Free Republic

Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch is enjoying her latest role, starring in a Christian movie currently in production. But the West Virginia native is not sure if an acting career is in her future. Lynch plays Beth Barlow, the president's daughter, in the JC Films production of "One Church." "It's a lot of stress," Lynch told The Associated Press on Tuesday as she was heading from West Virginia to Rock Hill, South Carolina, to finish filming. "But I have to say I've had fun with it and it's an opportunity. I'm one of those people who says 'never say...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A former Veterans Affairs supervisor has been sentenced for stealing up to $20,000 of government property, a recent Justice Department release announced. From 2010 to 2013, 48-year-old Venita Godfrey-Scott directed her employees to use materials and supplies intended for VA medical center upkeep on her own house. These taxpayer-funded home improvement projects included “a deck in her backyard, carpet installation, and various kitchen, bathroom and basement improvements.” She also instructed employees to buy other necessary materials with her government-issued credit card, and had them work on these projects during normal work hours, when they were being paid by the VA....

Military veterans are receiving preferential treatment for many federal job openings, and as with any kind of preferential-treatment program, it’s causing a backlash. In a remarkable story, the Washington Post describes growing tension between veterans and civilians who never served in the military throughout the federal government. Civilians complain that their veteran colleagues are conservative yes-men who don’t question authority and are sometimes lacking in the necessary skills. Some complained that male veterans sometimes act inappropriately around their women peers. “You’re getting a very conservative worker that’s very narrow-minded,” said one civilian who works in the Office of Personnel Management....

President Barack Obama’s push to hire military veterans for jobs across the government is fueling resentment in federal offices, as longtime civil servants and former troops on the other side of the cubicle increasingly question each other’s competence and qualifications. With veterans moving to the head of the hiring queue in the biggest numbers in a generation, there’s growing bitterness on both sides, according to dozens of interviews with federal employees. Those who did not serve in the military bristle at times at the preferential hiring of veterans and accuse them of a blind deference to authority. The veterans chafe...

President Barack Obama has declined to attend a dedication ceremony in October for a new memorial honoring American veterans who have been disabled fighting for their country in wars, according to sources close to the event. The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial (AVDLM), the first such memorial of its kind, is set to be dedicated during a ceremony on Oct. 5 near the National Mall in downtown Washington, D.C. However, Obama, who was first invited to attend the event in January, will not be among those in attendance, according to a veteran’s advocate familiar with the situation. This would...

Staff Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl left captivity to be catapulted into an overgrown spotlight of controversy and reckless speculation in May of this year. What should have been a flood of relief to see the American POW return home was replaced with, oddly enough, outrage, mostly from the Right. Angry tweets accused Obama of endangering U.S. soldiers by exchanging five prisoners from Guantanamo for Bergdahl. Twitter filled with frothing accusations against not only the President but the POW himself, as well as his family, who even received death threats. Bergdahl was a Taliban sympathizer, it was decided, and so was his...

Born at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, February 22, 1928, he earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam while serving as a Medical Corpsman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade on November 8, 1965. In spite of being wounded himself, he saved the lives of many members of his unit. He was presented the Medal of Honor by President Johnson on March 9, 1967 at the White House. He was the first living black American to have received the Medal of Honor since the Spanish-American War in 1898. He died on February 4, 1984 and was...

I love warriors. I love being with warriors. I don’t care how badly injured you are. I don’t care if you’re blind. I don’t care if you are missing limbs. You’ve got a warrior’s heart. You’re a warrior, and you need to continue being a warrior. Exodus 15:3 says: “The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name” (NIV). Exodus is pretty early in the Bible. And then in the last book of the Bible, in Revelation 19, it says He’s coming back. As what? As a warrior. It says He’s coming back riding a white horse and...

Needless to say, the Department of Veteran Affairs has had its public-relations challenges this year. The wait-list scandal cost Eric Shinseki his Cabinet post, and the families of dozens of dead veterans in Phoenix claim it cost the lives of those men, even though the government officially exonerated itself this week. A new report from the Philadelphia Inquirer shows that the VA has busied itself with an effort to cheer up veterans by asking its staff to think of them as … Oscar the Grouch? The beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs depicted dissatisfied veterans as Oscar the Grouch in a...

President Obama received a tepid response from veterans as he voiced his foreign policy ideals during a speech at the American Legion’s 96th national convention in North Carolina. Staring blankly at his teleprompter, Obama recited his speech, pausing for applause that never came.

President Barack Obama faced a tough crowd on Tuesday – American military veterans – and fell flat on his applause lines as he failed to win over the American Legion's convention-goers.The 35-minute speech seemed to have reminded the audience of the stark divide between the White House's policy choices and the feelings of the men and women often called on to carry them out.A Virginia legionnaire who served in the U.S. Marine Corps told MailOnline that 'a small group of Obama's admirers – and there are some here – sat near the front and tried to generate applause for him...

the insane ways that the VA focused on solar energy and wind towers over vets. Three years before Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki would be forced out of his job because of the veterans who had died under him, he visited the Massachusetts National Cemetery. He wasn’t there to see the men and women who had died because of him. While vets were dying, Obama and Shinseki had turned their attention to something truly important; seeing to it that all the cemeteries where they were being buried had wind or solar power. ... The cemetery turbine had cost $533,000....

An Army veteran joined a Marine cohort in confronting a Checkers restaurant for flying the American flag upside down. The vets say it’s the second time in three months that the eatery has improperly displayed Old Glory. The video was taken and posted on Facebook by John Zulu of Lakeland, Fl and according to Zulu: I just had to deal with checkers disrespecting the American flag for the second time. Please share this video everywhere. The employee even says, “I’m Mexican, I don’t even believe in the American flag.”

Documentary airing on CNN looks at the fate of returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans Soledad O'Brien: Too many bring the war home in the form of post-traumatic stress The documentary follows the lives of two veterans, who cope with return from war O'Brien: The two entered a program that used meditation, equine therapy, counseling

President Obama touted the newly passed Veterans Affairs reform bill Thursday as he signed the measure into law and lamented the scandal that triggered it. But a review of records by Fox News shows the president – despite the urgency he placed publicly on the crisis – only met one-on-one with then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki once during the scandal. The records, provided through a Freedom of Information Act request, showed they met on May 30, the day Shinseki resigned.

Los Angeles VA Scandal: Wealthy elite members are treating themselves to dining alfresco and a Shakespeare play, while homeless and disabled veterans agonise in back alley squalor

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a blow to North Carolina families trying to sue over groundwater contamination at a big Marine Corps base. In a technical decision with real-world consequences, the court upheld North Carolina’s limits on how long people have to bring certain pollution-related lawsuits. By upholding the state’s 10-year limit, called a statute of repose, the court effectively undercut lawsuits centering on Camp Lejeune. “Time is the controlling factor,” Justice Anthony Kennedy declared.

Dear Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of your progressive posse incapable of reason... ...if you were truly concerned about the plight of Mexican children & alike, why didn't you send enough food, clothes & medicine to these countries six years ago after Obama won election? Now, months before midterms and after you fail to pass Amnesty again, you orchestrate a mass exodus to our borders - with blood & chaos on your hands - in an attempt to blackmail Congress, stuff the ballot box with your newfound demographic, and nullify our immigration laws and very sovereignty?...

The pair served side-by-side in Afghanistan for seven months as an IED detection team Smiling from ear-to-ear, a U.S. military sergeant was reunited with his four-legged best friend Friday: a contract dog that served side-by-side with him in Afghanistan. It is estimated that dogs like Belle save the lives of up to 200 troops during their service. Organizations like the American Humane Association and Mission K-9 Rescue help connect these dogs with service members through generous donations.

<p>Former Gov. Jesse Ventura won his defamation case against the author of “American Sniper.”</p> <p>The jury awarded a total of $1.845 million: $500,000 in defamation damages and $1.345 million for “unjust enrichment.”</p> <p>Jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, as instructed. Instead, with the consent of both sides, they voted 8 to 2 in Ventura’s favor.</p>