Free Republic

If only it was the beginning of a media trend. Studio execs know that people from both sides of the political spectrum watch their shows. Considering the statistics, two-thirds of the country doesn't pay attention to politics, ever, so your actors are more likely to lose you money and advertisers when they spout off, then attract any net gain, (unless bad publicity is considered a gain). Just blacking out their inappropriate remarks helps keep attention on the actual show, not some self-important actors latest pet project. If the actor has a problem with that, go on the news and talk...

When Americans evaluate today's political landscape, most feel something between impotence and disapproval. So, while citizens shake their heads or shrug at the mainstream media's “top tier” presidential candidates, it is extraordinary how many are becoming overjoyed about one lesser covered candidate. Tens-of-thousands have joined the appropriately named Ron Paul Revolution, joining Meetup.com groups, putting up signs, and crossing states to attend rallies. Congressman Ron Paul's genuine message and untarnished record of promoting individual liberty for everyone, a free-market economy of wealth and abundance, and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace and free trade, has attracted vast support from diverse...

WHY WON'T FOLKSY "Law & Order" actor Fred Thompson just admit he's running for president of these here United States? It all boils down to that pesky NBC show, and using that exposure to your best advantage. Thompson, a Republican, has dabbled in acting, lobbying and lawyering over the years, serving as Tennessee's representative in the United States Senate from 1994 to 2003. In his twilight days of serving the country, he joined the cast of "Law & Order" in 2002 as good'ol backwoods boy and New York City District Attorney Arthur Branch. Strong character, basically a good guy who...

BERKELEY -- UC Berkeley officials said today they would scale back development plans for Memorial Stadium to avoid a looming court date with the city of Berkeley, stadium neighbors and oak-tree advocates. Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said the university would reduce the size of the proposed parking garage so that there would be no more spaces than are currently in the area. UC also would plant one fully grown tree and two younger trees for each one that would be chopped down to make way for a new, $125 million athletic training facility. But Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates isn't...

OAKLAND -- In the end, 40 people braved the early morning mist Saturday, ignoring startled joggers, to strip buck naked and hug or dance around a condemned tree at Lake Merritt for a San Francisco photographer. It was the kind of frigid day that only the Chamber of Commerce could love, but the cause is a good one, the photographer, Jack Gescheidt, said. The tree, a weathered, scarred, towering old eucalyptus, is one of 224 trees facing the city of Oakland's axe, an early step in a $88.3 million bond project to give the lake a 21st century facelift. Facelifts...

A geological report has found that UC Berkeley's plans to build an elaborate sports training center next to the Hayward Fault do not violate state earthquake laws, university officials said today. The report, by Oakland consulting firm Geomatrix, concludes that no fault traces are under the proposed site of the training center, which is slated to be built next to Memorial Stadium. "The study explicitly shows we're not in violation," said university spokesman Robert Sanders. The $125-million training center is the target of three lawsuits for its alleged violation of state environmental and earthquake laws. The suits were filed in...

BERKELEY -- Two UC Berkeley students who had been sitting in a redwood tree on campus to protest university policies came down Wednesday and were cited for trespassing. Matthew Taylor, a spokesman for a student organization called the Phoenix Coalition, said students Michael Schuck and Jason Ahmadi are scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court on May 25. Taylor said police told the pair on Tuesday that they would not be punished if they ended their protest that day. The two elected to continue the demonstration for another day to support the coalition's demands for free speech on campus,

There was some naked tree hugging in Berkeley on Saturday, even though it was cold out, and someone took lots of pictures. Seventy-eight performance artists, models, protesters and their supporters stripped down for the camera in a grove of oak trees at UC Berkeley that could fall to make room for an athletic training center. The au-naturel visitors joined a half-dozen activists who have lived in the trees since December to protest Cal's plan to raze the grove near Memorial Stadium. Only five nudists actually climbed the trees. Everyone else found it more prudent to lie on the ground. San...

"In the first place God made idiots," observed Mark Twain. "This was for practice. Then he made school boards." The San Francisco Board of Education's 4-2 vote last week to abolish the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, which has been active in the city's high schools for 90 years, tends to support his view. Why is JROTC being done away with? It isn't for lack of interest. More than 1,600 San Francisco students currently take part in its voluntary activities. "Kids love this program as if it's family," notes the San Francisco Chronicle. It is "a program that students...

WASHINGTON ? While future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted before the election she would not support impeachment hearings, she will actually be rejecting her constituency's demands if she stays true to that campaign promise. In fact, on Election Day, Pelosi herself had a chance to vote for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney in San Francisco. On the ballot last Tuesday in San Francisco was Proposition J calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. It passed with more than 59 percent of the vote. In neighboring Berkeley, a similar measure passed with nearly 70 percent of...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule. "America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take...

CRAWFORD Cindy Sheehan says she’s taking a hiatus from her activist role to heal and re-energize herself after a trying and torrid summer. Most of the 100 or so anti-war demonstrators who joined her this year had left her peace camp in Crawford by the close of the Labor Day weekend. This year’s protest gathered little steam in Crawford. Bush, who usually spends the entire month of August at his nearby ranch, cut his vacation to 10 days. Sheehan looked tired and moved slowly when she granted a brief interview to the Tribune-Herald. Her son, Andy, 22, sat with her....

Senator Catches Heat for 'Fruits' Comment Monday, January 30, 2006 WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a potential presidential candidate, said Monday he meant no offense to homosexuals when he used the word "fruits" in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. In a lengthy profile titled "God's Senator," the magazine quotes the Kansas Republican as criticizing countries like Sweden that have legalized gay marriage. "You'll know them by their fruits," Brownback said, quoting a biblical passage from Matthew 7:19. Rolling Stone writer Jeff Sharlet said in the story, appearing in the magazine's current issue, that Brownback appeared to be...

Public Health Advocates Cite Lack of Risk Notice on Potato Chip Bags Public health attorneys in California have potato chip makers in their sights for not listing a cancer-causing chemical present in many brands. That chemical is acrylamide. It is an industrial chemical used in plastics, pesticides and sewage treatment that also can occur when starchy foods, such as chips, are processed at high temperatures. The World Health Organization has said acrylamide may be responsible for up to one-third of all cancers caused by diet, as demonstrated by laboratory animal studies. Acrylamide is already on California's list of chemicals known...

Imagine screaming in your roller coaster seat as it reaches 190 mph rocketing down a 700-foot drop atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Or imagine no bridge at all. In 1929, a dam was proposed as an alternative to the now-famous bridge; San Francisco Bay would have become Lake San Francisco. For a century, seemingly outrageous proposals that could have forever changed the character of the Bay Area were seriously considered. Some of those ideas -- like erecting a dam at the Golden Gate -- seem patently absurd today. Others -- like paving over much of the Marin Headlands -- aren't...

Kenneth Roy Hudson pled not guilty today to a charge of refusing to obey a lawful command of a peace officer at a Fresno park rally he had organized. Featured as an oppressed peaceful group of nice folks in the crockumentary "Fahrenheit 911", following the disclosure that a member of the public, who worked at the Sheriff's department, had attended one of their meetings, they would have you believe all they do is munch cookies and chat privately about peace. The attorney general ststed he would look into that allegation, whatever the allegation might be. If they had a public...

TOTALLY SAN FRAN17 Years Of San Francisco LiberalismTHE FACTS ABOUT REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D-CA) PELOSI IS WRONG ON NATIONAL SECURITYü      Pelosi Voted Against Persian Gulf War In 1991 And Liberation Of Iraq In 2002.ü      Pelosi Questioned Readiness Of American Troops.ü      Pelosi Prefers Increased Domestic Spending To Increased Defense Spending.ü      Pelosi Doesn’t Consider War On Terror A Real War.ü      Pelosi Voted Against Creating Department Of Homeland Security.PELOSI FAVORS HIGHER TAXES AND BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDINGü      Pelosi Doesn’t Believe Tax Cuts Stimulate Economic Growth.ü      Pelosi Voted Against Both 2001 And 2003 Bush Tax Cuts.ü      Pelosi Voted Against Welfare Reform And Called It “War...

<p>What is it with us? How did the Bay Area become the odd man out in California politics?</p> <p>On Tuesday, while the rest of the state eagerly dumped Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Bay Area said no and not him.</p>

SAN FRANCISCO - Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking office with a clear mandate from millions of people in Southern California's suburbs and the state's vast interior, where 70 percent of voters favored recalling Gov. Gray Davis. But liberals are mourning along the state's northern coast, particularly San Francisco, where 80 percent voted against the recall. In the city that nurtured beatniks in the '50s and hippies in the '60s, Schwarzenegger came in a distant second to Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante among the replacement candidates. Some residents joke darkly about forming a separate state, with San Francisco as the capital. Others...