Free Republic

The American people continue to move to the pro-life perspective on abortion according to the latest Moral Compass survey by the Knights of Columbus and Marist Poll. The poll mirrored findings of other recent surveys, showing that more Americans identify as pro-life than as pro-choice, and that the vast majority of Americans favor restricting abortion.

When, in the course of the Clinton presidency, it became necessary to normalize sexual misbehavior among presidents, the memory of Thomas Jefferson was soiled, with the compliance of academic and journalistic liberal elites. On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson died at the age of eighty-three. For his tombstone, he listed the three accomplishments he desired most to be remembered: Author of the Declaration of Independence; Author of the Virginia Statutes for Religious Freedom; and Founder of the University of Virginia. Today, many Americans have no idea about his significant...

PHOENIX - Hundreds of passengers aboard a British Airways Boeing 747 preparing to depart for London from the Phoenix airport were forced to use slides to evacuate the jet on Friday night after fumes filled the cabin. No serious injuries were reported among the 298 passengers and 18 crew when the incident occurred at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at about 8 p.m. Arizona time (11 p.m. EDT), Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Shelly Jamison said. About 15 people who were on board Flight 288 were evaluated for minor scrapes and bruises, but only one person was taken to a hospital...

Rottweillers often get a bad rap as an aggressive breed of dog, but this one definitely has a soft side. Ten-month-old Jazzy, who has never had a litter of her own, recently adopted three infant kittens and has begun nursing them. Jazzy's owner, Ashley Hood of Bramber, was shocked. “I would never have thought that was possible,” she said. Hood found the abandoned kittens last Friday, July 3 in the bottom of an old barrel. Although she waited for hours in hopes the mother cat would emerge, the kittens’ howls were hard to ignore. “They were just screaming. It was...

As I read founder of Creators Syndicates Rick Newcombe's explanation of why he is moving his business out of the increasingly corrupt confines of Los Angeles and the anti growth policies of California in general, I had to wonder. Business aren't the only one who relocate to get away from high taxes and arbitrary, out of control bureaucrats. Americans have been voting with their feet for decades now. During the last half of the 20th century, all across America, married people with children voted with their feet rather than take on the dirty job of trying to reform the nation's...

N.Korea 'Reverses Conventional Wisdom on Human Growth' A popular view in anthropology is that children born in late spring or early summer are taller than those born in late fall or early winter. Researchers from all over the world say it is a universal phenomenon regardless of race or region that height varies according to the time of birth. Anthropologists have not been able to find out why, but guess that the amount of sunshine has some effect on physical growth of human beings. However, research on children born in the early 1990s in North Korea produced results that are...

The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he thinks he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning -- concerns over money. (snip) Johnston made his comments at a news conference Thursday at the office of his attorney, Rex Butler. Johnston came forward, Butler said, because Alaskans want to know why Palin has decided to resign.

/begin my excerpts N. Korea's Kim Jong-il, Irascible and Hallucinating(S. Korean Think Tank Head) (Seoul = Yonhap News) Kim Sung-jin = Due to complications from the stroke suffered August last year, N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly 'tends to be irascible and have trouble accepting negative reports,' according to Nam Sung-wook, the director of the Institute for National Security Strategy. He said, "During the first half of this year, Kim Jong-il's health is believe to be stable in general but he shows some idiosyncratic symptoms which are believed to be complications from his stroke." The comments are from excerpts of...

The westward-bound Conestoga wagons of the 19th century are an emblem of America's expansion. They also offer a useful analogy for our current situation. Several years ago, I was stationed at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. Fort Leavenworth was a major crossing point on the Missouri River for settlers and their wagons as they headed west. There are still massive ruts cut into the river bank where the wagons wore down the hill side as they struggled to climb out of the river bottom to higher ground on the western side of the river bank. I often stood in those ruts and...

MSNBC "State-Run Media" reporter Mara Schiavocampo was reporting on the atmosphere in Ghana prior to Obama's visit to Africa. At about the 2:39 mark of this video, while interviewing a person who appeared to be a shop owner, she says, "Barack Obama is Kenyan … but Ghanaians are still proud of him."

One person is dead after two boats crashed Friday night in Clinton County. The crash happened around 7:30 p.m. Friday on the Susquehanna River in Woodward Township, near Lock Haven. Around 10:30 p.m., Newswatch 16 found investigators from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission still on the scene, looking over the boats. Emergency dispatchers in Clinton County confirmed one person died in the crash. They also said that several people were hurt. None of the victims have been identified and there is no word what caused the crash.

WASHINGTON - After a half-year of extending patient feelers to Iran, President Barack Obama has set a timeline -- warning Tehran it must show willingness to negotiate an end to its nuclear program by September or face consequences. If the West weighs new moves against Iran this fall, as Obama suggested Friday, it will likely mean new U.N. sanctions or unilateral U.S. penalties, rather than military strikes. Obama told reporters in Italy, where he met with other world leaders, that there is now a September "time frame" for Iran to respond to offers to discuss its nuclear program. While he...

BAGHDAD: With little notice and almost no public debate, Iraq’s Kurdish leaders are pushing ahead with a new constitution for their semiautonomous region, a step that has alarmed Iraqi and American officials who fear that the move poses a new threat to the country’s unity. The new constitution, approved by Kurdistan’s parliament two weeks ago and scheduled for a referendum this year, underscores the level of mistrust and bad faith between the region and the central government in Baghdad. And it raises the question of whether a peaceful resolution of disputes between the two is possible, despite intensive cajoling by...

The Second Amendment refers to the right of citizens to keep and bear arms as part of a “well regulated Militia”. As gun dealer Cliff Hunter pointed out to me today, the Bill of Rights doesn’t mention the use of guns for self defence. But it’s surely hard for anyone not to cheer when they hear the tale of a legally armed American taking out two armed robbers. That’s what happened here in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon when a travelling jewellery salesman (sounds like a hazardous occupation to me), with a legal concealed carry permit from Alabama, was approached by...

Cape Girardeau is the proud hometown of Rush Limbaugh the undisputed king of conservative talk radio Once best known as the site of a Civil War battle or the biggest Mississippi port between St Louis and Memphis, Cape Girardeau is now renowned for one thing – it is the home town of Rush Limbaugh. With more than 14 million listeners a week, Limbaugh, 58, is the undisputed king of conservative talk radio and probably the most powerful voice of opposition to President Barack Obama. Shortly after the inauguration, the Obama administration, judging that he was one of the most polarising...

American motorists afraid that repairing the family car might break their budget are increasingly turning to Christian repair garages that offer honesty and charity as well as mechanical expertise. Christian Brothers Automotive, founded in Texas in the early 1980s, has just opened its 59th franchise in the recession-hit suburbs of St Louis, Missouri as part of its plans to have 120 outlets across the United States. Most are currently based in the South’s Bible Belt but the company is now expanding north. Nearly 80 per cent of Americans describe themselves as Christians so the company’s philosophy of ministering to its...

The lessons of the past year for central bank reserve managers – overseers of $7,000bn in foreign exchange assets, four times the amount managed by their flashier cousins, the sovereign wealth funds – stand in stark contrast to the convictions they developed over the prior decade. As central bank forex assets quadrupled in the 10 years following the emerging markets crisis of 1998, reserve liquidity was deemed excessive and more diversified investment strategies compelling. With growing confidence, sovereign assets were shifted away from the US dollar, government bonds and gold to higher-yielding currencies, credit and even equity instruments. The government-sponsored...

Here's the full audio of Governor Palin and Ted Nugent. Excellent!

Excellent! Please listen all the way.

A new video series on the Sunday Lectionary readings offered by Prof. Michael Barber of John Paul the Great Catholic University. The video was produced by students there.