Free Republic

I am not sure when I first detected the noxious fumes that would envelop the conservative movement in the Obama era. It might have been early on, in April 2009, when I visited a series of gun shows in rural California and Nevada. Perusing tables piled high with high-caliber semi-automatic weapons and chatting with anyone in my vicinity, I heard urgent warnings of mass roundups, concentration camps, and a socialist government in Washington. “These people that are purchasing these guns are people that are worried about what’s going on in this country,” a gun dealer told me outside a show...

"How's that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?" Sarah Palin asked the anti-élitist Tea Party élites — those who could pay $549 for a ticket (liberal lies -tickets were acctually $349 to see Palin) gathered in suffocating self-righteousness at the Opryland Hotel on the first weekend of February. It was classic Palin, a brilliant line, brilliantly delivered: she does folksy far better than George W. Bush or any of the other Republican focus-group populists ever did. It was the signature line of her speech, which rocked the joint — and then, slowly, began to rock the national political community. The...

CHEROKEE (AP) — A casino is battling a highly contagious virus that has sickened hundreds of people. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported today that workers at Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel are cleaning slot machines every two hours with a bleach solution to control the outbreak of intestinal troubles including vomiting and diarrhea. Door knobs, escalator handrails and restrooms are being sanitized hourly.

Obama 'entirely dissatisfied' with jobless rate 15 mins ago WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he is "entirely dissatisfied" with the level of US unemployment and cannot congratulate himself on his first year in office between the jobless rate is so high. "I am entirely dissatisfied with where we are right now in terms of jobs, and the fact that families out there on the eve of Christmas are still really worried," Obama said in an interview with public television station PBS. "And so I don't pat myself on the back at the end of this year,"...

It is a cynical but time-honoured practice in Middle Eastern politics: the statesmen who decry the political and humanitarian crisis of the approximately 3.9 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza ignore the plight of an estimated 4.6 million Palestinians who live in Arab countries. For decades, Arab governments have justified their decision to maintain millions of stateless Palestinians as refugees in squalid camps as a means of applying pressure to Israel. The refugee problem will be solved, they say, when Israel agrees to let the Palestinians have their own state. Yet in the two decades since...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The interim Honduran government on Monday revoked an emergency decree that prohibited large street protests and limited other civil liberties following the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The decree, which resulted in dozens of arrests and the closing of two pro-Zelaya media outlets, "has been completely revoked," Interim President Roberto Micheletti said at a news conference with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican. Micheletti did not say whether the lifting of the decree would take effect immediately. He had said in a morning television interview it would be formally repealed Tuesday when the new...

This year's Day of the Soldier celebrations in Honduras got a mixed response. The military is now seen as tarnished by its role in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. Tegucigalpa, Honduras - With rifle shots into the air and the national anthem sung by soldiers in salute, Saturday's Day of the Soldier in Honduras seemed no different than any other year's commemorations for the armed forces. But this Oct. 3, after the June ouster of President Manuel Zelaya catapulted the Honduran military into the middle of a political saga, the customary congratulations from Honduran citizens are more muted.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week. Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a daylong standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, and suspended civil liberties for 45 days. But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to "ask the Honduran people for...

(IsraelNN.com) Iranian protestors threw a show at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he was riding to speak in a presidential campaign speech, according to Iranian blogs. His convoy sped away from the scene, but supporters of Ahmadinejad called the report a false rumor.

WASHINGTON (CNN)—Arizona Senator John McCain is adopting a major 2008 campaign slogan for a new political action committee designed to support not only his own planned re-election run in two years, but help him put his stamp on the rebuilding of the Republican Party. The formation of the “Country First” PAC is to be announced Wednesday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN. One of the sources called it the “first official step” of the GOP Senator’s re-election campaign. McCain made it clear not long after losing the presidential election that he intended to seek re-election to the Senate...

It's one of those things that sneaks up on you in politics, a sense of things happening not quite as you expected. It started in April when our Times colleague Louise Roug called with a quote from Sen. Hillary Clinton.

For most politicians, boxing is a metaphor. But it never has been for John McCain. Hillary Clinton waved Kelly Pavlik’s gloves during a primary stop in Youngstown, Ohio. It was symbol, a photo op, for a candidate who wanted to be seen as a fighter. But gloves are no symbol for McCain. McCain has worn them. The former Naval Academy boxer says he intends to take up an old fight as he resumes the daily rounds of work as Arizona’s senior senator after the Republican nominee lost in a bruising campaign to Democrat Barack Obama for president.

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's top court ruled in favor of a transgender politician who was slapped with a lawsuit by two political opponents who claimed she misled voters by running as a female. The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on Monday found that the two political opponents who filed the lawsuit failed to produce evidence of fraud, misconduct or illegal action after claiming that Michelle Bruce bamboozled voters by identifying herself as a female. Bruce, who was believed to be the state's first transgender politician, landed one of four council seats in Riverdale, Ga. in 2003. Running unopposed, she pledged...

As he prepared to meet US presidential candidate Barack Obama later Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a French newspaper that the Illinois senator was his "buddy." "Obama? That's my buddy," Sarkozy was quoted as saying in Friday's edition of Le Figaro. "Contrary to my diplomatic advisors, I never thought Hillary Clinton had a chance. I always said Obama would be chosen" as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. "I am the only French person who knows him," Sarkozy said, recounting that he had met Obama during a visit to the United States in 2006, when he was Interior...

My previous commentaries on Barack Obama's candidature for the presidency of the United States have made it clear that I am sceptical about his winning. I am now even more sceptical despite his de facto defeat of Hillary Clinton for the nomination of the Democratic Party. Sir Ronald Sanders This is not because I don't want him to win. I firmly believe that his election as US president could make for a stronger America both within its own borders and in the world. For, if Obama wins, it will be because a majority of white people joined black people in...

Maybe you thought reality TV hit the lowest of the low when "Fear Factor" contestants devoured cockroaches, or when gold diggers paraded their wares in hopes of marrying a millionaire, or when Tila Tequila got a second shot at "love" with 10 guys and 10 girls. Those shows look like "Masterpiece Theater" compared to what's coming. Take, for instance, "Hurl," an eating-and-regurgitating competition in which contestants gorge themselves on everything from chicken pot pies to peanut butter sandwiches, then get strapped into spinning contraptions -- whoever vomits last wins....

A human tongue has been served up in a hospital canteen's chicken risotto — and bosses reckon it was accidentally dropped into the food by a doctor.

"The Hillary Clinton for President Campaign celebrated the opening of its new San Francisco headquarters with a launch party that coincided with the Democratic presidential debate on July 23, 2007. The radical activist groups Breasts Not Bombs and Code Pink heard about the event and decided it would be a good opportunity to stage a surprise topless protest to publicize their anti-war message." "I heard about the planned party-crashing and made sure I was on hand to record what happened." WARNING: link to website contains topless photos ( Mother-Of-All-Barf-Alerts)"Everyone crowded around several large TVs to watch the Democratic candidates. The...

WASHINGTON - In returning $850,000 to donors associated with a disgraced fundraiser, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sets a significant new standard for how campaigns should respond in the face of potential scandal. Clinton's decision also underscores the price — financial and political — that her campaign is paying for failing to spot trouble with the fundraiser, Norman Hsu, even after receiving a warning. The campaign announced it would now conduct background checks on its fundraisers, an extraordinary and potentially time consuming step. By returning the money, Clinton also puts pressure on presidential rivals and other politicians with rainmakers who have...

We welcome you to the fourth anniversary issue of the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill. With more beautiful people nominees than ever before, making choices was a wrenching and angst-filled process. Thanks to all that participated and we are happy to introduce The Hill's Top 10 beautiful people on Capitol Hill: . . . . 4. It girl strikes a pose Name: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) Age: 67 Hometown: Baltimore, Md. Political Party: Democrat Dating Status: Married to Paul Pelosi It is rather uncomfortable calling the 67-year-old House Speaker HouseNancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), mother of five and grandmother...