Free Republic

The Debate: The mainstream media were taken aback by some of the questions asked of Barack Obama at the ABC-run debate in Philadelphia. We, on the other hand, were pleasantly surprised.We'll admit we weren't expecting much more of this debate than the earlier puffball affairs sponsored by CNN and MSNBC. And indeed, the first question out of ABC anchorman Charlie Gibson's mouth — about the chances for a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton dream team — had us muttering, "Here we go again." But when that went nowhere (Obama said such talk was "premature"), Gibson got down to business by asking about...

Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican trying to inject new life into his beleaguered presidential campaign, plans to offer a resolution this week for Congress to apologize for slavery and segregation. Brownback, of Kansas, told The Boston Globe's editorial board yesterday he will join an unnamed Democrat in sponsoring the proposal. He said he expects a tough fight on the resolution, even though it will not include any call for reparations. "They were federal policies," he said. "They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward . . . is at the end of day acknowledging those, taking ownership...

Noted Duke University law professor Erwin Chemerinsky signed a contract to be the dean at the University of California-Irvine's new law school, but was dumped, he said, when the university's chancellor told him he was "too politically controversial." Chemerinsky, a celebrated constitutional law scholar, said Wednesday that Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake flew to Durham from Washington to rescind the job offer face to face. The two met Tuesday at the Sheraton hotel near the Raleigh-Durham airport. "He thought it would be a bloody fight with the Board of Regents," Chemerinsky said. The professor said he was offered the dean's position...

(snip) ..."Now it's an experience that I think really reflects the American soul and where we are now." Which is? "A quarter-inch from this fear we don't really understand," she says. The national "rage" (her word) over the Iraq war is part of it, according to Foster, but "we're a culture that carries a gun in our pocket. And we're just waiting for an opportunity to use it. That's kind of who we are as Americans. "It's sort of who we've always been."

Left Handers Day When:  Always on August 13th If you are a Leftie, Then Left Handers Day is just for you! Left Handers, also commonly referred to as Southpaws, are the brunt of more than their share of jokes all year long. How do I know? Yup, you guessed it! It ain't easy being a leftie. But those of us who are, would have it no other way. Lefties are proud of it. The world is built for right handers. Examples are everywhere. For example: In school, have you ever seen a left handed desk? They don't exist. Many...

If I hadn't known better, I would have thought Fran Eaton's July 1 column, a rant against health care for poor children, was a parody of conservative positions and designed to make them look mean and stupid. But no, her condemnation of anything resembling a nurturing role for government, the "Mama state," as she calls it, was sincere. I find her views deeply disturbing but not surprising. What do conservatives stand for? Conservatives have fought long, hard losing battles against the abolition of slavery, the right of women to vote, child labor laws, the rights of workers to unionize, Social...

Syndicated talk-radio personality Don Imus apologized Friday for calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" during a segment yesterday in his "Imus in the Morning" show. Imus and his producer and on-air sidekick, Bernard McGuirk, went on to further attack the black members of the team, calling them "jigaboos and wannabees." In his apology, Imus called his comments "insensitive and ill-conceived." "It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended," he told listeners at the opening of his broadcast Friday morning. He further called the comments "thoughtless and stupid" and said, "We're sorry."...

Authorities are beefing up security around U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and his family after his congressional office in Lansing was vandalized, apparently by anti-war protesters, officials said. Livingston County Sheriff's deputies are watching Rogers' Brighton home due to the vandalism at his district office in downtown Lansing overnight Monday and a similar incident outside another Michigan congressman's home Saturday, officials said in written statement. The vandals splattered red paint on signs with Rogers' name and a "support the troops'' slogan on the building, and plastered a sign saying the four-term congressman has blood on his hands. They also spray painted...

MILWAUKEE - A group of Iraq War protesters vandalized the windows at the Army recruitment center on Oakland Avenue near the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee campus on Monday night. Milwaukee police had six people in custody and were questioning several more potential suspects. Witnesses say they saw anywhere from 20 to 40 people dressed in black flee from the scene. A Web site posting on Monday said that the act was a protest against the U.S. involvement in Iraq, in connection with Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the war. Torches made from chair legs, fireworks, and black flags were strewn in...

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., puts on a cowboy hat handed to him as the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination leaves a rally in Austin, Texas, Friday, Feb. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

January 1, 2007 - A national coaltion of citizens, including war veterans, distinguished academics, students, journalists, artists, and elected officials have joined with us to call for a nationwide boycott of all consumer activity, for one week in April.. The organizers of the boycott have recognized the fact, that our elected representatives have been unwilling to move forward on the public's overwhelming demands for impeachment and an end to the war in Iraq. This boycott is a way of unifying the opposition to the Bush Administration; and according to Dr. Peter Phillips, who was the first to propose the idea...

Maybe the Donald was right about the strife between Rosie and Babwa. On today's installment of "The View," moderator Ro put Barbara Walters -- her boss, mind you -- firmly in her place. Gabbing about the State of the Union address, O'Donnell called for a member of Congress to put the President up for impeachment, and compared Bush's failures unfavorably to Bill Clinton's. Mama Walters, not wanting to get into a prolonged debate over Wild Bill's behavior, suggested that they move on to the next topic. Not so fast, said Rosie. "Where do you want me to move on to?"...

John McCain Goes Left for Money by Michael Illions, Human Events, Jan 15, 2007 Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), an all-but-announced candidate for President in 2008, has just signed up Lew Eisenberg, one of the most notorious liberal Republicans in New Jersey, to his finance committee. Eisenberg, who was listed in the leaked Rudy Giuliani strategy memo as someone the campaign should try to sign on, is a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, activist millionaire investment banker. Anyone who follows the big money in politics, his name will sound familiar. He was co-chairman of Bush/Cheney, NJ in 2004 and served as finance...

A Fuzzy StrategeryAgree to DisagreeBy Rob FishmanNov 15 2006Yesterday, Sun Columnist Billy McMorris argued that, as students, we should take time away from partying and sleeping, and express our gratitude to the nearly 3,000 soldiers who have died so far in Iraq. Billy does what George Bush does: instead of defending the Iraq War, he points to the sacrifices of our soldiers. It’s a crafty strategy of misdirection, to channel our grief for dead soldiers into support for the ongoing war in Iraq.There was a time when such sacrifices might have been sensible. Maybe at first, we could justify soldiers’...

According to some who knew the man who set himself on fire along the Kennedy Expressway last Friday, it wasn't a suicide. They're calling it the act of a martyr. The man who doused himself with gasoline and lit himself near a 25-foot-tall sculpture titled "Flame of the Millennium" was Malachi Ritscher, 52, a local musician and anti-war activist. The medical examiner ID'd Ritscher on Wednesday through medical records. Friends were already convinced it was him. One admirer of Ritscher sent me an e-mail with the Subject Header: "It was Martrydom, Not Mental Illness." "Do you remember the Buddhist monks...

Seth Brigham holds a copy of the Daily Camera at the Boulder County Justice Center Friday, Aug. 18, 2006, in Boulder, Colo. Hours after John Mark Karr told reporters in Thailand he was with JonBenet when she died, questions arose about his claims _ including whether he sexually assaulted the 6-year-old beauty queen or was even in Colorado at the time of the slaying. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A self-described peace activist responsible for the diversion of a London-to-Washington flight Wednesday acted bizarrely for hours, made references to al Qaeda and hijack training flights, and was restrained by two passengers after she urinated in the aisle. Catherine C. Mayo, 59, a Vermont woman who also lives part time in Pakistan, was charged yesterday in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. United Flight 923 was forced to make an emergency landing at Boston's Logan International Airport under escort by two military jets. "She's got some very serious mental health problems," said Page Kelley, Mrs. Mayo's attorney, who...

Onscreen king of kvetch Larry David just couldn't contain himself at a Martha's Vineyard parking lot last weekend when an errant shopping cart scratched his beloved BMW 530. According to Page Six, the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Seinfeld" creator and his wife were outside a Vineyard Haven supermarket when a runaway cart made what one eyewitness said was "a little dent" in David's $75,000 car. David proceeded to call the cops and started, says the witness, "in a golf shirt and shorts, flapping away with his arms. It was just like an episode on his show." Vineyard cops confimed that...

Helen Thomas' new book, Watchdogs of Democracy? -- her missive on the failings of the Washington press corps, especially on reporting surrounding the Iraq war -- may as well have saved the question mark in the title and just been named "Lapdogs." Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, and her latest book is a combination memoir, press critique, tutorial on various White House message management techniques and an assessment of assorted White House press secretaries. Here's a sample: "My criticism of the press secretaries in the Bush-2 administration is that they are robots parroting the party line,...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dick Durbin on Monday made his first trip to a prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base since his remarks last year criticizing U.S. soldiers there for allegedly bad treatment of prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan. Durbin, the Senate's second-highest-ranking Democrat, had said in recent weeks that he was eager to visit the U.S.-controlled base in Cuba but wanted assurances from the Pentagon that he would receive a complete tour of the facility. Virginia Sen. George Allen, who is running for re-election this year and is frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in...

During the 2004 Illinois Senate race, GOP nominee Alan Keyes, facing certain crushing defeat from rival Barack Obama, suggested that Jesus Christ would not back the Democratic contender. "And I think you remember my response, which was, I wanted to know who his pollster was," Obama joked to Fox News host Alan Colmes on Oct. 26, 2004. "Because if I have a chance to talk to Jesus, I'm going to be talking to him about eternal life and the meaning and purpose of my work here. I'm not going to be worrying about who he's voting for in the Senate...

[excerpted] ...."Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," the Illinois Democrat said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty. "It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God,"' he said. "Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats." ..... Obama said millions of Christians, Muslims...

See for example this thread first. The Brokeback Mountain columnist (Sullivan) coined the term Christianist Although he's a queer he must have no fear: as he would if Mohammed he dissed.

Good morning delegates! I have a few questions for you this morning. Do you believe that in the Governor’s office, we have the wrong man with the wrong plan? Do you believe that we have to take this state back from the special interests? Do you believe that every student deserves a good education? That every person deserves affordable health care? That every Californian deserves clean air and clean water? Finally, do you believe it’s time for Arnold get to work on his next movie: the One Terminator? If we’re going to make that happen, we have to remember one...

Can openers, scissors and spiral-bound notebooks discriminate against lefties. Despite such challenges, 10 to 12 percent of the human population has historically preferred the left hand. Why doesn't the number ever waiver? Nobody knows for sure, but new research supports a body of evidence that suggests genetics have a hand in it all. In the meantime, the myth remains that lefties are more artistic. And the idea that left-handed fighters have an advantage persists on scant evidence, supported by Scottish lore and Rocky Balboa's heroics in the ring. Look, Mom: Both hands! Like many traits, handedness is probably determined by...

Her worldwide album sales may have topped the 50 million mark, but home for singer Linda Ronstadt is anything but flashy. During the school year, she and her two children reside in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom Craftsman-style San Francisco duplex she bought a couple years ago for its "good light, good architecture and nice view of the bay." The multi-Grammy-winner -- who comes to the Rosemont Theatre March 25 for a special performance with the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra -- says she gravitates toward anything that's from the past -- specifically, before 1906. She has furnished her home with "a funny mixture...

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) blasted the Bush Administration's proposed port management deal with the United Arab Emirates as a move that would "turn over our sovereignty to another country." The New York Democrat says she's still opposed to the deal and plans to introduce legislation that would block Dubai Ports World or any other company owned by a foreign government from operating US ports. As of today, we have almost 50 members of congress introducing bills to stop the UAE port deal. If only they would propose as much legislation to protect US borders. Clinton said critical infrastructures like seaports...

Hillary Clinton is most certainly not the scheming, bitter, partisan portrayed in Dick Morris and Eileen McGann's bestselling book "Condi vs Hillary," which the New York Times derides in a Sunday book review as "a Fox News fairy tale." Times Washington correspondent Robin Toner insists that the Morris-McGann tome is more parody than reality, dismissing their claims that Hillary is filled with "rage" at Republicans; along with the assertion that Clinton, "at her core . . . believes in income redistribution." So when Mrs. Clinton bellows - as she did at a Democratic fundraiser in 2003 - that she's "sick...

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has all the hallmarks of a clearcut favorite to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. She enjoys nearly universal name recognition, focuses on high-profile issues and, perhaps most importantly, has the ability to raise a lot of cash. But there is a massive amount of ground to cover before she can allow visions of settling back into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to dance in her head. First up is her Senate reelection campaign. In a development that could spice up the 2006 race, two antiwar candidates have announced they will challenge Clinton for the Democratic...

The Air Force Reserve plans to discharge a lieutenant colonel accused of causing thousands of dollars in damage by defacing cars with pro-Bush bumper stickers, officials said Friday. Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau, a pilot with 500 combat hours in the first Persian Gulf war and the Balkans, is charged with felony criminal mischief. He is accused of using paint stripper to write "F--- Bush" in 18-inch-high letters on cars at Denver International Airport with bumper stickers supporting President Bush and conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. Jim Miller, a spokesman for the Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base,...

Somebody is lying. That's not an accusation or a criticism, just a logical conclusion based on comparing statements by various administration officials. There is no way all of the people involved in the Valerie Plame case can be telling the truth, because they contradict each other, and sometimes themselves. Whether a law was broken when her identity as a CIA agent was revealed in the press back in the early summer of 2004, the more important issues of why she was exposed and the subsequent cover-up tell us more about the integrity of the Bush administration than any legal action...

In his latest editorial on his website Bob Beckel calls Tom Delay a punk with a big mouth. Of course Mr. Beckel offers no proof to back up the baseless allegations he makes against Delay. Here is the editorial in it’s entirety: Just another Bully A Column by BBP Editor Bob BeckelTom Delay reminds me of a bully in my hometown high school. He scared people, told them he carried a switchblade, and would use it. He was a thug. One day he said something about my sister. He lasted 15 seconds, until he started to cry for his momma....

Democrat presidents misled and troops wound up dead? That's what Sen. Barack Obama seemed to be saying in a wide ranging interview with the Chicago Tribune this week. Commenting on claims that President Bush used on bogus intelligence to take America into the Iraq war - he noted that more than one Democratic president has done the same thing. The revelation came as Sen. Obama recounted a recent town meeting where an audience member had asked him about the war, saying: "Shouldn't the president be impeached for lying?" The top black Democrat recalled answering: "Well, FDR, JFK, LBJ -- we...

Founder of veganism whose dietary crusade grew to attract a quarter of a million adherents in Britain today DONALD WATSON survived to the age of 95; good propaganda in his campaign to convince the world that there is nothing inherently lethal about a vegan diet. He always regarded himself as a propagandist, in the term’s non-pejorative sense. When interviewed at 92 he was pleased to report that he had lived thus far without resort to medication “either orthodox or fringe”, and with hardly a day’s illness. His parents were meat-eaters who did not enjoy particularly good health or long lives....

By my count, twelve United States senators are considering a run for president in 2008: six Democrats (Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Russ Feingold, and John Kerry) and six Republicans (George Allen, Sam Brownback, Bill Frist, Chuck Hagel, John McCain, and Rick Santorum). For Biden, Kerry, and McCain it would be their second presidential campaign....

KU prof's e-mail irks fundamentalists http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/religion/13252419.htm Associated Press LAWRENCE - Critics of a new course that equates creationism and intelligent design with mythology say an e-mail sent by the chairman of the University of Kansas religious studies department proves the course is designed to mock fundamentalist Christians.In a recent message on a Yahoo listserv, Paul Mirecki said of the course "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and Other Religious Mythologies": "The fundies want it all taught in a science class, but this will be a nice slap in their big fat face by teaching it as a religious studies...

Warren Buffett sits on the edge of a soft brown sofa, closely watching as Sen. Barack Obama navigates the well-appointed living room. He moves his square glasses closer to his face, unfolds his arms and springs to his feet when the time comes to welcome his guest to Nebraska. "There he is," Buffett says with a wide grin, pulling Obama toward him with a hearty handshake. "You're the hottest ticket in town today." The sage of money and finance, America's second-richest man seldom becomes invested in politicians. But he has made an exception for the junior Democratic senator from Illinois,...

Full-Time Motherhood? How Selfish November 5, 2005 BY JULIE SHILLER Across the nation, privileged young women are seeking to be competitive candidates to gain admittance to prestigious universities. Impressive SAT scores, awards, grades and extracurricular activities are of the utmost importance for college-bound high school students and their families. The priorities of many of today's elite young women, however, are surprisingly conventional, according to one survey. The most fortunate and educated women say they will conform to traditional gender roles after completing their Ivy League degrees. They are choosing careers as full-time mothers and expect to be supported financially by...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has led Germany since 1998, said for the first time on Wednesday he would not play a role in the next government, in an emotional farewell including broadsides at the United States and Britain. "I will not be a part of the next government — definitely not be part of it," a tearful looking Schroeder told a rapt audience of union members in his home city of Hanover. He quickly composed himself, hitting his stride in a passionate defense of a strong German state and lashing out at "Anglo-Saxon" economic policies favoured in...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A man who is fighting to get the words "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance was back in federal court Wednesday, making some surprising comments about the case. Although the hearing was a procedural matter with no key rulings, Michael Newdow said that if he is successful in having the words removed from the pledge at the U.S. Supreme Court level, it still wouldn't be enough. Newdow believes that it is time to get rid of the old Pledge of Allegiance altogether. He said that it's impractical to just change the pledge because children will...

Dear Friend, On Monday, we learned that the President nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers--a long-time adviser and Bush loyalist--to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Miers's record is little known so far, because she's largely served behind the scenes. What leaps out is her loyalty to President Bush beginning with his years as Governor of Texas. We know nothing about her loyalty to the rule of law and the Constitution, or her ability to do the job of Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. It's clear that Mr. Bush is fond of her work:...

WASHINGTON -- I want to vent. On Friday, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush deployed from the White House to the Gulf region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. But the Bushes' photo-op tour is meaningless if people are still marooned on rooftops. The Hurricane Katrina storyline is simple. At its essence at this point, people are either on high, dry ground with some food and water, needed medical attention and a place to sleep -- or they are not. Bush is in a no flim-flam zone. When he said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, much of the nation trusted...

can't say I saw everything that the TV newscasters pumped out about Katrina, but I viewed enough repeated segments to say with 90 percent confidence that broadcasters covering the New Orleans end of the disaster demurred from mentioning two topics that must have occurred to every sentient viewer: race and class. Nearly every rescued person, temporary resident of the Superdome, looter, or loiterer on the high ground of the freeway I saw on TV was African-American. And from the look of it, they weren't wealthy residents of the Garden District. This storm appears to have hurt blacks more directly than...

Dear Garrison: I almost cried today while listening to The Show.

Salt Lake City's Mayor Rocky Anderson used e-mail this week to call upon activists, Democrats and some of his top administrative staff for “the biggest demonstration this state has ever seen,” when President Bush appears before a national veterans convention Monday. “There should be a collaboration of health-care-provision advocates, seniors, the (gay, lesbian and bisexual and transsexual) community, anti-Patriot Act advocates and other civil libertarians, anti-war folks, pro-Social Security advocates, environmental advocates, anti-nuclear-testing advocates, and anti-nuclear-waste-shipment-and-storage advocates,” the mayor wrote in the e-mail sent Friday. The mayor, a Democrat who serves in an officially nonpartisan office plans to join the...

A Harvard economics professor accused of stealing horse manure from a 98-year-old Rockport farmer received a market lesson yesterday as charges against him were dismissed but restitution was set at an amount he once deemed ''artificially inflated." Martin Weitzman, 63, agreed to pay $600 to Charlie Lane for one truckload of manure Weitzman took from the farmer on April 1. The going rate for a truckload of manure is about $20. The professor was charged with larceny, trespassing, and destruction of property in a case that drew international attention. The case in Gloucester District Court was put off as Weitzman...

Senator Hillary Clinton's office is actively trying to discourage interviewers from giving TV time to Ed Klein, author of the controversial bestseller "The Truth About Hillary," Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz confirmed on Sunday. "A spokesman for Senator Clinton told me that when news organizations call, they do make the argument, why give this guy airtime," Kurtz said, while hosting CNN's "Reliable Sources." Kurtz's comment is the first by a mainstream journalist acknowledging that Sen. Clinton is actively trying to suppress Klein's book in a campaign first reported by NewsMax Monday morning. After being booked on numerous TV Shows,...

My name is Jason Wilson, Iam currently enlisted in the United States army, Iam being Honorably Discharge from the US Army, for Mental/Physical medical conditions I gained from the U.S army. I served 13 months in Iraq, after I came back, I began my discharge from the U.S army, and I waved the medical board,because I did not want to wait for the long never ending process of the army trying to figure out if it was there fault cause I was broken, therfore I waved it to get my process out quickly. Currently I have 3 days left, and...

The Veterans Affairs Department needs at least $4 billion more than President Bush has allotted or else veterans' health care and disability claims will suffer, Sen. Barack Obama warned Monday. Obama (D-Ill.) criticized the president during a press conference in Chicago, calling him "bull-headed" and warning that Bush's proposed 2.7 percent increase for the VA doesn't consider an increased demand from returning Iraqi veterans. "When you adjust for inflation, the president's budget has even less money for veterans than it had a year ago," said Obama, who serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "We have a tendency to applaud...