Free Republic

WASHINGTON — After I interviewed Nancy Pelosi a few weeks ago, The HuffPost huffed that we were Dreaded Elites because we were eating chocolates and — horror of horrors — the speaker had on some good pumps. Then this week, lefty Twitter erected a digital guillotine because I had a book party for my friend Carl Hulse, The Times’s authority on Capitol Hill for decades, attended by family, journalists, Hill denizens and a smattering of lawmakers, including Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Susan Collins. I, the daughter of a D.C. cop, and Carl, the son of an Illinois plumber, were hilariously...

Jennifer, a member of the evangelical community in Kentucky, shared her testimonial as a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation(FGM) earlier this week. Jennifer is a white, Christian, American – not the usual face of an issue that is often framed as a faraway cultural practice restricted to rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa. When I read Jennifer’s story about how her Christian mother subjected her to FGM to protect her purity and chastity, I had flashbacks to when I had been in the same position. I was visiting an aunt in India over the summer when I was seven years old....

In light of the flood of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the left’s extreme reaction to Vice President Pence’s personal morality guidelines now seems even more absurd. Mothers and fathers of America, who would you rather have your daughters work for, Weinstein or Pence? Young ladies of America, for whom would you rather work and with whom would you feel safer, Weinstein or Pence? According to a Washington Post article, “In 2002, Mike Pence told The Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won't attend events featuring alcohol without her by his...

<p>This opinion piece is by the Rev. Ruth Everhart, a pastor and the author of two spiritual memoirs.</p> <p>Church culture tends to be fixated on sexual purity year-round, but during Advent, I'm tempted to blame it on the Virgin Mary. After all, she set an impossibly high bar. Now the rest of us are stuck trying to be both a virgin and a mother at the same time. It does not seem to matter that this is biologically impossible. Can you at least try?</p>

Purity of Heart is Needed to See God By: Msgr. Charles PopeI have mentioned here before that my mentor and teacher, Fr. Francis Martin, once asked, “Do you know what is the biggest obstacle for us in understanding the Word of God?” I was expecting him to answer his own question by saying something like, “We don’t know enough Greek,” or “We haven’t studied the historical critical method carefully enough.” But he looked around the room and then said, “The biggest obstacle we have to understanding the Word of God is our sin.”He went on to encourage us in the discipline of study...

Sober Scriptural Wisdom on Avoiding the Whirlwind of Lust By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere is a marvelous chapter in the Book of Proverbs that ought to be studied by every young person who must live in this lustful world. Its sets forth plainly the stance that any son or daughter of God should have regarding the lust so often celebrated by this age.Many preachers and teachers wince at the Book of Proverbs on this topic since it tends to portray seduction and lust as coming from women.However it must be recalled that Proverbs features a father speaking to his son....

24 Quotes About Purity That Every Young (& Old) Catholic Should Know   By John Ritchie     Impurity is plastered everywhere today: Movies, TV, billboards, music, entertainment, books, and magazines. We must fight back.  To that end the following collection of quotes -- many of which are authored by Doctors of the Church -- will provide you with the support and encouragement you need to stand your ground and fight for purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." -- Matthew 5:8   “Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so...

NEW ORLEANS — Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned Friday that ideological purity is the “enemy of victory” and that the GOP must broaden the Republican coalition to win elections and to enact conservative policies that will change the direction of the nation. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/30/haley-barbour-ideological-purity-enemy-victory/#ixzz33Ev66fxo Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) This classic verse on the filling of the Holy Spirit can be rendered as follows: “And don’t begin to be drunk with wine, which involves profligacy, but be continually being filled with the Spirit.” That is, one cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit (which implies complete control by the Holy Spirit) if he has come to even the slightest degree under the control of wine (or anything else, for that matter). Being fully controlled and guided by the Spirit is not just...

I thought this comment by my wife on facebook, was a valuable contribution to the "Sexual Atheism" article posted yesterday.She was attacking false views of the Love of God,,, HEY! God LOVES you, man .... Of course He does!!! It's His duty to love me. Why, isn't that His job? Many young people today, who call themselves christians, believe this and even act as if He owes them something. Too often, the thinking is 'God revolves around us''...This is such a wrong view of God; He is God ~ He is the center. The truth is we must revolve around...

“I call on every man in the Diocese of Arlington to search his heart and renew his commitment to purity. I call on every husband and father to renew his sacred commitment to his wife and children.” - Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde ARLINGTON, VA, March 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The growth of pornography use, particularly on the internet, is “a matter of utmost urgency for every son and father today,” Bishop Paul Loverde of the Catholic diocese of Arlington, Virginia said in a letter to his flock released this week. Titled “Bought with a Price: Every Man’s Duty to Protect...

Hey, gals, want to avoid being raped? Put away that Lady Smith 38. No need for pepper spray. Self-defense classes? Not necessary. The solution is simple. The best defense against rape is to just cast away your "deeply troubling" Christianity and become a secularist slut. So goes the advice of one Katie McDonough, Salon.com assistant editor, fertile fount of millennial wisdom and – well – and whatever else. In an article published at Salon Feb. 20 titled, "The right's warped 'purity' culture: 4 ways evangelical views of sex took over America," Ms. McDonough provides an unvarnished glimpse into the profligate...

The Republican National Committee’s internal evaluators argued that true conservatism loses the Republican Party elections in a new report released Monday. The evaluators were charged by chairman Reince Priebus with helping the GOP reach a larger voter base. A copy of their report was obtained by Breitbart News. On page 54 of the report, authors Henry Barbour, Sally Bradshaw, Ari Fleischer, Zori Fonalledas and Glenn McCall argue that true conservatism hurts the Republican Party in elections. “Third-party groups that promote purity are hurting our electoral prospects,” they wrote. That entire section was based on quotes from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough...

In the beginning, [Club for Growth] targeted liberal Republicans ..., but it now extends to politicians like Lugar, Capito, Saxby Chambliss and even ... Speaker Boehner, who [normally] would be considered conservative. The Club and its allies see themselves as “insurgents” against a Republican “establishment” ... Republicans, Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in National Review, have to [be] “the party of middle-class economic interests.” “It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes on millionaires a little bit,”... Bill Kristol opined. But the Club and its network blame the Republicans’ and Romney’s defeat on their not being conservative enough. “The first lesson”...

This is a similar interview to the one with Rick Santorum, with similar questions but different answers, of course. But given the template that Mark used, it’ll be interesting to compare and contrast. I will note that as a response to Romney’s comment that he’s “severely conservative”, Newt says that Romney is “severely non-factual”. Nice. Here’s the full interview:

....Asked about the legalization of online gambling, Santorum responds: "I’m someone who takes the opinion that gaming is not something that is beneficial, particularly having that access on the Internet. Just as we’ve seen from a lot of other things that are vices on the Internet, they end to grow exponentially as a result of that. It’s one thing to come to Las Vegas and do gaming and participate in the shows and that kind of thing as entertainment, it’s another thing to sit in your home and have access to that it. I think it would be dangerous to...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s big mega-donor kicked up a controversy over the issue of contraception today when he urged a return to the good old days when gals had a simple solution for it: aspirin between the knees. We’re not kidding. Wealthy entreprenuer Foster Freiss, who’s backed Santorum’s Super-PAC, made the statements to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell today, after being asked if his candidate has expressed some extremist views on contraception. He appeared to express wonder that women even have to worry about the issue of paying for contraception these days, Politico reports. “On this contraceptive thing, my Gosh it’s...

In an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC Thursday, billionaire Santorum backer Foster Friess said that debates over the candidate's personal objections to contraception are overblown, adding that, in his day, "gals" used aspirin as birth control.

Gail Harville supports GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann because she wants a candidate who can debate President Obama “and beat him.” Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., talks during the book-signing event for her book "Core of Conviction" Saturday in Aiken, S.C. Advertisement No, that’s not enough, said her husband, Bill, adding, “someone who will shred him!” The North Augusta couple were among about four dozen fans, activists and skeptics who turned out for the Minnesota congresswoman’s book signing at Books-A-Million in Aiken on Saturday morning. A handful hoped to see a ticket that combines Bachmann and former House...

Rick Perry says a lot of things that don't make sense. Calling Social Security a failure defies the experience of countless elderly Americans. Deriding climate change and evolution contradicts overwhelming scientific evidence. Flubbing a question about nuclear weapons in "the Pakistani country" evokes painful memories of Sarah Palin. He's just lucky Tina Fey cannot play him on TV. (Alec Baldwin can, however.) But on at least one issue, Perry gets it right: immigration. He's justifiably proud of signing a Texas law that grants in-state college tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants attending state schools. As the governor argued recently...