Free Republic

It’s happy hour in Dublin and the drinks are flowing, but in Ireland’s first “dry pub” patrons are forgoing Guinness and whiskey for non-boozy beers and zero percent wine. The Virgin Mary, which opened this month, bucks the trend in a city where nightlife is fueled by stout and spirits, offering a menu of entirely non-alcoholic beverages. Thronging with customers within minutes of opening one weekday afternoon, its popularity is viewed by its owners as a sign that hard-drinking Ireland may be changing its ways. […] Like many other countries, Ireland is currently in the midst of a wellness craze...

The liberal hysteria over global warming is hard for normal people to comprehend. Leftists don’t worry about deficits or about terrorists who are looking for any way to kill Americans. They don’t care about the health care costs they drove into the stratosphere, the way teachers’ unions have ruined public education, or the out-of-control growth of the federal government that takes more of our money and freedom every day. However, the possibility of global warming 100 years from now freaks them the hell out. Then the rest of us get treated to people -- who don’t know anything about global...

With the approach of the new year, when health insurance policies under President Obama’s new health care law are set to begin, there is wide skepticism among both the insured and uninsured about how the law will affect them and the nation as a whole, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found that just one-third of uninsured Americans expect the law, the Affordable Care Act, to improve the nation’s health care system, while the same proportion think the law will help them personally, according to the poll. Overall, there is no consensus among uninsured Americans on...

President Barack Obama’s love of golf hit a milestone today as he marked his 100th time on the links. His Father’s Day achievement was reached at the Beverly Country Club in his hometown, the windy city. Mark Knoller, CBS radio correspondent and chronicler of all things presidential, pointed out the quiet occasion to the traveling press. Like 15 of the 18 presidents since Theodore Roosevelt, Obama has used golf as a way to unwind outdoors, but away from the prying eyes of press and onlookers. And despite the fact that he had never golfed before taking office, his love of...

Anyone not convinced of the abject terror Sarah Palin instills in members of the American media needs only read the brief, L.A. Times reflection on the former Governor’s released emails. A number of media outlets filed Freedom of Information Requests demanding the release of Governor Palin’s emails upon her acceptance of John McCain’s VP offer in 2008. The fact that these self-proclaimed guardians of liberty have yet to exhibit the slightest interest in the murky, personal and political histories of the President or the workings of the Obama White House…well, no doubt there is a very good reason. Imagine the...

Barack Obama is a lot like Sean Penn or George Clooney. If you give him a script, he can deliver it pretty well. But if he tries to talk without a script that has been written for him by others, he quickly reveals that he is poorly-informed if not downright ignorant. Today he delivered another classic, by claiming that if only we would all properly inflate our tires, we could save as much gasoline as "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling." Seriously: (see video at link) The stunned silence with which the crowd greets this howler...

He lived by the gun and he died by the gun. Now the late writer Hunter S Thompson, who shot himself in February, is to be blasted from a cannon from the back garden of his home in the hills of Aspen, Colorado. Thompson's ashes have been packed into firework casings and will be dispersed today from 34 different shells fired from a gun barrel mounted on top of a 150-foot high monument. Article continues The monument, in the form of a clenched fist made symmetrical by the addition of a second thumb, is modelled on Thompson's gonzo logo. "We...

DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson, the "gonzo journalist" with a penchant for drugs, guns and flamethrower prose, might have one more salvo in store for everyone: Friends and relatives want to blast his ashes out of a cannon, just as he wished. "If that's what he wanted, we'll see if we can pull it off," said historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Thompson's and now the family's spokesman. Thompson, who shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home Sunday at 67, said several times he wanted an artillery send-off for his remains. "There's no question, I'm sure that's what he...

DENVER (AP) - Hunter S. Thompson, the "gonzo journalist" with a penchant for drugs, guns and flame-thrower prose, might have one more salvo in store for everyone: Friends and relatives want to blast his ashes out of a cannon, just as he wished. "If that's what he wanted, we'll see if we can pull it off," said historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Thompson's and now the family's spokesman. Thompson, who shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home Sunday at 67, said several times he wanted an artillery send-off for his remains. "There's no question, I'm sure that's what...

AP News Alert ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The son of Hunter S. Thompson says the author shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home.

The Denver Broncos won big on Sunday night, stomping the Kansas City Chiefs 34-24 and seizing a vital early lead in the once-mighty AFC West -- while the New England Patriots stunned the Indianapolis Colts again, 27-24, in a game the Colts should have won, but didn't. How long, O Lord, how long? The Colts' offense has been the best in the league for so long that few fans remember who played quarterback before Peyton Manning came along, and their pass defense was the fifth-best in the NFL last year. But they still can't beat the Patriots. These failures are...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

With Hillary at the helm the full-attack of desparation of losers, has begun. Look what the Official DNC Web Site is Spinning now! Also Click Here And, this is their main graphic.

The thin men sitting in the hut are the lucky ones: Iraqi soldiers who escaped U.S. bombs and Saddam's "execution committees." .... All of the Iraqi soldiers speak of their fear of their commanding officers and the armed security men who make sure that no one defects. The term the soldiers use is "execution committee." The men say the officers warned them that if they do successfully surrender, they will be killed by the Kurds, so they shouldn't think about it. "Qasim Daragi," a soldier from Baghdad who was stationed not far from Falah Tal Afar, also fled the Thursday...

The Salon Interview- - - - - - - - - - - - Hunter S. ThompsonThe godfather of gonzo says 9/11 caused a "nationwide nervous breakdown" -- and let the Bush crowd loot the country and savage American democracy. - - - - - - - - - - - -By John Glassie Feb. 3, 2003  | He calls himself "an elderly dope fiend living out in the wilderness," but Hunter S. Thompson will also be found this week on the New York Times bestseller list with a new memoir, "Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child...