Free Republic

Iowans have spent the last week getting to know Mitt Romney as presidential candidate, businessman and ... performance artist? As Mr. Romney has rolled across the state on a three-day bus tour, he has been breaking into song — or at least reciting the lyrics of his favorite patriotic anthems. “I love that song: ‘O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,’ ” Mr. Romney said of “America the Beautiful” at a stop in Mason City on Thursday. “If you count corn as an amber wave of grain, why, you have them right here. What a wonderful place...

Gail Collins: David, are you reconciled to the fact that Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican presidential nominee? David Brooks: Oh, I went through that phase a few weeks ago after the debate at the Reagan library. That’s the night I noticed Romney was the best candidate in the field. Since then I’ve noticed that he has given three debate performances that are better than any Barack Obama has given in his life. (Obama’s a better speechmaker, but Romney’s a better debater.) So now I’m settling into the idea that Romney might well be president. This will be...

An employee of Bed, Bath & Beyond in St. Davids Square shopping center reported to Radnor Township Police on June 5 a package containing human vomit was left in the parking lot there. He estimated that about 35 pounds of vomit was in the package discovered June 5 and stated that a similar package was left in the same spot the week before. According to the employee, the package was concealed in a white kitchen trash bag and placed about 10 parking rows from the store behind a tree. Radnor Police redacted information that describes what the hidden package was...

Hero Builders An Oxford company has released an action figure inspired by the capture of Osama bin Laden. Navy SEALs have become national heroes since news broke that they took down Osama bin Laden, so it’s fitting that the newest action figure from a Connecticut company is a fierce looking President Barack Obama as a SEAL. The minute Obama said late on the night of May 1 that the U.S. had found and killed bin Laden, Emil Vicale knew which his action figure company’s would make next -- Rambama. On Wednesday morning, Hero Builders released the Obama SEAL Team 6...

Newsweek Editor Wins 'Obamagasm' Award: Obama 'Sort of God' Monday, May 09, 2011 By Eric Scheiner (CNSNews.com) - The Media Research Center held it’s 2011 Gala and DisHonors Awards event this past Saturday. The DisHonors awards recognizes and roasts the liberal media’s worst moments, with winners in several different categories and an overall ‘winner’ with a ‘Quote Of the Year’. In the “Obamagasm Award” category, the winner was Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas who said, “Reagan [at the 1984 D-Day commemoration] was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, ‘We are above that now. We're not just parochial,...

As National Republicans head into this morning's bi-annual Chairmanship election, we can all agree on one thing: Michael Steele, our current Chairman, must be replaced today. His gaffes (abortion, Afghanistan, southern strategy) insulted core constituencies, and his horrible fiscal management skills (record low contributions; record high debt) has cost the RNC millions of dollars. But as to who we support? That has divided Republicans sharply. Maria Cino is a former Bush Administration official who worked in both the Commerce and Transportation departments. She is also a former Deputy RNC Chairman who has worked closely with pro-abortion Republican organizations in the...

CNN: "She has more experience working in and with the White House than most living presidents. She is one of the most admired women in our nation's history. Let's make sure the president we should have elected in 2008 will be on the ballot in 2012. Hillary 2012: Hillary Clinton for President. Start now. Where there's a Hill there's a way," says an ad that began running on television in New Orleans Wednesday. Click here to watch the Video from Youtube

NBC Philadelphia Unruly Phillies Fan Assaults, Vomits on Cop and His Family Man and 11-year-old daughter were intentionally thrown up on by fan, police say By VINCE LATTANZIO Updated 8:09 AM EDT, Fri, Apr 16, 2010 Philadelphia Police A man is behind bars after allegedly assaulting an off-duty Easton police captain and his two daughters at Citizens Bank Park. Capt. Michael Vangelo and his 16- and 11-year-old girls drove down from the Lehigh Valley to watch the Phillies take on the Washington Nationals Wednesday night when the alleged assault occurred, police said. Vangelo, 43, says from the moment his family...

Click here for GOP puke song and dance.

WASHINGTON – Claiming a historic triumph that could define his presidency, a jubilant Barack Obama signed a massive, nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul on Tuesday that will for the first time cement insurance coverage as the right of every U.S. citizen and begin to reshape the way virtually all Americans receive and pay for treatment. After more than a year of hyperpartisan struggle — and numerous near-death moments for the measure — Obama declared "a new season in America" as he sealed a victory denied to a line of presidents stretching back more than half a century. Democratic lawmakers...

EXCERPTS OF THE PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS Wed Jan 27 2010 19:13:14 ET We face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope – what they deserve – is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds and different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bill. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to...

http://www.maxim.com/girls/hot-100/79081/2009-hot-100-100-91.html#9

Pass the sick bucket. This week Michelle Obama, first lady, wife, mom, has taken on a new role, as dating adviser to the world’s single females. In an interview with American Glamour magazine, she clearly sets out her policy on one of the most pressing social issues facing young women. Rule number one: don’t pick a man just because of his looks. “Cute’s good,” says the woman married to the cutest political leader the world has ever seen. “But cute only lasts for so long, and then it’s, 'Who are you as a person?’" “That’s the advice I would give...

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The summer’s headlines have been dominated by the death of pop icons, reality star relationships gone wrong and the Commander-in-Chief and First Lady. Parade.com has taken the pulse of America to find out what everyone has been talking about the most in its annual Summer Pop Culture Poll. It’s been decades since people considered the White House residents sexy, but in 2009, The Obama’s earned the second spot – just behind Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – as “sexiest couple,” according to readers. The First Lady was also deemed “biggest trendsetter” in the country, earning a...

Maybe he was blinded by grief, but is anyone else weirded out by Ryan O’Neal’s admission in Vanity Fair that he tried to hit on his own daughter at the funeral of his lady love Farrah Fawcett? Ew. “I had just put the casket in the hearse and I was watching it drive away when a beautiful blonde woman comes up and embraces me,” O’Neal admits in the September issue. “I said to her, ‘You have a drink on you? You have a car?’ She said, ‘Daddy - it’s me, Tatum!’ I was just trying to be funny with a...

Just when you thought the propaganda from the NY Slimes could not get more loathsome and preposterous.

Every time I read about Daniel Hood, I feel worse for Xavier Ramos. Hood is an offensive lineman from Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic High who signed a letter of intent earlier this week to play football at Tennessee. He will be on scholarship in the fall. Five years ago, Hood was convicted of kidnapping and aggravated rape. According to court documents published by the Knoxville News-Sentinel, as a 13-year-old Hood helped a 17-year-old boy bind Hood's 14-year-old cousin to a bed with duct tape and then watched as the older boy sexually assaulted her with a household object. -snip- That player...

President Obama's tour of government agencies has had the feel of campaign rallies -- screaming supporters, stump speeches, etc. And today at the FBI came another similarity -- an employee at the event apparently fainted... He told the workers that it happened all the time while he was running for president last year, and the person was almost always just fine. "People were falling out all the time," he said with a [nauseating] smile [and nose in the air].

Entrepreneurs have a mindset and orientation to work their way through uncertainty by taking action. "Making things happen" is the hallmark of an entrepreneur, and it defines our 44th president.

Gallup's latest polling reveals the continuing collapse of the Republican party's base vote. The news is so very bad that there will be only one possible response from GOP party leadership and our radio talkers: Ignore it. --SNIP-- Instead, our congressmen talk to and about Rush Limbaugh like Old Bolsheviks praising Comrade Stalin at their show trials. Rush is right! We see eye to eye with Rush! There is no truth outside Rush! Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly and Ann Coulter and the others have their place and their role. They spoke for an important section of public opinion, and...

At 8 pm, just as pres bush began his farewell speech peotus obama left blair house for the 30 second drive to equinox restaurant on connecticut and I st. Pool is holding outside... DEVELOPING...

Do you need Obama coverage 24 hours a day? In several markets, Comcast cable is launching an all-Obama, On Demand channel. (In D.C., it's channel 963). Leading up to Inauguration, the channel will offer a number of Obama-related programs, according to a release: "Barack Obama’s most famous speeches to date, from his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 through his election night victory speech in Grant Park; Barack Obama biography; Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech; a tour of the White House; and the history of Air Force One."

Okay you'll have to excuse the lateness in following up on what I heard. I (temporarily) live and work in a different time zone than most of you (US CST + 9) and I wasn't able to log on yesterday. Anyway we're listening to AFN radio after the night shift Friday morning, which equated to approximately 5:24pm EST. On the second of the two stations available, we were treated to an audio broadcast the CBS Evening News w/ Kat-ie Couric. After the final human interest segment she signs off to the contributing reporter with, "Enjoy your first post-election weekend, I...

Please support Mr. McCain. He belongs to our party. He is better than the opposition. That must be our singular focus at the moment and for the next 10 days. If you cannot bring yourself to support him, please hold your breath until after the election. That's the least you can do for our party. God bless USA and McCain

I just saw Senator Kyle on Foxnews. He would not respond to Democrat attacks. What in the hell is wrong with Republicans?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are no longer underdogs in the race for the White House. To pull that off, John McCain has attracted disgruntled GOP voters, independents and even some moderate Democrats who shunned his party last fall. Partly thanks to an increasingly likable image, the Republican presidential candidate has pulled even with the two Democrats still brawling for their party's nomination, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo news poll released Thursday. Just five months ago - before either party had winnowed its field - the survey showed people preferred sending an unnamed Democrat over a Republican to the White House...

Winning hearts and minds -- the Bush administration, foreign policy wonks, even the U.S. military agree that this is the key to any victory over global terrorism. Yet our public diplomacy program has made little progress on improving America's image. Few seem to recognize that American ignorance of Islam and Muslims has been the fatal flaw. How much do Americans know about the views and beliefs of Muslims around the world? According to polls, not much. Perhaps not surprising, the majority of Americans (66%) admit to having at least some prejudice against Muslims; one in five say they have "a...

Republicans like Sen. Barack Obama nearly as much as they like their own likely presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, according to a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll. The survey determined that a quarter of self-identified Republicans rated Mr. McCain most likable, but nearly as many — 23 percent — chose Mr. Obama as most likable. And among all adults surveyed, Mr. Obama was rated likable by more people than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. McCain combined, underscoring the Illinois senator's appeal to voters across the political spectrum. "There is something about Barack Obama that is hard to...

It's brilliant actually.

The winter vomiting bug norovirus has struck 2.8million people, with health professionals braced for another rise as people return to schools and offices. The virus - which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fevers and headaches - is striking down more than 200,000 a week, according to official estimates. Three hospitals have been placed on red alert, while hundreds of wards up and down the country have been closed to new patients as the number of beds being taken up by bug victims reaches critical levels.

APOPKA, Fla. -- A Central Florida man is accused of pouring hot cooking oil on a 17-month-old and using a hair dryer to burn his skin off because the toddler apparently would not stop crying and whining. Police said Darlanne Toussaint was charged with felony attempted murder on suspicion he abused his girlfriend's son in an Apopka apartment building Thursday. The mother of the child, Marlita S. Stokes, 23, was arrested on Friday and faces charges of child neglect and providing false information to police.

WASHINGTON - In returning $850,000 to donors associated with a disgraced fundraiser, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sets a significant new standard for how campaigns should respond in the face of potential scandal. Clinton's decision also underscores the price — financial and political — that her campaign is paying for failing to spot trouble with the fundraiser, Norman Hsu, even after receiving a warning. The campaign announced it would now conduct background checks on its fundraisers, an extraordinary and potentially time consuming step. By returning the money, Clinton also puts pressure on presidential rivals and other politicians with rainmakers who have...

Fresno, CALIFORNIA (CNN) -- We already knew we had broken borders. And when Congress chickened out on immigration reform and showed that it's not equipped to tackle anything more challenging than pork or pay raises, we knew we had a broken branch. Now it's clear that we have a broken dialogue. We like to think of ourselves, and our communities, as innocent victims of sinister forces that are beyond our control. Concerned that there are too many illegal immigrants in the United States, that our culture is getting too spicy, and that the country is becoming too Hispanic, we blame...

Negotiations on long-term ceasefire with Hamas should be considered Dror Zeevi Published: 07.05.07, 00:15 / Israel Opinion Hamas is evidently in distress and its leaders are signaling that they would be prepared for a compromise in exchange for opening crossings and transferring supplies. Sources close to Hamas insist that there is a willingness among Hamas leaders to advance a long-term ceasefire. Israel is currently enjoying clear tactical superiority and it appears that it is holding the entire deck of cards. The easy solution is to lead the area to almost total collapse, or alternately, as army officers and Knesset members...

Four members of the anti-war group Code Pink were arrested outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday afternoon, following an announcement that they would seek to take over the office. The group’s members had planned to hold a symbolic “Pin the war on the Donkey” demonstration at Pelosi’s office to show their frustration with the Democratic leadership’s inaction on ending the war in Iraq. However, Capitol Police prevented the taping of a drawn donkey to the wall. Code Pink members were crying outside Pelosi’s office. When asked why, Rae Abileah, 24, said she was crying out of...

A 50-year-old principal was found naked in his school office while watching gay pornography on Tuesday, according to sources. Sex toys were found nearby, the sources added. Police said John Acerra was a longtime teacher and principal in the Bethlehem Area School District, but was also allegedly selling crystal meth out of his school office. Acerra, of Allentown, was the principal of Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem, and was arrested minutes after he arranged to sell the notoriously addictive drug to a police informant, according to investigators. Police arrived and found meth and drug paraphernalia on his desk, according to...

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up in “red” states. That's the compelling conclusion of author Michael R. Petit, whose new book, “Homeland Insecurity,” makes a strong case that children in red states are more likely to suffer from poor prenatal care, early death, child abuse and teen incarceration than children in “blue” states. Petit's argument is that states with anti-tax, anti-government ideology are significantly harming their children's health. His book should be required reading for parents and lawmakers -- especially so in California, which is considering legislation that would significantly improve the health of its children. Petit, president of...

I am going to puke...

Elder statesman can bring peace and stability, avoid war It isn't easy to come here and propose that an 83-year-old man should be elected to the post of prime minister, but that's exactly what I intend to do: Shimon Peres for prime minister. Considering the current state of the country – the terrible disappointment over the leading Olmert-Peretz team and the big fear of the Netanyahu-Lieberman alternative – choosing the perennial Peres is the lesser of evils. If Kadima wishes to remain vital, its grand mission now is to replace the prime minister. Olmert won't be delivering. He may take...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants to devote his last year as Britain's leader to advancing an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. This is not the first time Blair has made clear his view that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a major destabilizing influence in a region the UK has always considered vital to its interests. Blair is known to have strong feelings of affection for Israel. He is also committed to the creation of a Palestinian state he believes essential to restoring some semblance of calm in the Mideast. So his pledge to work on the issue is not especially surprising. For...

I can’t fight the terrorists; I am not really a freedom fighter Published: 09.16.06, 18:27 One man’s Bury-orrist is another man’s Freedom sighter. Oh, I have it right. I didn’t misspell anything. The world in which we live is divided between two kinds of people. There are “Bury-orrists” and there are “Freedom sighters” in the world waging a war as surely as Palestinians and Israelis are constantly at each other’s throats, even when there is no need to be. Which are you? Well, it’s relative, I guess. I am not alone. There is a war going on between the two...

In his highly anticipated memoir, former Gov. James E. McGreevey writes of his deep love for the man who ended his political career, the destruction of his second marriage and the events that forced him into his stunning admission on national television that he is gay. In "The Confession," the former governor also touches on New Jersey's sometimes seamy political landscape, where cash, cronyism and a handful of powerful men intersect. But the 384-page book focuses mostly on McGreevey's secret life, from his frequent sexual encounters with men at highway rest stops to his infatuation with Golan Cipel, the Israeli...

HAVANA -- Iran, Syria, North Korea and more than 100 other nations are pushing to broaden the world's definition of "terrorism" to include the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Converging on Fidel Castro's communist Cuba for a summit this week, members of the Nonaligned Movement complain of a double standard: powerful nations like the United States and Israel decide for the world who the terrorists are, but face no punishment for their own acts of aggression. A draft of the group's joint declaration condemns "terrorism in all its forms," especially violence that targets civilians. Terrorism...

Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blasted the Bush administration for war and homeland security policies that he said leave Americans more vulnerable to attack. Kerry’s remarks came in a Faneuil Hall speech on the eve of tomorrow’s five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In his fourth speech this year at the venue, Kerry accused the administration of using the tragedy that killed about 3,000 Americans to justify the war in Iraq. “It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn (to) excuse the invasion of Iraq,” Kerry said. “They were attacked and killed not by Saddam...

Here’s what we know. The Bush administration was framed by Valerie Plame, the upper CIA, and the mainstream media, with the active connivance of Richard Armitage, who is well known as Colin Powell’s best friend. Armitage has now been outed, after three years of Wilson-Plame smears against the administration going without an effective answer, and the VP’s chief of staff under indictment. We also know that Colin Powell’s “right hand man,” Col. Larry Wilkerson (ret.) went on a public rampage against the Bush administration, following other foreign policy retreads from Clinton I, such as Richard Clarke, the egregious Joe Wilson...

American support for Israel's unwinnable aim of destroying Hizbullah only boosts its support in Lebanon and beyond Noam Chomsky Friday September 1, 2006 The Guardian In Lebanon, a little-honoured truce remains in effect - yet another in a decades-long series of ceasefires between Israel and its adversaries in a cycle that, as if inevitably, returns to warfare, carnage and human misery. Let's describe the current crisis for what it is: a US-Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with only a cynical pretence to legitimacy. Amid all the charges and counter-charges, the most immediate factor behind the assault is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After being postponed due to war in Lebanon, World Pride parade will take place one day before eve of Rosh Hashana. 'This year, parade has great significance in light of wave of incitement that Jerusalem community suffered from,' Open House says The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance organization announced on Monday that the World Pride parade will take place on September 21 in Jerusalem. The pride parade was previously set to take place in August, but it was postponed due to the war in Lebanon. The Open House views the parade, which will take place a day before...

THERE were community meetings in Seattle on Wednesday. Some of the couples who had sued to overturn Washington’s ban on same-sex marriage, a case they lost before the state’s Supreme Court earlier that day, were going to appear. Gay and straight elected officials who support “marriage equality” were going to make speeches. I probably should have been there too. But I had a previous engagement. The Seattle Mariners were playing the Toronto Blue Jays at Safeco Field. My 8-year-old son — adopted at birth by my boyfriend and me — loves the M’s almost as much as he hates the...

World-renowned intellectuals publish open letter to make it clear that world is not ignoring what is happening in the Middle East. Surprisingly, it's us they blame When the war began in northern Israel and the Gaza operation was expanded, Palestinian director and actor Juilano Mar Hamis sent out an e-mail asking who would paint the “Guernica” of Lebanon. Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which shows the results of the Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain, is still considered a symbol of the destruction and devastation that war leaves in its wake. According to Mar Hamis, his e-mail was intended to awaken the...