Free Republic

Wife's Bribery Plea Raises Questions About Michigan Democrat- In the snow-covered parking lot of a McDonald's in Detroit two years ago, City Council member Monica Conyers met with a waste-management consultant who slipped her an envelope stuffed with as much as $3,000 in cash. The under-the-table payment, made shortly after she cast the swing vote on a $1 billion city sludge deal, drove Conyers's guilty plea to a bribery charge that could send the Democratic politician to prison for up to five years. Conyers emerged for her court hearing late last week in the same building where her husband, John...

Youthful Ideals Shaped Obama Goal of Nuclear Disarmament By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of “a nuclear free world.” He railed against discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads. The student was Barack Obama, and he was clearly trying to sort out his thoughts. In the conclusion, he denounced “the twisted...

The iPhone is currently the best-selling smartphone in Japan, at least at retail, according to a recent survey. Gathered by research firm BCN, data from 2,300 stores shows the 8GB iPhone 3G as the most popular smartphone, followed by its 16GB sibling. Ranking third in the survey is the NTT DoCoMo Aquos SH-04A, designed by Sharp; RIM's BlackBerry Bold ranks sixth, and a full four slots in the list are occupied by devices from HTC. The Japanese iPhone is carried by Softbank, which is said to have adjusted its plans to make the product cheaper in terms of fees and...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's abrupt and unscripted holiday resignation is an odd way to launch a potential presidential bid and certainly no help for a party battered by scandal and fighting for relevancy. From a folksy figure who catapulted from obscure governor to conservative darling and vice presidential nominee, it's merely the latest move in a political drama that has left Republican elders scratching their heads. --snip-- "If this is her launching pad for 2012, it's a curious move," said John Weaver, a former senior strategist for McCain's presidential bids. "Policy is politics, and she has no real accomplishments as...

Here is video of Sandi Patty singing Our National Anthem - The Star-Spangled Banner. No one sings it like she does! It is a moving experience just to listen to, especially on this Independence Day. . . . . (Watch Video)

Prayer request from a Catholic missionary in Honduras Received this morning via e-mail: Dear Friends, I realize that the current political instability in Honduras may not seem like a big deal, and maybe to the rest of the world, it isn't a big deal - but what happens over this weekend will determine the fate of this small country, and more specifically, the fate of the Church in this country, and the fate of our mission here in Comayagua. Over the past ten months, I've put down roots here, which is why when I was faced this week with the...

Comic Fred Travalena died last week.

snip Conversations over the last few weeks with more than a dozen members of Israel's larger national security community--right and left, scholars and military men and women, some coming out of the army and others the air force, some with decades of experience in military intelligence and others in clandestine operations, some former Knesset members and others former, current, and soon-to-be advisers to prime ministers--suggest it is fair to conclude that the professionals agree with the public that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is a game changer. Among them, there is a consensus that Israel has the technological capacity to...

Thats all it says

Three African countries on Friday signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.

Featured Term (selected at random):SOLEMN VOWS Public vows pronounced in a religious order and recognized as such by the Church. The term has become technical since the recognition of simple but public vows in religious congregations and societies of common life. In practice, a solemn vow of poverty means the actual renunciation of ownership and not merely the independent use of material possessions; and a solemn vow of chastity invalidates attempted marriage. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said that both the name and the packaging are demeaning. One side of the package has a drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the long beard of a man in traditional Muslim attire, while the other shows a Stealth bomber flying over a group of Arabs riding camels. In addition, "Hadji" is an honorific for those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Chemistry World reports that the catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine - the most abundant waste on Earth - at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water. Urine's major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule - importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules.

At my local Independence Day Parade the local Bolsheviks (aka DemocRATS) marched in the parade holding signs saying "One Nation, Single-Payer Healthcare". It was the most disgusting display I have ever experienced. I was the instigator of a heckling that shouted No Single Payer Healthcare. The Bolsheviks were stunned that anyone would heckle them in the parade, but I just could not let such a blatant partisan show go unchallenged. Did anyone else experince this in their local parade(s) ?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Organization of American States is meeting in Washington to consider suspending Honduras' membership because of the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The group's assistant secretary-general, Albert Ramdin, said Zelaya planned to attend Saturday's emergency meeting. Zelaya is expected to address foreign ministers Ramdin says the OAS does not regard the current Honduran government as legitimate — so it can't withdraw from the OAS. Ministers agreed Tuesday on a 72-hour ultimatum for the Honduran government to reinstate Zelaya or face an OAS suspension. But Honduras' interim president calls the OAS "a political organization, not a...

Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an "illegitimate state." In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

Vice-President Joe Biden presided in Baghdad over a naturalization ceremony, where 237 U.S. troops -- comprising immigrants from places such as Mexico and Haiti and also some native Iraqi interpreters -- were sworn in as American citizens. The ceremony took place in the late Saddam Hussein's former Al-Faw Palace. CNN quotes the VP: We did it in Saddam's palace and I can think of nothing better. That S.O.B. is rolling over in his grave right now. So, there's the Vice-President of the United States, publicly spitting on Saddam Hussein's grave and reveling in the performance of an American ceremony of...

KALAMAZOO -- For the Rev. Margaret "Meg" Jenista, of Third Christian Reformed Church, a self-confessed "theology nerd," this weekend promises to be a happy, fulfilling time. "I'm nerdy enough to be excited about John Calvin's 500th birthday," said Jenista about an event being celebrated worldwide -- the birth on July 10, 1509, of a pillar of Protestant faith and one of the founders of the Reformed church movement. Calvin's influence on Christianity and on society in general endures for a variety of reasons, said Kalamazoo-area pastors who serve denominations that trace their roots back to his teachings. For Jenista, the...

On this 4th of July, I can't think of anything America needs to hear more than a warning President Ronald Reagan gave in his Farewell Address in January 1989. Listen to the video above to hear what he shared with America toward the end of his speech. Reagan turned his attention to what he said he was particularly proud of during his Presidency - a renewal of patriotism and the American Spirit. Reagan also gave a warning, that unless Americans taught each new generation what it means to be an American, we risk losing our memory as a nation -...

LONGMONT — Free Marijuana in Longmont is collecting signatures to ask voters in November to change city pot laws. But even some members of the group aren’t confident they’ll get the question on the ballot. The group wants to legalize possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana for adults and reduce city penalties for public consumption of marijuana and possession of some types of drug paraphernalia. Volunteers have been walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors and visiting local bars and hangouts as they try to collect the 3,485 signatures they need to put the question before voters. Free Marijuana volunteers...