Free Republic

The singer has the political talent to take stands – on gay rights, or child literacy – without losing her conservative heartland fans At 77, Dolly Parton is justly being celebrated, along with her more established virtues, for an ability to unite disparate groups. She has, it’s claimed, an equally strong fanbase in the Trumpian “Rust Belt” as among the gay clubbers of New York City, to pick two of America’s polarised stereotypes. Her London visit to promote a new rock-influenced double album and a book is proving just how broad that Parton cultural spectrum is. Gathered in a grand...

politicians” who “wouldn’t know the truth if it bit them.” After being asked if she would ever consider running for office, the singer said, “No, I’m running from office.” “In the middle of the night, I wake up with this song in my mind, and I just felt the need to address what’s going on in the world today, my feelings and thoughts about it, because I’m not one for speaking out much on those sort of thing,” Parton said in a recent interview with BBC News.

wildfire that has burned over 100 structures in the hills near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is nearing full containment, Tennessee Wildland Fire officials said. Just over 3,700 acres of land have been scorched from the Hatcher Mountain Road/Indigo Lane Fire, but firefighters now report 85% containment.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Dolly Parton is asking Tennessee lawmakers to withdraw a bill that would erect a statue of her on the Capitol grounds in Nashville. “Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” Parton said in a statement issued Thursday.

Country music legend Dolly Parton has revealed that she turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice during the Donald Trump administration, though the reasons she gave weren’t political. At the same time, the singer said she isn’t sure she will accept the honor if Joe Biden were to offer it to her. Dolly Parton revealed on NBC’s Today show on Monday that she refused the country’s highest civilian honor two times during the last four years.

The gates and doors were barred And all the windows fastened down I spent the night in sleeplessness And rose at every sound Half in hope of sorrow And half in fear the day Would find the soldiers breakin' through To drag us all away And just before the sunrise I heard something at the wall The gate began to rattle And a voice began to call I hurried to the window Looked down into the street Expecting swords and torches And the sound of soldiers' feet But there was no one there but Mary So I went down to...

FULL TITLE:‘Keep your damn mouth shut …’ ABC tries to get Dolly Parton to trash Trump and her answer is brilliant Reaching all the way back to the iconic 1980 movie “9 to 5,” which featured Dolly Parton, ABC News tried in vain to get country music legend to denounce President Donald Trump by likening him to the sexist boss in the film. “The sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical portrayed so effectively in that movie by actor Dabney Coleman hasn’t exactly disappeared from the culture,” said Nightline correspondent David Wright. “We have a president of the United States who said the...

Hillary Rodham Clinton, who once insulted country star Tammy Wynette in defending her husband against adultery charges, has released a photo of her dressed as Dolly Parton in a birthday fundraiser for her hubby, who turns 70. "We make a really big deal of birthdays in my family - back when we were in the White House, Bill loved to surprise me with theme parties. There was the year he dressed up as James Madison (tights and all), and I'll never forget the time we did a Dolly Parton party - you have to see it to believe it,"...

Working 9 to 5 on her campaign! Hillary Clinton shows off her Dolly Parton costume from her 48th birthday party in 1995 in Instagram throwback snap A photo of Hillary Clinton dressed up like country singer Dolly Parton for her 48th birthday party in 1995 emerged online this week. Clinton's Instagram account shared a photograph on Thursday of the 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful at the bash, which showed her with a long blonde wig and a red gingham skirt. **SNIP** The photograph also showed her husband Bill Clinton, who was serving as US president at the time, wearing a plaid...

Via Leon Wolf, one of my favorite genres of lefty revisionism. Liberals have, I assume, been farting out pieces like this since the day Oswald’s political sympathies became publicly known, but semi-respectable left-wing pubs have been picking them up more frequently since 2009 in the name of bludgeoning Obama’s conservative critics. The “logic” runs like this: (1) Dallas 1963 was a very conservative, staunchly anti-Kennedy city; (2) JFK was murdered in Dallas; (3) ergo, very conservative, staunchly anti-Obama tea partiers are basically terrorists. You could kinda sorta forgive this if the assassin himself had been right-wing. It’s unfair to smear...

Ever imagined waking up to Dolly Parton fixing your breakfast? One Parton fan will get the chance to attend a barbecue at Parton's home, tour Parton's private residence, spend the night in Parton's guest cottage, and wake up to a meal prepared and served by Parton herself. The evening at Parton's digs will be one of the items up for auction at the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation's annual Evening of Elegance fundraiser, which will be held 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Mills Auditorium in Gatlinburg. The event will include both a silent and live auction, with the Parton...

The other big battle on Nov. 4 is over wireless airwaves, and it pits tech stalwarts against TV stations, evangelical preachers—even Dolly Parton ### Besides the Presidential election, there's another big political battle brewing in Washington on Nov. 4. This one is over the airwaves that are used to deliver communications signals to consumers across the country, and like the race for the White House, this contest has created a big divide. The same day that the country is picking its next President, the Federal Communication Commission will decide whether to make available a large swath of airwaves for wireless...

Fresh off of a critically-successful series of acoustic/bluegrass themed albums, Dolly’s upcoming album Those Were The Days takes Dolly in a more contemporary direction, while keeping some of the bluegrass flavors of her past few albums. The album begins with its title track, the Mary Hopkin classic “Those Were The Days,” which features a cast of Grand Ole Opry legends adding nostalgia and fun. The voices of Porter Wagoner, George Jones, and Jeannie Seely are clearly heard singing along with Dolly during select parts of the song, including a gang sing on the chorus. However the vocal contributions from Hopkin...

Country superstar Dolly Parton was thrilled when Yusuf Islam agreed to collaborate with her on her new covers album because she wanted to show fans he's a "really sweet man." Parton has been a longtime friend and fan of the folk icon, formerly Cat Stevens, and was horrified when she learned he had been refused entry to America last year. Islam was turned back when his name appeared on a mysterious list of potential terrorist sympathisers. He has been fighting the humiliating immigration mess ever since. And, by including him on her new album, Those Were The Days, patriotic Parton...

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. oil-for-food probe violated the confidentiality of a witness by passing sensitive information about him to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his lawyer in preparation for a recent report, a former investigator claimed. The allegations were the latest in a dispute between the former investigator, Robert Parton, and the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. Parton quit the committee in April, reportedly because he felt its March 29 interim report was too soft on Annan. The executive director of the probe, Reid Morden, said Monday the interim report did not violate...

U.S. JUDGE SETS PRECEDENT FOR UNITED NATIONS SOVEREIGNTY OVER AMERICA MNA—A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of the United Nations over the U.S. Congress this week, setting precedent that, at least in federal courts, the U.N. is sovereign. At issue are documents and audiotapes submitted under Congressional subpoena by former U.N. Oil for Food investigator Robert Parton. The information reportedly demonstrates proof positive that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s stories are conflicting regarding the world’s largest bribery scandal. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) after the United Nations filed a petition...

The hottest question right now in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal is who has rights to boxfuls of secret evidence concerning the secretary-general of the world body, Kofi Annan. Congressional investigators and the United Nations' own inquiry team, led by former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, are wrangling over material amassed by Mr. Volcker's investigation that reportedly touches on what Mr. Annan knew about his son's lucrative U.N.-related business deals. Following Mr. Volcker's March 29 interim report, Mr. Annan declared himself exonerated. Soon after that, two investigators from Mr. Volcker's team, who had worked on the Annan case, resigned. One of these...

U.N. investigators have turned over to Congress boxes of evidence on the Oil-for-Food program, including "proof" that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan lied to the Independent Inquiry Committee probing the scandal, Fox News Channel reporter Jonathan Hunt said Thursday. "One source close to the case told me that in those boxes is the ammunition to prove that Kofi Annan lied to investigators," Hunt told Fox News Radio host Tony Snow. "So this is a very dramatic development indeed." Story Continues Below Hunt said the documents had been in the possession of U.N. investigator Robert Parton, who resigned from the probe two...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)-- Taking sides in a cultural battle, some of the nation's top artists -- including Mandy Moore, Dolly Parton -- have contributed to a CD that benefits the nation's largest homosexual activist organization. All of the proceeds from the CD, "Love Rocks," will go to the Human Rights Campaign -- a homosexual activist organization that has figured prominently in the push to legalize same-sex "marriage" nationwide and works to promote "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights." The two-disk CD set -- which is being released just in time for Valentine's Day -- features some 30 artists, including Yoko...