Free Republic

In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul America's health insurance system. Frank Luntz, a consultant famous for his phraseology, urged GOP leaders to call it a "government takeover." "Takeovers are like coups," Luntz wrote in a 28-page memo. "They both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom." The line stuck. By the time the health care bill was headed toward passage in early 2010, Obama and congressional Democrats had sanded down their program, dropping the "public option" concept that was derided as...

Bill Clinton is all over the place, like a mad dog's slobber. On the campaign trail as his wife's chief surrogate, he is losing his temper, snapping at reporters, mangling the truth, distorting the record including his own and acting more like a political hatchet man than a former president. He warns that voting for Barack Obama would be a "roll of the dice." Obama's record as a consistent opponent of the Iraq war is a "fairy tale." Last week in South Carolina, Clinton accused Obama of doing a "hit job" on him, but refused to back up the charge....

At least two news organizations were tipped off to e-mail messages sent by Representative Mark Foley long before the story of his sexually explicit remarks to teenage pages broke last week and forced him to resign. --Snip-- Brian Ross of ABC News said he learned about the e-mail messages in August but was too busy with Hurricane Katrina and the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to pursue them immediately. None of the organizations seemed to anticipate how big the story would become. ---Snip--- Then, in June, the reports resurfaced on Capitol Hill, where a neighborhood resident struck up a...

Robyn E. Blumner is one of those feminist writers who specializes in reducing complex issues to lectures on Mars and Venus. Blumner bestows her wisdom in the St. Petersburg Times. The title of a recent offering ("U.S. could use more girlie men") caught my eye. Use them for what – objects of ridicule? But, no, Ms. Blumner is serious. She wants to feminize national security – to take decisions of survival out of the hands of "macho" males and substitute weeping for weapons, sentimentality for strategy and negotiations for no-nonsense. To illustrate her point, Blumner uses the HBO drama series...

Deadwood is one of my favorite programs. Set in a South Dakota gold mining camp in the 1870s, it grittily explores the way human beings organize themselves when consigned to a lawless territory that attracts miscreants, varmints and vultures. A recent episode had an especially insightful moment when all the leaders of the camp were called to an important meeting without an invitation proffered to the female owner of the camp's only bank. Alma Garret could have all the money in the world, but because she has two X chromosomes (a distinction more graphically described in the show), she wasn't...

This was in this morning's St. Pete Times. I can't find it on their website, as their corrections run a day behind. Using their search, the last correction was 3/3/06. The lower right hand corner of page 1, Section A reads as follows: CLARIFICATION, SECTION A A March 1 Asssociated Press story reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than about the...

Reality has finally caught up to George W. Bush. The bubble in which the president has been governing has finally burst, or, more aptly, has gotten so waterlogged it is too heavy to drag around. Cindy couldn't do it, but Katrina did. Bush has been shoved awake from his long national daydream to find that, to his surprise, the country cannot be governed effectively by giving high-ranking officials cutesy nicknames and engaging in determined wishful thinking. Welcome to the real world, Mr. President. Any ideas on what to do now? I'm looking forward to seeing this investigation Bush intends to...

A St. Petersburg Times reporter covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was shot and wounded late Monday night in Baton Rouge, La. Marcus Franklin, 34, was treated and released from Baton Rouge General Hospital on Tuesday after doctors decided removing the bullet was too risky, at least for now. Franklin said he had been up since before daybreak reporting on people returning to their homes in Jefferson Parish near New Orleans. After filing his report, Franklin headed to a Baton Rouge motel after sleeping four nights in his car. He said he was driving on Interstate 110 in Baton Rouge...

Letters to the Editor Published July 14, 2005 Re: Teacher accused of bias, July 7 Times(Note:Read this link first): If we wonder why our schools are losing qualified teachers, look no further than this article. As if low pay is not enough, teachers also are subjected to one-sided reporting of unsubstantiated allegations. Who would want to be a teacher if your name and reputation can be sullied so easily in the court of public opinion? Deborah St. John has been teaching for 20 years. She is a well-respected and passionate teacher. She goes well beyond the call of duty to...

** ACTION ALERT ** "WEDDING" Annoucement in St. Pete TimesFREEP St. Petersburg Times - 1-800-333-7505 x8735 ---- PRESS zero to speak with live person and tell them you disapprove of this....

Mavro-Schuler Frank Christopher Mavro and John "Michael" Schuler were married Oct. 29, 2003, at Two Hearts Wedding Chapel in Niagara Falls, Canada. Mavro, above left, is the son of Rosemary and Paul Rogers of Seminole. Schuler is the son of Steve and Linda Schuler of Clearwater. Mavro is a graduate of Union Hill High School (N.J.). He attends St. Petersburg College. Schuler is a graduate of Osceola High School. He attends SPC and served in the Army. They live in Largo.

Filed at 10:02 p.m. ET TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --The St. Petersburg Times will pay more than $33 million over 12 years for the rights to rename a hockey rink for the newspaper, according to terms released Friday after questions were raised about the deal. The Tampa Bay Lighting hockey team and the Times initially decided to keep the terms of Tuesday's agreement private. Both said the arena would be the only major sporting venue in the country named after a newspaper. ``Like most business contracts of such scope it had a confidentiality clause,'' said Paul Tash, editor and president of...