Free Republic

President Obama has triggered a new fight with Republicans by re-nominating two controversial officials to key administration posts. Obama on Wednesday re-nominated former labor lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, and Donald Berwick to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

J Street is calling on Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to return campaign contributions that she received from Irving Moskowitz, the financier behind the new construction at the Shepherd’s Hotel site. Yes, the George Soros–funded J Street is criticizing someone for taking money from a controversial philanthropist. This is too easy: With the two-state solution hanging by a thread, what a terrible signal it sends for an American political leader to be so cozy with a far-right political funder whose actions undermine the foreign policy of the United States and makes a two-state solution harder to achieve. Ros-Lehtinen, the new Republican chair...

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is signaling its intention to dominate the national sex education agenda. Specifically, Planned Parenthood's Web site announced the group is preparing to launch a nationwide “social change initiative” to end the “stigma and shame about sex” in American culture. The project aims to teach parents and caregivers how to educate children about sex -- from birth. And it recommends telling teenagers about masturbation, oral sex and “where to go for help to prepare to be sexually active.”

BETHESDA, Md. -First lady Michelle Obama has helped open three new residences for families of ailing U.S. soldiers and veterans in Maryland. Obama cut the red ribbon Thursday for the Fisher Houses at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. She was flanked by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Ken Fisher of the Fisher House Foundation. Obama says the homes provide a comfortable place for families who have made a sacrifice for their country. The residences will provide free lodging for the families of as many as 60 sick and injured service members. The Rockville-based foundation has built dozens of...

LifeNews.com Launches Improved Pro-Life News Web Site Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- LifeNews.com, the premier pro-life news service on the Internet has officially launched our new, improved web site featuring a revised look and design and a slate of new features. http://LifeNews.com/int-1671

A George Soros-funded organization, aided by Texas U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat, apparently is trying to chase volunteer observers from precinct polling locations across Harris County, Texas, after the watchers found election judges and clerks allegedly voting for citizens who were undecided. "Only a week into early voting, volunteer poll-watchers also are being verbally and physically harassed by people loitering at the polls with no intention to vote at the time, including a man identified as a reverend and Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who was seen inside the polling location electioneering and threatening to turn a poll-watcher's...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth. The Federal Housing Administration will allow lenders to give these borrowers refinanced loans if the lender agrees to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. The plan, .. announced in March, .. available starting Tuesday. The FHA said .. between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners are projected to be helped.

Swipe your driver's license, look into the camera, blow into the breath sensor and - voila! - you have permission to buy a bottle of wine from a vending machine. Pennsylvania, which has some of the most Byzantine liquor laws in the nation, recently introduced the country's first wine "kiosks." If the machines are successful in their test run inside two grocery stores, the state Liquor Control Board could place the high-tech alcohol automats in about 100 others.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US government Wednesday launched a new website to give information on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, moving away from the portal jointly run with oil giant BP. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the top government official handling the spill, said the site wwww.RestoreTheGulf.gov was "designed to serve as a one-stop repository for news, data and operational updates related to administration-wide efforts to stop the BP oil leak." The website aims to provide "even greater transparency and openness about the BP oil spill, our historic response, the tools available to assist Gulf Coast communities, and plans...

BEIRUT, May 26 (KUNA) -- The Lebanese army announced on Wednesday that it launched surface-to-air missiles at Israeli fighter jets that had violated the Lebanese airspace. A statement issued by the army directorate said that the two Israeli jets penetrated Lebanese airspace over the town of Kfar Kila in the south, heading to Shaka town.

The White House is engaged in an aggressive effort to reassure Jewish leaders that the tense relationship between the Obama administration and the Israeli government that has played out in public in the past few months does not signify any fundamental change in U.S. policy. Concern within the administration over the domestic repercussions of the recent clashes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government reached a critical point about 10 days ago, as Israel was about to mark its 62nd year of independence.

A day after three former astronauts derided President Obama’s space policy, the White House is firing back. In an email sent Wednesday afternoon from the White House press office, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin applauded the president’s “boldness” and changes to NASA’s human spaceflight missions. “I believe that this is the right program at the right time, and I hope that NASA and our dedicated space community will embrace this new direction as much as I do,” he said in a statement. “By so doing we can together continue to use space exploration to help drive prosperity and innovation right...

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AFP) – US President Barack Obama Thursday launched a sales blitz for his historic health care reforms, as Democrats battled deep Republican anger to finish a set of fixes to the law. Obama returned on Air Force One to Iowa, the cradle of his 2008 campaign, to proclaim he had made good on the political change he promised, by enacting reforms dreamed of by Democrats for generations, but never realized until now. The president was also expected to take on Republicans as they seek to define the historic bill as a costly, big government power grab, in...

A Rancho Cordova-based insurer Monday launched what it calls the first nationally available insurance coverage designed specifically for the medical marijuana industry. Only 14 states allow use of medical marijuana today, but Statewide Insurance Services is nonetheless offering coverage in all 50 states.

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Starbucks aired the first creative for its Via Ready Brew during the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" last night. Four 15-second spots from agency BBDO, New York, challenged consumers to a taste test at its cafes this week, to discern the difference between its much-lauded instant product and the Starbucks house brew. The company wouldn't confirm details about the upcoming national advertising campaign for Via, other than the official launch date, this Sept. 29. An executive familiar with the matter cautioned that "SNL" creative may not reflect the look and feel of the upcoming campaign. The...

Beijing - China formally ordered an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into imports of US poultry on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The investigation came in response to a petition received by the China Animal Husbandry Association on behalf of the domestic poultry industry, the ministry said in a statement on its website. China first announced it would launch an anti-dumping probe into US poultry exports and automobile parts, just days after US President Barack Obama announced new tariffs on US imports of Chinese-made tyres on September 11. Preceding the G20 summit earlier this week, Chinese President Hu Jintao...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US software giant Microsoft launched a free online home energy monitoring tool on Wednesday that allows consumers to gauge their usage and reduce consumption. Microsoft Hohm, available as a beta, or test, version in the United States at microsoft-hohm.com, lets users "better understand their energy usage, get recommendations and start saving money," Microsoft said. "We believe technology will play a pivotal role in tackling the global energy issues we currently face," Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, said in a statement. "Microsoft Hohm demonstrates how a combination of advanced software and Internet-based services can...

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan launched an operation against militants Sunday in a district covered by a government-backed peace deal, threatening the survival of a pact that raised U.S. concerns about the country's willingness to confront the insurgents. A top government official insisted the deal remained "intact" and denied American pressure prompted the offensive, while another warned that the Taliban in a valley that was the focus of the deal must disarm or "face action." A military statement said the offensive in Lower Dir had already killed "scores" of militants, including a commander, and left at least one paramilitary soldier dead. It...

TOKYO – Japanese broadcaster NHK says North Korea has launched a rocket, citing the Japanese government. The report came Sunday morning amid heightened tensions in the region. North Korea had informed international authorities that it planned to launch a rocket sometime between Saturday and Wednesday in order to put a satellite into orbit.

(IsraelNN.com) The Color Red incoming rocket alert roused Sderot residents from their beds at approximately 6:00 Thursday morning, barely giving the sleepy civilians time to scramble into shelters before a short range ("Kassam") rocket slammed into the community. No one was injured and no damage was reported. The early warning system also sounded several minutes earlier in the Eshkol region, although it was not clear whether it was a false alarm, or if a missile had fallen in an as-yet-unidentified site. Shortly after midnight, the Israel Air Force bombed a weapons depot in Rafiah. According to a statement released by...