Free Republic

When Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was launched on Aug. 15, 1981, many felt there would be little demand for a Catholic network. In fact, when Mother M. Angelica, a cloistered nun, fulfilled a promise to our Lord in the early 1960s by founding Our Lady of Angels Monastery in Irondale, Ala., she had no idea she would one day found the largest religious media network in the world. Who could have imagined that a cloistered nun would found a global television network? Who could have predicted that a network funded entirely by donations from “people in the pews” instead of...

Daddy Todd & Baby Trig Palin Bonding at Palin Home in Alaska http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwFWzoKwUs

Pope Benedict XVI. Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk. Los Angeles, Calif., Apr 16, 2013 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As Benedict XVI celebrates his 86th birthday on April 16, the author of a new book on the legacy of the retired pontiff says his humility largely inspired the work. “I was...fond of Benedict because he was truly humble man,” Charles Coulombe, author of “The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI,” told CNA April 15. “He was kind of shy and retiring, but he was willing to re-invigorate the trappings of the papacy, not for his own benefit, but for that of the office....

Much has changed, but cell phone inventor Motorola's legacy lives on at new parent Google It was a spring day much like this one when Martin Cooper used his Motorola DynaTAC cell phone prototype to place a call in downtown Manhattan. The year was 1973 and it was the third day of April. The call lasted about 20 minutes and much like today's users, Mr. Cooper suffered a familiar problem -- a drained battery. I. The First Phone Call -- 40 Years Ago Today Mr. Cooper recalls, "The first cell phone model weighed over one kilo and you could only...

Leonard Nimoy, one of Star Trek’s most memorable actors, turns 82 years old today. Nimoy is best known for his role as Spock, the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer on Star Trek: The Original Series.

Today, William Shatner, the actor who played the legendary Captain James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series and seven Star Trek motion pictures, turned 82 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5AIL2J35Rw

HIS name is Michael Caine – but then again it very nearly wasn’t. Not a lot of people know that when Caine first embarked on his acting career in 1954 he had originally decided to replace his birth name of Maurice Micklewhite with the punchier Michael Scott. When he called his agent from a phone box in Leicester Square, however, he was informed the name was already taken and he needed another one pronto.

Happy Birthday, Charles Henrickson!!!Yes, today Charles hits the big Six-Oh! So I thought what better tribute to my DUmmie FUnnies "co-conspirator" than to present a medley of his best parody song hits. I will present my favorite, "Self-Recanted Evening," and you can do the same by doing an online search of the DUmmie FUnnies or other sites. I mention the latter because another great Henrickson hit was "E.L.C.A" based on "Y.M.C.A" which caused a bit of a controversy among his fellow Lutherans for being perhaps too irreverent. However, as I say, a person with no sense of humor confuses the...

Seems like Justin Bieber may need to put things in perspective. The newly 19-year-old pop superstar took to Twitter to whine about his “worst birthday,” which went down on Friday night. Earlier in the day, it seemed the Biebs was excited about his big birthday celebration, tweeting things like “Gonna be fun tonight” and “Big night ahead!” After receiving a customized Batman-themed bike from his dad, according to toofab, and spending the day shopping—picking up pricey items like Christian Louboutin sneakers—Bieber headed to the Cirque du Soir club in London with his pals, US Weekly reported. But the poor millionaire...

Happy birthday Yoko Ono. Mrs Lennon is 80-years old today. Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933. She met John Lennon at an art exhibition in 1965. They married in 1969. It was the second marriage for John and third for Yoko. Towards the end of The Beatles, John and Yoko formed the Plastic Ono Band. The first album was ‘Live Peace In Toronto 1969’ on The Beatles Apple label. The first single was ‘Give Peace A Chance’ The original line-up for Plastic Ono Band featured John, Yoko and Eric Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voormann on bass...

To share in the celebration, her daughter and granddaughter both flew down from Canada.This Valentine’s Day, Dorrie Aber-Noyek is getting a lot of love at Memorial Regional Hospital as she celebrates her 106th birthday. “I think it’s really wonderful!” she said. To share in the celebration, her daughter and granddaughter both flew down from Canada. "She inspires us, she’s a very wise woman. She’s a very giving woman, and she has the most beautiful smile. And the smile is what identifies her and everyone responds to her," said her daughter Audrey Steinhauer. Aber-Noyek has been walking the halls and volunteering...

General Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are forever memorialized and remembered along with Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the larger than life carving at “Stone Mountain Memorial Park” near Atlanta, Georgia.

Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of Richard Nixon's birth. He remains a controversial figure, and not just on the political left. Last year, I was covering the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington when I came across a stall selling old political pins. Unable to resist, I bought one with a picture of Tricky Dick giving his best crocodile smile beneath the classic slogan "Nixon's The One!"

Kind of weird video, but the song has a 70s retro sound.

For five years, he was known as the leader of the Free World. But for the first several years of his life, Richard Milhous Nixon had a more modest title: farm boy. Wednesday will mark the date, 100 years ago, of a winter day so cold that Hannah Nixon was advised it would be better to bear her fifth son at home than risk traveling in the chill to a hospital. That was the day a small, kit-constructed home surrounded by citrus trees saw the birth of the man who would become the 37th president of the United States.

Happy Birthday Jim. November 3 is mine as well so I never forget.

Happy birthday, Constitution! Today marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of this unique and prescient document. Every American should take a moment to reflect on what a treasure we have in America. Our constitutional republic has survived for over two centuries. The Framers of the Constitution believed in a separation of powers, so that no government—and certainly no particular branch of government—would become so mighty, so imperial, as to threaten the God-given freedom of the People. And so they created a House of Representatives to represent the people in proportion to the population of a state. They created a...

Tuesday marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens — the great 19th century English novelist who gave us stories of pathos and comedy, and colorful portraits of the people of London, from the poor in the back streets, to the rich in the parks and avenues. Lots of Dickens' phrases — like "Bah humbug" and "God bless us, every one!" — have slipped into our minds and our memories. And along with the words, the characters, too — from hungry orphan Oliver Twist to sweet and lonely little Nell to cruel Mr. Murdstone. "After Shakespeare, Dickens is...

More Americans than ever say they celebrate the upcoming holiday of Christmas as a religious one. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 88% of American Adults say they celebrate Christmas, and 81% of this group celebrate it as a religious holiday. Just 16% of those celebrants regard it as a secular holiday.