Free Republic

Evidence is mounting that the Lockerbie bomber's decision to drop his appeal against conviction was part of a secret deal ahead of his release. A leaked email suggests that Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi was quietly urged to abandon a potentially embarrassing court battle to clear his name in return for freedom.

What a great guy. The powers that run our tiny community want to put a gas well in w/o any benefit to the home owners. Good man. He suggested a letter go to a state operation come from one of us, I took the stand. He said his office will give me a outline of a lettter by the morning that I can use. Ohio is really NOT dem no matter how the state went at the last election. I am just so happy that the guy voted for, was there for me. I must say I gave him my...

A Swiss man has set a world record for the highest tightrope walk ever. He accomplished the feat in Germany with no harness or safety nets to catch him. Swiss tightrope walker Freddy Nock has walked along a tram cable in Germany's tallest mountain without a harness and safety nets that will catch him if he falls to set a new world record for the stunt. At 9,655 feet high in Zugspitze mountain, it was the highest tightrope walk ever made. Nock walked along 3,264 feet of inclined cable and reached the tram station in 50 minutes on Sunday. The...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Expanded domestic partnerships for same-sex couples could face a public vote after Washington officials ruled that referendum sponsors have enough voter support to force a referendum on the November ballot. The new partnership law, nicknamed "everything but marriage" by its supporters, would broaden domestic partnerships by granting gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided benefits that presently apply only to married heterosexual couples. After a month of counting petition signatures, the secretary of state's office said Monday that Referendum 71 had 121,617 valid voter signatures - more than a thousand more than needed to advance to...

CLEMSON — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that he would never support a government-run public health insurance option and hoped President Obama would seek a bipartisan plan that included tort reform and insurance reform. He said he supports an individual tax credit for health care. An employer option could remain, but he said he believes the individual credit would provide more cost savings. “The idea of a public (health care) option … will never get my vote,” Graham said. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, spoke to members and guests of the Rotary Club of Clemson at the Ramada...

For his first guest on last Friday's special edition of "Real Time" host Bill Maher spent a half hour interviewing rapper, mogul, and entrepreneur Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. (For my previous commentary on Maher's second interview of the evening, with progressive journalist Bill Moyers click here.) Carter was soft-spoken in his reflective interview which rarely got particularly political. Maher mainly questioned Carter about his artistic process and style. He did also ask about being a married man and his responsibility as a role model: My responsibility is to the culture. My job is to show it in a great light. I'm...

On his own dime, Mark Paredes is headed to Europe to try and explain Jews and Judaism to Mormons and to reassure Jewish people that they have a friend in Mormonism. Paredes, who currently is the president of the Los Angeles office of the Zionist Organization of America and a high councilor in the Santa Monica California LDS Stake, plans to speak in Holland, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Slovenia and Austria starting on Aug. 29. Earlier this year, he did a similar tour in Norway and Sweden. Paredes believes he is being spiritually urged to visit Europe and speak in support...

As the roaring wall of flame raged through the Angeles National Forest, firefighters Ted Hall and Arnie Quinones worked feverishly to protect their fire-crew camp, made up mostly of prison inmates. But all too suddenly, the fire invaded the campsite. Hall and Quinones shepherded 55 inmates and several corrections and fire personnel into a cinderblock dining hall to shelter them from the blaze. The fire burned through the camp, leaving it in ruins. The dining hall provided adequate shelter for now, but Hall and Quinones knew they had to get everyone to safety. So they jumped in an engine truck...

For those of us who will not be able to travel to D.C. on 9/12, this is an opportunity to have your voice heard.

If it’s not Frum and Bruce Bartlett demanding greater outreach from Republicans while sneering at them at every turn, it’s Brooks breaking his arms patting himself on the back for being an intellectual … who happens to find political portent in how well Barack Obama irons his pants. That first encounter is still vivid in Brooks’s mind. “I remember distinctly an image of–we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at his pant leg and his perfectly creased pant,” Brooks says, “and I’m thinking, a) he’s going to be president and b) he’ll be a very good president.”...

<p>HANGMAN'S GROVE, WEST VIRGINIA — William Robert Kräukur, President and CEO of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), has chosen Senator Robert Byrd (D-Wva.) as this year’s recipient of the KKK’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented at the 133rd Annual KKK Transparent Image Awards, taped last night and scheduled to air October 15th (8:00 p.m. ET.) on FOX.</p>

If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products. The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer. "Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of...

Michelle Obama, exhausted from her Martha's Vineyard vacation, can't keep her eyes open during the Homily at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. Don't give her too much grief, though. It's really not her fault. Reverend Mark Hession isn't half the public speaker that Reverend Jeremiah Wright was. VIDEO

The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Conservatives are up-in-arms over the Democratic healthcare scheme. From town hall meetings, to talk radio, to the internet, the voice of the people is being heard. However, I am not at all convinced that the voice of the people will ultimately make a difference in the long run. My pessimism has less to do with the sinister motives of those seeking to take over the healthcare system. On the contrary, my pessimism stems from the hypocrisy of those shouting down their representatives and claiming to be...

KANSAS CITY, MO - Three Republican senators came to Children's Mercy Hospital Monday to meet with health care professionals. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said we should focus on only the problems that need fixing and not revamp the whole thing. Senator McConnell joined Senators John McCain and Kit Bond before an invited crowd of mostly health professionals on Monday. "We have committed an act of generational death by laying on our children, grandchildren these multi-trillions of dollars," Sen. McCain said. "All of it, it strikes me argues once again for a much more targeted, incremental approach to health care...

HOW LONG do you think it will be before our Health and Safety nutters start killing more people every year than they actually save? We've already had a child drown in a pond because the Hobby Bobbies called to his rescue hadn't been trained in the correct use of Wellington boots and so declined to intervene. And a woman bled to death after being stabbed by her boyfriend because armed police didn't fancy entering her home just in case the knifeman was still on the prowl. Now we have 61-year-old Roy Adams, who dialled 999 when having a heart attack...

Onslow County, NC -- A baby had all the toes of his left foot chewed off by a Pit Bull, according to the Onslow County Sheriff's Office. Lawmen say the baby could lose his foot. The mother said she never heard the baby cry out and only discovered the injury when she went to change the baby's diaper Monday morning. Sheriff's deputies say the mother, Robie Lynn Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Tremayne Spillman, were taking care of the 12-week-old Pit Bull for a friend, after the friend was arrested Sunday night for possession of a firearm by a felon. "Ms....

Kennedy thought government could solve all of our problems By Sheldon Richman Last update: August 30, 2009 - 11:17 AM Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is gone. No one in the last 40 years stood as a larger symbol of “liberalism,” the view that government is the answer for everything. A great deal has been said in recent days about his compassion and generosity. But bear in mind that in public life, his compassion consisted in spending other people's money and authorizing government bureaucracies to interfere with the social cooperation that takes place whenever life, liberty, and property are respected. We...

Minnesota Vikings NFL football team introduce their new Cash For Clunkers Program

Massachusetts Cuts Back Immigrants’ Health Care By ABBY GOODNOUGH Published: August 31, 2009 BOSTON — State-subsidized health insurance for 31,000 legal immigrants here will no longer cover dental, hospice or skilled-nursing care under a scaled-back plan that Gov. Deval Patrick announced Monday. Mr. Patrick said his administration had struggled to find a solution “that preserves the promise of health care reform” after the state legislature cut most of the $130 million it had previously allotted immigrants, to help close a budget deficit. Although their health benefits will be sharply curtailed in some cases, Mr. Patrick portrayed the new program as...