Free Republic

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.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was served with papers yesterday connected with the lawsuit filed more than two weeks ago in federal court in Philadelphia questioning his constitutional eligibility for the American presidency. Service was made at his Washington, D.C. Senate office at approximately 1:00 p.m. From a press release provided by filing attorney Philip Berg and available on his Web site: Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s eligibility to serve as President of the United States, has received confirmation from his Process Service Company that the Democratic National Committee (DNC)...

An aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb was found dead alongside a Botetourt County road yesterday, according to a Richmond newspaper. Frederick Wayne Hutchins Jr., 26, apparently had been shot once in the head and a gun was found under his body, the Richmond Times Dispatch was reporting. The body was discovered outside his vehicle on an embankment on U.S. 220 near Fincastle.

Free speech obviously does not rank very high on the list of human rights for this group. From Israel Matzav: The UN 'Human Rights Council' decided this week that it is forbidden to criticize Islam because "religious issues can be "very complex, very sensitive and very intense...This council is not prepared to discuss religious matters in depth, consequently we should not do it." From now on, only religious scholars would be permitted to broach 'religious matters' before the Council.

Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past. Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves. The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships. Scientists have previously demonstrated devices that cloak objects from microwaves, making them "invisible". "The mathematics behind cloaking has been known for several years," said Professor John Pendry of Imperial College London, UK, an expert in cloaking. "What hasn't been...

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge on Thursday barred school districts statewide from holding the daily moment of silence suitable for prayer that is required under state law. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman said he had given school districts time to object to his March 28 preliminary injunction on enforcement of the moment of silence law but received no objections. He therefore extended to the entire state the preliminary injunction originally designed to apply only to suburban Buffalo Grove District 214. The law passed by the Illinois General Assembly says every school district in the state must hold a...

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. "Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had...

Eerie silence in empty Mogadishu By Mark Doyle BBC News world affairs correspondent, Mogadishu The streets north of the ruins of the Old Parliament in Mogadishu stretch out like alleyways bulldozed through a rubble dump.Mogadishu has been been devastated by years of war Parts of some of the buildings are still standing - a wall here, a section of collapsed roof there. But the overall impression in this part of the Somali capital is one of massive destruction. I did not see a single house there without shell damage or bullet holes. However, the really frightening part of it was...

Click Your Pick Does Illinois need a "moment of silence" in schools? Yes 58.1% No 41.9% Total votes: 4057

Nietzsche once trenchantly quipped that “...our modern noisy, time-consuming industriousness, proud of itself, stupidly proud, educates and prepares people more than anything else does, precisely for unbelief.”The truth in that statement is perhaps never more on display than during the Christmas season. Slogans urging us to “keep Christ in Christmas,” or “recall the reason for the season,” sound about as hollow as the Christmas jingles that reverberate in our ears every time we enter a store. Those in search of an antidote might consider watching the newly released DVD Into Great Silence, Philip Groening’s movingly observed study of the daily...

Do you think the "moment of silence" law for Illinois schools is unconstitutional? Yes 44.1% No 55.9% Total votes: 3282 Enforcing moment of silence blocked Lawyer: All school districts may be added to lawsuit By CARLA JOHNSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published Friday, November 16, 2007 CHICAGO - An atheist talk show host's attorney said Thursday he may try to add all Illinois school districts as defendants in a lawsuit challenging a mandatory moment of silence in classrooms. Suing all 871 districts may be the best way to get a clear answer about the new state law's constitutionality, attorney Gregory Kulis...

Judge bans moment of silence in suburban districtBy Jeff Coen | Tribune staff reporter 6:15 PM CST, November 14, 2007 A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction barring a suburban school district from implementing the state's new law mandating a moment of silence at the start of classes, calling the statute too vague and "likely unconstitutional." U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman made the decision at a hearing on a lawsuit brought by local atheist activist Rob Sherman over issues related to the separation of church and state. Sherman sued Township High School District 214, in which his daughter is...

When Alexander Zaitsev presented his recent paper at the International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad (India) recently, he spoke from the center of a widening controversy. The question is straightforward: Should we broadcast messages intentionally designed to be received by extraterrestrial civilizations, thereby notifying them of our existence? Zaitzev, chief scientist at the Russian Academy of Science’s Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, addressed the question by seeing a necessary relationship between SETI (the search for ETI) and METI (messaging to other civilizations). Indeed, the Russian scientist, working at the Evpatoria Deep Space Center in the Ukraine, has the experience to...

A Texas family is suing Gov. Rick Perry and a school district over a state-mandated moment of silence in schools, according to The Dallas Morning News. David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, of Carrollton, Texas, have three children at Rosemeade Elementary and argue that the moment of silence is unconstitutional and amounts to state-sanctioned school prayer.

IN THE ARGUMENTS AND TRIALS OF LIFE, THE POWERFUL ROUTE IS OFTEN WAY OF SILENCEThe best thing about being right, when you are right, is that you can be quiet about it. You don't have to say a thing. The truth lets itself be known. Remember this in the discourses of life.God will send events to defend you.Arguing rarely solves anything, and stokes the power of the enemy.Are there times we have to speak up? Are there occasions that we have to talk in our own defense? Are there times we have to be firm?Of course. There are times we...

Want a laugh. This the funniest video I have seen in years.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QXQFTEBqNE

Nationwide Pro-Family Coalition Warns Parents to Keep their Children Home from School on 'Gay' Day of Silence, April 18th.

The first column in this series was published on March 2. It prompted feedback from a number of American truckers. For example: "The number of 100 carriers (to be permitted to truck throughout the U.S. under the Bush plan) is a distraction from the real fact that there is no limit on the number of Mexican trucks that will be allowed in." "A Mexican truck driver is not paid as much as an American driver. Sometimes as little as $0.10/mile. An experienced American driver makes an average of $0.34/mile." "The big push is to get the guest worker bill enacted....

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If you accept the maxim that the Catholic Church thinks in terms of centuries, then documentary filmmaker Philip Groning's dealings with a Carthusian monastery in France moved at lightning speed. Groning first approached the monks in 1984 with the idea of filming a documentary about their life in community. He got a reply saying the request had come "too early," and that perhaps in "10 or 13 years" the monastery would be ready. Eventually, 16 years would pass before Groning got word that the monks were ready to discuss the possibility. "The question I asked myself...

Our weak border President continues his mission to make America more like Mexico when on Thursday, February 23, the administration announced details of a plan to permit 100 Mexican trucking companies to travel freely in the U.S. For the sake of contrarians, let's assume this is a good thing in that trucker's making a quarter of the hourly wage of American drivers will help reduce the cost of goods crossing the border. Additionally, foreign trucking companies will be able to squeeze five to ten more years of road life out of their fleets, thus reducing overhead and capital investment. And...

A teacher was sacked in Italy yesterday after cutting a seven-year-old boy's tongue with a pair of scissors to silence him during a lesson.The unnamed 22-year-old substitute teacher was asked to keep control of the class at a school in Milan for a few minutes. She is alleged to have held a pair of scissors in front of Walid Dhaouadi, a Tunisian, and to have said: "Stick your tongue out so I can cut it. That way you will stop talking." Although she later claimed it was a "game" and allegedly asked the pupil not to tell his parents, the...

"...chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp...."

In the Towers of Silence, an ancient ritual of death comes under threat By Peter Foster in New Delhi (Filed: 12/09/2006) The viability of the centuries-old Zoroastrian custom of allowing vultures to consume the corpses of its devotees has been called into question after a relative of one of the dead discovered piles of rotting bodies lying almost untouched by the birds. Dhun Baria, a member of Bombay's Zoroastrian community, known as Parsis, was shocked to be told that the body of her mother had lain untouched for nine months after she was laid to rest at the Towers of...

The Arab world's silence has left the last word to those we call extremists While Israel receives unanimous western support, this crisis is dragging the region ever faster into the abyss Alain Gresh Tuesday August 22, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Killers slaughter dozens of civilians in Iraq every day just because they are Sunni Muslims. Suicide attacks are increasingly common in Afghanistan, where they used to be unknown. On the Gaza Strip, 1.5 million Palestinians are caught in a trap, hemmed in by the Israeli offensive and the decision by the US and the EU to freeze all direct aid....

Silence for security forces at the crossroads of terror By Isambard Wilkinson in Bahawalpur (Filed: 19/08/2006) If there is a crossroads of terror in Pakistan, it must be the town of Bahawalpur in southern Punjab. Home of at least one known terrorist organisation and several radical madrassas, or religious schools, Bahawalpur has became a focus for investigations in Pakistan following the foiling of an alleged plot to blow up aircraft flying across the Atlantic. Normally the local people might take pride in the actions of the jihadists. Only last month the relatives of one of the London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer,...

N. Korea blocked radio signals 2 days before missile launch: report (Kyodo) _ North Korea had blocked part of military radio and changed electronic signals two days before it test-fired the Taepodong-2 long-range missile, leading Japan and the United States to raise alert level early, the Sankei Shimbun reported Saturday in its online edition. On Tuesday, a day before the launch, North Korea also cordoned off a triangular area in the Sea of Japan, a move Japan and the United States took as signs of an imminent missile firing, the report said. Citing several intelligence sources in Japan and the...

World watches in silence as Azerbaijan wipes out Armenian cultureWestern governments have failed to condemn the destruction of a unique medieval cemetery by Azerbaijani soldiers By Lucian Harris | Posted 25 May 2006 Armenia says the Christian cemetery of Jugha, dating from the ninth to 16th centuries, has been completely destroyed by Azerbaijani soldiers. LONDON. A delegation of European members of Parliament was last month refused access to Djulfa, in the Nakhichevan region of Azerbaijan, to investigate reports that an ancient Armenian Christian cemetery has been destroyed by Azerbaijani soldiers. The delegation of ten MEPs from the commission on EU-Armenia...

Silenced Trappist struggled with obedience while trying to lead the church on peace By Father Robert Nugent5/7/2006 America (www.americamagazine.org)NEW YORK (America) - Thomas Merton spent almost half his life in the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. Strict silence was an integral part of the Trappist way of life when he entered in 1941. Merton took readily to the rule of strict silence, but circumvented it when necessary. By the mid-1960’s the Second Vatican Council’s renewal of religious life reached even contemplative orders, relaxing the rigorous observance of silence. During that time, Merton experienced a...

Abdul Rahman is a man of faith. "I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian," he declared this week. Unfortunately for Rahman, he was originally born a Muslim in Afghanistan – and he has been forced to defend his religious conversion in his home country's court, where he now faces the death penalty for turning to Jesus. Despite the defeat of the totalitarian Taliban and the existence of a U.S.-backed "moderate" democratic government, it is a capital crime for Afghans to openly embrace any religion other than Islam. Shariah law, embedded in the...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch toxicologist confirmed Monday that he found traces of a non-prescribed drug in a blood sample taken from former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic earlier this year. Donald Uges said he was asked to examine the sample after Milosevic's blood pressure failed to respond to medication given by doctors at the U.N. detention center...Uges said he found traces of rifampicin, a drug that could have reduced the effectiveness of his other medications...[snip] ...Tomanovic said Milosevic was "seriously concerned" he was being poisoned...He cited a Jan. 12 Dutch medical report which showed traces of medication used against...

POPE URGES SILENT, CONTEMPLATIVE PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS Vatican , Dec. 19 (CWNews.com) - Christians should prepare for Christmas with silent recollection, to protect themselves from excesses of commercialism, Pope Benedict XVI told a public audience on December 18. "During this period of preparation for Christmas, let us cultivate interior meditation, in order to welcome and safeguard Jesus in our lives," the Holy Father said at his Sunday Angelus audience. He called attention to the example set by St. Joseph, who maintained an interior silence "interwoven with constant prayer" as he awaited the birth of Jesus. "Let us allow ourselves to...

Terri Schiavo would be 42 today, if she had not been dehydrated to death per court order. Instead of the happy squeals and vocalizations the brain-damaged woman was known to utter, the deafening silence of loss haunts her loved ones on this anniversary of her birth. Many Americans prefer the silence. The very mention of the name, "Terri Schiavo," elicits groans from those "burned out" on what they view as simply an overblown news story. "I do not understand why you keep pumping the glory of her death," wrote one WND reader in response to continuing coverage of the familial...

by Bishop Paul S. Loverde Other Articles by Bishop Paul S. Loverde Turn Down the Static at Mass 12/1/05 As of this past Sunday, we have embarked together on a new liturgical year. So we might ask ourselves: What goals are we setting for ourselves spiritually? What will we do differently during this liturgical year which might draw us closer in friendship to our Lord? What practices might we deepen? We need not necessarily set "new" spiritual goals for this coming year. Our goals need not be far-flung. Rather than speak of "new" goals, we might then view it as a...

Woodward Explains Silence in Leak Case Tuesday November 22, 2005 1:01 AM WASHINGTON (AP) - Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward dismissed claims that he should have revealed his role in the CIA leak case when he discussed the investigation on news interview shows. The Post's ombudsman, Deborah Howell wrote in Sunday's editions that Woodward erred by publicly commenting on the case on CNN's ``Larry King Live'' and on National Public Radio without mentioning that a top Bush administration official had told him the name of a covert CIA officer. However, Woodward told Larry King on the program Monday night: ``Every...

Today's celebrities are well aware of their responsibilities as role models but can well do without public interference in their private lives. As tennis star Sania Mirza says, “As long as I'm winning, people shouldn't care whether my skirt is six inches long or six feet long.” Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Wednesday, Sania said, “How I dress is a very personal thing.” Wearing a long-sleeved black-and-white shirt with conservative black pants, she was speaking out in public for the first time since a cleric issued a fatwa against the way she dressed on court. Sania, who...

MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 14, 2005) – Two insurgent mortar teams were captured near Baqubah and 76 other suspected terrorists were detained in northern Iraq this past week. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 76 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Nov. 9-14. Iraqi Police along with Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 24 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized AK-47s during separate operations in Tal Afar Nov. 10-11. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division detained 15 individuals...

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution began hearings on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (UCPAA). The legislation would require abortion providers to tell women who come to them for late-term abortions that the fetus might feel pain and that the woman has a right to ask that the fetus be anaesthetized for the procedure. Although evidence suggests that the unborn child feels pain by the age of 20 weeks (if not sooner), abortionists are not required to provide women with the information that the fetus might suffer pain during an abortion procedure, pain which could be eliminated...

Where is the sane moderate peace loving Muslim world? Why is its voice so rarely raised in condemnation of Islamist atrocities? It is a question which has been raised in ever increasing urgency since 9/11 and not only by Westerners. A few Muslim commentators have raised it too, but they remained the exception rather than the rule. Last time I raised the issue, it was in the context of a number of cased involving the charge of “insulting Islam,” a charge which led to anti-Coptic riots as well as to the imprisoning a 78-year old Iranian Ayatolla and an Afghani...

Arab States Silent on Iran's Remarks By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago CAIRO, Egypt - Arab governments remained silent Thursday as international condemnation grew over a call by Iran's new president for Israel to be destroyed. Despite the silence, analysts in the region said Tehran's Arab rivals may quietly be pleased to see the radical regime further isolated by its extremism. However, some Palestinians — who would have the task of destroying Israel according to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — rejected the remarks. "We have recognized the state of Israel and we are pursuing a peace...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Entering a fight over union rights that could have national implications, Sen. John Kerry warned Thursday that a ballot initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could tip the balance of democracy by muzzling the voice of working people. Proposition 75 would force public employee unions, such as those representing teachers, firefighters and prison guards, to seek written permission from members before using dues for political purposes. Kerry, speaking outside a downtown firehouse, said the initiative would condemn workers to "a completely unfair system." The proposal "represents part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to...

SIMI VALLEY – A man annoyed by a noisy car alarm fired at least three bullets into a Toyota Camry, silencing the alarm and bringing out police who hauled him away in handcuffs, authorities said. David Owen Rye, 48, was arrested and booked for investigation of reckless discharge of a firearm and felony vandalism, Sgt. John Adamczyk said. Rye allegedly told officers he grabbed his handgun and went out to put a stop to the car alarm. The owner of the Camry, a sailor whose ship the USS Theodore Roosevelt just returned from an eight-month cruise, was visiting a friend...

CNSNews.com) -- A conservative advocacy group says it will not be intimidated by pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin's office. Move America Forward, a group that supports the U.S. military and wants to eject the United Nations from the United States, is currently running broadcast ads criticizing Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, for comparing U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or mad regimes like Pol Pot's. "But these aren't the faces of torturers, the ad says: "They're the heroic men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. They're our sons and daughters fighting for the cause of...

Complaints about the U.S. military's treatment of terrorists at Guantanamo Bay were once again featured on all three broadcast network evening newscasts Wednesday. Full stories on ABC, CBS and NBC cast the military on the defensive at congressional hearings. CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer — who has likened Guantanamo to the "Hanoi Hilton," the infamous North Vietnamese prison camp — grumped that "Congress asked a lot of questions today" about Guantanamo, but "the problem is, they didn't get many answers." ABC followed up its story on yesterday's hearings with a second full report by ABC's Terry Moran, who zeroed...

Each of us is stimulated every day by a variety of persons and things. Everything from smells, tastes, sounds and touches to images, pictures, words, written and spoken, can affect us. By any of them we can be aroused in one or a number of ways and the activity of body or mind, or parts thereof, can be heightened or increased. We are “wired” in such a way that external stimuli, or even internal stimuli (from memory or imagination), affect us in many ways, and perhaps when we do not realize this is so. We are all aware that we...

/begin my translationChina, "A Pressure Cooker Which Can Blow Up Anytime"Seven Oppressions in China: an Analysis by Asia Weekly Ji Hae-bum hbjee@chosun.com  04/26/05  Chinese society  is like a 'pressure cooker' with its safety lid tightly closed. recent anti-Japanese protest served as a way to relieving pressure from 7 oppressions by (Chinese) authorities.  The latest (May 1st) issue of 'The Asia Weekly' in Hong Kong assessed, "For last 15 years, under the slogan, ' Stability is above everything else,' China repressed the freedom of public assembly, which was guaranteed in their constitution, thus closing the channel for expressing discontent and frustration. (Recent) Anti-Japanese protest  is...

(South Windsor-WTNH, Apr. 15, 2005 10:55 PM) _ Some students in South Windsor don't agree with gay marriage and they sported t-shirts showing others how they feel. But when they wore those shirts to school, the trouble really started. by News Channel 8's Bob Wilson Because of their religious convictions they believe gay marriage is wrong. So four students at the South Windsor High School wore t-shirts saying "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." "We wore them to protest a gay straight alliance rally that they had on Tuesday where they wore signs," said sophomore David Grimaldi. "They had...

VATICAN staff and clergy involved in the secret election of the next pope swore an oath today not to divulge any information on the proceedings. They swore and signed the oath in the Vatican's Hall of Benedictions in front of Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, who is in charge of the Church during the papal interregnum, and two other clerics. Under conclave rules established by the late Pope John Paul II in 1996, all clergy and lay people involved in auxiliary capacities during the conclave must sign the oath. They include doctors and nurses, technicians, kitchen and cleaning staff, confessors and...

VATICAN CITY - Cardinals began "an intense period of silence and prayer" before their conclave to choose the next pope, saying Saturday they would stop speaking publicly to protect the strict secrecy surrounding the centuries-old tradition. The throngs of pilgrims who attended John Paul II's funeral Friday flowed out of Rome, leaving mainly tourists in a quiet, rainy St. Peter's Square. The Vatican said a decision on calls to put John Paul on a fast track to sainthood would rest with the next pope. Italian Cardinal Francesco Marchisano celebrated the second Mass for John Paul in St. Peter's Basilica, a...

Passing Buck on Schiavo Cheats Public By JOYCE PURNICK Published: March 24, 2005 THE House of Representatives acted quickly over the weekend in the wrenching case of Terri Schiavo, so quickly that maybe those who opposed the special bill allowing the federal courts to take over the case might have missed the Senate's role - conspicuous for its silence. The debate was confined to the House, for nearly four hours late Sunday night and early Monday. In the Senate, home of Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, and, of course, Hillary Rodham Clinton and...

Senator McCain – tear down this wall The good senator from Arizona, the Honorable John McCain who co-sponsored the Campaign Finance Reform bill still doesn’t get it.  Senators McCain and Feingold now want to regulate the Internet, bloggers and e-mail.   McCain started all this. I can’t say if he was misled or pressured to sponsor the bill. Anything is possible, but didn’t everyone know at the outset that finance reform only favors the democrats, and quite frankly, McCain should have known that as well. So the real question is why did he do it? We might also ask why he stated...