Free Republic

THE cap-and-trade bill passed the House of Representatives shrouded in a fog of willful ignorance and calculated irrationality. No one could be sure what he was voting for -- not after the 1,200-page bill had a 300-page amendment added at 3:09 a.m. the day of its passage. The bill is so complex and jerry-built that even its supporters can't know how, or if, it will work. And it's impossible for someone to know whether the motivating crisis, impending planetary doom, will ever materialize. Other than that, it's a model exercise in thoughtful lawmaking. The so-called Waxman-Markey bill's formulation was less...

ON Sunday, the citizens of Honduras woke up with one president and went to bed with an other. Manuel Zelaya was forced out of the country -- replaced, with full backing from the Congress, the nation's courts, and its military with Interim President Robert Micheletti. Some have denounced this dramatic change as a "coup d'etat" and an assault on democracy. In truth, it was much more of a last-ditch effort to protect Honduras' constitutional order and rule of law from a reckless populist. Honduras and the United States have a long history of friendly relations. We signed a free-trade treaty...

When Hamilton Okeke stepped into his room at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park for the first time, the enormity of what he was doing seemed to hit him in the gut. He was alone, literally and figuratively, as he was about to hand his life over to God. No one in his inner circle supported his desire to become a priest. Just two rooms down the hall on the fourth floor of the massive seminary building that looms over Northern Parkway, Deacon Gregory Rapisarda’s room bustled with a family that embraced religious vocations. At 61, Deacon Rapisarda...

OUR effort in Iraq passed a major milestone today: Our troops are leaving the cities. Advisers remain in place. Joint patrols will still occur. And our forces will wait nearby to respond to Iraqi calls for support. But the last of the bases and US-only outposts within Iraq's urban centers will be vacated. Terrorists have already begun testing the new security arrangements. Iraqi forces won't always pass with flying colors. Yet this situation seemed a pipe dream not so long ago: Iraq's security forces, serving an elected government, assume primary responsibility for the good order of their own country. We...

We now interrupt our regularly-scheduled gossiping with this breaking news bulletin: Britney Spears has not gone on to that great hair-extension emporium in the sky. Neither has Miley Cyrus, for that matter. Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford are yet among the living. And Jeff Goldblum? Still not dead. Hackers on Sunday broke into Spears' account with Twitpic, a program that allows Twitter users to share photographs. They posted a message saying that the oft-troubled singer had died, though she is alive, well, and currently brunette, in case you were wondering.

Voters in Arizona will decide next year whether residents will be subject to mandates in the pending health care reform that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are promoting. At least five other states – Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming – have considered proposals to take pre-emptive action against the pending federal mandates, but those proposals have either not made it out of committee, failed to get enough votes from one side of the legislature, or are still being crafted. Only the Arizona Legislature introduced an initiative (HCR2014), which if passed, would amend the state constitution to...

It isn't often that the justices of the US Supreme Court publicly rebuke a pro spective colleague on the eve of con firmation hearings. But that's essentially what the court did yesterday, as it narrowly ruled in favor of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who argued that they'd been the victims of reverse racial discrimination. For, in so doing, the high court reversed Sonia Sotomayor and her colleagues on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, who had found against the white firefighters. Even those justices who didn't support the firefighters' claim implicitly questioned why Sotomayor, et al., disposed of...

Standing unified with his amigo Hugo Chavez, President Obama appears ready to engage in a spirited defense of another leftist head of state, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was tossed out of power and out of the country over the weekend. While it took days for Obama to pass judgment on events following Iran's presidential election, he swiftly expressed "deepest concern" over Zelaya's ouster at the hand of the Honduran government. A few hours after the ouster, Obama called on leaders in Tegucigalpa to "respect democratic norms," which would seem to be a call to restore Zelaya to power. There...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A cell phone text exchange between Portland Mayor Sam Adams and the young man who was briefly his lover predicts "we are both ruined" shortly after the affair became public early this year. In documents released by the Oregon attorney general’s office on Tuesday, a four-page redacted summary of e-mail exchanges between Adams and Beau Breedlove last January show mutual concern for the breaking scandal. In one exchange on Jan. 27, apparently from Breedlove to Adams, Breedlove writes: "Well, now we are both ruined. Disgraced and ashamed. I’m sorry Sam." He continues: "I’m the felon, the slutty...

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." - Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009 The left in this country spent the Bush years wringing their hands, frustrated over efforts at nation building in the Mideast. Newsweek's attempt at rewriting history with claims of success in Iraq due to Obama's policies won't change the fact that the Bush administration's "war of choice" was a success. An entire...

Hearings on GM's motion to approve its restructuring plan are set to start today in Manhattan bankruptcy court. The heart of the individual bondholders' objections to the Obama Administration's plan to save GM is that it is a sub rosa and unconstitutional effort to do an end-run around the bankruptcy code and to enrich the coffers of the UAW, a key political ally of President Obama. In vacating its brief stay in the Chrysler case, the Supreme Court refused to address the merits of similar allegations, but limited its order to the facts at hand and arguably left open the...

It all began on a hot southern summer day on Indigo Creek Trail much like an episode of one of those to catch a predator shows that are so popular these days and leave honest folk with their mouths slack from incredulity and disgust with the only difference being that instead of a perp coming to a decoy house stocked with fresh made lemonade or sweet tea, cameras, and an moralizing media finger wagger the authorities were instead coming to the house of one Frank Lombard and his male house mate. Frank was a successful gay man so much so...

As the post-election crisis in Iran enters its third week, one thing is clear: the oxymoron that was the Islamic Republic is already dead. If the radical faction led by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, wins the power struggle, Iran will drop its “republican” pretensions to become an Islamic emirate or an imamate. But if the opposition wins, the theocratic aspect of the regime will end, allowing Iran to become a normal republic in which power belongs to the people. For 30 years, Iran has suffered from a split personality: trying to remain faithful to the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s ersatz...

Their names often pay tribute to Iranian culture and their accented speech still sings the unique music of the language, even after decades. They stay on top of Iranian news, culture, sports and trivia, and stay in touch with friends and family living in a country whose distance from Israel is measured in more than geography. The Israeli community of Iranian Jews numbers about 170,000 -- including the first generation of Israeli-born -- and is deeply proud of its roots. On Tuesday, around 150 members of the community demonstrated in the Israeli city of Holon, home to the country's largest...

Contaminated needles and scalpels, bloodied bandages, body parts, unused prescription drugs, soiled hospital garments, radioactive waste and refuse tainted with infectious disease: These are only a few items that may be discarded on a curbside, abandoned in a nearby lake or piled in a dumpster headed for the local landfill. Some say Americans are simply oblivious to the imminent risk of major hazards and contagions spreading throughout their communities at any given time. Former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., grew concerned about medical waste hauling after Sept. 11. He told WND that 15 years ago, the nation's hospitals incinerated much of...

The Dead Sea will be eliminated next week from a contest to choose the seven natural wonders of the world, because of a Palestinian boycott over the participation of an Israeli settler council. The New 7 Wonders of Nature is a global Internet contest under the slogan: "If we want to save anything, we first need to truly appreciate it." In 2007 it chose the new seven man-made wonders of the world. Its rules state that if a nominee site is located in more than one country, all countries in which it is located must form an Official Supporting Committee...

Listen to Quinn and Rose on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 158, 6am - 10am EST, or on any of these stations – click You can listen later on podcast at-click For all conservative shows online - click @@

TEHRAN, June 29 -- A top supervisory body reviewing Iran's disputed June 12 election formally dismissed all opposition complaints of fraud Monday and affirmed a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting off shouts of protest from Tehran's rooftops but leaving opponents with few options amid an intensifying government crackdown. The decision by the Guardian Council, a 12-member panel of Shiite Muslim clerics and jurists who oversee elections and certify results, was announced about 10 p.m. Tehran time after a partial recount was conducted in an effort to mollify political opponents who charge that Ahmadinejad benefited from massive vote-rigging. Before...

Even though most of his friends and relatives have left, Albert Cameo says he will never abandon Syria. "My family has always been here," said Cameo, 68, a retired tailor and president of Syria's estimated 200-member Jewish community. "It's important for some of us to stay here to keep our traditions." Most Jewish Syrians left in waves after the creation of Israel in 1948 and the enactment of harsh Syrian laws barring them from owning property, withdrawing funds from bank accounts and traveling. "If they had let Jews go back and forth, no one would have left," said Joey Allaham,...

BEIRUT: A tense calm held in the Beirut neighborhood of Aisha Bakkar during the day Monday after armed clashes on Sunday left one person killed and several wounded. A large number of Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers tanks and armored personnel carriers lined Rachidine Street, which divides Aisha Bakkar between supporters of the Future and Amal parties, as the military tried to keep calm in the neighborhood. Despite the military presence, the atmosphere in the neighborhood was strained, as groups of men congregated on sidewalks and around vandalized cars and shattered glass from Sunday's fighting. On both sides of the road...