Free Republic

For much of this decade, Charles Johnson was one of the right's leading bloggers. His blog, Little Green Footballs, was famous for its focus on Islamic terrorism, but also for the role it played in "Rathergate" and in exposing various faked photography.... On Monday, Johnson made the split official, with a post headlined, "Why I Parted Ways With The Right." In it, he gave a list of reasons for the break... Johnson concluded the post saying, "The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff. I won't be going over the cliff with...

Since the Tiger Woods incident was thrust upon us there have been 112 threads; 8,486 comments and 304,787 views recorded on FR. This data was collected from topic counts using TIGER WOODS as the SEARCH TITLE. The data is deemed dense, but dubious.

I have been a minor participant at Free Republic, the Internet’s leading conservative forum, since September 2004. An online friend referred me to a discussion where members of Free Republic were talking about the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections, and using my maps from this page to make a point. I had to join FR to introduce myself to that group, and thank them for visiting. Because that was right after the “Rathergate” scandal, I thus became one of the “Pajamahadeen” that had just brought down the Sauronic eye of CBS. Being a “Freeper” has been an interesting and fun...

I lurk this forum way too much. But it does give me my news fix and some interesting tidbits as well. I am in here enough to get a good gauge of the political celebs Freepers don't like. That would be pretty much everybody. I'm kinda sure nobody likes Mitt Romney. And as of 11/6/08, John McCain is a favorite whipping boy. Overall, the bulk of characters who stood on stage in the early GOP debates last year is tainted in some way. Giuliani, the cross-dressing gun-hater. Ron Paul, the anti-war drug-legalizer. Huckabee, the soft-on-crime wingnut. Yada yada... I'm aligned...

Dingy's painful memory comes to the surface...

Lord Carey of Clifton has called on his successor as Archbishop of Canterbury to complain to the Pope in person about not being consulted over plans to admit disaffected Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church. Lord Carey warned that the Pope’s strategy could damage relations with the Vatican. Lord Carey, who stepped down in 2002, urged Dr Rowan Williams to protest strongly when he visits the Pope in Rome next month. Lord Carey was speaking after the joint press conference this week between Dr Williams and the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, to announce the move....

Why was "The Mystery of Barack Obama Continues" moved from Extended News to Blog/Personal? Western Journalism.com is not a "blog"

Please stop. I've recently recommended FR to several people and if this is their first visit to FR well it makes me and everyone on here look like an ASS! Stop it already.

Why did you pull the "500,000 'pink slips' on their way to Capitol already"

Once, a long time ago, in the presence of my wife, and a few other females, I called a receiver that dropped a pass after a particularly bruising tackle, a woman. Well, there arose such a clatter, I never used the moniker again. But an honest look at some men, well, you wonder if you can get an exemption from Political Correctness.

Why was "Fox News Stated That They Will Be in the Courtroom on Sept. 8 ( Obama qualifications hearing )" thread pulled?

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit. Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back. The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Mountain View, wants us to remember that when the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York Harbor in 1886, welcoming immigrants from around the world to America, there should have been a sign posted in front that said: "Everyone except Chinese."

Reclusive author J.D. Salinger took legal action today over what he says is a copycat of his seminal work, The Catcher in the Rye, the Associated Press reports. Salinger’s lawyers filed suit in Manhattan federal court to recall the book 60 Years Later, thought to be a Catcher sequel by pseudonymous writer John David California. Salinger’s lawyers maintain that he retains sole rights to the Holden Caulfied character, and that in regards to any sequels, Salinger has “decidedly chosen not to exercise that right.”

Excerpts from Cankers of the Soul- Soul Talkin Some time back, an acquaintaince I had once helped in her time of need took a vicious potshot at me.I should have dismissed it as the desperate whiplash of a soul tormented by jealousy and frustration, but the poisonous shaft struck a raw nerve. And the pain was augmented by a sense of betrayal. I wasn't sure if retailation would quell the rage within, but every cell in my body wanted to hit back as viciously.I was convinced that nothing but the sight of my enemy fallen low would assuage the pain...

WASHINGTON - President Obama sounds like he'd punch the "easy" button if he could. In a prime-time news conference Wednesday night marking the 100th day of his administration, Obama betrayed a sense of exasperation at the swarm of crises that have besieged him and the country. "I didn't anticipate the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," Obama said. "The typical President, I think, has two or three big problems. We've got seven or eight." Marveling at the lineup of daunting tasks filling his in-box, he took umbrage at the idea he relishes expanding government, even into cars and finance.

SEEKONK, Mass. -- Shane Murphy, the second-in-command aboard the American merchant ship seized by pirates, lashed out at Rush Limbaugh for the talk show host's racial characterization in discussing the rescue of the ship's captain by the Navy. In commenting on the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips by the Navy Seals who shot and killed the three Somali pirates who were holding him captive, Limbaugh generated controversy when he called the pirates "black teenagers." "There you have it, three teenagers shot on the high seas at the order of President Obama," said Limbaugh according to a transcript of an April...

Obama makes an unusual call to reporters from the oval office to clarify that he isn’t a socialist. It is curious that he worried about this enough to make this call. Obama was quizzed about his detractors’ claim that his policies were socialistic.

Two big stories emerged from Pres. Obama’s interview with New York Times reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday: 1. we have a whining, self-pitying president. 2. The Times scrubbed from its article the worst of the president’s comments, the ones that revealed him in that self-pitying light. Fortunately, the Today show had the tapes, and played them this morning. According to Today, when President Obama met with reporters from the New York Times yesterday aboard Air Force One, his goal was “trying to sound hopeful and reassuring.” Mission not accomplished. As ambivalent as were the president’s putatively reassuring words on...

It’s not the economy. Sure – if the economy was better, it would be good for Republicans. Everybody knows that, which is why the McCain campaign could never bet too many chips on the economy as part of a winning formula. Sure, the Democrats – including Barack Obama and Joe Biden – did cause the financial industry meltdown but what does it matter? There is a Republican in the White House and it’s easier to imagine that presidents rule with magic wands than to learn the basics of the American democratic system, let alone learn the modern history of financial...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the Wall Street bailout plan pushed by President Bush signaled the “final collapse” of the current administration. “The Bush administration has now provided three case studies in arrogance, isolation and destructiveness: Michael Brown during Hurricane Katrina, Ambassador Jerry Bremer in Baghdad and Secretary [Henry] Paulson at Treasury,” Gingrich said. “It is a tragic and very expensive legacy. No conservative and no Republican should doubt how much it has hurt our cause and our party.” The former Speaker reiterated his call for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. “As long as Secretary Paulson...

You know my favorite part of Barack Obama’s response to the lipstick bungle? It’s this obnoxious phrase, which hasn’t been remarked upon much today: “I don’t care what they say about me but I love this country too much to let them take over another election…”Yes, yes, because Obama is Truth, Justice, and the American Way! And all who dare mock him or challenge his Absolute Moral Authority suffer from patriotism deficiency. He loves his country so much he sent his lawyers to stifle the free speech of television stations running ads critical of his terror ties. He loves his...

...Barack Obama reported raising at least $10 million from more than 130,000 donors today after Palin, the Alaska governor, addressed the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, and criticized the Democratic presidential nominee. ``Sarah Palin's attacks have rallied our supporters in ways we never expected,'' Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said. ``And we fully expect John McCain's attacks tonight to help us make our grassroots organization even stronger.''

Obama says McCain camp paints Obama as the Anti-Christ POSTED August 17, 12:59 PM Immediately after Obama's appearance with the reverend Rick Warren, the Democrats' presumptuous nominee was interviewed by CBN News Senior National Correspondent, David Brody. Among other things Brody asked Obama whether the McCain campaign is purposely using imaginary to scare people about him being the anti-Christ. Obama answered yes. You can watch and read a partial transcript of the interview here...

But New York City's former first son is swinging back hard. Late Wednesday, his attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in North Carolina, contending the university has violated its obligations to him as a student-athlete and demanding he be invited back to Duke's state-of-the-art golf-training facility.

It's unlikely U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler curls up on his mother-in-law's sofa, pundits on the Fox News program The O'Reilly Factor said Tuesday night. Wexler's challenger has accused the six-term congressman of playing a residency shell game, saying Wexler, D-Delray Beach, uses his mother-in-law's address in Delray Beach while flagrantly making his home in a Maryland suburb.

Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS heated up in a Manhattan court on Wednesday as his lawyers sought to have several key documents in the case made public. Rather’s lead attorney Marty Gold asked Justice Ira Gammerman to release the documents, arguing that they would help refute CBS’s public characterization of Rather’s claims in the suit as a fantasy, the New York Observer reported. Gold said that Rather would like to give the public access to about 10 of the thousands of documents handed over by CBS. But Gammerman rebuffed the effort, saying he considered the request to release...

IT NEVER FAILS: Murphy's Law. When applying for jobs, the one place you do not want to call you back inevitably will. I encountered this annoying fact applying for jobs in Richmond, when I landed one at the local Subway. Of all the interesting, vibrant-looking places in my area that I could have worked, this was definitely my last choice. But the only other places I had wanted to work told me it would be a few weeks or months, and I had to have something ASAP so that I could pay the rent. At first glance, the job didn't...

Now that politically correct language has fallen from favour, demonised and discredited, where should we go next? Can we afford to ignore the return of derogatory language directed at black, Muslim, gay, disabled or elderly people, anyone deemed different? Derogatory words make way for degrading treatment. Language is more than our basic tool of communication; it shapes perceptions and so influences behaviour. Referring to "faggots" or "wrinklies" strips people of respect, and it's just a short step to thinking them less equal. Terms such as "cripples", "spastics", "thick" and "retarded" stigmatise disabled people as less human. A recent increase in...

I have been a member since 1999. I have been suspended at least twice and kicked off "for good" once. I deserved to be suspended once. I believe that FR is a force for good in the world. Debate between people who consider themselves conservative, right or wrong, is a good thing. I believe that FR would prosper more, that more would donate, if they really believed that they had a stake in the site. The risk, that I now expose myself to, that you can be booted forever for speaking your honestly conservative mind in accordance with the rules,...

We now are down to two presidential candidates. One went to the Ivy League and Harvard Law School as a young man. The other spent years of his youth in a Vietnam Prisoner of War camp and suffered lifelong injuries. Guess which one whines more about his hardships? Barack Obama is many things — a senator, a gifted orator, and a charismatic figure. But he’s also a whiner.

Both Hillary and Obama have explicitly stated that we need to "tax the rich" so each pays "their fair share". I recently came across a report titled DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL TAX LIABILITIES BY INCOME CLASS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2000, as Prepared by the Staff of the JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION. The following table from that publication is interesting. Income Category...................Individual Income Tax ................................................Income......Percent Less than $10,000.......................-5.........-0.6% 10,000 to 20,000........................-7........ -0.8% 20,000 to 30,000........................10..........1.1% 30,000 to 40,000........................30..........3.4% 40,000 to 50,000........................39..........4.4% 50,000 to 75,000.......................114.........12.9% 75,000 to 100,000......................113.........12.8% 100,000 to 200,000.....................213.........24.1% 200,000 and over...................... 377.........42.7% Highest 10%........................... 587.........66.4% Highest 5%.............................478.........54.0% Highest 1%.............................297.........33.6%...

It is impossible not to be at least a little awed by Michelle Obama. It's not just the height (5'11"), the style (among Vanity Fair's best-dressed on the planet), and the air of supreme confidence (the woman sports sleeveless tops at major photo ops). There is also her up-by-the-bootstraps backstory as a South Side of Chicago girl gone double Ivy (Princeton and Harvard Law, thank you very much), followed by her years spent juggling a successful legal career while raising two daughters. And, of course, there is her famously un-Stepford stump style--the sarcasm, the candor, the compulsion to ignore the...

I May Or May Not Leave Free Republic I'll decide after I finish this bottle of champagne.

What a whiner and crybaby old man is Don Shula. I mean really Don, get over it. No matter how good the Patriots do in 2007-2008 it doesnt effect how good you were. You are still as good as you were before the "perfect season" of the Pats. You are embarassing yourself and football generally by your whining about spygate, etc. PS: If your best team ever played the 2007 Pats, you would lose by 50-3. At least.

I didn't immediately realize, as I made my way through the enrollment lines at college, how much it was going to cost me to live in Pasadena. My college had no dormitories so all students had to find off campus housing and transportation to get to get to school. Tuition averaged $11,000.00 per semester and the school ran 3 continuous semesters per year. In a sincere effort to fund my education, I turned to my college financial aid office, where advisors never even suggested federal funding or grants etc. . They simply directed me to private loan companies, who were...

To flip through the first third of Valerie Plame Wilson's "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House" is to confront an optical maze of gray stripes interrupting juicy anecdotes and methodical musings. CIA censors blacked out 10 percent of the text in her memoir, leaving its narrative disjointed and sometimes hard to follow. "I believe the vast majority of what is blacked out in the book has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with diminishing me and Joe," she said. Agency censors also wouldn't allow Plame Wilson to acknowledge working...

The news just keeps getting worse for the Padres. Left fielder Milton Bradley is out for the season, and center fielder Mike Cameron could miss the rest of the regular season and possibly the playoffs if the Padres qualify, according to major-league sources. Bradley suffered a torn anterior-cruciate ligament in his right knee while being restrained by Padres manager Bud Black from going after first base umpire Mike Winters during Sunday's loss to the Rockies. Cameron's problem occurred the inning before when Bradley stepped on his hand while the two outfielders pursued Garrett Atkins' drive to left-center that resulted in...

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski recently completed a three-week family vacation to a secluded stretch of North Carolina coastline, only occasionally crossing paths with fellow beachgoers during his daily one-hour walks. Krzyzewski took the time to greet those who recognized him, but he didn’t take the chance of posing for a photograph. “I’d rather not take a picture with somebody on the beach, especially in today’s world,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s like, ‘Here’s Coach K ... with his new family. Where’s Mickie? There’s something wrong. He went to the beach and he has eight kids and this 23-year-old wife. How did that...

A local woman thought getting a cake decorated would be simple. However, she ran into some problems she didn't expect, when she approached different bakeries. Connie Ansley is part of the Daughters of the Confederacy. She wanted a cake with the Confederate emblem on it, for the opening of a new memorial museum. Ansley says several big chain stores refused to decorate a cake with a confederate flag on it. They told her it was because of the emblem, which some consider a symbol of racism and slavery. "It's a constant battle we fight every day to keep our heritage,"...

About me: Lurker - since 1998 Member - since 1999 In self-imposed exile - since April 2007 The tone of the debate and the attacks on long-time fellow Freepers for the cardinal sin of daring to support Rudy Giuliani in early 2007 around here have really saddened me. Instead of fighting the enemy FR is now imposing an 'ideological purity' test on FR members. The well-oiled train has gone off the rails and Mr. Robinson risks becoming the next Joe Farah - a fellow who started a great website for conservative news and opinions, but who gradually drifted off to...

Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel. Some sources are claiming that Pelosi...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ex-New Orleans Saints quarterback Adrian McPherson is suing the Tennessee Titans because the team mascot hit him with a golf cart before the second half of an August exhibition. McPherson is seeking $15 million in punitive damages. He also seeks $5 million in compensatory damages for what he called the Titans' negligence. A team spokesman said Monday the Titans are aware of the lawsuit but had no further comment. The quarterback was on the field Aug. 12 warming up when T-Rac, the Titans' mascot played by director of mascot operations Pete Nelson, hit him with a golf...

Dear Rush: Pardon my French, but you’re full of s***! As I listened to your show last week, you chose to criticize and attack conservative Americans like myself who feel the Republican Party does not deserve to win in November. Rush, since when did you become such a shill for the GOP? Choosing the party over the base is a very disappointing move to this long time listener. I’m very disappointed in you, Rush Limbaugh, you’ve lost touch with the reality that is life for the common man in America. I heartily recommend you take pause and reconsider your programming...

McCOMB, Miss. - A convicted child molester banged his head on a courtroom wall before falling to the floor this week when he was sentenced to 40 years for assaulting a young child and giving her a sexually transmitted disease. Circuit Court Judge David Strong on Thursday sentenced Michael Donnell Matthews, 23, to 40 years in prison, ordering him to spend 30 years with no possibility of parole. Matthews pleaded guilty to sexual battery of a child under 7 in the case involving a May 22 attack. Shortly after Strong announced the sentence, Matthews purposely hit his head against the...

ABC News has confirmed that Adam Gadahn, the American who converted to Islam and joined al Qaeda, has been charged in a sealed indictment with providing material support to terrorism. Gadahn recently appeared with al Qaeda's No. 2 in command Ayman Zawahiri exhorting Americans to convert to Islam. Gadahn, in addition to helping al Qaeda with propaganda and communications, is also suspected of helping al Qaeda with English translations and understanding U.S. culture and vulnerabilities. Charges may be announced in the next week. Officials have also considered charging Gadahn with treason.

Since their arrival in San Diego aboard a Coast Guard cutter two weeks ago, the accused head of the Arellano Félix drug cartel and six other men have been held in small cells on the fifth floor of a downtown jail. They can't use the phone, they can't exercise and they've only been allowed out of their cells for lawyer visits, court and a 15-minute shower once every three days, their lawyers said. “They're being treated more harshly than some of the worst convicted criminals we've had in this country,” said David Bartick, lawyer for Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, accused...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iraqi architect on Tuesday said he was forced to change his t-shirt before boarding a flight in New York because the shirt had "We will not be silent" written on it in Arabic and English. ADVERTISEMENT Raed Jarrar wrote on his Internet blog (http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com) that he was required to change out of the shirt prior to boarding a JetBlue flight from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to California this month because officials told him people were offended by the shirt. In an interview with New York Public Radio on Tuesday, Jarrar said, "I grew...

MEXICO CITY - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, convinced he won't be awarded the presidency, has vowed to create a parallel leftist government and is urging Mexicans not to recognize the apparent victory of the ruling party's Felipe Calderon. .................... Both scenarios are possibilities as the former Mexico City mayor lays out plans to create his own government to rule from the streets, with the support of thousands who are already occupying protest camps throughout downtown Mexico City. ...................

The children and voting. To me, that's what Elvira Arellano's battle to stay in the United States should be all about. I'm glad her supporters are of the same opinion. Since I first heard about Arellano, the undocumented worker who has taken sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist Church to avoid deportation to Mexico, my prevailing question has been this: What about the rights of her 7-year-old son, Saul, who is an American citizen? We should be concerned about his rights. You start trampling on the rights of one citizen, and where does it end? So I was glad to see...