Free Republic

"A crack team of cybernauts will form a rapid response internet “war room” to track and respond aggressively to online rumours that Barack Obama is unpatriotic and a Muslim. As he gears up for his general election fight against John McCain, Mr Obama and his chief advisers are aware of the danger of such rumours, amid polling data showing that a significant number of Americans believe he is a Muslim or are suspicious about his background. Such doubts were a factor in his poor showing with white, blue-collar voters during his primary battle with Hillary Clinton. In recent days Mr...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- A leader of Democrat Barack Obama's vice presidential research team has resigned amid criticism over his personal loan deals. Obama announced in a statement Wednesday that Jim Johnson was stepping aside to avoid distracting

WGAN Morning News with Ken & Mike GLENN: Yeah, yeah. So Ken actually, his daughter, Amy, works for me in New York. She's at CNN, and she is absolutely fantastic. I just absolutely love her to death. She is a keeper. I think she was a pivot point quite honestly on the television program, but I just love her to death. You know, she's a Clinton supporter. She has explained your position in life as a socialist, Ken. ALTSHULER: She compliments me too much. GLENN: I know. But you and I were having an interesting conversation today because I...

during a Senate vote Wednesday, Obama dragged Lieberman by the hand to a far corner of the Senate chamber and engaged in what appeared to reporters in the gallery as an intense, three-minute conversation. While it was unclear what the two were discussing, the body language suggested that Obama was trying to convince Lieberman of something and his stance appeared slightly intimidating. Using forceful, but not angry, hand gestures, Obama literally backed up Lieberman against the wall, leaned in very close at times, and appeared to be trying to dominate the conversation, as the two talked over each other in...

I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.

Barack Obama’s favorability ratings among white women have significantly depreciated in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, posing an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party’s base. According to a new report by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, half of white women now have a negative perception of Obama. Forty-nine percent of white women view Obama unfavorably, while only 43 percent hold a favorable opinion. In February, 36 percent of these women viewed Obama unfavorably while 56 percent had a positive perception of the likely Democratic...

I want to thank Charlie Payne for his part in serving during World War II and in his part in helping liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. And I want to say, that I am sorry that he will now have his privacy be subject to the harassing media and reporters who are seeking a story. As with many who served, many would prefer to keep such matters private. My father served in Germany during WWII, but he does not like to go into details, though I do know enough to give an accurate accounting. And I am sure that Democratic...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Baghdad's teeming Sadr City slum on Saturday, leveling a building 55 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people. Separately, the U.S. military said late Saturday that four Marines were killed on Thursday by a roadside bomb in Anbar province. The military also said that a U.S. soldier died of wounds suffered in a roadside bomb that struck the soldier's vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad Friday. At least 4,071 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq...

Live NOW on FOX, CNN, and MSNBC! The Holy Messiah Obama is throwing Rev, Wright under the Bus!!

Senator Barack Obama is starring in a growing number of campaign commercials, but the latest batch is being underwritten by Republicans. In a sign that the racial, class and values issues simmering in the presidential campaign could spread into the larger political arena, Republican groups are turning recent bumps in Mr. Obama’s road — notably his comment that small-town Americans “cling” to guns and religion out of bitterness and a fiery speech by his former minister in which he condemned the United States — into attacks against Democrats down the ticket. “The public, week by week, is becoming more familiar...

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani security forces arrested a top militant with links to Osama bin Laden in connection with an October assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto, the interior minister said Tuesday. Qari Saifullah Akhtar -- a top extremist leader accused by Bhutto of plotting against her in a book published after her assassination in December -- was seized on Monday, interior minister Hamid Nawaz told AFP. "Most probably he is involved in the attack in Karsaz on Benazir Bhutto's rally. He is a big character," Nawaz said, referring to the October attack on Bhutto's homecoming parade in Karachi's Karsaz district...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Imad Mughniyeh, the suspected mastermind of dramatic attacks on the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, has died in a car bombing in Syria. The Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its Iranian backers on Wednesday blamed Israel for the killing of Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's security chief in the 1980s who was one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists. Israel denied involvement. Hezbollah did not say how or where Mughniyeh was killed. But Iranian state television and the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said he...

LONDON (AFP) - An Islamist extremist hatched a plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier on a night out in Birmingham and behead him "like a pig" in a lock-up garage, a court heard Tuesday. Parviz Kahn, who has pleaded guilty with three other men to charges linked to the plan, then intended to release footage of the killing on the Internet, Leicester Crown Court was told. Prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt gave details of the plot to the jury as he opened the case against two other men, who have denied offences linked to the conspiracy. Kahn, 37, pleaded guilty earlier...

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine troops have arrested a senior Islamic militant over the kidnap and killing of a group of tourists, including two Americans, in 2001, a military statement said Friday. Soldiers backed by police raided a hideout of the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group in southern Margosatubig island on Thursday, the statement said. Troops arrested Abu Sayyaf commander Tuatin Anahaly and seized a cache of weapons including a pistol that he was carrying, near the city of Zamboanga. Anahaly has been on the run since a two-million-peso (48,700-dollar) bounty was placed on this head over his role in...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a top Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the militant group said. An Israeli attack on a car in Gaza killed at least three Palestinian militants and wounded two bystanders, medical workers and witnesses said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel had carried out an attack in Gaza but gave no other details.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A suspected senior commander of the Fatah Islam militant group was captured by Palestinian refugees and turned over to the Lebanese military Monday after he spent weeks in hiding, an official said. Nasser Ismail was among a number of militant leaders who fled the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared before Lebanese troops overran it earlier this month, ending a fierce three-month battle with Fatah Islam fighters barricaded inside. Ismail appeared to be suffering from exhaustion from weeks of hiding in nearby forests when he was overpowered by Palestinian refugees as he tried to sneak into the...

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - Government forces attacked two militant bases with helicopter gunships and artillery Tuesday in some of the army's toughest action in the lawless Afghan border region since militant attacks began surging last month. Spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said troops targeted a pair of compounds in Daygan, a village 10 miles west of North Waziristan's main town of Miran Shah, after they received credible intelligence that militants were there. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, is under rising pressure from Washington to crack down on militants in...

Two brothers were indicted Thursday on terrorism-related charges after one allegedly provided money, guns and two-way radios to the other who was battling troops in the Philippines as a member of a terrorist group. FBI agents arrested Rahmat Abdhir, 43, of San Jose, outside his office in Sunnyvale on Thursday morning, federal authorities said. His brother, Zulkifli Abdhir, 41, remains at large in the Philippines, and is wanted on a $5 million reward. Both were charged in a 16-count indictment including conspiracy to support terrorists. Rahmat Abdhir also was charged with making false statements and contributing goods and services to...

Two men, including a San Jose resident, have been indicted on charges they provided support to terrorists in the Philippines, the Department of Justice announced this afternoon. Zulkifli Abdhir - aka "Zulkifli Bin Abdul Hir," aka "Hulagu," aka "Marwan" - was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists. He is a fugitive and is believed to be in the Philippines, according to the DOJ. Abdhir's brother, San Jose resident Rahmat Abdhir, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing material to terrorists, contributing goods and services to a Specially...

QUETTA, Pakistan - A Taliban veteran of Guantanamo Bay who became one of Pakistan's most-wanted rebel leaders killed himself with a hand grenade Tuesday after he was cornered by security forces, officials said. The death of Abdullah Mehsud, a stout, round-faced man in his early 30s who lost a leg years ago fighting for the Taliban, was a boost for Pakistani authorities under pressure from the U.S. to crack down on Taliban and al-Qaida militants fighting on both sides of the Afghan border. Mehsud was wanted in "many terrorist cases," Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said. "He was a...