Free Republic

A couple of weeks back, I had the utter pleasure of diving in Cayman Islands with former Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who had suffered amputations and spinal cord injuries. I made a promise to myself, which I kept, to not turn on the TV while I was there, nor did I turn on a computer. However, I could not help but see the news updates off my iPhone. Of course, upon returning to the states last weekend, I was inundated with all the hysteria over the “separations” of, what I have read, between 1,800-2,300 illegal immigrant children. This has...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sought to clarify comments he made in a testy exchange with a reporter on Wednesday, after conservatives pounced on what they portrayed as a serious government shutdown gaffe.

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to soldier on through South Carolina has been mocked, criticized and questioned, but he’s carrying the hopes of Texans like Reagan and Miranda Ashley with him. The Harlingen teenagers volunteered for Perry in Iowa, covering their expenses by making pro-Perry posters, seeking sponsors and asking local businesses to display them. “A lot of businesses would hang them up. Some would tell us just to keep the poster, but a lot of them would donate money even if they weren’t Perry supporters, just because we were getting involved,” said Reagan, 17. Snip “It’s like having...

Alabama's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants will likely survive legal challenges from advocacy groups that say it is unconstitutional and racist, analysts told Fox News. The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, empowers police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they are stopped for another reason and requires businesses and schools to verify whether workers and students are in the country lawfully. It also makes it a crime to knowingly transport or shelter illegal immigrants. As soon as Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed the bill into law Thursday, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law...

HAVE YOU NOTICED THIS ABOUT MORMONS?   If you were to desire to enter the exclusive LDS-Mormon club, you would have to be agree to the church doctrine including this:   First Presidency Doctrinal StatementsIt is not only his discourses that form the basis of Joseph F. Smith's doctrinal legacy. During his presidency, several important documents signed by the First Presidency and/or the Twelve were issued that still serve as a touch stone of Latter-day Saint belief. One such document, The Origin of Man: By the First Presidency, was issued in 1909 during a time when evolution was gaining attention...

SALT LAKE CITY -- University of Utah President Michael K. Young has a strong message for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says freedom of religion is eroding in America and he urges Mormons to join the American Civil Liberties Union. While speaking at the annual conference of the LDS International Society on Monday at Brigham Young University, Young said religious freedom is about free will and agency. "We should be among the most passionate civil libertarians in the world," Young said. He expanded this during the question and answer period following his presentation by...

Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings An ordinance is a sacred act performed by a man who holds the priesthood. Baptism and the sacrament are examples of priesthood ordinances. Some ordinances may be performed by brethren who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. But most ordinances are performed by Melchizedek Priesthood holders. This section gives directions that a priesthood leader should follow when performing an ordinance. Brethren who perform ordinances should prepare themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit. They also should make sure the ordinance meets the following requirements: All ordinances must be performed in the name of Jesus Christ. All...

"The right to lie in the service of your own interests is highly valued and frequently exercised"-Nero Wolfe I began this list when I was a full time employee of the LDS Church Education System (CES). I worked as a Seminary Principal/teacher, Institute teacher/Director, and Stake CES Coordinator from 1975 - 2002. My last assignment was brief. I signed a Letter of Agreement with CES to serve as the Director of the Pullman, Washington LDS Institute of Religion adjacent to Washington State University in July 2002. I resigned from CES a month later. I carry fond memories of the students,...

entitled by By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton at NoisyRoom.net: Youth, High Tech and the Fundamental Change that is RevolutionImage from the People's CubeOver the last couple of weeks, I have heard many ask who was behind the Egyptian Revolution. Few will admit what should be obvious to all by now. Forces that I consider to be nothing short of evil have joined in what they see as their 'chance' to bring down the West and capitalism; to replace it with their given ideology du jour... Whether it be Islamofascism, Socialism, Communism or a progressive mixture of a number of isms, they look...

Women have a sacred role in the sanctification and purification of men, Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy told students and faculty during the campus devotional in the Marriott Center at BYU on Tuesday, March 9. Reflecting on the love he felt from his mother, sister, wife and daughters, Elder Pace spoke of the positive influence women have had on his life. Speaking specifically about a time when his daughter fell asleep in his arms, Elder Pace noted the comfort it must have brought his daughter to be held by her father. He realized afterward that even greater was...

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy was banned from his school Christmas party because he does not believe in God. Douglas Stewart was asked to stay at home while his classmates were treated to jelly and ice-cream, followed by a visit from Santa and presents. Douglas's mother, Dawn Riddell, was informed that he was unwelcome at the celebration because she had withdrawn him from religious education classes at Cluny Primary School, in Buckie, Banffshire, earlier in the school term. Ms Riddell, 38, said the headteacher, Ian Davidson,had told her that as the youngster had no interest in religion, he could not celebrate the...

The “war room”, the hub of attack, counter-attack and spin which was at the heart of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns in the 1990s, has swung back into action with renewed force after Hillary Clinton was bloodied by her rivals for the first time in a debate last week. With so few stumbles on the road to the presidential nomination, her war room has barely been needed until now but it has quietly been prepared for the moment when she trips up. It was Hillary Clinton who invented the war room during her husband’s campaign and she has developed her own...

Denver police have arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with at least two fires involving Hummer sport utility vehicles in recent days. An officer arrested Grant Barnes during a routine traffic stop about 11:30 p.m., after finding suspicious materials in his vehicle. He was in the same neighborhood, police said. A couple in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood said their Hummer was engulfed in flames earlier this week, and the flames spread to another car parked nearby. It's similar to an incident last Saturday when neighbors said they awoke to find Hummer in flames. According to police, the man is being...

I don't track Keith Olbermann's descents into mean-spirited bad taste systematically enough to definitively proclaim that he has charted a new low. Let's just say that he has once again indulged his proclivity to traffic for political purposes in the worst of ill-will.Readers will recall during that during the 2004 presidential campaign, both members of the Dem ticket went clumsily out of their way to alert voters to the fact that Dick and Lynne Cheney have a gay daughter, Mary. In that same mean spirit, on tonight's Countdown Olbermann acidly observed: "the Vice-President is about to become a grandfather for...

Washington – Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry’s comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record: “If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but...

Haven't the MSM been suggesting it's only Republicans who engage in mean-spirited tactics in the closing weeks of a campaign? Yet in her column this morning, the LA Times Rosa Brooks dug deep into the dreck, depicting W as a drunk. She writes: "When it comes to Iraq, being a citizen in George W. Bush's America is like being a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver." Shades of the 2000 campaign, when just days before the election a decades-old Bush DUI surfaced, under circumstances giving reason to believe a Gore aide was behind the leak.Credit Brooks with...

Ann Coulter offered more mean-spirited commentary in her latest Universal Press Syndicate column posted Wednesday night. In a Q&A with herself, Coulter asked: "How would your career be different if you looked like [liberal Creators Syndicate columnist] Molly Ivins?" Coulter answered: "I'd be a lot uglier." The conservative Universal columnist also called New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller "(a) a complete moron or (b) a traitor," and said the "mainstream press is in economic trouble" because of "hysterical leftism that drove readers away." Two other Coulter Q&As in her new column: -- "Why is abortion sacrosanct to the left?...

by Mark Finkelstein July 9, 2006 That didn't take long! Just yesterday I suggested readers keep in mind the MSM's bashing of Pres. Bush on his birthday the next time a liberal accused conservatives of being 'mean-spirited.' Groucho fans will know what I mean when I say: bring down the duck! On last evening's Journal Editorial Report , liberal newsie Marvin Kalb said the magic 'm-s' word in condemning the Wall Street Journal for its criticism of the New York Times. The Journal had run an editorial, Fit and Unfit to Print [subscription required] that both explained why it had...

by Mark Finkelstein July 8, 2006 Next time you hear liberals talk about mean-spirited Republicans, you might want to remind them of the cold-water dousing the MSM gave the 60 candles on the president's birthday cake. First there was WaPo's Dana Milbank - that paragon of objective journalism - who on Countdown twisted W's good-natured gesture of inviting onto the podium press people who shared the same birthday into a metaphor of presidential lonelieness and isolation. Milbank also used the occasion to allude to Bush's allegedly dissolute youth. And for good measure, the 'reporter' even managed to revive allegations regarding...

22 Congressmen Hate Christmas This year's "War for Christmas" – keeping "Christ" in the holiday has apparently been won. And, like many "wars," there has even been a Congressional resolution in support of keeping Christmas alive and well. On December 15 the House of Representatives passed a resolution "protecting the symbols and traditions of Christmas" by an overwhelming 401-22 vote. Representative JoAnn Davis (R-VA), the resolution's sponsor, said the resolution was necessary to counter "political correctness run amok." "No one," she said, "should feel like they have done something wrong by wishing someone a Merry Christmas." Twenty-two Democrats played Scrooge...