Free Republic

AUKLAND, NZ, August 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - British Actor Ian McKellen who has used the mega-stardom he achieved playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films to promote homosexuality, has admitted to ripping out pages of hotel bibles that refer to homosexuality. In an August 10 interview on New Zealand's TV1 Close Up program McKellen was confronted by the interviewer questioning the truth of the rumour "He's the one, that when he stays in hotels rips the part of the bible out that criticizes homosexuality." "Yes it is true," responded McKellen in even tones.  "Its Leviticus 18:22 that...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel's government has agreed, in writing, to hand over 6,250 square kilometers of land – the equivalent of its entire biblical and strategic heartland - to an Arab terror state. So reports Dr. Guy Bechor, a leading expert on Arab affairs, who also supplies some of the details of the negotiations. Bechor reports, based on "leaks from the Palestinian side," that Israel has, in the past few days, presented Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas at least one draft of an "agreement of principles." The agreement calls for a state named Palestine to be established alongside Israel, and have a...

Now that you've heard the audio of Sen. Craig's interrogation ... do you believe he's innocent, or guilty? Take the poll at the top right of this page. I've been talking about this the past couple of days on my show, and found that many people now believe Craig to be innocent after I played the interrogation for them. For me the most important part is what is said in the first 1 1/2 minutes. From the beginning Craig proclaims his innocence, but expresses that he does not want to fight the cop in court, and he must make that...

On August 26, Islamist websites hosted in Minnesota [SiteGenie, LLC, Rochester, MN] posted an item titled "How to Join Al-Qaeda." It is not clear when the item was written; it was produced by the website Al-Thabitoun 'Ala Al-'Ahd, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Egypt and is currently inactive. The item calls on every Muslim to regard jihad as a personal duty and to take initiative to establish a jihad cell without waiting for recognition from Al-Qaeda. It goes on to elaborate on how to form and run the cell, how to raise funds, and how to select a target,...

LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- BAE Systems said this week it has won a contract to design and develop new night-vision goggles for the U.S. Army. The company said it won the contract to create new digitally enhanced night-vision goggle for the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. "This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants," BAE Systems said in a statement Monday. "The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A lawyer who stabbed his neighbor to death because he thought the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter. “It’s a Shakespearean tragedy brought into the real world,” Judge Richard Comerford said at the sentencing. “Something was set into motion in this man’s mind — real or perceived. It was very real to him.” Jonathon Edington, 29, attacked neighbor Barry James in the man’s bedroom last year after his wife told him she thought James had molested their daughter. Officers said they found Edington washing the victim’s...

What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus. Although over the next 25 years, Skrenta started the online news business Topix, helped launch a collaborative Web directory now owned by Time Warner Inc. (TWX)'s Netscape and wrote countless other computer programs, he is still remembered most for unleashing the "Elk Cloner" virus on the world. "It was some dumb little practical joke," Skrenta, now 40, said in an interview. "I guess...

In a heated discussion stemming from the Sen. Larry Craig arrest, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay blasted “Today” show host Matt Lauer for the media’s “amazing” double standard regarding GOP and Democratic scandals. Lauer prefaced DeLay’s Thursday morning appearance on the NBC program by reciting a litany of recent Republican problems, mentioning Rep. Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff among others. DeLay responded: “I hate to say this Matt, but you just showed the problem, the double standard, and you just participated in it. You listed a whole lot of scandals that involve the Republicans, but you didn't mention one...

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — At the Arkansas Legislature, it's against the rules for a lawmaker to have even a cup of water sitting on his or her desk. That cup of spittle with a day's worth of tobacco juice is fine, though. A state representative disgusted by the expectorate wants a state law that would rid the House and Senate of Styrofoam spittoons. "It's gross," said Rep. Pam Adcock, a Little Rock Democrat who plans to file legislation that would ban all tobacco products, not just cigarettes, from the House and Senate chambers. Gov. Mike Beebe, a former state senator,...

Two years after a Danish newspaper provoked manufactured outrage in the Islamic world by printing a series of cartoons lampooning Islam's founder, a Swedish newspaper may have done the same with a series of sketches: Marking the beginning of yet another dispute over free speech and religious sensitivity, the government of Pakistan has joined Iran in protesting the publication in a Swedish newspaper of a sketch featuring the head of Mohammed on the body of a dog. "Pakistan condemns, in the strongest terms, the publication of an offensive and blasphemous sketch of the Holy Prophet in the Swedish newspaper," the...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Two men sealed the state's first legal same-sex marriage with a kiss Friday morning, less than 24 hours after a judge threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage and about two hours before he put the ruling on hold. Sean Fritz, left, and Tim McQuillan show their wedding license before getting married. 1 of 3 It was a narrow window of opportunity. Thursday afternoon, Polk County Judge Robert Hanson temporarily cleared the way for same-sex couples across the state to apply for marriage licenses in Polk County. He ruled that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage...

BAGHDAD — Though the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr put his Mahdi Army on ice Wednesday, U.S. infantrymen patrolling the streets of eastern Baghdad, which are dominated by his followers, are maintaining a wary eye. Al-Sadr ordered a six-month suspension of his militia’s activities in order to reorganize the force. The Associated Press quoted al-Sadr aides as saying it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops. Leaders of the religious sect are pulling in the reins after a riot during a religious holiday, also named Mahdi, earlier this week in the Shiite-dominated city of Karbala left at least 52...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The White House is proposing to expand the role of the federal government to stem a wave of mortgage defaults, President Bush said Friday, unveiling a series of steps including allowing refinancing into government-insured mortgages. nder the plan, the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance program will be changed to allow more people to refinance with FHA insurance if they fall behind on adjustable-rate mortgages. People who have missed mortgage payments are now ineligible for FHA insurance. ****************************************** 'Prospects of the administration joining the Fed in tackling subprime issues are helping markets believe that the current crisis will...

Well, not only do I have to pay for my house, now I get to bail out these scam Morgtage loans that were offered at no money down to people with no "real" money. Moral: Do whatever you want just make sure when you fail it's big enough to hurt the economy and you're little scheme will be bailed out. I just don't understand our President at all anymore ....

Mitt Romney** “I think an amnesty program which is that all the illegal immigrants here are now citizens and walk up and get your citizenship. What the President has proposed and what Senator McCain and Cornyn have proposed are quite different from that. They require people signing up for, well, registering and receiving a, if you will, a number or a registration number, then working here for six years, paying taxes and not taking benefits – health, Medicaid, food stamps and so forth – not taking benefits. Then at the end of that period, registering to become a citizen, or applying to become...

An author and investigative journalist says he isn't shedding any tears over the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who in the end had come under fire from both the left and the right. Democrats and the mainstream media had been hounding Gonzales for months over his firing of eight U.S. attorneys. He was also criticized over the legality of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. However, criticism was not limited to the political left. As conservative activist and best-selling author Jerome Corsi points out, the outgoing AG was criticized for his part in the unwarranted prosecutions of several Border...

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who pushed a faulty case against three Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, took the stand Friday in his criminal contempt hearing. ***

With the help of two Miami lawmakers, Killian High School honors graduate Juan Gomez and his family are trying a new strategy to avoid deportation to their native Colombia: reopening their denied asylum petition. Speaking at a news conference, U.S. Reps. Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Mario Díaz-Balart said they believe the Gomez family could get their case reviewed again because, since being denied political asylum, some family members have been killed in Colombia. The circumstances of the killings were not disclosed by the family, but the lawmakers think the new information could be crucial in persuading authorities to have another look...

Judge stays ruling that tossed Iowa's gay marriage ban Associated Press - August 31, 2007 2:13 PM ET DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa judge who threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage says he has formally issued a stay of his ruling. The gap between yesterday's ruling and today's stay gave two men a narrow window of opportunity be married outside a minister's home in the state's first legal same-sex wedding. The judge put his ruling on hold about two hours later. About 20 gay couples had applied for marriage licenses when the Polk County Recorder announced that...