Free Republic

NEWARK, NJ—A federal judge today sentenced former state Senator Joseph Coniglio to 30 months in federal prison for his extortion and mail fraud convictions for an influencepeddling scheme connected to a $66,000-a-year consulting arrangement with Hackensack University Medical Center, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced. U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh also ordered Coniglio to pay a $15,000 fine. Coniglio must surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons on a date to be determined once the BOP designates a prison facility. There is no parole in the federal system. Coniglio, 66, of Paramus, a plumber by trade, was...

Bexar County's (San Antonio,Tx.) two largest school districts said today they will not show President Obama's controversial 'address to students' in their schools, and will leave it up to parents whether the speech should be viewed by their kids, 1200 WOAI news reports. The speech, which is set for 11AM CDT on Tuesday, has become controversial, because many conservative groups have said they are afraid the president will use the speech to try to convince children to support his political policies, and convince their parents to do the same. "What North East ISD is going to do is tape the...

Rod Blagojevich (is) the former Illinois governor who tried to sell Obama's seat in congress. When Obama was asked by the press if he had ever met Governor Blagojevich, Obama replied, "I only saw Rod Blagojevich one time ... and that was in the stands and from a distance at a Chicago Bears Football Game."

In America, school security guards don't get to revise the First Amendment to suit their whims. Nobody does. But that's exactly what happened at a Reston town-hall meeting sponsored by Alexandria Democratic Rep. James P. Moran last week. Fairfax County Public School Security Officer Wesley Cheeks Jr. took it upon himself to decide that one sign -- among a panoply found outside the event -- crossed the line.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defending a costly plan to revitalize the economy, Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday said the government's sweeping stimulus effort "is in fact working" despite steady Republican criticism and public skepticism. "The recovery act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy, and changing the conversation in this country," Biden said. "Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession."

An eBay seller who claims he has a birth certificate of Barack Obama issued in Kenya continues to maintain the document is authentic, despite evidence it is a forgery. As WND reported, administrators at Coast Province General Hospital in Mombasa said they had no knowledge of anyone at the hospital verifying a Barack Obama birth certificate, contrary to Smith's claim. In his most recent videos, Smith apparently has relied heavily upon comments posted on Free Republic in various threads, including here and here. The Smith document appears to be a forgery for the following reasons: 1. It lists "Coast Province...

This shows that people's voices are gonna be heard, and the White House doesn't have anybody fooled....nuff said

Congressman John Larson (D-CT) held a town hall meeting on Wednesday, September 2 in deep-blue West Hartford, CT at the Town Hall Auditorium. My husband "zelig" and I arrived about 45 minutes before the town hall started. As expected, there were two distinct groups rallying outside the Auditorium. Just like every rally we've ever attended, it was easy to find the folks on "our side": They were the ones with the American flags, the yellow Gadsden flags and the red and white-striped First U.S. Navy Jack flags... AND the homemade signs. The pro-ObamaCare crowd had their professionally printed full color...

Phillip Garrido, accused of kidnapping an 11-year-old girl in 1991 and imprisoning her in a shed for nearly two years, may have started his spree of sexual crimes as far back as 1972, police said. Garrido, then 21, gave a 14-year-old girl drugs and then sexually assaulted her multiple times, Antioch Police Lt. Leonard Orman told NBC's The Today Show on Thursday. The victim refused to testify about the incident, and the charges against Garrido were dropped, Orman said. Officials believe this is the third victim that Garrido has raped in the last 37 years -- and they're looking for...

Here is inspiring video of a Mississippi High School Quarterback who potentially saved 22 children on a school bus by tackling a 14 year-old girl wielding a loaded gun and threatening to kill students. Kaleb Eulls was on the bus, and when he realized she had the gun he tackled the girl getting the gun away from her. He is now being hailed as a hero for his bravery. The video is grainy, but shows him tackling the girl, and also contains an interview with the hero. . . . (Watch Video)

Healthcare-reform opponent loses part of finger during fight at rally A 65-year-old healthcare-reform opponent had part of a finger bitten off Wednesday night during a rally in Thousand Oaks, authorities said. The incident was reported at 7:26 p.m. at Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive, where more than 100 people gathered for a pro-healthcare reform vigil organized by Moveon.org. About 15 people opposed to President Barack Obama’s proposed healthcare reform stood across the street from Moveon.org’s group. Members of Code Pink: Women for Peace also were there, authorities said. The finger-biting incident occurred after a member of the group protesting healthcare...

From Catholic News Service: Priest confirms excommunication; will keep urging women’s ordination By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS)—Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois has confirmed his excommunication from the Catholic Church but said he has not changed his view that women who are called to priesthood should be ordained. He urged the church to turn away from what he called the sin of sexism. Father Bourgeois said he was excommunicated Nov. 24, 2008, “latae sententiae”—automatically—for not recanting his public statements supporting the ordination of women, which is against church teaching that, for several fundamental reasons, the church is unable to...

A mild-mannered Bush Appointee seems to have saved Honduras from a Obama-Chavez thugocracy. Tegucigalpa -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has granted $150 million to Honduras, ignoring the international community's calls to increase sanctions against the regime currently usurping power in that country. $150 million happens to be almost precisely the amount that Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department has been threatening to withhold, according to Reuters. The hero of the moment seems to be, mild mannered Meg Lundsager, who was sworn in as Executuve Director of the IMF after the no confidence (sham) vote against Paul Wolfowitz in...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says he's not running for president in 2012 -- but he's not closing the door completely. The brother of one Republican president and son of another was in Indianapolis Wednesday to tout Florida's education reforms to Indiana's Education Roundtable. Bush says he's not running for anything "right now." "I'm focused on my own private life and trying to help others continue their public service," Bush says. "It's a secondary role, not a primary role, and it'll probably remain that way." Bush's hedged denial of interest stands in contrast to the man at his side as...

Billionaire was trampled during August trip to SerengetiSilicon Valley billionaire Tom Siebel says he's recovering from broken ribs and legs after an elephant charged at him and a tour guide in the Serengeti a month ago. Siebel on Wednesday told the San Jose Mercury News that the animal plowed into the guide and then attacked him, breaking several ribs, goring him in the left leg and crushing the right leg. "It was all happening so fast." Siebel told the paper. "There was no place to hide, no place to run." The 55-year-old Siebel Systems software founder said the Aug. 1...

LOS ANGELES, CA, September 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In all of his 16 years defending the rights of Catholics, the President of the Catholic League has "never seen a more defamatory, obscene and vicious show on TV."  League President Bill Donohue was referring to the August 27 edition of the CBS/Showtime program Penn & Teller.  The half-hour show libeled the Catholic Church with impunity, blaming the Church for, as Donohue put it, "every evil in history." Show host Jillette said the "intolerance, greed, paranoia, hypocrisy and callous disregard for human suffering" was the hallmark of the Catholic Church. Others on...

MERCEDES - Police are searching for the men responsible for a home invasion near Mercedes on Monday night. The homeowner says the men stormed the house claiming to be from the FBI, then beat him with their guns. He says they demanded money and drugs, when he told them he didn't have what they wanted, they stole his a car and sped off. He says the part that scares him the most, is that his wife and baby were home at the time of the attack. He's now planning to move to get them out of a dangerous situation.

I've got to side with the libs on this one -- but only to a point.When I heard that the President was going to address school children next Tuesday, my first thought was "Ok, he can impart some wisdom about the value of education." This is something I have talked about before -- how I think BO can have a real impact on a certain sector of students who might otherwise throw away the opportunities available to them.After all, Presidents Reagan and Bush 41 also addressed school children, albeit without any "Menu of Classroom Activities" distributed by the Dept of Ed. And whereas I'm...

... and nobody proofread it very carefullyThe timeline from impeachment to book release was an incredible seven months. How did former Illinois chief executive Rod Blagojevich manage to bang out “The Governor” so quickly? He wrote the first couple chapters longhand on a yellow legal pad, until his wife told him it was taking him too long, a source told the Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed. “So he dictated the rest of the book on his 12-year-old daughter Amy's pink dictating machine," the source told Sneed. Another reason for the quick turnaround: No one proofread it all that carefully. Blago’s lawyers reportedly...

Film maker Mia Engberg explains the genesis of Dirty Diaries, a movie made up of 12 'feminist porn' shorts that has been generating heated debate across Sweden in the lead-up to its premiere this week. A few years ago I was asked if I wanted to make a short film on a mobile phone. The result was Come Together, a film in which a number of women point the camera at their faces while masturbating. The film was put onto the internet and provoked a strong reaction. A lot of the reactions were negative, with comments like: "Damn, they're ugly....