Free Republic

Vote of Confidence A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape—and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. By Gretchen Reynolds A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape-and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. In the final, climactic buildup to November's general election, with George Bush gaining ground on Bill Clinton in Illinois and the once-unstoppable campaign of senatorial candidate Carol Moseley Braun embroiled in allegations about her mother's Medicare liability, one of the most important local stories managed to go virtually unreported: The...

Obama’s statement that abortions will not be paid for with federal money is a bold-faced deceptionWashington, DC – President Barack Obama made the statement during last evening’s address on Health Care Reform that before a joint session of Congress that was meant to deceive the American people on the matter of tax-payer funding of abortions. Obama stated, “One more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.” “Every fact-checking organization tells us that this is just not true. The reality is...

Fr. Chavasse, postulator for Cardinal Newman's cause/ John Henry Cardinal Newman Birmingham, Ala., Jul 12, 2009 / 06:27 am (CNA).- The beneficiary of a Vatican-approved miracle attributed to the intercession of Servant of God John Henry Cardinal Newman says an EWTN show inspired him to pray to the saint for the healing of his back injuries that could have paralyzed him. His use of a relic of the cardinal may also be linked to a second miracle.John “Jack” Sullivan had awoken to excruciating pain in June 2000. A CT scan revealed that all or most of the vertebrae and...

Pope Benedict XVI today announced the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The declaration means that the Anglican vicar, who shocked Victorian England by converting to Catholicism, will be given the title 'Blessed'. It also puts Newman just one stage away from becoming the first English saint in about 40 years.

Portrait of Cardinal Newman. (CNS) A papal decree announcing the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman is imminent and will most likely be made before the Vatican closes for its summer break in August, the Register has learned. Last month, the Vatican’s medical board concluded a miracle attributed to Cardinal Newman’s intercession was due to inexplicable causes. Deacon John Sullivan, 70, of Marshfield, Mass., was healed of severe back pain in 2001 after praying to the 19th-century English theologian. Deacon Sullivan was prompted to ask for Cardinal Newman’s intercession after watching an EWTN program on Cardinal Newman’s beatification process. Now,...

Conservatives clearly have more than enough reason to worry because all of the praise being heaped on her by New Hampshire Democrats suggests she won't be as reliable as the least dependable of the GOP's current sitting Senators. Newman, after all, endorsed Lynch when he first sought the governorship in 2002 against the sitting governor, Republican Craig Benson. And she has described herself as a "reasonable Republican" - not exactly the kind of self-identification that suggests she has an altogether favorable impression of her own party. Lynch's selection of Newman, who has already indicated she will not seek a full...

J. Bonnie Newman, the woman poised to become New Hampshire's newest senator, has spent 40 years moving among high-profile jobs in politics, academia and the business world. But even for her colleagues and admirers, the precise contours of Newman's personal politics are unclear. Newman, a 63-year-old Republican, has never run for public office, never cast a legislative vote, never outlined a campaign platform. Colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, describe her as a nonideological problem-solver - with a wicked sense of humor and a serious golf habit. They praise her work ethic and her ability to bring together people of differing...

Bonnie Newman announced as the replacement for Senator Gregg.

A forensic archaeologist has raised fresh questions over why no remains were found in the grave of an English cardinal in line to become a saint.It comes just days before artefacts owned by Cardinal John Henry Newman go on display ahead of his possible beatification.Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Birmingham in 1890 as Cardinal John Henry Newman's body was carried eight miles to its final resting place. Some 118 years later the Vatican ordered his remains be dug up. Roman Catholic leaders in Birmingham were asked to exhume his body by the Vatican as part of...

If we learned anything from the mess in Florida in 2000, it’s this: When elections don’t end on Election Day, things get ugly quickly. That is why today, and not the day after Election Day, is the day for Americans of all political stripes to aggressively press for more robust safeguards against vote fraud and for immediate action on the registration-fraud investigations targeting ACORN, the community-organizing enterprise that has been the sometime employer and full-time ally of Barack Obama. ACORN’s voter-registration affiliate, Project Vote, was founded by leftist activist Sandy Newman. When Newman was looking to hire somebody to run...

A retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice says that she is "not confident we can get a fair election" in the state come November. Justice Sandra Newman, accompanied by Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico and Pennsylvania Republican State Chairman Robert Gleason, expressed her concerns at a Harrisburg press conference this morning. A thick document replete with photo copies of phony registrations and aerial shots of vacant lots used as "addresses" for "voters" was handed out to journalists. Gleason was even more explicit. "Between March 23rd and October 1st, various groups, including ACORN, submitted over 252,595 registrations to the Philadelphia County...

If you believe Crystal Gail Mangum, the ex-convict stripper still falsely posing as a gang rape victim, you probably believe that the innocuously named ACORN (the acronym for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is a fine association honorably pursuing laudable goals. That's nuts! Mangum is a con artist still lying outrageously and ACORN is a sinister association out to take over America by putting politicians of its choosing, especially Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., in power, by doing whatever it takes, despite the law. ACORN is dangerous. Bowing to ACORN's political power and thuggish tactics resulted in many of...

The grave of the 19th Century Cardinal John Henry Newman did not contain his body, the Catholic Church has revealed.The plot, at the Oratory House, Rednal, near Birmingham, was excavated on Thursday at the Vatican's instruction. His remains were to have been moved to the Birmingham Oratory, in preparation for Newman's anticipated beatification. Newman's body may have decomposed, as his coffin was not lead-lined. Its absence will not affect the progress of his cause in Rome, a spokesman said.In a statement released on Saturday, Peter Jennings from the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory, said: "Brass, wooden and cloth artefacts from...

Paul Newman, 1925-2008 There were two Paul Newmans: He was a star on screen - one of the last real movie stars, a man who, despite himself, brought glamor to every role. Off screen, he was a rather doctrinaire leftie - a lot of celebrities are, of course, at least when mouthing off at awards ceremonies. Newman didn't do a lot of talking the talk, not in public, but he walked the walk in ways few politically-minded celebs do. My National Review colleague Jay Nordlinger once sniffed that Newman, as a movie star, knew jack about how money is really...

UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS sub- urbs such as Shaker Heights, Ohio, are unpromising incubators for character actors, who are supposed to have ridden the rails or broken broncos or lost teeth in Hell's Kitchen rumbles before finding easier work on the Big Screen. But Paul Newman, who grew up in that Cleveland-area community, was an actor who was all character--and who rode that trait to the very top of the playbill. Imitations of Wayne's drawl or Cagney's snarl or Stewart's affection-ate stutter are accessible to devoted impressionists. But who ever saw even an attempted impersonation of Mr. Newman? Each of his screen portrayals--he...

<p>An unconfirmed report just came in from AD reader Kubrickguy. Newman was battling cancer but must have lost the fight. Long live Paul Newman.</p>

LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic officials have applied for permission to exhume the body of a 19th-century cardinal whose cause for sainthood is expected to soon progress to beatification. They want to transfer the remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman from a grave in a small cemetery in the suburbs of Birmingham, England, to a marble sarcophagus in a church in the city where they can be venerated by pilgrims. A July 14 statement said that the Archdiocese of Birmingham was now in direct contact with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, to obtain the necessary...

FILM legend Paul Newman is suffering from lung cancer, according to U.S. magazine reports. The Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid actor, 83, has been suffering from ill health for many months and in May was forced to pull out of directing a production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. Two U.S. publications quote friends of the actor saying the former chain-smoker has been diagnosed with lung cancer at the New York’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, a few hours drive from his Connecticut home, where he lives his wife Joanne Woodward. A friend of the actor told the National Enquirer:...

Cardinal John Henry Newman Vatican City, Apr 23, 2008 / 03:12 am (CNA).- The Vatican has approved the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the English convert and theologian who has had immense influence upon English-speaking Catholicism, the Birmingham Mail reports.John Henry Newman was born in 1801.  As an Anglican priest, he led the Oxford Movement that sought to return the Church of England to its Catholic roots.  His conversion to Catholicism in 1845 rocked Victorian England.  After becoming an Oratorian priest, he was involved in the establishment of the Birmingham Oratory.  He died in 1890 and is buried...

Happy Birthday Cardinal Newman, part 3 of 3. The cause of Cardinal Newman’s canonization was opened in 1958 in Birmingham, England, his home diocese, and was introduced in Rome in 1987. One reason for the long preparation was the amount of evidence to be collected and studied. In addition to his published works, some 20,000 letters written by the cardinal have survived. In 1991 the Vatican declared that Cardinal Newman had lived a life of “heroic virtue” which was worthy of imitation, giving him the title "Venerable." Ironically, most of the support for Newman's cause comes from the United States,...

Happy Birthday Cardinal Newman, part 2 of 3. [Our Newman Birthday Celebration (belated) continues, this time with Cardinal Newman's own words (the Biglietto Speech) -- perhaps more prescient now than they were when he spoke them. --PP] For thirty, forty, fifty years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of Liberalism in religion. Never did Holy Church need champions against it more sorely than now, when, alas! it is an error overspreading, as a snare, the whole earth; and on this great occasion, when it is natural for one who is in my place to look...

Happy Birthday Cardinal Newman, part 1 of 3. Our Newman birthday celebration (slightly belated) begins with a homily preached by your PP on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost according to the Byzantine Calendar. The Gospel Lesson for this day is Luke 5: 1-11 (the Miraculous Catch of Fish): Because I was trained in a Roman Catholic seminary (note: I am an Eastern Catholic priest), I was exposed to the writings of Cardinal Newman, and they had a great influence on me. John Henry Newman was born into an Evangelical Christian family, was later ordained a priest of the Church of...

Last Friday, Father Richard John Neuhaus, in a piece about the possibilities of reconverting the nation of England to the ancient faith, made a passing reference to Cardinal Newman’s diffidence about actively seeking Anglican converts to the Catholic Church and specifically cited Newman’s principle: “I am afraid to make hasty converts of educated men lest they should not have counted the cost & should have difficulties after they have entered the Church. . . . The Church must be prepared for converts, as well as converts prepared for the Church.” Taking a snapshot of Newman’s position at any one time...

Cardinal Newman, the Anglican cleric whose conversion to Roman Catholicism scandalised Victorian Britain, appeared closer to sainthood today after his case was backed by a senior Vatican official.   Cardinal Newman The head of the Vatican department that examines the causes of saints said that he would like the Cardinal's beatification - the step before canonisation - to take place very soon. His comments suggest that the Vatican is close to attributing a miracle to Cardinal Newman, which means that the 19th century cleric could be beatified before the end of the year. The controversial theologian and writer of the...

The Vatican is close to attributing a miracle to Cardinal Newman that would pave the way for Britain's most famous convert to Roman Catholicism to become this country's first saint for 40 years.Insiders in Rome believe that the Vatican will announce a decision within months, meaning that the former Anglican whose conversion shocked Victorian England could be beatified as early as next year.The controversial theologian and writer of the hymn Lead Kindly Light, who converted in 1845 and died in 1890, would then be declared "Blessed" and be one step from canonisation, for which a second miracle would be needed....

For nine years I served the Lord Jesus Christ as a United Methodist pastor in New Jersey; for five of those years I had no thought of being anything else. I had a growing church, I was happy in my denomination and pleased with my prospects, and I was satisfied. I believed that denominations were not only inevitable but good. Since Christians would always disagree about their beliefs and practices, having different denominations kept them from fighting. I didn’t believe that visible unity was necessary for the Church, nor doctrinal unity. At the same time I insisted strongly on my...

SSPX in schism? You can believe Fr. Newman... or you can believe the Church South Carolina pastor warns flock SSPX attendance "morally illicit" and "gravely sinful" Brian Mershon Brian Mershon August 7, 2007 Greenville, South Carolina — Noted author and commentator George Weigel's book Letters to a Young Catholic highlights St. Mary's parish, under the direction of Fr. Jay Scott Newman, JCL, as a particularly bright beacon in the continuing wasteland of the post-Vatican II devastation. St. Mary's is a steadily growing parish with lots of young families, and many who are open to life and attempting to lead holy,...

SSPX in schism? You can believe Fr. Newman... or you can believe the Church South Carolina pastor warns flock SSPX attendance "morally illicit" and "gravely sinful" Brian Mershon Brian Mershon August 7, 2007 Greenville, South Carolina — Noted author and commentator George Weigel's book Letters to a Young Catholic highlights St. Mary's parish, under the direction of Fr. Jay Scott Newman, JCL, as a particularly bright beacon in the continuing wasteland of the post-Vatican II devastation. St. Mary's is a steadily growing parish with lots of young families, and many who are open to life and attempting to lead holy,...

LANDIS - A pregnant woman and the baby she was carrying died Tuesday night after a head-on collision with a Jeep driven by a man Kannapolis police were following at the intersection of South Main Street and West First Street. Another infant child in the car did not appear injured, officials said Officials did not release their names. They said the woman was eight months pregnant. Reed Linn, Landis Volunteer Fire Department chief, said the wreck occurred about 5:15 p.m. Linn said that after the wreck, the man was pinned underneath the Jeep. Emergency service workers had to use two...

ASHLAND, Ky. -- It was neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night that kept Charles Fred Miller from his appointed rounds. Miller, a one-time mail carrier in the eastern Kentucky city of Grayson, said it was simply laziness. The 32 year-old pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge related to undelivered mail. He told U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning that he stuffed more than 500 items of undelivered mail into garbage bags in a storage shed behind his house. "I just got lazy," Miller said. A federal grand jury indicted Miller in July on felony counts...

Postal worker caught with thousands of letters Fri Jul 14, 11:14 AM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - A Berlin postal worker who was caught with more than several thousand undelivered letters in his basement has admitted he was overwhelmed by the job but insisted he planned to deliver them soon. Police recently found 90 boxes of post stacked in his basement. The postal worker, 36, identified as Thomas H., told Bild newspaper Friday he was only temporarily storing the post at his house and friends would help with delivery. "There were just too much and I couldn't deliver it all by...

An Encino man pleaded guilty to running a recycling scheme straight out of a "Seinfeld" episode - one that bilked California out of $2.5 million, authorities said Wednesday. Errol Segal, 61, president of Active Recycling, trucked more than 50 million cans and bottles into California from neighboring states and Mexico, then falsified records to bill the state for the California Redemption Value. The company also billed the state for more than 10 million bogus bottles. "This is the largest (recycling scheme) my office has done in a long, long time, if ever," Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Garringer said. "We're talking...

From A Letter Addressed to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D. on Occasion of his Eirenicon Pages 31-62 As regards the Blessed Virgin then, I shall postpone the question of devotion for a while, and inquire first into the doctrine of the undivided Church (to use your controversial phrase), on the subject of her prerogatives.1.What is the great rudimental teaching of Antiquity from its earliest date concerning her? By "rudimental teaching," I mean the primâ facie view of her person and office, the broad outline laid down of her, the aspect under which she comes to us, in the writings...

For the two Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for re-election this year, the foe is public perception, not a candidate of the opposition party. Justices Russell M. Nigro and Sandra Schultz Newman are fighting for new 10-year terms because of rising anger toward the court, stirred largely by a pay raise that state lawmakers gave themselves in the middle of the night last summer. (snip) "There is a serious disconnect in Pennsylvania between our elected officials" and the people, said Russ Diamond, chairman of PACleanSweep, a political action committee committed to ousting every incumbent in the Legislature. Citizen activists and...

Rome, Oct. 20 (CWNews.com) - Reports of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman have given a new impetus to the cause for beatification of the 19th-century British convert. "At last we have a miracle cure," said Father Paul Chavasse, the provost of the Birmingham Oratory, an institution founded by Cardinal Newman in 1848. He was referring to reports that an American deacon was cured of severe chronic spinal problems through Cardinal Newman's intercession. Church officials would not reveal the identity of the man who benefited from the reported miracle, but said that the Boston archdiocese...

It is now time to try to wrap up these small “lectures” on the history of art. Today is the tough day: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, etc. I have to admit that I did not “get” these works until I was well within graduate school. For Pollock, it took the documentary by Hans Namuth in which I saw him painting. His work is not just a bunch of random splatters; instead, Pollock carefully dances around the canvas, and you can see the evidence of the “dance,” if you will, on the canvas. (This is the same time that Martha Graham...

Kohbar Towers. What, me worry? The Embassy in Tanzania. What, me worry? The Embassy in Kenya. What me worry? The U.S.S Cole. What, me worry? Oklahoma City? Blame talk radio aka Rush Limbaugh. "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said during the inaugural Aspen Ideas Festival, organized by the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think tank. So Hillary, when you are looking for a president who embodies the philosophy of Alfred E. Newman make an appointment and see your husband, if you can find him.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton went on the attack against President Bush in a speech Sunday, accusing him of damaging the economy by overspending while giving tax cuts to the rich. The Democrat from New York also accused Bush of depriving U.S. soldiers of equipment needed to fight the war in Iraq and cutting funding for scientific research. ``I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington,'' Clinton said referring to the freckle-faced Mad magazine character. She drew a laugh from crowd when she described Bush's attitude toward tough issues with Neuman's catchphrase: ``What, me worry?'' Clinton, who...

Sunday, June 26, 2005 In his 1974 song "Rednecks," Randy Newman lays a trap for the listener. Calling up the most boorish images of white Southerners ("We talk real funny down here/ We drink too much and we laugh too loud/ We're too dumb to make it in no northern town"), Newman invites the superior laughter of northern white liberals, the folks who'd bristle at pickaninny dolls but smile at Bubba jokes. And then he unsheathes his knife. His proclamation that good old boys are "too ignorant to realize" that the North has given blacks their freedom is followed by...

As a game of political chicken shapes up between freshman U.S. Sen. John Thune and the White House, the biggest casualty could be President Bush’s agenda. With strong backing from the national GOP and the president, Thune defeated Tom Daschle, the Democrat’s number-one man in the Senate, in a race that saw South Dakota become one of the nation’s most contentious political battlegrounds. Thune and his supporters were able to out Daschle as the liberal obstructionist he really was — as opposed to the moderate he played on the county-fair circuit. Daschle’s charade didn’t always work, but he could at...

Dr. Thomas B. Newman doesn't like the use of heart-rending stories to sway medical decision makers. He prefers statistical proof, the cold calculus of numbers. But in trying to explain why testing children's cholesterol rarely makes sense - a contention strongly disputed by many leading medical societies and government health agencies - even he cannot help stooping to a story. "I have a friend whose teenage son had his cholesterol measured," said Dr. Newman, a pediatrician and professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. "He was on the swim team and the...

More than a decade ago, when Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani embraced Marxist ideology, they could not persuade even the Rev. Al Sharpton to run under the banner of their fringe political party in his 1992 Senate bid. Mr. Sharpton, seeking to gain legitimacy as a candidate, began distancing himself from the two and from their New Alliance Party, as questions about his past association with them threatened to undermine his campaign and his credibility. But in recent years, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman have found many of the state's top political leaders eager to court their latest organization, the...

On Papalotry by Dr. William Marra Editor's note: This is edited transcript of a portion of the speech “Alternative to Schism” given at the Roman Forum Conference in August, 1995. In this presentation, Dr. Marra presents a clarification that will help Catholics to think critically and correctly, when confusing and contradictory statements emanate from even the highest authorities in the Church. Belief and Obedience My great teacher, Dietrich von Hildebrande wrote four outstanding books on the present crisis in the Church. Recently, his latest book, The Charitable Anathema was published. I wish we could mail a copy to Rome. A...

Hollywood heavyweights Paul Newman, Steve Bing, Robert De Niro and Matt Damon have boosted Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign as he bids for the White House next month. The Democrat hopeful is currently neck and neck with current US leader George W Bush in the opinion polls in the run-up to polling day on November 2. Over 850 celebrities and businesspeople have contributed to Kerry's campaign fund, of which a recent investigation in New York has revealed Bing, Damon, De Niro and Newman have all given money. Film producer Bing, who famously denied paternity of Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian and...

The June 1 deadline for applications is fast approaching for volunteer organizations to enter the "Newman's Own Award" competition that offers a share of $50,000 in grants to winners. This marks the fifth year the annual contest is co-sponsored by the Newman's Own Co., the Fisher House Foundation and the Military Times Media Group. The submission judged to be the most outstanding will receive a $10,000 grant, according to Fisher House spokesman Jim Weiskopf. He said the remaining $40,000 will be apportioned in grants to other outstanding submissions. The number of additional winners and grant dollar amounts awarded to each...

Westcott's Peace-Movement No true Christian loves war. A Bible believer takes the premillenial view and realizes that war is caused by the sinful nature of mankind-James 4:1. He understands that this will all be changed at Christ's return-Philippians 3:21.

A SURPRISING DEFENCE It is true that a man who believed things completely contrary to the convictions of today's fundamental preachers and educators could be exalted and defended by them. Of course, I believe this is done primarily because our fundamental brethren know little of what either Dr. Westcott or Dr. Hort really believed and taught.

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1903) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) have been highly controversial figures in biblical history.

A New Plan Let it be remebered, JESUITS DO NOT GIVE UP. They would have to bide their time. They would once again resort to undercover activities as they had so many times before. Their task would be a difficult one, yet for the unfaltering Jesuits, not impossible. They would have to discredit the Reformation. They would have to dislodge the Universal Greek Text from the firm position it once held in the minds and hearts of English scholarship. The would have to "wean" Protestantism back into the fold of Rome. To do this they would use the same plan...