Free Republic

Obama was famous in the Illinois Senate for avoiding tough votes by voting “present.” This tactic, of course, is the last refuge of linguini-spined, unprincipled politicians. His voting record is at Project Vote Smart, and you can search the database by issue to check particular votes. Check out how many "NV" (No Vote) entries there are, compared to the "Y" or "N" votes. Here's one sample page. If this guy worked for a private company he would have been fired long ago for not getting his lazy ass into work to do his job. Could it be that he was...

Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor Healthier choices will be even more out of reach, experts say. By Alfred Lubrano Inquirer Staff Writer Some of the fattest people in America are among the poorest. And with food prices rising, the problem is likely to get worse. Tianna Gaines, who describes herself as impoverished and obese, knows this. At 5-foot-3 and 242 pounds, she lives on public assistance in Frankford and eats junk food because it's cheap and more readily available in her neighborhood than carrots and apples. Besides, said Gaines, 28, and a mother of three, "I don't...

I have often been accused of being "lazy." Even by people who I know and love. Even, on occasion, by myself. But what was the basis for the accusation? Apparently, that I am not continually busy. That I often indulge in the very effective technique of "management by procrastination." That I often do what needs to be done without breaking a sweat, and while waiting until the last minute to do it. Once, in college (in the dark ages prior to word processors), I wrote a term paper, that I had known was due for many weeks, due the next...

AMES, Iowa - Fred Thompson says his often-dour demeanor simply reflects his seriousness about the issues facing the country. ``I'm just Fred,'' he says, and the image that's served him through a successful political career won't be changing. Thompson, who played a tough-minded and gruff district attorney on television's ``Law & Order,'' offers precisely that image as he campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination. He's generally serious and direct, with little of the backslapping and joking of many of his rivals. ``I laugh when I am amused and I'm amused a lot,'' said Thompson, in an interview with The Associated...

Have you ever received poor service from someone you expected should be helping you as part of his or her job? The answer is almost certainly "yes." And, if you're like most people, you have probably also experienced the frustration of working with someone who made your own job more difficult. In both cases you may have wondered, "Why don't they just fire this person?" Firing someone may seem easy in theory, but it is often a last resort for an employer. ... Whenever you encounter someone who you think deserves to be fired -- either in your own workplace...

When word began circulating in Republican circles last spring that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was considering a run for the presidency, the reaction ranged from relief the party had finally found a suitable standard - bearer to squeals of delight about the actor/politician and his resemblance to former President Ronald Reagan. It was arguably the high mark of the campaign thus far. Thompson seemed to squander the summer as he considered his run and raised fewer campaign dollars than hoped. Once he hit the campaign trail, he was forced to acknowledge ignorance about some local issues when stumping across...

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse. If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese...

**DRUDGE EXCLUSIVE** President Bush, for the first time, is predicting that Barack Obama will be defeated in the Democratic presidential primaries by Hillary Rodham Clinton. “She's got a national presence and this is becoming a national primary,” Bush tells author Bill Sammon in the bombshell book, EVANGELICAL PRESIDENT, set for release Monday. “And therefore the person with the national presence, who has got the ability to raise enough money to sustain an effort in a multiplicity of sites, has got a good chance to be nominated.” Breaking his vow not to play “pundit-in-chief” in the 2008 presidential race, Bush tells...

Fred Thompson must be the luckiest guy in American politics – he doesn't yet have a platform available on his web site, skips debates, waits for months before announcing under the assumed role of “testing the waters”, records videos on his web site and somehow manages to bring in impressive support from the American people.

When Christine Drake worked as a Starbucks barista, the Seattle woman with psychiatric disabilities said it was the first time in her life that she "felt a sense of accomplishment." But after two years on the job, a new manager at the Starbucks store at 425 Queen Anne Ave. N. in Seattle allegedly discriminated against Drake, decreased her hours and berated her in front of customers, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lisa Cox, an EEOC lawyer, said the world's largest coffee retailer ignored Drake's requests for help and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not accommodating...

So we are agreed. We are living in the second great Gilded Age, a time of startling personal wealth. In the West, the mansion after mansion with broad and rolling grounds; in the East, the apartments with foyers in which bowling teams could play. Or, on another level, the week's vacation in Disneyland or Dublin with the entire family--this in a nation in which, well within human memory, people with a week off stayed home and fixed things in the garage, or drove to the beach for a day and sat on a blanket from one of the kid's beds...

Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama took issue with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ characterization of a judge’s role as similar to that of an umpire at a baseball game. “Justice Roberts said he saw himself just as an umpire,” Obama said. “But we need somebody who’s got the empathy to recognize that the rules may need to be different for some people. Should a batter with bad eyesight or slow reflexes get the same number of strikes as a more capable player? Should an obese runner have to run the same 90 feet between bases? Roberts’ attitude of indifference...

LAS VEGAS -- There's lazy, and then there's Las Vegas lazy. In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters." Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think updated wheelchairs. Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, apparently healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm. You don't have to take a step. You don't even have to put your drink down. "It was all the walking," 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a...

New York (dpa) - If the topic generates discomfort or shyness, the United Nations Monday recommended consideration of this fact: 2.6 billion people - or nearly half the world's population - still do not have toilets. The figure was released as the organization prepares to discuss the International Year of Sanitation in 2008. The lack of proper sanitation increases the risk of preventable diseases, which hit children harder in poor countries. Currently two of five people on earth do not have sanitation, a problem prompting the UN General Assembly to declare the international year to highlight problems caused by the...

I listed my qualms about him a few days ago. Right now I would consider McCain and Rudy above Fred, but not Brownback. This solely rests upon the fact that other than voting correctly and saying good things on Paul Harvey, I am very skeptical of Thompson’s ability to, 1. Formulate good policy (detail work) 2. Negotiate with the other side and foreign governments 3. Run a organization (whether a campaign or an administration) 4. Something that shows those lazy accusations are not true (i.e. some where he has put forth good effort.) I know that a lot of people...

PARIS (AP) - The French already enjoy a 35-hour work week and generous vacation. Now the health minister wants to look into whether workers should be allowed to sleep on the job.

Subject: Thank you for your message Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 14:51:34 -0700 From: info@johnkerry.com To: info@johnkerry.com Thank you very much for your comments. As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop. This is the finest military that we've ever had. I have fought a lifetime on behalf of veterans. We have the finest young men and women serving us in the United States military that we've ever had, and I’m...

When Christine Drake worked as a Starbucks barista, the Seattle woman with psychiatric disabilities said it was the first time in her life that she "felt a sense of accomplishment." But after two years on the job, a new manager at the Starbucks store at 425 Queen Anne Ave. N. in Seattle allegedly discriminated against Drake, decreased her hours and berated her in front of customers, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lisa Cox, an EEOC lawyer, said the world's largest coffee retailer ignored Drake's requests for help and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not accommodating...

Just came back from the movie theater from seeing Idiocracy. It is directed by Mike Judge and had limited release due to offending some people and litigations filed by Costco, Fuddruckers, and Starbucks. It almost got shelved for good as a result. Actually, it is a really funny movie. Private Joe Bowers and a prostitute named Rita are frozen and are forgotten and fast forward to 500 years later. America has gotten dumber. All the dumb people reproduce like rabbits. The world is infested with litter and people are dumb. Bowers and Rita are the smartest. The world reminds me...

Ever noticed lately, how women in general have it so easy? Alway's have to be first at everything, if you go to a marketplace or mall, they have to park the closest, so they don't have to walk so far! Ever notice how upset they get when someone tells them, 'Women' are so spoiled these days? They all have to have a brand new car! Ever notice how women have to the man do their dirty work? Like anything at all that takes any effort. Ever notice how women outlive men these day's? In the 1800's, it used to be...

Bush should thank lazy, illiterate liberals! I was interested in how true is the idea that Democrats lose votes because people sympathetic to their views are less likely to vote, and due to high school dropouts not voting as much. Here's the breakdown of the percent who voted in the presidential election in 2000: Percent voting in 2000 Extremely liberal 60.2% Liberal 61.8 Slightly liberal 67.2 Moderates 59.9 Slightly conservative 70.2 Conservative 74.2 Extremely conservative 70.5 Look at the lazy liberals! God bless 'em! They are no more likely to vote than moderates. I was told that liberals are the...

Allow me to be politically incorrect: The No. 1 reason people aren't rich is because they're lazy. This is purely my opinion and no one else's, and I have no scientific proof to back it up. Why the sudden honesty? I'll tell you. The Best Policy? One of the things I loved most about the Marine Corps was that I never had to worry about what anyone was thinking. When I was preparing to be an officer, there was no sensitivity training. When superior officers spoke to you, they didn't have to wrap their words in ribbons and bows, and...

Why elephants avoid the high road 17:20 24 July 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Elephants do their utmost to avoid going uphill, a new satellite-tracking study shows – their finely balanced metabolism may reveal why. Researchers tracked elephants by satellite and found that the animals avoid travelling up slopes whenever possible. Calculations suggest an explanation for this behaviour: the big beasts would have to spend hours eating to compensate for travelling up even a relatively gentle incline. Scientists know that elephants can climb relatively steep mountainous terrain if they must. The North African general Hannibal is even said to...

I am very proud of my fellow volunteers. It was as much a privilege to serve with them as it was to serve in the armed forces. They were Americans at their best, Christians at their most lovely. They were and continue to be Christ made real. At any given time there are 30 to 75 volunteers staged in just one church, ready to lend back and body to the difficult task or restoring these clobbered homes, a story repeated all over the battered coastlines. Unfortunately I must report that I am far less impressed by those benefiting from the...

FORT HUACHUCA — Come July, Col. Jonathan Hunter doesn’t know if he will have even half the money he needs to run the garrison for the last three months of the current federal fiscal year. The garrison commander does know about $16 million is needed for July, August and September. “We’ll be lucky if we get half,” he said. The situation is so dire that temporary and term civil service employees in the garrison are being cut, civil service people are being offered voluntary early retirement, and vacant positions are not being filled. Term and temporary employees have no guarantee...

Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance! Only in America...are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink! Only in America...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions! Only in America...do people order double cheese burgers, a large fry, and a diet coke! Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters! Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and leave useless pieces of junk in the garage!...

DENVER — Arthur Sena spent years living in a hole that he had dug near the railroad tracks. He would probably still be there, defying offers of help from social workers and using cardboard to ward off the chill, if Denver had not adopted a radical strategy of putting homeless people into apartments of their own, no strings attached.

A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees: During Democracy Now's recent trip to New Orleans, we managed to get inside the largest FEMA trailer park set up after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after we interviewed hurricane evacuee Donna Azeez, we were kicked out of the park by security guards working for Corporate Security Solutions, the private company hired by FEMA to police Renaissance Village. Earlier this month, Democracy Now went down to Louisiana and had a chance to take a rare look inside Renaissance Village - a trailer park on the outskirts...

DATELINE BAGDAD Here is a new (and improved!) tool for our Leftist Media friends, who simply cannot find the time to do any real reporting in Iraq so they can meet that doom & gloom deadline in seconds! Just a few clicks and your story is ready to fire away, just in time for the poker tournament in the Green Zone! Enjoy! DATELINE BAGDAD Today in [Bagdad][Or Fill in Province of Choice] there were [3] [10] [50] verychoose one:[loud] [angry] [upset] [disruptive] [ugly] [suave]choose one: [protesters] [explosions] [car bombs] [reporters/liberals] which caused [malaise] [mass destruction] [a lot of smoke] [lots...

Earlier this morning John Gambling had Chris Wallace on his WABC radio show. Wallace is on every Friday morning so he can plug his weekend show. I don't know much about this show since I stopped watching when Tony Snow left and Wallace took over. But what I do know that This weeks plug showed Chris to be either stupid or lazy. I can't decide. Wallace said that the president was in trouble because "the AP poll shows him at his lowest point so far" or something to that effect. Then he pointed out that the Democrats are leading Republicans...

German public sector workers fighting plans to extend their working hours have widened their strike action to cover most of the country. An estimated 20,000 local and regional authority staff including nurses, cooks and cleaners have joined the largest public sector strike in 14 years. They are protesting against plans to extend weekly working hours by 90 minutes, from 38.5 to 40 hours a week. The industrial action...has now spread to 10 of Germany's 16 states... Leaders at Verdi - Germany's biggest union with 2.4 million members - have warned that the strikes could last for up to six weeks.

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

A MAN tried to sue the council after he soiled his own trousers, it emerged today. He blamed the embarrassing accident on the council's decision to close a public lavatory at a bus station, and claimed he was owed the cost of a new pair of trousers. The bizarre claim was among thousands of public liability claims which cost local government and insurance firms an estimated £250 million per year. Public sector insurer Zurich Municipal said many claimants are genuine but exaggerated and spurious claims are an increasing problem. The firm compiled a list of other ludicrous and dubious claims....

Over 90% of Blacks voted against President Bush and over 80% are Democrat. I don’t get it. The Republican Party has done so much more for integration. Blacks have more in common with the principals of Republicans than due Democrats; poll after poll has established this. Up until the fifties, Black numbers in voting Republican was substantial. Why the departure? I have a theory. The greatest strides in the civil rights movement were in the 60’s. The greatest leader was Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK, Jr. was peaceful and a Christian Preacher who spoke to fellow Christian’s hearts. This is...

Gollum the lazy vulture who had to go to flying school By Stewart Payne (Filed: 01/12/2005) Gollum the idle vulture had no reason to fly. His meals were delivered by hand, so for four years he has simply furled his mighty 6ft wings…and hopped everywhere. Chocks away: but Gollum still cannot get off the ground Until yesterday, that is. In what might seem a rather dramatic attempt to make him to do what should have come naturally, his owner took him to a vertical wind tunnel in the hope that a powerful blast of air might awaken a dormant instinct....

BEIJING — A new line of condoms is grabbing headlines in China even as its sparks a debate about trademark law and promotion campaigns. The products' brand names: "Clinton" and "Lewinsky." The condoms are sold in boxes of 12, with the brand named after former President Bill Clinton priced at $3.70 and that of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky at $2.25. Guangzhou Haojian Bioscience Co. said it registered both trademarks and is pricing the brands differently to reflect the higher quality of the Clinton line. "We chose the name because we think Clinton is a symbol of success and...

(Credit: Kevin Bartram/Associated Press) Galveston buses carrying evacuees head north Wednesday.

"The charges of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense." This is how the New York Daily News called it regarding charges, from the usual circle of black leaders, that the rescue efforts in New Orleans were slow because the victims were black. The Daily News is right. Except it's even worse than the paper appreciates. What we are witnessing is a well-honed black political public-relations operation geared to obfuscation, stoking hatred and fear, and nurturing helplessness and dependence among black citizens. Such efforts keep black politicians powerful, diversity businesses prosperous and blacks poor.

"But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and...

OK - I need some help or suggestions. I am scheduled to go on a mission trip, leaving on July 13. When I first found out that I had a spot available for the trip, I immediately applied for my Passport - but choosing the "standard" service - after being assured by the passport agent (at the Jacksonville Post Office) that the current time frame given to them would allow more than ample time to get my passport in time for the trip (this was the last week of May). Well, having not heard anything back (other than delivery confirmatin...

The essence of modern liberalism is laziness. The idea of the American Dream is based on individualism and personal responsibility. If you work hard, play by the rules, and develop your God-given talents to their fullest, you will be successful in life. But Liberals do not hold to this ideal and would rather have you go through life sitting around passively waiting for something to be given to you by the government. Theirs is a principle according to which individualism is sublimated to the state and success is defined as relative comfort rather than doing the best you can do....

THE NATIONAL BLACK REPARATIONS ALLIANCE PRESENTS A SERIES OF LECTURES ON REPARATIONS FOR BLACK PEOPLE IN AMERICA2005 Reparations Lecture # 1 – , Charlotte, N. C. In The Name of Allah The Beneficial, The Most Merciful We thank Allah for blessing us to be within Thy Grace, at this time, in this place, in our present states of Mind Good Evening Brothers & Sisters, As Salaam Alaikum! It is a pleasure to have you with us this evening. We are in the house of Conquering Books & the Raw Talent Community Art Gallery . These Reparations Meetings are sponsored by...

Special ReportUtopia Banished After seven years of rising unemployment, economic stagnation, and general malaise, French socialists' war against self-determinism ended in defeat last week when France's parliament rescinded a law that made it a crime to work more than 35 hours a week. Essentially a lunatic scheme to create wealth sans labor, the law instituted a de facto lowest-common-denominator egalitarian society by shackling anyone with motivation to a sinking raft of bureaucrats and the lazy. In a sort of fiscal policy version of the Maginot Line, French socialists had argued that legally limiting the number of work hours would force...

It defies belief. Ex-President Jimmy Carter, who crystallized a fraudulent recall referendum for Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez, now says his Carter Center will return to Caracas "to help consolidate peace and democracy." He also says he's got a final report on the Venezuelan recall referendum. (There've been some other final reports but somehow he's got to issue a final final final report) He's up to no good. No one has demoralized Venezuela's democracy more than America's worst-ever president. The only legitimate reason he has to go to Caracas is to beg Venezuelans for forgiveness after that sorry show he put...

MUNICH, Germany (AP) - U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton offered support Sunday for reforms to strengthen the United Nations, but also had a world of personal appreciation for U.N. chief Kofi Annan. "I also thank him for giving my husband a new job," she said, smiling. Annan recently appointed former U.S. President Bill Clinton as a special U.N. envoy to countries hit by December's Indian Ocean tsunami. Rodham Clinton was among a group of U.S. senators attending an annual security conference in Munich, where Annan was the keynote speaker Sunday. She backed his call for an overhaul of the world...

SYRACUSE NY--When Lynnee Westbrook thinks about what her son went through her eyes well up. She says her two children take the school bus everyday, so she can't understand why the vice principal at McKinley Brighton told her 5-year-old son to walk home. Under school policy, students must live more than a mile and a half to be bused. School spokesperson Neil Driscoll says Kevin is listed as a walker and lives on Newell Street, a block away from the school. Westbrook says they actually live on West Brighton Avenue and she doesn't know how the school got that information....

During this week's inaugural celebration, it is possible to bask in the warm glow of Republicans, pleased with their victory and determined to push the agenda forward in the second Bush term. There is much work to be done. In fact, there some arenas, in which liberals have made tremendous strides without Republicans taking too much notice. This week's Time magazine cover story (website), for instance, chronicles the rise of "the Twixters", a new sociological category to describe those 18 to 29 year olds who are essentially putting off the responsibility of adulthood. It is not simply that these young...

  Exercising, even moderately, can significantly reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases heart disease and diabetes risk, among older adults, according to a study.The six-month study involved over 100 people between the ages of 55 and 75. Half were "prescribed" exercises ranging from weightlifting to walking, which were performed for one hour, three times a week. The other participants were given a booklet that encouraged increased activity to promote good health.Some 43 percent of participants had metabolic syndrome when the study began. At the end of six months, the following results were observed among the...

Going back to work to start the year was no different than working last week; most Venezuelans are certainly not working and will likely not go to work for at least another week, a phenomenon that I have always marveled at. It is in fact pretty amazing that a country with such low productivity practically shuts down for three weeks every year at Christmas. And let’s not talk about Easter week and carnival week when similar slowdowns take place. But maybe I should lighten up. The slowdown is general. The best part is that politicians also disappear from view for...

Interesting, it is January 2nd. And a number of Government promises for the end of the year 2004, have failed to take place: -There has been no resolution of the Danilo Anderson case as promised before the end of the year by the Minister of Justice and the Governor of Miranda (Who has no official connection to the case) -There has been no announcement of a devaluation as announced by the old Minisiter of Finance. -The new Government airline has yet to fly once. -We are still waiting for the PDVSA financials by the way, where is Silvino Bustillos? Oh...