Free Republic

Barack Obama's selection of U.S. Sen. and former presidential candidate Joe Biden as his running mate is not generating a momentous immediate reaction from the nation's voters. Just 14% of registered voters interviewed in a new USA Today/Gallup poll say Biden makes them more likely to vote for Obama in November and 7% say less likely while 72% say he will not have much effect on their vote. This results in Biden potentially having a net positive impact on voter support for the Democratic ticket of +7 percentage points -- small by comparison with other recent vice presidential selections. A...

In choosing Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, Barack Obama has acknowledged his own shortcomings while recognizing that the election he and his people thought a cakewalk a few months ago is now a battle royale along the lines of the 2000 and 2004 contests. Republicans would do well not to celebrate too much over this choice. On the surface, it may appear to be a mistake - an almost comically bad selection by Obama due to Biden's well known (and well documented) verbal gaffes. And, as Politico points out, this should worry the Obama camp: But...

Manny Ramirez will not be in the starting lineup for this afternoon's series finale in Seattle. Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Ramirez showed up this morning and said his right knee was sore, an overnight development that the manager said caught him by surprise. The trainers had not communicated any issue to Francona after the game. "He showed up this morning, I wasn't ready for that,'' Francona said. "He said his right knee hurts.'' Francona then joked, "The (expletive) jaywalking, if you do it right, you won't hurt your knee.'' Ramirez told reporters his knee has been bothering him...

Obama Makes Stop On Way To Afghanistan In Whirlwind Tour Of Middle East, Europe CHICAGO (CBS) A group soldiers serving overseas, including some from the Chicago area, were overjoyed Saturday when presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama visited in Kuwait. As CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports, Obama stopped in at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait before making his first trip to Afghanistan. Camp Arifjan is a major gateway for U.S. soldiers moving into and out of Iraq. The soldiers applauded thunderously when Obama arrived; one of them could barely contain herself as she sported a Chi-town sign. When the cheers settled...

In one of Senate candidate Al Franken’s literary efforts titled “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot,” he reveals his personal feelings about a topic important to many Minnesotans. In Chapter 12 of his book, I learned that candidate Franken is against private ownership of guns due to his belief that firearms in the home are “too dangerous.” I believe these views are more consistent with California or New York, where Mr. Franken still maintains corporate interests. His problem is Minnesota has always been a pro-gun state. Remember, a bipartisan majority passed “conceal and carry.” I called the National Rifle...

Warning: The following contains extreme vulgarity by a candidate for the United States Senate. In the nationally important Senate race in Minnesota, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is presented with a unique political problem. Should he raise in his ads the issue of comedian Al Franken's offensive vulgarity? Or would this risk a backlash against Coleman for coarsening the public conversation? Remember that when Ken Starr detailed Bill Clinton's most repulsive antics -- stained dresses and such -- it was Starr who was accused of sexual obsessiveness. Franken's defenders explain that his edginess is the result of being a "satirist" --...

On an episode of her Mob Logic.TV called "Hybrid Hullabaloo" the lovely Lindsay Campbell (pictured right) had the opportunity to ask an owner of the iconic super-sized Tonka toy something she has been wanting to ask for a long time. While interviewing random people in the parking lot of a "big box" store about hybrids and why they aren't driving them, she spots a man returning to his king-sized ride and runs to confront him. With mic in hand and cameraman in tow she starts, "Tell me seriously, I've always wanted to talk with a Hummer owner and find out...

"DIFFERENT OPINIONS" Jimmy Carter was on the West Bank today. He met with, and reportedly hugged, a senior Hamas official. He placed a wreath on Yasser Arafat's grave. (One of Carter's hosts helpfully explained that "Arafat's resting place was temporary, and the Palestinians hope to move his remains to Jerusalem one day.") The U.S. government has criticized Carter's determination to meet with Hamas, and Israeli officials are more or less shunning the former President. Carter defends his mission to Hamas in these terms: Carter acknowledged Tuesday he was not on an official mission and had "no authority at all." "I'm...

Ray Nagin welcomes "V-Day" Founder, Eve Ensler to cityNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he is "a vagina-friendly Mayor." Nagin made the remark while welcoming the author of the Vagina Monlogues, Eve Ensler to the city to promote the "V-Day" celebration in New Orleans next month. Scheduled to appear during 2 days of educational, cultural and entertainment events at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome, are Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Salma Hayek, Sally Field, Christina Lahti and Faith Hill. Ensler says they will celebrate V-Day's 10 years of ending violence in the world. Mayor Nagin began his...

The Rev. Al Sharpton released a statement Friday chastising one “John Huckabee” for saying South Carolina should be able to decide whether it wants to fly the Confederate flag. Of course he meant Mike Huckabee — the GOP candidate who on the campaign trail Thursday said outsiders should not tell South Carolina what to do when it comes to that flag. Either way, as the controversy of race settles on the Democratic side, Sharpton said Republican Huckabee is now offending the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. “In the midst of a national celebration of the life and teachings of...

LITTLETON, N.H. — The nation needs a president who is more a stranger than an insider when it comes to the capital's way of doing business, Barack Obama said Monday, portraying his relatively modest experience in Washington as an asset. "We don't need somebody who can play the game better," the Illinois senator told about 600 people in a high school gym in this northern New Hampshire town. "We need somebody to put an end to the game plan." Obama seemed to be directing his comments at New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who often suggests that her husband's administration...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has used $23,000 in campaign funds to pay the top Washington ethics lawyer, Stan Brand, who is fighting his case before the Senate ethics committee, according to Craig’s latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. No additional legal expenses appear in the report, but they eventually will. Craig, according to his office, has decided to use his campaign committee for attorney fees related to his criminal defense in Minnesota as well. “A better read (of the latest report) is that Stan Brand bills more quickly,” Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, wrote in an email. The report covers...

Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican trying to inject new life into his beleaguered presidential campaign, plans to offer a resolution this week for Congress to apologize for slavery and segregation. Brownback, of Kansas, told The Boston Globe's editorial board yesterday he will join an unnamed Democrat in sponsoring the proposal. He said he expects a tough fight on the resolution, even though it will not include any call for reparations. "They were federal policies," he said. "They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward . . . is at the end of day acknowledging those, taking ownership...

Apparently this guy took lessons from Larry Craig. Joey Difatta is currently Chairman of the St. Bernard Parish Council and a former member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, until Thursday running for State Senate from District 1. Jefferson Parish deputies working an undercover detail in a men's bathroom at Dillard's at Lakeside Shopping Center in March 2000 stopped DiFatta after he indicated a desire to engage in sex with an undercover deputy in an adjoining bathroom stall, according to an interoffice memorandum written by Sgt. Keith Conley, one of the deputies involved in the investigation. The report said...

A Minnesota judge denied a motion by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in August in connection to an airport bathroom stall sting operation. The order, released Thursday, likely derails Craig's plans to remain in the Senate.

A federal Green party candidate in Vancouver-Kingsway is standing behind a controversial editorial he wrote more than four years ago in which he describes the falling of the World Trade Center twin towers as "beautiful." The editorial, entitled, A Revolting Confession, was first published on Nov. 28, 2002 in an alternative newspaper, The Republic of East Vancouver, which Kevin Potvin founded. "When I saw the first tower cascade down into that enormous plume of dust and paper, there was a little voice inside me that said, 'Yeah!' When the second tower came down the same way, that little voice said,...

Obama: 'Lack of Experience My Greatest Asset,' and Other Whoppers WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just 45 years old and two years into his first term in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama brings to the 2008 Presidential campaign the prospect of a new generation and style of leadership, with less experience in Washington and far fewer ties to the political polarization of the past two decades there. “My lack of experience is my greatest asset,” said Obama. “So is my ability to tell that whopper with a straight face!” Not to be outdone, and already feeling off balance by the freshness of...

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful, is shown on a chair spinning in a circle, saying he was doing something no other candidate can, during a campaign stop, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007, in Keene, N.H. 'Do you know why I can do it,' Kucinich asked. 'No strings. Imagine a president with no strings attached?' (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

TV Truck Plunges Through Ice Rob Lowry MUSKEGO - Frightening moments for the driver of a local TV station's live truck on Sunday. She unknowingly drove onto a channel leading to Big Muskego Lake. Moments later, the truck plunged through the ice. The driver managed to scramble to safety. However, the truck remains submerged. It happened as a news crew for CBS 58 (WDJT) was working on a story about ice safety. "To my knowledge, she thought this was a road that led out to the lake," said Muskego Fire Chief Carl Wojnowski. "So she was unaware she was on...

BY DAWSON BELL The longtime treasurer of Alcona County, Mich., has been accused in an embezzlement scheme in which he may have served as both perpetrator and victim, sending up to $1.25 million in county funds and his own life savings to con artists after falling for one of the notorious online Nigerian banking frauds. Thomas Katona, 56, of Harrisville, Mich., was charged Wednesday with nine felonies, including embezzlement and fraud, after a monthlong investigation by state authorities of numerous unauthorized wire transfers he allegedly made of county funds to overseas bank accounts. 13 years on the job The accounts...

Should Sen. Barack Obama run for president? It will be a tough call for the senator and for those who admire and respect him personally. If he runs, he has a good chance of winning because he represents what Americans want in their president at this very troubled time in their history, a man of firm principles but not an ideologue, a moderate who can sympathize with his opponent's position, a modest man with self-deprecating wit, a politician who tries to bring people together instead of polarizing them against one another. A candidate who does not swagger or shout and...

Gore calls out Bush on 9/11 Sen. Albert Gore, Jr. as interviewed by Gentleman's Quarterly : GQ: Okay, on to 9-11. What were you really feeling? Was there a part of you that felt a sense of relief that you weren’t in charge that day? You mean a sense of relief that I didn’t have to deal with it? Gore: Oh no. Not at all. Not for one second. Not for one second. Why would I? I mean, well first of all, it just didn’t occur to me to feel anything like that. What did occur to me was to...

THIS TIME, it will be harder for John Kerry to have it two ways. He can't be for and against a presidential campaign. The pressure is on to choose: Will he run for president or Senate in 2008? Kerry can't be a presidential nominee and candidate for US Senate on the November 2008 ballot -- a longshot, but still a technical possibility. The state Legislature and governor could change the law, as Connecticut once did for Senator Joe Lieberman. But that seems unlikely, and Kerry seems disinclined to find out. Kerry adviser Ed Reilly said, "With the end of the...

Wisconsin is squarely in the eye of Obamamania this week with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama crossing the border to campaign for Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, attorney general candidate Kathleen Falk and Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Two years ago, when Obama showed up at Milwaukee's Martin Luther King Park to campaign for Moore and Sen. Russ Feingold, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel didn't even bother to run a story the next day. With every magazine and talk show in the nation now promoting the possibility of Obama becoming America's first black president, even the most oblivious local media have taken notice. That's why...

Swift Boater No. 1 November 5, 2006 12:50 am John Kerry's painful self-expiation SEN. JOHN KERRY'S little joke about smarts and soldiering in Iraq turned out to be, pardon the expression, not much of a swiftie. If the Kerry Correlation is true, the senator's performance at a California city college last week qualified him to be dropped off alone in middle of the Sunni Triangle with a rifle, pack, and desert uniform with a stitched-on name patch: Doofus. If that scenario sounds suicidal, Mr. Kerry's remark about the lazy and ill-educated "get[ting] stuck in Iraq"--he claimed later he was talking...

HAROLD FORD, JR.: My friend Lincoln Davis who chairs our campaign says there are, there’s one big difference between us and misfortunate Republicans when it comes to our faith: he said that Republicans fear the Lord; he said Democrats fear AND love the Lord Wow! What a statement! I don't doubt that many Democrats fear And love the lord, but what would make this man come to the conclusion that Republicans only fear the lord? That is what he said. He noted there was a difference between Republican and Democrat faith in God and that the difference was the lack...

"U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, left, joins Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides as they work a phone bank at Sacramento City Teachers Association headquarters, Wed, Oct. 18, 2006, in Sacramento, Calif. The pair made calls asking for support for Angelides and other issues on the Nov. 7 ballot."

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Judiciary: Detroit Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has agreed to the American Civil Liberties Union's demands to shut down the National Security Agency's wiretapping program. Terrorists everywhere are cheering. The 73-year-old Judge Taylor, appointed by Jimmy Carter in 1979, has a long history as a radical. In 1964, she helped set up a Mississippi office of the National Lawyers Guild, which Congress in 1950 called the "legal bulwark of the Communist Party." What happened Thursday was nothing less than a judicial disarmament of the U.S. — stripping away some of our most valuable weapons in the global war on terror.

When I check into this site, often there were interesting discussions from the day before I want to look at. But they are already buried 4 pages deep because it seems some people just post anything they find. Who cares about a radio station promotional announcements, Bruno Kirby dying, or any of this other tripe that some people are posting up. I'm new here, but it seems that some guys are pretty much spamming the blog with articles that rate a "1" on the who gives a crap meter. If it isn't something that we will still remember in 10...

Reefer is Worth Getting Mad About Vienna -- Supporters of the legalization of cannabis would have us believe that it is a gentle, harmless substance that gives you little more than a sense of mellow euphoria. Sellers of the world's most popular illicit drug know better. Trawl through websites offering cannabis seeds for sale and you will find brand names such as Armageddon, AK-47 and White Widow. "This will put you in pieces, then reduce you to rubble -- maybe quicksand if you go too far," one seller boasts. This is much closer to the truth. In Canada, as in...

I am sorry for my first thread to be a vanity. I have lurked so long here and have enjoyed the give and take. I just graduated HS, and I know I am not as learned as most of you out there but I have a question...... Why not just open up to NK? The worst possible thing that douche would want is open borders. Let ustrade, and our allies trade with NK and then the people there will see what the truth is and rise up. I knoe this seems over simplified, but this nut in NK scares me.

A Jacksonville man says he was duped and robbed by two girls after attempting to meet with a woman he met on the internet. The victim says he chatted online with a woman, known on her MySpace.com profile as “Natalia”, for two weeks before deciding to meet with her. He says her prfile showed sexy photos, and a blurb which said “just lookin’ for something fun”. That brief, friendly description was all he knew about her before they planned to meet. "She sent me a message saying she thought she met me somewhere," says the victim. They decided to meet...

DANBURY — In a decision Superior Court trial referee Robert Callahan "agonized long and hard over," he ruled in favor of two accused drug dealers who claimed they were stopped outside the Sheraton in Danbury in 2004 only because they were black. In a written decision dated May 17 and received Friday by defense lawyers, Callahan said he came to his decision, which essentially guts the state's case against the men, "reluctantly" and after "soul-searching." Lawyer James Diamond of Danbury said his client Demetere Taft, 30, of Beaver Street, is "obviously very pleased that the judge has agreed with the...

The number two Democrat in the Senate is urging the House of Representatives not to repudiate a provision in the immigration reform bill that would force the U.S. to consult with Mexico before building a border fence. "To think that we would build a fence without any conversation or consultation with Mexico - that doesn't make sense," Sen. Dick Durbin told "Fox News Sunday." Asked why he felt such consultations were necessary, the top Democrat explained: "Good fences make good neighbors, too. And remember that when it's all over there will be cities across the border from one another in...

Pay attention, civilians. Actor Charlie Sheen has been focusing his mind on the official explanation for 9/11. And you know what? He's not buying it. "It just didn't look like any commercial jetliner I've flown on any time in my life," the Hotshots Part Deux star told a US radio station this week, "and then when the buildings came down later on that day, I said to my brother 'call me insane', but did it sorta look like those buildings came down in a controlled demolition?" You're insane. Next. "It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking...

LEBANON, Va. -- A former southwest Virginia emergency medical worker who fatally zapped a co-worker with a cardiac defibrillator was sentenced to time in state prison Tuesday. Prosecutors said Joshua Martin was goofing around last June when he put the defibrillator paddles to coworker Courtney Hilton's side and gave her a fatal jolt of electricity. Martin pleaded guilty to involuntary Manslaughter in January. He cried and apologized to Courtney Hilton's family in court. Russell County Circuit Judge Mike Moore suspended four years of a five-year sentence. Martin has been in jail since January. He must serve a remaining 10 months...

Tax cuts - Well I didn't get one, and in fact I'm a lot poorer now. But a lot of rich folks did get them and I'm am just waiting for that money to trickle down to me. Any day now and I'll be rollin in it! Bad guys - None of that wimpy negotiations and measured responses for our President. It's kill 'em all and let Allah sort 'em out. That's what I'm talking about! And what's even better is when they get captured. Our President knows how these people need to dealt with. If somebody shoved a chain...

The suicide bomber in yesterday's Gazipur blast claimed to be a member of the suicide squad of banned Jama'atul Muhahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and to have carried out the bomb attack following 'Allah's order'. Police caught him right after the blast from the spot. Admitting to carrying out the bomb attack, he introduced himself as Abdur Razzak, 20, son of Abdul Khalek, of Chapainawabganj. He also had about 20 JMB leaflets with him when arrested. On information provided by Razzak, Chapainawabganj police picked up 10 of his relatives and neighbours, raiding his and grandfather's homes at Jamaat dominated Tikrampur areas in...

Having declared last Wednesday that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a "big mistake," former President Bill Clinton now thinks the Bush Administration policy may succeed. Speaking to Arab students in Dubai, the capital of United Arab Emirates, Clinton said "Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done." Last night however, he told an audience of 700 in Valhalla, New York that the recent vote on an Iraqi constitution went well, and the next test will be whether the once-dominant Sunni Arabs participate in the Dec. 15 elections, according to Westchester County's News...

Al Franken Goes On NBC's TODAY SHOW: “I Think Rove And Libby Will Be Executed”...

Here is the text of former Vice President Al Gore's remarks at the We Media conference on Wednesday in New York: I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions. How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's...

EFFORTS by Hollywood actor Sean Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly overnight, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak. Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina's flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch. The actor, known for his political activism, was seen wearing what appeared to be a white flak jacket and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup. When the boat's...

A Knox County jury on Tuesday convicted a man who claims he was brutalized by deputies of assaulting one of them. Jurors deliberated two hours before deeming Gary Lynn Harvey guilty of disorderly conduct and assault on Knox County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Mike Evans. The jury acquitted Harvey of a charge he assaulted Deputy Erick Tipton. The verdict came after a five-day trial and the dismissal of a female juror after she claimed she overheard Evans make a threatening statement about Harvey. The case stems from an encounter in May 2003 at an apartment complex on Fox Lake Way where...

HOLIDAYMAKER Ali Smith was enjoying a quiet break with her family in Tenerife when she bumped into the former US president Bill Clinton. The lab support technician, of Mountain Ash, Marlow, was dining with her sister and niece in one of the elegant Monasterio restaurants behind her sister's apartment, when President Clinton walked in, followed by an entourage of security staff and businessmen. Mrs Smith said: "There was a party of five of us and we were sitting at the table, deciding whether to have pudding. A ripple of excitement went around the room and somebody on our table said...

A small town in Indiana and a brief filed saying that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided are entirely positive signs on first inspection, but the second reveals only a leaning and not a falling off on one side or the other. This is, of course, by White House design for the public understanding of Judge Roberts. Bush has exhibited his recurrent traits and examining G.W. Bush right now is the only way to know what really is in the heart of Judge Roberts. Roberts is deliberately without much record. He is deliberately congenial and with friends all around. He...

America is very very bad country. Horrible country. Shame on you freepers for not including afghanistan and iran and iraq and all the other middle easterns countries on the list you segregationist. You got to be ashamed. Cause were brown, One day we browns will come and get you racist.

Since the days of 9/11, our nation has been in a state of heightened security and concern. Americans have been awakened to the fact that there are terrorists out there who hate us and want us dead. We agree, then, that something needs to be done before the terrorists do us in. We want to prevent another World Trade Center tragedy.There is much disagreement over how to do this, though. The U.S. government, as a result of the events of 9/11, has created a new Department of Homeland Security, which is devoted to protecting our country from another terrorist attack....

Natalie Couglin search teams give up.