Free Republic

Terry Waite has met the leadership of Hizbollah, the militant group accused of kidnapping and holding him for five years, in an extraordinary gesture of “reconciliation”.The former hostage spoke for two hours to one of its most senior figures at their stronghold in Beirut, his first encounter with the organisation held responsible for masterminding his kidnapping 25 years ago. Accompanied by The Sunday Telegraph, he travelled to Lebanon to highlight the plight of Christians who have fled the Syrian civil war. Mr Waite offered the reconciliation to Hizbollah to help with the Christians’ plight at a secretly arranged, late night...

Texas Republican congressman Ron Paul pointedly refused to endorse his party's presidential contender, Mitt Romney, arguing that neither he nor President Barack Obama would make necessary cuts to public spending that would avert a fiscal catastrophe. "No," the iconoclastic Libertarian bluntly told CNBC’s "Futures Now," when asked about whether he was prepared to endorse Romney. He accused both the former Massachusetts governor and the president of being captive to similar interests.

Erica Loberg doesn’t come right out and say it, but the author of “Inside the Insane” believes that those of us who are very religious – or “hyper religious,” as she describes us – are mentally ill. “Are there are lot of hyper religio(us) people walking around with schizophrenia or hypo mania and not even know it?,” she asks. “Can religion be a springboard to help discover a mental illness?” Loberg doesn’t answer her own questions, but it’s pretty obvious what she thinks: Religiosity is a marker for mental illness, if not insanity. When I checked Loberg’s biography, I discovred...

After four years of playing the race card, accusing the Tea Party of being racist, accusing Americans of not liking President Obama because of his skin color, etc. MSNBC host Chris Matthews absolutely lost it this morning in a discussion with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Matthews continually accused Priebus of playing the race card and linking President Obama to "foreign influences." Matthews also took issue with Mitt Romney's joke about a birth certificate, saying the birth certificate issue was never an issue except for the "right wing." Flashback for Matthews, the birther issue was started by Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters.

Debate over abortion-related legislation took a combative turn in the Assembly today when a Pomona Democrat blasted male ignorance of women's bodies, then defied house floor leaders who asked her to stop. Assemblywoman Norma Torres' outburst ended nearly an hour of fierce debate over Senate Bill 623 to continue a pilot project in which physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives provide first-trimester aspiration abortions. The measure ultimately passed, 46-24, despite Republican opposition. Torres began her floor speech by noting the words of Todd Akin - though not mentioning his name. The U.S. Senate candidate from Missouri sparked a national...

His behavior doesn't add up His behavior already reveals stark inconsistencies that question the mainstream explanation of events. For example, he opened fire on innocent people but then calmly surrendered to police without resistance. This is not consistent with the idea of "killing everyone." Furthermore, he then admitted to police that his apartment was booby-trapped with explosives. If you were really an evil-minded Joker trying to kill people (including cops), why would you warn them about the booby trap in advance? It doesn't add up. "Holmes was taken into custody shortly after the shooting, police said, adding he didn't resist...

About 2 million people in our world call themselves Christians. We are divided into innumerable groupings. However, there is one belief that identifies us all. God was uniquely present in the teacher/prophet Jesus from Nazareth. Almost all Christians believe in some sort of incarnation. In Paul’s words, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” Christians almost universally believe that Jesus was fully human and also fully divine. Put another way, Christians believe there is a Jesus of history and a theological Jesus somehow united in one person. Through history and continuing today, Christians have been much more interested...

Spending has skyrocketed under President Obama, but of late some are claiming that the opposite is true. Case in point: MarketWatch columnist Rex Nutting wrote, “Obama spending binge never happened,” and Politifact rated this statement “mostly true.” But Mitt Romney this week said that “Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelrated at a pace without precedent in recent history.” So who has it right? Mitt Romney. What Politifact must have missed is a very important data point: President Obama signed most of the spending attributed to President George W. Bush’s last year in office, which...

In a column on Tuesday, Rex Nutting of MarketWatch ran some budget numbers and concluded the following: "Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true. But it didn’t happen...." The shocking, contrarian piece was widely circulated in liberal circles and was even cited on Wednesday by White House spokesman Jay Carney. But there were a few problems with Nutting’s numbers....

DENVER (Reuters) - A 36-year-old woman was accused of causing $10,000 worth of damage to a painting by the late abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still, a work valued at more than $30 million, authorities said on Wednesday...

Here's what it says on Newt's facebook wall: Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action.

A transgender student at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown could be banned from extracurricular activities for a year for using a men's locker room. Seamus Johnston, 22, a junior computer science major from Johnstown, was born female. Two years ago he began identifying as a male. Johnston is undergoing hormone therapy, but has not undergone surgery for a sex change. University records reflect that he is a woman, but Johnston is trying to get those records changed. On Dec. 2, Johnston said, the university found him guilty under its code of conduct of disorderly conduct, failure to obey a locker room...

Actor Alec Baldwin for the second time in as many months went nuts on Twitter. His targets Monday were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mark Levin, readers of the website Free Republic, and what he referred to as "right wing trash":

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) tells MSNBC regulations create jobs because a business will have to hire people to help them comply with the new requirement. "I think the answer is no," Ellison said when asked if he believes regulations kill jobs. "And here is why: When we talked about increasing fuel efficiency standards, the industry responded, and they need engineers and designers and manufacturers, and they need actually more people to help respond to the new requirement." "I believe if the government says, look, we have got to reduce our carbon footprint, you will kick into gear a whole number...

UNITED NATIONS—In what is becoming an annual event, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again slammed the West in a radical speech at the UN General Assembly, with diplomats from a number of Western nations leaving the meeting hall in apparent protest. Representatives from the US and Europe were among those who walked out in the mass exit as Ahmadinejad on Thursday implicitly criticized some Europeans for still using the Holocaust “as the excuse to pay fine or ransom to the Zionists,” which is his term for Israel. The US Mission to the UN reacted strongly to

WASHINGTON—Ushering in the largest decrease in auto fuel consumption since the 1970s, President Barack Obama and automobile manufacturers Friday announced a deal that will save drivers money at the pump and dramatically cut heat-trapping gases coming from tailpipes. The agreement pledges to double overall fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, bringing major under-the-hood changes for the nation's automobiles starting in model year 2017. Cars and trucks on the road today average 27 miles per gallon. "This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we have taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on...

WFTV learned on Monday that former U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson is running for office again. On Monday, Grayson said he doesn't plan to do anything different. He said he's running again because of all the people who have reached out and asked him to. Grayson already raised nearly $100,000 in donations before filing his paperwork on Monday. "We need somebody who's gonna stick up for what's right. Somebody with guts," Grayson said. During Grayson's last campaign an ad referred to his opponent, Daniel Webster, as Taliban Dan. Grayson lost his District 8 Congressional seat to Webster after a highly controversial...

I wonder what this Bay Area nutjob THOUGHT was going to happen when he fought to put Democrats in Charge??? I want my f*#%ing life back I want to not be invisible anymore. I want to get up and shower and have somewhere to go. I want to punch the people who talk about the recession being over. I want to not have to choose between toilet paper or dog food. I want to take back all the money I spent on student loans for an education that does me no good now. I want to stop mending the waistband...

HR 2278, a bill to limit the use of funds appropriated to Department of Defense for United States Armed Forces in support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation Unified Protector with respect to Libya, unless otherwise specifically authorized by law. Mr. Speaker I rise to oppose this legislation, which masquerades as a limitation of funds for the president's war on Libya but is in fact an authorization for that very war. According to HR 2278, the US military cannot be involved in NATO's actions in Libya, with four important exceptions. If this passes, for the first time the president would...

Ned Nefer and his wife Teagan can be seen plodding along the rural highways of upstate New York and are hard to miss. Nefer's wife is a tall mannequin in a wheelchair. Motorists driving by have been doing double takes as they pass the couple by. So many people have spotted the duo that they have become an Internet sensation. They have their own Facebook page and countless videos on YouTube. He's even been interviewed from the road by a pair of Iowa DJs. Plenty of people laugh at the idea and dismiss Nefer as a crazy person, but those...