Free Republic

North Dakota’s only American Civil Liberties Union office in Fargo closed in February, a closure blamed generally on the poor national economy, but also to losses major contributors suffered in the Bernard Madoff scandal.... “The ACLU got hit pretty hard in this economic downturn as far as fewer donors,” Ring said. “There were a couple of really big donors that were really affected by the Madoff scandal.”

Sarah is now unelectable on a national stage. The “quitter” specter will hang around her neck like “swimmer” does to Ted Kennedy. You’ll be able to spot the realistic, clear thinking conservatives because they see and admit this early so we can put it behind us get on with identifying the candidates who can win in ‘12. BTW - This doesn’t rule out a tangential private career ala Newt or a run for a House or Senate seat (although I don’t know where at this point) but as a national candidate she is toast. That so many conservatives can’t see...

I was on vacation with my family in Iceland when my office called and shared the terrible news of Michael Jackson's passing. My wife and children were with me in the van. We could scarcely believe what we had heard. The children all remembered Michael fondly. He had given them their dog Marshmallow who is a member of our family until today. My daughter teared up. And while I was heartsick at the news, especially for his three young children, I was not shocked. I dreaded this day and knew it had to come sooner rather than later. In the...

The GOP — and conservatives in general — have taken the infidelity scandal involving South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford particularly hard. The reasons are threefold: 1) News of Senator John Ensign’s affair broke less than two weeks earlier. Having another extramarital affair hit the news so soon afterwards is frustrating and disturbing to the party faithful. 2) Unlike Ensign, Mark Sanford was a legitimate 2012 presidential contender and was viewed as one of the biggest rising stars in the party. Seeing his potential thrown away like this is nothing short of tragic for those who had hopes for him. 3)...

Mr. Unbelievable, the neighbor, went with his father when his father ordered a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado. In the late 1970s, Cadillac was experiencing sales records across the model line. The word had gotten out that in 1979 the Eldorado would be significantly downsized, so it can be stated with certainty that Mr. Unbelievable persuaded his father that he should get the last of the big ones. By the last of the big ones, I mean comically big, riotously big, stupendously big. And on the day that General Motors declared bankruptcy last week, effectively ending its long reign as one of...

Putting it in the vernacular of little people everywhere: “The worst has happened”. The 4th Annual New Hampshire Live Free or Die Rally is quickly sinking into a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, and with no 11th hour reprieve on the horizon, chief organizer Jean Coutu may have to cancel. Billed as the All Free, Only TRUE First Amendment Rally in the U.S., this years Live Free or Die Rally is scheduled for August 21, 22 and 23. “It looks like it’s finally over. Not just for us, but for the right to assemble, Coutu wrote Canada Free Press (CFP)...

Jay Leno Bids Farewell to "Tonight Show" By REUTERS May 29, 2009 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jay Leno bid farewell to "The Tonight Show" on Friday, ending his 17-year run as host with a finale that stayed true to the style that made him the top-rated performer on U.S. late-night television. The main difference was a long ovation that Leno struggled to quiet as he took the stage for an opening monologue that poked fun, as usual, at politicians, celebrities and current events. He thanked the likes of pop star Michael Jackson and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose...

Can you hear that? It's the sound of the final nail being hammered down onto the coffin lid of the U.S. car industry. President Obama wields the hammer -- in the form of a massive uptick in federally required fuel economy standards that will require each automaker's lineup of new vehicles to achieve an average of 35.5 MPG by 2016. But what could be so bad about forcing the automakers to make cars more fuel efficient? Dig deeper and you'll see. Even the Obama people concede the new mileage standards will cost American consumers about $1,600 per vehicle by 2016...

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI - News) today said it will cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen. The Citizen will continue operating its web site, www.tucsoncitizen.com. The last print edition of the Citizen will be published on Saturday, May 16. “Dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy – particularly in this region – mean it is no longer viable to produce two daily printed newspapers in Tucson,” said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. Community Publishing division of Gannett. “We are pleased that the Citizen’s web site will continue its role as a place for a...

Jay Leno Says Goodbye to Pontiac: A Tribute to GM’s Performance Brand If you haven't heard, Pontiac is no more. In an exclusive story for PM, Jay Leno looks back at the 83-year-old brand, focusing on Pontiac’s historic muscle cars and surprisingly innovative technology. By Jay Leno Published on: April 28, 2009 I was always a fan of those "Wide Track" Pontiacs of the '60s. When I was a little kid there was no sexier wheel—either in the aftermarket or in regular production—than the 8-lug Pontiac wheel. I remember first seeing them around 1962 on some of the big Bonnevilles....

THE plasma TV isn't dead yet -- but it looks like it's not long for this world. Like the Betamax videotape format and laser disc DVD before it, the plasma TV set -- the favorite of techies -- is losing out to the more popularly priced LCD TV. Pioneer and VIZIO -- the nation's No. 2 set maker -- say they're abandoning the plasma business. With a 22 percent sales drop in the first quarter of 2009 compared to last year -- when the sale of flat-screen TVs overall is sky rocketing -- "the writing is kind of on the...

Since the economy began sliding downhill in late 2007, mainstream economic and market experts have consistently erred on the sunny side. As late as June 2008, mainstream consensus held that the U.S. was heading for a “soft landing” and would avoid recession. Several months later, the slump was acknowledged to have started in January 2008, but we were supposed to see renewed growth by mid-2009, with unemployment peaking in the eight-to-nine percent range. A quick “shovel-ready” stimulus bag was supposed to set us back on the road to prosperity. In January, recovery projections were pushed forward to late 2009. Today,...

Since the economy began sliding downhill in late 2007, mainstream economic and market experts have consistently erred on the sunny side. As late as June 2008, mainstream consensus held that the U.S. was heading for a “soft landing” and would avoid recession. Several months later, the slump was acknowledged to have started in January 2008, but we were supposed to see renewed growth by mid-2009, with unemployment peaking in the eight-to-nine percent range. A quick “shovel-ready” stimulus bag was supposed to set us back on the road to prosperity. In January, recovery projections were pushed forward to late 2009. Today,...

The nation's largest left-wing newspaper and the bible for network news producers and bookers may be going under. This week, The New York Times announced more staggering losses: nearly $75 million dollars in the first quarter alone. The New York Post is reporting that the Times Company owes more than $1 billion and has just $34 million in the bank. A few months ago, the company borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at a reported 14 percent interest rate. With things going south fast, pardon the pun, Slim might want to put in a call to Times publisher...

General Motors is expected to announce Monday that it plans to kill its Pontiac brand, rather than maintain it as a niche brand with one or two models into the future as had been previously announced by company officials.

Click To See and Hear Song Anti-Christ Alive In America? On Youtube or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75nRAWFNMsTo The Tune Of Zager and Evans' In The Year 2525Original At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2-Kmiic *Lyrics Writer Disavows Any Connection Between The Anti-Christ And The Current President Of The United States

Newsweek greeted the coming of Easter with a black cover, and the headline "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," spelled out in red in the shape of a cross. Inside, it was more declarative: "The End of Christian America." Why? Because they found that the percentage of self-identified Christians had fallen 10 points since 1990. OK, then let's compare. How much has Newsweek's circulation fallen since 1990? Just since 2007, their announced circulation has dropped by 52 percent. It would be more plausible to state "The End of Newsweek." At the end of 2007, Newsweek reduced its "base rate"...

During the G-20 summit in London, Barack Obama took time out for a brief meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia caught on video by two cameras, and by a still photographer, where the U.S. president bowed deeply in greeting the Saudi monarch. No major American media paid any attention to the startling, unreciprocated bow, gesture of subservience. In tandem, there was scant paid attention to a disquieting comment by Obama when he spoke effusively about a 2002 Saudi peace initiative for normalization of relations between the Arab world and Israel. The Saudi initiative, which would end Israel as a...

From the day the founding Fathers risked their liberty and life by signing the Declaration of Independence, there has been those who have wanted to sink this great ship called the United States of America. Well 143 years later the good ship America took a torpedo hit that at the time seemed like just another glancing blow. What many still consider the greatest step forward in equality for the sexes, was more then just a glancing blow however. It was in fact a deadly strike that entered the very heart of the ship and has been smoldering since. The damage...

Hearst's Seattle Post-Intelligencer Announces End to Print Edition By SHIRA OVIDE The Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced it will stop publishing its print edition on Tuesday and convert to an online-only news operation. The move had been anticipated since early January, when Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle P-I and 15 other newspapers, announced it would shift the Seattle paper to a Web-news outlet or shutter the operation entirely, if a buyer wasn't found in 60 days. Hearst said it couldn't continue to absorb the P-I's losses, which the company says reached $14 million last year.