Free Republic

I’m an American, California born. It’s true my mother was English and that I was brought up here from early childhood and think myself exceptionally lucky to belong here; I feel as English as I think anyone possibly can. Yet all the same, America is the land of my forebears on my late father’s side. So I have always felt a strong sentimental attachment to the United States. I’ve felt proud of American achievements and generosity, and resented the unthinking antiAmericanism everywhere in Europe, ever since the first child in the playground of my first school shouted at me “Yanks...

Rapper turned fashion mogul P. Diddy, aka Sean Combs, is apoplectic that Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Diddy has decided to film a series of "Diddy-Obama Blogs" where he performs a soliloquy of sorts to Senator John McCain. The latest thing that has set off the rapper is Alaska. Diddy doesn't think there are any blacks in Alaska, and calls his decision to sign on Gov. Sarah Palin as "buggin' the f*** out." "She's a heart beat away...what in the HELL, Alaska?" he says. ...

Biden quoted as saying that Israel will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed "opening a additional military and diplomatic front."

Maybe he was sick of the lack of media attention…maybe he had enough of the late night talk show hosts poking fun at his age…maybe he realized that belonging to a party that has been associated with rich, white men was not going to connect with voters in this historical election year. Or maybe he was just ready to take back some of the spotlight that has shined so brightly on Barack Obama and the Democrats since the beginning of the Democratic convention. Desperation can motivate people to make some pretty cynical and hypocritical decisions. Whatever the reason, John McCain’s...

Professor's Mooning Video Becomes Hit A video posted on YouTube Aug. 2 exposes the ugly side of competitive debate. And the backside of debate coach Bill Shanahan. At the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) quarterfinals last March, the Fort Hays State University assistant professor got into a screaming match with rival coach Shanara Reid-Brinkley from the University of Pittsburgh. The argument devolved into an ugly exchange of profanity and Shanahan pulled down his pants, mooning the audience.

The lure of a $30 trick with a Lowell hooker ended up nearly costing one man more than $60,000 in cash, police said. Jessica Garcia, 30, was released on personal recognizance yesterday after allegations that she agreed to perform oral sex on the drunken john for $30, but then tied him up and ran off with $62,000 in cash he kept in a duffel bag. The man had been drinking cognac for several hours on Saturday night when he hopped on his bicycle, cash in tow, to search for a street walker, police said.....

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush promised Kosovo's visiting president and prime minister Monday he would try to convince more nations to embrace formal diplomatic ties with their young country. "I pledged that the United States would continue to work with those nations that have not recognized an independent Kosovo to convince them to do so as quickly as possible," Bush told reporters. He spoke as he met in his Oval Office with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who were making their first US visit as leaders of an independent Kosovo. "I'm a strong...

While some might be undecided on who to vote for this coming Election Day, for others it’s a no-brainer. Although the news media would like us to believe otherwise, there is still an enormous political gap between the Left and the Right.

A comment about Dallas County's central collection system for tickets ignited a controversy when Judge Thomas Jones claimed Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield's phrase about a "black hole" was racially insensitive. Click on link above to view the video. It's very brief.

WWAQ, we will unleash the cumulative brainpower of the pharmaceutical industry to find that so-far elusive cure for stupid. Damn the FDA, full speed ahead! I’m not thinking of the Jackass kind of stupid (I was sort-of morbidly fascinated by that movie); that kind of idiocy has a way of taking itself out of the gene pool. Nor am I considering the kind of stupid that leads an 18 year old girl to tattoo a sun around her navel (imagine her face when she gets pregnant and her belly goes supernova). The Queens are looking to cure the kind of...

"...Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" only cemented the mystique of Christopher McCandless for Alexander and others heading to Alaska this summer to retrace the steps of the young adventurer along the Stampede Road near Denali National Park. In particular, they want to see the old abandoned bus where the 24-year-old Virginian starved to death in 1992 after more than three months alone trying to live off a harsh landscape. "That's sort of the heart of the story," said Alexander, 44, of Arlington, Va. "It's almost like a Jim Morrison grave site, where people just want to go see it." This...

My 20-month-old nephew loves Elmo and Dora. He also has started making explosion and gunfire noises.     I get the inevitability of little boys' fascination with guns.     What I can't figure out are the men and sometimes women who don't grow out of the gun-crazy stage of childhood, who need to have a handgun on their hips at all times, who need their neighbors to notice.     Ten of them stormed the West Valley City Council meeting last week to back up Travis Deveraux, a 36-year-old credit card company worker, who was detained by police in December while exercising...

In an action that many are saying vaults him into the lead for a vice-presidential nomination on the Democratic ticket, Senator Christopher Dodd (Conn.) argued that the government ought to set limits on the profits businesses can make in order to ensure “fairness.” “It’s not fair that some businesses make a large profit, while others suffer losses,” Dodd asserted. “Government has the power and, I believe, the know-how, to equalize inequitable differentials and establish a happy medium for all. Just because a business is fortunate enough to have low costs or high sales is no reason why it should hog...

A Brooklyn gang used a scam on craigslist.com to shake down New Yorkers with the lure of discounted iPhones, police said yesterday. The scheme - which netted thousands of dollars from as many as 12 victims from all five boroughs finally came undone Wednesday night, when cops set up a sting on a Flatlands street corner and arrested four suspects.

My dear friends at PETA are at it again. I must say, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals certainly spares no expense in pushing its cause. Over the years I’ve received dozens of mailers and packets about how we should be nice to animals and not eat meat. As a certified meat eater, I usually toss them. The latest mailing came in the form of a packet including pages of documentation and a DVD. This one caught my interest because it included 30 reasons to go vegetarian. I thought I would share some of these reasons with you, along...

The media fell all over themselves when Obama spoke in front of AIPAC as he did his best to cozy up to the Jewish community. But the media fails to mention that the liberal wing of the Democrat party is dangerously close to outright anti-Semitism (if not there already). Charles Johnson has detailed this extensively every time someone at Obama-backing Daily Kos (including old "screw them" Kos himself) lets down their guard and lets their true anti-Semitism be seen. Still the Jewish vote goes for whatever Democrat happens to be running. I'm guessing that they feel that a Jewish president...

It is really amazing to watch. You can make money on this: whenever politicians or church leaders glom on to a concept, it’s over. John McCain has fastened on the global warming hoax like a remora. It’s not just bad for the economy, for freedom and for the environment, it’s also incredibly bad timing for “Maverick” John McCain. Holman Jenkins points out in the Wall Street Journal: And yet every journalistic tendril senses that the fuss over warming is about to cool. Global mean temperatures have been flat for a decade. The biofuel folly has chased away any easy belief...

In three major appearances in the last four days, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. offered a full-throated historical defense of black church traditions. But his re-emergence on the national stage has certainly served to provide more sound-bites that already have begun to haunt Senator Barack Obama on the campaign trail. With Senator John McCain’s fresh criticisms of the pastor and Republicans painting him and Mr. Obama as extremist in commercials using snippets of sermons, Mr. Wright, longtime pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, defiantly and passionately argued that such criticisms were attacks on the black church...

A globe-hopping executive was grounded by JetBlue after she threw a hissy fit at Kennedy Airport and triggered a bomb scare aboard a flight, the Daily News has learned. Rosalinda Baez was arrested by the FBI for falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase at JFK, according to a complaint filed last week in Brooklyn Federal Court. Baez, who earns $190,000-a-year and has homes in Manhattan and Texas, was returning from a business trip in Costa Rica last Tuesday when she was blocked by a gate attendant from boarding JetBlue Flight 1061 to Austin, Tex., because the jetway...

Farewell the age of reason, welcome the idiocracy. Only George Orwell could have invented - and named - the government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) that came into operation yesterday. It is the latest in a long line of measures intended to ease the conscience of the rich while keeping the poor miserable, in this case spectacularly so. The consequences of the RTFO have been much trumpeted on these pages. It says enough that one car tank of bio petrol needs as much grain as it takes to feed an African for a year, or that a reported one-third of...

I'm Absolut Swedish but NEVER EVER again will I buy Absolut Vodka and I will, at least, TRY to avoid other products of V&S Group (their repertoire is a pretty broad one though and I kinda party from time to time..), a former Swedish company which recently was sold to French Pernod Ricard (for the sum of €5,626 billion). I've also managed to convince my father and some of my friends to join my initiative and I'll continue to campaign! The background is, of course, the already infamous Absolut Vodka ad with the words "In an Absolut World" slapped over...

Our obsession with global warming causes us to confront a perceived crisis that could explode in 50 years. Meanwhile, we ignore real crises that could explode next week. While reading Don Quixote recently, I realized why this 400-year-old novel remains a classic of Western literature. At the heart of the story line lies an unchanging and always-identifiable quality of human nature: our tendency to be blinded by obsession. Don Quixote is the story of Alonso Quixano, who, enchanted with chivalrous ideals and suffering hallucinations of grandeur, dubs himself Don Quixote de la Mancha before taking up the lance and sword...

6-Year Old Boy Accused of Sexual HarassmentKindergarten student's father fears his son will be stereotyped as a "pervert" Friday, Apr 04, 2008 - 08:05 AM The father says his son brought home a discipline referral that says the child told his teacher that one of his classmates liked looking at her behind. A six-year old boy is accused of sexually harassing a teacher in Greer. The kindergarten student is now facing possible discipline. Malory Pinkney, Sr. says his son came home Tuesday in tears from Skyland Elementary. His father is a minister and says his child has been accused of...

Interviewed Tuesday for Charlie Rose's PBS show, CNN founder Ted Turner argued that inaction on global warming “will be catastrophic” and those who don't die “will be cannibals.” He also applied moral equivalence in describing Iraqi insurgents as “patriots” who simply “don't like us because we've invaded their country” and so “if the Iraqis were in Washington, D.C., we'd be doing the same thing.” On not taking drastic action to correct global warming: Not doing it will be catastrophic. We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will...

Cuba invites bids to develop oil reserves 45 miles off the coast of South Florida that are as large as those in ANWR. So why are the United States and its Navy buying oil from a state sponsor of terror? The Heritage Foundation reports that when U.S. Navy and Marine personnel fill up at their local Navy Base Exchange, they're buying their gasoline from a company owned by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Citgo has a $60-million-a-year contract to supply the Navy Exchange with gas through 2010. The irony is that it's also negotiating a multibillion-dollar, multiyear contract to buy four...

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee. Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width," after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

Cold wave in India attributed to global warming Tuesday, 12 February , 2008, 21:58 Mumbai: The recent cold wave sweeping across Mumbai and other parts of India could be attributed to global warming, experts said on Tuesday here at an environmental conference. Addressing the ‘Combat Global Warming’ conference at the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) here, former Union minister for power and environment Suresh Prabhu said global warming was primarily a problem created and induced by human beings. He said the increase in emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and methane had resulted in the situation, which...

WASHINGTON - The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming. The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn — and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass — become a prized commodity. "Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably...

Politicians using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a tried-and-true strategy. Paint the idea green and a natural catastrophe became political fodder for former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.). Kerry appeared on MSNBC on February 6 to discuss storms that have killed at least 50 people throughout the Southeastern United States. So, of course, Kerry used the platform to advance global warming alarmism

Lance Cargill did not appear personally before caucus members but planned to make a public statement later Monday. Republican House Speaker Lance Cargill resigned from the House's top job Monday following published reports that he submitted late property tax payments and failed to file state personal income tax returns. Cargill notified members of the House's GOP majority of his resignation by telephone during a conference call that Republican House members took in their individual offices. Cargill did not appear personally before caucus members but planned to make a public statement later Monday. Cargill, at 36 the nation's youngest state House...

THE US will commit $US2 billion ($2.27 billion) over the next three years for a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight climate change, President George W. Bush will tell Congress today in his annual State of the Union speech.

My wife and I just received a solicitation for money from the RNC, along with the usual "survey" about what issues are important to us... The last few survey items were the usual choices of amounts to donate, but the last two choices were rather creative: "I can't donate today, but here's $11 to pay for the cost of tabulating our ballot. - and - something to the effect of "I'm not donating today because I'd rather see liberals elected in 2008.

A sixth-grade girl at Perry Hall Middle School lied about being sexually assaulted this week in a school restroom, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Based on their investigation, police concluded that the incident did not occur, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman. Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said that prosecutors have reviewed the facts of the case and decided not to charge the 11-year-old girl...

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 10 (OneWorld) - Coastal residents and students from all over South Carolina are planning to picket this evening's Republican Party Presidential Candidates Debate. "We just want to emphasize how important the issue of climate change is to the future of South Carolina," said Gretta Kruesi of the state's Coastal Conservation League. "Climate change will affect the strength and number of hurricanes, beach erosion, and tourism, which is the backbone of our economy. We want to make sure the candidates address this issue and invite them to respond." Sporting surfwear and bathing suits, attendees plan to hold aquamarine...

Police in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, claim to have to caught the "dumbest criminal" this year. The man walked into a station to report that he had been held up at gunpoint by a gang who had stolen his mobile phone. But when the detective phoned the number of the phone reportedly stolen, it rang in the complainant's pocket. "The shock left him speechless for a few minutes," said police spokesman Eugene Opperman, adding that the man, 25, was then arrested for perjury. The police issued a statement entitled "Dumbest criminal?" with details of the weekend incident, South Africa's Star...

The Washington Post had a good story on the dealings of the electronics retailer Circuit City. Unfortunately, it was buried in the business section where no one will see it. It should have been plastered at the top of the front page. The basic story is that last March, the wise men who run Circuit City came up with the brilliant idea of laying off their more senior salespeople, who get $14-$15 an hour, and replacing them with new hires who get around $9 an hour. It turns out that this move was not very good for business. One of...

Officials at a prison in Vänersborg (Sweden) have confiscated boxes of chocolates bought by the inmates to celebrate Christmas. As the chocolates contained traces of alcohol, management became concerned that the yuletide celebrations might get a little out of hand. With the festive season approaching, prisoners at the Brinkeberg facility in western Sweden submitted a wish list to the jail authorities. Seeing no harm in it, staff took the inmates' money and went out to buy 25 boxes of Marabou's tasty Aladdin chocolates to help brighten up a Christmas spent behind bars. But management saw the matter differently. "They are...

America’s top doc told the Herald yesterday that Santa Claus should slim down, in the latest blow struck in a global politically correct crusade against the jolly fat man. “It is really important that the people who kids look up to as role models are in good shape, eating well and getting exercise. It is absolutely critical,� acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson said in an interview after a presentation on obesity at the Boston Children’s Museum. Touting NFL players who work with kids to promote healthy lifestyles, Galson added: “Santa is no different.� Santa’s waistline is...

Stockholm's most prestigious department store, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), has had to remove a set of black ragdolls from its Christmas window display after receiving a number of complaints from concerned customers. A visit to NK's Christmas displays has been a part of Stockholmers' staple holiday traditions ever since 1915. This year's theme was “A dream Christmas”. Puppies, dragons and polar bears danced side-by-side with sugar plum fairies and... what appeared to be golliwogs. When the windows were first available for public consumption on Sunday, one featured three of the black dolls emerging from a Christmas package. "The company that does...

Ga. man tries to deposit fake $1M bill AIKEN, S.C. - A bank teller in Clearwater had a million reasons not to open an account for an Augusta, Ga., man Monday, authorities said. Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing a fake $1 million bill, said Aiken County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Michael Frank. The employee refused to open the account and called police while the man started to curse at bank workers, Frank said. The second forgery charge came...

Camelot has withdrawn its short-lived "Cool Cash" scratchcard after it required a higher than absolute zero grasp of how numbers work to understand it. According to the Manchester Evening News, to qualify for a prize, punters had to "scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card". Sadly, as the card had a decidedly wintery theme, this initially-shown figure was often below zero. Cue anarchy, as Camelot was beseiged by "dozens" of confused customers who thought they'd won, but suffered a "computer says no" snub. Among these was Levenshulme's Tina Farrel, a 23-year-old...

Forests have long been thought of as an ally in the fight against global warming, but a new study suggests that Canada's boreal forest may in fact be releasing more greenhouse gases than it absorbs. “The boreal forest, at least in the north-central part of Manitoba, has gone from a weak carbon sink to a weak carbon source,” said Dr. Tom Gower of the University of Wisconsin, whose paper is being published Thursday in the journal Nature. “It is now contributing to atmospheric (carbon dioxide) concentration.” Dr. Gower and his fellow researchers studied a million-square-kilometre stretch of forest around Thompson,...

Paul Backers "Paint The Town Ron" posted October 1, 2007 Supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul say they brought their "shock and awe" sign campaign to Chattanooga Cleveland area roads over the weekend. Lauren Walker of the Paul campaign said, "You have probably noticed “Ron Paul Revolution” and “Ron Paul 2008” signs and banners everywhere. "In the wee hours of the night and early morning on Friday and Saturday, bands of Ron Paul supporters were roving the streets of Hamilton County hanging banners and signs in a concerted effort to let people know about their candidate, Ron Paul. "These young,...

So long, Halloween parade. Farewell, Santa's gift shop. The holiday traditions are facing elimination in some Oak Lawn schools this year after complaints that the activities are offensive, particularly to Muslim students. Final decisions on which of the festivities will be axed will fall to the principals at each of Ridgeland School District 122's five schools, Supt. Tom Smyth said. Parents expect that the announcement is going to add to the tension that has been building since officials agreed earlier this month to change the lunch menu to exclude items containing pork to accommodate Muslim students. News that Jell-O was...

The numbers are so staggering that they are hard to process mentally and impossible to process logistically: each month some 60,000 Iraqis are voting with their feet against the surge of U.S. forces by fleeing their homes. Since the invasion, more than 2.5 million Iraqis have left for neighboring countries, while 2.2 million have been forcibly displaced within Iraq - too poor to escape the country or blocked from transitioning through more peaceful provinces, which in recent months have erected checkpoints to keep them out. To put it in stark historical terms: the war has created the largest refugee crisis...

Norwegian companies insult foreign clients, lose business contracts and are reluctant to expand into new markets because of the poor English language skills of employees and business leaders, according to a new survey. "Norwegians think their English is much better than what it really is," philologist Glenn Ole Hellekjær said. More than half of the Norwegian business leaders in a recently conducted survey admitted that they had insulted foreign business partners because of insufficient knowledge of the English language, newspaper Aftenposten reported Wednesday. The survey, conducted by philologist Glenn Ole Hellekjær on behalf of The Norwegian Centre for Foreign Languages...

'Rewrite British history to reflect other cultures' By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 11:48pm BST 25/09/2007 Parts of British history need to be rewritten to emphasise the roles played by other races and religions like Muslims, a prominent race relations campaigner has said. Trevor Philips, the chairman of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, said the history of Britain did not properly reflect the contribution of other cultures. Rewriting the country’s history would demonstrate to Britons in the 21st century how other groups apart from Anglo Saxons shaped the nation. He told a fringe meeting at...

The Muslim Student Association at CU finds itself in a progressive state with a woman as president. Kelly Brewer, MSA's president, stands out not only in her leadership role, but also as a convert to Islam. Raised in a Catholic-Christian household, Brewer began learning about Islam as a 9th grader. The Sept. 11 media coverage at the time portrayed Muslims in Islam's "malpracticed" state, and Brewer became interested in Islam's "true form." While delving into Islamic culture, Brewer was "impressed by the conduct of Muslims" in their kindness. Brewer, who converted after Sept. 11, said that "now a lot of...

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said on Monday that bigotry and prejudice, especially in regard to Muslims, were common in Europe and called on governments to tackle the issue. The remarks from the former Canadian Supreme Court judge, which came in the wake of similar charges issued last week by a U.N. rights investigator, were quickly challenged by a leading global non-religious grouping. The report by investigator Doudou Diene of Senegal documented what he called an alarming rise in intolerance, and in particular Islamophobia, in European countries, and Arbour said, "I have no...

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years after the September 11 attacks, a few cautious voices are beginning to suggest the unthinkable -- maybe it is time to consider talking to al Qaeda. The idea will revolt some people and raises obvious questions -- through what channels could such a dialogue take place and what would there be to negotiate? But proponents say al Qaeda has established itself as a de facto power, whether the West likes it or not, and history shows militant movements are best neutralized by negotiation, not war. "No insurgency or terrorism has been defeated by warfare or...