Free Republic

Israel is not bound by the 2007 relaunch of US-backed peace talks with the Palestinians, new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday, striking a hard line on his first day in office. Lieberman's rejection of the agreement signed in Annapolis, Maryland signalled a hawkish new approach to the peace process that could put Israel at odds with the international community and main ally the United States.

Deep down, Ed Schultz is shallow, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker. Case in point: Schultz's trite, cliched comparison of conservative talker Rush Limbaugh's remarks before a boisterous CPAC audience with Hitler addressing a Nazi rally. Schultz, the top-rated liberal radio host in the nation, watched Limbaugh's speech on TV last weekend -- with the sound turned down -- and was convinced he saw "striking" parallels to the German dictator. Here's what Schultz said on Monday's show, preceding his criticism of Limbaugh with praise for the late radio giant Paul Harvey (click here for audio) -- He was looked up to...

Kathryn, in all the Rush-bashing, I was more disturbed by Michael Steele's wretched performance. His initial reaction — that Rush's show is "incendiary" and "ugly" — revealed: a) that he never listens to it; b) that he takes his cues from the mainstream media, for whom Rush is invariably "angry". They don't listen either. Rush is a lot of things, but "angry" isn't one of them. If you catch him for 20 minutes, you know he's full of fun, laughing it up, having a grand old time. There are a lot of angry talkshow hosts out there bellowing at the...

Just asking, but are beheadings common in western New York? I used to spend a lot of time in that neck of the woods and I don't remember decapitation as a routine form of murder. Yet the killing of Aasiya Hassan seems to have elicited a very muted response. When poor Mrs Hassan's husband launched his TV network to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims, he had no difficulty generating column inches, as far afield as The Columbus Dispatch, The Detroit Free Press, The San Jose Mercury News, Variety, NBC News, the Voice of America and the Canadian Press. The Rochester...

For those individuals -- such as nearly all members of the world news media -- who, in light of Israel's invasion of Gaza -- see moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians, here are some clarifying thoughts. First, it would be difficult nearly to the point of impossibility, to find Israeli or other Jews who celebrate the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Jews both within and outside of Israel cringe when they see pictures of dead Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza. For thousands of years at their Passover seders, Jews have removed wine from their cups to ceremonially weep...

Editorials Executive order reverses 25-year-old ban to let park visitors carrying loaded guns National parks are supposed to be sanctuaries, not only for people, but for wildlife as well. But the possibility that the peace and tranquility of federal parklands will be violated has increased with the latest executive order by President Bush that will allow concealed loaded weapons in federal parks and wildlife refuges. The new rule reverses the ban on loaded weapons in federal parks that was signed by President Ronald Reagan more than 25 years ago. If this is the legacy that Bush wants to leave the...

Shortly after the London Tube bombings in 2005, a reader of Tim Blair, the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s columnar wag, sent him a note-perfect parody of a typical newspaper headline: “British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow’s Train Bombing.” Indeed. And so it goes. This time round — Bombay — it was the Associated Press that filed a story about how Muslims “found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.” ' Oh, I don’t know about that. In fact, you’d be hard pressed from most news reports to figure out the bloodshed was “linked” to any religion,...

Have you noticed lately that mainstream media are giving less attention to the war in Iraq, especially concerning our troops progress? CNSNews recently reported that, "There were only two front page New York Times stories that mentioned "Iraq" in the headline in October 2008 – there were 11 in October 2006 and 17 in October 2004. … The Washington Post ran four front-page stories that had headlines using the word "Iraq" in October 2008 – in October 2006 there were 17 stories, and 27 stories in October 2004." (Was it coincidental timing that, when George Bush was up for re-election...

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

Although we too will welcome the day that Proposition 8 is consigned to history and the right to same-sex marriage is restored to Californians, we are sorry to see that the court agreed to take the cases directly, rather than letting this issue percolate up through the lower courts. We see no reason for the haste, despite the intensity of emotion roused by the measure's defeat.In fact, that very heatedness is a reason for the court to move slowly, allowing it to rule under cooler circumstances. Similarly, painful though it is to see Proposition 8 take effect, we agree with...

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, Chuck Hagel, who has made the decision to retire from the United States Senate, a Republican Senator from Nebraska, has taken on the leader of the conservative movement. HAGEL: Every country out there has their know-nothing party. And of course we're much educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh and others. I wish those people would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership, and they have an answer for everything, and they'd be elected overwhelmingly if Rush would run for anything or any of those people. They love just...

An article in The New York Times reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown has asked the state’s Supreme Court to rule on the legality of a voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “The central argument in the recently filed lawsuits is that Proposition 8 is a significant enough revision to the State Constitution to require approval by the legislature,” the article stated. It also noted that the passage of Proposition 8 “has prompted protests across the country.” Here’s what the paper that makes all the news fit its agenda forgot to mention:...

Commenter "scottinoc" wrote on Free Republic: On the discussion of why there aren't "enough" African American coaches in college football, Chris Fowler discussed the lure of big money NFL contracts for black assistant coaches, etc, then the discussion naturally gravitated to the racism angle, "behind the scenes". "Among those behind-the-scenes financial backers of big universities, there may not be...you know...that many people who voted for Obama..." Sheesh, now I can't even watch ESPN college football gameday without being told that I'm racist for not voting for Obama. Thanks, Chris. Look in the mirror. And look at your own network and...

RUSH: I want to take you back to an Associated Press story, Thursday, December 27th of 2007, a little less than year ago. AP-Obama: "Barack Obama declared today that he is the only candidate who can bring true change in Washington, hoping to persuade Iowa voters to give him the first victory in the Democrat presidential race. Making his case against Hillary Clinton without naming her," and this is the money part of the story, Obama said, "The real gamble in this election is playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expecting a different result." So...

RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you what to look for. I'll tell you what I'm looking for today. In the first place I'm getting all kinds of reports from all over the country about turnout, and in some places it's low. For example, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, no lines whatsoever, which is unusual. My spy for the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I mean that's Moscow, folks, Moscow on the Hudson, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and you would figure there would be lines out the wazoo up there to vote for Obama,...

RUSH: Here's Lorraine in San Diego. Hi, Lorraine, nice to have you on the program. Welcome. CALLER: Hi. Well, Rush, on this election eve, I'm going to put on my commentator hat today and provide you with my Election Day prediction, but first, Rush, I'd like to remind and refresh the memory of conservatives listening today that Rush Limbaugh had warned you people that John McCain was a setup and was the hand picked candidate that Democrats like me wanted to run against, so many Democrats crossed over to vote for McCain during the primary to assure that he received...

Based on her interview with Sen. Joe Biden, we may assume that WFTV, Orlando Anchor Barbara West: 1. Did not graduate from a school of communications, 2. Will never receive an award from the Society of Professional Journalists, 3. Is unlikely to be employed by The New York Times in the foreseeable future, and 4. Will soon be working with Joe the Plumber, installing bathroom fixtures. Silly rabbit -- Didn’t West know that tough questions are reserved for Republicans? Yet, there she was asking old leaden-tongued Joe how his running mate’s spread-the-wealth platform differed from standard Marxist redistributionism (from each...

RUSH: Now, on Charlie Rose Show last night on PBS. Are they doing their pledge drive yet? Is PBS doing their drive? Because, you know, "Without your Pledge, we cannot dust." He had on Tom Brokaw last night, ladies and gentlemen. Here's a montage. Now, this is last night. As you listen to this, keep in mind everything you've heard from Brokaw and others in the Drive-Bys can for the past six months, three months, two months or whatever. This is a montage of Charlie Rose and Brokaw trying to figure out who Obama is. ROSE: I don't know what...

RUSH: My gut is starting to talk to me, ladies and gentlemen. As you know and as I discussed over the course of the previous week, my gut was not giving me any indication whatsoever, and my gut started talking to me last night. Barack is headed back to Iowa. That should be a lock. It's a dead heat. Sarah Palin headed there on Monday, to Dubuque. Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Nevada -- well throw Pennsylvania out of there -- Florida, Ohio, Nevada, look like pretty good McCain certainties here, pretty good, depending on who you listen to. It's Friday, and...

Post your thoughts here regarding TV news bias on Election Night. It was bad enough in 2000 and got worse in 2004. This time, the TV networks will mount a lovefest to the One!