Free Republic

The case of Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash is, as sex scandals sometimes are, poised on the cusp of legally actionable and none of our damn business. (See also Petraeus, David, et al.) Clash, 52, acknowledges having had a relationship with a young man, now 24, while he was over the age of consent. His accuser says it began when he was 16. Clash has taken a leave of absence from Sesame Street while responding to the allegation. If his lover was under the age of consent, that’s a matter for the law. If he was over—whatever you personally think of...

There is some very dangerous -- as in red-hot incendiary -- hatred going on, and it's being advanced by the national news media directly. The panel of judges for the Media Research Center's Best Notable Quotables of 2010 found that theme time and time again while selecting the year's worst reporting and punditry. PBS talk-show host Tavis Smiley won "The Poison Tea Pot Award for Smearing the Anti-Obama Rabble." On May 25, he was interviewing author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a bold critic of radical Muslims -- at the risk of a fatwa against her own life since 2004. Ali said...

It may be political poison for U.S. government officials to talk to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the taboo does not extend to NPR. NPR’s Steve Inskeep interviewed the controversial leader this afternoon in New York and pulled no punches. Ahmadinejad is in the United States to address the United Nation’s General Assembly, which is meeting this week. In an often heated conversation, according to the transcript, Inskeep confronts Ahmadinejad on Israel, “wiping countries off the map and chopping off hands” — and the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Ahmadinejad, for his part, denies that Iran has provoked the United States,...

New PBS program says Bible isn't true, stories made up Your tax dollars helped fund "The Bible's Buried Secrets" The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), probably the most liberal network in America, will present a program this fall that says the Old Testament is a bunch of made-up stories that never happened. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" says the Bible is not true. It is scheduled to air on November 18. Archaeologist William Dever said: "...It's (The Bible's Buried Secrets) designed for intelligent people who are willing to change their mind. …it will give intelligent people who want to read the Bible...

Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, who is African-American, says he's torn between voting for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama in the November presidential election. "Many conservatives who happen to be black see it as a dilemma because they're wondering what they're going to tell their children and grandchildren 20 years from now when they had a chance in American history, which is rare and has never happened before, to pull the lever [for a black presidential candidate]," Williams tells host Michele Norris. "It creates quite a dilemma because there's not something wrong with Sen. John McCain; he's very impressive."...

Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defended his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Tuesday, even as he repudiated some of the pastor's inflammatory sermons. But Wright's comments likely come as no surprise to those familiar with black liberation theology, a religious philosophy that emerged during the 1960s.

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. The WQAD candidate survey is based on the original SELECT A CANDIDATE survey developed by Minnesota Public Radio and posted at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/. Used by permission.

Hating presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has become such a national pastime, writer and radio producer Jack Hitt invented a verb for it: "hillarating." After her victory in New Hampshire, the former first lady and Democratic senator from New York appeared with a maniacal expression on the front page of one New York paper under the headline "Back from the Dead." TV anchormen use minutes of airtime poking fun at her looks. On the streets, feminists apologize before supporting her in a gossip session. Even artists have created racy sculptures of her. "I am very clearly someone who's gone through a...

     In a talk with the editor of the liberal Texas Monthly magazine who hosts a monthly interview show on Texas PBS stations, former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite uncorked some more liberal opinions. In praising the CBS-boosting, Joseph McCarthy-trashing movie Good Night and Good Luck, Cronkite liked how it reminded Americans that "one nut could endanger the democracy," was "locking up our democracy in a very dangerous way," and persecuting people who were "simply good Americans." When pressed to compare Vietnam and Iraq, Cronkite declared that the comparison was "almost exact."      On Thursday, the Poynter Institute's Romenesko Web site...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - With a newly robust endowment burning holes in its not-for-profit pockets, National Public Radio is in the midst of a major expansion. But NPR's ambition has stirred anxiety within the public radio system over how to preserve the character and financial viability of local stations in the ever larger shadow of the national production service they created more than 30 years ago as a modest support operation. NPR, a member organization governed in part by local stations, is pumping $15 million into its news division over the next three years, using interest from a recent bequest...