Free Republic

...Small-dollar donations to Obama have surged this year, and those donors became crucial in the spring as the battle to secure the Democratic nomination intensified. ...Employees of investment bank Goldman Sachs, for example, have contributed more than $570,000 to his campaign. Another problem with asserting that small donors are an antidote to undue influence by wealthy contributors is that even small donors are almost certainly much richer than the average American. ..the Campaign Finance Institute found that more than half of donors earned between $75,000 and $250,000 a year. The median U.S. income that year was $46,000. ...big-ticket fundraising among...

Barack Obama 'belittles' small town America By Tim Shipman in Washington Last Updated: 12:52am BST 13/04/2008 Barack Obama's presidential campaign has been knocked off balance after the Democratic White House frontrunner was caught on tape apparently belittling the fears of small town Americans who have lost their jobs. Senator Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana The senator from Illinois was forced into a frantic damage limitation exercise after a recording emerged in which he appeared to dismiss impoverished blue collar workers as bitter individuals who have turned to God, guns and...

Have you ever wanted to rule your very own country? A micronation is an area of land claimed by one or more persons to be independent from any major recognized nation in the world. Some of these have incredible histories of war, triumph and independence and still survive today, while others have long since been abandoned, annexed or destroyed. Sealand was established in the 1960s an Englishman and his family took possession of an abandoned anti-aircraft platform off the coast of Britain and declared it to be the Principality of Sealand. In the1970s a coup attempt was made and...

Former Smithsonian secretary Lawrence M. Small took nearly 10 weeks of vacation a year during seven years running the vast museum complex and was absent from his job 550 workdays while earning $5.7 million on outside work, according to an independent commission report to be released today. The Smithsonian's second-ranking official, Sheila P. Burke, was absent from her job as deputy secretary for 400 days while earning $10 million over six years on non-museum work.....

In a desperate attempt to make Rudy Giuliani out to be the hero of Tuesday night’s debate, Fox News is continuing to attack Texas Congressman Ron Paul for something he did not say. In the latest installment of this campaign, John Gibson of Fox News says that Paul “suggested that the U.S. actually had a hand in the [9/11] terrorist attacks.” No, what he said was that U.S. foreign policy was a reason why Osama bin Laden attacked America. This is a fact. Gibson’s comment shows how Fox News has been eager to slant the news in favor of Giuliani,...

SANTA ANA SCHOOLS deserve a public spanking if, as alleged, they created phantom classes to pull the wool over state officials' eyes. The idea was to make it look as though there were no more than 20 students per teacher in the primary grades so the schools could receive the full $16 million they were entitled to from the state for reducing class size. As lowdown as such a trick would be, it sheds light on one of the more rigid and expensive regulations governing public education in California. The decade-old class-size reduction program was a poorly planned experiment that...

Monday, March 26, 2007; 1:02 PM Lawrence M. Small, the banker who took over the Smithsonian Institution seven years ago, was replaced Monday, according to congressional sources. Roger Sant, head of the Smithsonian's executive committee, was expected to make an announcement this afternoon. Small's management of the Smithsonian has been sharply criticized by members of Congress, and his compensation and spending practices have been subjected to scrutiny by the Smithsonian's inspector general. Last week, two separate committees were appointed to look into management operations at the museum complex, which includes 18 museums and research facilities as well as the National...

As the Republican and Democratic parties dive into the electoral process with their eyes closed and minds firmly set on neutral, should true believers in a limited government, from any political party, care one way or another about the result? Does it matter whether Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani gets to call the White House “home” in 2009? Does it make any difference? For our government, not especially.

Small Houston oil company at the center of global dramaERHC's story becomes oddly intertwined with FBI bribery probe By DAVID IVANOVICH Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau Sept. 18, 2006, 1:28PM WASHINGTON - Initially, theirs was a tale to rival that of any legendary Texas wildcatter. A little-known Houston oil company lands a potential blockbuster deal in the crude-rich waters off West Africa and appears poised for a big payoff. Negotiating the rocky shoals of West African politics and threats of arrest for sedition, ERHC Energy, a tiny company with no experience in offshore drilling, secures the rights from the...

BAGHDADI, Iraq (Aug. 17, 2006) -- After 30 recent graduates from the Iraqi police academy came to Baghdadi, Iraq, residents in this Saddam-era military housing complex are expressing interest in joining the police force because they are noticing a decrease in insurgent activity. Marines with the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, or “America’s Battalion”, are combating the insurgency with local police officers – who recently received “much needed” new gear to get the job done – pistols, protective vests, rifles and batons to use while patrolling the city’s streets. Soon they will receive radios and police cars, said Maj....

Wanted: small asteroid for use as slingshot to slay a Goliath Ian Sample, science correspondent Saturday July 15, 2006 The Guardian (UK) It worked for David as he squared up to Goliath, and now scientists hope a slingshot will help save the planet. Scientists at the French space agency, CNES, have calculated how to capture an asteroid and manoeuvre it into a near-Earth orbit, from where it can be flung into the path of a larger asteroid that threatens to collide with Earth. The plan joins a growing list of strategies put forward to protect our home planet should scientists...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 12, 2006 – Air Force Tech. Sgt. William Long likes a challenge. But a couple weeks ago, one challenge seemed insurmountable. Air Force officials had notified an airman deployed to a remote forward operating base that his wife was gravely ill. The Air Force placed him on emergency leave, then tried to figure a way to get him from the Afghan frontier to the United States. As a controller in the Air Terminal Operations Center here, Long decided to tackle the problem. Long, deployed from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., found an Army helicopter...

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010, WHENEVER THEY NEXT COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW; THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION -- THAT IS, UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHO NEVER PAID INTO IT AND AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT. Grouped by Home State Alabama: Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR),...

6/7/2006 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Patrolling the sky over Iraq for more than 2,250 hours in May, the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron here leads the largest unmanned aerial vehicle operation in the world with one of the Air Force’s smallest aircraft -- the MQ-1 Predator. Providing “real-time eyes-in-the-sky,” the squadron of about 20 aircraft is often the critical link between ground commanders and what is around the next corner in combat. “We’re the largest game in town and an integral part of just about every large joint operation in Iraq,” said Capt. Fred Atwater, 46th ERS commander....

I am curious why none of the media covers the most important aspect of the Malvo shootings. If you look at Newspapers on the dates when the shootings are underway you discover something I find quite interesting. The shootings begin to dominate the news the day before the debate on the Iraq war starts and they catch them the day after the declaration of war??? If you ask most people "do you remember the debate about starting the second Iraq war", they will all answer "yes of course". But if you followup with the question "name one point in the...

I recently received a reply to a post that stated: "This should be beneath a "freeper". Sad." So I asked.. what is it that makes a FReeper? My reply (and I will admit was tasteless) was also questioning. It stirred controversy and was removed? Why Moderators? Can you not tell me? Did it not meet with your "FReeper" mentality? According to all posted guidelines it should be listed but no, you chose to delete it. Yes.. I'm the first one IBTZ, I'm sure you'll nick me for speaking up..

Neandertals take out their small blades Bruce Bower From San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Paleoanthropology Society and Society for American Archaeology meeting Excavations of Neandertal artifacts at two caves in northern Spain have yielded an unexpected discovery—a trove of thin, double-edged stone blades that researchers usually regard as the work of Stone Age people who lived much later. In 2005, Federico Bernaldo de Quiros of the University of Léon in Spain and his coworkers unearthed small stone blades, which they called bladelets, lying amid larger, characteristic Neandertal stone implements in a cave called El Castillo. All the finds came...

ABOARD THE USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN, May 2, 2006 – While there is a ring of steel around the Iraqi oil terminal platforms in the Northern Arabian Gulf, small rubber boats with special boat crews do much of the heavy lifting for security and stability in the area. A small-boat boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Ballarat prepares for maritime operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf. American, British and Australian are always a part of Coalition Task Force 58, which provides maritime security in the region. Other countries' ships join when available. Photo by Jim Garamone   (Click photo...

An 18-year-old Singaporean student committed suicide last month because he was convinced his penis was too small, a report said on Wednesday. State Coroner Tan Boon Heng said the case highlighted the importance of sex education in schools and recommended the details be forwarded to the education ministry, the Straits Times reported. The teenager, who was not named, jumped from a building on March 3. A suicide note explained why, an investigation to determine the cause of death said. "He said it was not due to the stress of his examination, but it was more about his physical development... He...

The bomb’s small size increases the number of weapons an aircraft can carry, therefore raising the amount of targets it can kill in one sortie. By Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen / Air Armament Center Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., March 24, 2006 – There's an old saying that goes, "good things come in small packages." That saying rings true for the warfighter when looking at the capabilities of the small diameter bomb, the Air Force's newest precision guided munition.At just 5.9 feet long and 285 pounds, the bomb’s small size increases the number of weapons an aircraft...

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

Jimmy Carter shows his only colors are all partisan.. Deciding to desecrate the funeral of Coretta Scott King , the former president decided to ignore the grief of the King Family, to throw away the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., and focused his speech on attacking the President of the United States. Why? Because he could so he did. This is the essence of hate.. Why the Left Wing is so bereft of leadership, bereft of a path, bereft of morals. Their whole platform is simple hate. “I hate the President”, “I hate the USA”, “I hate Children”, “I...

"Thousands Remember Coretta Scott King" ---------- I was watching Fox News and they showed Jimmy Carter speaking at Coretta Scott King's funeral, and sure enough, he started talking about illegal wire-tapping and other examples of government run amok. I am appalled that he would use this opportunity to bash the President, but not really surprised. :-(

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Feb. 1, 2006 – Estonia is helping two nations rebuild in the wake of extremism and a violent dictatorship. Its forces are now deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the country is a coalition partner at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. An Estonian soldier checks a map while patrolling in Iraq. Estonia has troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Photo courtesy of Estonian Defense Forces   Estonia sent 23 soldiers to Afghanistan, a number that will grow to 150 by 2007, said Estonian army Maj. Kuido Pettai, the senior national representative for Estonia...

Merkel's 'small steps' bring giant leap in popularity By Tony Paterson in Berlin (Filed: 22/01/2006) Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, has confounded her critics by emerging as the country's most popular leader for more than a decade - only two months after being elected. Dismissed only six months ago as a humourless and dowdy East German, Mrs Merkel is riding a wave of unprecedented public approval that last week placed her at the top of Germany's key opinion poll rating for politicians. Angela Merkel's image has changed for good The monthly survey conducted by the ZDF television channel found voters rated...

Fellow Americans, there comes a time every mans life when we must give up ourselves before we are worthy to recieve. There comes a time in this war on terror when in order to protect liberty, we have to give it up in the mean time for safty. That's right folks. Today, Americans have forsaken the creator for the creation and have decided that they would value our "civil liberties" than protecting western civilization and rich white people from the tender mercies of radical Islamic terrorists. Selfish liberals insist and whine that Bush has no right to spy on Americans...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

After reading all of the crap that people have been saying regarding Adult Private Social Clubs, I felt that I had to post an article and give my opinion. I am sick and tired of all the religous groups that are saying that there are drugs, prostitution, minors, non-consenting people, and just immoral people at these clubs! First of all, who do these people think they are to decide what is morally right or wrong for me? I believe that I have a good set of morals. I am a law abiding, tax paying citizen, I work full time and...

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

Big brain means small testes, finds bat study 12:16 07 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Gaia Vince Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences The brainier male bats are, the smaller their testicles, according to a new study. Researchers suggest the correlation exists because both organs require a lot of energy to grow and maintain, leading individual species to find the optimum balance. The analysis of 334 species of bat found that in species where the females were promiscuous, the males had evolved larger testes but had relatively small brains. In species, where the females were monogamous, the situation...

<p>You people are jerks. Not likeable jerks either, but the kind folks would like to smack in the back of the head with a shovel. Think Judge Snells from Caddyshack or Neidermier from Animal House.</p> <p>I know this probably comes as a shock to you, but if you do some serious soul searching, you'll realize that I am right.</p>

HADITHA DAM, Iraq (Nov. 8, 2005) -- The phrase, ‘It’s a small world,’ is used when people unexpectedly reunite. For two Marines with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, it’s not just a small world, it’s a small Marine Corps. Even though there are hundreds of units in the Marines, Orland, Calif., native, Cpl. Joshua E. Thompson, and Claremore, Okla., native, Cpl. Timothy R. Roundtree, served together nearly every step of their Marine Corps careers. Now in Iraq for the second time together, they spend everyday together fixing vehicles for the battalion’s motor transport section. The two are known to complete...

Concluding Question: The Meta-Group and the United States Government It seems clear that the meta-group, with its influential connections on at least three continents, was powerful enough to effect changes, through the Russian 9/11, in Russian history. The question arises whether they could similarly effect changes in American history as well. As we have seen Russian sources claim that the U.S. Government has had access to he meta-group, for such especially sensitive projects as the assassination of Abu al Walid al-Hamadi. They claim the meta-group's involvement in a number of U.S.-sponsored regime changes in eastern Europe, from the overthrow of...

I am an internet java script sent to infiltrate your site and transform you from political neanderthals into a modern 21st Century progressive mode. This is your first warning. Do not try and resist. It is useless. Accept your fate. You will be assimilated.

The rear of the aircraft yawned open, and at the prompt of "five, four, three, two, one, green light," the loadmasters released the restraints and a 65-foot rocket slid out the back of the aircraft beginning its descent to the desert floor. The rocket drop was a test mission -- the first of a series dubbed the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle program. The program is a joint venture between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force. It is designed to develop a new method of putting a 1,000-pound payload into low-Earth orbit. This first test was the...

Small brain did not stop Hobbit having big ideas By Nic Fleming and Roger Highfield in Dublin (Filed: 08/09/2005) A fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed "the Hobbit" does indeed represent a previously unrecognised species of early Man, according to a new technique that suggests it was a cultured little fellow. Sceptics had argued that the Hobbit, discovered in Indonesia and first announced last year, could have been an individual who suffered from microcephalya, a disorder that limits brain growth. The fossils' discoverers had suggested that the Hobbit was either a pygmy form of a known species or a previously...

Jim Conk, a stalwart member of the Libertarian Party of Delaware, was killed in a small plane crash in Pennsylvania on Aug. 13, along with two family members. A fourth passenger was seriously injured in the crash. Conk had been a member of the Delaware LP for more than 25 years and had served for most of that time in various positions on the state executive committee, said Bill Morris, a representative of the state party. At the time of his death, Conk was serving both as treasurer of the state LP and as the Kent County LP representative. Also...

NANO-PRESIDENT, MEGA-DISASTER: history will not be kind to bill + hillary clintonTo paraphrase Einstein: The unleashed power of terrorism had changed everything but their thinking, and they thus drifted toward unparalleled catastrophes by Mia T, 8.01.05   History Will Not be Kind to Clinton (annotated) By Charles Krauthammer Townhall.com | June 29, 2004 Since 1960 we have had only two politically successful presidents -- reaffirmed and re-elected, dominating their decades: Reagan and Clinton. (Except for Kennedy, whose presidency was cut short, the others -- Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Bush [41] -- were repudiated.) Clinton's autobiography, appearing as it does...

NANO-PRESIDENTthe danger of the unrelenting smallness of bill + hillary clintonby Mia T, 7.31.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)MAD hillary talks series #3WHY MISSUS CLINTON IS DANGEROUS FOR THE CHILDREN FOR AMERICA FOR THE WORLD Ian Hunter recently observed that our leaders are shrinking. "From a Churchill (or, for that matter, a Margaret Thatcher) to a [pre-9/11] Tony Blair; from Eisenhower to Clinton; from Diefenbaker to Joe Clark; from Trudeau to Chretien -- we seem destined to be governed by pygmies." Mindless rhinestone-studded-and-tented kleptocracy Mia T, November 1999 he size of our leaders is inexorably shrinking. ...

For years the American Civil Liberties Union has pushed its agenda in terms of what the Constitution “really says,” and what freedom “really means” through judicial extortion. In 1978, the Supreme Court exempted the ACLU from the “ambulance chasing” prohibitions that apply to nearly every other lawyer in the country. Over the years this has enabled the ACLU’s legions of pro bono attorneys to target various organizations they feel are vulnerable to their lawsuits, to dredge the ranks of the “offended” until they can find someone who will agree to let the ACLU stick their name at the top of...

Long ago, I read that to live in the country you must have the soul of a poet, the dedication of a saint, and a good station wagon. Today I suppose you’d have to update the station wagon to an SUV, but the fact remains: To live successfully anywhere outside the mainstream of life you must have an unconventional spirit coupled with down-to-earth practicality—a combo that can be hard to find and harder still to balance. I live in the country, but my latest life choices have also involved living in miniature spaces—which presents an additional set of challenges,...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

Gas costs so much. I cant afford it. Why want Bush do something? Don't say he can't. His daddy or his handlers could be on the phone in 2 minutes with the Rothchilds and by 1 week, oil prices would be under $20 and gas would be 1 dollar a gallon. You know it and I know it. Why want he? Do you know? Is there sombody we can call? Plaese advice.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - There's little doubt that after 16 months in office, California's action hero-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has begun to shrink to human size. But so far, that's done little to elevate Democrats, who still seem a bit puny by comparison. By proposing a controversial set of reform proposals - merit pay for teachers, overhauling the state's public pension system, creating a mechanism to automatically cut state spending and redrawing legislative districts - Schwarzenegger's aura of invincibility has taken a substantial hit. Everywhere he goes, he's trailed by a growing number of protesters - teachers, police and fire fighters...

MINNEAPOLIS — Lots of newspapers lose lawsuits. But the $625,000 jury verdict against a small suburban newspaper has gotten the attention of media-watchers. The Chanhassen Villager was hauled into court over an editorial about an elected official — the sort of thing where newspapers usually have wide latitude. “This would probably bankrupt two-thirds of the newspapers in the state of Minnesota,” said Mark Anfinson, attorney for the chain of small papers sto which the Villager belongs and for many other smaller papers. Attorneys for the Villager aren’t claiming that the Villager itself is in jeopardy. Media attorney Paul Hannah, who...

Republicans have given up the pretense that their party is the party of small government. “One of the most misunderstood parts of Hoosier culture is that Hoosiers are reluctant of change of any kind,” State Rep. Luke Messer told Brian Howey, publisher of Indianapolis Eye News, in an article that identifies an undercurrent in Indiana to have a constitutional convention. “If we have a strong leader, Hoosiers are willing to step up and make big changes. Bob Knight and Larry Bird were pretty big figures in Hoosier culture and they have been willing to make big changes. What we want...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!