Free Republic

...Yes, yes, The Speech was fine. Full of rainbows and unicorns and signifying nothing. But did the whole thing have to be turned into a campagin rally? Were the names of the victims listed on the back, like a rock band’s tour schedule? Faugh! This is appalling. Do you remember anything like this happening at the memorial for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting? Nope. Columbine? The Amish West Nickel Mines School shooting? Nope. Sure wish my great grandmother had grabbed one of these when she went to Gettysburg...

The deep, unbridgeable spiritual and ideological divide in our country has been on glaring display even more than usual since last Saturday’s horrific, murderous attack in Tucson by an evil young man—yes, Virginia, evil people do exist. Predictably, the lying Left went into full attack mode before the dead and wounded were scarcely off the sidewalk. Instead of waiting to learn the name of the shooter, they barreled ahead determined to fix the blame for the shooting on conservatives. We’re not going to let the Left get away with it this time. There is one—and only one—person to blame for...

Last Saturday's shooting tragedy at a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket is stunning in its randomness. ... Whenever these awful tragedies: Columbine, September 11, Virginia Tech and others, happen, there comes the theodicy question. Why did God allow this evil to happen to innocent people? Why did perfectly innocent bystanders at a Tucson supermarket on a Saturday morning find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time?

President Obama will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to attend a memorial service...

The shocking gundown of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has left NASA reeling: Her astronaut husband was due to rocket away in just three months as perhaps the last space shuttle commander, and her brother-in-law is currently on the International Space Station. Shuttle commander Mark Kelly rushed to his wife's hospital bedside Saturday as his identical twin brother, Scott, did his best to keep updated on the Arizona shooting through Mission Control, the Internet and the lone phone aboard the space station. (snip)

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — As she walked through the door, Sabrina Parker's big hazel eyes flared with surprise and she raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp. She was a huge fan of the "Twilight" book and movie series, and her friends and family had transformed this greasy garage into a Sweet 16's dream. Homemade strobe lights illuminated walls decorated like the night sky and plastered with cast posters. All around were balloons in red, white and black. An enormous cake, iced to look like the chess board on one of the book jackets, held 16 blazing...

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Her pain, grief and sadness from more than a decade ago lie just below the surface. Gloria Sloan remembers the spiritual darkness that enveloped her on that heartbreaking day. "I remember feeling that sense of something evil around me," the International Mission Board worker said, "a very strong sense of evil for a moment." Currently on stateside assignment in Houston, Sloan recently discussed the tragic loss of her husband Gary, 37, and 11-year-old daughter Carla on June 18, 1999. They drowned while swimming along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Two summer mission volunteers from the United States --...

A family dispute at Beach Place on Wednesday afternoon ended with a man fatally shooting his sister and then turning the gun on himself as they stood next to their mother, police said. Juan Alicea Orozco, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, died shortly afterward at Broward General Medical Center. His sister, Jesnishia Alicea Orozco, 25, of Oakland Park, died that evening at the same hospital. Their mother was not injured, police said.

DAYTON — A 27-year-old Army veteran shot and killed himself at the front steps of the Dayton Veterans Administration Medical Center just hours after he had been in the center’s emergency room. Jesse C. Huff, address unknown, was wearing full military fatigues and was armed with a military-style rifle, which he used to shoot himself in the head about 5:45 a.m. Friday, April 16, police said.

Our American CatharsisWill Obama-time be a transitory experience or an enduring tragedy?  For years conservatives have railed about the creeping welfare state. They have tried to tag liberals with being soft on national security, both for courting those who faulted America and for faulting others who courted it. The parameters of all these fights were well known, as talk radio, the blogs, and cable news hourly took up hammer and tongs against the creeping “liberal agenda.” But for all the furor, there were few unabashed leftist gladiators in the arena who openly fought under the banner of radically transforming the...

he date of May 21st, 2008, was the worst day of Steven Curtis Chapman's life, for it was then that Chapman's five-year-old daughter, Maria Sue Chapman, was killed in an accident. It occurred ten days after Maria's birthday when Maria was accidentally hit by her older brother Will while he was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser pulling into the driveway of their home in Franklin, Tennessee. Maria, the youngest in the family, was one of three daughters whom Steven and his wife Mary Beth had adopted from China, and she was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Maria died...

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=142766&catid=40'

We Americans far too-often take our staunchest allies for granted, forgetting that we are not the only ones who – over the past 200-plus years of our relatively short existence – have been the standard bearers of freedom and democracy throughout the world. Multiple nations and members of those nations’ worldwide diasporas have had a hand in it. And no nation on earth has struggled, suffered, and sacrificed more (yet survived) for the cause of freedom worldwide – nor been a better friend to America – than Poland. Which is why this morning’s tragic plane crash in Russia – killing...

A pregnant bride-to-be has been killed in a horror crash on the way to her Las Vegas wedding. Kristen Kay Taylor was killed when the car she was driving was rear-ended by a truck in a 13-car pileup near Cedar City in the US state of Utah late last week, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Ms Taylor, 25, was driving her Kia Spectra with fiance Gregory Bennin on Interstate 15 and slowed down when the truck in front of her crashed into several cars during a snowstorm. Just moments later another truck ploughed into the rear of the couple’s car,...

A 26-year-old Navy SEAL died in Key West waters during intensive dive training in preparation for an overseas deployment, according to the Naval Special Warfare Group. Ronald Tyler Woodle of Waynesville, N.C., was part of a small group of Navy SEALs undergoing routine training at Truman Annex Harbor when he was reported missing by his teammate about 9 a.m. Monday. Within minutes, he was found unconscious. Training for that day was in fairly shallow waters. CPR was administered and Woodle was taken to the Lower Keys Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was not immediately...

Where were you on January 28th, 1986? Were you in a classroom watching the first teacher go into space? Do you remember how you felt when you saw the Challenger explode soon after it left the earth? CNN reports that about 17% of Americans were watching when the disaster occurred. One hour later, 85% had heard the news. It is estimated that 48% of 9-13 year-olds were watching. Teacher Christa Macauliffe was supposed to be the first teacher in space, but she never made it. She died in the explosion along with the six astronauts accompanying her. Most of today's...

After the Earthquake that devastated Haiti, Pat Robertson was accused of saying that God was punishing Haiti because of the evil practices of its people. At first I must admit that I cringed and even stated that he was out of line and the statement was ignorant on his part, especially when the Scriptures go directly against such foolish beliefs. Then I looked into what Pat actually said, and found this statement put out by CBN: "Pat Robertson's comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a...

Caught on film on a Brazilian TV program... saying that this catastrophe is "good for us". Video

This happened a while ago but every time I re-read this column I become infuriated . . . It was the nicest, neatest, new Apple laptop computer. I'd had it for just six days. So I was treating my new computer with great care. I cradled it in my arms as though it were a six-day-old infant. Although I must admit I have never actually held an infant. Because I'm a klutz, I drop things — so much so that I have been forbidden by my family from holding my children and grandchildren until they reach puberty. I was at...

MONTAGUE COUNTY, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) – Deputies with the Montague County Sheriff's Department have shot and killed a cousin of Texas Governor Rick Perry, officials told BNO News on Thursday. The cousin was identified as 74-year-old Larry Don Wheeler. Montague County District Attorney Jack McGaughey told BNO News that sheriff's deputies initially responded to a 911 call of shots fired at his home at a Montague County country club on Saturday night. When two deputies arrived on the scene, Wheeler, who was sitting on his backyard deck, pointed a shotgun at the officers and opened fire. One officer sustained a...