Free Republic

When Paul Pankhurst first came to Saddleback Church, he hid out in the parking lot. He would drive his family to church and then sit in the car, reading the paper, so he could avoid the "syrupy sweet" worship music. Once the songs ended, he went inside to mull over sermons given by Pastor Rick Warren. ... "You're going to find the greeting ministry is one of the most rewarding, fulfilling and fun ministries you'll ever be a part of," Lazos says, wearing a name badge that says he's been serving since 2002. "The purpose of greeting is not about...

Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 20, 2008 NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn's moon Titan. The findings made using radar measurements of Titan's rotation will appear in the March 21 issue of the journal Science. "With its organic dunes, lakes, channels and mountains, Titan has one of the most varied, active and Earth-like surfaces in the solar system," said Ralph Lorenz, lead author of the paper and Cassini radar scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., "Now we see changes in the...

CATASTROPHIC predictions of global warming usually conjure with the notion of a tipping point, a point of no return. Last Monday - on ABC Radio National, of all places - there was a tipping point of a different kind in the debate on climate change. It was a remarkable interview involving the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Anyone in public life who takes a position on the greenhouse gas hypothesis will ignore it at their peril. Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"...

The more I think about it, the more the following speculation makes sense: that Obama's spiritual advisor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., is trying to sabotage Obama's campaign. Rev. Wright has multiple reasons to do it: 1. Spite: Obama dumped him at the last moment from his big spot on national TV giving the invocation at Obama's kickoff rally in Springfield last winter. 2. Glory: Wright craves attention the way Britney Spears does. 3. Ideology: Wright despises the idea that whites would give a black man like Obama an even break. As he told Obama when they first met...

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., takes a bite of pizza at American Dream Pizza in Corvallis, Ore., Friday, March 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Last Hope in a Weak Economy? Mom and Dad By EMILY FREDRIX,AP Business Writer AP - Sunday, March 23 MILWAUKEE - After being laid off from her job as an events planner at an upscale resort, Jo Ann Bauer struggled financially. She worked at several lower-paying jobs, relocated to a new city and even declared bankruptcy. Then in December, she finally accepted her parents' invitation to move into their home _ at age 52. "I'm back living in the bedroom that I grew up in," she said. Taking shelter with parents isn't uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially...

TV preacher Joel Osteen shuns lavish lifestyle of some others MARK I. PINSKY The Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — If the evangelical world is looking for a poster child to offset the negative publicity surrounding rich televangelists, Joel Osteen would be a good choice. Joel Osteen, pastor of the nation’s largest megachurch, preaches at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, where services are broadcast around the world.MCT Photo Times Leader Photo Store Osteen is among the nation’s most widely recognized television ministers, trailing only Billy Graham and Rick Warren, and in 2006 was named the most influential Christian in America by...

Despite the efforts of most of the main stream media (and Obama himself) trying to spin the incidents regarding Barack Obama's preacher and spiritual advisor into something acceptable to Americans, and his speech regarding race, by doing some individualresearch, it becomes clear that the spin will simply just not wash. The Trinity Church subscribes to Black Liberation Theology. I believe that Obama will not leave that Church for one simple and obvious reason. Despite his new found disgust in "some" terminology that Wright employed, Obama must agree with the theology that the church teaches. He is raising his kids in...

It is not easy being a bird!

More Democrats, fewer Republicans in Pennsylvania By Angela Couloumbis and Amy Worden Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBURG - It wasn't a light decision. But Debbie McKee had grown to believe that the Republican Party no longer represented her beliefs, and recently switched her registration to Democrat. "I'm so anti-Bush and Bush politics, I couldn't stand to be a member of that party anymore," said McKee, 57, a retired public school teacher from West Chester who switched just in time for Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. For state Republicans, voters like McKee could quickly become a problem.

...So why, despite this avalanche of chatter, do we still seem hungry for even more chatter? Why are so many people continuing to chew on the Spitzers as if the secret to marital happiness is embedded in the talking point of the next pundit? More important, why didn't Spitzer's replacement, David A. Paterson, manage to defang the whole subject by announcing on his second day in office that he and his wife had had extramarital affairs in the past? ...At its core, it reveals how much uncertainty exists within even the strongest and most enduring relationships...humans desperately want to think...

The U.S. Border Patrol has brought in 200 additional agents and is offering flights home to Mexico City for illegal entrants selected for prosecution as part of a new effort. The multifaceted strategy called "Operation Arizona Denial" has the mantra of "breaking the smuggling cycle." The idea is to concentrate resources in targeted areas to reduce illegal-entrant smuggling and violence in the Tucson Sector, the busiest along the Southwest border for illegal entries and marijuana smuggling. The additional agents have come from other Border Patrol sectors and will be here temporarily, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. Their...

In the annals of judicial imperialism, we have arrived at a strange new chapter. A California court ruled this month that parents cannot "home school" their children without government certification. No teaching credential, no teaching. Parents "do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," wrote California appellate Justice Walter Croskey. The 166,000 families in the state that now choose to educate their children at home must be stunned. But at least one political lobby likes the ruling. "We're happy," the California Teachers Association's Lloyd Porter told the San Francisco Chronicle. He says the union believes all students...

The Bush administration unveiled a revised rule Friday threatening businesses with prosecution unless they fire employees identified in government records as possible illegal immigrants, offering a new explanation but virtually no change in content from the regulation that a San Francisco federal judge blocked in October. The Department of Homeland Security announced the new version of the so-called no-match rule on its Web site and said it would invite public comments for 30 days. The department then plans to ask U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to lift his injunction. At the same time, it has asked a federal appeals court...

SIERRA VISTA — Forty-seven Mexican nationals who crossed into the United States illegally were apprehended Wednesday night by the U.S. Border Patrol south of Bisbee. About 11 p.m., the group was detained after crossing in an area with intermittent fencing, Tucson Sector Border Patrol spokeswoman Dove Haber said. The area was near the delineation between the Naco and Douglas station Border Patrol subjurisdictions, nearly due south of Bisbee. The group was picked up by Naco Station Border Patrol agents on ATVs, with Customs and Border Protection’s air and maritime helicopter support, Haber said.

Sami al-Arian’s fondest wish is to be deported from the United States to the Palestinian territories. The US government has other plans, however, and will keep him in prison until he testifies to connections between charity front groups and terrorists. The former Florida professor claims he has immunity from further investigations, but somehow his side forgot to commit it to paper: Former university professor Sami al-Arian wants to finish serving his prison sentence for a terrorism-related crime next month so that he can be deported to the Palestinian territories. But the Bush administration is threatening to keep him behind bars...

Hole remains as science building now in jeopardy. The state abruptly pulled $37.5 million in financing earmarked for a science building under construction on the Auraria campus. The fallout could mean the $120 million facility will not be built, and the campus will be scarred by a giant hole in the ground. Construction began in December on the five-story, 181,000- square-foot Auraria Campus Science Building... "What we have clearly seen (is) we are not immune to the forces in the national economy," Buescher said. "And in all likelihood, things are going to get worse before they get better. At the...

FOB HAMMER — Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, working with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity (MoE) representative, surveyed several damaged high-tension power line towers near al Durai’ya, March 17. The day prior, Lt. Col. Jack Marr, from Minneapolis, commander of 1-15th Inf. Regt., met with Iraqi Army leadership, the MoE, and Sheik Majid, the local Sons of Iraq (SoI) leader, to discuss repair of the towers. After surveying the site, the MoE agreed the government of Iraq would fund labor for the repairs and security for the laborers would be provided by SoI in the area. “Sheik Majid...

An MV-22 Osprey, belonging to Marine Medium Tilt Rotor Squadron 263, sits on the deck waiting for members of the 27th Infantry Brigade, 7th Iraqi Infantry Division and Marines with Military in Transition team 0720 to load up after a heli-borne operation. Photo by 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd) Public Affairs. AL-ANBAR PROVINCE — As Coalition forces continue to operate throughout the Iraqi countryside, training the Iraqi security forces (ISF) to stand on their own two feet becomes an increasingly familiar scene. Third Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) does its own part in the transition process by participating in training operations...

RUSH: We're gonna talk with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, about his new book. It's Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate. Senator Specter, welcome to the program. It's nice to have you back with us here. SEN. SPECTER: Rush, thank you very much for the invitation. It's a great pleasure to talk to you and your listeners. Thanks. RUSH: The title of the book is Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate. You were battling more than cancer in the Senate. I've read the summary of the book. It's 11 to 14 pages here. It is incredibly detailed...