Free Republic

These days, it's difficult for a gentleman to know whether holding a door for a lady is a polite gesture...or a real insult.

As John McCain's campaign hits hard at some of Barack Obama's past associations, one person closely tied to the Democratic candidate is conspicuously absent from the attacks: the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. It is an omission that some Republican strategists and McCain supporters find puzzling and frustrating. In advertisements, in Web videos and on the campaign trail, McCain repeatedly heaps scorn on Obama for his ties to convicted Chicago financier Antoin "Tony" Rezko and to William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, the violent 1970s radical group. The Republican nominee never mentions Wright, the controversial black minister...

Washington, DC -- A new exhibit at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery celebrates women's contributions to America but honors a handful of abortion advocates. The exhibit touts Margaret Sanger, the founder of the nation's largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, and others. Read the full story and take action at: http://www.LifeNews.com/nat4423.html

From Hillary Clinton Forum Yesterday, 09:44 PM Maddie Kaddison New Member = <100 Posts Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 99 Poster Rank: #454 Obama's supporters scare me. Here is a comment I just read from this story (the story that Dean Reynolds of CBS wrote about Obama's "stinky" plane etc): Quote: I support Obama, but I disagree on some major issues. One is that we need to use major authoritarian measures against wingnuts and theocrats to save this country. That in particular includes deprogramming institutions and a Gitmo like camp to deal with the worst wingnuts. These people should be...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign disavowed an introduction here yesterday that included Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. William Platt, chairman of the Lehigh County Republican Party, twice referred to "Barack Hussein Obama," which other supporters of McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have used to link the Democratic candidate with Muslims. Obama is not a Muslim. McCain has disavowed the tactic, most recently when it was employed earlier this week. "We do not condone this inappropriate rhetoric which distracts from the real questions of judgment, character and experience that voters will base their decisions...

Enlarge ImageColorblind? Researchers found white subjects shrink from using relevant racial descriptors when looking at cards like these.Credit: Flickr.com After Barack Obama's landmark speech on race on 18 March, it was hard to tell what got more media attention: What the Democratic presidential candidate said or that he had said it at all. Regardless, many pundits agreed that as an African-American, Obama could discuss race in ways few white people would dare. That's because most white Americans today have learned not to talk about race for fear of seeming racist, says Samuel Sommers, a social psychologist at Tufts University...

It's no laughing matter. Funnyman ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is fuming after a ringtone advertisement based on his popular comedy skit, "Achmed the Dead Terrorist," was scrubbed from South African TV because it mocks Islam. The ringtone was taken from a puppet routine performed by Dunham, a native Texan, in a TV special on Comedy Central. A 10-minute clip of the comedian's routine that was posted on YouTube has been viewed more than 66 million times since April.

Uncovering the roots of the disastrous home mortgage bubble that popped last year will keep economic historians busy for decades. Yet, one factor has so far been largely overlooked: the bipartisan social engineering crusade to drive up the rate of homeownership by handing out more mortgages to minorities. More than a negligible amount of the blame for the mortgage meltdown can be traced back to multiculturalism: government-mandated affirmative-action lending, demographic change, illegal immigration, and the mind-numbing effects of political correctness. The chickens have finally come home to roost. About half of all mortgages for blacks and Hispanics are subprime, versus...

Why does the Elections Canada Web site deem it necessary to offer a feature that breaks down each riding's candidates by gender? (They throw in a couple stick figures, one wearing a skirt, one wearing pants, just in case we're truly confused.) For one thing, even the weakest-minded of us should be able to figure out for ourselves whether a candidate has two X chromosomes or not. First, there's the candidate's name as a clue. And if that's not good enough ("Lee"s and "Leslie"s can be confusing), we can conduct further investigation ... like doing a two-second Google search. Second,...

BLINK and you would have missed it. The expression of disgust on former US president Bill Clinton's face during his speech to the Democratic National Convention as he says "Obama" lasts for just a fraction of a second. But to Paul Ekman it was glaringly obvious. "Given that he probably feels jilted that his wife Hillary didn't get the nomination, I would have to say that the entire speech was actually given very gracefully," says Ekman, who has studied people's facial expressions and how they relate to what they are thinking for over 40 years. It seems that Clinton's micro-expression...

I just got an email from our new Provost telling me that I – like everyone else working at the university – must start attending mandatory sexual harassment awareness training sessions every two years. The good news is that I’m going. The bad news is that I’ve gotten some other angry white men together to help me completely disrupt the training sessions. On October 20th, there will be a meeting of a new campus group called “Faculty Against Sexual Harassment Initiatives and Sensitivity Training” - or FASHIST. I’m the founder of the new group. And the reason I’ve chosen the...

When I was a kid, rumor had it that “antidisestablishmentarianism” was the longest word in the English language. I actually looked it up once, and discovered it had something to do with the status of the Church of England — which sort of took the fun out of the word. But in college, I decided I liked the idea of defending the establishment against those who sought to disestablish it. Well, I’m older now, and have consorted a bit with various establishments. To know them is not to love them. I’m now a disestablishmentarian. I’ve come to believe that, to...

DAYTON, Ohio - Escalating its efforts to portray Senator Barack Obama as a candidate whose values fall outside the mainstream, the campaign of Senator John McCain on Tuesday unveiled a new television advertisement claiming that Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, favors “comprehensive sex education” for kindergarten students. “Learning about sex before learning to read?” the narrator asks in the 30-second advertisement, which the campaign says will be shown in battleground states and on national cable. The commercial also asserts that a sex-education bill introduced in Illinois, which Mr. Obama did not sponsor and which never became law, is his “one...

QUEERLY BELOVED California bans 'brides,' 'grooms' License rejected for couple seeking traditional marriage Posted: September 08, 2008 9:05 pm Eastern By Chelsea Schilling © 2008 WorldNetDaily ROSEVILLE, Calif. – "Brides" and "grooms" are no longer allowed to marry in the State of California. That privilege is only extended to individuals who allow themselves to be called "Party A" and "Party B" on marriage licenses. Pastor Doug Bird of Abundant Life Fellowship in Roseville, Calif., was alarmed to find the state now rejects the traditional terms after he officiated his first marriage ceremony last week following the California Supreme Court decision...

When William Bolthouse, a California philanthropist, donated $100,000 in March to support a proposition to ban gay marriage in California, calls and emails poured in -- not to Mr. Bolthouse, but to the corporate offices of a company that bears his name -- even though he sold it three years earlier. "It wasn't us, it's not our fault," says Jeffrey Dunn, now the chief executive of Bolthouse Farms, whose juice bottles are sold at upscale markets such as Whole Foods. Bolthouse Farms is the latest target in what has become an increasingly bitter political fight in California. As gay-rights activists...

What 'culture war'? At the conventions, they'll try to stir up red-blue divisions. But most Americans hold un-partisan views. By Dick Meyer August 27, 2008 As the nation's attention reluctantly turns to the political parties' conventions, with their scripted suspense and stage-managed sentiment, it is important to keep in mind that these are phony representations of American political life. But the slick video profiles, the teary appearance of a beloved party elder -- these are not what is most phony about the conventions. This gathering of America's civic tribes -- and the reporters who love them -- in separate cities...

When school starts in the fall, many college students will be paying exorbitant tuition to universities that offer a silver platter of worthless courses: classes in Marxism, prostitution (Sociology of the Sex Industry is all the rage), “queer theory,” pornography, and rock and rap music. While some of these classes are easy to spot as non-educational, others masquerade under legitimate-sounding names in mainstream academic departments. As an Ohio University senior who has sat through plenty of college junk courses—many of which were required for graduation—I’ve compiled a list classes for incoming freshmen to avoid.

The war on free speech by Islamic fanatics has claimed another victim. This time they did it without killing anyone, staging a riot or even issuing a threat. Fear alone turned out to be enough for Random House to drop plans to publish a novel about a wife of the prophet Muhammad. Probably the only surprising thing about this story was that Random House had, in the first place, signed on to the idea of publishing The Jewel of Medina by journalist Sherry Jones. The deal was inked last year even though the world already had witnessed the murder of...

A Christian publication already cleared by the Canadian Human Rights Commission on claims its reporting on issues involving homosexuality stem from "bigotry, discrimination and hate" will have to defend itself – again – from the same charges. Officials with Catholic Insight have confirmed homosexual activist Rob Wells, whose earlier allegations against the publication were rejected, has appealed to the Federal Court in Canada. "On Aug. 12, Toronto-based Catholic Insight and its editor Father Alphonse de Valk received notification that Wells had filed an appeal … with the Federal Court of Canada. Wells is requesting that the appeal be heard in...

----snip Villanueva was reportedly shooting dice with friends in Henri Bourassa Park in the ethnically-diverse borough when police attempted to make a routine arrest. Montreal police say about 20 youths then surrounded them -- several of them reportedly rushing at police. ----snip Villanueva's death triggered an angry and violent response Sunday night. Vehicles were set on fire and there was widespread looting and violence targeting police and emergency service workers. One police officer was shot in the leg, while another officer and an ambulance technician received minor injuries. The technician was struck in the head with a bottle, said CTV...

Hundreds of riot police chased a group of roving youths early Monday after a night of rioting and vandalism in a North Montreal neighbourhood set off by the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old man over the weekend. The park is in a predominantly Haitian neighbourhood where tensions between police and young people run high, according to residents. "The police are always creeping around here, hassling people," one unidentified youth told CBC News as he stood in front of a looted butcher shop. The violence began after a Sunday afternoon protest at Henri Bourassa Park, the site of Saturday's police...

Hot on the heels of Simple Jack (the fake, controversy-baiting trailer from Tropic Thunder that was eventually yanked) comes the trailer for Teresa: The Making of a Saint, an NC-17 Mother Teresa biopic starring Transformers actress (and parrot lover) Megan Fox. But wait! Could this, too, be a fake trailer, what with its cast made up of Hollywood heavyweights like "Sir Ben Queensly"? Indeed, it's just the latest in Hollywood's brand-new obsession with fake ads for real movies, this one designed to draw buzz for the Vanity Fair-set roman à clef How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, starring Fox...

At a recent writers conference in Southern California, one of my colleagues on a screenwriters panel told the crowd of about 50 people that she hoped Barack Obama would win the presidency. A number of people applauded. When it was my turn to speak, I politely said that I disagreed with her politics and moved on to other topics. There was no applause for me, but several writers approached me afterward. Each dropped his voice to a whisper and, looking around to make sure no one would overhear, said, "Thank you for saying that." Which raises a question for all...

On Sunday, July 27, 2008 a man named Jim David Adkisson walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, killed two worshipers, and wounded seven before being subdued by church-goers. At first, the story seemed like another case of a disturbed individual wanting to create mayhem for no particular rhyme or reason. These types of occurrences have almost become commonplace in our society. From attacks in schools, churches, and the workplace, it is evident in today's culture that no place is safe from those who seek fame by killing their fellow man. However, the Knoxville, Tennessee shooting, from...

The fatal shootings of a father and two sons in San Francisco's Excelsior district June 22 were not road-rage killings and instead were motivated by the killer's belief that his targets were in a rival gang, the head of the police homicide unit said Monday. "We know it is gang related," Lt. Mike Stasko told the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee. Stasko said the victims, Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were attacked because of their appearance. "Apparently, the people in the car were similar to Hispanic males, and they were targeted because of...

Racial slur? So what! Two police officers say black chief didn't care BY JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sunday, July 27th 2008, 11:11 PM Pace for News Cops Shelron Smikle (l.), 28, and Blanch O’Neal, 38, pictured here at their lawyer’s office, plan to sue NYPD. Cairo for News The cops say when Assistant Chief Gerald Nelson (above) found out they had lodged a complaint about a black sergeant’s N-word-laced rant, Nelson repeated the N-word. Two black cops who reported a boss for using a racial slur say they were viciously chewed out by an African-American chief in the...

You must be nicer to Muslims, Britain is told by UN human rights chiefs By Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 8:34 AM on 25th July 2008 Britain was told yesterday by a United Nations committee to take firm action to combat 'negative public attitudes' towards Muslims. The nine-member human rights committee also criticised some of the UK's antiterror measures. The body, which is composed of legal experts, said it was concerned ' negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society' continued to develop in Britain. Be nice: Britain has been told to take firm action and combat negative public...

Ithaca, N.Y. — The Best Of Everything? By REBECCA JAMES   The Commons is a popular gathering place in downtown Ithaca, N.Y. (Photo by Gloria Wright)     ITHACA, N.Y. — When your town has made more than 25 lists that call it one of the best cities in America, you might be surprised that one magazine would call it one of the "Twelve Great Places You've Never Heard Of."But along with that 2006 designation from Mother Earth News, Ithaca seems to make the grade no matter what's being ranked. It's one of the "lesbian friendliest cities," has the "best...

Bureaucrats at the American Physical Society (APS) have issued a curious warning to their members about an article in one of their own publications. Don't read this, they say - we don't agree with it. But what is it about the piece that is so terrible, that like Medusa, it could make men go blind? It's an article that examines the calculation central to climate models. As the editor of the APS's newsletter American Physics Jeffrey Marque explains, the global warming debate must be re-opened. "There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not...

‘Harassed for being a Christian’- the policeman who objected to gay ribbons and is turning to a tribunal Last updated at 01:08am on 20.07.08    A policeman is taking his force to an employment tribunal, claiming that he has been harassed because of his Christian beliefs.Constable Graham Cogman says he has been persecuted since he objected to wearing ribbons to mark a gay event.The controversy echoes the case of Lillian Ladele, the Christian registrar who successfully took on Islington Council in London over her refusal to conduct civil-partnership ceremonies for gay couples.  Making a stand: PC Graham Cogman says...

Do not say black and white Americans live in the same world or you will feel the wrath of Whoopi Goldberg. That is what Elisabeth Hasselbeck discovered on the July 17 edition of "The View." Upon suggesting that, Whoopi reduced Elisabeth to tears. On the news of Jesse Jackson’s use of the "n" word, the conversation quickly developed into the double standard involved between a white and black person’s use of the word. Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg admitted there is a double standard, but added there should be. Sherri Shepherd said she uses the word "as a term of...

None other than the Rev. Al Sharpton has come to Milwaukee. Well, at least his voice is here. Sharpton’s syndicated radio show recently began broadcasting from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays on WMCS-AM (1290). That’s probably welcome news for some in town; for others, not so much. For some Milwaukeeans, Sharpton is part of the unholy trinity — along with Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson — of outspoken black men who never let white America forget its sad racial past. To others, it’s a welcome relief to have a nationally syndicated African-American radio program with a political focus during daytime...

July 11, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Black-Hole SpeechThe will-to-power masquerades as tolerance. By Jonah Goldberg At a recent meeting of city officials in Dallas County, Texas, a small racial brouhaha broke out. County commissioners were hashing out difficulties with the way the central collections office handles traffic tickets. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield found himself guilty of talking while white. He observed that the bureaucracy “has become a black hole� for lost paperwork. Fellow Commissioner John Wiley Price took great offense, shouting, “Excuse me!� That office, the black commissioner explained, has become a “white hole.� Seizing on the outrage, Judge Thomas Jones...

To understand anything, we have to know its history. To understand who stole our culture, we need to take a look at the history of "political correctness." Early Marxist theory Before World War I, Marxist theory said that if Europe ever erupted in war, the working classes in every European country would rise in revolt, overthrow their governments and create a new Communist Europe. But when war broke out in the summer of 1914, that didn't happen. Instead, the workers in every European country lined up by the millions to fight their country's enemies. Finally, in 1917, a Communist revolution...

Yesterday morning, I marveled at the p.c. idiocy of Dallas County (TX) commissioner John Wiley Price, who protested when his colleague Kenneth Mayfield used the term “black hole” to refer to lost paperwork. The local Fox station in Dallas-Fort Worth has the video of the exchange. The ignorance and sanctimony of John Wiley Price are something to behold.

Writing in Human Events, Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer observes that, “[t]hree years after the July 7, 2005, jihad terror attacks in London, the jihad in Britain is stronger than ever. It is not proceeding by means of more terrorism, but by stealth and by the preemptive surrender of all too many British officials.” He explains: The stealth jihad is a deeply-rooted, well-funded and wide-ranging effort to impose Islamic law, Sharia, upon the non-Muslim populations of Western countries. In England, and in America, it sometimes takes the form of an effort to win acceptance for Sharia law by portraying it as...

Barack Obama has published an enemies list and conspiracy web on his presidential campaign website, Fight the Smears.The site lists conservative activists David Bossie, Floyd Brown, Bob Perry, Craig Shirley, Bruce Hawkins and James Lacy.The Obama campaign posted an accompanying graphic that lays out a web of connections between the conservatives, groups they represent and their efforts opposing liberals, including "Swift Boat", "Clinton Impeachment" and "Willie Horton Ad".The text never connects any of those listed to 'smears' against Obama, but instead lists their politcal sins such as working with the Minutemen, Ann Coulter, Gary Aldrich, donating to the Swift Boat...

July 08, 2008, 6:00 a.m. WikipropagandaSpinning green. By Lawrence Solomon Ever wonder how Al Gore, the United Nations, and company continue to get away with their claim of a “scientific consensus� confirming their doomsday view of global warming? Look no farther than Wikipedia for a stunning example of how the global-warming propaganda machine works. As you (or your kids) probably know, Wikipedia is now the most widely used and influential reference source on the Internet and therefore in the world, with more than 50 million unique visitors a month. In theory Wikipedia is a “people’s encyclopedia� written and edited...

Boris Johnson urged people to walk away if they see a crime committed rather than risk their own lives. The London mayor admitted he would tell his own children to "look after themselves" rather than play Good Samaritan to a victim. "Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people, and we must all work as hard as we can to reverse this dreadful trend."

Cheuvront granted a motion by defense attorneys barring the use of the words rape, sexual assault, victim, assailant, and sexual assault kit from the trial of Pamir Safi—accused of raping Tory Bowen in October 2004.

 Human rights complaint over comic's lesbian remarksUpdated Thu. Jun. 26 2008 11:13 PM ETCTV.ca News StaffA Toronto comedian facing a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing says offensive comments he made to two Vancouver lesbians were simply an attempt to stop them from heckling him on stage."I don't hate anybody based on their sexual orientation, or whatever, but I do hate hecklers and sometimes I get a little vehement," Guy Earle says in a radio interview posted on YouTube.Earle said he was hosting a weekly open-mic night in a restaurant on March 22, 2007 when the two women moved up...

On Oct. 6 at its National Convention in Seattle, the Society of Professional Journalists passed a resolution urging members and fellow journalists to take steps against racial profiling in their coverage of the war on terrorism...

There's a splendid controversy brewing at the University of Chicago--at least we'll consider it splendid so long as it has a happy ending, which now seems likely. The U of C may be best known these days as home to the law school where Barack Obama used to lecture on constitutional law (twice a week!), but in simpler times it was most famous as the academic perch of the great free-market economist Milton Friedman, who died in 2006. So when a prestigious university wants to name a research center after its most celebrated (Nobel prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, etc.,...

Council bans brainstorming By Nick Allen Last Updated: 2:06PM BST 20/06/2008   A council has banned the term "brainstorming" and replaced it with "thought showers". Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent was accused of taking political correctness to extremes after instructing staff to make the change.The move came as council chiefs feared the word brainstorming might offend mentally ill people and those with epilepsy.The buzz term is often used by executives to generate ideas among their staff. But memos have been sent to staff asking them not to use it and some have been given training which encouraged them...

   Cleaning Out The Carpetbaggers June 19, 2008 Nothing keeps a writer on his game like a good reader. In response to a recent article of mine I received an email from Bill, a reader, who asked, “Tell me what can be done, aside from outright militant revolution (as recommended by some of our forefathers) by the ones that truly love this country. Talk is cheap. Please advise.” In general, Bill was asking what a lone and caring citizen can do to alter this great nation’s present course into the loony bin and keep America as a “shining city upon a hill”. Although...

Partner: Emma Beal was reported to earn £96,000 as Ken Livingstone's administration manager   Job scrapped: Anni Marjoram, whose title was 'women's adviser'  Out: from left to right, planning chief Eleanor Young, creative industries adviser Emma St Giles, and events adviser Jude Woodward     Ken's partner axed as Boris Johnson purges City Hall 'wimmin'Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor 18.06.08 Boris Johnson continued his City Hall clear-out today as five senior staff known as "Ken's wimmin" lost their jobs. Ken Livingstone's partner Emma Beal, who was employed by the ex-Mayor as his "administration manager", was the most high profile...

When you search Google for gay, you will see special rainbow colors next to the AdWords ads to the right side. Rainbow colors are a globally recognized gay symbol and there’s Pride Week coming up. On a related note, Google also sometimes dresses up AdWords for holidays, and they’ve also had their own wagons at gay parades before. Within Google, gay employees call themselves “gayglers.”

Where does all this stuff that you�ve heard about this morning � the victim feminism, the gay rights movement, the invented statistics, the rewritten history, the lies, the demands, all the rest of it � where does it come from? For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic. We have seen other countries, particularly in this century, where this has been...

Political correctness began as a reasonable adjustment of manners, but as an ideology, it corrupts language and dulls thought.

Usually, when a journalist is censored in a Western nation, American news organizations respond with collective outrage. But as a major attack on press freedom unfolds in Canada, America’s mainstream media are silent. Neither the TV networks nor the major newspapers have reported on hearings last week at what amounts to a Stalinesque show trial in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mark Steyn, a Canadian journalist who now lives in New Hampshire and whose column appears in National Review magazine as well as several U.S. and Canadian newspapers, is facing charges before British Columbia’s Human Rights Tribunal. His crime? Spreading “hatred.” The...