Free Republic

I never caught his name, if he was part of some goofy group, or why Michael thought he needed a soapbox. Is Medved just picking up drunks off the street and making them guests these days?The guy was so incoherent about just about everything, I'd look to look him up out of curiosity.

"To see what is in front of one's nose," George Orwell famously asserted, "needs a constant struggle." Congratulations this week to three journalists who have finally taken up that constant struggle: Christopher Buckley, David Gergen and David Brooks. All three used to insist that Obama was some species of centrist or moderate. Now that Obama has proposed the most massive expansion of government in the history of the republic, each has recognized that just conceivably he might have been mistaken. A humorist--and, I should disclose, an old friend--Christopher Buckley exercised his acute comic sense during the presidential campaign, judging John...

"General" David Brooks, the very compliant house conservative of the New York Times, after just three days of bravely volunteering to lead a mighty "moderate" army against the "ideological outrages" of the Barack Obama administration, has now called a hasty retreat with a column that borders on outright apology for daring to oppose the very liberal budget. First let us take trip down memory lane to three days in the past to take a look the battle plan presented by General Brooks following his astounding revelation that most of the non-house conservatives discovered long, long ago:

You wouldn’t know it some days, but there are moderates in this country — moderate conservatives, moderate liberals, just plain moderates. We sympathize with a lot of the things that President Obama is trying to do. We like his investments in education and energy innovation. We support health care reform that expands coverage while reducing costs. But the Obama budget is more than just the sum of its parts. There is, entailed in it, a promiscuous unwillingness to set priorities and accept trade-offs. There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in...

Kathryn, in all the Rush-bashing, I was more disturbed by Michael Steele's wretched performance. His initial reaction — that Rush's show is "incendiary" and "ugly" — revealed: a) that he never listens to it; b) that he takes his cues from the mainstream media, for whom Rush is invariably "angry". They don't listen either. Rush is a lot of things, but "angry" isn't one of them. If you catch him for 20 minutes, you know he's full of fun, laughing it up, having a grand old time. There are a lot of angry talkshow hosts out there bellowing at the...

President Obama and Rush Limbaugh do not agree on much, but they share at least one thing: Both wish to see Rush anointed as the leader of the Republican party. Here’s Rahm Emanuel on Face the Nation yesterday: “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican party.” What a great endorsement for Rush! (And we know Rush is fond of compliments – listen to his loving account in his CPAC speech of the birthday lunch given him by President Bush just before Inauguration Day.) But what about the rest of the party? Here’s the duel that Obama...

There is a song within the hearts of Americans,who care-"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" and "My Country Tis of thee"..when will the soldiers come home?? Who is there that does not want the war to end ? And Will the deaths of one ,two or three hundred,ect. miltary make a difference in fighting off home ground on soil owned by those who are not afraid of death-or punishment-or killing off a million Americans. So we pray for all our troops that the war will end -that they may return HOME safe and their families,who agonize daily on news of...

A potential Off Broadway production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie," an acclaimed solo show about an American demonstrator killed by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to stop the destruction of a Palestinian home, has been postponed because of concerns about the show's political content. The production, a hit at the Royal Court Theater in London last year, had been tentatively scheduled to start performances at the New York Theater Workshop in the East Village on March 22. But yesterday, James C. Nicola, the artistic director of the workshop, said he had decided to postpone the show after polling local...

A raft of new studies suggest that cyclists, particularly men, should be careful which bicycle seats they choose. The studies add to earlier evidence that traditional bicycle saddles, the kind with a narrow rear and pointy nose, play a role in sexual impotence. Some saddle designs are more damaging than others, scientists say. But even so-called ergonomic seats, to protect the sex organs, can be harmful, the research finds. The dozen or so studies, from peer-reviewed journals, are summarized in three articles in September's Journal of Sexual Medicine. In a bluntly worded editorial with the articles, Dr. Steven Schrader, a...

Man injured in 'tombstoning' jump A 21-year-old man has been airlifted to hospital after being injured in a 'tombstoning' accident in Cornwall. Coastguards and police warned of the dangers of the daredevil act of jumping from cliffs and rocks into the sea. Rescue teams were alerted to the accident at Rinsey Head, near Mount's Bay, on Monday evening. The man, an Australian bodyboarder, fractured both legs and was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske by a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose. Coastguards have named the injured man as Harry Dixon from Sydney. Falmouth Coastguard Watch Manager James Instance said:...

Odd clothing reinforces escape theoryINMATES WHO DIED WORE LAYERS WITH GARBAGE BAGS IN BETWEENBy Peter MathewsCENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU Two inmates whose bodies were found in a Trimble County landfill Thursday were trying to escape from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange, a state official said yesterday.Avery C. Roland of Stanton and Michael Talbot of Louisville had on multiple layers of clothing, with garbage bags between the layers, said John Rees, commissioner of the Department of Corrections.Rees said investigators reviewed phone calls and correspondence involving the inmates to uncover the plot."They were dead before they left the institution," Rees...

RICHMOND, Feb. 25 -- Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-Winchester) announced Friday that he is running for Virginia governor as an "independent Republican" and will mount a populist, pro-investment campaign against the two major party candidates. Potts, a senator for 14 years, said that he remains faithful to the principles of his party but that the GOP's rightward drift has put it out of line with the thinking of most Virginians. "I believe that Virginia is a moderate, middle-of-the-road state," said Potts, 65. "That's where I am." He vowed to turn back one of the most popular political promises in...

ABC13 Eyewitness News (12/15/04 - HOUSTON) — A Richmond couple is upset at a Sugar Land pet store they say gave away their beloved Pomeranian to a stranger. Jana Brown says she dropped off her purebred Pomeranian named Mercedes to a Sugar Land Petco to get groomed more than a week ago, just as she has done dozens of times before. But ... ~snip~ Click here to continue and see video

TULSA - Blake Champlin, a Tulsa lawyer and environmental activist, died Monday at his home when a tree supporting a hammock fell and crushed him. Champlin, 45, died instantly, said Gerald Hilsher, an attorney with Shipley & Kellogg, Champlin's former law firm. Champlin was a member of Sierra Club and Save the Illinois River, and the director of Keep Tulsa Beautiful. He also pushed for an agreement between Oklahoma and Arkansas on phosphorus limits in northeast Oklahoma waters, Hilsher said. Champlin was a past director of the Oklahoma Society of Environmental Professionals and a past chairman of the Environmental Law...

Angel Of Death -The Rachel Corrie Incident Posted By Seth Monroe on 12.15.03 Part 1 of a 2 part series. In the middle of March, 2003 I was at my computer going through my usual morning routine of posting at forums and reading news bites. A headline suddenly leapt out at me. Something along the lines of "peace activist crushed by Israeli bulldozer" or something of the like. Within the article a surreal picture of a pretty young woman yelling through a bullhorn while standing in front of an immense bulldozer appeared. The caption read "Rachel Corrie moments before her...

<p>Elizabeth Corrie would see her younger cousin every summer at the family vacation spot on Minnesota's Cedar Lake.</p> <p>Elizabeth, a Midlothian High School alumna who teaches at a private school in Atlanta, was born nearly a decade earlier than Rachel. But they shared a similar sense of humor, a yearning for social justice and a desire to make a difference.</p>