Free Republic

Arlen Specter has left the Republican Caucus and become a Democrat. Why? The ostensible reason was because Republicans were dominated by the far right. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano issued a dire warning to watch out for members of the far right in combating the nonexistent threat of "domestic terrorism." Again, the far right is the bogeyman. Listen to Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank or MSNBC reporters or the New York Times. What is the mythical danger? It is the "far right." Now, the far right of the liberals' imagination simply does not exist. Those accused of representing the mythical "far...

"Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste. They are opportunities to do big things." - Rahm Emmanuel In our recent election, many Americans voted for a Savior, not a president. Americans were enamored with the idea of making history in this election, and in that sense we have gotten what we wanted. Unfortunately, Barack Obama is the wrong man, and this is definitely the wrong time. In fact, the timing couldn't be worse. We have in recent years vastly expanded the powers and autonomy of the Executive Branch, removing checks and balances along the way. Owing in...

LONDON -- On the eve of a global economic summit, President Barack Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. "We can only meet this challenge together," he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction. The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. He met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - In yet another fissure within radical Islamist networks, one of the world's most influential jihadi theologians is coming under fire from some former followers for allegedly moderating his views – a claim he denies. The attacks on Jordanian cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, who was spiritual adviser for the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, are significant because of Mr. Maqdisi's longtime stature as a revered spiritual mentor who legitimizes violence with his religious interpretations of Islamic sacred texts.

Sara Jane Olsen, the former Symbionese Liberation Army radical who was a fugitive from justice for a quarter of a century, has completed half of her 14 year prison sentence in California for placing shrapnel-laden pipe bombs under LAPD squad cars, and being an accessory to a bank heist murder in Carmichael, California, in 1975, and was released on parole. Prior to going on the lam, she was known as Kathleen Soliah, part of the gang of thugs who kidnapped, gang raped, and ransomed Patty Hearst, among other crimes. Gary Larson describes her return to her native Minnesota (where she...

The New York Times published an article on the pastors to whom Barack Obama has reached out. Having thrown his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright, Junior under the bus during the campaign, when his radical views became a political problem, he is in need of spiritual counsel or a least cover. The disturbing point is that of the 5 pastors listed, Jim Wallis is the only one credited with influencing Obama on policy issues. Why might this be a cause of concern? The New York Times reports: The pastor in the circle who has known Mr. Obama the longest is Mr....

If this be treason, make the most of it. No, not treason against this wonderful nation. But this column may sound suspiciously like treason against the cult of Obama, and against his hagiographers in the establishment media, and against the very idea that this president actually loves this nation's liberal, republican, constitutional order. Consider this also to be treason against the myth that our president is a man of deep, or even average, integrity. Barack Obama is a radical's radical and a man whose ego vastly outstrips his prior accomplishments. He is dangerous, and after just seven weeks he already...

The revelation that the FBI planted a spy in a Southern California mosque was explosive news in a Muslim community that has long suspected the government of even broader surveillance. Muslim-American organizations have demanded an inquiry. Some say the news has rattled their faith in American democracy. Despite the reaction, former FBI agents and federal prosecutors say spying on mosques is still one of the government's best weapons to thwart terrorists and that the benefit to national security is likely to far outweigh any embarrassment to the agency. "What matters to the FBI is preventing a massive attack that might...

Once upon a time, a white teenager from Kansas got pregnant by her black Kenyan boyfriend, Barack Obama Sr., or was it her husband? Whatever. (I say whatever because we’ve never seen either marriage or divorce certificates). Some say the couple was in Kenya visiting relatives when the birth of their son, Barack Obama Jr., occurred. No matter. (I say no matter because we’ve never seen an authentic birth certificate). By the time the baby was two years old his father abandoned him for his other wife and child in Kenya. I wonder how toddler Barry felt when his father...

Few know it today, but Chicago was the birthplace of a powerful grassroots social movement that changed political activism in this country. "Community Organizing" was pioneered in Chicago's old stockyards neighborhood by the soberly realistic, unabashedly radical Saul Alinsky. Alinsky's hard-nosed politics were shaped by the rough and tumble world of late 1930's Chicago. Back then, the city, still in the grips of the Great Depression, was controlled by the Kelly-Nash political machine and by Frank Nitti - heir to Al Capone's Mafia empire. In 1938, with a freshly minted graduate degree in criminology from University of Chicago, Alinsky went...

Joe Conason's column should be as chilling to conservatives as it is meant to be comforting to liberals. His message: don't be distracted by the centrist-seeming appointments Pres.-elect Obama has made to his economic team. He remains as committed as ever to his radical agenda. Conason's commentary appears this morning at Rasmussen Reports. Key lines [emphasis added]: "[W]hen liberals point to Summers and other members of the Obama team, crying betrayal, they misunderstand the strategy behind those appointments. The most important thing to remember about the president-elect as he prepares to govern is that he takes the long view --...

Zomblog has obtained an extremely rare copy of the first issue of Osawatomie, a newspaper published by the Weather Underground in 1975. Noteworthy passages are reproduced below, along with exact transcriptions. The full pages, with each passage in context in high resolution, are found at the bottom of this post. Much of Osawatomie, which was written at a time when the Dohrn-Ayers wing of the Weather Underground was transitioning from terrorism to “working from the inside” for revolution, concerns itself with the need to encourage “organizers” who will work in “communities” and use “audacity” to bring about “socialism” in America....

In the United States, celebrations of Israel's fifty years as a state have tried to project an image of the country that went out of fashion since the Palestinian Intifada (1987-92): a pioneering state, full of hope and promise for the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, a haven of enlightened liberalism in a sea of Arab fanaticism and reaction. On 15 April, for instance, CBS broadcast a two hour prime-time program from Hollywood hosted by Michael Douglas and Kevin Costner, featuring movie stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathy Bates (who recited passages from Golda Meir minus, of course, her most...

As Bill Ayers himself exulted, upon learning the government wasn't going to try to send him for jail for his role in the killing of innocent Americans: “Guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country.” I guess Barry O., graduate of Columbia, honors graduate of Harvard Law School (and Editor of its Review), was just too dumb, or willfully ignorant, to take the time to check this guy out before deciding to "pal" around with him. Or perhaps he just didn't care that Ayers was an unrepentant domestic terrorist. After all, I hear it's veddy, veddy chi-chi...

Sunday, October 5: **ONE HOUR SPECIAL** Obama & Friends: A History of Radicalism: 'Hannity's America' investigates Obama's college years, time as a community organizer and numerous controversial relationships

"Hannity's America - Obama & Friends: A History of Radicalism" This was a very good and informative segment. I wonder how we can get a DVD of this 1 hour show out to folks. This is the sort of real journalism that needs to be pushed in the masses most especially in Republican swing states. Sean Hannity has done an outstanding job to do what the other mainstream new agency's like CNN, ABC, NBC and other simply ignore. As Americans we need to understand what is on the potential plate by electing someone like Obama to the presidency. This would...

For some reason ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizers for Reform, and the Obama connection does not resonate with most voters. Mention, "the chickens have come home to roost" and the immediate reaction is Rev. Wright, or mention, "bitter voters clinging to their guns and religion" and Pennsylvania immediately pops up. Now, mention Obama and ACORN and the sound you hear is {{crickets}} and the look received is blank stares. Too many of us (myself included) have been too glib about Obama and his experience as a community organizer. One should consider that this is stealth experience that could...

Today, in a piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools,” I offer a report on my research into the archives of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), an education foundation once headed by Barack Obama. As I explained in “Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown?” the Richard J. Daley Library of the University of Illinois at Chicago first agreed to grant, then abruptly denied me, access to the files of this foundation. Subsequently, the Daley Library again reversed their decision and made the CAC files available. As I note in today’s Journal piece, I’ve conveyed the...

The Chicago bully tactics aren’t going to work. While Obama sics his lawyers and Kossack minions on TV stations that dare to air an independent ad about his close relationship with Weather Underground terrorist-turned-academic Bill Ayers, the truth is seeping out. Thanks to the efforts of NRO’s Stanley Kurtz, blogger Steve Diamond, and intense pressure from Internet readers and talk radio listeners, the University of Illinois - Chicago was forced to release a trove of papers that a former official attempted to shield from public view. There are some 140 boxes and 1,000 files to sift through — and MSM...

You might have thought the demented Americans with Disabilities Act — a bonanza for lawyers that requires any public facility to be designed with handicappers in mind or be sued out of existence — would be the last word in otherly-abled totalitarianism. Not so. Visitability is a concept that makes the ADA downright libertarian by comparison. The initial objective of Visitability proponents is to impose on every home a zero-step entrance, interior doors at least 32" wide, and at least one wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor. Once they've managed to have this mandated, we'll see where they go from...