Free Republic

Feds subpoena Rep. Visclosky's offices By Roxana Tiron Posted: 05/29/09 12:41 PM [ET] Federal law enforcement officials have subpoenaed the congressional and campaign offices of Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) to get information about a former defense lobby firm raided by the FBI, according to Visclosky. Certain Visclosky employees have also been sent grand jury subpoenas requesting documents related to the PMA Group, a lobby shop with strong ties to the Indiana lawmaker. Visclosky’s former chief of staff, Rich Kaelin, was a high-profile lobbyist at the firm that closed its doors at the end of March. “Federal law enforcement officials have...

Donald Sterling looks good. The 76-year-old billionaire owner of the Clippers always looks good, an occasional tousle of salt-and-cinnamon hair dangling over his expressive, perpetually tanned face. Sweeping into the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles the night of May 14 wearing a black suit and white tie, he directs photo ops before commenting to his companions about a Mag reporter: "Do you know why they're here? They want to know why the NAACP would give an award to someone with my track record!" For more than two years, Sterling has been staring down federal civil rights charges related...

Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip. But when they arrived, all the 5-year-olds got was a lesson in disappointment. The buses from Conway Elementary arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a little later than planned, and they were locked out. "We were going to the White House, but we couldn’t get in so I felt sad," 5-year-old Cameron Stine said. Parents say they were just 10 minutes late for their...

In an amazing act of unconscionable hubris, in the midst of an economic crisis, President George W. Bush has decided to appear on the Tonight Show. That's right, the Tonight Show. Does he think he's Justin Timberlake? This is a callous waste of resources during a tough economic time. Millions of dollars will need to be spent to transport motorcades across the country, and establish security and accommodations for his entourage in this self indulgent display. Furthermore, our emperor has decided to declare himself tout in chief by blessing his unworthy subjects to his March Madness picks. As if we...

As he empathized with recession-weary Americans, President Obama arranged in the days just before he took office to secure a $500,000 advance for a children's book project, a disclosure report shows. The terms of the book deal were disclosed in a Senate financial disclosure report filed Tuesday.

In his first weeks in office, President Barack Obama shut down his predecessor’s system for reviewing regulations, realigned and expanded two key White House policymaking bodies and extended economic sanctions against parties to the conflict in the African nation of Cote D’Ivoire. Despite the intense scrutiny a president gets just after the inauguration, Obama managed to take all these actions with nary a mention from the White House press corps. The moves escaped notice because they were never announced by the White House Press Office and were never placed on the White House web site. They came to light only...

Despite a lack of attention from both major presidential candidates in last fall’s election, Ann Arbor won't go completely unnoticed by controversial political figures this school year. University alum and 1960s anti-war activist Bill Ayers will be addressing the Ann Arbor community tonight at 7 p.m. at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library.

Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., says he'd be willing to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district if President Obama makes good on a plan to close the U.S. prison there. As one of his first acts in office, the president circulated a draft Wednesday that would shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year. Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he'd have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison. "Sure, I'd take 'em," said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. "They're no more dangerous in my...

CARACAS: President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.

Life for the First Children By Derrick Z. Jackson Globe Columnist / December 26, 2008 With some minor irony, the longer version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" talks about Santa bringing "curly-head dolls that toddle and coo." So far, these girls, who are about to give curly hair an unprecedented place in American history, have done nothing but warm American hearts. Much has already been made of the potential of Barack and Michelle Obama being the ultimate Huxtable family of the old "The Bill Cosby Show." The incoming First Couple says they expect the First Children to do...

It's one of those things that sneaks up on you in politics, a sense of things happening not quite as you expected. It started in April when our Times colleague Louise Roug called with a quote from Sen. Hillary Clinton.

An important lesson on guilt by association from a man who surely never would have objected if John McCain had once worked with, say, an unrepentant abortion clinic bomber. I can’t decide which part is my favorite: Is it Kayo comparing The One’s knowing, voluntarily association with a terrorist to Palin being saddled months ago with an in-law who was busted just this week? Or is it him using Palin’s own supposed lack of empathy to declare open season on this story, replete with nasty drug jokes from an actual comedian about what Bristol Palin’s baby should be named? It...

In a surprise move, the state attorney general has asked the California Supreme Court to invalidate the gay marriage ban passed by voters last month.

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has changed his position with respect to the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure, which amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is itself unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

Kerry To Stop Serving as Small Biz Committee Chair By Doug Caverly Gulps greet replacement Landrieu The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is undergoing a change in leadership. Say goodbye to John Kerry, who was the chairman, and hello to Mary Landrieu, who's next in line. Kerry will now be the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so don't worry about him. Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana, may instead give small business owners cause to be concerned for themselves. Robb Mandelbaum notes, "Kerry brought a profile to the committee that Landrieu will find difficult to match. According...

Video at link. As a student here in Chicago, I’ve been waiting since the first day I learned about Blagojevich for this scum to get his day…

Al Franken’s (D) campaign may ask the Democratic-led Senate to intervene on his behalf to allow some disqualified absentee ballots to be counted in his quest to unseat Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). Franken attorney Marc Elias made the case to reporters Monday that as many as 1,000 absentee ballots were improperly disqualified and that the Senate or the courts may need to step in to resolve the issue. “No recount can be considered accurate or complete until all the ballots cast by lawful voters are counted,” Elias said of the recount that became necessary when only about 200 votes separated...

President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials... Article is at the source because of copy rights It's under national news.

Matthews: My Job Is To Make Obama Presidency a Success "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work."

Six days after sitting silently at Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney's side as he acknowledged causing ''pain'' in their marriage, Terry Mahoney filed for divorce Monday. She filed a petition in Palm Beach County Court seeking the dissolution of their 23-year marriage, possession of their Palm Beach Gardens home and ''a full accounting of all funds spent or dissipated by the husband within the last two years'' -- the period since Mahoney was elected to Congress on a ''faith, family and personal responsibility'' platform in the aftermath of the Mark Foley sex scandal. Neither Mahoney nor his wife could be...