Free Republic

To judge from the way the weekend's box office is breathlessly reported in the news bulletins on Monday morning, more people seem to be interested in movie grosses than in the movies. Evidently, Hollywood's now recovered from this summer's all-time record "box office slump." Or at any rate news stories about the box office slump have themselves slumped. In a breathless dispatch on the opening weekend of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' the Associated Press reported that ''the latest Potter movie led a lineup that helped reverse the Hollywood box-office slump." I wouldn't say the boy wizard and...

Pantsless in Oklahoma Make Believe drummer Nate Kinsella is facing up to ten years in prison and $20,000 in fines for letting it all hang out at a Christian rock show. Make Believe drummer Nate Kinsella probably wishes he'd kept his pants on. According to a police affidavit, at a Christian rock venue in Oklahoma in June he dropped his shorts in front of the crowd, then wrung the sweat from them over the heads of audience members. He's now facing a charge of indecent exposure, a felony that carries penalties of up to $20,000 in fines and ten years...

Madonna was offered a spot on the prestigious Cannes Film Festival jury, but turned it down because she would have missed two Kabbalah meetings back in London. Her religious obligations represented a no-Cannes- do scenario for festival officials; they would have meant the singer making two trips from the South of France back to London during the festival panel's busiest periods. Madonna has turned down other social engagements in the past because of conflict with her commitment to Kabbalah. 'We talked about her being on the jury, but her religion meant this could not happen. It is a regret because...

America today is The Happy Land of Make-Believe. We’ve become exquisitely adept at ignoring reality when it offends the prevailing cultural ethos. But reality always reasserts itself in the end – often with deadly consequences. Take gender differences. In the Happy Land of Make-Believe, we like to pretend that men and women are interchangeable – physically as well as psychologically. According to feminist dogma, women can be tough and aggressive – men sensitive and nurturing. Hence women firefighters, female soldiers and 5’ 2” cops. In Atlanta, on Friday, reality had the last word. Brian Nichols, a former college football player...

The Democratic Party in Texas filed a lawsuit today demanding a statewide recount. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), and Barney Frank (D-MA) joined with other national Democratic figures in calling for a closer look at the vote tally in Texas. "Something just doesn't seem right," said Democratic Representative Henry Waxman. "There are still provisional ballots to be counted, as well as overseas ballots, and spoiled ballots. Bush only won the state by 1,700,000 votes, so who knows what the final result might be?" MoveOn.Org posted the following on their popular 527 website: "There are reports that Bush got far more votes...

In an unsigned editorial last week, Jordan's Al-Rai daily newspaper made the claim that it was American and British intelligence services behind the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq last month. The paper also implied that Washington orchestrated recent terrorist attacks on Iraqi churches. All told, "imperialistic and evil Zionist forces are moving to return Iraq to the pre-industrial age amid all this chaos," the editorial said. Al-Rai explained the kidnapping of the French journalists "means that Washington has not forgotten to make the French pay for their principled stand" against the invasion of Iraq. As evidence for this...

Bowling for Columbine violated the Academy's own rules. These limit the documentary competition to nonfiction films. Bowling isn't nonfiction. Whenever it was necessary to his theme, Moore invented facts, fabricated events, staged scenes, or doctored the depiction of what actually happened.

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a midnight showing of The Two Towers. What follows is my attempt at a spoiler-free review. Of three books of the trilogy, "The Two Towers" was always my favorite - I looked forward to the movie in fevered anticipation. I decided to throw caution to the wind and go to the midnight showing; I knew I would be hurting at work today (quick nurse, my caffine IV is low!) I was very surprised to get to the theater in our small city and find it utterly packed, my friend and I were...

WASHINGTON- The Bush administration's push for a congressional expression of support for disarming Saddam Hussein is being slowed by Democratic concerns about a allowing the United States to appear effective in the war against terrorism. Three Democratic senators, Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, told Secretary of State Colin Powell the White House was asking Congress for unprecedented backing, although Sarbanes later stated that Congress might approve "some sort of conditional approval, say, on a day-by-day basis, with a month or two to debate each day's authorization." The senators did not question a...

WASHINGTON--Lawmakers predicted Sunday that President Bush's request for a mandate to restore regional security in the Mideast would be scaled down to address just Iraq, to allow Saddam Hussein to counter-attack as long as he does it from some other country. The White House has proposed a resolution that would authorize the president ''to use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to ... defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region.'' ''It's much too broad, there's no limit...

For years now, many Federal Judges have taken a stand against mandatory minimum sentences. Over 86% call for outright abolition of mandatory sentencing. Some Senior Federal Judges have refused to hear drug cases because of the long sentences they are bound by law to give defendants. Many Federal Judges are recording their dissent and we are collecting them here: Judge Robert W. Pratt - U.S. Southern District of IowaChief Judge Juan R. Torruella, U.S. Court of Appeals, First CircuitJudge Volney V. Brown Jr. Former US Magistrate,  Los Angeles (1982 to 1995)Judge Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Court, BostonU.S. Senior District...