Diocese. At the Cathedral Of Immaculate Conception, parishioners will see the changing of the guard. The Bishop is retiring because of mandatory retirement age rules. He has served the diocese for 24 years as Bishop. John D'Arcy was born......

Some Indiana University professors have proposed a novel way to give struggling inner-city students a fresh start: send them to boarding school in Africa.“The core idea is to pull kids out of an environment where they cannot thrive and put them in one where they can,” said law professor Kevin Brown, who leads the group behind the idea. The project is still in its planning phase, and its backers admit it faces legal and financial hurdles. But the professors want to establish a school in the West African nation of Ghana where Indiana teachers would instruct some of the state's...

The crispness is in the air and frost has already been on the pumpkin this fall. It's harvest time in Indiana. But for farmers, this has not been a good year. A shortened planting season because of rain is now mixed with a late harvest because of rain. Some reports have the moisture content as high as 35 percent in some areas. This has posed a problem for the wheat industry in Indiana.

Federal Bench: Yet another judicial nominee seeks to impose the "empathy" standard on the courts. He thinks judges should base rulings on a plaintiff's status, legislate from the bench and amend the Constitution. Indiana federal judge David Hamilton stands poised to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to assume a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals serving Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. He's a former fundraiser for Acorn and a former leader of the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is also another in a series of activist judges who believe the U.S. Constitution is not...

It is 1945 in the Philippines. A short while earlier, American forces were made the Bataan Death March. Now the area between the shore and Zig Zag Pass were once again under U.S. Control. The 'Cyclones' looked at the area. The pass was a few pieces of ground combined to the same degree to roughness and dense jungle. The main road, Route 7 twists violently through the pass, following a line of least terrain resistance that wild pigs must originally have established. The jungle flora in the region is so thick that one can step five yards off the highway...

<p>LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — A former Lafayette man wounded in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, described it as the most harrowing experience of his military career — which included 13 months in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.</p>

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning a second anti-health care reform Tea Party at the Capitol -- this one scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday -- approximately the time when the House is due to vote on Democrats' public option bill, POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports. King and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) organized a rally Thursday that drew thousands to the west front of the Capitol, drawing chants of “Kill the Bill.” There were a handful of arrests. “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care,” King said in a news release. “We need the help of...

Note: The following text is a quote: Hamilton Man Sentenced to 30 Months' Imprisonment for Threatening to Bomb Cincinnati Airport and Other Cincinnati-Area Landmarks CINCINNATI—Frederick D. Purvis, 43, of Hamilton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 30 months' imprisonment for a series of messages he sent in November, 2008 in which he threatened to blow up seven Cincinnati-area landmarks including the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. He was also sentenced to serve six years of supervised release after his prison term. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, James A. Zerhusen, United...

No stops are planned in Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other major cities and book-buying communities that are standard for authors on the road, but where the voters tend to be Democrats. Beyond a Nov. 16 television interview with Oprah Winfrey, nothing is scheduled for Chicago. New York will feature media appearances only. Instead, the itinerary for Palin, whose "Going Rogue" comes out Nov. 17, includes Noblesville, Ind.; Washington, Pa.; and Rochester, N.Y. "She wants to be unconventional. She is unconventional," HarperCollins spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said Wednesday....

Almost 20% of West Virginians eligible to vote are either dead or have moved. Five States with the Most Dead People Eligible to Vote: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. FUN TIME IN ACORN TOWN: DEAD PEOPLE RULE! Are you lonely when you go to the polling place? Want some company? Perhaps, you'd like to take along a dead "friend" to vote with you. That's a scenario that's becoming more possible across the United States. A combination of old voter registration lists that still contain the names of dead voters and voters who have moved, new "Motor Voter" legislation,...

Two Indiana teenagers have sued their school district after they were punished for posing suggestive photos on MySpace. The girls, 10th-graders at Churubusco High School in Churubusco, Indiana, say they were humiliated after the school banned them from fall semester extracurricular activities and forced them to apologize to the all-male Athletics Board (composed of varsity coaches). The girls also had to attend three counseling sessions. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed the proposed class-action suit on behalf of the girls and all present and future students at the school who participate or may participate in extracurricular activities. The ACLU...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The issue of national health care reform could endanger the political future of Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. The moderate is in hot water with liberals for his failure to endorse a reform bill, 6News' Norman Cox reported. As recently as two days ago, Bayh said he might not be able to support a motion to proceed with a floor debate on health care if it's too expensive. This week, the liberal group MoveOn.org delivered petitions to Bayh's Indiana offices signed by 244 people identified as former Bayh donors and volunteers. They said if he votes to sidetrack health...

A local auto dealer announces opening of "truck season:! This is great news to see another business actually promoting the American hunting tradition.Tom Iepe of Milan.Indiana offers a voucher redeemable at sporting goods stores with purchase of American-made truck.

Indiana trooper charged in Michigan armed robbery October 22, 2009 Sun-Times News Group Investigators say an Indiana State Police trooper was one of three armed men who broke into the home of a Lansing, Mich., couple and robbed them late Sunday night. Elton D. Jones, 28, of Valparaiso, and two other men were arraigned Tuesday on charges of armed robbery, first-degree home invasion and using a gun to commit a felony. They face up to life in prison if convicted. Indiana State Police spokesman David Bursten told the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal that Jones was fired Tuesday. Jones, who originally...

An Indiana appeals court has ruled that police do not need to obtain a search warrant before forcing someone to submit to a DNA test, a move that raises important privacy questions. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on September 30 that no court order was necessary to force a suspect to allow the inside of his cheek to be scraped and a sample of cells to be collected and the DNA analyzed. The case arose out charges filed against Arturo Garcia-Torres, who was convicted of rape and attempted rape in two cases involving female Valparaiso University students. A police...

Note: Photos included. SNIPPET: "ALBANY, Ind. — A single-engine plane crashed into an Indiana field on Wednesday after the pilot, who was seen slumped over, lost consciousness and the aircraft started flying out of control, officials said. Military officials do not believe the crash was terrorism-related but said the pilot may have had a health problem or have been suffering from a lack of oxygen." SNIPPET: "At Delta High School east of Muncie, a state trooper rushed in and told officials a plane could crash near the building within five minutes, said Principal Jim Koger. Officials raced to move the...

The TODAY Show on Tuesday featured a story you read here last week. A Michigan woman is threatened with a fine by the Michigan Department of Human Services for letting her neighbors' kids stay at her house before the school bus arrives. Then there is this story from Terre Haute Indiana: Sally Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of...

UPDATE: The TODAY Show on Tuesday featured a story you read here last week. A Michigan woman is threatened with a fine by the Michigan Department of Human Services for letting her neighbors' kids stay at her house before the school bus arrives. MORE: Sally Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time. The end...

I just got this emailed to me. If you in the Chicagoland area, have the time and cash, here's all the info to have lunch with Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana.

Purdue Students Protest Bill AyersConservative and Libertarian Students Rally Against 1970s Domestic Terrorist [West Lafayette, Indiana] — Today, a coalition of Young Americans for Liberty chapters throughout Indiana will confront self-proclaimed communist Bill Ayers and challenge him on issues important to college students and youth at Purdue University. The group will distribute flyers and pocket constitutions and attempt to confront Ayers at the Lawson building at 6 p.m. "We want to bring awareness to his radical views because we are the generation that his to live with the consequences of his policies, which directly contradict liberty." said Nathan Murphy, Purdue...

UAW Moves St. Louis Workers To Ind. KOKOMO, Ind. -- Nearly 200 Chrysler workers in Kokomo will soon be out of work again as part of a union agreement that will allow out-of-state workers to take their jobs. The move comes after a plant in St. Louis shut down. According to a United Auto Workers contract, 178 of the workers with the most seniority will be offered positions in Kokomo, 6News' Jennifer Carmack reported. President of Local 685 Richie Boruff said that local members fought hard to prevent the move, but eventually lost the fight. One worker told Carmack by...

Canvasser from the Citizens Action Coalition stopped by with a petition against Cap and Trade. I thought the CAC was more of a liberal, envirowingnut group. Is this one of those "even a broken clock is right twice a day" moments?

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An Indiana appeals court threw out the state's voter identification law Thursday, finding it violates the state constitution's equal protection clause. The law, one of the strictest in the country, requires voters to show government-issued photo ID before they can cast their ballots. The three-judge panel said the law is unconstitutional because it does not apply to two groups of voters, the Indianapolis Star reported. Absentee voters are not required to file affidavits swearing to their identity, and residents of long-term care facilities do not have to show ID if their facility is a polling...

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA says Myles Brand has died after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 67. The university president turned NCAA chief who pushed for tighter academic standards in college sports and took on Bob Knight died Wednesday.

NDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita pitched a plan Tuesday that would make it illegal for lawmakers to consider political data when redrawing congressional and legislative district maps. Rokita wants districts to follow county or township lines as much as possible so they are not divided. He said the plan would result in more fairly drawn, competitive districts. His proposal has drawn praise from Gov. Mitch Daniels, a fellow Republican, but two top GOP lawmakers said it is not Rokita's job to interfere with a process that belongs in the hands of the General Assembly. Indiana lawmakers are...

Just got back from the tea party and had a great time. I would guess we had about 2 to 3,000 people. I finally met jim rob at the end. Overall it was peaceful and not the angry mobs that people think of us. I have never been to anything like this before and had a wonderful time. If anything it was just nice to be around like minded people who share the same beliefs and values. I dont have any pics of myself, but if anyone was there I was the young jewish kid walking around with the american...

The Tea Party Express will be rallying in Bloomington, Indiana this morning at 11:00 am and in Bloomington, Illinois at 5:00 pm tonight!! Next rally stop: Joliet, IL tomorrow morning!! Woo hoo!! Thirty-five cities, thirty-five tea parties in sixteen days!! Be sure to check the tour schedule and join us when we get to a city near you: TeaPartyExpress.org!! And if you are going to DC for the big March on Washington and National Tea Party on 9/12, you won't want to miss our National Freeper Convention!! Click here to order your tickets today!! If you can't go to DC...

Does anybody know if there is any effort going on to reverse the open primary system that gave us John McCain? According to Wikipedia the following states have open primaries: * Alabama * Arkansas * Georgia * Idaho * Indiana * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * North Dakota * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Vermont * Virginia * Wisconsin I've run a google news search and come up with blanks.

Gunmen open fire on paramedics in Gary Thursday, 03 September 2009 7:16AM GARY, Ind. (STNG) -- Two men shot at two paramedics Tuesday night after the medics dropped off a patient in Gary, Ind., police said. Gary police Cpl. Gabrielle King said one medic was standing at the rear of the ambulance in the 5100 block of West 4th Avenue with the doors open, and the other was standing at its front at 5:50 p.m. Suddenly, she said, two males drove around the ambulance in a red two-door Geo Tracker and and fired four shots. Next, she said, the men...

Sep 2, 6:26 AM EDT N. Indiana man dies in wood chipper accident ATWOOD, Ind. (AP) -- The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department says a 37-year-old man has been killed after apparently being pulled into a wood chipper. James Vician of Plymouth was feeding cut tree limbs into a wood chipper just before 9 a.m. Tuesday in Atwood, located about 20 miles southeast of South Bend. A coworker who was across the street returned to the wood chipper and could not find Vician. He called police, believing Vician may have been pulled into the machine. When police arrived, they discovered evidence...

BAINBRIDGE, Ind. -- Republican Mitch Daniels has repeatedly insisted that his 2008 run for a second term as Indiana's governor was his last election and that he's not interested in the "savagery" of a national campaign. But like it or not, Daniels' name is being dropped in conservative GOP circles as someone to watch in 2012. Many say Daniels is just what the battered GOP needs, a blend of conservative values, cool demeanor and fiscal discipline. "Mitch has been steady to the cause, he's stayed principled," said Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "The nation is going to...

The journalists of Indianapolis want us to feel sorry for them. See, they've voluntarily signed a contract that includes a 10% pay cut and precludes raises during this contract's 2 year term. And they are wining about it. In a day when papers are failing all across the country, the guild members of Indy journos want us to shed a tear for the fact that they've been successful in keeping their jobs. In a day of the highest unemployment in all sectors of the economy for decades, these newspaper folks want us to get all twisted up over the fact...

Baron Hill, a Blue Dog Democrat from Indiana, just announced he will be holding a Town Hall meeting on Healthcare at Indiana University Southeast on Monday 8/31. It will take place in the Hooiser Room at 6:30. Lets get a big FReeper contingent there to greet him.

U.S. Rep. Baron Hill will have an hour-long "tele-town hall" about health care reform at 6:40 p.m. today with AARP members in the 9th District who are called, answer their telephone and choose to participate. Using a Virginia company, Citizen Dialog, AARP will call about 25,000 of its 97,000 members in Hill's district at the same time, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported today. Numbers called will get a recorded message inviting them to participate. Indiana AARP expects about 4,000 9th District AARP members to participate, but only about two dozen of them to get a chance to ask questions, according to...

Gary is expected to be the Obama administration's "national model" for urban revitalization, according to U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has established a "Gary Project" that will seek to address issues of urban decay and foster economic development in the city, including demolition of vacant properties, according to Bayh, D-Ind.

An Indiana woman whose pet wallaby, a marsupial that resembles a small kangaroo, ran away nearly two months ago said the animal is finally back home. Carolyn Buck of Gaston said Sydney the wallaby escaped June 27 while a new fence was being installed and she received phone calls of sightings ranging from her neighborhood to Hartford City, Gas City and Pendleton, The (Muncie, Ind.) Star Press reported Wednesday. "We've had a few funny reports," Buck said. "I appreciate people looking for her and asking about her, but I don't think she ever got very far away." Buck said she...

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence (R-6th) will deliver the keynote address to the Indiana Leadership Forum's annual luncheon. Hoosier Access will livestream the speech live starting at 11:30 AM ET Click Here for the webstream on Hoosier Access

INDIANAPOLIS -- State leaders on both side of the aisle Friday agreed that a tax increase isn't an option to make up a shocking drop of revenue, but more budget cuts could be on the way. July figures released Thursday showed state tax collections were down $76.5 million from a revised revenue forecast issued in May. That forecast already projected that revenues through June 2011 would be about $1.1 billion less than a forecast issued in April. The sales tax, the state's biggest money maker, was 11 percent less than a year ago, while the income tax was down 35...

HoosierAccess.com was nominated as a finalist in the 2009 Blog Indiana "Best Political Blog" category. The finalists are two Democrat blogs (one, Blue Indiana, is authored by a former Indiana Dem party staffer), Advance Indiana, a moderate blog authored by a gay Republican, and Hoosier Access the one truly Conservative blog on the list. Also is the RTV6 blog which is a blog extension of the MSM. Go HERE to vote. One vote per email address please - we're not ACORN, SEIU, or the Democrats you know.

Indiana 1 Of 3 States With Public School Textbook Rental Fees INDIANAPOLIS -- In the midst of back-to-school season, expenses for clothing, supplies, backpacks, lunchboxes and the like are expected, but some costs catch parents off guard -- such as rental fees for textbooks. Indiana is one of just three states in which parents of public school students pay textbook rental fees, which typically run from about $100 to $400 each year, depending on the school district, 6News' Dan Spehler reported. The additional expense is something that people who move into the area may not be prepared for. Many parents...

President Obama plans to pay another visit today to Elkhart, Ind. -- a city that has become a poster child for the nation's unemployment problem -- to speak about the economy and warn the public that it will take some time for jobs to return. [Snip] This trip will focus on "some innovative ways" that can address creating jobs over the long term, according to Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs.

Last December, the right question was asked. Governor Mitch Daniels wanted to know what it would take to get Carbon Motors to select the State of Indiana. I dispatched my team to go take a look but I didn’t realize at that time what was going to occur over the next several months. In early March of this year, Mayor Leonard Urban and his team flew down to see us with same question clearly top of mind. He asked that before we make a decision, that we at least go visit Connersville, Indiana. I committed to bring the E7 and...

School districts, state agency blamed in molestation case Indiana child welfare officials and school districts in two states had a responsibility to protect children in Lee N. Tibbetts’ classroom, but a series of miscommunications and missteps among those agencies failed to catch a pattern of problematic behavior over three years. That breakdown allowed Tibbetts to remain in the classroom despite multiple accusations, including one that eventually led to the math teacher being arrested on charges alleging he molested a student while teaching for Indianapolis Public Schools. A review by The Indianapolis Star and The Cincinnati Enquirer shows that red flags...

Flags in central Indiana are at half staff. Why is this? A Cronkite thing,

It's now more than 50 years since the revolution began. Sexual "liberation" has been endlessly ballyhooed by the national media, promoted in the movies, embraced by Playboy guys and Cosmo girls as a freedom more delicious than Eden's apple. No American under 40 can honestly remember a time when sex on TV was taboo, when "living together" meant married, when "gay" meant happy, and when almost every child lived with both parents.   If truth be told, the revolution has been a disaster. Before the push to loosen America's sexual mores really got under way in the 1950s, the...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Federal officials are preparing for a series of public meetings to discuss President Barack Obama's initiative to restore the Great Lakes, an ecosystem battered by invasive species, toxic pollution and other problems. Beginning Tuesday in Milwaukee, the Environmental Protection Agency will describe the initiative and take public comment in eight cities across the region. "The president has made restoring the Great Lakes a national priority, so this is an opportunity to explain that commitment," said Cameron Davis, senior adviser to EPA chief Lisa Jackson.

Congressman Greg Walden and Congressman Mike Pence filed the Broadcaster Freedom Amendment last night to the Financial Services Appropriations Bill that would kill any funding for the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" as well as stealth Fairness Doctrine in the form of proposed broadcast localism regulations.Democrats from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senators Dick Durbin, and John Kerry have called for the return of this kind of regulation to the airwaves of America, but thanks to the support of millions of freedom-loving Americans, we were able to mostly close the front door to this government censorship.So now they are trying to sneak through...