Free Republic

A Green Party candidate for Congress in Ohio's nail-biter contest who won nearly enough votes to throw the race into an automatic recount – gave a speech-slurred interview this year in which he couldn't remember his own website address. Joe Manchik also says he's descended from aliens and hails from the town of Hell, Michigan. In Tuesday's closely watched special election, 1,127 Ohioans chose him over Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O'Connor.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu gave Solyndra more taxpayer money even after Solyndra was in default on the government’s $535 million loan guarantee: Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged Thursday making the final decision to allow a struggling solar company to continue receiving taxpayer money after it had technically defaulted on a $535 million federal loan guaranteed by his agency. Chu spokesman Damien La­Vera said in a statement that the secretary approved the restructuring agreement for Solyndra because it gave the company “the best possible chance to succeed in a very competitive marketplace and put...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich plans to officially enter the presidential race early next week, he told Hotline On Call before Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner. "I'll be in by the 10th or 11th," Gingrich said, without elaborating on where or how he would announce his candidacy. Gingrich had previously hinted that his announcement could come this week, telling reporters in Philadelphia on Thursday, "I would just say to folks who are really curious: Watch Facebook and Twitter in the next week. I think you'll have all the information you need." But Gingrich walked back from that statement on Saturday,...

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- A Canadian immigration panel began hearings yesterday to decide whether a radical environmentalist's ties to a group the FBI considers a terrorist organization will prevent him from applying for refugee status in Canada. Tre Arrow is wanted for his alleged role in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, its top domestic terrorist priority. The group has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years and was tied to an arson fire at the University of Washington's Center...

“It is now clear that Al Gore is insane," John Podhoretz wrote in his New York Post column last week, after Gore's recent anti-Bush administration tirades. "I don't mean that his policy ideas are insane, though many of them are. I mean that based on his behavior, conduct, mien and tone over the past two days, there is every reason to believe that Albert Gore Jr., desperately needs help. I think he needs medication, and I think that if he is already on medication, his doctors need to adjust it or change it entirely." John is not a physician, but...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Of all states, Ralph Nader should have had no trouble getting onto the Oregon presidential ballot given the support he's had here. Most political observers had expected Nader would easily draw enough supporters at a Monday evening petition-signing rally intended to make Oregon the first state to qualify Nader for the 2004 ballot. But only 741 people showed up — far short of the 1,000 required by Oregon law. "Even the best basketball player doesn't get a slam-dunk every time," Nader told his supporters. Still, Nader said he would not abandon his quest to qualify for the...