Free Republic

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. Read below for Father Steve's very important reflection on this depiction of Mary. The poet Wendell Berry reflects that for parents, the only way is hard.  We who give life give pain.  There is no help.  Yet we who give pain give love; by pain we learn the extremity of love…  In other words, it may be different in another world, but in this world, all love requires a sacrifice, and with that sacrifice there is inevitable pain.  To reject sacrifice as the condition for the possibility of love is to...

This study is the result of months of analysis, discussion and drafting by a group of top security policy experts concerned with the preeminent totalitarian threat of our time: the legal-political-military doctrine known within Islam as "shariah." It is designed to provide a comprehensive and articulate "second opinion" on the official characterizations and assessments of this threat as put forth by the United States government.The authors, under the sponsorship of the Center for Security Policy, have modeled this work on an earlier "exercise in competitive analysis" which came to be known as the "Team B" Report. That 1976 document challenged...

Not all of the hundreds and hundreds of $billions our rulers have been looting from future generations and flushing away in the name of "stimulus" has been as flagrantly wasted as the $30 million spent to enhance the living conditions of rodents in Nancy Pelosi's district. For example, $800,000 was spent teaching Africans how to wash their genitals: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals...

The uncrowned queen of the Tea Party, Mrs Palin has placed her sword on the shoulders of 33 candidates involved in primary battles over the past few months; 21 have risen to claim victory, often against heavy initial odds. Many of those Mrs Palin has endorsed were either novices or obscure state politicians, like Miss O'Donnell, who were struggling until the Palin seal of approval was offered. More than half were women, in keeping with the former Alaska governor's declaration that Republican "Mama Grizzlies" would rise up and protect their children from Barack Obama's heavy-spending agenda, just as a female...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday morning laid the groundwork for arguing that Israel needs a new Arab state in order to remain “democratic and Jewish.” Speaking with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem at the opening of the second straight day of talks between Israel and PA leaders, Clinton stated, “The status quo is unsustainable” even if it can last for another 30 years. “The only path to ensure Israel’s future as a secure democratic and Jewish state“ is an Arab state, headed by the Palestinian Authority, “alongside” Israel.

How do you drum up interest in a candidate that everyone says "can't win"? The candidate I am referring to is Dale Glading who is running for Congress in New Jersey's 1st District. He is running against a "lifetime" candidate named Rob Andrews, one of the sleaziest politicians out there. Dale Glading, 50, is the Founder and Executive Director of The Saints Prison Ministry. Headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey, "The Saints" is the largest athletic prison ministry in the country with branch offices in Charlotte, NC, and Colorado Springs, CO. By working to restore inmates to God and their families,...

Communist, Democrat, What’s the Difference? Democrats came out drooling Wednesday morning, saying that Christine O’Donnell was just the candidate they wanted in the Delaware Senate race. Which got me thinking. If the Democrats are acting so giddy and excited… What are they trying to hide? Could it be Chris Coons [sic] past?

A selection of the best readers' comments on Christine O'Donnell's primary victory... A few thoughts: "Both parties have vastly underestimated the level most Americans are fed up with the status quo of US politics." "Insulting others for thinking differently is counterproductive. I don't expect perfection in my political leaders nor am I willing to discount someone because they are not perfectly poised and polished. I admire hard work, personal responsibility, and a bent towards financial responsibility. Show me these attributes, and I will vote for you." "What I would like to convey to my liberal friends is being a conservative...

A Sept. 10-12 Ipsos Public Affairs poll for Reuters (MoE =/- 4.6%) found 47 percent of likely voters backing Rick Scott and 45 percent Alex Sink. In the Senate race, Rubio led the field with 40 percent, compared to 26 percent for Crist, and 21 percent for Meek. Crist was winning 31 percent of Democrats (Meek 47 percent); 22 percent of Republicans, and 52 percent of independents. Interestingly, among registered voters it was Rubio 32, Crist 29, and Meek 22. Asked how they'd vote without Meek in the race, it was Rubio 46, Crist 45.

Paul Ryan has responded to a David Brooks column that had in turn took issue with an op-ed co-written by Ryan and AEI president Arthur Brooks on the decision facing America “between an opportunity society, where the government promotes a vibrant free enterprise system and sturdy safety net v. an expanding social welfare state – one where the government assumes greater control of more sectors of the economy and more aspects of our lives.” -snip- Ryan’s response — a concise defense of his Roadmap for America’s Future — is excellent, as you’d expect. Here’s a taste: The challenge goes beyond...

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. -- Cover story: "The Earth Doesn't Care If You Drive a Hybrid!" Or recycle. Or eat organic food. Or live in a green house powered by solar energy. Or squander commodities. The Earth just doesn't care how much you waste. Was that a cover story in Mother Earth News? Or The Onion? No folks, it was the cover story in the elite American Scholar Journal by Nobel physicist Robert B. Laughlin of Stanford University. I bring it to your attention because in today's resurgence of Know-Nothing party politics few care what scholars say about anything. But you...

Yen Intervention Fans Flames Of Anti-Japanese Rage Across China Gus Lubin Sep. 15, 2010, 9:10 PM Anti-Japanese rage reached the highest level in years last night in China, says The Standard. In Guangzhou, protestors hurled beer bottles at the Japanese consulate. In Tianjin, they damaged Japanese buildings and fired ball bearings at a foreign school. In Hong Kong, activists stormed the Japanese consulate. Even Beijing has endorsed massive protests this weekend. Anti-Japanese sentiment has to do with a captured fishing boat and territorial protests -- but it also coincides with a yen intervention that will challenge China's export advantage. American...

Nancy Reagan endorses Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina The Associated Press Wednesday, September 15, 2010; 8:51 PM SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Former First Lady Nancy Reagan is endorsing California Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. Whitman and Fiorina announced separately Wednesday that each had received Reagan's endorsement. Reagan issued a statement through Fiorina's campaign saying the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. "knows what needs to be done to move our country forward."

Sarah Palin told Bill O’Reilly tonight that insiders like Karl Rove don’t think Christine O’Donnell will win because they don’t want her to win. Sarah went on to clobber Rove for attacking the Delaware conservative. Video at blog : http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/09/sarah-palin-insiders-like-rove-dont-think-odonnell-will-win-because-they-dont-want-her-to-win/ or You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5NVfz9pP5o&feature=player_embedded

OAKLAND -- Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey are entitled to have their triple murder trial moved out of Alameda County because 70 percent of potential jurors familiar with charges against them think they are definitely or probably guilty, an expert testified Wednesday. "There is a reasonable likelihood the defendants would not receive a fair trial," the expert, Bryan Edelman, a social physiologist, said on the second day of a change of venue hearing before Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon. In Los Angeles County -- which is where the pair wants Reardon to move the trial -- only 41 percent...

Move aside, Michael Bloomberg. California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has just surpassed your record in personal spending on an election. After giving her campaign another $15 million Tuesday, the Republican former eBay Inc. chief executive has now spent $119 million in the Golden State race. (You can view her campaign-finance records here.) Bloomberg spent $110 million of his own money to win a third term as New York City’s mayor last year. Whitman’s Democratic opponent, former California governor and current state attorney general Jerry Brown, has attacked the Republican’s lavishness. Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford said Whitman is running a...

Thanks Karl - Couldn't have done it without you. She's also raised about $65K via DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund.

The federal government spent $800,000 of YOUR money to fund a program to teach African men how to wash their genitals after sex. This video is one man's reaction to this news.

Republican Raul Labrador said today, September 14, 2010, that Congressman Walt Minnick should honor his campaign commitment to debate him on television. Yesterday, Minnick canceled an October 20 debate on KTVB television in Boise that Minnick spokesman John Foster said the congressman had "tentatively accepted". In a story in The Idaho Statesman; KTVB General Manager Doug Armstrong said he was told Minnick was withdrawing from the debate as "a matter of strategy". However, Foster answered saying, "That's not what I said. The congressional schedule still is bit tentative. We felt we had room to commit to one statewide televised debate...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – First Lady Michelle Obama told those gathered for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference on Wednesday that her “Let’s Move!” campaign to end childhood obesity required grassroots efforts in communities across the nation, such as planting community gardens and making fresh produce more readily available, including in liquor stores. Obama cited a group in Detroit as a “wonderful example” of how local communities can make the campaign succeed.