Free Republic

The New York Times (NYT: 13.07, +0.21, +1.63%) fell as low as $12.38 this morning after its second quarter earnings missed estimates. Profits plunged 82% to $21 mn versus the $118 mn posted in the same period a year ago, a period that was helped along by the one-time sale of an asset. The share plunge is the lowest since July 1995. Print ads dollars at the Times continue to shrivel, sending operating income in a nosedive, as ad dollars continued their inexorable march toward the Internet. Hotels, automakers, airlines, all hurt by high energy prices, have pulled back sharply....

WASHINGTON -- An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday. The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation’s largest abortion business has closed facilities in five states, including two locations in Illinois, one and Idaho and merging two in Kentucky. The abortion business claims the closures are the result of a lack of funding in the way of taxpayer dollars, even though the business maintains millions in the bank and makes money on an annual basis. According to STOPP International, a watchdog group, Planned Parenthood closed an express clinic in Nampa, Idaho, an express clinic in Naperville, Illinois, and a non-express clinic in Lincoln, Illinois. It has also closed or merged centers...

From the remnants of Saddam's Baathists at Uruknet: What Types of Gruesome Weapons Did Israel Use in Lebanon? Nada Sayad, Global ResearchAugust 23, 2006Some doubts have been expressed regarding the use by Israel of Internationally Forbidden Weapons in its war on Lebanon.The South Medical Complex in Saida is investigating this matter. It is examining 24 samples from corps that were hit in the area of South Lebanon in a trial to discover the nature of the substances that lead to death.In a phone call done by "Assafir", the Lebanese local newspaper, Dr. Omar Morabi, the president of the Association of...

July 8, 2006 Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove. The Job Approval readings have been a bit volatile in recent days. This probably reflects the holiday influence more than changing perceptions of the President. Rasmussen Reports did not poll during the first four days of July and today’s results are the first based entirely on interviews conducted following the holiday. Daily updates on this page are based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. Premium Members also receive...

The Bush Bounce He's only part way back. by Fred Barnes 07/17/2006, Volume 011, Issue 41 THERE'S JOY at the White House again and less anxiety among Republicans in Congress. The excesses of the press and Supreme Court are bringing Bush and rebellious conservatives closer together. Iraq is better off. The American economy is humming. The White House has made no harmful missteps. And the president's job approval rating is rising. Yet the Bush recovery is not complete. "We're in a better place than we were two or three months ago," says Republican national chairman Ken Mehlman. "But [the midterm...

Americans are now more positive about the way things are going in Iraq than in the past few months, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and President Bush's brief visit to the country. Optimism about the U.S. achieving its goals in Iraq, which sagged in the spring, has rebounded. A 53% majority now says the military effort in Iraq is going at least fairly well, up from 47% in April and an all-time low of 43% in March. The share who believe that the U.S. is making progress in training Iraqi forces, defeating the insurgents, and establishing a democracy...

HTML Graphs: an update The impact of the little HTML graph applet blows my mind. Here's what has happened in one week: In the last five days of may, I had 114'579 unique visistors on aharef.info. As I write this, 345'117 networks have been created. According to technorati, 1'686 blogs link to aharef.info (aharef.info is not even two months old, so all the links are due to the HTML graph applet). Technically, this makes aharef Switzerland's most technorati - linked blog, but I'm not even on this list (not that I care ;-) Massive coverage on del.icio.us, Digg and other...

HARRISBURG -- Republican challenger Lynn Swann held a slight lead over incumbent Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in a statewide poll released today, with a third of registered voters indicating they were open to voting for either man. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the IssuesPA/Pew Poll said they were likely to vote for Swann, the retired Pittsburgh Steelers star and former college football television analyst. Twenty-nine percent said they would probably support Rendell, and 34 percent were considered up for grabs.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Groovy is over, hip is square, far out is long gone. Don't worry, though - it's cool. "Cool" remains the gold standard of slang in the 21st century, as reliable as a blue-chip stock, surviving like few expressions ever in our constantly evolving language. It has kept its cool through the centuries - even as its meaning changed drastically. How cool is that? Way cool, say experts who interpret slang for their messages about society. "Cool is certainly a charter member for the slang hall of fame," says Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of popular...

An instant poll taken by CNN/USA Today/Gallup gave President Bush a 75% positive rating. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said more than 400 adults who watched the State of the Union address were surveyed in the poll. When asked to rate the president’s speech, the poll broke down like this: 48% gave Bush a very positive rating 27% gave Bush a somewhat positive rating 23% gave Bush a negative rating Although those numbers may not look remarkable on first glance, that’s actually a 75% positive rating for Bush when the top two categories are combined. His approval rating in the most...

Monday January 30, 2006--Fifty percent (50%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Forty-nine percent (49%) disapprove. The President earns approval from 82% of Republicans, 25% of Democrats, and 41% of those not affiliated with either major political party. In Tennessee, the Senate race to replace Bill Frist (R) is a toss-up. In North Dakota, Senator Kent Conrad (D) holds a double digit lead over potential challengers. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) holds a very modest lead over Attorney General Mike Hatch (DFL) in his bid for re-election. The Minnesota Senate...

WASHINGTON - Public support for Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito grew slightly to 54 percent after his often stormy Senate hearing, a poll released on Monday showed. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey also found that only about one in three Americans believe President George W. Bush's conservative candidate would vote, as critics fear, to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which held Alito's confirmation hearing this month, was to vote on Tuesday on whether to recommend that he be confirmed by the full Republican-led, 100-member Senate. With the Senate to...

December 21, 2005--The President's Sunday night speech has increased the nation's confidence concerning the situation in Iraq and the War on Terror. Confidence is up among Republicans and unaffiliateds, but not among Democrats. Fifty percent (50%) of Americans now believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That's up from 44% immediately preceding the speech. It's also the highest level of confidence in more than a year. Just 25% of Americans believe the terrorists are winning. Rasmussen Reports has asked this survey question more than 70 times over the past two years. Just once, in...

President Bush's approval rating has surged in recent weeks, reversing what had been an extended period of decline, with Americans now expressing renewed optimism about the future of democracy in Iraq, the campaign against terrorism and the U.S. economy, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll. Bush's overall approval rating rose to 47 percent, from 39 percent in early November, with 52 percent saying they disapprove of how he is handling his job. His approval rating on Iraq jumped 10 percentage points since early November, to 46 percent, while his rating on the economy rose 11 points, to 47...

President Bush's approval ratings have spiked dramatically over the last month while Congressional approval has crashed.

President Bush's approval rating is on the rebound, according to the latest Rasmussen poll - while a new survey by Newsweek shows just the opposite. Rasmussen's latest three day rolling survey shows that 46 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling his job - with 53 percent giving him a thumbs down. The numbers are a marked improvement from just a week ago, when 56 percent of Americans disapproved of Bush's performance, while just 43 percent approved. The latest numbers represent "the President's highest Job Approval Rating in over a month," notes Rasmussen. Meanwhile, a new Newsweek...

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday its earnings fell by more than half in the third quarter... Net income of $23.1 million...in the July-September period, down from $48.3 million...in the comparable period a year ago. The company also said it would take an additional total charge of $35 million to $45 million over the next three quarters, beginning in the fourth quarter, for another staff reduction program it announced last month that will eliminate 500 jobs... Janet Robinson, chief executive of the Times, said in a statement it saw improved advertising growth in September, but the market in the...

Kilgore Endorsed by National Rifle Association NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre Joins Kilgore in Tour of Virginia October 6, 2005 Contact: Tim Murtaugh or Tucker Martin - (804) 421-9966 WINCHESTER - Former Attorney General and Republican nominee for Governor Jerry Kilgore today received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association. Kilgore welcomed the announcement during a tour of Virginia with NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, who made campaign stops with Kilgore at rallies in Winchester, Weyers Cave, Roanoke, Abingdon and Danville. Jerry Kilgore is a lifelong supporter of the rights of law-abiding citizens to own firearms. Some of his...

Poll Watch All those trips down to the Gulf Coast appear to have had the desired effect. Richard Benedetto writes in USA TODAY: "President Bush's response to Hurricane Rita won overwhelming approval in a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll, a marked contrast to his low marks on handling Hurricane Katrina. "Overall, 71% of those polled said they approve of Bush's response to Rita, which included presidential trips to the region before, during and after the storm. . . . "The approval of his handling of Rita also affected his overall job-approval rating.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's standing with the public improved over the previous week as he made a highly visible effort to manage the consequences of the second major hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in a month, a new poll out Thursday found. Bush's job approval rating in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll climbed to 45 percent, and 71 percent said they approved of his handling of Hurricane Rita, which struck land Saturday near the Texas-Louisiana border. The poll surveyed 1,007 adults between Monday and Wednesday, and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. A similar poll...

President George W. Bush's job approval has risen after slumping to new lows on criticism of his handling of deadly Hurricane Katrina, two polls showed on Thursday. Bush's approval rating climbed to 45 percent in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll taken September 26-28, up from 40 percent in a similar poll taken a week ago. A Fox News poll also showed Bush with a 45 percent approval rating. That survey, taken on September 27-28, showed a rise in Bush's standing compared to a mid-month poll that gave him a 41 percent approval rating. A high-profile response by Bush to Hurricane Rita,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Different storm, different results for President Bush. A poll released Thursday found the president is getting much better marks from the public for his handling of the response to Hurricane Rita than he did for Katrina late last month. Katrina swept through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in late August, wiping out cities along the Gulf Coast and flooding New Orleans. The Bush administration and state and local officials have been criticized for a sluggish response. Seven in 10 respondents say they approve of Bush's response to Rita, while 22 percent disapprove, a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found. Only...

Saturday September 10, 2005--Forty-eight percent (48%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans now give the President their Approval. That positive assessment is shared by 20% of Democrats and 38% of those not affiliated with either major party. ... During 2004, reports on the President Job Approval were based upon surveys of Likely Voters. Typically, a survey of Likely Voters would report a Job Approval rating 2-3 points higher than a survey of all adults. On Election Day, the President's Job...

Thursday September 08, 2005--Forty-six percent (46%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-three percent (53%) disapprove. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Americans now Strongly Disapprove of the President's job performance while just 25% Strongly Approve. Earlier in the year, those numbers were essentially even. Looking ahead to Election 2006, the Missouri Senate race between Republican Jim Talent and Democrat Claire McCaskill starts out in a dead heat. When looking at the disaster in New Orleans and surrounding areas, just 28% of Americans say that the federal government has done a...

SEP. 9 2:31 P.M. ET Four years after the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, nearly three quarters of Americans believe the government did a good job helping the economy recover from Sept. 11. An AP-Ipsos poll found there was general satisfaction with the economic relief efforts from Congress and the Bush administration among people in all gender, race, educational and age categories.

Hurricane Katrina may give President Bush the opportunity to increase his low approval ratings. In fact, his overall rating did rise on the last day of the poll, after he returned to the White House from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and addressed the nation on the crisis in the Gulf Coast. But in the early days of this crisis, many Americans are withholding judgment about his handling of it. Fifty-four percent approve of the way the President is handling Hurricane Katrina, and only 12 percent disapprove -- but one-third can't say yet. This question was added to the poll...

Sunday August 28, 2005--Forty-nine percent (49%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's the most positive assessment since August 2. It is not clear whether this improvement reflects real change or is merely statistical noise. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans Approve of the President's performance along with 23% of Democrats and 36% of those not affiliated with either major party. ... Cindy Sheehan, the woman who maintained an anti-War protest outside President Bush's ranch, is viewed favorably by 35% of Americans and unfavorably by 38%....

Friday June 03, 2005--Fifty-three percent (53%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's his highest level of Approval in nearly three months. It remains to be seen whether this reflects a lasting change or merely statistical noise. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove of the President's performance. The President's Approval Rating has been at the 50% level or above on six of the last seven days (and nine of the last twelve). Fifty-seven percent (57%) of men give the President's performance their Approval along with 49% of women. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of...

Released: April 26, 2005 Red/Blue Divide Still Evident: Red States Give Bush 50% Job Approval, 42% in Blues; War on Terror Bush’s Strength—Low Marks on Other Facets of Job; Handling of Social Security Nets Lowest Score; Bush Would Still Beat Kerry Today (46% to 41%), New Zogby Poll Reveals President George W. Bush, despite low marks on most facets of his job, would still beat Democrat John Kerry (46% to 41%)—and would still win handily in the Red States that handed him his re-election victory last fall (50% to 36%). That’s the finding of a new Zogby International survey of...

Kilgore Opens Strong In VA A couple days ago I was bemoaning the lack of polls from Virginia. Today, Survey USA fills that void. VIRGINIA GOVERNOR Kilgore (R) 46% Kaine (D) 36% Potts (I) 6% Good to see Kilgore has a double-digit lead even when the “Independent-Republican” candidate is included. Looking at the demographics, it is hard to say the Potts is hurting either Kilgore or Kaine, more like he is taking votes away from both equally. This poll was done March 8-9 of 493 registered voters.

President George W. Bush would still top 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry in a repeat of the 2004 presidential race (46%-42%), while support for third parties would climb to 7%, a new Zogby International poll reveals. The same poll finds that, given the chance to elect Bush to a third term, just 29% of likely voters say they would do so, while 58% would choose someone new. The telephone survey of 1010 likely voters was conducted from February 25 to 27, 2005, and has a margin of error of +/-3.2 percentage points. The same survey found the President's job approval...

Below are the poll results based on telephone interviews with 1200 registered voters in Florida, aged 18+, and conducted February 16-20, 2005. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. 1. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's overall job performance? Approve 56% Disapprove 38% Undecided 6% 2. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's handling of the economy? Approve 55% Disapprove 39% Undecided 6% 3. Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's handling of Iraq? Approve 57% Disapprove 36% Undecided 7% 4. Do you support or oppose President Bush's Social Security reform? Support 42% Oppose...

Can't even excerpt as the publishers (of ArmyTimes, NavyTimes, etc) have apparently complained about copyright. I would have recommended y'all be sure and visit the website anyway for the excellent sidebars and charts. http://www.militarycity.com/polls/2004_mainbar.php Use this to counter the left's claims (or wetdreams) of a "Vietnam syndrome" in Iraq.

Friday February 18, 2005--Fifty-two percent (52%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove. The President's ratings have improved two points over the past couple of days and four points since last Friday. Yesterday's figures are the highest for the President in 2005 (with the exception of the days immediately following his State-of-the-Union Address). Among men, 57% give the President their approval. Among women, that figure is 48%. This report is based upon a survey of American adults. During 2004, reports on the President Job Approval were based...

(CNN) -- Nearly two-thirds of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the war on terrorism, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday. Sixty-four percent of those polled said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the way things are going in the war on terrorism, while 35 percent said they were dissatisfied. That is a significant change from October, when 53 percent said they were satisfied and 47 percent were dissatisfied with the war on terror. The telephone poll of 1,010 adult Americans was conducted between Friday and Sunday, and has a margin of error...

Americans are extremely proud of their country. Since 2001, Gallup has been asking Americans a simple question: "How proud are you to be an American?" The results consistently show that the majority of adults nationwide are proud, and a review of the Gallup data* over the past several years finds some interesting political and racial differences....Pride and Politics   Party Affiliation Republicans have been more inclined to express pride than Democrats when Gallup has asked this question...Political IdeologyConservatives are much more likely than moderates or liberals to say they are extremely proud to be American...... Pride and RaceSince 2001, non-Hispanic whites have...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES President Bush's second-term strategy of aggressively pursing his domestic agenda and remaining steadfast in his Iraq policy seems to be paying off as he enjoys his highest job-approval rating in more than a year. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released yesterday put Mr. Bush's job-approval rating at 57 percent, the highest since a 59 percent rating in January 2004. Last month, Mr. Bush had the worst job-approval numbers of any re-elected president since World War II. The Gallup Poll put his approval rating at 48 percent, and a Time magazine poll showed that only 49 percent of Americans...

Between January 14 and 16, 51 percent of survey participants expressed approval of Bush's performance as president. But 57 percent of the 1,010 respondents during the February 4 thru 6 poll stated that they approved of how the he does his job. The margin of error for the telephone survey of all adults is plus or minus three percentage points. Last week, 40 percent of participants said they disapproved of Bush's handling of his job, and 3 percent of the people stated they did not have an opinion. While the responses to some questions -- like how the president is...

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Viewers more positive than last yearPRINCETON, NJ -- An instant reaction poll of speech watchers last night, a majority of whom were Republicans, found President George W. Bush receiving high marks for his State of the Union address -- higher than last year and the year before, though not as high as the ratings he received in his first two years. As a group, speech watchers' positive views of the president increased even more after the address, both generally and about specific policies he proposed.The major findings of the CNN/USA Today/Gallup instant reaction poll are as follows: Overall, 86% of...

CNN) -- President Bush's State of the Union address raised support for his policies on health care and Social Security among people who watched the speech, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night. The percentage of respondents who said the president's proposals in those areas will help the country rose 15 points from when the same question was asked of the same people in the two days before the speech. In the post-speech sample, 70 percent of respondents said Bush's policies on health care were positive, while 66 percent approved of the president's plan for Social Security. Bush...

60% of Americans felt the festivities were appropriate. 32% disagreed. 62% rated Bush's speech as excellent or good. Only 11% said poor or terrible. 67% saw Bush's inauguration as a cause for celebration. 30% said it was not a cause for celebration. Half were happy or thrilled about Bush's inauguration. A quarter didn't care. Only 22% were either unhappy or depressed.

NEW YORK — As President George W. Bush prepares to begin his second term (search), majorities of Americans approve of the job he’s doing as president and have a favorable opinion of him as a person. The latest FOX News national poll finds 52 percent of the public approve and 41 percent disapprove of Bush’s overall job performance. The president’s approval rating is up 4 percentage points since mid-December and also bests his 2004 average (49 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove).

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush got high marks for his handling of the tsunami disaster, and his job approval rating went up in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, but most of those surveyed had doubts about his call to overhaul Social Security. Bush's job approval rating went up to 52 percent in the poll, which was conducted Friday through Sunday in phone calls to 1,008 adult Americans. That's an improvement of 3 percentage points from the last CNN poll, taken in mid-December. Another 44 percent said they disapproved of his job performance, down 2 percentage points from the December...

Fifty-two percent now approve of the President's job performance: Gallup Poll and CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll             <GRAPHIC> . "Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?" Approve Disap-prove Don'tKnow % % % N 1/3-5/05 52 44 4 1,005 12/17-19/04 49 46 5 1,002

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq? Approve: 63% Disapprove: 20% No opinion: 8% Decline to answer: 9% Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Approve: 71% Disapprove: 16% No opinion: 8% Decline to answer: 9% Should the United States have gone to war in Iraq? Yes: 60% No: 21% No opinion: 8% Decline to answer: 9%

Americans' opinions of President Bush (news - web sites) are continuing to improve as he picks up support from some of the groups that opposed his re-election in November. Most notable among those groups are Hispanics, who seem pleased with the Bush's nomination of two Cabinet members from their ethnic community. Others looking more favorably on the second-termer are Democrats (admittedly coming off a low basis for comparison) and residents of the Northeast and West. The IBD/TIPP Presidential Leadership Index rose 3.9% to 55.4 in December, its fourth straight monthly gain and highest level since January, after Saddam Hussein (news...

2 Top Officials Are Reported to Quit C.I.A. By DOUGLAS JEHL ASHINGTON, Nov. 24 - Two more senior officials of the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine service are stepping down, intelligence officials said Wednesday, in the latest sign of upheaval in the agency under its new chief, Porter J. Goss. As the chiefs of the Europe and Far East divisions, the two officials have headed spying operations in some of the most important regions of the world and were among a group known as the barons in the highest level of clandestine service, the Directorate of Operations. The directorate has been...