Free Republic

Can someone explain logging on to this forum?? Been lurking for years and now it's time to speak up...

Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government's health insurance programs for the elderly and poor, play a big role in the health care reform proposals being considered on Capitol Hill. President Obama and Democrats in Congress hope to cut Medicare spending by nearly a half-trillion dollars over the next decade, and reform plans call for a big expansion of Medicaid during the same period. The proposals raise serious questions. Is it really possible to take so much money out of Medicare and not affect coverage? Is expanding Medicaid a good idea

Eugene Robinson, of the Washington Post, is finally looking past Obama’s skin color and his own. He wrote a piece being way too kind to Obama and naively surprised by his actions: President Obama's brief display of drive-by compassion Thursday in New Orleans was, for me, by far the worst outing of his presidency thus far -- and the biggest disappointment. I covered Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath -- the flood in New Orleans that drowned a great city, the storm surge in Mississippi that erased whole communities, the devastation, the agony. For weeks afterwards, I had trouble sleeping. I...

Veteran Washington Post reporter Daryl Fears, part of a two-person writer team, unmistakably wrote that filmmaker John O'Keefe had “said” he “targeted” ACORN, the advocacy group, for his candid-camera expose, because it registered voters to defeat Republicans. O'Keefe said no such thing. It was a non-quote made out of whole cloth by reporter Fears, and published as fact on Sept. 17. Making the falsehood exponentially worse, the Post story then was retailed worldwide by the Associated Press.

The Administration has used the financial collapse that government brought us very well: It gave Congress a “Stimulus” bill that provided more pork than Congress itself might have had the nerve to include while effectively repealing the Clinton/Gingrich reform of federal welfare; it budgeted spending in numbers only computers can handle and it took command of the major banks, a huge chunk of insurance and the U.S. auto industry; to that, it is preparing to add a takeover of the student loan business and wage control of banking and possibly others. Not bad for less than a year’s work! But...

Arianna Huffington’s liberal gossip site the Huffington Post has been vigorously defending green jobs czar and 9/11 “truther” Van Jones. It turns out that Jones was Huffington’s grassroots political director when she ran for governor in the 2003 recall election. In fact, Jones, a self-described “communist,” thought Huffington was so wonderful he was part of the effort to draft her to run for office.

Anyone who remembers this: Washington Post Confesses To Biased Reporting During The 2008 Presidential Campaign 84rules November 11, 2008 Should find no surprise in this: Left-Leaning Washington Post Go After Bob McDonnell 84rules September 2, 2009

 As Rush says ... "Words have meaning."Posters are responsible for what they post. THINK before you post. If you post, YOUR words stand!

Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Katharine Weymouth said today she was cancelling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where, for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

I am constantly seeing examples of Freepers getting "flamed" for "duplicate posting". Sermo.com has some sort of filter that automatically checks your post for duplicates. Mods please take note maybe this will help

Postage rates are increasing on Monday, May 11 for first class postage and other services. .. it's not too late to lock in the current rate by buying Forever Stamps. "If you buy them today at today's price, it doesn't matter if you use them in numerous years to come, even 100 years from now, that stamp will still be good as a first class stamp, even though you paid 42 cents for it," But time is of the essence, because the Forever Stamp rate also will increase on Monday.

"As the price to mail a letter is set to increase on Monday, mail volume at the U.S. Postal Service continues to drop. To counter the tough times, the government-run service operating 579 post offices across the state will continue to reconfigure its work force and its ability to compete for customers. Brian Watson, 37, of Lowell, said he's getting ready to make the jump from putting his bills in a mailbox to completing the transaction online because of the cost to use the postal system."

The Denver Post announced Thursday that it will stop delivering print copies to the Western Slope, including Grand Junction and farther reaches of Colorado ... Print subscribers will be switched to online subscriptions

The "thread" to the previous post has been "locked" at Free Republic. Still awaiting a response from the webmaster to see what has occurred. A lot of shenanigans have gone on lately. IDF videos being removed from youtube. Atlas Shrugs having Google problems with her article posts being indexed. It is widely believed that anti-Israel haters abused the "flag" function at youtube to have some IDF video clips removed. After many complaints, some were restored. Did some anti-Israel haters at Free Republic abuse the "report abuse" function to have a "lock" put on the thread of my previous post?

I had to mail out a couple of CDs today. I put them in a 6x9 manila envelope along with a stiffener, sealed the thing up, addressed it and brought it to the Post Office. I passed it though the small slot in the bullet proof glass to the clerk who told me it would cost $1.51 to send it. This seemed a bit high to me so I asked the clerk how she arrived at the $1.51 amount. "It's a parcel. You can't fold it," she told me. "The rates went up three weeks ago." "Yeah, okay, but how...

President-elect Obama is weighing an array of Washington insiders and outsiders, including some Republicans, for top administration posts, according to Democratic officials.

This article is really an understatement of post election reaction, either way. From the way MSM is handicapping this election, Conservatives will be very bitter but civil about the outcome (presumed Obama victory). However, I for one can vouch that I will have less empathy for the Chosen One as Liberals did for GW Bush. Let's see how the other side likes the negativity associated with their Hero. My opinion, Conservatives will rip him a new one, especially since this will be a learning curve for the presumptious winner, and we will feel like the Liberals did under 8 years...

Hey All: It's not too early to prepare for election night follies at the news networks. Tell your family, friends, and neighbors to pay no attention to any broadcast news until they have voted (for McCain/Palin of course). Even if the networks proclaim a Nobama landslide, do not become discouraged, do not walk away from the voting booth! To refresh your memory, here's a brief history of the Florida panhandle swindle of 2000: The networks called Florida for Gore early in the evening on election day - before polls had closed in the Florida panhandle, which is part of the...

We know that history holds many surprises. One doesn't expect to learn more about the secret history of of the Gulag than we already know from both Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Acrcipelago" and Anne Applebaum's "Gulag: A history." This feat, however, is exactly what author Tim Tzouliadis has accomplished: the previously unknown story of the thousands of Americans who, during the Depression, sought employment and a better future in the "worker's paradise" built by the Bolsheviks. All kinds of Americans joined the exodus. Some of them were Communists or fellow-travelors but the majority were average Americans - skilled workers promised paid passage,...

In the Denver Post Today: Post Poll - Palin's Speech How would you rate Palin's speech at the RNC? (Read this related story)

In the last 20 years, we were lectured constantly about “post-industrial” America. Experts proclaimed that the United States had evolved into an “information society” of “high-tech jobs.” The traditional sources of American strength—manufacturing, the production of food and fuel, and the assembling of cars and trucks—were apparently passé. Instead, others less fortunate abroad were to do those more grubby tasks, while Americans, with their BlackBerrys and laptops, funded, organized, lectured and critiqued them. Illegal aliens might cook our meals or change our children’s diapers to free us up for far more important tasks of litigation, finance and environmental review. The...

Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns The New York Post, and Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and owner of The Daily News, who for years have been bitter tabloid competitors, are considering the unthinkable: cooperation. Representatives of Mr. Zuckerman and Mr. Murdoch have been in discussions for several weeks to find ways to combine some business functions of The Daily News and The Post, according to people briefed on the matter. They spoke anonymously because the talks are at a sensitive stage and both sides had hoped they would remain confidential. Talks between the two papers began in...

It appears that I post something --I make sure to INCLUDE its source...it is NOT offensive or obscene--and you immediately remove iit....( in this case a portion of a thread i found illuminating from Hillaryclintonforum.net) this happens constantly....and is very frustrating....the "free" in free republic does not appear to hold---perhaps a clarification of your increasingly rigid rules would help? The parameters are so narrow some good content is being unilaterally struck....PLEASE EXPLAIN so that i can contribute in a way that allows my points to be seen. Thank you.

The issues that remain concern Barack Obama's judgment and his credibility. If Pastor Wright agrees to be interviewed by other than Bill Moyers, the questions should ask not for his opinions on various controversies, but for facts about his relationship with the senator. For instance, did Pastor Wright discuss Louis Farrakhan with Obama before during or after they both attended the Million Man March? Were they together during that trip. Did Senator Obama indicated unease with or criticism of Farrakhan? How often did you see Obama at Trinity on Sunday over the past twenty years? Any particular dates you can...

Earlier, describing “Winter Soldier II Off To A Lying Start,” I concluded by noting that “Bloggers today see the Associated Press and Washington Post in the audience. Let’s see whether the American press has learned anything since 1971.” Apparently not. Unless some editor culled out all critical thought, there’s no excuse for the Washington Post’s coverage today. The bald assertions by Iraq Veterans Against the War of atrocities are parroted, without scrutiny.

What's up with the main forum pages??? The abibility to post a new thread directly form the Forum page is missing. We used to be at the top right and now it's gone. To post a new article we have to go to an existing article to find the Post Article link.

In his 1842 classic "Morte d'Arthur," Alfred Lord Tennyson has the dying King Arthur say to his mourners: The old order changeth, yielding place to new; and God fulfills himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Those Famous Last Words can now apply to two of the best-known and once widely read institutions in the United States, the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. Along with almost all of U.S. daily newspapers, these strongly liberal – one of them a one-time toppler of a president of the United States – are beginning to lose,...

WASHINGTON - A Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for The Washington Post has apologized for sending an angry e-mail in which he called District of Columbia Council member Marion Barry a "crack addict." Tim Page wrote to Barry's aide last week after receiving a press release about the former mayor's views on the financially troubled Greater Southeast Community Hospital. "Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new — and typically half-witted — political grandstanding?" the e-mail said. "I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think...

GOP: Giuliani 33, McCain 19, Thompson 16, Romney 11, Huckabee 9 Dems: Clinton 49, Obama 26, Edwards 12

From customers to congressmen, the removal of dozens of photos of U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan – many of them with relatives who use the Paso Robles Post Office, where the pictures had been on display for years behind the counter – inspired outrage Friday.

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul said today that he could see no possible reason to ever launch military action or initiate a war, vowing instead to battle efforts he said are undermining the individual liberties of people in America. In an interview with Washingtonpost.com's PostTalk program, the Texas congressman said he could see "no reason" to justify military action if he were elected president. He compared the United States to a schoolyard bully and said the country has no reason to flex its muscles overseas. "There's nobody in this world that could possibly attack us today," he said in the...

I would think that FreeRepublic is primarily a database driven web application. When someone creates a post some table or tables are update with 5 basic pieces of information: The post being replied TO The user posting the message (FROM) The contents of the post A timestamp documenting when the post was created Given these bits of information how hard would it be to simply not allow posting a duplicate of 1, 2, and 3 within a certain time threshold of 4 (maybe 1 minute)? Why not spend the hour it would take to implement this and save everyone the...

FORT DIX, N.J. — Six men described by federal prosecutors as "Islamic militants" were arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army post and "kill as many soldiers as possible," federal authorities said Tuesday. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday there is "no direct evidence" that the men have ties to international terrorism

Jefferson was against any needless official apparel, but if the gown was to carry, he said: "For Heaven's sake discard the monstrous wig which makes the English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum. -- Thomas Jefferson (commenting on judges' apparel)

"A dying man can do nothing easy." -- Benjamin Franklin (after his daughter asked him to move, 17 April 1790) Reference: The Life of Franklin, Sparks, vol. 1 (531)

The stamps were launched by Star Wars characters Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are among the characters featured on a set of US stamps marking 30 years of the Star Wars films.A set of 15 stamps is being issued as a poster, and members of the public will be asked to vote for their favourite. The set will go on sale on 25 May, shortly after the basic US postage rate is raised to 41 cents (21p). Earlier this month, 400 postboxes were decorated to look like R2-D2, the robot from the landmark sci-fi saga. The US...

The United States is the most religious nation in the developed world, if religiosity is measured by belief in all things supernatural -- from God and the Virgin Birth to the humbler workings of angels and demons. Americans are also the most religiously ignorant people in the Western world. Fewer than half of us can identify Genesis as the first book of the Bible, and only one third know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.

Zimbabwe may win food charity post By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent Last Updated: 2:13am GMT 20/02/2007 Zimbabwe may gain the vice-presidency of the World Food Programme (WFP) — despite the collapse of its own agricultural sector. All seven African countries presently on the WFP's 36-strong executive board are believed to support the bid of Robert Mugabe's regime. If successful, Zimbabwe will be in line to become the president of the world's largest supplier of humanitarian aid next year. Once one of Africa's leading food exporters, Zimbabwe has needed WFP supplies since 2001. At present, almost one million of its people,...

There's an old gag about the economist who, when presented with plain truth says, "Sure it works in reality, but would it work in theory?" The WaPo does a bit of that in their editorial today, still desperately fighting any notion of tax cuts. It's almost quaint how steadfast they are in their "higher taxes, bigger government" philosophy these days. God love 'em, they're probably using rotary phones, too. But unfortunately for the Post, the truth is otherwise.

Regarding "In Key Races, Democrats Look at Rivals' Personal Lives; Amid Voter Disgust Over Foley Scandal, Strategists Believe Attacks on GOP at Local Level Won't Backfire" [news story, Oct. 13] and "Democratic Faces That Could Launch Thousands of Votes; With a Parade of Attractive Candidates, the Party May Benefit From the Politics of Beauty" [front page, Oct. 14]: The Post reported approvingly of Democrats running congressional campaigns based on personal destruction of their opponents and on their candidates' physical appearances. What happened to issue and policy differences? The Post seems to have conceded that Democratic candidates are unable to defeat...

Most of you experienced the "media storm" over Bob Woodward's new book-criticizing Rumsfeld and the administration,natch. When the Department of Defense issued a blistering rebuttal, it was as if a tree fell in a deserted forest. Read the rebuttal - and a few other interesting facts- right here.

Why would it be so difficult to find clarity on the absurd Islamic reaction to the Pope's recent speech? Muslims have proven the Pope's point. Many have become angry and violent precisely because of being accused of being violent. And their violence is slowly but surely convincing more and more people in the West that Islam has a serious problem (my empirical analysis of Midwesterners). I have been almost amazed at the clarity of reporting on this subject, even from the Associated Press. Today, the Washington Post was willing to publish an ostensibly decent editorial on the Pope controversy, written...

LOS ANGELES Immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jews and Muslims met and prayed together. Five years later, members of the two faiths are volunteering and teaching together. In coming months, hundreds of Jews and Muslims will take their respective faiths to Los Angeles area streets, working in teams to conduct college teach-ins and help the homeless, immigrants and the working poor. The project is a testament to the evolution of the interfaith movement here a fragile work-in-progress that took root after the terrorist attacks and has grown despite the pressures of war in Lebanon, violence in Iraq and...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 7, 2006 – For the last five years, here in the heart of Afghanistan’s largest city, lies the nerve center for the command and control of Operation Enduring Freedom, the mission to defeat al Qaeda and associated terrorist movements. Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan is a coalition of 26 nations headquartered inside a brick-walled compound named after a graduate of The Citadel: U.S. Army Capt. Daniel W. Eggers. Eggers, a former Green Beret, lost his life in Afghanistan on May 24, 2004, when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near Kandahar. He was leading his Special Forces A...

The Washington Post warns of "Pakistan's Awkward Balancing Act on Islamic Militant Groups." But if one looks closely at the actions of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, it is clear that he has made his choice to side with the West, there's no going back, and he is beyond the pale of reconciliation with his country's lunatic Islamists. The scale has tipped to one side. It is time for Musharraf to explicitly say so and do so, as he'll never appease Pakistan's radicals. Here's an excerpt from the Post: The basic problem for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is that he...

Just a suggestion for the FR powers that be (do we have a suggestion box?): Can another posting section be added below "Title of Thread", such as "description", "subject" or "sub-title"? I have noticed many duplicate postings are due not as much from failure to search, as failure to use original article titles in favor of a more descriptive thread. I think there is a place for both, and currently many posters will put their descriptive/subject text in parentheses after the title. Unfortunately this is not common practice and not defined as proper method although it obviously allows searches to...

HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban minister said on Friday President Fidel Castro was recovering as the country, anxious to see him reappear almost two weeks after undergoing surgery, prepared to celebrate his 80th birthday on Sunday with or without him. ... Rumours that Castro is dead have circulated among the Cuban emigre community in Miami. Some hope Castro's 80th birthday is his last. "The best thing he can do is die so that this whole disgrace can end," said Huber Matos, who fought alongside Castro in 1959 and was jailed for 20 years as a traitor. He now lives in...

Spy Case May Offer Clues How Chinese Missile Ended Up in Hezbollah's Arsenal by Ed TimperlakePosted Jul 26, 2006In February 1999, Dr. Ronald N. Montaperto was identified by PBS’ News Hour during a segment on “human rights in China� as “a senior fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University.� He was also said to be “advising the Pentagon on Chinese military issues.� At the same time he was preening for PBS, however, he was an espionage agent for the People’s Republic of China. A joint Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and FBI investigation nailed Montaperto’s...

"The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part of the law of nature, are of the same origin and of the same obligation, operating universally and perpetually." -- James Wilson (Of the Law of Nature, 1804) Reference: The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, Wilson, ed., vol. 1 (137-138)