Free Republic

Those of you. You know who you are. I don't care who you are or what your reasoning is. Your siding with the maistream media against Palin is doing nothing to help Republicans or Conservatism in general. You are hurting your own cause. Unless you are a DU troll. Or a liberal Republican who has no idea what the heck you are even talking about. Ani Palin comments (such as "shes not fit to be President") should be seen as trolling and should not be tolerated on Free Republic, any conservative web site or any conservative setting. While I am...

Living Breakthrough Minded Today's Scripture "For You, O Lord, are my Lamp; the Lord lightens my darkness" (II Samuel 22:29, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria I’ve learned when things are difficult and don’t look like they are going our way, that’s when it’s the easiest to lose our joy, vision, and enthusiasm; to believe that things will never get any better. But during those challenging seasons in life, we have to learn to do just the opposite. Right in the midst of the adversity, that’s the time–more than ever–to expect a flood of His favor; a flood...

President Obama's public schedule for Saturday, June 6, 2009 ET/LT 0810 1410 The President & First Lady arrive American Cemetery 0820 1420 The President & First Lady tour the Visitors Center 0855 1455 President & three other leaders stand at overlook with two veterans 0910 1530 President Obama, Sarkozy, Brown & Harper participate in 65th Anniversary of DDay

Be Determined Today's Scripture "“[We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy," (Colossians 1:11, AMP). Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you know what causes God to act on your behalf? Do you know what gets His attention? God is not moved by our needs. He’s not moved by whining or complaining. He’s not moved by a “poor me” mentality. No, God is moved by our faith in Him. We have to be determined...

Fountain Of Youth Gushes For Baby Boomers By ANNE McGRAW REEVESIf you're having a hot flash right now, you're hot. Hair thinning? Memory fading? Skin wrinkling? Don't give it another thought, oh, aging baby boomer. Getting older is now chic. The Middle Ages haven't been this thrilling since the exploits of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. Just when those of us born before the swinging '70s are beginning to wonder if the best years are behind us, along comes a set of midlife Midases who prove that age is, indeed, just a number. Everywhere you look —...

BOSTON (WBZ) ― WHDH Channel 7 announced Thursday that general manager Randi Goldklank is now undergoing medical treatment after an allegedly drunken tirade Sunday night that ended with her arrest at Logan Airport. "The unfortunate events of last Sunday night were unanticipated and Ms. Goldklank is deeply regretful," said Ed Ansin, president of Sunbeam Television Corp. in a prepared statement. Mike Carson, the station's previous general manager will take over on a temporary basis while Goldklank remains on administrative leave. According to a State Police report, Goldklank, 40, of Boston, threatened to put a trooper on TV and ruin his...

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - If Hillary Rodham Clinton is feeling heat from pundits and party elders to quit the race and back Barack Obama, you'd never know it from her crowds, energy level and upbeat demeanor on the campaign trail. "There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, and all of the contests yet to come," Clinton told reporters Friday. "This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted." The former first lady weathered a two-pronged blow Friday, with...

The love of my life is seeing other women. It started innocently enough, a bite to eat, a stroll through the park -- the stuff I never have time for. Then came the private jokes, the pet names, the stolen kisses, the bubble baths. At first I was crushed. What did these women have that I didn't? Sure, they're gorgeous, but I happen to look very nice in navy; and, yes, they're bright, but I scored unbelievably high on the SATs ... if you don't count the half with all that math. I told myself it was just a fling,...

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina (CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush, on an around-the-world mission to repair the damage done to America's reputation by the current president — Bush's son, George W. Bush. "Well, the first thing she intends to do, because you can do this without passing a bill, the first thing she intends to do is to send me and former President Bush and a number of other people around the world to...

Virgie Arthur, the mother of former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, has filed a libel lawsuit against a Houston TV station, CBS Studios Inc. and the late model's former companion, Howard K. Stern. The suit alleges that Stern arranged for Smith to appear in an Entertainment Tonight interview where the model stated that Arthur was complicit in Smith's childhood physical and sexual abuse. The lawsuit says the program aired on KPRC Channel 2 in Houston on Feb. 14, a week after Smith died at the age of 39. CBS Studios produces the program, which is broadcast locally on KPRC, an...

...Eight years earlier, he and I had met at a restaurant in Boston where we both worked late nights. We were each in the midst of deteriorating relationships and through our commiseration became close friends, confidants and eventually a couple. Our relationship was brief, intense and tumultuous, more addiction than love — a scalding hot bath that feels like comfort but in reality is scorching you. I think we both knew we were wrong for each other but didn’t care. We were young, lost and unmoored, each secretly terrified of the phrase, “your whole life ahead of you.” Depressed and...

Rosie O’Donnell used to break her own limbs with either a baseball bat or a wooden hanger when she was a child. This revelation, as well as many about her experiences on "The View" last year, is contained in a new book she’s written due shortly called “Celebrity Detox.” This personal memory, so shocking, is almost thrown toward the end of what is better described as a long essay than a short memoir. [snip] She broke her own bones, she recalls, “my hands and fingers usually. No one knew. It was a secret.” She used a Mets baseball bat she...

Vegan teacher threatens to sue school district Fox River Grove Middle School teacher Dave Warwak gave school officials an ultimatum Monday: Go vegan, or I'll sue. Warwak told school officials that unless the middle school served exclusively vegan lunches, which contain no animal products, Warwak would pursue a case against the school for its violation of the Illinois school code. "The state of Illinois is not going to be happy with Fox River Grove when they find out that the vision they have for Illinois schools is being abandoned," Warwak said. Warwak's offer came less than a week after school...

The Decalogue, dangerous? The commandments certainly are regarded as hazardous by the Irritable-American community, which successfully petitions the courts to banish them from public life. At least these stalwart secularists give the Decalogue its due; most of us admire the Ten Commandments just enough to avoid taking them seriously. If we grasped how radical they truly are, we'd find them an offensive stumbling block to us middle-class moderns, who live in a rebellious age characterized by sociologist Daniel Bell as "the rejection of a revealed order, or natural order, and the substitution of the ego, the self, as the lodestar...

A day after the collapse of a Minneapolis bridge along a busy stretch of I-35 West killed at least five people, wounded almost 80 people and left 30 others missing, Senate candidate Al Franken announced the suspension of his campaign in light of the tragic events in Minnesota. "I'm relieved to report that, as far as we know, everyone associated with the campaign is OK, but the coming hours and days will be tense for everyone in Minnesota as details are confirmed," Franken, a writer and former "Saturday Night Live" comedian, said in a statement.

Contradictory messages about women's fertility are breeding like rabbits this week. In largely-Catholic Brazil, the government is subsidizing birth control pills so poor women can afford the contraceptive, despite a recent visit by Pope Benedict XVI, who mainly used his time to condemn abortion, contraception and sex outside marriage. In China, officials are rounding up rural, pregnant women and conducting forced abortions to enforce the mandatory one child policy. In Canada, on the other hand, I'm the problem. Thirty-something. Childless. And a threat to Canada's future economic well being. The nation's fertility rate has plummeted to 1.53 children per woman,...

Growing older has many drawbacks and one unalloyed pleasure: passing judgment on the younger generation. Lately, people have been scrutinizing the members of Generation Y and finding them deficient. What's wrong with the kids? A recent article in The Wall Street Journal reported that because they have been told since infancy that they were special, they believe it and expect to keep hearing it. "Bosses, professors and mates are feeling the need to lavish praise on young adults, particularly twentysomethings, or else see them wither under an unfamiliar compliment deficit," it said. To critics, this generation is an army of...

John Edwards said he’s embarrassed about his now famous $400 haircut. Campaign finance records show that Edwards’ campaign paid a Beverly Hills stylist $400 for his haircuts. Those pricey snips have undercut Edwards’ image as a populist crusading for the little guy. “It’s a ridiculous amount of money for a haircut,” Edwards told reporters after a campaign stop on Adel’s town square. “I’m actually embarrassed by it. “This guy had to come to where I was to get a haircut. I knew it’d be expensive. I didn’t know it would be that expensive. Hopefully I’ll have enough sense not to...

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards expressed befuddlement at criticism of his expensive haircuts. “I don’t know what the big deal is,” Edwards said. “Everybody gets a haircut now and then. They can’t expect me to put up with being shaggy and disheveled. That may be okay for some, like Kucinich or Clinton, but not for me.” Campaign expenditure reports indicate that Edwards typically pays around $400 per trim. Edwards conceded that this “might be a bit more than the average guy pays, but the average guy isn’t running for president and doesn’t have to look great 24/7.” Asked how he...

It can be argued, and without a hint of mockery, that the commitment crisis befalling the current marrying generation could come down to a question of deodorant. And it's a big question. Blinking at the vast rows of tubes in the pharmacy aisle, there are many considerations: Stick or aerosol? Regular or scented? Sea Breeze or Powder Fresh? Newfangled body spray or old-fashioned antiperspirant? The options feel endless. And overwhelming. The same can be said of the modern state of dating and mating and trying to marry, says Jillian Strauss, author of "Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We're Still...

Here is my nightmare. I moved to Madison without knowing anyone here, so I found a babysitter through the University of Wisconsin graduate program in early education. The woman I found was great, but she said that she was really busy, and could her boyfriend babysit instead. I squashed all my sexist stereotypes and asked for his qualifications. She said he has a law degree in Puerto Rico, where they are from, but he can't work here because he didn't pass the Wisconsin bar, and he doesn't want to study for it because they'll only be here two years. So...

...Yet Susannah A. Baruch and colleagues at the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University recently surveyed 190 American P.G.D. clinics, and found that 3 percent reported having intentionally used P.G.D. “to select an embryo for the presence of a disability.” In other words, some parents had the painful and expensive fertility procedure for the express purpose of having children with a defective gene. It turns out that some mothers and fathers don’t view certain genetic conditions as disabilities but as a way to enter into a rich, shared culture.

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

WASHINGTON - Ex-President Bill Clinton exploded yesterday when asked why he didn't get Osama Bin Laden - and revealed that he had invasion plans drawn up to topple the Taliban and get Al Qaeda. Clinton was clearly annoyed when Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace said viewers had sent e-mails urging him to ask, "Why didn't you do more to put Bin Laden and Al Qaeda out of business?" After a string of related questions, Clinton became red-faced and, in a finger-jabbbing tirade, blamed a conspiracy of media and right-wingers for trying to blame him for Bin Laden's survival. When Wallace...

Op-Ed Contributor How We Ended Welfare, Together By BILL CLINTON Published: August 22, 2006 In my first State of the Union address, I promised to “end welfare as we know it”... The last 10 years have shown that we did in fact end welfare as we knew it, creating a new beginning for millions of Americans. In the past decade, welfare rolls have dropped substantially, from 12.2 million in 1996 to 4.5 million today... Sixty percent of mothers who left welfare found work... More than 20,000 businesses hired 1.1 million former welfare recipients... The success of welfare reform was bolstered...

Attention Cindy Sheehan: Your 15 minutes are up. Ms. Sheehan, whose son Army Spc. Casey Sheehan died heroically in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, has spent the intervening years morphing into a professional protester and disgracing her son's memory by fronting for extreme left-wing, anti-war groups. Last August, she cemented her position as a leftist icon with a 26-day "peace vigil" near President Bush's ranch in Texas that attracted the media horde and the glitterati. Well, she's back in Crawford, but this summer rerun is not playing nearly as well with the media, Hollywood halfwits or cut-and-runners. Her...

When I check into this site, often there were interesting discussions from the day before I want to look at. But they are already buried 4 pages deep because it seems some people just post anything they find. Who cares about a radio station promotional announcements, Bruno Kirby dying, or any of this other tripe that some people are posting up. I'm new here, but it seems that some guys are pretty much spamming the blog with articles that rate a "1" on the who gives a crap meter. If it isn't something that we will still remember in 10...

Former President Bill Clinton turns 60 years old on August 19. Just don’t remind him. "In just a few days, I will be 60 years old. I hate it, but it’s true,” Clinton said at a world AIDS conference in Toronto. "For most of my working life, I was the youngest person doing what I was doing. Then one day I woke up and I was the oldest person in every room.” Clinton was a youthful 46 when he was first elected president in 1992. "Now that I have more days behind me than ahead of me, I try to...

On Saturday, Gibson released a statement apologizing: "After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the L.A. County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am...

KATIE Couric had fellow passengers aboard a New York-bound jet on the warpath this week when, as their plane was about to taxi to the runway, she got out of her seat and begged the pilot to allow one of her late-arriving producers to board. "It was like, 'Who the hell does she think she is?' " fumed one passenger who observed Couric's diva-like antics. "If you or I attempted something like this, we'd be cooling our heels at Guantanamo." The witness told Page Six that attendants on Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. Delta Shuttle flight out of Washington, D.C., had already...

Reporter Paul Wallsten, a leftist reporter, asked the president a question today during the press conference while keeping his sunglasses on. The president commented on the sunglasses in this exchange: Bush: You gonna ask your question with shades on? Wallsten: Yes... Bush: But there's no sun out here. Wallsten: It depends on your perspective. Bush: Touché. Daily Kos nutjobs are claiming that Wallsten is blind. Unless it happened recently, I think the nutjobs are just making stuff up (again). Wallsten is featured on the left of this picture:

This post will probably get pulled, but, I honestly want to know what has happened to Free Republic. In breaking news, some of it will stay there for weeks when it's old news. I used to check here first because you could count on Free Republic having the most "up to date" news than anyone on the net. Now, it's just like some of the other sites where you don't know if what you're reading is today or two weeks ago. Even the quick links at the top are outdated. You can go ahead and get mad but it's still...

Clooney: I ruined Kerry's presidential race Ireland Online ^ | 1/14/06 | Ireland Online Posted on 01/14/2006 5:31:52 PM PST by wagglebee George Clooney is convinced he ruined John Kerry's chances in the race for US president in 2004 - by snubbing an invitation and hurting his feelings. The Ocean's Twelve actor was one of several screen stars invited to ride on Kerry's election train, but it all went downhill for the Democrat when Clooney stayed away. He recalls: "Kerry asked me to ride on his train - he had a train going cross-country after he was nominated and some...

Before the divorce rate began its inexorable rise in the late 1960s, the common wisdom had been that, where children are concerned, divorce itself is a problem. But as it became widespread -- peaking at almost one in two first marriages in the mid-1980s -- popular thinking morphed into a new, adult-friendly idea: It's not the act of divorcing that's the problem, but simply the way that parents handle it.

<p>I just found this site and I'm chomping at the bit. There are these folks, you might have heard of them, that are fiscally conservative, believe in "little government" and individual rights. Call 'em Libertarians, Jefferson Republicans, bleah bleah bleah. They also believe...oh, shudder!....that govt. should NOT be in the biz of regulating morality...Don't tread on me...Do what you want; just don't hurt anyone else's chance of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...All that antiquated jazz...leave foreign folks be..etc. etc..</p>

Any one else fed up, burned out, etc? I am just about at the end of my rope with all the DC nonsense. Like, what the heck does it have to do with us in "fly-over-land? I am really tired, and wish these idiots we elected would gather some common sense, but am not about to hold my breath. They are mesmerised by the DC snakes, and the heck with us lowly tax-payers. How do we grab these fools by the short-hairs, and get them to recognize that without us they are "nothing". Heading for sleep now, am tired and...

I decided to end my self-imposed exile from posting due to information that I received this past weekend from ‘a little birdie’ in Washington, which I subsequently had confirmed by another ‘insider’ if you can call him that. You know I won’t tell, so don’t bother asking me for names, links, or further information. I trust these individuals, and have received accurate information from them before and shared it here on Free Republic. Of course, all are free to either accept or reject what I am about to share, but if you know anything about the Dog, I don’t change...

[snip] Event Moderator Gar Alperovitz, a professor at the University and the founder of the Democracy Collaborative, told students that Sheehan was not well. "She's in the back and very, very ill and I think also upset so she's not going to be coming back."

On CNN and MSNBC TV News

...“We need to get our troops out of Iraq. The only reason Bush wants to stay there is because his buddies are getting rich and feasting off the blood of our children.” She also wants a complete military withdrawal from all Arab countries to make us safe from terrorism. Is not ridding the world of Saddam Hussein a noble cause? “We sold him weapons and were once his friend — we made him,” she said. “I have to wonder for the rest of my life if the gun which took Casey’s life was sold to Saddam by the US or...

Excuse me for infiltrating your kingdom, but I need to vent. I just had to pay $2.41 a gallon for gas and I can't afford this. I blame Bush and his illegal wars for this travesty. And since you are part of the remaining 40% of dummies who still support that assclown, I blame you, too. I hope so much the Democrats take back Congress in 2006 so this nazi will be impeached and tossed in the clink. How you idiots can't see this man is pure evil, I don't know. Hopefully, both he and KKKarl Rove will be in...

Hello to one and all. My wife and I are accountants in San Diego, CA and she's been offered a position with a company in Memphis, TN. We've done some initial research on probable places to live and we really like the Germantown area - the homes in our desired price range (250k-310k) seem lovely, the published statistics for the town seem right-on, and the public schools are highly-rated. Our question is: What's the political climate of the town? Thanks in advance.

I wonder if the rules on this forum are applied equally? Several weeks ago I was denied posting privileges because I jokingly advocated a "plan b" in fighting the so far failed war on illegal immigration. My "plan b" was to have border guards retreat to within 200 yards of the border and while fitted with night vision goggles simply drop any illegals attempting to gain access to America. Now frankly I am not concerned with the fact I was denied posting privileges for a day(reason given was "advocating violence")but I wonder if the folks who post pictures of exploding...

Pat Buchanan speaks of American conservatism in the past tense. "The conservative movement has passed into history," says the one-time White House aide, three-time presidential candidate, commentator and magazine publisher. "It doesn't exist anymore as a unifying force," he says in an interview with The Washington Times. "There are still a lot of people who are conservative, but the movement is now broken up, crumbled, dismantled." Mr. Buchanan, a former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, says conservatism "is at war with itself over foreign policy, over deficit hawks versus supply-siders." Unnamed phonies, he suggests, have infiltrated the movement....

In a surprise announcement John McCain stated that he's running as a democrat for president in 2008. Today in a speech in Washington DC, he announced his party change. Only Arizona Newswire was there to cover it. "I look at the party platforms, and I am closer to the democrats on major issues. I support the 2nd amendment right to hunt, but I also support for gun control. I think violent events such at Ultimate Fighting need to be banned. I destest these issue ads in campaigns that distort my record. I support going after tobacco companies. I support ending...

Six months ago, Free Republic was riding high, and I was proud to be a part of it. It was coming off having blown the cover off of Dan Rather’s use of forged memos against the President. The President was well on his way to winning re-election. It was a great time to be a Freeper. However, things have changed. It started with the justifiable removal of ALIPAC. I supported that move by Jim Robinson, but the ugliness directed towards Alberto Gonzales. He was accused of everything under the sun, and Senator Mel Martinez was viciously attacked for speaking Spanish...

On March 31, 2005, thirty years after feminism’s hey-day in the 1970s, a woman died from dehydration, on the orders of her adulterous husband, who was supported by the courts in his quest to end his wife’s life. On February 25, 1990, Theresa Schindler Schiavo collapsed in her home and suffered significant brain damage. In 1992, Mrs. Schiavo’s husband Michael was awarded a $1,050,000 malpractice settlement, of which $300,000 was allocated for Mr. Schiavo’s loss of consortium and $750,000 for Mrs. Schiavo’s rehabilitative care. Mr. Schiavo subsequently refused to allow rehabilitative care for his wife. There are other reasons to...

LOS ANGELES - The boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby" was the Academy Awards (news - web sites) heavyweight Sunday, claiming best picture and three other trophies, including honors for director Clint Eastwood (news), lead-actress Hilary Swank and supporting-actor Morgan Freeman (news). Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" came away with the most Oscars (news - web sites), its five awards including the supporting-actress prize for Cate Blanchett (news). Eastwood, who at 74 became the oldest directing winner ever, noted his mother was with him when his Western "Unforgiven" won the 1992 best-picture and directing Oscar. "She's here with me again tonight, so...

A liberal - To the Republican community. 1. What are your goals as Republicans? 2. Is your goal to make Liberals to leave America? 3. If you want us to stay, when does this country go too far to the right? 4. If you want us to leave, will the US government pay for our plane tickets?