Free Republic

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

BBC LATEST: Headline Only US President Obama Says He Will Not Rush "Solemn Decision" To Commit Troops To Afghanistan

WEST VALLEY CITY — The head of the Republican National Committee said Friday he believes voters may have moved beyond the bias against Mormonism that hurt Mitt Romney in last year's presidential election. Speaking to reporters after a town hall meeting at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Michael Steele said comments he made earlier this year about Romney being rejected by the GOP base because of his faith were "old news." "I was speaking to an attitude or a mindset at the time that I thought was unfortunate and I said that I think (Romney) proved just how unfortunate it...

<p>Just announced by Jennifer Griffith in a live interview, WH has asked Pentagon for a formal assessment of a withdrawal from Afghanistan, that the Afghan Wart is no longer in our nations interest, blamed the Afghan elections.</p>

Senate GOP leaders worry that some of their colleagues are misplaying their hand on health care reform by suggesting that they want to kill the plan in order to hurt the president. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said last week that, if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, “it will be his Waterloo, it will break him.”

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard are showing "discontent," according to the former crown prince of Iran, as the U.S. Navy sits back in "non-incident mode" in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Department of Defense is "on edge" over the turmoil in Iran, and has directed U.S. naval assets in the Persian Gulf to be, in layman's terms, in "non-incident mode," military officials told FOX News Monday. Meanwhile, the former crown prince of Iran contended that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard are showing "discontent" and some are "contemplating the contingency" of defying the regime in the wake of the Islamic Republic's...

Memo to my party: Blasting targets like Sonia Sotomayor is a surefire strategy to guarantee our extinction. If the GOP is ever to be resurgent, it has to pick its fights carefully. The tendency is, unfortunately, to shoot at everything that moves. Here are a couple of fights we don’t need: Colin Powell and Sonia Sotomayor. Let’s face it, Sotomayor is a political trifecta. Woman. Hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H. W. Bush. Yes, Mitch McConnell has to make his pro forma gestures about doing due diligence. And it is important to fully examine Judge Sotomayor’s judicial...

The 79-19 roll call by which the Senate voted Thursday to triple the size of the AmeriCorps and broadly expand incentives for students and seniors to give back to their communities. On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to pass the bill. Voting "yes" were 55 Democrats and 22 Republicans and 2 independents. Voting "no" were 0 Democrats and 19 Republicans.

Symbolic gesture gives assurances that US does not want to topple regime. Officials of Barack Obama's have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way to face-to-face talks

I am posting this, because of recent events. I am very upset with watching our freedoms being signed away by this new "President", and seeing those who are supposed to be leaders in the GOP not even batting an eye over it. I am sick of the spineless way some of the GOP behave when they should be standing up saying, "Heck No we are Not going to let you do this." We voted for these people on the notion that they would carry out the conservative agenda that we sent them there to perform. So far we have yet...

Too many Senate Republicans are turning tail rather than demanding concrete answers to obvious ethical questions from three of President Obama’s most important Cabinet picks. Have these GOPers forgotten the difference between having an open mind — a good thing — and lying down like doormats? The three nominees who merited far more serious scrutiny were Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder and Timothy Geithner — for secretary of state, attorney general and Treasury secretary, respectively. Clinton was approved Wednesday after receiving kid-glove treatment from her former Senate colleagues. Holder’s confirmation seems on a glide path, thanks to Republicans cowering after Democrats...

WASHINGTON – Republican senator Mel Martinez of Florida says he will support Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder, putting him a big step closer to confirmation. Holder met with Martinez morning Friday while the Senate Judiciary Committee held a second day of hearings on his nomination. Martinez said in a statement that he believes Holder understands the unique role of the nation's top law enforcement official and intends to vote to confirm him. The support from Martinez and the already-declared backing from Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, should give Holder the 60 votes necessary to avoid a filibuster, assuming all the...

Allow me to be blunt: There are some of you who have fallen under McConnell’s spell in the same way the lefties have fallen under Obama’s spell. McConnell can do no wrong. You all wet your pants when McConnell publicly rebukes Reid and engage in private actions that might cause you to go blind behind closed doors in the bathroom to his floor statements against defunding the war. The idea that Mitch McConnell is protecting us from the Democrats is bullcrap. We should collectively rip off his jaw and shovel the crap back down his throat that he’s been serving...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is denouncing Republican attempts to link President-elect Barack Obama and disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

I'm making myself sick with worry. I can't drag myself away from FR, can't get anything done and am worried beyond belief! Do you all honestly think we will pull this out? The thought of Obama winning scares the daylights out of me! I know I should ignore the polls but they are weighing me down. I will hit my knees at 9:00 p.m. and pray to our God that we don't get what we really deserve.

At precisely five minutes before high noon on March 6, 1970, the emergent radical-fringe bombers the Weather Underground had a terrifying and lethal showdown with its own cackhandedness. In a townhouse on leafy, prosperous West 11th Street in Greenwich Village, close by houses once occupied by Poe, Melville and Whitman, there was, at 11.55am, a series of horrifying explosions; first one, then two more of equally shocking force. The detonations collapsed the three-storey house in on itself, leaving a ragged hole in the street's facade, as though a tooth had been torn from a smile.... What police found inside the...

FNC Embed Producer Mosheh just sent me this info…..scroll down to the bottom and you will see what Senator McCain says about ACORN (but he discusses other matters here as well): From: Oinounou, Mosheh To: Sent: Fri Oct 10 21:17:18 2008 Subject: URGENT: MCCAIN TRIES TO TAMP DOWN SUPPORTERS SAYING TAKE DOWN OBAMA FNC LIVE Lakeville, MN Town Hall Meeting McCain is trying to tone down the over-the-top, extremist and bigoted rhetoric coming from his supporters with a simple message “it’s got to be respectful.” It did not go over that well among some of his hardcore Republican base who...

Well before Senators Barack Obama and John McCain rose to the top of their parties, a partisan shift was under way at the local and state level. For more than three years starting in 2005, there has been a reduction in the number of voters who register with the Republican Party and a rise among voters who affiliate with Democrats and, almost as often, with no party at all. Jim Webb, arms crossed, at a rally in 2006, won his Senate race in Virginia with strong support from inner suburbs. While the implications of the changing landscape for Mr. Obama...

A school board in Arizona has decided that condoms are among the items that should be given to students attending this year's prom. The school board in the Bisbee District voted 4-1 at a recent meeting to include the condoms in a "prom bag" that will be given to prom-goers this year. A spokeswoman in the office of Supt. Paul McDonald confirmed the condoms would be handed out to the event celebrants, along with other items such as picture frames, balloons and candy. "The governing board approved [this]," she told WND. "They are to have what they call prom bags,...

Searchlight, Nev. -- Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued the following statement in response to today’s caucuses in Nevada: “Today’s caucus was a tremendous success. Well over 100,000 Nevadans got out and made their voices heard, including 69 in my hometown of Searchlight. I congratulate the Nevada Democratic Party for doing such a great job and extend my sincere appreciation to all the staff and volunteers who made Nevada proud.”

Macy's Says 'No Mas' To Racial T-Shirt Some Call Shirt Offensive Monday, 23 Jul 2007, 4:59 PM CDT Macy's department store is no longer selling a T-shirt that might offend some members of the Hispanic community. According to Macy's, one of its goals is to provide an exclusive line of clothing geared toward Latina shoppers looking to express cultural identity through fashion. However, one such item might have actually offended potential Hispanic customers, so the company pulled it during the weekend. The T-shirt, which reads "Brown is the New White," is offensive, according to Hispanic marketing expert Dr. Ed Rincon....

As rumored since last year, Political Wire has learned that Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) will run for Senate Minority Whip. He launched a "quiet campaign" just before the midterm elections in anticipation that the previous holder of the position, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), would lose his re-election race. However, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) declared last week he has lined up the votes for the leadership post.

One way to measure how the world has changed in these last five years is to consider the extraordinary address to his nation by General Musharraf on Sept. 19, 2001. Pakistan was one of just three countries in the world (along with "our friends the Saudis" and the United Arab Emirates) to recognize the Taliban -- and, given that the Pakistanis had helped create and maintain them, they were pretty easy to recognize. President Bush, you'll recall, had declared that you're either with us or you're with the terrorists -- which posed a particular problem for Musharraf: He was with...

The original sin is attributed to Charles de Gaulle. Disappointed by the loss of the French colonies in Africa and the Middle East, as well as with France's waning influence in the international arena, the president of France in the 1960's decided to create a strategic alliance with the Arab and Muslim world to compete with the dominance of the United States and the Soviet Union. This alliance became the position of the European Community (pre-European Union) during the course of the 1970s, when an extensive European-Arab dialogue developed. However, this alliance, in the context of which Europe allowed the...

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),...

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..

President George W. Bush seemed unusually heartfelt when he addressed the nation last week on immigration reform. For the president, immigration is not just a matter of politics or policy, it's personal. Bush has always been drawn to stories of Latino immigrants who came up by their bootstraps. In an interview with Hispanic Magazine in 2004, he described Paula Rendón, "who came up from Mexico to work in our house" when Bush was a boy growing up in Midland, Texas. "She loved me. She chewed me out. She tried to shape me up," said Bush. "And I have grown to...

Sen. Mark Dayton was the only person on the Senate Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Committee to vote against the panel's report on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, arguing the committee should have pressed the White House for more information. "I regret the spineless decision by the committee not to subpoena the information, documents and witnesses, which the White House has refused to provide," Dayton, D-Minn., said in a statement after the hearing. Dayton faulted the committee chairwoman, Maine Republican Susan Collins, for failing to grant a request by the panel's top Democrat, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, to subpoena White...

IT WAS A DANGEROUS WEEK IN WASHINGTON, something almost got done. At least I think something almost got done. Like many citizens I was trying to tune to the Immigration Reform broadcast, but there was so much interference coming in from a pirate broadcast of yet another episode of The Vagina Monologues I had to switch off the receiver and get my reports third hand. From these I understand that, although nothing got done again in Congress this week, it was "the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life" . As the week that wasn't rolled along in...

WASHINGTON - Putting aside party differences, Senate Republicans and Democrats coalesced Thursday around compromise legislation that holds out the hope of citizenship to an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States unlawfully. "We can no longer afford to delay reform," said Republican Sens. John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy in a statement that capped weeks of struggle to find common ground. [TRANSLATION: Amnesty and a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens]

The Republican Party is a grassroots party. Success depends on rallying the base into action. Yet all too often, grassroots activists feel as though their concerns fall on deaf ears. Now, through GOPUSA, the base had a chance to speak out, and the message is clear: accountability is key. Republicans need to start acting like Republicans.With results from close to 2,700 grassroots Republican activists to a recent GOPUSA survey, a detailed picture can be drawn which reflects their mood, sentiments, and concerns. The problem is… is anyone listening? In order for there to be success in the upcoming elections, Republican...

Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries. "For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday. The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with...

A New Jersey politician is hoping to outlaw anonymous speech on the Internet, claiming that civility must be mandatory in political debate. State Assemblyman Peter J. Biondi, a Republican from Somerset County, recently introduced legislation that would require any "public forum Web site" to solicit the legal name and addresses of everyone who can post messages to it. What irks Biondi, a top Republican in the state assembly, is the political free-for-all that has grown around the New Jersey Star-Ledger's discussion site at NJ.com. The site's forum for Somerset County--that is, Biondi's home district--is home to a slew of pseudonymous...

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!

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...

Well, its now breaking across the wires. The Senate Republican leader caved again. Republican Leadership struck a deal with the Democrats on the Patriot Act. For now, there is only a 6 month extension on key needed provisions of the Patriot Act. An act that was recently cited by an executive official from the FBI as key in fighting the War on Terror. Instead of forcing the floor vote and getting all Senators on record as to how they stand on protecting America, Frist caved to Dems and RINOS and went for the deal. And now Senate RINOS won't have...

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...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republican leaders, after three weeks of rancor stemming from the governor's hiring of a prominent Democrat as his chief of staff, appear to have patched up their differences in a series of closed-door meetings that ended Thursday. Schwarzenegger and the chairman of the state Republican Party said GOP anger over the governor's hire would not affect the party's support for the governor next year, when Schwarzenegger will need help to win re-election and approve a major bond measure that is his top legislative priority. Their meeting followed meetings with Republican lawmakers this week in...

<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>

House GOP leaders have decided to drop an Arctic oil drilling proposal from a budget bill.

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...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, on the eve of a trip to Washington, said he repeatedly tried to persuade US President George W Bush against invading Iraq. The Italian leader voiced his unease with the military operation to topple Saddam Hussein during a television interview to be broadcast on Monday - the same day he meets Bush. Berlusconi is one of Washington's strongest allies but he did not send troops to join the invasion, preferring to despatch troops only after the fall of Baghdad. "I tried many times to convince the American president not to go to war," Berlusconi was...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States on Thursday urged Iran to behave in a responsible manner as a member state of the United Nations rather than followed suit to support Israel's call for expelling Iran from the international body. "Iran is a member of the United Nations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "What I think we would encourage instead is Iran to start behaving in a responsible manner as a member of the international community." Following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Wednesday call for Israel to be "wiped off the map," Israel retaliated by calling for expelling Iran...

In the film The Godfather Part II, the well-meaning but feeble Fredo Corleone is unable to control his wife, who is causing a scene on the dance floor. A bodyguard walks over to Fredo and instructs him, "If you can't take care of this, I have to." Fredo agrees, and his wife is promptly dragged away by the bodyguard. Much like Fredo before him, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is feeble (the jury is still out on the well-meaning part). And just like Fredo, Abbas faces a choice. Either he takes care of Palestinian terrorist groups, or Ariel Sharon has to....