Free Republic

The new Ethan Hawke thriller The Purge was number one at the box office during its opening weekend, but critics are slamming the film for its thinly veiled commentary against the National Rifle Association and Tea Party groups. The plot brings moviegoers to the near future where in 2022 a new regime has come to America. The "New Founders" have taken over the country and practically eliminated unemployment crime, and want. One of the ways this new political movement has brought on such an idyllic society is to allow one night a year when any and all violence, even murder,...

Today's feature is Gary Cooper's final film, an underrated, British suspense thriller directed by Michael Anderson("Around The World In 80 Days", "Logan's Run") and scripted by Joseph Stefano("Psycho").

Author John Sandford takes questions from his fans on Facebook, discussing the books, the characters, and writing... (more at link) Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4

Fiction writing is a far tougher road to travel than op-ed; ask anyone who's tried it. As satisfying as it can be artistically, its practical frustrations can make the aspiring fictioneer wonder why he didn't put his spare time into something constructive, like teaching manatees to tap-dance. Many fiction writers claim to write for the sheer pleasure of it. Some claim they only write for the revenue: "to buy groceries," as the late Robert A. Heinlein put it. But all of us, without exception, write to be read. Anyone who claims otherwise deserves no more of your time. Thus, it...

(June 15) -- If you aren't the least bit concerned about the health of America's freedoms, you are either a) in a multiyear-long drug induced coma, B) Sean Penn, or C) dead. And you've definitely never heard of Overton's Window. The Overton Window is a political theory developed by the late Joseph Overton, a brilliant public policy strategist and ardent free-marketer. Overton observed that "when public policies in a given area (education, health care) are arranged from freest to least free, only a relatively narrow window of options will be considered politically acceptable." The theory says the window will gradually...

COLOGNE, Germany (AFP) – Huge effigies of US President Barack Obama and bankers made up as zombies from Michael Jackson's famous "Thriller" video starred in Germany's biggest carnival procession here on Monday. More than a million people braved the snow to line the route of the seven-kilometre (four-mile) parade, where revellers traditionally poke fun at current events and enjoy tonnes of sweets hurled from the travelling floats. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged night with a call girl was rewarded with a huge figure showing a beaming premier surrounded by breasts. Obama's controversial Nobel Prize was also the butt of...

In his short story The Black Cat, the Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe writes about a killer who conceals his victim behind a wall and is found out when the cat he accidentally hid with the body starts howling. Assistant State Attorney Brian Cavanagh referenced the gruesome tale as he laid out the evidence against Charles Gregory Moninger, accused of killing his housemate four years ago and stuffing her corpse in a closet.

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - Behind thick stone walls topped by electrified razor wire, one of cyberspace's most unlikely hits is already warming up as the rest of Cebu stirs from sleep. Pockets of inmates stretch and practice their latest moves. Then the morning workout gets under way in earnest in the exercise yard of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. In their identical orange prison uniforms, up to 1,500 march and clap in unison as they perform precision dance routines with the Village People's ``In the Navy'' and ``YMCA'' pounding from six well-worn black speakers. And why not? Their...

A month after his musical comeback hit a sour note, pop star Michael Jackson has sued his former accountants for breach of duty, claiming they withdrew huge sums of money from his bank accounts but neglected to pay his bills. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday and obtained on Tuesday by Reuters, says the accounting firm Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan withdrew $2.5 million a year from Jackson's accounts but failed to properly pay the bills for which the money was earmarked. Representatives for the Los Angeles-based firm were not immediately available for comment. Jackson,...

She's gone too far this time !

Clicky Here For Indian Thriller

Official wants Da Vinci movie bannedWed May 10, 8:51 AM ET MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government should ban the controversial movie "The Da Vinci Code," a senior official in the mainly Catholic country said Wednesday, describing the religious thriller as blasphemous. The film, based on the best-selling fiction novel of the same title, is due to open in Manila's cinemas next week. "I think we should do everything not to allow it to be shown," said Eduardo Ermita, executive secretary to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, expressing his personal opinion as a "devout Catholic." He told journalists the state's censors...

Review of A Distant Thunder Film takes a provocative look at the moral implications of partial-birth abortion December 14, 2005 RenewAmerica staff Disney producer Jonathan Flora's new film, A Distant Thunder, is a must-see for anyone interested in the subject of partial-birth abortion. Reminiscent of supernatural thrillers by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village) and reflecting the best in cinematic courtroom and horror dramas, A Distant Thunder takes viewers through a maze of disturbing hints, twists, symbols, and flashbacks until at the end they are stunned and surprised at what they've been watching. With first-rate acting by...

Just breaking...

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Sit back my friends and I’ll tell a tale…about a superstar With boys who stayed with him overnight…he went way too far He got their trust and he gave them gifts…the parents went along And then the stories were surfacing…he showed them his schlong He showed them his schlong And then a kid finally spilled the beans and Michael is in court He played with me, boys had testified…we’re shocked by their report We’re shocked by their report But look where this trial is happening…the state of fruits and nuts The jury pool is dumb as rocks...

Bayliffs being sworn in, alternatives have been sent home! This circus is about to be in the hands of the jury! Bets? Predictions?

Per Fox News: Michael Jackson is late for his trial. His spokesman says that Jackson is in the hospital. The judge has issued an arrest warrent for Jackson.

National Review Online: In The Wake-Up, the plot turns on a hard-charging businessman who is cruel to a boy and a bystander's belief that a wrong must be made right. Like your other novels, it feature loads of bad guys and no cops, yet there's a moral sensibility as well. How do you work that in when even the good guys live outside the system? ROBERT FERRIGNO: I think the highest morality is by definition, personal, and outside any system. Consequently, none of my protagonists are cops, and there is little official police presence. This is a reflection of the...

Jackson to turn himself in tommorrow (20 NOV 03) according to family. This is despite the recent reports from other news agencies that he assured Sherrifs' office that he would surrender immediately upon landing in Santa Barbara after returning from Las Vegas.