Free Republic

The British have begun to worry about the “special relationship” in the Anglosphere since the election of Barack Obama. First, the visit from Gordon Brown failed to get the usual Rose Garden joint-presser treatment from the White House this week. Now the Daily Mail reports that Obama cheaped out on the traditional gift exchange, rustling up some DVDs in exchange for a thoughtful gift from Brown:

[snip] Obama never directly mentioned Bush's name after the ritual thank you at the beginning of his Inaugural Address, but the context of some of his remarks was lost on no one. He criticized "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." He promised to "restore science to its rightful place." He rejected "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." He assured the rest of the world "that we are ready to lead once more." Some writers, including David Sanger of The New York Times, concluded that it was the...

I'm an easy-going guy. I can be friends with most anyone. Like Will Rogers, I never met a man I didn't like. Well, I guess that's true, since I have never actually MET Bill Maher, Michael Moore, or Keith Olbermann--and even with Olbermann, if we can stick to baseball, maybe we could talk. But the feeling is not necessarily mutual with the DUmmies. Many of them simply HATE OUR GUTS! Witness this THREAD: "How do you feel about maintaining a friendship with a Republican?" DUmmies, don't hate me because I'm a Rethuglican! C'mon, sing with me: "Why can't we...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of people lined up at some Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone from Research In Motion that aims to compete with Apple's iPhone . More than 200 people had waited at a Verizon store in mid-town Manhattan early in the morning, many of whom were turned away after it ran out of the new phones less than an hour after opening at 8 a.m. The angry customers caused a ruckus and police came to restore order.

Leaders of a church that's drawn national controversy for its protests at U.S. military funerals say they plan to picket Friday's services for two Scott County High School cheerleaders and sisters killed in a weekend crash.

NEW YORK – John McCain hung his final presidential debate performance on an Ohio plumber who campaign aides never vetted. A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president. McCain likes to say that he isn’t...

ROME (Reuters) - Pop star Madonna, once accused by the Vatican of staging one of the most satanic shows in history, surprised fans by dedicating her hit "Like a Virgin" to the pope at a sold-out concert held in Rome. ADVERTISEMENT "I dedicate this song to the pope, because I'm a child of God. All of you are also children of God," the 50-year old "Queen of Pop" told the 60,000 fans that flocked to the Italian stop of her "Sticky & Sweet" world tour on Saturday. Italian newspapers gushed over the singer's electric performance and called the dedication a...

HBO's Bill Maher was spewing some extraordinary hatred for his fellow countrymen again Friday night, this time claiming that he doesn't "trust Americans to do the right thing or make the right choices" because "[t]hey're just too f***ing dumb." Why does he feel this way? Because not everyone is going to vote for Barack Obama. Yes, folks, if you don't vote for the Messiah, it has nothing to do with the issues, or whether the junior senator from Illinois isn't qualified, or even because you think John McCain is a better candidate. According to Maher, if you don't vote for...

Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s campaign filed suit Tuesday seeking to remove Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama from the ballot in Texas, alleging that the two major candidates missed the deadline for officially filing to be on the ballot. The lawsuit by the former Republican congressman from Georgia claims that neither McCain nor Obama met the requirement of Texas law that all candidates provide “written certification” of their nomination “before 5 p.m. on the 70th day before election day” because neither had been formally nominated by their respective parties in time. That would have been Aug. 25. Obama...

Prophet Muhammad novel scrapped Plans to release a novel about Prophet Muhammad's child bride A'isha have been scrapped by US publishers Random House over fears it could spark violence. The Jewel of Medina, the debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, was due to hit shelves on 12 August. Random House said it had been advised the book "might be offensive" to some Muslims, and "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." "We decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication," it added. The decision was taken "for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and...

"Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has a word with aide Huma Abedin at the start of a campaign rally at Capital High School in Charleston, W.Va."

The Tennessee Republican Party has toned down a fiery press release that included a controversial photo of Barack Obama and blasted the candidate on his stance on Israel. The release was changed after a rebuke from the Republican National Committee. A GOP official told FOX News that the RNC privately chided the Tennessee Republican Party over the content of its online press release titled, “Anti-Semites for Obama,” which followed the endorsement of Obama by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. The statement cited Farrakhan, who has called Judaism a “gutter religion,” in claiming an Obama presidency would threaten relations between...

London, February 4: Mahatma Gandhi never existed while Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character. Don't fret. This is only what most Britons think about the great leaders. According to a survey carried out in Britain, many believe that Mahatma Gandhi and Churchill are just mythical figures like Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the 'Lady with the Lamp'. In fact, almost a quarter of the population have the popular notion that Churchill, "the greatest Briton of all time", was made up. Moreover, despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents feel the 12th-century English...

YEAH!!!! KILL DA WABBITS!!!!! GOD HATES ALL FILTHY SODOMITE WABBITS!!!!!!!!!! PTARMIGANS WILL RISE AGAIN AND TRIUMPH OVER THE EVIL BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — High on prescription painkillers and four days without sleep, Michael Berke raced his Harley to the megachurch where he’d found a home. He barged into the church office, cursing loudly and wearing a mesh shirt printed with profanity. In his hands he held a picture of a woman with long, red hair and pouty lips. “This is who I used to be,” he said. “And this” — he gestured to his breastless chest, bald head and red goatee — “is who I’ve become.” He was born a man. After a lifetime as a social misfit,...

The Associated Press NASHVILLE -- Tennessee's two Republican senators on Thursday voted in Washington against a non-binding resolution calling for continued support of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Sen. Bill Frist said the landmark decision is flawed; Sen. Fred Thompson said the Supreme Court should be left alone on the issue."I'm The vote came on a resolution by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The resolution said: "It is the sense of the Congress that Roe v. Wade was an appropriate decision and secures an important constitutional right and such a decision should not be overturned." A...

On a campaign stop in Coralville, Iowa, Fred Thompson claimed that he helped guide John Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation through a Democratic-controlled Senate, despite Republicans holding the majority at the time. (more)

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on how to save Social Security and Medicare without raising taxes. He was speaking to the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on why he is running for President. He was speaking to the Des Moines Register Editorial Board.

In all the stories that came out of 9/11 -- stories of love, loss and heroism -- Tania Head's tale had it all. As president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network and as a tour guide at ground zero, she told countless people for the past six years about being burned on the 78th floor of the south tower. Head says she was rescued by a citizen hero, and felt compelled to escape by her promise to return a wedding band to a victim's wife and by her love for a man she later learned had died in the...