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On Saturday, Gibson released a statement apologizing: "After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the L.A. County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am...

When I was growing up in Bellflower, Ca., I never, as a child with a good imagination, could have ever imagined that my life would take the peculiar turn that it has. I could not have foreseen giving birth to a child that would eventually be wrongfully and devastatingly killed in war or that I would be meeting with world leaders or be nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. Along with the Vice President of Spain, Foreign Minister of Ireland, Attorney General of Australia and countless parliamentarians from all over the globe, one of the world leaders that I have...

Managua, Jul 6 (EFE).- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said here Thursday that he opposes any attempts by foreign powers to influence the Nicaraguan presidential election, set for Nov. 5. The statement was made by Carter in Managua at the end of his four-day visit to the country to familiarize himself with how the electoral process is unfolding. Speaking on behalf of his Atlanta-based Carter Center, the former president said: "Almost all of the Nicaraguans with whom we spoke expressed concern about foreign governments endorsing, vetoing, or funding specific candidates." Carter criticized the position of the U.S. government, which has...

During the 2004 Illinois Senate race, GOP nominee Alan Keyes, facing certain crushing defeat from rival Barack Obama, suggested that Jesus Christ would not back the Democratic contender. "And I think you remember my response, which was, I wanted to know who his pollster was," Obama joked to Fox News host Alan Colmes on Oct. 26, 2004. "Because if I have a chance to talk to Jesus, I'm going to be talking to him about eternal life and the meaning and purpose of my work here. I'm not going to be worrying about who he's voting for in the Senate...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - American director Oliver Stone and British producer John Daly plan to make a film about the 2002 coup that briefly brought down Venezuela's government, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday. Chavez said Stone and Daly plan to announce the upcoming film at the Cannes Film Festival in France. He added that the two called Venezuela Sunday morning to discuss their plans. "They've asked for our permission to announce it today in Cannes, and we've told them yes, that we're interested in that film being made," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program.

Being that everyone is entitled to a frivolous vanity every once in awhile, I have decided to dedicate mine to the beauty of the women of Free Republic. You ladies are beautiful in your mind, wit, and hearts. Many of you are also quite attractive physically as well. Here's your chance to post photos or make comments that will drive us male freepers wild.

27.11.05 | Sure enough, it was only a matter of time. ... Green Left is reporting today "BRITAIN: Respect pledges solidarity with Venezuela" in which the following can be read: At its national conference in November, the anti-war Respect coalition passed the following resolution pledging solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution. 1. This conference extends its solidarity to the people of Venezuela and applauds its government for its challenge to neoliberalism and US domination. 2. We pledge our support for a broad based campaign of solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution. 3) We encourage those Respect members who can to attend the...

So, any of you catch the hilarious op-ed in the NY Times today? The one where the author, upon hearing that Oprah has re-ignited her book club to include living authors again, basically begs to be on the show? Sounded familiar. Sadly familiar. This is me: "Please, Oprah! Pleeeeezzzzeee!" Yup. I've written to Oprah a few times. ... I've told her about following my heart to success. About putting my brother through school so he could follow his heart, too. About the sales of the book. The movie deal with Jlo and Laura Ziskin. The TV deal at Lifetime. About...

Demagogues: Jesse Jackson was in top form, flying into Caracas to take a cheap shot at Pat Robertson and sing the praises of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. But amid the huzzahs, something ugly was happening outside. Seems that Chavez was in top form, too, doing what dictators like his pal Fidel Castro do. Opposition leaders say that while Jackson was visiting over the weekend, Chavez's men sent mobs to ambush about 1,000 peaceful protesters with rocks, bottles and fireworks in downtown Caracas. Venezuelan media reported nine injured, two seriously. An eyewitness said those hit hardest, and often from behind, were vocal...

As Jesse Jackson visits Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the presidential palace to denounce assassination and what he calls the ‘Rumsfeld-Robertson connection’, outside in the streets - violent protests have engulfed Caracas in a sign of Chavez’s tightening grip on power. El Universal has the story in Spanish here and Globovision has the story in Spanish here. Miguel explains it in English for us here.

PLANO – The Ismaili Muslim community announced Tuesday that it is building a $6.5 million worship and community center in Plano, where it has found a warm welcome. Gov. Rick Perry flew in to lay the first ceremonial brick for the center's foundation. It was a symbolic gesture since the site for the new center will be a few miles northeast of the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, where the foundation ceremony was held. The governor, who is friends with the Ismaili Muslims' spiritual leader, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, said he was honored to participate. "Our culture is...

...Venezuelans would prefer at this time if the Carter Center stayed away from our country. The role the Center played in the recall referendum, before and after it, left a very bitter taste in all of those like me, who are certain that the outcome was fraudulent. ... Carter ... did not demand that the CNE do the “hot audits” on August 16th. ... There are lies in the reports from the Carter Center, such as that the boxes containing the ballots never left their sight. Thus, Venezuelans in the opposition think the Carter Center failed them completely by being...

Bwahahahah!!! Gasp! Bwahahahahahahah! (tears of laughter, blogger convulsing on the floor subject to one of the biggest laugh attacks recorded in blogdom). (Breathe, breathe deeply, garner composure, start writing again) Today we learn that Jennifer Mc Coy of the Carter Center will brave Venezuela to offer help in consolidating peace and democracy! The nerve! What is in store for us? Are they going to approve the new judicial system whose near uniform composition will ensure "peace" through a "uniform justice" (pun intended)? Will they offer to monitor the 2006 elections to validate yet another "fair" Chavez victory? ... I have...

Maverick Republican Sen. John McCain said Sunday that his New York colleague, Sen. Hillary Clinton, would do well if she becomes president of the United States. "I am sure that Sen. Clinton would make a good president," McCain told NBC's "Meet the Press," as both he and Clinton were being interviewed from Baghdad. While noting that as a Republican, he'll be supporting the GOP nominee in 2008, McCain reiterated, "I have no doubt that Sen. Clinton would make a good president." Asked whether she thought McCain would make a good president, Sen. Clinton was somewhat less effusive, responding tersely, "Absolutely"...

John Kerry is showing us that he would have been a Jimmy Carter-like President, had he been elected. Playing kissy-face with Batthist dictator Bashir Assad in Damascus, Kerry said: >>>"I think we found a great deal of areas of mutual interest, some common concerns and some possibilities for initiatives that could be taken in the future to strengthening relationship between the U.S. and Syria," Kerry told reporters after meeting with al-Sharaa. "I can assure you that I leave here with a sense that we can improve our relationship. There are significant possibilities, particularly with the elections in Iraq and the...

Val Prieto, at Babalublog, has some fun at the expense of a restaurant in Minneapolis which serves "revolutionary Cuban cuisine" amidst portraits of Che and Fidel. Val writes what getting a real meal is like in Havana... It's a masterpiece of debunking. He floors the guy in that magnificent storytelling way that only he can. >>Revolutionary Cuban cooking!? I wonder if the maitre'd hands everyone a ration card when they walk in the door. Or if they make the cafe cubano like they have been making it in revolutionary Cuba. One thin layer of fresh coffee grounds, one thin layer...

Caracas 29.12.04 | Let’s see, young Delacour visited Venezuela for the first time as part of a ‘delegation of observers’ that visited the country (courtesy of the Venezuelan taxpayer) during the recall referendum. The ‘mission’ was arranged by the Venezuela Information Office (VIO). Delacour’s way of counteracting unfavourable press vis-à-vis Fidelito, er Hugo Chavez, is shown in the VIO’s website as the appropriate method to be used by innocent and callous Americans ‘worried’ about biased information with respect to Venezuela. Delacour ‘denounces’ (in a government sponsored website one must add) that US media outlets give more weight to the opinions...

Heads up! (Or down as the case may be.) NBC's Dateline will be showing part one of a two part broadcast of an interview conducted by Today Show hostess Katie Couric at 7 p.m. EDT.Part two will be shown on Monday's Today Show.

Kerry's Secret Plan Sounding a heck of a lot like a guy who's spent too much time under a foil hat, John Kerry made the following statements during interviews on television talk shows recently: "I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops," said John Kerry on ABC's "This Week... I know what we have to do in Iraq."... "I've been involved in this for a long time, longer than George Bush. I've spent 20 years negotiating, working, fighting for different kinds of treaties and different relationships around the world. I know that as president there's huge...