Free Republic

It will come as no great surprise to regular readers of this blog that I have decided to not vote for Barack Obama next month. Since several repected Republican pundits and politicians have stirred the pot recently by making their reasoning for endorsing Obama part of the political discourse, I thought I might reveal some of the reasons why I am not supporting him, especially since McCain was not my first, or even my second choice in the Republican primary. One of the great pleasures of self employment for me is the freedom to decide with whom to do business....

As the media turns over every rock in the past of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, there has been shockingly little vetting of Barack Obama’s background. Although candidates should not be judged solely by their behavior as adolescents, an examination of their overall past is fair and important, especially as we pick our next president. And former schoolmates can help provide character clues, such as the former Obama schoolmate who told Newsmax that she is surprised he is running for president.

Palin Helps McCain With Christian Voters By Deal W. Hudson 09/29/2008 The evening Gov. Sarah Palin spoke at the Republican National Convention a cry went up from the floor so loud, so thunderous, that you would have thought you were at the Super Bowl. This was the sound of Christian voters, the ground troops of the GOP, expressing their relief that John McCain had embraced one of their own. Immigration aside, Christian voters have no serious problem with Mr. McCain's record. They have had a problem with a candidate who did not associate with them. Over the years, Mr. McCain...

UD persusasion expert gives debate edge to McCain By William Hershey | Saturday, September 27, 2008, 02:15 PM In presidential debates, what counts is not just what the candidates say but how they say it. Randy Sparks, a persuasion expert at the University of Dayton, gave Republican John McCain a slight edge over Democrat Barack Obama in the second category in their debate on Friday, Sept. 26. McCain over and over made the same point, simply and clearly, that Obama does not understand the complex issues facing a president, said Sparks, associate professor of marketing. “The cumulative effect of that...

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Sarah Palin visits The Villages Jim Stratton | Sentinel Staff Writer 7:37 PM EDT, September 21, 2008 THE VILLAGES - With thousands of supporters packing the streets and sidewalks of this massive retirement community, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Sunday that she and John McCain would reform Washington, put America on the path to energy independence and nurse a struggling economy back to health. Palin, who has become a Republican phenomenon, also slipped comfortably into the role of political hit man, stoking the cheering crowd with jabs at Democrat Barack Obama. Obama "likes to point the finger of blame," she...

McCain was scheduled to appear in Scranton, PA this coming Monday morning,with Cindy. However, this event is no longer listed at johnmccain.com. http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=9032827

Has anyone seen or know how to find the TV ratings for the Hannity TV show with the Sarah interviews?

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Army wants every Iraqi Soldier to receive ethics training just like he receives marksmanship or drill and ceremony training. Since 2003, the primary focus for the Iraqi Army has been building the force. Getting Soldiers trained to fight took precedence over many other military functions. Iraqis came from all locations and all walks of life to join the fight to secure their country from terrorists. Every one of those Soldiers brought a unique set of values with him: personal values, family values, community values and religious values. Creating a culture of ethical behavior means that each...

ST. PAUL - John McCain's campaign hoped that the five days between the introduction of Sarah Palin as his running mate and her high-stakes speech tonight to the Republican National Convention would let it weave a narrative about the Alaska governor as a kindred maverick reformer who shares McCain's disdain for pork barrel projects and political corruption.[snip] McCain told reporters yesterday that "the vetting process was completely thorough" and gave a vote of confidence to Palin. However, campaign officials have acknowledged that they limited their vetting in Alaska because they wanted to keep the possible selection of Palin a secret.

Think the liberal mainstream media don't like the thought of Sarah Palin becoming president? Check out the editorials blasting John McCain's choice as vice president on the GOP ticket: The New York Times: "Governor Palin’s lack of experience, especially in national security and foreign affairs, raises immediate questions about how prepared she is to potentially succeed to the presidency. That really is the only criterion for judging a candidate for vice president." The Los Angeles Times: "In Palin, who is just halfway through her first term as governor, McCain has found an ardent opponent of abortion rights who won't provoke...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While many studies have examined cheating among college students, new research looks at the issue from a different perspective – identifying students who are least likely to cheat. The study of students at one Ohio university found that students who scored high on measures of courage, empathy and honesty were less likely than others to report their cheating in the past – or intending to cheat in the future Moreover, those students who reported less cheating were also less likely to believe that their fellow students regularly committed academic dishonesty. People who don’t cheat “have a more...

. . . honor, integrity, honesty, ethics, morals, character, judgement? Recently, rumors at the company where I work have started proving true. Our building will be sold and the manufacturing facility sold to another company. Something new; unusual? Market downturn? No, not really. Just greed. Greed likely performed by an officer of the company who thought it would be okay to misreport our earnings. In other words, they "cooked the books". I'm sure they thought that no harm would come as a result of lying; it made their quarterly earnings look better than they were and earned them a higher...

Two political icons that cast considerable shadows led the headlines this week. One for his desire to return to the lynchings of the slavery era - through literal castration, the other for his enormous generosity, sense of fair play, and kindness. On Father's Day 2008, when Barack Obama claimed that any "fool" could have child he could have easily addressed those comments directly to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. When Obama also claimed it took a "man" to raise a child, he would have been hard pressed to find a more brilliant example than former press secretary Tony Snow. One had...

Here are some additional qualities that embody superior leadership. Great leaders surround themselves with greatness. They actively seek out the best possible people and hire them to fill all key positions within their organizations. Great leaders know that surrounding themselves with excellence is a direct reflection on their own character, abilities, and effectiveness as leaders. They understand that their own success and the success of their organizations depend mostly on hiring and promoting the best qualified, ethical, skilled, responsible, mature, and productive people and giving them the proper resources, authority, and freedom to do what’s needed for the long-term benefit...

"He Who Came to Jesus By Night" By Anton Bosch We all know the story about Nicodemus who visited Jesus under the cover of darkness in John 3 and to whom Jesus spoke about being born again and to whom Jesus uttered the famous John 3:16. It is interesting to note that Nicodemus is mentioned three times in John’s Gospel. In addition to the well-known passage in John 3, he is also mentioned in chapters 7 and 19. He is the only man by that name in the Bible and there can be little confusion about who he was. His...

(CBS) It was a tempting sight for struggling landscaper Eli Estrada: a bag filled with $140,000 on a Cerritos street. There was his credit card debt, upcoming wedding and making ends meet with his artificial grass and landscaping business. But turning it over to Long Beach police last month was the right thing to do, he said. The 40-year-old Estrada admits that some days "I think I was nuts," but he adds, "I know in my gut that to keep that money would be wrong." The Bank of America money bag was lost March 11 by Brinks Armored truck drivers. The...

53 minutes ago (at time of posting this thread) WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican John McCain Thursday portrayed his possible Democratic presidential election rival Barack Obama as a national security neophyte who was dishonestly misrepresenting him on Iraq. Intensifying his assault, McCain questioned Obama's plan to leave a "strike force" of US troops in the Middle East after an eventual withdrawal from Iraq, and accused him of being "disingenuous" about his own Iraq stance. [SNIP] "I think somebody ought to ask what in the world he's talking about, especially since he has no experience or background at all in national security...

In 2001, the United States Air Force wanted to begin replacing 500 of its aging refueling planes. The plan began with a sweetheart deal, buried in the fine print of the 2002 defense-authorization bill. The Air Force was to lease 100 Boeing fuel tankers at a cost of $26 billion — $6 billion more than the cost of buying them outright, according to an estimate by the White House Office of Management and Budget. If that sounds like a bad deal, it’s because it was. It never occurred, thanks to loud and persistent protests from Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.)....

Do you know the three essential rules of real estate? Can you name all three? Well, the answer you’re probably thinking of is that most famous of all real estate axioms: Location, location and location! But with the big ugly mortgage lending and housing foreclosure mess continuing to drive so many homeowners to the brink of financial ruin, I’m proposing a new and better answer: Integrity, integrity and integrity! You’ve no doubt heard terms like “subprime lending” and “teaser rates” and “no doc loans” and “real estate bubble” used as easy catch phrases to explain what went wrong in our...