Free Republic

Dan Brown's fictional novel (emphasis on fictional) The DaVinci Code insists that Jesus was married and that he had a child named Sarah with his wife Mary Magdalene. Such a theory is hardly unique. Several Mormon leaders insisted that Jesus was married, but like Brown, none of them offered any more than pure conjecture to support such a claim. Unlike Brown, LDS leaders have gone on record saying Jesus was not only married, but that he was a polygamist as well! On October 6, 1854, Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde stated, "How was it with Mary and Martha, and other women...

MEXICO CITY -- The 8-year-old son of deported immigrant activist Elvira Arellano was reunited with her Friday at Mexico City's airport. Arellano said she wants her son, Saul, a U.S. citizen, to go to school in her home state of Michoacan so he can learn Spanish. Saul, whose first trip to Mexico was in November to ask the Mexican Congress to lobby Washington to stop his mother's deportation, received a Mexican passport from his mother as proof of his dual citizenship. They plan to renew the boy's U.S. passport, something he could not do in the United States in the...

Embattled former district attorney Mike Nifong was held in criminal contempt of court and sentenced to one day in jail Friday for his actions in the flawed Duke lacrosse team rape case. Nifong must report to jail September 7, Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III said. The judge said Nifong's withholding of DNA evidence from defense attorneys was an affront to the integrity of the judicial system. The evidence potentially would have cleared the three lacrosse players of sexual assault charges months before North Carolina's attorney general dropped them in April. The players initially were accused of raping an...

There comes a time in politics, as in war, when the momentum shifts noticeably. When events reach "a tipping point." The discussion amongst politicians in Washington and media figures in New York about the Iraqi battlefield in the War Against Islamofacism has reached such a point. Again. *** The Times of London, not known for its support of any recent American initiative and certainly not counted as a cheerleader for Western efforts in Iraq, this week published a breathlessly positive report on progress in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. *** The conquest of al Qaeda in Anbar, and make...

Environmentalists still hoped for more as judge orders cutbacks to protect fish; rationing may be considered next year -- FRESNO -- California's water supply suffered a historic blow Friday when a federal judge ordered a series of cutbacks and other measures meant to protect a tiny Delta fish from going extinct. The order is expected to force water agencies up and down the state to consider water rationing next year and could force San Joaquin Valley farmers to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres, water officials said. The momentous decision did not go as far as environmentalists hoped nor as...

TROY – A local man who said he had been harassed by police is in custody after allegedly driving a bulldozer through the front of the Troy Police Department early yesterday. Stanley Burt, 34, of 24 Colonial Drive was arraigned at Keene District Court yesterday on charges of criminal mischief, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, and driving and probation violations. Authorities said Burt, who has a history of altercations with the police department, repeatedly hit the building with a stolen D3 Caterpillar bulldozer, causing severe structural damage and cutting the facility's power and phone lines.

If both legal and illegal immigration continues at its current pace, the U.S. population will grow by 1.25 million per year and reach a net total of 468 million by 2060, according to a report issued Thursday by a Washington think tank. That increase of 167 million people over the next 53 years "is equal to the combined populations of Great Britain, France and Spain," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), during a news conference at the National Press Club. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Camarota wrote in his report, "100...

“Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.” Perhaps you remember that pearl from Rosie O’Donnell, the perpetually agitated former co-host of The View. While few had put it quite so brusquely, O’Donnell’s sentiment was hardly a novel one. A steady stream of books and films had for years demonized conservative Christians, attacking their rising influence in politics and on broader American life as heralding the establishment of a Christian theocracy. It was against this backdrop of anti-Christian paranoia that CNN recently aired “God’s Warriors,” a mini-series that investigated what animates the most fervent...

Citizens for Legitimate Government has learned that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 'DC Madam,' has filed with the Court a pro se "Motion for Pretrial Conference to Consider Matters Relating to Classified Information" under the Classified Information Procedures Act. This filing alerts the government that Palfrey's defense will likely involve the disclosure of evidence and identities presently deemed "Classified" by the U.S. government. In an exclusive interview with CLG, Ms. Palfrey told Lori Price: "My attorney, Mr. Sibley, and I, have very good reason to believe my case involves matters relating to national security and intelligence gathering operations. One has to...

NOTE: here is an example of how the mainsteam media did it two years ago when David Rosen was on trial. Campbell Brown made it crystal clear to the viewers that Hillary had nothing to do with the money. The Clinton appointed judge made it clear, and the prosecutor made it clear. Can you say 1919 Black Sox? The prosecution did not even call key witness, Kelly Craighead. Craighead has refused to return two calls to her answering device. I was hoping to get her reaction about being on the witness list. As a White House employee, I don't think...

Robert Tollison, one of America's premier students of public choice and government, defines rent-seeking this way: "Rent seeking is the expenditure of scarce resources to capture an artificially created transfer." Competition for government goodies—rent-seeking—is a wild goose chase, no matter how well-intentioned the goose or the chasers. ..... Tullock Lottery In my classes, I ask students to imagine an experiment that I call a Tullock lottery, after one of the inventors of the concept of rent-seeking, Gordon Tullock. The lottery works as follows: I offer to auction off $100 to the student who bids the most. The catch is that...

Defying warnings from Hamas, several thousand Gazans prayed outside mosques on Friday in a Fatah-inspired protest. As Hamas police officers and gunmen watched, a large crowd prayed in a large public square in Gaza City during Friday Prayer, responding to a call from Fatah to stay out of the mosques. In a statement, Fatah accused Hamas of “exploiting mosques to inflame tensions and provocations among factions.” Israel, similarly, regularly accuses Hamas of using Friday Prayer to incite hatred of Israel and Jews. Dozens of young men shouted “Shiites, Shiites,” a common insult to Hamas, which receives some support from Shiite-dominated...

Bush: North Korea's nuclear program might be dismantled before his presidency ends AP August 31, 2007 WASHINGTON: U.S. President George W. Bush, ahead of his trip next week to an Asian summit, said it is possible that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons program before he leaves office. "Can it happen before I'm through? Yes, it can. I hope so," Bush told foreign journalists Thursday at the White House. He spoke for 45 minutes in the Roosevelt Room about Iraq, climate change, terrorism, trade, and U.S. relations with China and other Asian nations. In an interview with Australia's...

Plaintiffs who successfully sued to overturn Hazleton's illegal-immigrant law want the city to pay more than $2.3 million in legal fees. U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down the Illegal Immigration Relief Act in July, ruling it unconstitutional. Hazleton has appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs asked Munley yesterday to award them more than $2.3 million in fees and an additional $45,000 in related costs. Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta called the request absurd and said the city would fight it. Barletta has raised $400,000 for the city's legal defense...

Which would you find more desirable in your community: a group that advocates to abide by U.S. law, or one that advocates to break U.S. law? Well, leave it to an American newspaper to present a story as if a member of a group that advocates for America is a less desirable person in the community than a member of a group that promotes ideas against America. In a story on the La Raza Council's threat to move their annual convention out of Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas City Star has labeled the patriot group The Minutemen a "militant group"...

Several U.S. agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other materiel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here. The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen federal investigators, congressional, law enforcement and military officials, and specialists in contracting and logistics in Iraq and Washington, who have...

Mike Munger, professor of economics and political science at Duke University and frequent guest of EconTalk, talks with host Russ Roberts about the economics and politics of recycling. Munger argues that recycling can save resources, of course, but it can also require more resources than production from scratch. Some curbside recycling, for example, makes sense, while other forms (such as green glass) may be akin to a form of religious expression rather than a wise policy that is environmentally productive. The conversation is based on Munger's recent essay at the Library of Economics and Liberty.

Paul Romer, Stanford University professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about growth, China, innovation, and the role of human capital. Also discussed are ideas in creating growth, the idea that ideas allow for increasing returns, and intellectual property and how it should be treated. This 75 minute podcast is a wonderful introduction to thinking about what creates and sustains our standard of living in the modern world.

A Washington Post editorial includes this epiphany: "In the aftermath of such a devastating tragedy, it's easy to say, but nonetheless true, that public safety must trump privacy rights…"1. The tragedy referred to is in the editorial is: (A) The destruction of the World Trade Center in New York by Islamofascist terrorists.(B) The execution-style murders of three promising students in Newark by a gang that included two illegal aliens.(C) The murderous rampage at Virginia Tech by a deranged student whose mental health woes were well documented before he fatally shot 32 people and himself.(D) None of the above. 2. The...

LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the nation's largest subprime lender, will close with barely a whimper, after the other assets of its parent company were sold Friday to Citigroup Inc. Ameriquest, which saw its fortunes soar during the housing boom by lending to people with less than stellar credit, is the latest victim of a mortgage crisis that has left bankrupt companies and cash-strapped borrowers in its wake. Along with shuttering Ameriquest, Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings also said it was selling its wholesale mortgage origination operation and a mortgage servicing business to Citigroup for an undisclosed sum....