Free Republic

Barack Obama has awakened a sleeping nation! Gary Hubbell - Aspen Times Weekly Barack Obama is the best thing that has happened to America in the last 100 years. Truly, he is the savior of America's future. He is the best thing ever. Despite the fact that he has some of the lowest approval ratings among recent presidents, history will see Barack Obama as the source of America's resurrection. Barack Obama has plunged the country into levels of debt that we could not have previously imagined; his efforts to nationalize health care have been met with fierce resistance nationwide; TARP...

Internet chatter had led to speculation that it might be an urban myth -- nothing more than clever digital trickery spreading via the Web. But our friend Bob Collins at Minnesota Public Radio assures us he's seen it with his own eyes: There is a billboard along I-35 near Wyoming, Minn., with a huge photo of former president George W. Bush and this question: "Miss Me Yet?" Now, the push is on to find out who paid to have it put up. Bob says there's no readily apparent claim of ownership on the billboard, so he's heading back to the...

Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, whose election in 2006 was hailed by Democrats as a threshold moment of renaissance for their party in a region where Republicans had long ruled the roost, said on Wednesday that he would not seek a second term. At a news conference at the state capitol, Mr. Ritter said he wanted to find a better balance in life and spend more time with his family. He said that being “unencumbered” by the demands of a campaign would also allow him the freedom to make the difficult tough decisions about the state budget that will...

There is one consolation for Mayor Gavin Newsom now that he's dropped out of the governor's race - he won't have to take a $72,477-a-year pay cut. Newsom, who earns $246,464 as mayor of San Francisco, would have seen his pay drop to $173,987 if he had won the governor's race, as a result of the salary cuts imposed on state elected officers last week.

WALNUT CREEK — More than 40 employees at the downtown Target store quit their jobs after an internal probe raised suspicions about their immigration status, according to lawyers who have met with the workers. Managers summoned the overnight crew of the North Main Street department store to meetings last month and gave workers the chance to prove their eligibility to work in the United States by bringing in the proper documents, the lawyers and Target representatives say. Most of the questioned workers voluntarily resigned, Target spokeswoman Kate Gillen said. The Minnesota-based retailer would not say how many workers left the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed on Thursday, as companies continued to cut payrolls amid uncertainty over the economic outlook. Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 576,000 in the week ended August 15 from 561,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said.

The Obama administration filed court papers Monday arguing that a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as government lawyers continue to defend the law. Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration's response to the case has angered gay activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by President Obama. In the court papers, the administration urges law's repeal but says that in the meantime, government lawyers will continue to defend it as a law on the books. The government's previous...

Time is running out for the legislatures in Arizona, California, Indiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania to solve budget gaps. Reporting from Indianapolis and Denver -- The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War. But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has warned residents that most of the state's services -- including its parks, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and state-regulated casinos --...

'I'm better off dead. I'm done': Michael Jackson's fateful prediction just a week before his death By IAN HALPERIN 28th June 2009 Genetic condition had ruined his lungs and left him unable to sing He became so skeletal, doctors believed he was anorexic He had nightmares about being murdered – and wanted to die He used swine flu as an excuse to avoid coming to England He thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts – it was 50 Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Had he not been driven – by a cabal...

We are already seeing Sen. Ensign being attacked by local liberals, and it is spreading to the national level. However, reserve your judgement for a moment. You must consider certain facts about the affair. * Ensign was separated from his wife at the time. * One they reconciled, he ended the affair. * The husband apparently demanded money from Ensign to keep quiet. So it will depend on your own value system as to whether he should really take heat for violating his vows. It would be understandable to hold scorn for Ensign since he slept with the wife of...

UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. "I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions," said Ensign....

I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled. As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty....

An openly-gay, teenage boy was just voted "Prom Queen" at Los Angeles' Fairfax High School in a campaign that began as a stunt -- but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and teen popularity. Sergio Garcia, 18, was crowned queen Saturday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. "I feel invincible," Garcia said in his tiara and charcoal-gray tuxedo. A few days earlier, he gave a speech that won over some cynics and led to an ovation and his unlikely victory. "At one time, prom may have been a big popularity contest where the best-looking guy or...

<p>LOS ANGELES – An openly gay teen was voted prom queen at Los Angeles' Fairfax High School in a campaign that began as a stunt . . . .</p>

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado. He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org. And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively. Now, politicians are dealing with news that...

Dan Walters: What’s Plan B if five ballot measures fail? ShareThis By Dan Walters dwalters@sacbee.com Published: Friday, May. 1, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3A Prospects are rapidly diminishing for the five ballot measures that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say they need to keep the state budget from drowning in red ink. So, one might ask, what's Plan B? Rejection of three measures (Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E) would have a direct impact totaling nearly $6 billion on the 2009-10 budget, which was supposedly balanced by Schwarzenegger and legislators in February. Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor has already...

State budget deal to be unveiled Monday Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross Sunday, February 8, 2009 Buckle your seat belts - the ride is about to get wild in Sacramento, with state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg planning to put a $42 billion budget deal up for a vote. The deal - a combination of cuts and tax hikes - is expected to be unveiled Monday, then put up for a vote Tuesday. Whether there are enough Republican votes to make it fly, however, is unknown. "Darrell has made it clear that there was no handshake agreement, and there may not...

CENTERVILLE, Utah — The man escaped with a few cuts to his arm, but the toilet made out much worse. Police say a man's gun fell out of its holster while he pulled up his pants after using the bathroom at a Carl's Jr. restaurant Tuesday. The gun fired when it hit the floor and shattered the commode. A few shards of porcelain cut the man's arm, and a woman in an adjacent restroom who was frightened by the noise reported she was having chest pain. Both people were checked at the scene and released. Police say they confiscated the...

<p>SCIENTISTS have warned that Christmas lights are bad for the planet due to huge electricity waste and urged people to get energy efficient festive bulbs. CSIRO researchers said householders should know that each bulb turned on in the name of Christmas will increase emissions of greenhouse gases.</p>

(11-19) 16:21 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The fireplace police descended on the Bay Area on Wednesday. For the first time ever, residential fires are illegal under a new law, passed in July, that bans home burning on winter season Spare the Air days. The first such ban took effect at noon. Seventy inspectors from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District planned to spend the day and evening patrolling residential neighborhoods, looking for telltale chimney wisps. Violators will get warnings by mail. Repeat offenders face fines of as much as $2,000. The fireplace police say they are determined to keep...