Free Republic

SACRAMENTO - In the Year of the Republicans, California is the great exception. Whatever force hit the rest of the country in November stopped at the California border. Democrats won every statewide office on the ballot. They increased their already hefty majority in the State Assembly and maintain a sizable majority in the Senate. Their congressional delegation remains intact, as well. For Democrats, that is cause for celebration, given the battering they took almost everywhere else. But it is also cause for sober reflection. Are they up to the task of governing?

Joining the parade of House Democrats who joined the Republican Party since the Nov. 2 election, Sen. Tim Golden of Valdosta announced Monday he will join the GOP caucus. Golden, recently elected to an 11th term in the General Assembly, becomes the first Democrat to switch parties in the Senate. Five House members have left the Democratic caucus for the GOP. “I am changing my party affiliation in order to better represent the views of the majority of my constituents and my own conservative, pro-business philosophy,” Golden said in a statement. “Our state continues to face great challenges. As a...

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama will not visit Amritsar during his stay in India next month. While there was no official confirmation from the government, sources said the proposal to visit Amritsar had been dropped owing to reservations of US officials over the kind of scarf Obama would have to wear to visit the Golden Temple. The decision was yet to be communicated to the government till late on Tuesday. However, sources said Obama, who will arrive in Mumbai on November 6, will directly come to Delhi now after a day's stay in the country's commercial capital. Earlier, he...

NEW DELHI — The Golden Temple, a sprawling and serene complex of gleaming gold and polished marble that is the spiritual center of the Sikh religion, is one of India’s most popular tourist attractions. Revered by Indians of all faiths, it is a cherished emblem of India’s religious diversity. So it was no surprise when the gold-plated marvel was touted as the likely third stop on President Obama’s visit to India, scheduled for early November. But the United States has ruled out a Golden Temple visit, according to an American official involved in planning. Temple officials said that American advance...

E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury... The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich... Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center. On Friday, Whitaker defended his work as the state's former top health official,...

George Andrew Jackson made one of the most pivotal gold discoveries in Colorado history around today's Idaho Springs on January 7, 1859. He had made his way up from camp at today's Golden townsite, later became a Golden citizen, and suggested the town be named after Thomas L. Golden who was the only person he trusted with the secret of his discovery. Today is the 150th anniversary of one of the great gold strikes in Colorado history, when George A. Jackson, having traveled from his camp at today's Golden townsite, journeyed up to the vicinity of today's Idaho Springs...

A Rabbi asked the City of Golden if he could put up a menorah near the Christmas tree and the reaction of the city is to consider banning all religous symbols. The City of Golden claims that they do not want to have any religous symbols such as the menorah on city property. City of Golen spokesman Jonathan Ashford said that "the goal here is to set guidelines. The city has had a history of having a display downtown that didn't include any kind of specific religious message or theme. We've tried to keep it neutral, very open, very inclusive."...

Well...I played hookie this morning and went to the Sarah Palin Rally this morning at the Westernaires Arena in Golden, Colorado. It was originally to be a pancake breakfast meeting, but due to the overwhelming demand the campaign ran out of tickets in the span of eight hours so the pancakes were tossed out. I had called ahead and I had tickets available at the "will call" booth at the arena. I left the house in Thornton at 5 AM and parked at the Colorado Mills Mall parking lot at 5:30. I then walked about a mile to the Arena....

Excerpt - The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Sunday that it won't allow the companies to make "golden parachute" severance payments to the mortgage companies' ousted chief executive officers. In a statement, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said such payments wouldn't be made to Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron, despite provisions in their contracts. Mr. Mudd served as chief executive of Fannie and Mr. Syron was chairman and CEO of Freddie until last weekend, when the regulator seized control of the companies, saying they were in danger of running out of capital. ~ snip ~

GOLDEN - Tickets have run out for Governor Sarah Palin's visit just eight hours Friday. Now Palin's campaign is changing the venue to fit everyone. The event will now be moved to the Westernaires Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. This arena change will take place of the planned pancake breakfast in order to accommodate the demand. NEWSCHANNEL 13 will be covering the event live on krdo.com with coverage begining at 9:00 a.m. Monday. The event is still free to the public and doors will open around 7 a.m. Monday September 15th. Jefferson County Fairgrounds 15200 West 6th Avenue Golden,...

Al Jazeera English broadcast today from the Buffalo Rose, an Old West biker bar in downtown Golden, a small city near Denver. Golden is a charming place. Clear Creek runs through it, and supplies the gigantic Coors Brewery with the water it turns into Colorado’s most famous beer. Golden is also known as the home of the Colorado School of Mines. Their athletic teams’ symbol is a miner’s donkey. [ Great photos at link ]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Four men in Orlando were charged with a hate crime after they pummeled a 62-year-old woman and her two mentally-challenged companions at a public park after they didn't pay a "fee" for being white, police said. Investigators said the victims were walking into a Kaley Park when they were confronted by Christopher Colbert, Erick Golden, Willie Pritts and Antoniette Boone. Police said the victims were told that since they are white, they had to pay a fee to be in the park. When the three didn't pay, the men beat them, officers said. One of the victims...

Dollar's golden era is ending, warns Soros By Edmund Conway in Davos Last Updated: 8:10pm GMT 23/01/2008 The billionaire investor famous for "breaking" the Bank of England in the 1990s has warned that Britain is heading for a recession. George Soros said that a recession in both the United States and Britain "will be very difficult to avoid". He was speaking on the fringes of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland, where many of the world's top politicians and businessmen are meeting. The billionaire investor expects the dollar to be usurped as the top currency The warning is...

SATURDAY AM: Some amazing numbers were posted Friday for this weekend's movie releases. Warner Bros' I Am Legend opens closer to $80 million than the studio's hoped-for $50 million from Friday through Sunday after making a whopping $29.6 million Friday in 3,606 theaters.... *snip* And the bottom fell out of costly domestic flop The Golden Compass from New Line, which forked out $200+ million to make it, in its second weekend in release. I know, I know, the pic is doing OK overseas. But the fantasy pic is so lost domestically it earned only an anemic $2.6 million Friday from...

We all get "those" emails from time to time-the ones making claims that are meant to be passed on. We've learned to check things on sites like snopes.com to make sure what we pass is true. When it comes to the movie The Golden Compass, whats going around is...true

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2007 – The senior al Qaeda terrorist believed to be the mastermind behind both bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, was killed during a coalition air strike, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesperson told journalists in Baghdad today. “Yesterday, the government of Iraq announced that the coalition force killed a senior al Qaeda terrorist, Haitham Sabah al Badri,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark Fox, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq. “He was killed east of Samara on Aug. 2.” Al Badri, whose body was positively identified by family members, is believed to have masterminded both the February...

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas: Somewhere in the United States, Andrew Golden will likely step outside of prison Friday for the first time as a free man since being arrested as an 11-year-old after he and another boy killed four classmates and an English teacher at a school. Golden, the younger of two boys who used deer rifles to kill five people at the Jonesboro Westside Middle School in 1998, turns 21 Friday.

Golden Dragons Care for Local Residents Infantry soldiers secure area as doctors, medics treat villagers. By Spc. Chris McCann 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division SADR AL-YUSUFIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 12, 2007 -- In a country where poverty is endemic and many people are afraid to leave their homes because of terror threats, basic medical care can fall by the wayside. The village of Sadr Al-Yusufiyah, Iraq, a mostly Sunni area near the Euphrates River, is no different, but the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment “Golden Dragons”, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)...

The movie "Curse of the Golden Flower" swept the Chinese music scene and brought in 170 million yuan, topping the box office in 2006. Most people came to see how the 360 million yuan (approximately US$ 45 million) was spent on the movie; they were curious to see how luxurious it could get. But how many people knew that this movie, heavily invested in by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and produced by Zhang Yimou, who has repeatedly followed the Party's lines, is another "masterpiece" that intends to brainwash people. The CCP's thoughts and directives filled the movie; it even...

Pelosi: 'Permitting Indefinite Detention Under Conditions that Cannot be Challenged in Court is Contrary to Our History and Values'Wed Sep 27, 3:45 PM ET To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in strong opposition to H.R. 6054 -- Military Commissions Act. Three major amendments offered by Democratic Members were rejected by the Rules Committee. Below are Pelosi's remarks: "It's been five years since 9/11, yet not one person who has been directly...