Free Republic

Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s not that the retailers are closed-minded. It’s their customers who are closed-minded. Well, okay. Some of the retailers are closed-minded too. “Our customers are thinking people,” said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. “They’re not into reading drivel.” There’s not a single copy on the shelf. Embretson said no one has asked for it except for one guy, who was kidding. “He said he wanted to look at it but he also said he didn’t really want to read it,” Embretson said. “Anyway, he certainly didn’t want to buy it. I think...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before the Senate Judiciary Committee November 18th, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed a stunningly broad and aggressive anti-gun agenda. "The President of the United States asked that politicians not use the Ft. Hood attack to engage in 'political theater.' It appears those committed to attacking gun owners and the Second Amendment simply can't help themselves and are engaged in blaming guns and gun owners on the heels of this terrorist attack. Sadly it looks like 'politics as usual,'" said LEAA's spokesperson, Ted Deeds. After explaining and defending his decision to give enemy combatants constitutional...

With less than a year until Election Day, the stakes for this country could not be higher. Nancy Pelosi and her puppets have put our country on a path for bankruptcy and rationed healthcare.   With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an exciting project - Reverse the Vote. This site is a tool that allows concerned Americans to directly support the challengers of 24 vulnerable Democrats who voted to take your healthcare away and put it in the hands of federal bureaucrats.This project will hold these 24 Democrats’ feet to the fire for voting...

Michael Moore’s latest blockbuster lacks luster. After languishing in theaters for two months, Michael Moore’s anti-capitalism movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, has officially bombed. In its painfully short run of two months, the movie grossed 14.2 million. Approximately 55% of sales make it back to the studio, that leaves eight million to cover production costs and advertising costs, in other words the film has finished in the Red, how appropriate. Moore scored big with Fahrenheit 9/11, it had a 120 million domestic gross. Since then his films have been falling faster than a fat man on ice. Sicko made a...

Remember it for your grandchildren: Saturday, November 21, 2009—the day of the Transformation of America. That’s the day Global Marxism will begin its inexorable march to take down the Free World, starting with its leader the United States of America. There will be no shots fired, but the aim of the U.S. Senate’s poison arrow is right on target at the heart of humanity. While America’s Marxist President is abroad, Senate Majority House Leader Harry Reid is tying the red ribbon bow on his Christmas present, the Transformation, and Take Down of the United States of America. “Senate Majority...

Friend -- Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn. It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform. As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need...

Despite San Francisco Bay Area bookseller claims that Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue" is "not for thinking people", the Amazon numbers say otherwise. On a mission to show that Palin's book is selling much worse than, say, the idea of reading Osama Bin Laden his Miranda rights, the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed several local booksellers to find out how well sales of "Going Rogue" were not going: "Our customers are thinking people," said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. "They're not into reading drivel." "Anything like that we wouldn't carry," said clerk Emily Stackhouse at Cover...

Want to know how does the left really feels about free speech? Look no further than Huffington Post editor and co-founder Arianna Huffington. Huffington appeared on MSNBC's Nov. 19 "Countdown" to discuss a report by the Anti-Defamation League that alleges Fox News host Glenn Beck is "the most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped to stoke fires of anti-government anger" and therefore endangering society. "It would be nice to think of Glenn Beck just as a joke, as fodder for this show and the "Daily Show" and others that point out how stupid some of this stuff is,"...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

Wall Street tax must be international: Pelosi Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:44pm EST By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Any tax imposed on financial transactions would have to take effect internationally to prevent Wall Street jobs and related business moving overseas, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday. "It would have to be an international rule, not just a U.S. rule," Pelosi said at a news conference. "We couldn't do it alone, we'd have to do it as an international initiative." The top Democrat's comments seemed to spell longer odds for the Wall Street tax, which some Democrats in...

The Senate is headed for a rare Saturday vote to advance its major healthcare reform bill without a guarantee of success, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) indicated Thursday. At a rally with supporters of the healthcare reform bill, Reid would not say he had secured commitments from all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to vote for the legislation — an absolute necessity given unanimous opposition from the 40 Senate Republicans. "We'll find out when the votes are taken," Reid said. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of three Democratic holdouts, said Thursday that he would announce his intentions prior to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid prepared to unveil long-awaited healthcare overhaul legislation on Wednesday, with the first test vote on the package expected by the end of the week. The healthcare reform bill, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, has been delayed in the Senate for weeks as Reid waited for cost estimates and searched for an approach that can win the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican procedural hurdles. Senate Democrats have scheduled a 5 p.m. EST meeting in which Reid will brief them on the bill, and on the cost estimates provided by the nonpartisan...

As GOP former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin kicks off a national book tour this week, there are some unlikely voices cheering "You go, girl!" - hard-core Democrats and progressives who hope Palin's 15 minutes of fame lasts all the way to 2012. "She's a legend in her own mind, the dream candidate, the dream opponent," said satirist Joey Green of Los Angeles, author of the tongue-in-cheek "Sarah Palin's Secret Diary," which hit the shelves just as Palin herself is hitting 20 cities to push her memoir, "Going Rogue." Green, a former National Lampoon contributing editor who describes himself as...

Officials tell ABC News so far, they found 700 mistaken Congressional districts out of more than 130,000 stimulus grants. On Monday night, ABC reported on errors found on the website set up by the White House to track the number of jobs created or saved by the economic stimulus program. The website was riddled with reports of jobs in places that didn't even exist. That report prompted anger on Capitol Hill, and defensiveness at the White House. On Tuesday night's broadcast, ABC's Chief Congressional Correspondent Jon Karl took another look at the stimulus confusion (link) LINK White House Vows to...

This girl is probably around 15 years old, and MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell starts hammering her on Sarah Palin supporting the bailout...This is a sight to behold..(Video)...

One of the primary tenets of Medicine is Primum non nocere a Latin phrase that means First, do no harm. The Senate version of the Obamacare bill ignores that phrase and is poised to raise health care costs for all Americans, of all income groups, not only through taxes but via fees on health products that will be passed along to consumers. Below is an outline of the unlucky (for America) 13 New Taxes in Harry Reid's Bill:

Bert Chapman, a faculty member at Purdue University, has drawn a lot of resentment and protest since writing a blog last month. Mr. Chapman blogs at Conservative web page Townhall.com. His views are extremely conservative, and his blog posting of Oct. 17, 2009 is no different. In the post, Mr. Chapman shows his opinion on homosexuality, citing his disagreement with the lifestyle based upon religious principle. Throughout the article, he brings in statistics on the costs of treating AIDS, the problems of tainted blood supplies, the forcing of medical personnel to treat STDs. All of these he seems to throw...

A 12-year-old girl is prohibited from bringing aspirin to California public schools without a note from her mother or father – but in many California districts she may sign herself out of classes, leave her junior-high campus without parental permission, secretly have an abortion and return to school before the end of the day – and her own family may be none the wiser. Parents and educators across the state have been in heated debate over school policies allowing children to be excused during class time without parental notification for "confidential medical services" such as abortions, birth control, and drug...

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder is defending his decision to put the professed Sept. 11 mastermind on trial in New York -- and urging critics of the plan not to cower in the face of terrorists. Holder is set to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are likely to spar over the attorney general's decision last week to send Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen from a detention center at Guantanamo Bay to New York to face a civilian federal trial.

I’ve read some misguided partisan ranting before, but the piece, “Gone Rogue” (how original) by Newsweek’s Evan Thomas is in a class by itself. That it passes for a news story is telling of how detached the elitists in media really are. Nothing exceptionally newsworthy is going on (a book tour!), yet we are witnessing a foaming hysteria from all fronts of the liberal establishment. And, we must ask: Why? Sarah Palin is merely promoting her book. The degree to which the left fears Palin is astonishing. The former governor isn’t even talking about running for office and yet Newsweek...

Senate Democrats are set to hold a vote Tuesday on breaking a GOP filibuster against a district judge first nominated by President Barack Obama for a seat on the federal appeals court eight months ago. Indiana Judge David Hamilton - Obama's first judicial nominee - was tapped to fill a vacancy on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March. His nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, but leading Republicans have since prevented a final vote, arguing that Hamilton is too liberal. Congressional Democrats have expressed growing unease over what they argue is a slow pace of...

NBC, which is last place in network ratings, has decided to double down on their green propaganda push this week by putting environmentalist messages in five of its shows: 30 Rock, Heroes, Community, The Office and The Biggest Loser. NBC is owned by GE. GE has positioned itself to make loads of money if “green technology” becomes dominant, so they’ve not only invested a lot of capital in the Obama administration, they’re trying to get everyone on their bandwagon. It’s bad enough we get a sermon from many shows already, or that we’re lectured everywhere we turn. But the fact...

Supporters of President Obama's Amnesty plans attacked Tea Party Against Amnesty & Illegal Immigration demonstrators in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sat. November 14, 2009. One of the men attacked is 62 years old. Dave Caulkett of FLIMEN (Floridians for Immigration Enforcement) is assaulted and then kicked in the face while he is down. The other camera man from the Tea Party is hit with several signs. Those attacking the Americans that oppose Amnesty for illegal aliens were organized by ANSWER Florida.

Nov 17, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Making paid sick leave a national standard is crucial to controlling the H1N1 pandemic and future epidemics, public health and business experts told Congress Tuesday. But others cautioned that forcing businesses to follow federal mandates will make them pay extra costs in a recession and could depress future hiring and investment. The experts made their remarks at a hearing of the US House of Representatives' Education and Labor Committee. The committee's chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., 2 weeks ago introduced the Emergency Influenza Containment Act (HR 3991), which would guarantee any worker who is...

Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local police today seized wood, guitars, computers and boxes of files from Gibson Guitar's Massman Road manufacturing facility. Sources say the Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act, a key piece of environmental law, for importing endangered species of rosewood from Madagascar. Rosewood is widely used in the construction of guitars and sells for $5,000 per cubic meter, more than double the price of mahogany. The island nation off Africa's east coast is a key producer of the hardwood, the export of which has links to...

‘You see, Pinocchio,” said the Blue Fairy, “a lie keeps growing and growing until it’s as plain as the nose on your face.” Sadly, this simple lesson, once taught only to small children, must be taught again to “grown-ups” who have conditioned our culture, our politicians and even our armed forces to deny and ignore the grave threats we face. But today the lies are called “political correctness,” and the consequences can be death. Far more dangerous than Maj. Nidal Hasan’s heinous act at Fort Hood is our collective refusal to see it for what it is: a terrorist act...

I was watching Glenn Beck yesterday and he was pointing out Andy Stern and SEIU and their involvement in getting Obama elected. I have posted this video before, but I feel it needs to be posted again. Often times Campaign Contributions are not directly contributed to the person running for office. In this video you will hear Andy Stern talking about the "War Room" and how they spent 71 Million Dollars getting Obama and other Democrats elected. I always feel remorse for anyone who has lost a loved one, but not for someone who uses their lose to push their...

Left-wing media matters Cliff Kincaid, November 17, 2009 A professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Robert W. McChesney has said that “media reform” should be part of the march toward socialism in America and that capitalism has to be dismantled “brick by brick.” Van Jones, the ousted communist “Green Jobs Czar” of the Obama Administration, served with McChesney on the board of Free Press, a George Soros-funded organization, in 2007 and 2008. Despite its socialist orientation, Free Press is financially supported by extremely wealthy individuals such as George Soros, the leftist billionaire, and Marcy Carsey, one of the creators...

Ever since Sarah Palin entered the national political arena last summer as the Republican VP nominee, she has caused sheer panic in the hearts and minds of the Leftist Liberals in America. Accordingly, the Leftist media is hell-bent on doing all they can to discredit Palin’s accomplishments and destroy her character at any cost. Even now, much effort and energy is being expended to deceive the American people regarding her considerable achievements. Her popularity among conservatives is astounding, and many believe that she will get the 2012 endorsement for the presidency. The Left and its State-Run Media Minions are now...

17-year-old Kevin Anderson wanted to add another Eagle Scout badge to his well-earned collection and so spent some 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path along the river in east Allentown park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Little did young Mr. Anderson know it but he was about to prove once again that unions have a pernicious influence on governments everywhere. After Kevin's good deed the city's public employees union went gunning for the poor kid with threats and gyrations meant to shake down the city and scare off any citizen that might dare to imagine that they could...

House Democrats are looking to tweak financial overhaul legislation so that the largest firms will pay for future failures. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) had originally proposed that only firms with assets of $10 billion or more would pay fees to cover the costs of future government efforts to wind down failing financial firms. An amendment circulated on Monday by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) would significantly raise that threshold to $75 billion in assets, adjusted each year to inflation. "There is substantial support for my amendment or something that achieves its objective -- ensuring that medium-sized...

Conservatives are lining up some fine arguments against the strange health care beast being shepherded through Congress this season. Oddly, however, as the public as a whole turns against the Obama Administration on health care and other issues, the critics have neglected the young adult constituency that voted 66 percent for Mr. Obama last fall and are the least engaged now in the health care debate. Move them and you will move the debate substantially. So far, the critics are not making the effort. They attack rationing, Medicate cuts that threaten seniors, lack of controls on tort excesses and much...

According to Thomas Bouchard, a US psychologist famous for his research on twins raised apart,[1] even scientists with good reason to believe that the majority are wrong can be silenced. The reason is...

An Iowa congressman is questioning the timing of the sudden resignation of a controversial Obama administration official, whose husband has had close ties to ACORN and has recently been named President Obama's White House counsel. In serving as White House communications director, Anita Dunn had created a stir when she told school children earlier this year that Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse Tung was one of the people she admired the most. She also launched a public attack against the Fox News Channel for its reporting on the ACORN prostitution scandal. Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) thinks it is curious that...

That’s certainly the conclusion one can draw from two stories over the last couple of days. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), who pushed Barack Obama to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the US for criminal trials, says that criticism of the decision is “un-American”: Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has strong words for the Republicans opposing Attorney General Eric Holder’s plan to bring five 9/11 suspects to New York City to face trial. “They see this as an opportunity to demagogue,” he said. “They will seize on any opportunity to do that, and that means they’ll even take a stand that’s un-American.”

A friend emailed this to me. It is one of the most eloquently put descriptions of what small business is about that I have ever read. It describes the reality of the world in which we live and work today. It also describes the future we may have to deal with as it relates to taxes, healthcare, etc.

Republican 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's highly anticipated book tour kicks off Monday afternoon with the airing of her wide-ranging chat with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey. (snip) Although the 418-page best-seller doesn't come out until Tuesday, the Associated Press already has obtained a copy and assigned 11 reporters to comb through it to publish a pre-emptive "fact check" that has outraged her supporters because several items in it relied more on analysis than black-and-white facts. For example, one of the "fact check" items criticized Mrs. Palin for writing in the book that she was driven by "purpose" rather than...

Planned Parenthood Sets December 2 Pro-Abortion Funding Lobbying Day Washington, DC -- Top pro-abortion groups are planning a national lobbying day for December 2nd that will see thousands of angry abortion activists filling the halls of the House and Senate asking lawmakers to force Americans to pay for abortions under the government-run health care bills. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5658.html

Abstract: This paper questions criminal law's strong presumption of free will. Part I assesses the ways in which environment, nurture, and society influence human action. Part II briefly surveys studies from the fields of genetics and neuroscience which call into question strong assumptions of free will and suggest explanations for propensities toward criminal activity. Part III discusses other "causes" of criminal activity including addiction, economic deprivation, gender, and culture. In light of Parts I through III, Part IV assesses criminal responsibility and the legitimacy of punishment. Part V considers the the possibility of determining propensity from criminal activity based on...

I just realized the AUDIO on my previous post cut off just before the most important part of this conversation. He says "rather then think about if you take a "train ride" or a barracks" Then couples that with National Disaster and Terrorist Attack. Get ready to get on the train if something happens. http://myfreepress.net/blog/post/Jason/2009/11/rob-emanual-explains-national-security-force/ FULL AUDIO AT LINK THIS TIME

Everyone in Britain should have an annual carbon ration and be penalised if they use too much fuel, the head of the Environment Agency will say. Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity.

Should the “greatest good for the greatest number” be the guiding principle behind health care? As I have said before on Breakpoint, much of the hype and even hysteria surrounding the H1N1 flu strain is unwarranted. That’s not to say that the swine flu’s potential impact isn’t devastating—it is, but not in the way cable news would have us think. And now the Florida Department of Health has issued a set of guidelines that instructs hospitals on what to do “if the state is overwhelmed by [H1N1] cases.” The guidelines recommend that hospitals bar “patients with incurable cancer, end-stage multiple...

Eric H. Holder Jr. called his order Friday to send the suspected plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks to trial in Manhattan "the toughest decision I've had to make as attorney general." But what the nation's chief law enforcement officer did not lay bare for public consumption was the four months of deliberation, lobbying and tug of war inside his own Justice Department that preceded an announcement that will follow him into history. In his nine months in office, Holder has jettisoned a public corruption case against former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) because of prosecutorial lapses, launched an inquiry into...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that the Obama administration will push for “immigration reform” by giving the estimated 14 million people who are in the United States illegally “fair pathway to earned legal status.” “A tough and fair pathway to earned legal status will mandate that illegal immigrants meet a number of requirements—including registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, fully paying all taxes and learning English,” Napolitano said Friday at a panel discussion at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. “These are substantial requirements that will make sure this population gets right...

Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue" is set for release on Nov. 17 and with that will likely come a media blitz of epic proportions. However, based on the cover of the Nov. 23 issue of Newsweek, someone felt a response was warranted. The wizards of smart at Newsweek took an image from a shoot of Palin that originally appeared in Runner's World magazine for the cover and splashed the headlines, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?" and "She's Bad News for the GOP - and For Everybody Else, Too." ...more (with bare-legged Palin cover)...

More than a million low-income Massachusetts residents covered by Medicaid will be required to pay more for doctor visits and receive prior approval for some medications under a plan announced today by the Patrick administration to begin to close a $307 million shortfall in the state's MassHealth program.

President Obama was in Japan Friday as Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the self-proclaimed architect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will stand trial in a federal civilian courtroom down the street from the site where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood. The Obama administration's decision to prosecute five Sept. 11 terror suspects in New York rather than in a military tribunal has sparked furor among those who say the White House is wearing blinders when it comes to the ongoing War on Terror. "America is still at...

Ben Smith, following on Eli Lake’s blockbuster story, has a must-read post on the emerging scandal concerning the mullahs’ favorite front group, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). The issues go far beyond whether NIAC has been illegally operating without registering as a foreign agent, and have ensnared NIAC’s close ally, none other than J Street. First, NIAC is a Soros-backed group. Soros is of course the money behind MoveOn.org and got J Street up and running. He is also paying “the $90,000 annual salary of the NIAC staffer, Patrick Disney.” The Left’s moneyman is plainly in the mullah’s corner....

Allison Kilkenny, a self-styled “political humorist,” ripped the Catholic Church on the Huffington Post on Thursday for threatening to pull the plug in its social services in Washington, DC if same-sex “marriage” is legalized there. Kilkenny labeled the Church the “Inexplicably Evil Organization Most Disconnected From Real People,” and bashed Pope Benedict XVI as a “decrepit former Nazi youth.” The “humorist” (pictured at right, courtesy of Wikimedia) began her screed, titled “Catholic Church Threatens to Stop Feeding Homeless Over Gay Marriage,” by comparing the Church to Goldman Sachs, and used her “evil” label only after three sentences (perhaps showing a...

AIP News exclusive commentary by:  Tom Kovach Yesterday, the Canada Free Press reported that the National Education Association had listed as "recommended reading" the pro-Communist book Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky.  The CFP report did not mention that it was the number-one choice on the NEA's list.To prevent the NEA from later altering its Web pages and backing away from this stance under public scrutiny, I have copied the relevant Web pages and converted them to PDF documents.  First, here is the NEA's "recommended reading" list for its members.  (NOTE:  the page's appearance was slightly altered in the PDF conversion...