Free Republic

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones backed defensive lineman Greg Hardy on Friday after photos of Hardy’s bruised ex-girlfriend from a domestic violence incident surfaced on the sports-oriented website Deadspin. *snip* "We do not condone domestic violence," Jones said. "We entered into the agreement with Greg fully understanding that there would be scrutiny and criticism."

We’re finishing the Victorian novel class I have been taking at a college in St. Paul with Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. I want to offer a few notes on the novel in the hope that some readers may share their thoughts and others may take up the novel if they haven’t read it before. It is an essential novel. Our great young teacher has structured the course with four novels that evoke the plight of women in Victorian fiction. With Tess we reach the summit (or a summit) of this plight. Tess is an extraordinarily lovable woman who...

More than 200 acres of the wild and 'magical' heathland that inspired author Thomas Hardy have been bought for the nation by the National Trust. The £650,000 acquisition of Slepe Heath, Dorset, will connect existing protected heathland areas as part of efforts to conserve the landscapes of Hardy's novels. Slepe Heath, whose windswept landscape was immortalised as fictional Egdon Heath in Hardy's Return Of The Native, is an important site for wildlife, including rare birds such as Dartford warblers, nightjars and woodlarks, the National Trust said.

Republican congressional primary candidate Niger Innis of Nevada lost his bid to represent the 4th Congressional district of the Silver State, but he questions the outcome because of the number of votes received by a candidate who did no campaigning.(SNIP) Hardy defeated the tea party candidate by 10 percentage points. The Nevada assemblyman received 43 percent of the vote, Innis received 33 percent, Mike Monroe captured 22 percent of the vote, and Carlos Poliak won 2 percent.

It's a story which was been famously brought to life by Julie Christie adapted from Thomas Hardy's novel written in 1874. But now Carey Mulligan is taking on the role of Bathsheba Everdene in a new take on the story of the West Country heiress loved by three men, which is promised to be a 'raw and revolutionary' adaptation of the classic tale. The 28-year-old actress was seen in character as Bathsheba on the set of the new movie in Sherborne, Dorset, on Sunday, in what marks the first official look at the upcoming film.

The following are excerpts from the testimony of David Hardy, a scholar who has written extensively on gun control legislation. The entire testimony is contained in an PDF file here. What is an "Assault Rifle? “Assault Rifles” The very term “semiautomatic assault rifle” is internally contradictory. In World War II, rifles of standard military power could not be made full automatic, because the recoil (“kick”) was too powerful. The “assault rifle” concept involved cutting the cartridge’s power, and thus its recoil, in half, so that it could be controlled in full automatic fire. An assault rifle redesigned to be semiautomatic...

This document by attorney David Hardy, author of "This Is Not An Assault": Penetrating the Web of Official Lies Regarding the Waco Incident, is currently circulating in Arizona legal and political circles. Reprinted, with permission: Notes on State Jurisdiction to Prosecute a Federal actor By David Hardy Congress has recognized the possibility that a Federal agent or employee might be prosecuted by a State, and established a rule for such an occurrence. 28 U.S.C. §1442(a) provides that such a criminal prosecution, commenced in State court may be removed to Federal district court upon motion of the defendant, if the defendant...

Anybody else watching? I'm kind of looking forward to the undercard...

GLENDALE -- SNIPPET: "Cornelius Hardy, who often goes by Neil, was last seen Saturday evening at his home near 67th Avenue and Glendale Road. Friends and family have gathered at that home this morning. Annette Hardy said she came home at about 8:30 p.m. to find her husband gone. Hardy's family said the 41-year-old is consistent in his routine and that it's not at all like him to simply disappear. They said they have checked his credit cards and cell-phone records and found no activity since Saturday." SNIPPET: "Hardy has high security clearance at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant,...

In a letter dated September 29, 2008, Chad Hardy, producer of the infamous Men on a Mission Calendars and website, received a letter from Brigham Young University informing him that his name had been removed from the August 15, 2008 graduation roll. The letter stated that he would not be awarded his BA degree in Communication Studies because he had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on July 13, 2008, a month before graduation. All of his required coursework had already been completed prior to the church discipline. He was not required to abide by...

Run-of-the-mill excommunications get very little notice. Ward gossip about the guy who sold drugs, the woman who left her husband, quietly fades. We only hear about the celebrities kicked out of the Mormon church -- the outspoken feminists, the skeptical historians. If anything, excommunication makes them more well-known. Chad Hardy's mistake was becoming slightly famous. Two years ago, Hardy published a cheeky little calendar of scantily clad return missionaries and it cost him first his church membership and then his college diploma. BYU is holding it hostage. "The agreement is that you will uphold the honor code. This is made...

Brigham Young University has denied an appeal to award a diploma that the creator of a Mormon beefcake calendar says he earned. Chad Hardy's diploma was withheld by BYU last fall after he was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and runs the school. Hardy was excommunicated during the month between completing his courses and graduation ceremonies. Hardy appealed and met with Dean of Students Vernon L. Heperi on Feb. 13. In the meeting, Heperi sought to determine whether Hardy's life is guided by the school's honor code, which reflects the values of the...

Just on Kudlow & Company, while debating Ann Coulter, Quentin Hardy claims that Obama was top of his class (presumed at Harvard). Is this another example of a liberal lying scumbag, or is he accurate?

DAVID T. HARDY From the legal community PROFESSOR Erwin Chemerisnky's column ("No need to choose meaning of Second Amendment" in the Times Nov. 27), does little justice to the Second Amendment. He begins by stating that "The language of the Second Amendment is a puzzle," citing its reference both to a "right of the people" to arms, and its reference to the necessity of a well-regulated militia. The dual nature of the amendment is no mystery. The first Congress sought to reassure two bodies of concerned Americans, one of which (e.g., George Mason) feared that Congress would neglect the militia...

Laurel and Hardy's German film found Rare footage of comedy legends Laurel and Hardy performing in German has been found by German archivists. Workers from the Munich Film Museum were said to have been stunned when they discovered the treasure in the Moscow Film Archive. The film, 'Spuk um Mitternacht', or 'Spook at Midnight', was the first German language film made by Laurel and Hardy. It premiered in Berlin on May 21, 1931, according to the City of Munich. As well as including scenes from the pair's two short films 'Berth Marks' and 'The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case' it also shows...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said Friday that banning same-sex marriage probably violates Oregon's Constitution, effectively placing the issue in the hands of the state's highest court. Myers' nonbinding written opinion also said current state law forbids counties from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as Multnomah County has been doing for a week. "The Oregon Supreme Court likely would conclude that withholding from same-sex couples the legal rights, benefits and obligations that under current law are automatically granted to married couples of the opposite sex violates" the constitution, Myers said. Myers' opinion is not binding...