Free Republic

President Barack Obama has brought a more relaxed style to the White House, according to Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times, among other things going suit coat-less in the Oval Office and allowing others to do the same. Obama critics will probably hold this against him and mark him down as disrespecting the presidency. But the Oval Office is an office after all, even if it is the world's most famous one. At bottom, it is a work space albeit it holds an almost sacred place in the hearts of many Americans. Most Americans probably won't begrudge Obama...

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...

Five years ago, young Muslims across the United States began reading and passing along a blurry, photocopied novel called “The Taqwacores,” about imaginary punk rock Muslims in Buffalo. “This book helped me create my identity,” said Naina Syed, 14, a high school freshman in Coventry, Conn. A Muslim born in Pakistan, Naina said she spent hours on the phone listening to her older sister read the novel to her. “When I finally read the book for myself,” she said, “it was an amazing experience.” The novel is “The Catcher in the Rye” for young Muslims, said Carl W. Ernst, a...

As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county's Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers. Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools. Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland license...

Barack Obama, Time's Person Of The Year, as you've never seen him before ...Barack Obama was yesterday named as Time magazine’s Person of the Year, as a set of never-seen-before photographs emerged of the American president-elect... The black and white pictures show the dandily dressed Obama, aged around 19, smoking a cigarette whilst sitting on a wooden bench and leaning against a wall. The future Democratic leader of the free world was spotted by aspiring photographer Lisa Jack in the canteen at Los Angeles’ Occidental College and happily agreed to model for her.... ...Ms Jack...lost touch with Mr Obama shortly...

Barack Obama conducted his first press conference as President Elect, with Vice President Elect Joe Biden and his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at his side and his economic advisors, looking appropriately dour and serious, standing behind him. There was not much in the way of news made at the Obama press conference, aside from a shot taken at an old lady named Nancy Reagan. The majority of the questions were about the current economic situation and what Obama intends to do about it. The short answer appears to be the enactment of some kind of economic stimulus package, the...

Drudge has pic of Obama flipping McCain the bird on top of his site!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008 AT 10:54 AM "Punk Rock Republicans" POSTED BY MEGHAN I am often asked what my favorite band of all time is, and for me it is an incredibly difficult decision - almost impossible. However, if I had to pick a band, it would probably be The Ramones. I have been a fan since around sixth grade when I first heard the song "I Want To Be Sedated" on the radio and was immediately hooked (I even had my first kiss while "Beat on the Brat" was playing in the background). The power, impact and influence of...

Mordecai Specktor says his 19-year-old son, Max, "has never been in a fight" and is "not a violent person." "He's an anarchist," said Specktor, the publisher and editor of Minnesota's Jewish newspaper, the American Jewish World. He's also "a University of Minnesota student, Jewishly educated." His son, he said, is "a wonderful guy." Max Specktor is also now branded a terrorist after his arrest earlier this month, along with seven others, on charges of planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's been charged with conspiring to riot "in furtherance of terrorism" and could face up to...

"The one thing that I want to insist on is that, as I travel around the country, the American people are a decent people. Now they get confused sometimes. You know, they listen to the wrong talk radio shows or watch the wrong TV networks, um, but they’re, they’re basically decent, they’re basically sound." - Barack Obama, speaking at a Planned Parenthood rally

Barney Frank: Sarah Palin’s family life is fair game Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - Updated 5m ago WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank is among the first Democrats to publicly say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion. Republicans have stressed Palin’s conservative family values in announcing her selection as John McCain’s running mate. Frank says the disclosure about her daughter undercuts conservative claims that liberalism harms family life. Frank said Palin’s family is "in great turmoil." Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has said he considers family...

My husband FINALLY had a cartoon published! Conservative Punk Goes French! One of Conservative Punk's original cartoons was picked up by Currier International, a weekly magazine put out by Le Monde. It was featured in their Obama issue, as an accompaniment to an op-ed piece by Karl Rove. My husband, Craig Holloway along with Nick Rizzuto who is the producer of The Wilkow Majority which can be heard from 12-3pm EST Monday-Friday on Sirius Patriot 144, are the creators of GUTTER POLITIX.

Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS heated up in a Manhattan court on Wednesday as his lawyers sought to have several key documents in the case made public. Rather’s lead attorney Marty Gold asked Justice Ira Gammerman to release the documents, arguing that they would help refute CBS’s public characterization of Rather’s claims in the suit as a fantasy, the New York Observer reported. Gold said that Rather would like to give the public access to about 10 of the thousands of documents handed over by CBS. But Gammerman rebuffed the effort, saying he considered the request to release...

A police spokesman says Oakland Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker was found unconscious on a Las Vegas street after apparently being the victim of a robbery. Police spokesman Bill Cassell said in a statement that Walker was taken to a hospital with "significant injuries" after being found early Monday on a street off the Las Vegas Strip. Cassell said Walker was in fair condition at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. A Raiders spokesman said the team was "in the process of gathering information" and had no further comment. Walker, 29, played the past two seasons for Denver after four seasons...

“I am an Obama supporter. I am also pro-life. In fact, without my family’s involvement in the pro-life movement it would not exist as we know it. Evangelicals weren’t politicized until after my late father and evangelical leader Francis Schaeffer, Dr. Koop (Reagan’s soon-to-be Surgeon General) and I stirred them up over the issue of abortion in the mid-1970s. Our Whatever Happened to the Human Race? book, movie series and seminars brought the evangelicals into the pro-life movement. “In 2000, we elected a president who claimed he believed God created the earth and who, as president, put car manufacturers and...

CNN story. Apparently Obama sent a letter to his pastor but that has yet to be released.

I have come to the sad conclusion that President Bush is a Punk on the World stage. If ever a US President deserved that term, it is George W. Bush. In case you haven't been keeping up with current events, the leader of the free world made a special trip over to Saudi Arabia recently to ask them to increase oil production. They said no, Bush left with hat in hand. While some may see this as some sort of diplomatic effort to reduce the price at our pumps, I see it as surrender to the OPEC tyrants. This is...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, a prominent radio talk show host and reporter in the Bay Area for more than two decades, admitted today to distributing child pornography in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was prepared to accept Ward's guilty plea at a hearing in San Francisco to one count of distributing child pornography, but agreed to hold off at the request of Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg. Had the guilty plea been officially submitted today, Ward could have been sent to prison immediately. Instead,...

Hi all, several years ago those of you who were around FR might remember a band of young rocker brothers who did a song "Hateful Lies" that skeweed Michael Moore. Well, the band is still around, and has just released a music video for its new song "Westboro", inspired by the lunacy of the WBC. We thought some of you might be interested, if so the video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD0oSIyBUBQ. If you like their music video, let them know please, they have a myspace at http://www.myspace.com/attilahuns. FYI, here are the lyrics: Westboro, words and music by Andrew O'Donnell...

- Gov. Spitzer said at a private fund-raiser that he wants a Democratic-controlled state Senate to legalize gay marriage - a highly divisive and controversial issue - as one of its first priorities in 2009, a witness to the remarks told The Post. Spitzer, a gay-marriage proponent, pledged to help Democrats next November win the three Senate seats they need to gain the majority. "One of the first things we're going to do when [Senate Minority Leader] Malcolm Smith is [majority] leader is gay marriage," the witness recounted Spitzer as telling some 60 people who paid up to $10,000 each...