Free Republic

Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, who was Hillary Rodham Clinton's pollster in the 2008 presidential election. Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson'Marsteller, the global public'relations and communications firm headed by Penn.

State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola (R-15) warned Penn State University President Graham Spanier in a Dec. 3 letter that constituents are demanding the tax dollars be cut to the school unless it addresses its role in the global warming scandal. Professor Michael Mann, who directs the Penn State's Earth System Science Center, is at the heart of the scam.

A blue, cross-like design emblazoned on T-shirts at Penn State University has some critics seeing red. The shirts — intended to foster school spirit — sport a vertical blue line down the center with the words "Penn State White Out" emblazoned across the chest, forming a design that some say resembles a cross. The back of the shirt depicts the same blue line obscured by the words, "Don't be intimated … It's just me and 110,000 of my friends." Roughly 30,000 of the shirts have been sold. Penn State says it has received six complaints about the shirt, including one...

Early morning sunlight flashed in Bill’s face, which wrinkled in irritation. He rolled on his back, leaving the worst of the light on his shoulder but too late; the sun had done its job. He was awake. He lay there for another minute or two but finally caved in to the inevitable, threw the heavy blankets aside and sat up, dropping his feet to the floor. Brr. Freezing. He got up, the chill starting to sink in, and looked at his thermostat. 60 degrees. *SIGH* It was on days like this that he missed being able to set his...

Sean Penn doesn't want to break-up with Robin Wright Penn after all. Weeks after filing for legal separation from his wife of 13 years, Penn has withdrawn his motion, pulling the papers from California's Marin County Superior Court. "It was an arrogant mistake," Penn told the Daily News. The dramatic change of heart puts the ball in his wife's court. She has 30 days to respond to her husband's April 24 filing. A spokeswoman for the actress, who is a juror at the Cannes Film Festival in France, had no comment. This wouldn't be the first time they've kissed and...

Venezuela's socialist strongman Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of some 60 oil service companies and assisted government-owned oil company PDVSA (parent of CITGO) in looting those firms unfortunate enough to have invested in the workers' paradise. "To God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's," said the Venezuelan president as he stole at least a dozen oil rigs, more than 30 oil terminals, and more than 300 boats. "Today we also say: to the people what is the people's," said Chavez, who is a hero to his American friends and admirers including actors Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner, singer Harry Belafonte, and...

There is some language, NSFW unless you have headphones or quiet speakers. Penn and Teller on the 1st Amendment

The Bay Area took center stage at the Oscars when Sean Penn was honored for his performance in "Milk." Not only did the story of the former San Francisco supervisor put the Bay Area in the middle of the show but Bay Area resident, Penn, used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to dig into California politics and a hotbed Bay Area issue. In case you missed it, check out his speech below. Or for more on Penn's speech, check out Penn Pleas for Gay Rights, Rourke at Oscars.

San Francisco -- Hundreds of people who watched the Academy Awards from San Francisco's Castro Theatre on Sunday night gave polite applause to "Slumdog Millionaire" - which won best picture and seven other awards - but roared with foot-stomping standing ovations for "Milk" when it took the prizes for best original screenplay and best actor. "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns," Sean Penn told the academy upon accepting the best actor award for his portrayal of the slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights leader Harvey Milk. "I did not expect this, and I want it to be very clear...

Sean Penn's best actor award: a real high point It might not have been enough to redeem what came before for some viewers, but Sean Penn's award as best actor brought a moment of real emotion to the Oscars telecast last night. He won for his portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, and he used the platform to speak out for equality. Penn started his remarks with humor, addressing the Hollywood audience as "Commie, homo loving sons of guns." But by the end of his speech, he was castigating those who oppose gay marriage and telling them they will...

Got "Milk"? If not, here's a chance to get one of the suits (including shirt and tie) worn by Sean Penn in his Oscar-nominated role as Harvey Milk. The suit was designed for a scene in the film "Milk" to replicate that worn by the real Milk on election night Nov. 7, 1978, when a referendum to bar gays from teaching in California public schools was defeated. Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to a major public office (the San Francisco Board of Supervisors). The film is nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards, including...

He’s the gift who just keeps on giving. This week’s featured Celebutard already figures like an incurable disease in my new book, “Celebutards: The Hollywood Hacks, Limousine Liberals and Pandering Politicians Who Are Destroying America” (Kensington). He is Sean Penn – the A-list actor who brazenly broke bread with America-hating Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He also traveled to Iran where he heard 10,000 people shouting in unison, “Death to America’’ and “Death to Israel’’ – and decided they didn’t really mean it. Let’s give ‘em all a hug.

EASTON, Pa. – A supermarket is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake. Deborah Campbell, 25, of nearby Hunterdon County, N.J., said she phoned in her order last week to the Greenwich ShopRite. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request. Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the store denied similar requests from the Campbells the last two years, including a request for a swastika. "We reserve the right not to print anything...

The Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chávez, has not had things all his own way recently, but at least he has famous friends. Falling oil prices and some significant losses in recent elections may have delivered blows to Hugo Chávez's self-styled socialist revolution, but he can still count on the support of Sean Penn.

Ellen Lucile Kohler, 91, a key University of Pennsylvania archaeologist who excavated the site in central Turkey where artifacts of Alexander the Great and King Midas were found, died Monday at Bryn Mawr Terrace. She was a longtime resident of University City. The Gordion archaeological project, which began in 1950, was one of Penn's most famous excavations, said Gareth Darbyshire of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "Her death is the end of an era," he said. Dr. Kohler was one of the last surviving members of the first team at the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordion...

October 31, 2008, 9:24 AM Palin To Snake Her Way Across Pennsylvania On Bus Tour (CBS) From CBS News' Scott Conroy: (LATROBE, PA) - Perhaps no state is more key to John McCain and Sarah Palin’s hopes for a come-from-behind victory than Pennsylvania. Though The Republicans have trailed badly in most recent polls, they have devoted a huge amount of time and energy to the state. As Sarah Palin spends her entire Halloween Day snaking on a bus tour across Pennsylvania, a recent Mason-Dixon/NBC News poll showing the Republicans trialing by just four points in the state, giving them reason...

Dear Mr. Penn: Although I am not a frequent moviegoer in this stage of my life, I understand that you are an excellent actor. Good for you. I also understand that, as an American citizen, you are fully entitled to exercise your civic rights of free political expression. As a senior Venezuelan residing in your country, I admire and respect the U.S., among other things, because this freedom exists and can be exercised without restrictions or fear of retaliation by those in power. I have nothing to say in connection with your political activity in the U.S. However, I have...

Rendell wants Obama to come back to Pennsylvania. (CNN) — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has sent two separate memos to the Obama campaign in the past five days requesting that the Democratic Presidential candidate—as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton—return to campaign in Pennsylvania, Rendell told CNN's Gloria Borger. Rendell said the McCain campaign is clearly making a push to win Pennsylvania, given the recent visits by the Arizona senator, his wife and his running mate. As a result, he wants Obama to appear in western Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and one more “large rally” in Philadelphia. Democrats generally worry that the...

For Graduate School of Education professor Kathy Schultz, the allegations being leveled against University of Illinois at Chicago education professor Bill Ayers are "charges of McCarthysim." That's what caused her to join the more than 3,200 people - including eight others affiliated with Penn - in signing a recent national petition in support of Ayers. The education professor is currently under attack from Republican nominee John McCain's campaign for his connection to a group called the Weather Underground that conducted several bombings in the 1970s as part of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Recently, there has been a spate of blog...

This is absolutely a must-see VIDEO from a Penn & Teller BULLSHIT! show. Penn & Teller beautifully expose what a complete bunch of idiots these Global Warming Alarmists are. I found out about this show from a terrific BLOG at NewsBusters. Also be sure to check out the videos for PART 2 and PART 3. The FUnniest parts are how the dopes were easily conned into signing petitions to ban DiHydrogen Monoxide (water) and various clips of the spokesperson for the Rainforest Action Network, Kate, whose comments make you seriously wonder how she can talk and breath at the...

Telegraph - Print Version Sean Penn warns Barack Obama at Cannes Film Festival opening By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor Last updated: 8:05 PM BST 14/05/2008 The Cannes Film Festival got off to a lively start with Sean Penn, president of this year's jury, sounding off about US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the opening movie almost being upstaged by a bunch of performing pandas. Penn joined fellow judge Natalie Portman on the red carpet for the premiere of the first night film, Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore. At a press conference beforehand, the actor, an outspoken critic of the...

What Mr. Penn reportedly did — meet with Colombia's ambassador about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement — doesn't come close to warranting being fired as chief strategist. If Mrs. Clinton is such a committed protectionist, following the logic of losing Mr. Penn, she'd have to get rid of her husband, who championed, and signed into law, the North American Free Trade Agreement that was a predecessor to the Columbia pact. Or if it's not the trade that is the issue but the mere appearance of being on the payroll, or giving advice to, a foreign entity, she'd also have to...

Clinton Campaign Senior Strategist Mark Penn Steps Down After Disclosure of Colombian Meeting Mark Penn, the pollster and senior strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid, left the campaign Sunday after it was disclosed he met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement Clinton opposes. "After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton Campaign," campaign manager Maggie Williams said in a statement released Sunday. "Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice...

HOLLYWOOD — FOXNews.com readers may remember the film "Team America: World Police," a puppeteer's parody about the American government, its foreign policy and its home-grown critics in Hollywood. One of the puppets lampoons Oscar-winner Sean Penn, who, in the film, laments the invasion of Iraq by harking back to the time it "was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate." Penn was so angry about the film's message that he wrote the film's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a blistering public letter signing off with a scatological reference.

Sean Penn unleashes on FOXNEWS: 'We know their end is near'... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CABLE NEWS RACE MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008 VIEWERS FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,040,000 FNC HANNITY/COLMES 2,337,000 FNC GRETA 1,862,000 FNC SHEP 1,583,000 FNC HUME 1,508,000 CNN DOBBS 1,227,000 CNN KING 983,000 CNN COOPER 976,000 MSNBC OLBERMANN 962,000 CNN BLITZER 839,000 CNNHN GRACE 663,000 MSNBC HARDBALL 604,000

On a conference call today, Mark Penn -- the senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, declared that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can't win the general election. Penn says that Obama can't win Pennsylvania, a primary which is key to the general. "We believe fundamentally it provides a very test of who can really win the general election," Penn says. "We believe this will again show Hillary is ready to win and Senator Obama really can't win a general election." After a reporter presses for clarification, the Clinton campaign denied Penn made the statement and Penn clarifies, saying: "I think...

McAuliffe says Penn should zip it By Klaus Marre Posted: 03/04/08 11:39 AM [ET] Terry McAuliffe, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign chairman, said Tuesday that top pollster Mark Penn should stop talking to the press after remarks from Penn indicated that he is distancing himself from the campaign. “People ought to quit talking to the press and focus on helping Hillary win,” McAuliffe said on MSNBC in response to a question about Penn’s remarks. According to the Los Angeles Times, Penn said in an e-mail that he had “no direct authority in the campaign,” and called himself an...

FREEP this poll -- it's on the front page (middle) of the DailyPennsylvanian.com website. At issue is whether the University of Pennsylvania should set aside "women-only" hours at the gym to allow female Muslim students to exercise without their traditional burkas on. This policy was recently started at Harvard and may come to Penn. Related post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1977204/posts

"...Actor Sean Penn's days of writing for the San Francisco Chronicle may be over: The actor now calls the publication an "increasingly lamebrain paper." Penn offered the critique in a letter published Tuesday, written in response to a tongue-in-cheek article that focused on celebrity interest in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It listed a number of potential matchups between celebrities and dictators or other authoritarian figures. ...Penn objected to the characterization, saying Chavez is a democratically elected leader..."

Editor - From reading The Chronicle's banner-line propaganda, which teases the "star envy" piece within ("A modest proposal for celebs on the skids," Thursday), I could only hope this great city was more clever than its increasingly lame-brain paper. In its unequivocal naming of Chavez as dictator on A1, either "Pop Culture" man Peter Hartlaub or his equally biased Chronicle editor, doesn't quite understand that Venezuela's President Chavez was democratically elected, and that dictators don't lose constitutional referendums. The Chronicle should take comfort that the New York Times generally does no better than them here. Yet, in the paper's attack...

The end of the year is spelling the end of the line -- for some long-ish celeb marriages. Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn are splitting up after 11 years, they announced yesterday, to People. Their rep, Mara Buxbaum, confirms that the couple, who have two teenage children, will be parting ways, though no details were immediately available. The pair met in the early 1990s and were married in 1996. They starred together in 1998's "Hurlyburly" and 1997's "She's So Lovely."

Here's more Clinton campaign Kremlinology because, well, it's just so much fun. The following is total speculation, based not on any secret info I have but instead on simple pattern recognition from campaigns past. Here is what is going on inside the campaign: 1.) Kill the Idiot Who Came Up With This Strategy. Clinton campaign chief Mark Penn is not a shy personality. He's ruffled mountains of feathers the wrong way. Now Hillary's poll numbers are bombing and the long knives are out. I'd be more sympathetic to Penn if Hillary's messaging and strategy had not been so bloody awful....

Actor-director Sean Penn issued a nonendorsement endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on Friday in a speech to nearly 400 San Francisco State University students, urging his audience not to fall into the trap of voting for someone only because they could win. "We've got Iowa coming up; New Hampshire on its ass," said Penn. "Do we sell out for electability?" Penn, who spoke from a low wooden stage in the Creative Arts Building in front of a "Kucinich for President" banner, made it clear from the start that he was not issuing a traditional endorsement, a political tradition...

<p>From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Sean Penn will endorse Kucinich this afternoon at a press conference in San Francisco, a source close to the Hollywood actor said. He will also be speaking on "the Constitution, the media and Dennis Kucinich," the source said. Expect a political speech.</p>

Last week, my hometown paper, The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, ran an online story entitled, "Clinton Pollster Predicts Defection of GOP Women." Depending solely on his own "internal" polling, Mr. Mark Penn - Public Relations guru extraordinaire, and Hillary's campaign strategist -- says that a full 24% of Republican women will punch their ballots for Hillary based on the "emotional" appeal of electing the first woman President. Clearly, Mr. Penn is either purposefully spinning or indulging in a rather perverted, nearly delusional form of magical thinking. We Republican women are far, far too smart to fall for Hillary Clinton's ruse....

Horowitz plans week-long war against rise of radical Islam By David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, October 21, 2007 David Horowitz minces no words to evoke a stark image. Asked what threat radical Islamic terrorism poses to the United States, the conservative writer and activist sums up his view: "One dirty nuclear bomb can ruin your day."

Actor-turned-director Sean Penn refrained from smoking during his return to the spotlight at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, but could have used something to calm his nerves as he repeatedly lashed out at media for distracting him during a news conference. The intense movie star sucked on ice cubes and swore as he met with dozens of reporters to discuss his riveting new film, "Into The Wild," featuring a tour de force performance by newcomer Emile Hirsch.

<p>I am allowing myself to drop you a little note in reaction to your trip to Venezuela. I am writing to you because I like you very much as an actor and I even shared some of the political causes you espouse, such as your anti Iraq stand from the start. There are two acting moments that I will cherish from your career. The first one is your excellent and touching movie with Susan Sarandon, "Dead Man Walking", one of the very few movies I got the sound track from (I do not like sound tracks in general and I really, really need to like a given movie to get the CD, not that it has much to do with your acting there anyway).</p>

Sean Penn has experienced backlash for talking openly about his political beliefs, but sees such discussion as more respectable than promoting movies. "There's baggage attached to coming out publicly on stuff, but there's baggage - in my view, more damaging baggage - to goin' and (appearing) ... on Jay Leno's show, philosophizing about 'Uncle Buck' or whatever you're hawkin'," the Oscar-winning actor tells Esquire magazine in its September issue, on newsstands Wednesday. Penn, 46, has bitterly criticized President Bush, toured Iraq to observe the war there and helped rescue workers with door-to-door searches for survivors after Hurricane Katrina swamped New...

Penn and Teller make fools of the moonbat crowd, by getting HUNDREDS at an Erth Day Fest to sign a petition banning "Dihydrogen Monoxide" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw It shows how most of the moonbat crowd is ignorant, uninformed, and will support ANYTHING as long as it "feels good"...

Sean Penn Praised by Venezuela's Chavez Aug 2 09:20 AM US/Eastern By IAN JAMES Associated Press Writer CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised Sean Penn for his critical stance against the war in Iraq, saying the two chatted by phone and soon plan to meet in person. Chavez said Penn traveled to Venezuela this week wanting to learn more about the situation in the country and walked around some of Caracas' poor barrios on his own. "Welcome to Venezuela, Mr. Penn. What drives him is consciousness, the search for new paths," Chavez said Wednesday in a...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist is being accused of illegal eavesdropping in a civil lawsuit that alleges he and his polling firm monitored the personal e-mails of a former associate who started a rival company. Mitchell E. Markel, a former vice president at polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, claims in the suit that the firm began monitoring all messages sent from his personal Blackberry device nearly a month after he had resigned and become president of his new business. The suit claims that the founder of the firm, Mark Penn, who is Clinton's strategist and...

...Eight years later, it is Clinton who is running for president, and Penn, 53, is her chief strategist. While not her campaign manager in name, Penn controls the main elements of her campaign, most important her attempt to define herself to an electorate seemingly ready for a Democratic president but possibly still suffering from Clinton fatigue. In the four months since Clinton officially became a candidate, Penn has consolidated his power, according to advisers close to the campaign, taking increasing control of the operation. Armed with voluminous data that he collects through his private polling firm, Penn has become involved...

Would it surprise you to learn that one of those prominent Hollywood communist Jews who sided with Germany until the breaking of that Hitler-Stalin Pact was none other than Leo Penn, the late father of Sean Penn. Amazing? Yes, but true. You don't believe history repeats itself? Now it's Sean Penn's turn to relive and recommit the sins of his father, who never repented of his Communist Party activities – activities that included support for and appeasement of Hitler's Germany at the very time the concentration camps were incinerating his Jewish brothers and sisters in Europe. Penn spoke at a...

If only that he would just shut up and act, he'd be "moron neutral" and intellectually-friendly.... From the San Francisco Chronicle: (03-24) 18:20 PDT OAKLAND -- Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn was the star attraction at a town hall meeting today in Oakland, where hundreds of people gathered to denounce the war in Iraq and call for an immediate withdrawal of American troops. Neither Penn nor Rep. Barbara Lee, the Oakland Democrat who has opposed the war since before it began four years ago, offered much in the way of specifics for ending the conflict, and they were largely preaching...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Sean Penn hunched alone over his coffee Monday in a Starbucks shop, a stone's throw from the DuPont overpass where supporters of Lt. Ehren Watada held their signs aloft and a much smaller number of foes counter-protested.The actor had been out there with the Iraq war protesters in the chilly fog, which dampened the air but not their spirits. Watada was inside Fort Lewis, his first day in a military courtroom for a court martial that will decide his fate for refusing to go to Iraq and for talking publicly about his reasons.Penn was about to...

Ellen Robb, who was bludgeoned to death in the kitchen of her Upper Merion home, was likely killed with a crowbar taken from her garage and wielded by her husband, authorities said yesterday. University of Pennsylvania professor Rafael Robb was ordered yesterday to stand trial on murder charges after prosecutors sketched out what they acknowledge is a wholly circumstantial case against him. They contend that Robb pummeled his wife beyond recognition Dec. 22 because he feared the financial impact of a looming divorce. But police have not found the weapon or the killer's bloody clothes. The culprit left no fingerprints,...

Our State Representatives in another brilliant move (note sarcasm) returned the same high-class clowns -- who were instrumental in the sneaky late-night pay raise debacle -- to their leadership posts. There was some opposition by legislative reformers who were laughed -- okay maybe not laughed -- but at least giggled out of the big room in Harrisburg. Our (Republican) solons reelected John Perzel as house speaker. He's the guy who defended the big pay raise saying that cow milkers and tattoo artists were more highly paid than state legislators are. There was no opposition to him. These are the people...

SuePa: Paterno will coach Saturday By Josh Moyer Collegian Staff Writer After refusing anything more than one Tylenol a day since his operation, Joe Paterno is ready to get back to coaching and should return to practice today, his wife said last night. Plans are already being finalized for him to attend this weekend's game, albeit from a coach's booth. It may not be the sideline, but Sue Paterno said it's better than watching her husband stare at a television screen while his team takes the field just a mile away. It was too risky, she said, for him to...

I almost never do vanity posts but I have seen three movies lately that I want to comment on. I thoroughly enjoyed two of these movies, The Guardian, and Fly Boys, in spite of fact that the professional film critics were generally dismissive of them as being cliché ridden.