Free Republic

The nation’s richest senator - the Bay State’s own John Forbes Kerry - has been knocked down a few notches after seeing his fortune sliced by one-third by the fiscal meltdown that ripped down Wall Street. Kerry’s personal net worth plunged from an estimated $336 million in 2007 to $208 million in 2008, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. The Boston Democrat’s staggering losses dropped him from first to third among the wealthiest senators, trailing Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) “So does this mean Senator Kerry is now arriving in Nantucket by ferry...

SEATTLE — A sheriff's spokesman in Washington state says Seattle police have fatally shot the man suspected of gunning down four police officers.

The 2008 presidential race was widely trumpeted as the "Youth Election," and for good reason. Inspired by Barack Obama's relative youth and his message of "hope" and "change," young Americans flocked to the then-junior senator from Illinois. It is doubtful that he could have become the most powerful man in the world without them. What did the young get for their critical outpouring of support? Though most of his youthful backers would be hesitant to admit it, the President has betrayed them on three issues of great importance to their wallets and sympathies: health care reform, the federal budget and...

Sunday morning, for many, is a time of reflection. Some of us do it in a house of worship, others choose to do so off on their own. For me, it’s a private time between me and my creator… I take stock in what’s been happening, where the world is going, and me in particular. What have I contributed that is positive? Negative? Is there something I need to fix around the house? Around my Karma? And do I have the tools to accomplish either task? But every now and then, it’s time to pack up all those things that...

FORT HOOD, Texas — The attorney for the Army psychiatrist accused of killing fellow soldiers at Fort Hood says doctors have told the soldier he may be paralyzed from the waist down. Attorney John Galligan told The Associated Press on Friday that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan told him that he has no feeling in his legs and doctors say the condition may be permanent. Galligan says Hasan also told him he had extreme pain in his hands. Hasan was shot by police officers responding to last week's shootings at Fort Hood. Galligan spoke with him Thursday in the intensive care...

The White House didn't do its erstwhile stimulus ally Charlie Crist much good on Thursday. Asked about Crist's contention that he never endorsed the stimulus bill, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Crist was behind the package. "I think his words at that event speak for themselves," Gibbs said. "I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits it would have and has had for the state of Florida." One has to wonder how anxious centrist Republicans will be to get behind Democratic initiatives now that the White House has thrown one of few...

The Obama White House is making no secret of its distaste for Fox News. In a round of Sunday talk show appearances, the administration escalated its war against the network that likes to call itself "fair and balanced" but that happens to feature quite a few conservative voices... But some are wondering if this is smart politics. Given that Fox News boasts a far larger audience than cable competitors CNN and MSNBC, and given that most elections are decided by independents who might occasionally watch FNC, the strategy could backfire. “It's a very risky strategy,” perennial presidential advisor David Gergen...

There is panic at Black Rock Last evening, at an executive-level party attended by some of the Senior Suits from CBS, (and others,) Letterman was the ONLY topic of conversation. There was clearly panic in the air. And old friend/fiend who was there said it was more delicious than the cold Hors’ Dourves and watered down Scotch. There was no concern for the moral implications of Letterman’s actions, of course. The big worry was about the huge cost of litigation from all the victims of Letterman’s slippery zipper. When the news of the trouble was first announced, there was about...

Enjoy their sweet, sweet pain and lamentations. ... and, for those who prefer to watch KOSsacks suffer and writhe in delicious torment: here. ;)

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Richland County deputies say a man spray-painted his face in order to disguise himself during a robbery, but died after he had trouble breathing after the robbery. Sheriff Leon Lott says on July 31 at around 7:00pm 23-year-old Michael Gregory Thomas and 24-year-old Thomas James entered the Sprint PCS store on Sparkleberry Lane, pulled out a guns and demanded money. Lott says the two men stole wallets, purses and credit cards from employees as well as money from the store before ordering the employees into a bathroom while both men fled. Lott says Thomas James spray-painted...

It’s no secret that men have been hit hard by the recession. From November 2007 to November 2008, the U.S. economy lost over 2 million jobs — 82% of those losses were male jobs and only 18% female jobs. The reason is because men are concentrated in the sectors devastated by the downturn: manufacturing and construction. This employment gap prompted University of Michigan economist Mark Perry to dub the downturn a “man-cession in the lipstick economy.” So in his Inauguration speech, Barack Obama glowingly promised, “We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Michigan became the first state in 25 years to suffer an unemployment rate exceeding 15%, according to a report released Friday by the government. The state's unemployment rate rose to 15.2% in June. It was the highest of any state since March 1984, when West Virginia's unemployment rate exceeded 15%. Friday's report from the U.S. Labor Department also showed that unemployment topped 10% in 14 other states and the District of Columbia. Over the month, jobless rates increased in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Unemployment rates decreased in 5 states and 7 states had...

Breaking: TVNewser has learned CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen's contract will not be renewed and she will be leaving the network. Roesgen, you'll recall, was criticized for her coverage at the tax day tea parties in April, when she said the event she was covering in Chicago was, "anti-CNN since this is highly promoted by the right-wing, conservative network Fox." Roesgen took a break for a few weeks after that reporting and returned to the air in May covering the Drew Peterson arrest. Most recently, she covered Michael Jackson's death from Los Angeles. Roesgen joined CNN in 2005.

Michigan's unemployment rate for June of 2009 jumped to 15.2%. That's a 1.1% increase over the prior month. Rates usually climb or fall by a few tenths of a percent. It's rare to see such a substantial increase or decrease. But experts say the struggling economy combined with the ailing auto market means Michigan has been hit harder than other states. We'll have much more on the numbers and what it means for Michigan tonight on 6 News at 5 and 6.

Kansas Abortionist George Tiller was shot today as he was going to Church.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has killed an alternative economic stimulus plan by Sen. John McCain that would have cut income and payroll taxes but spent far less than President Obama's plan. The party-line 57-40 vote against McCain's $421 billion plan came Thursday as a group of moderate Democrats and Republicans struggled to cut up to $100 billion from Obama's version.

It may be time to take a closer look at karmic justice — that mysterious quid pro quo by which good and bad acts are rewarded in kind. One needn't believe in past lives and reincarnation to note that there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Put another way: What goes around comes around. The most obvious manifestation is the 44th president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. I mention his middle name only because Chief Justice John Roberts did during the swearing-in ceremony, a proper time for proper names. It was wholly karmic that those who have been...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Jan. 11) - The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship. Five pirates drowned Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.

I always wondered how these jokers planned to get off the ship if or when their demands were met. It's sort of like hijacking a tree. We can see you - you know. There's no other way out.I just figured that they would demand an escape boat which would promptly be sunk by the U.S. Navy once all the bad guys and their booty were aboard. So when I read the story yesterday that the guys not only got the ransom, they just got on a boat and seemingly got away, I was amazed. I thought maybe the clever buccaneers...

Debra Markham, a Yamhill County deputy district attorney who made national news in 2007 for prosecuting two McMinnville seventh graders for swatting the bottoms of girls at their middle school, is now facing criminal charges herself.Markham was arrested last month in Lincoln City for allegedly punching her husband in the face following a dispute. A Lincoln City police officer said Markham's husband, Curtis Cox, had blood on his forehead and cheek from the assault. She was transported to the local jail and charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment, according to the Lincoln County district attorney. Markham, 54, has entered a...

Right Wing News emailed more than 240 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a list of whom they considered to be their "Least Favorite People On The Right." Representatives from the following 46 blogs responded... The Anchoress, AtlanticBlog, Axis of Right, BizzyBlog, Blonde Sagacity, Bookworm Room, Bull Moose Strikes Back, The Chronicles Of A Rogue Jew, Conservatism Today, Conservative Compendium, Conservative Grapevine, Conservative Punk, Copious Dissent, Dispatches from Blogblivion, Doubleplusundead, Fraters Libertas, Gateway Pundit, Girl On The Right, House of Eratosthenes, Paul Ibrahim, Jihad Watch, Keepin' It Rural, Likelihood of Success, Lotus Blog, Rachel Lucas, Mean Ol' Meany...

SAN DIEGO -- Recently, I was on a Latino-themed radio show defending John McCain. The defendant was accused of abandoning comprehensive immigration reform, turning his back on Latino supporters, and associating with a bad crowd (read: Republicans). I didn't give an inch. I was the only person in the discussion who actually knew McCain -- from my stint 10 years ago as a reporter at a newspaper in Arizona -- and I could attest to the fact that the senator had always gone to bat for Latinos. At one point, another guest scolded me in frustration: "Look, it's not about...

West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee. Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said. A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair...

Despite championing immigration reform in 2007, John McCain is poised to lose the Hispanic vote by a landslide margin that is well below President George W. Bush's 2004 performance. Polls show Obama winning the broadest support from Latino voters of any Democrat in a decade, while McCain is struggling to reach 30 percent, closer to Senator Bob Dole's dismal 1996 result than to Bush's historic 40% four years ago. McCain seems to have wound up with the worst of both worlds: He appears to be getting no credit from Latino voters for his past support for immigration reform, while carrying...

OJ Attorney Yale Galanter said it was not a happy day for anybody. BUT HE WAS WRONG!!! While most of you were sleeping, the OJ Simpson jury came back with a GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES verdict against Nicole Brown Simpson’s…last visitor. How Galanter can think that this “isn’t a happy day for anyone” is beyond me. Off the top of my head, I can think of a LOT of people who think that this is a HAP-HAP HAPPY DAY…Ron Brown’s family, Nicole Simpson’s family, ME and every single person that I know for starters. As a matter of fact, I...

Sharon Stone is not welcome at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, organisers said Wednesday, as anger continued to boil over her suggestion that China's earthquake was karmic payback for its handling of Tibet. Stone attended last year's edition of the festival to promote anti-ageing creams for Christian Dior, but the company removed all ads in China featuring the actress after she made the remarks at the Cannes Film Festival last month. The 50-year-old actress was not scheduled to attend the nine-day festival, which begins on June 14, but organisers made it clear on Wednesday that they do not want...

“There seems to be an abiding anger in him,” one of his senior aides told Todd Purdum. Good lord, does there ever. Not to begrudge the man a little righteous outrage at being the target of a hit piece, but the detail here about him refusing to let go of Mayhill Fowler’s hand is the creepy final act to a campaign performance that passed “bizarre” a long time ago. He’s like Orson Welles here tearing apart the bedroom at the end of Citizen Kane in frustration that no one’s left to admire his greatness. Which isn’t to suggest that what...

Feeling hair in her mouth, a 16-year-old vegan from Partille outside of Gothenburg looked down to discover a mouse cadaver in her bag of tortilla chips. “It was terrible. I went through the roof when I heard what happened,” said Thomas Sällström, the girl’s grandfather. He arrived at his daughter's house shortly after his granddaughter realized a mummified mouse was nestled among the chips. “They were just sitting eating chips like you would on any normal Saturday night and then this happened,” he told The Local. “She didn’t actually eat the mouse, but did get some hair in her mouth.”...

The head of the College of William and Mary, Gene Nichol, has resigned in disgrace. Several readers send along his resignation letter. You’ll recall that he roiled the campus with his decision to hide the cross at the famous school chapel to make it “less faith-specific.” More recently, he hosted a sex workers show on campus while restricting critics who wanted to tape it. Here’s his letter:....Dear Members of the William & Mary Community: I was informed by the Rector on Sunday, after our Charter Day celebrations, that my contract will not be renewed in July. Appropriately, serving the College...

Is America ready for a New Age pundit? There's been much scrutiny of the respective religions of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. But do we need to reconsider Maureen Dowd's fitness for op-ed office in light of the revelation that she has apparently embraced New Age spirituality, even undergoing a New Age "exorcism" complete with swinging crytal? I kept waiting for Dowd to say it was all a joke -- but she never did. Her column of today, "Am I a Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon?", describes her experience, conducted by one Faith Green: "a pretty, curvy 31-year-old green-eyed...

Tuesday/Wednesday, November 13/14 - about 4 a.m. Sources inside and outside Iran. A series of explosions rocked the Parchin Military Site (where missiles, including "cruise" type missiles, are manufactured) at Varamin south of Tehran. The Shahab 3, 4 and more recently Shahab 5 solid fuel missiles at the site are hidden in old salt mines in the mountain face in the area, further excavated and furbished for development and manufacture. The main purpose of this Ministry of Defense site, established by the late Shah's father - Reza Shah Kabir - in the early 1900's and taken over by the IRGC,...

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett will present an alternative personal income tax plan to Maryland lawmakers today that would tax the state's highest earners at a rate one percentage point lower than Gov. Martin O'Malley has proposed. Lawmakers from Montgomery have voiced concern that O'Malley's proposal to redistribute the tax burden to Maryland's most affluent residents would affect Montgomery more than any other jurisdiction and threaten the economic interests of the state's largest and wealthiest county.... Under Leggett's alternative, single filers reporting taxable income above $500,000 and joint filers reporting a combined taxable income above $1 million would be taxed...

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. -- George Clooney suffered a broken rib and some scrapes on Friday when the motorcycle he and a friend were riding collided with a car as the actor tried to pass the other vehicle, authorities said. Weehawken Police Sgt. Sean Kelly said the collision occurred at 3:30 p.m. as Clooney and friend Sarah Larson were traveling north on Boulevard East and sped up to pass on the right a 1999 Mazda Millenia that was preparing to make a right turn. Kelly said it is not known if the driver of the other vehicle, who has not been identified,...

Call it irony or call it karma. The ex-newspaper editor from Britain who mocked President Bush in 2003 for falling off a Segway scooter has now suffered his own spill from the personal transportation device – and the plunge was caught on camera.

The ex-newspaper editor took great delight in making fun of President Bush for falling off a Segway - the two-wheeled, motorised, gyroscopically balanced scooter that, its makers promise, will never fall over. However, he was bitten by karma and suffered the same fate as Bush.

Mugabe's military might fades in pay crisis By Peta Thornycroft in Johannesburg Last Updated: 1:16am BST 27/08/2007 Zimbabwe's military strength, upon which Robert Mugabe's political survival depends, is seeping away due to the country's collapsed economy. British-made Hawk trainer: the only pilot has gone Once among the best trained and most battle hardened in Africa, the military is now suffering a rash of defections among servicemen who are no longer prepared to put up with subsistence wages. One young officer cadet who went AWOL in May asked not to be named by The Daily Telegraph, nor for his home village...

When Paris Hilton was sprung from jail early, few were as outraged - and as outspoken - as the prosecutor who put her there. But City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's complaints of a two-tiered jail system where "the rich and powerful receive special treatment" have come to back to haunt him. Among other things, he also admitted sticking the taxpayers with the bill after his wife crashed his city-issued car in 2004, and acknowledged that staffers have occasionally run personal errands and baby-sat his children. The disclosures have led the California bar and the city Ethics Commission to open investigations of...

BERKELEY Council passes plan to stop bad street behavior Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Berkeley's City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to pass most of a sweeping plan to clear the streets of aggressive and disruptive behavior. The Public Commons for Everyone Initiative passed 9-0 after months of debate among the council, homeless advocates, merchants and residents. The council instructed City Manager Phil Kamlarz to develop details of the implementation, which he will bring back to the council for further approval. "This is a tolerant and caring community, but we do have our boundaries,'' said Mayor...

Man dies in attempt to kill girlfriend LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man trying to kill his girlfriend by stopping a car in front of an approaching train was himself killed Monday when the train hit the vehicle and launched it into him as he tried to flee, police said. The girlfriend survived. The man drove the car in front of a group of other vehicles stopped at a railroad crossing in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Sunland, Officer Mike Lopez said. The driver, who was seen arguing with his girlfriend, parked the car on the tracks and jumped...

PACOIMA - A man who police believe was trying to kill his girlfriend today by abandoning her in a parked car on railroad tracks ahead of a speeding Metrolink train was killed instead, authorities said. The man and his girlfriend, who was listed in serious condition after the crash, were stopped behind two cars at the tracks near Brandford Street and San Fernando Road just after noon as the train approached, said LAPD spokesman Kevin Maiberger. He drove his car around the two cars, through the crossing arms and parked the car on the tracks, with the train approaching directly...

Katie Couric admits that her new gig as anchor of the CBS Evening News has been "a little harder than I thought it would be." "Some people out there are rooting for me to fail," Couric, 49, tells Esquire in its January issue. "You have to be unwavering in your convictions that you're doing something good, because there are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive." Couric points out that Esquire itself criticized her after her Sept. 5 debut. "You guys even take a shot at me," she tells the magazine. "You have something in the November...

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) - A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday. No injuries were reported and there were no arrests. A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gun shots, police said. The man, who was not immediately identified, took cover behind a wall as several rounds struck the building, police said. He then ran inside and told mosque members, who called police. Authorities searched the surrounding area for...

Johns Hopkins is mostly known as a staid old Baltimore institution famous for the breakthroughs of its medical researchers but the university’s alumni magazine shows a campus that is more new age than old guard. President Bush did speak there, a rarity in an academy that loathes the Republican chief executive, but the appearance did not sit too well with students and alums. “The sheer narcissism, risk-aversion, deference, and partisanship of the event and its report in the magazine betray the intellectual and political standards Johns Hopkins values,” Sayres Rudy, a visiting scholar at Amherst College writes. “I know that...

The Salt Lake Slick Tatletail headlines this piece about a disturbing request for a demonstration permit: Protest permit alarms Arab's USA terrorist' CAIR is a special target as the officials have such a big mouth they cannot be missed But it isn't only USA Arab community who should be alarmed. ------------ START QUOTE ------------ Members of USA's Arab community are alarmed by a proposed demonstration that will call for "Death to Arab's". A man - whose name wasn't available Thursday - has applied for a free-speech permit from Salt Lake Sluice to demonstrate on sidewalks near City Hall on Wednesday....

cause of death unknown

(CBS) NEW YORK -- Dan Rather is leaving CBS after 44 years with the Tiffany Network. Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, made the announcement. "Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather," McManus said. "With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism." CBS News is working on a primetime special on the newsman's career. It is scheduled to be broadcast sometime this fall. CBS News...

Dairy Producer Who Boycotted Israel Gets Boycotted by Muslims From the desk of Hjörtur Gudmundsson on Sun, 2006-02-19 12:00 Appeasing the radicals does not help. Here is another example. The Danish-Swedish diary giant Arla is the worst hit victim of the Muslim boycott of Danish products. Arab countries constituted Arla’s most important export markets. An article in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten today suggest that Arla itself has for many years been boycotting Israel because apparently companies doing business in Muslim countries are obliged to accept a clause that they will not trade with Israel. [PS: Arla immediately denied this in...

IRONY CAN BE PRETTY IRONIC Colorado man who laughed Monday when he first read Vice President Dick Cheney had shot a hunting companion was himself injured just hours later when he was accidentally blasted by his girlfriend in his own hunting mishap. "I read that thing about the vice president and said to myself 'How can you shoot your friend with your gun?' And look what happened," said Josh Kayser of Lafayette, Colo. According to the Longmont Daily Times-Call, the 21-year-old man was on the trail of raccoons that had been preying on chickens on his family's property. As Kayser...

See for example this thread first. Those antics of Katie Couric's While opening the Olympics "Katie's for the birds" --at least till their turds drive her into on-air antics!