Free Republic

When I read the opening of this Associated Press report, my heart sank, and my bile rose: “U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the leader of the world’s largest military, met Pope Benedict XVI, the world’s best known advocate for peace, at the Vatican on Wednesday.” Ay, caramba! There is no contradiction between the Pentagon and peace. In fact, there is harmony. Bill Buckley once observed that the Pentagon ought to win the Nobel Peace Prize every year, because the U.S. military is (or was) the world’s foremost guarantor of peace. What did Theodore Roosevelt say? He was the winner of...

“Instant energy, just add water” – you might expect the expression under an ACME label in an old Warner Bros cartoon, but not from a University. However, researchers at the University of Buffalo in New York have demonstrated that nano-particles of silicon react with water to produce the non-toxic silicic acid and release hydrogen. The reaction is well known, but the university says using 10nm spheres of silicon works 1,000 times faster than bulk silicon. Published in Nano Letters, the experiment didn’t require external heat or light to release the hydrogen, which was captured by the researchers to power a...

This didn't take long. Hillary exclaims "What difference does it make!?" at the Benghazi hearings. Now it is a hashtag on Twitter: Some of the posts... #WhatDifferenceDoesItMake that we crucified Romney when he was right and called it an act of terror ....difference would've been 4 Americans still alive if YOU & OBAMA HAD DONE YOUR JOB if absolutely no political leader is ever held responsible for doing absolutely anything? that Hillary Clinton is secretary of state - apparently none at all If you cant have a 20oz soda in the greatest city in the world; but FLOTUS can have...

What a busy week–so busy I forgot to go to one of the Sundance movies I scored tickets for! I’m not complaining though. Everyone else around here has been doing their share of sacrificin’ too:     Even Little Bo was pressed into action. He had to  stand on line with the Wons for 36 minutes yesterday before finally being relieved of duty!     (snip)Plus we had to go to church:     …and cry:     Butt you’re probably more interested in Lady M’s frock,by Naeem Khan(also of Indian dinner gown fame).Here it is full Monty and sans...

Liberal icon Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "You're entitled to your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts." But that was decades ago, and today more leftists than ever have graduated from confusion to delusion and believe they're entitled to their own fiction. A good example is naturalist David Attenborough, who recently complained that man is a plague upon our planet. He warns that our burgeoning population will ensure that we consume the world's resources like a sun-occluding swarm of high-tech locusts. Writes The Telegraph: "We are a plague on the Earth. It's coming home to roost...

Quentin Tarantino's latest film is being seen as a vehicle for the pro-gun movement in the US to rally African American support It is on course to be its director's highest-grossing film and has been nominated for five Oscars. But one rightwing US group sees an opportunity in Quentin Tarantino's anti-slavery polemic Django Unchained that the film-maker is unlikely to have imagined when he wrote it: promoting the importance of gun ownership rights to African American audiences. Political Media, which recently raised eyebrows in the US in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings with the launch of a controversial...

2pm (ET) LIVE: Investigation of Benghazi Attack

In case you missed it, it turns out Beyonce lip synched the National Anthem at the inauguration.Only when Democrats are in power...and they wonder why people think they don't like America! How can they like a country they can't even respect?I

The Overstated Inaugural Address Artur Davis The consensus about Barack Obama’s inaugural address is right. It was the most fulsome presidential defense of liberalism we have heard since 1965, and the most programmatically specific inaugural speech since the 1930s. This was also the rhetoric of a partisan who believes his opponents are losers and fools who won’t have much threat left in them 10 years from now. But before liberals feel too deep a thrill, they should consider the following proposition: Obama’s words will be paired with a second term resume that could be the thinnest since Richard Nixon. Given...

Just how much do Obama supporters love the president? MRCTV was at the National Mall for the Inaugural celebration and asked attendees what position Obama would hold if they had to rank all U.S. president's from best to worst. Keep in mind, that Obama has only just started his second term. I'm sure if it goes as smoothly as his first, his legacy will shine even more brightly in the eyes of these supporters. http://mrctv.org/videos/where-will-obama-rank-presidential-history

I have read what is happening in New York with frustration. Already a progressive haven from way DL, Gov. Cuomo seems to be on a liberal legislative frenzy. New York's restrictive gun law was put into place so quickly that it will have to be amended for police. Abortion law changes that will fly in the face of a significant Catholic population, some of which actually pay attention. What else is next? (as if that is not enough!) These are big issues and significant changes in a very short time. Rahm Emmanuel would be very proud of Andrew.For quite a...

Sometimes it's the seemingly insignificant things that are revelatory of major problems. It's the tiny whine in the car engine and a flashing engine warning light that lets the driver know the car is in deep trouble. In a similar manner, it's the seemingly small stuff that can warn us that society is veering off the road and heading for a crash. Recently two small incidents indicate complete derailment of the U.S. educational system as well as the increasing insanity of the Left. According the USA News, a five-year-old girl was suspended from school for aiming a pink plastic "Hello...

An ABC News reporter tried dressing down Rand Paul (R-Ky.) after the senator chided Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during today’s Benghazi hearing. “Curious: What is Rand Paul’s foreign policy background? Did he serve in the military? Did he study, live, do business or charity overseas?” tweeted Terry Moran, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline. It was Moran’s only tweet of the hearing.

HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) – An attempted robbery turned into a shootout at a Hollywood gas station. In the end, one robbery suspect was killed by the clerk, a second was arrested. It could have ended very differently if Hasib Kuric, who is homeless, hadn’t intervened. Kuric was standing outside the UHaul truck he calls home behind the Exxon gas station, at 5190 South State Road 7, around midnight when he saw two men with weapons putting on masks. While some people may have run the other way, Kuric said he ran into store to warn the clerk that trouble was coming....

There is an Obama majority in American politics, symbolized by Monday’s throng on the Mall, whose existence is both the consequence of profound changes to our nation’s composition and values and the cause of changes yet to come. That majority, as the president made clear in his remarks, would not exist but for Americans’ struggles to expand our foundational belief in the equality of all men. The drive to expand equality, he said in his speech’s most historically resonant line, “is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.”...

Hail to the Leftist: Obama's Inaugural Speech the Worst In American History President Obama delivered a shocking speech at his second inauguration in which he embraced European collectivism and abandoned individual liberty. Hear what the President said, and why Bill Whittle thinks the Obama inaugural ceremony was both bizarre and evil.

Try 'better than George Washington' for  'for bringing America out of debt...' Yeah, you gotta think BIG when you're talking about a President so frickin pluperfect that the American form of government -which allows an opposition to exist- simply isn't worthy, serving precious little purpose anymore but preventing us from reaching prog nirvana. That kind of 'thinking' is the basis for those who feel Obama's WAY too soft on the Republicans and should probably just go-ahead and lock 'em all up- then shred the Constitution right now and rewrite it himself.  Oh, and btw, anybody who doesn't want to pay 55% income tax...

Forty years ago today the Supreme Court rendered its Roe v. Wade decision. Those who believe in the sanctity of human life and long to see America embrace a culture in which innocent life is honored and protected continue to look for a day when humanity is again deemed valuable, where we cherish even those who would be born in “less than ideal circumstances.” Children are our most precious resource and remain the greatest symbol of hope God has given us. This is just one reason why the annual March for Life has been such a powerful aspect of the...

Wrapping up a report on Wednesday's NBC Today about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's upcoming congressional testimony on the Benghazi terrorist attack, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell sympathetically observed: "It will be a grueling day, first in the Senate, then in the House. Not how the Secretary of State had planned to wind up what is widely viewed as a stellar term as the nation's top diplomat." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] At the top of the segment, Mitchell seemed to lament that Clinton would have to endure such questioning after recent health...

There is far more to multi-media production on Linux than GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), the beloved drawing and painting program, though it seems that is all there is because it gets all the attention. GIMP is wonderful, but there is an entire universe of profession-level multi-media creation applications in all creative arenas: drawing and illustration, photography, desktop publishing, music, and movies and videos. Today we'll look at my recommend Linux distributions for multi-media production, graphics creation applications. Then in future installments in this series we'll dive into audio production, video production, CAD, 3D printing, and other industrial programs.Dream Studio...