Free Republic

Interrupter in Chief October 8, 2008 Obama has zero integrity. He agrees to a debate forum and when things aren’t going his way he suddenly wants to change the rules to his advantage. We witnessed this during the second debate at least twice. So much so that McCain, someone who actually respects the rules he agrees to, had to interject himself and demand equal time. But this is vintage Obama. He says one thing and when the political winds shift he abruptly changes his mind. This is the trademark of an opportunist despot, ever willing to use style to blind...

Sit Down For This One: CNN Throws Obama Overboard on Ayers http://patriotroom.com/?p=2858 This is from Anderson Cooper 360, but you might swear that you were listening to Rush Limbaugh tear Obama to shreds for flat out lying about his connection with Ayers. You are gonna love this.

Iraqi Police officers speak to a woman outside the Izza station in al Kut, Sept. 17, 2008. Photo by Sgt. Daniel West, Multi-National Division-Central. FOB DELTA — Iraqi Police (IP) in Wasit province are transforming their force from a paramilitary police force to a more traditional one, changing a structure left over from Saddam Hussein’s regime. The restructuring, a directive from the national ministry of the interior, aims to place IPs in positions to exploit their greatest strengths.“We assign IPs with military backgrounds to the special response teams and the checkpoints,� said Brig. Gen. Alawy Hussein Alsaray. “Those who have...

If you want to see what is really going on with the "bail out" just look at the video link it will tell you everything you need to know about "free money" and what these "jokers" really have in mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svf2aWr0hfI

Need for action on the banking panic Published: September 25 2008 18:10 | Last updated: September 25 2008 18:10 Banks are not to be trusted. This is not just the view of the public and policymakers, but that of the banks themselves. Spreads on unsecured inter-bank lending have reached unprecedented levels, particularly in dollars and, to a lesser degree, sterling. Such stresses cannot continue for long, without serious damage to both the financial system and the economy. Something has to be done. The question is: what? Thursday’s spread over one month between the London interbank offered rate and future expected...

““SEC. 1338. Housing Trust Fund. “(a) Establishment and purpose.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall establish and manage a Housing Trust Fund, which shall be funded with amounts allocated by the enterprises under section 1337 and any amounts as are or may be appropriated, transferred, or credited to such Housing Trust Fund under any other provisions of law. The purpose of the Housing Trust Fund under this section is to provide grants to States for use— “(1) to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and...

All mortgages are defined by a document specifing the exact nature of the property and signed by the buyer and lender. We have been told that these mortgages have been packaged in bundles and sold over and over again. How do we know that the funds for this “BailOut” are backed by any real mortgage documents at all? In other words, “Show me the PAPER!!!” If you feel this bailout is wrong, please contact your Congressman immediately. I have put together a statement that I am going to send out to as many Congressman as I can in the next...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street surged higher Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrials up more than 400 points after a report that the federal government is considering creation of a repository for banks' bad debt. CNBC said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering creation of an entity like the Resolution Trust Corp. that was formed after the failure of savings and loan banks in the 1980s.

Suffolk University Poll Shows Ohioans Identify with Palin BOSTON, Sept 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- With just 51 days remaining in the 2008 Presidential campaign, the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin holds a 4-point lead in the key state of Ohio, according to a poll released today by Suffolk University. McCain-Palin led the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama-Joe Biden 46 percent to 42 percent. More respondents identify with Sarah Palin than with the other candidates. Asked which of the four candidates is "most like you," 31 percent said Palin, followed by Obama (22 percent), McCain (21...

How impostors like Clark Rockefeller capture our trust instantly - and why we're so eager to give it to them. Lots of people trusted Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter. At least two women married him - though they each knew him by a different name. The members of elite social clubs in San Marino, Calif.; Greenwich, Conn.; and here in Boston embraced him and vouched for him. A series of investment firms offered him jobs as a stockbroker and bond salesman, even a vice president, despite his lack of credentials, experience, and, as quickly became clear, his at best rudimentary knowledge of...

IT’S been more than eight years since “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” made its first foray into presidential politics with the presciently named Indecision 2000, and the difference in the show’s approach to its coverage then and now provides a tongue-in-cheek measure of the show’s striking evolution. In 1999, the “Daily Show” correspondent Steve Carell struggled to talk his way off Senator John McCain’s overflow press bus — “a repository for outcasts, misfits and journalistic bottom-feeders” — and onto the actual Straight Talk Express, while at the 2000 Republican Convention Mr. Stewart self-deprecatingly promised exclusive coverage of “all the...

John McCain is now trusted more than Barack Obama on nine out of 14 electoral issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The latest national telephone surveys find that McCain has the biggest advantage on the war in Iraq, by a 51% to 39% margin. Perhaps the most interesting finding of these polls is that McCain has expanded his leads on nearly every issue he had previously had the advantage on, while Obama’s leads have diminished over the past two weeks. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows the race for the White House is very close. The results are consistent...

A busy couple of days for Republican Senate candidate Jim Gilmore. He just wrapped up a two day, 14 city tour. It included stops this morning in Martinsville and Wednesday afternoon in Lynchburg. Gilmore's campaign chairman says the former Governor has shifted the scope of his political message. He used to speak mainly about cutting taxes and energy costs. Now, Gilmore has started going after opponent Mark Warner, calling him untrustworthy. Jim Gilmore, (R) U.S. Senate Candidate - "Ask the people of Virginia whether trust actually matters. Whether or not in fact really going into public office and keeping your...

KONDUZ, Afghanistan, July 29, 2008 – More than 200 students processed into the regional training center here July 19 for focused district development training, a program to create a professional and well-trained police force for Afghanistan, district by district. Army Sgt. Wayne Demar, a Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan biometrics coordinator, scans the fingerprint of an Afghan National Police student during processing into the Konduz Regional Training Center, July 20, 2008. More than 200 police officers were processed for focused district development training, a program to create a professional and well-trained police force, district by district. U.S. Air Force...

At the end of February, it appeared that Barack Obama has cemented a successful campaign. Even though his biggest fans found it difficult to point to one meaningful achievement from his short political career, the overall sense was that he represents a new generation of voters: A generation that has tired of Clinton and Bush; a generation that shares ideas on Facebook and YouTube; a generation that wishes to reach out to the world; a generation that does not fear those who look different. In their eyes, Obama was portrayed as a new type of politician: One who admits to...

TRUST "U.S. Army Task Force Regulators 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment Staff Sgt. Fred Hampton, of Lexington, Ky., kneels on a knee to talk with a young Iraqi boy at the future site of Regular 6 Park in the Thawra 1 section of the Sadr City District of Baghdad on June 20." Photo: Tech Sgt. Cohen Young, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq. "In Sadr City. There are no words to express everything conveyed by this photo. To me, it represents the highest ideals of our country and our guys, and the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people. This is...

Picture worth a thousand words By Michelle Malkin  •  July 1, 2008 04:02 PM Here.

Having an affair can help to save a struggling marriage, according to a new, controversial self-help book. Mira Kirshenbaum, who has over 30 years' experience as a marriage therapist, says the 'right kind' of affair can be a positive thing, acting to "jolt people from their inertia". The author of When Good People Have Affairs, published this week, argues that because society has so far failed to have a sympathetic discussion of infidelity, the positive sides of cheating have been ignored. However, she insists that most cheating spouses should never own up, because revealing the infidelity is more damaging than...

Why has Sen. John McCain won the Republican nomination, and why will he win the election in November? One word: trust. I didn't predict it. I didn't even vote for him in our primary, but I'm coming to appreciate what I think a lot of Americans understood about this rock-solid patriot and public servant. At a time of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, we want a leader we can trust. Even if you don't always agree with John McCain, you can trust the man to do what he says. An encore of the Clinton years is a trust nightmare most Americans...

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2008 – If the U.S. military lost its politically neutral footing, the armed forces would surrender the public’s trust, a senior U.S. military officer who explained a new Defense Department directive on troops’ political activity said in an interview. “If we do appear to be influenced by our own views or our own understanding of how things should be, we’re going to lose the public trust,” Army Col. Shawn Shumake, director of legal policy within the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the Pentagon Channel. “We’re going to lose the...

Presidential contender Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who has faced widespread criticism of his characterization of rural Americans as bitter and racist, says the intensity of the reaction “proves the validity of what I said. The animosity shown toward the first credible Black man to run for president is evidence enough that racism is still the mainstream of rural America.” “I don’t totally blame them for being bitter,” Obama went on. “I’m articulate, clean and charismatic—everything that they’re not. And I’m a millionaire, to boot. It’s got to be hard on these rednecks to see a Black man outshine them by...

RAA 'loses' JMW Turner's £20m bequest Last Updated: 8:13am BST 04/04/2008 The Royal Academy of Arts is facing questions over what happened to substantial funds which were bequeathed by the artist JMW Turner more than 150 years ago. Turner, who had studied at the institution from the age of 14, left £20,000 in his will for a gold medal prize for landscape painting worth £20, which he wanted to be awarded every other year. Descendants of the artist and leading scholars are now demanding to know what has happened to the money, which would be worth around £2 million today,...

MOSUL — Based on information gained from presence patrols out of Combat Outpost (COP) Rock, Coalition forces recently conducted an intelligence gathering mission here. The COPs allow Soldiers to live in the city and allows constant contact with Iraqi citizens, building trust. “The proximity of the COP allowed us to recon the area...local citizens we interviewed said that the (target) area was a bad area,” said 1st Lt. Donald Maloy of Santa Fe, N.M., a platoon leader for Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. “When we reconned again, we realized it was a perfect place to make VBIEDs (vehicle-born...

The College of William and Mary and Columbia University come as close as any institution in America can get to immortality. Each institution can trace its roots further back than the current form of government we live under. William and Mary first began holding classes on 8 February, 1693. Only Harvard started assigning the term papers earlier, on this side of the Atlantic. Columbia, lagging somewhat behind, opened for business in July of 1754. Each institution holds an exemplary ranking among the top fifty universities in the most scientifically and culturally advanced society on the planet. US News and World...

In the United States, the two groups that most ardently support Israel are Jews and evangelical and fundamentalist Christians. Jewish support is easy to explain, but why should certain Christians, most of them politically quite conservative, be so devoted to Israel? There is a second puzzle: despite their support for a Jewish state, evangelical and fundamentalist Christians are disliked by many Jews. And a third: a large fraction of African-Americans are hostile to Israel and critical of Jews, yet Jewish voters regard blacks as their natural allies. The evidence about evangelical attitudes is clear. In 2006, a Pew survey found...

Dear Fellow NRA Member, Working together, we scored a major victory in the media war to save the Second Amendment at our Celebration of American Values event in Washington, D.C. At this history-making presidential event, the media lined up for blocks to see John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Duncan Hunter, and Bill Richardson look NRA members in the eye, tell us where they stand on the Second Amendment, and ask for our votes. And for the first time in this presidential election, America's 80 million gun owners could hear these candidates, word for word, unfiltered,...

You say you won't vote for a candidate who isn't trustworthy? I say you're lying to yourself. Several years ago, I wrote a story for GQ magazine in which I admitted that there were certain public figures I disliked because I could not stand looking at their faces. The smirking Pat Robertson, Jimmy Carter and his paste-on grin and the perennially pouting Boston Celtics guard Danny Ainge (now the team's general manager) all fell into this category, as did the truculent scamp Pete Rose and the smarmy Paul McCartney. Despite its juvenile premise, the article had a serious subtext. It...

The public may not trust the very organizations it perceives as the most powerful. There is a distinct disconnect between trust and power in Washington, according to research released yesterday. The AFL-CIO, followed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) were cited as the most powerful groups in town, according to a Harris Poll that asked respondents to gauge the influence of various organizations on Capitol Hill and beyond. It was a close race. Eighty-four percent said...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2007 – A major reason for the mounting success of anti-insurgent operations in Iraq is that rank-and-file soldiers and their leaders trust and believe in one another, a senior U.S. military officer said today. Trust flowing down “from our higher headquarters through the general officer leadership all the way down to the squad leader (is) making the difference,” Army Col. Dominic J. Caraccilo, commander of the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said during a conference call with online reporters and “bloggers.” The emergence of successful neighborhood watch programs manned by concerned Iraqi citizens is a...

A Chicago couple is challenging the Conservative government's taxation of income trusts, calling it a "blatant discrimination" of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Marvin and Elaine Gottlieb are the first Americans to file a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration under NAFTA. Prior to the taxation policy, income trusts had grown in popularity because businesses paid little or no corporate tax. Instead, corporations that converted to trusts paid most of their cash flows to investors in monthly distributions, who in turn paid taxes on the income. In October 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty shocked investors...

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Sept. 24, 2007 — With the help of American and coalition forces, the Afghan national security forces are gradually earning the respect and acceptance of the Afghan people. Embedded tactical trainers spend their days training and coaching Afghan national army and police how to conduct themselves during and outside operations. “We are the ANP’s mentors; making sure they are being professional at their jobs and not exploiting their power.” Capt. Jason E. Knueven “Our biggest job is showing ANSF what ‘right’ looks like,” said Army National Guard Maj. Chris P. Guziec, ANP ETT district commander. “We take...

Ethnic diversity's rocky road http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070827/COLUMNS/70827008 BY MORGAN LIDDICK And On the Right August 27, 2007 If you’re a damn-the-torpedoes Multiculturalist, better fasten your seat belt. Things are about to get bumpy. A few weeks ago Robert Putnam, the Harvard researcher who wrote “Bowling Alone,” a book about the weakening social fabric of the United States, released the results of his new research on the effects of multiculturalism, a doctrine which he had long promoted. They aren’t encouraging. Putnam has been working on his new project for about five years, and hesitated to bring his results into the public eye, so...

BAGHDAD — When the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment first started patrolling Qadisiyah a few months ago, they immediately noticed something wasn't right in one neighborhood. Although not uncommon, the Soldiers were not immediately accepted into the Jaysh Al Mahdi-controlled neighborhood of Shi'a residents. Through persistence, the area has begun to flourish thanks to hard work by the artillerymen from the 2nd “Black Jack” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Now that the foundations of trust have been created by the troops, the time to start giving back to the more impoverished people was upon them. In an operation...

NEAR KARMAH, Iraq, Sept. 5, 2007 — Beginning at patrol bases within the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s area of operations, Marines from Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, are integrating forces with the Iraqi army and looking ahead to future joint tactical commitment. "Not only has the battalion integrated Iraqis on patrols, they’ve worked them into mission briefings, planning, intel, it shows a level of trust. The ultimate level is going to be putting Juundis (junior Iraqi personnel) on guard and letting the Marines sleep." Lt. Col. Woody Hesser Military Transition Team commander The integration comes as the...

Seven months have passed since I handed the gavel to Nancy Pelosi, formally returning control of the House to Democrats for the first time in 12 years. In my remarks to the House that day, I offered a bit of advice to the members of the incoming majority. I told them: “A congressional majority is simply a means to an end. The value of a majority lies not in the chance to wield great power, but in the chance to use limited power to do great things. “The [American] people don’t care which party controls it; what they want is...

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HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published today by a green think tank. The paper by the Optimum Population Trust will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family's carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York. Full coverage: Climate change in-depth John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College...

Soldiers Continue To Build Schools, Trust In Iraqi Towns IEDs, other explosive materials found planted at construction site. By Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs CAMP TAJI, Iraq, May 8, 2007 — While insurgents continue attacks near and at construction sites, U.S. soldiers with Multi-National Division-Baghdad this week continue bringing construction supplies for several schools being built north of Baghdad. “We won’t be deterred in our task to help these people. I think it sends a powerful message to the world.” U.S. Army Maj. Robert Rodriguez Soldiers with 2nd “Stallion� Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat...

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2007 – By living among the people of Afghanistan and gaining their trust and respect, U.S. troops are winning in the eastern part of the country, a U.S. commander there said today. “We’ve defeated the enemy every time we’ve met him over the last 16 months,” said Army Col. John Nicholson during a news conference from Afghanistan. “We feel genuinely appreciated by the Afghan people.” The 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, commander said that although his troops have been in the war-torn country for 16 months, their morale is high because they feel gratified by what...

LONDON (AFP) - Politicians are the least trusted people in Britain, with more faith placed in car salesmen, a survey released on Tuesday revealed. The poll of 1,900 readers of Reader's Digest magazine showed that firefighters inspired trust in 97 percent of respondents, the highest rate of any profession, followed by pharmacists, pilots, nurses and doctors. Faith in politicians, however, dropped from an already-low 15 percent in 2002 to seven percent in the latest poll. Eight percent of respondents said they trusted car salesmen. It marks the first time in the survey's history that politicians have been the least-trusted profession....

MERIDIAN - A Centennial High School softball coach is charged with sexual battery of a minor. Ada County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Andrea Dearden confirms 22-year-old Lauren K. Palmer was arrested early Saturday morning in Eagle. Dearden says a sheriff’s deputy spotted a car in a local park after 1 a.m. - and witnessed what is described as “inappropriate touching” between Palmer and a female minor. The arrest report indicates the minor is aged 16 or 17 years old.

Alliances: The sun may be setting on the British empire, but at least one part of it is still showing some spunk. Japan, meanwhile, is shaking off its pacifist past to become the Gibraltar of the Far East. We are not alone. The departure of Tony Blair and Britain's resolve is regrettable. And the wimpy reaction of Britain to Iran's seizure of 15 Royal Navy seamen won't make anyone forget Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar anytime soon. But Australia and its prime minister, John Howard, have made it clear they aren't going anywhere. In an interview on the fourth anniversary of...

LEAVE IT TO Mitt Romney to shoot himself in the foot with a gun he doesn't own. The former Massachusetts governor last week began basking in the positive publicity that comes from raking in an impressive $20 million in contributions in the first quarter, more than any rival for the Republican nomination. He ended the week trying to explain a discrepancy between assertion and fact when it comes to hunting credentials. It hurt because it's a reminder of discrepancies between assertion and fact when it comes to Romney's overall conservative credentials. This week in Keene, N.H., Romney told a man...

Medical Operation Helps Soldiers Build Trust By Sgt. Michael Garrett 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD, Feb. 20, 2007 -- When Spc. Michael Benusa needs to do his job, it's usually a bad thing. As a medic for Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, the last thing Benusa hopes for is to be needed to treat one of his fellow soldiers. But, that wasn't the case on a recent trip outside Combat Outpost Callahan, where Benusa's company has set up residence. “It felt great to help these people, it gives us a sense of...

Soldiers from A Co., 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division talk with merchants in front of their produce store outside the city of Samarra. The meeting was an opportunity for the soldiers to make it clear that they were fighting for the merchants' security. U.S Armyphoto by Sgt. Michael Tuttle. Paratroopers Seek to Build Trust in Samarra Infantry Regiment counters rumors and misinformation spread by insurgents. By Sgt. Michael Tuttle 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment SAMARRA, Iraq, Jan 5, 2007 -- A group of 82nd Airborne Division soldiers met with local merchants at their storefronts along...

If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master; If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph...

There's already plenty of punditry about what went wrong. What did the president and the Republican Party do and when did they do it? Robert Novak summed up the consensus view of the Republican wipeout well, writing that "opposition to the war and the president had produced a virulent anti-Republican mood." My point of departure from most of the analysis that I've read would be to disagree that this election was about any single issue. I think this election was about trust. Trust is the glue that holds relationships together. The war, rather than being THE issue, was more a...

Sen. Joe Lieberman, who won re-election as an independent, has a message for his Senate colleagues in the next Congress: Call me a Democrat. The three-term Connecticut lawmaker defied party leaders when he launched his independent bid after losing to Democrat Ned Lamont in the August primary. During the campaign, he vowed to be an "independent-minded Democrat" if he were re-elected. In Tuesday's election, Lieberman won strong GOP support and given the closely divided Senate, Republicans are expected to court him. So will he count as a Democrat or an independent who caucuses with the majority Democrats? In an e-mail...

Howard Dean talked up Democrats, talked down Republicans and went door-to-door in a Portland neighborhood on Monday to rally Democrats for the upcoming election. Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a former Vermont governor, and Maine Gov. John Baldacci spoke to about 150 people at a breakfast fundraiser at the Italian Heritage Center before knocking on doors in a heavily Democratic Munjoy Hill neighborhood. Accompanied by a gaggle of reporters and cameras, Dean and Baldacci stopped at four houses to tout the Democratic message. One of them was owned by Jon Radtke, a high school teacher who said...