Free Republic

In a windowless room at the Westin Hotel in downtown Denver, leading business journalists and editors explained how the media “blew it” in covering the economic meltdown. They admitted, on one hand, to falling under the sway of free-market ideology and celebrating risk-taking financial leaders and, on the other, to missing the complex story of the rupturing system by only reporting it in parts and to almost no effect for the past decade. Although not planned as confession, the discussion, which kicked off the annual conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW), quickly descended into an...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama honored his vanquished Republican rival John McCain on Monday, describing the Arizona senator as an "American hero" while the Democrat prepared to assume the office that both men fought bitterly to attain. Obama and McCain clashed repeatedly on the campaign trail over foreign and domestic policy in sometimes heated exchanges that occasionally veered into the personal. But Obama made clear that period had passed even as he predicted the two would not always get along in the future. "John is not known to bite his tongue and if I'm screwing up, he's going to...

With the election of a new President and Congress that pander to environmental extremists, it is not surprising that the public is again being misled about perchlorate in drinking water on the world wide web. The new environmental treachery is that perchlorate is a “neurotoxin,” a claim now being spread over the world-wide web by WiredScience and Chemistry.com, websites known as unreliable sources of information. In an article entitled “Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations to Toxin,” posted at WiredScience on December 3, 2008, writer Brandon Keim wrote: “Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to...

GENEVA: Muslim countries have won a battle to prevent Islam from being criticised during debates by the UN Human Rights Council. Religions deserve special protection because any debate about faith is bound to be “very complex, very sensitive and very intense” council President Doru-Romulus Costea said on Wednesday. Only religious scholars should be allowed to discuss matters of faith, he told journalists in Geneva.While Costea’s ban applies to all religions, it was prompted by Muslim countries complaining about references to Islam. Costea issued his “presidential ruling” Monday during the eighth meeting of the council’s 47 members, which do not include...

...Nothing illustrates better the vacuous views of Sen. Barack Obama, who says that we should "talk with the Iranians" without preconditions. Apparently, the paramount issue now before the United States is whether an administration in power will talk with the Iranian government. In an interview, Chris Wallace asked President Bush, "Should we talk with Iran?"...The president's response was correct: It is not an issue of whether we should talk with the Iranians. The issue is what we should be talking about and whether we should allow discussions to morph into a policy of appeasement. For example, in 1979, shortly after...

A closed-door caucus of House Democrats last Wednesday took a risky political course. By 4 to 1, they instructed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call President Bush's bluff on extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to continue eavesdropping on suspected foreign terrorists...Pelosi could have exercised leadership prerogatives and called up the FISA bill to pass with unanimous Republican support. Instead, she refused... The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party's most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans. Dozens of lawsuits...

The Defense Appropriations bill that passed Congress on Nov. 8 did not include a popular amendment to provide $3 billion for border security that included funds for fencing, unmanned aerial vehicles and ground sensors. The border security amendment, sponsored by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) was approved by the Senate in a 95-1 vote on Oct. 3. When House and Senate leaders negotiated the final terms of the bill in recent weeks, they removed the border security provision and its funding. The defense fiscal 2008 spending bill passed the House, 400-15, and the Senate, in a voice vote, on Nov. 8....

Pelosi Wavering on Armenian Resolution Email Share October 16, 2007 5:39 PM ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: According to Congressional and Bush administration sources, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now unlikely to bring a resolution which would label the deaths of Armenians in a conflict more than 90 years ago as "genocide". Pelosi, as recently as Sunday on "This Week", has repeatedly said she would call the controversial but nonbinding resolution for a vote despite the opposition of the Bush administration and warnings that it could damage U.S. relations with Turkey. President Bush called Speaker Pelosi on Monday night and...

(IsraelNN.com) Three boxes of documents belonging to Israel Kastner, whose negotiations with Eichmann for Jews remain controversial to this day, were presented to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem this week. The private archives, comprising three boxes of letters of correspondence with Nazi officials, Jewish organizations and families, were presented in an official ceremony on Sunday. In attendance were Kastner's daughter, his granddaughter Merav Michaeli (a popular television personality who MC'ed the event), survivors of the “Kasztner Train,” and others. The papers, which also document Holocaust rescue efforts of the Relief and Rescue Committee in Budapest, were given to the...

WASHINGTON -- A new poll shows that U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez's approval ratings with voters have plunged to an all-time low, apparently reflecting his support for a controversial immigration-reform bill. Only 37 percent of those polled by Quinnipiac University approved of the way Martinez was handling his job, while 34 percent disapproved and the rest were undecided. That's down from a high of 48 percent approval -- and 22 percent disapproval -- in February, before the latest immigration bill was announced. Martinez, in a brief interview Thursday afternoon, shrugged off the poll numbers and vowed to keep working for the...

Complaining from the Sidelines is not a Solution By U.S. Senator Jon Kyl In last year’s election, voters said one thing loud and clear: DO SOMETHING ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION! Of course, there were a lot of different opinions about what should be done, but more inactivity was clearly not an option. Separate bills approved by the U.S. House and Senate last year were considered unpalatable by the vast majority of Americans. One version did not adequately address our broken immigration system, and the other was too permissive in its automatic path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. So, nothing changed. Meanwhile,...

llegal Immigration Foes Target Senate Offices By Nathan Burchfiel CNSNews.com Staff Writer June 01, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Senators enjoying a week-long recess in their home states are being targeted by opponents of illegal immigration who are expected to deliver thousands of petition signatures opposing the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform proposals. Volunteers with the conservative activist website Grassfire.org on Thursday began delivering petitions to senators' home offices opposing the immigration bill that the Senate will consider when it returns to session June 4. The bill would give illegal immigrants a chance to remain in the United States by paying fines and...

For me, the “canary in the mineshaft” of the Bush administration died at 12:00AM this morning, when the Wall Street Journal posted a piece about the President’s unpopular immigration bill by former Reagan speechwriter and influential Republican Peggy Noonan. Whether you like the immigration bill or not, you cannot deny that it is splitting the GOP. And with this bill, the White House has turned its back on its base in a way that is far more politically risky than the Iraq invasion or anything else it has attempted, and could seal Bush’s place in the history books as a...

Angry Utahns by the hundreds are calling, e-mailing and faxing Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, demanding he oppose an immigration bill that would provide legal status to an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. Those voters generally receive a coy answer. "My public position is that I'm reviewing the amendments," Bennett said Tuesday. It's a ploy meant to defuse emotion. But here's what Bennett's staffers are not saying: he plans to vote for it. And he points to St. George as part of the reason why. St. George is the fastest-growing metro area in the nation, mostly because people from California and...

IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2007 Contacts: Aaron Saunders (202) 224-1028 Steve Wackowski (202) 224-5122 Senator Stevens Discusses Alaska and National Issues at Press Conference Audio is available by clicking here. [See transcript by Freeper ER_in_OC,CA below] WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) spoke with Washington, D.C.-based Alaska reporters about a wide variety of topics affecting the State and the nation. Senator Stevens answered questions on the following issues during the press conference: 1. Emergency Spending Supplemental/Iraq War (4 minutes) 2. International Whaling Commission meetings (1 minute) 3. Price gouging legislation (2 minutes) 4. Tongass Land Management Plan (4...

Republican National Committee Chairman Sen. Mel Martinez rejected the claim that the new immigration bill will anger conservatives and destroy the GOP's chances to win in the 2008 election. On CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer Sunday, Martinez said immigration "could be the saving of the Republican Party, frankly. And to do nothing would be the wrong thing for the American people." Martinez is optimistic that the controversial legislation will make it through Congress, and he is counting on President Bush "to get us over the finish line."

PRESCOTT – Police are looking for a man they say attacked two members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps as they videotaped and photographed him picking up day laborers Friday at the corner of Lincoln and Grove avenues. At 9 a.m., the driver of the pickup pulling a U-Haul trailer became agitated when he saw the men with cameras and he assaulted one of them, said Prescott Police Lt. Ken Morley. The driver took the digital camera from the minuteman and threw it into a nearby creek. He also tried unsuccessfully to take the video camera away from the other...

Immigration Bill To Collect American Info By Elliott West, Raleigh Chronicle News Editor Friday, May 18, 2007 WASHINGTON DC - Although a new immigration bill that was passed by the United State Senate last year chiefly addresses illegal immigration, some components of the bill will definitely benefit the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies by tracking all sources of wages and compensation by American workers, even those who are legally American citizens. The Immigration Bill Status The controversial Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 was already passed by the Senate in late April of 2006 and another version of...

Tomorrow, The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector will share the following analysis in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Virtually no attention has been paid to the enormous costs involved in legalizing millions of low-skilled illegal aliens. One problem is that immigration reform is being negotiated by Judiciary Committee lawyers who typically have little experience in budgetary issues. Some Members who might be expected to blanch at a potential price tag of $2.5 trillion on their handiwork are kidding themselves by naively expecting that government benefits will be denied to the newly-legalized. Some know so little about tax burdens and benefit...

“Sellout.” It may be harsh, but it’s the most accurate and succinct way to sum up how conservatives feel right now about President Bush and Senate Republicans, who have cut a deal that would grant amnesty to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. — not to mention the parents, spouses, and children of these illegals. Title VI of a draft copy of the bill breaks down amnesty visas into three categories: Z-1 — Illegal aliens present and working in the United States up to Jan. 1, 2007. Z-2 — Parents and spouses of illegal aliens qualifying...

UPDATE: Six conservative senators are demanding that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) negotiate a “full and open debate” on the immigration legislation. Senate Democrats and Republicans are working feverishly with the White House to put the finishing touches on an immigration proposal that could be announced later today or tomorrow. The deal would give illegal aliens living in the United States amnesty, according to confidential sources. It would also allow illegal aliens to bring their parents, spouses and children into the United States. Multiple sources on Capitol Hill with knowledge of the proposal said Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) has been...

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Cuban-American couple who worked at a Florida university were sentenced on Tuesday to prison terms for funneling information about Miami's Cuban exiles to the Havana government.(snip)

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Democrats in the U.S. Senate are mulling regulations on soft-money 527 groups amid reports that the groups no longer exclusively benefit their party. Most Democrats opposed curbs on 527s, named for a clause in the tax code, during the previous Congress, when the party was thought to receive the greatest benefit from the groups, but there is now evidence Republicans are increasingly benefiting from the groups, The Hill reported Tuesday. Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is expected to examine 527 groups during hearings on potential campaign-finance reform measures. "I promised a group of people that...

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, “Kremlinologists” got paid to sift through the lies and decipher goings-on in Moscow. We’ll need similar skills to see through the Democratic Congress’ smoke screen. Again and again during the congressional campaigns, Democrats insisted they were not the party of cut-and-run in Iraq. But now that they’ve won both the House and Senate, the leaders of the incoming Congress are abandoning all pretense. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who will be Armed Services chairman, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday: “We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to...

The United Nations peacekeeping force to be deployed in Lebanon is facing further criticism after the admission that its forces will not even be allowed to intercept shipments of arms to Hezbollah from Syria. Speaking in Brussels before heading to the region, Kofi Annan, pictured below, the UN Secretary-General, confirmed that the 15,000-strong force will not meet Israeli demands to police the routes used by the militia to smuggle missiles from Syria. "Troops are not going in there to disarm - let's be clear," he said. Instead, the Unifil force will only carry out interception missions if asked by the...

LONDON: The French government tried to blame the 1985 sinking of Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior on British spy agency MI6, according to official documents released under freedom of information. The campaign of misinformation and smears - suggesting MI6 bombed the ship in New Zealand and framed French secret agents, or that MI6 knew in advance of the French mission - infuriated Margaret Thatcher's government.

Excerpt - Microsoft is on track to outsource more than 1,000 jobs a year to China, according to blistering evidence released yesterday in Microsoft's increasingly nasty spat with Google over an employee who jumped ship in July. In a revelation that highlights the complexity of China President Hu Jintao's visit to Seattle and Microsoft on Monday, legal filings detailed claims of how Microsoft had offended the Chinese government by not outsourcing as many jobs as promised to Chinese technology vendors. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer visited China in 2003 and promised to step up the pace, from $33 million worth of...

LONDON, July 16 - Britain's era of good will with Europe lasted 48 hours - all because of the French. In the wake of the July 7 terrorist attacks in London, Scotland Yard brought together law enforcement and intelligence officials from two dozen European countries and the United States, sharing crucial intelligence and pleading for help in tracking down the bombers. But the continentwide kumbaya was shattered when Christophe Chaboud, France's new antiterrorism coordinator, broke the cardinal rule of the club. He leaked. In an interview with Le Monde...Mr. Chaboud announced to the world that he knew "the nature of...

President Bill Clinton told NBC's Brian Williams tonight charges brought against him by the House of Representatives were false, contradicting a plea bargain deal he made with Independent Counsel Robert Ray that he admit he gave false testimony under oath to a federal grand jury. In a blistering attack on Ray's predecessor, Kenneth Starr, Clinton accused the independent counsel of persecuting innocent people, indicting them because they wouldn't lie and assaulting the Constitution. "I was acquitted," he told Williams. "And ... the charges that the House sent to the Senate were false. So I did a bad thing. I made...

Iraqi soldiers find rusty but serviceable anti-aircraft gun KARMAH, Iraq — Iraqi Security Forces, under the supervision of U.S. Marines, unearthed a rusted but serviceable anti-aircraft weapon on Saturday, buried on the grounds of a mosque in the city of Karmah. The find came during a multiple-day mission that started about 3 a.m. Saturday as Marines from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, and the ISF soldiers launched Operation Clear Decision, shutting down streets and confining residents to their homes as troops searched every house and business. The ISF soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Muthanna Brigade, found the weapon while using...

The French judge who first uncovered the corruption scandal engulfing the country's most senior politicians has claimed that bribery and cronyism are still rife at the highest levels of government. Eric Halphen, whose investigations into kickbacks from public works programmes led to a number of President Jacques Chirac's closest allies going on trial last week, said that the prosecutions "in no way" signalled an end to the corruption that has blighted French politics for decades. Mr Halphen, who retired from the judiciary three years ago in protest when Mr Chirac was granted immunity from prosecution, laid some of the blame...

Tony Blair was humiliated yesterday when Jacques Chirac attacked Britain's £3 billion EU rebate hours after the Prime Minister had come to his aid in a row over economic reform. In the latest clash between the leaders, the French president pocketed a deal designed to help him win a Yes vote in France's referendum on the EU constitution on May 29. But instead of repaying the Prime Minister by avoiding sensitive issues before a likely May election in Britain, he went out of his way to complain about the rebate Margaret Thatcher won in 1984. He launched his attack -...

It's official: France is suddenly trying to help the United States in Iraq. President Jacques Chirac said to NATO leaders in late February that "France wants to contribute to stability" in Iraq. The contribution? Some $660,000 to a NATO fund for military and police training in Iraq and one French mid-level officer who's being assigned to the training mission at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Not 1,000 officers. Not 100. Just one. It was perfectly legitimate for France to oppose the war (which this editorial page did as well). But it is now time for both sides of this debate to...

<p>Lt. Col. Jim Stockmoe, chief intelligence officer for the First Infantry Division, roared with laughter as he recalled the increasing missteps of the resistance in Iraq in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Toby Harnden, writing for The Spectator.</p>

The latest barfer from Bill Gates is excerpted from his interview with Peter Jennings of ABC News - JENNINGS: Is there any part of the world that intimidates you? GATES: Well I could say that every time I go to China I am amazed by the level of energy and activity there. And you know its like super charged capitalism where they're creating new jobs and they are being very efficient. And you know that's daunting. It's a challenge to the rest of the world that we got this great opportunity that they're going to build good products, but we...

China has created brand-new form of capitalism: Bill Gates DAVOS, Switzerland, (AFP) - US software giant Bill Gates has high praise for China, which he says has created a brand-new form of capitalism that benefits consumers more than anything has in the past. "It is a brand-new form of capitalism, and as a consumer its the best thing that ever happened," Gates told an informal meeting late Friday at the World Economic Forum in this ski resort. He characterised the Chinese model in terms of "willingness to work hard and not having quite the same medical overhead or legal...

Carolyn Short, one of the chief litigators in Reed Smith's Philadelphia office for more than a decade, has left the firm to become general counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which is now chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Short resigned last Tuesday from Reed Smith, her professional home for the past 16 years, and was sworn in Thursday. Short said she only views it as a temporary position, being that she and her husband, former U.S. Constitutional Center executive director and Democratic congressional candidate Joseph Torsella, live with their four children in Flourtown. She said her chief motivation for...

The UN plan to provide relief to tsunami victims reflects an image of the organization itself. The press release Multifaceted UN response to tsunami focuses on both large and small reads like a repackaging of inconsequential UN field programs to give the appearance of action. They include "monitoring fisheries in India", undertaking disease planning exercises, providing safe delivery kits for expectant mothers and harnessing the International Labor Organization to undertake long-term rehabilitation and employment recovery. As a statement of good intentions it would be adequate but as a program for coping with one of the worst natural disasters in modern...

The Italian businessman at the centre of a furious row between France and Italy over whose intelligence service was to blame for bogus documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy material for nuclear bombs has admitted that he was in the pay of France.The man, identified by an Italian news agency as Rocco Martino, was the subject of a Telegraph article earlier this month in which he was referred to by his intelligence codename, "Giacomo". His admission to investigating magistrates in Rome on Friday apparently confirms suggestions that - by commissioning "Giacomo" to procure and circulate documents - France...

You’ve described quite well the implementation of the new religion that is being imposed on us. I have come to view the past 38 years as the spiritual equivalent of the Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s. Look to the example of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and you’ll see what will be happening in the immediate future in Boston and elsewhere. The sex abuse scandals will serve as a pretext. “Restructuring” (“realignment” in New York, “reconfiguration” in Boston) is used to divert attention from the raping and sodomizing of children and an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of structural changes...

<p>This is a partial transcript of "Special Report with Brit Hume", April 19, 2004 that has been edited for clarity.</p> <p>SEN. JOHN KERRY: I will immediately reach out to other nations in a very different way from this administration. Within weeks of being inaugurated, I will return to the U.N., and I will literally, formally rejoin the community of nations and turnover a proud new chapter in America's relationship with the world.</p>

Richard Clarke and the Psychology of Betrayal Not enough people are asking question of these sorts: “What is it that makes Richard Clarke tick? What are the reasons behind his book, its timing, and the unnerving inconsistency of his statements of years (and even only months) past compared with those of today? Since I am not a psychologist I hesitated a bit before using the word ‘psychology’ in the title of this article. Nor, I must admit, am I any sort of expert at profiling of the likes of certain of the brighter stars in the law enforcement firmament. Like...

Nothing can be more disillusioning than finding out that the love of one's youth was a whore. Remember what we grew up knowing about France? Glorious France, cradle of Liberty Equality, Fraternity...of the Enlightenment and the Rights of Man... Beautiful France, home of the arts of living, of exquisite food and glamorous couture, to say nothing of its great painters and poets? Which of us did not wistfully hum "The last time I saw Paris," want to eat like the French, vacation on the Riviera, use expressions like voila and je ne sais quoi whenever possible, thrill to Edith Piaf...

Did anybody see Bill O'Reilly talking with the former Ambassador to Croatia? He was ON FIRE, I tell ya! He said he would rather see Americans buy war bonds to help rebuild Iraq than take French money or help. He said it would be "blood money". He said France stabbed Secretary Powell in the back. He said he had no respect for any Americans who travelled to France (I assume he means travelling for pleasure).

WHEREAS, the country formerly known as France is in fact Iraq's largest trading partner; WHEREAS, the current president of the country previously known as France, formerly known as Jacques Chiraq, did, as foreign minister of the country previously known as France, refer to the dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, as a “personal friend”; WHEREAS, the country formerly known as France has declared in no uncertain terms that it will use its Security Council veto to block any resolution threatening force against its client state, Iraq; WHEREAS, the country formerly known as France has decided to renege on its commitment to...

"To the French lying is simply talking" -- Fran Lebowitz January 24, 2003: The utopian fantasists in our State Dept., having persuaded Pres. Bush to place his faith in the UN are now obliged to face reality. Will they? Colin Powell, the chief utopian, argued against deposing Saddam in 1991 in favor of the wishful fantasy that military defeat would be sufficient to defang him. It wasn't, because in Saddam's psychopathic world of brute force, survival against the United States constitutes victory and is concrete evidence of our weakness. Saddam would never allow an enemy to escape alive if he...

ICONOCLAST DAILY NOTEBOOK.... The Perfidy Of The French.... "To the French lying is simply talking"-- Fran Lebowitz January 24, 2003: The utopian fantasists in our State Dept., having persuaded Pres. Bush to place his faith in the UN are now obliged to face reality. Will they? Colin Powell, the chief utopian, argued against deposing Saddam in 1991 in favor of the wishful fantasy that military defeat would be sufficient to defang him. It wasn't, because in Saddam's psychopathic world of brute force, survival against the United States constitutes victory and is concrete evidence of our weakness. Saddam would never allow...