Free Republic

Gov. Bob Taft this morning made good on his promise to veto a rewrite of Ohio's concealed-carry handgun law, setting up an override vote in the Ohio House this afternoon. Taft opposes the section of the bill that wipes out about 80 local gun laws, including the Columbus assault weapons ban. The bill gives state government sole authority to enact laws restricting the sale and possession of guns. In his veto message, Taft said the measure “exceeds the scope of a concealed carry corrective bill by preempting local gun regulations relating to owning, possessing, purchasing, selling, and transferring firearms and...

SAN FRANCISCO - Playboy Enterprises Inc. said it would reduce its annual programming and editorial budgets by about $4.5 million and eliminate about 30 jobs as part of a cost-cutting plan.......started by Hugh Hefner from a Chicago apartment in 1953.......steep losses due to depressed advertising and lower newsstand revenue.

A Garland County sheriff's deputy has been fired and charged with misdemeanors for allegedly going topless at a campground at Lake Ouachita. Dawn Rene Roberson, 38, of Royal was terminated Wednesday after she turned herself in on misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. Incident reports show that marine patrol Deputy John Tinney on Sunday spotted Roberson riding on the bow of a boat with her top off. Tinney told her to cover up and not ride on the bow, letting her off with a verbal warning. Later Sunday near Crystal Springs Campground, Army Corps of Engineers Park Ranger...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- An extradition hearing for a California woman who allegedly poisoned her Marine husband was postponed Wednesday in West Palm Beach. Authorities said Cynthia Sommer killed her husband to get money for breast enhancements and a more luxurious lifestyle. Before arsenic was found in her husband's body, she was left a $250,000 lump-sum payment from Todd Sommer's life insurance policy and a $6,000 death gratuity. She also was to get nearly $1,900 a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office told the judge that an extradition warrant has not been...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, emboldened by thousands of anti-American protesters, is getting a rare chance to stand up to his adversary, George W. Bush, with promises to keep the president from reviving talks on a free trade area stretching from Alaska to Argentina. The two men were to arrive in Argentina for the fourth Americas summit on Thursday, the same day Venezuela is staging a mock U.S. invasion of its own territory. The event is the latest exercise intended to prepare soldiers and civilian volunteers for what Chavez says is a possible attack by American troops. U.S. officials deny any...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Greeted by an enthusiastic crowd, John Edwards kicked off a farewell tour as U.S. senator Monday but left little doubt he wasn't saying goodbye to politics. "One thing you can count on is that this fight is not over," the former vice presidential candidate told supporters. The visit to western North Carolina's largest city was the first of six stops Edwards plans across the state over three days. "It's just good to be home," Edwards said after arriving more than an hour late for the rally. "My blood pressure goes down when I cross the line...

I just saw on Fox News that Bush is being blamed for the Hurricanes that hit Florida. The Dem's buddies are running ads and billboards accusing Bush of the hurricanes because he is causing Global Warming. Am I the only one that knows Global Warming actually causes less hurricanes? Does the Dum Liberals know this?

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Wednesday fined CBS a record $550,000 for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," which exposed the singer's breast during this year's Super Bowl halftime show. The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to slap each of the 20 CBS-owned television stations with the maximum indecency penalty of $27,500. The total penalty of $550,000 is the largest fine levied against a television broadcaster. Most of the FCC's bigger fines have been against radio stations. The agency's five commissioners decided not to fine CBS' more than 200 affiliate stations, which also aired the show but are not owned by the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission is set to impose a record $550,000 (310,000 pounds) indecency fine against CBS-owned stations for their broadcast of singer Janet Jackson's breast-bearing incident during January's Super Bowl, the Washington Post reports. The newspaper report, which cited unnamed FCC sources, said on Saturday the agency was expected to vote unanimously for the fine, which would be the largest levied against a television broadcaster. The amount represents a $27,500 fine for each of the 20 television stations owned by CBS, which in turn is owned by Viacom Inc, the paper said. The decision could be...

Kerry's midnight speech from Ohio after President Bush had just finished his wondeful acceptance speech was one of the most puzzling disasters I've ever seen.While the kid (the one who didn't serve), the dem VP wanna-be spoke, Traitor John stood behind him with a stupid grin on his face. I defy you to watch and not be reminede of Stan Laurel (some of you who watched are slamming your forehead with the heel of your hand, saying, "That's who he reminded me of!") of Laurel and Hardy.Then, Kerry started his rambling rant. He was following notes on cards but kept...

As G-d is my solemn witness: that's what it actually says on Drudge's site, right now. :)

Barbra Called "Boob" on 'Fockers' Set Barbra Streisand has picked up a bizarre nickname from actress Teri Polo while filming the sequel to Meet The Parents - Boob. Streisand stars as Ben Stiller's mother and Dustin Hoffman's wife in Meet The Fockers, which also stars Polo, Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner. But rather than behave in a star-struck manner around her legendary co-stars, Polo has opted instead to have fun with them. She says, "It's crazy. Dustin Hoffman is a five-year-old kid trapped in a grown man's body. And Barbra Streisand has an amazing sense of humor. The director...

Alright, please at least read this before the "OMG liberal hippy potsmoker haha" starts. I am an American. I was born here in the USA, my dad is from here as well. My mom came here from South America when she was a small child, and so I've grown up hearing about how wonderful this country is-- she tells us the story of how she got her citizenship regularly, as well as how she was the only one to stand for the pledge of allegiance at school(Massachusetts in the late 60s), and many other such stories. I love my country,...

Stop the presses! Chatterbox predicted May 11 that right-wing culture warriors would soon be blaming the Abu Ghraib prison scandal on the depravities of the 1960s. But various readers alerted Chatterbox that quite a few conservative commentators (most of them second-tier) have already come tantalizingly close to making just that point: Blame moral relativism. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, to Rachell Zoll of the Associated Press: "This is not a breakdown in the system. This reflects a breakdown in society. These people's moral compass didn't work for some reason. My guess is...

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - A West Virginia man who fell down an escalator at an airport sued US Airways, alleging the airline didn't warn him about the adverse affects of drinking alcohol on a plane. Floyd W. Shuler, 61, filed the lawsuit against Virginia-based US Airways Inc., in circuit court in Fort Myers. Shuler, who has lived part-time on Marco Island, said in the suit that US Airways was negligent by failing to warn him the effects of alcohol are greater at night on airline passengers. The suit, filed Friday, also alleges that the company did not properly maintain...

Janet Apologizes, Says Super Bowl Stunt Went Too FarOne day after Janet Jackson's shocking Super Bowl halftime performance, the singer took responsibility for the breast-baring incident and said she never intended the stunt to go as far as it did. "The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my halftime show performance was made after final rehearsals," Jackson said in a statement released Monday (February 2). "MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did. I apologize to anyone offended — including the audience, MTV, CBS and...

NEW YORK (AP) - CBS apologized on Sunday for an unexpectedly R-rated end to its Super Bowl halftime show, when singer Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's top, exposing her breast. ``CBS deeply regrets the incident,'' spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade said after the network received several calls about the show.The two singers were performing a flirtatious duet to end the halftime show, and at the song's finish, Timberlake reached across Jackson's leather gladiator outfit and pulled off the covering to her right breast.The network quickly cut away from the shot, and did not mention the incident on the...

Swimmer Soaks In EIB-Informed C-Span Calls June 20, 2003 C-SPAN's Washington Journal was a veritable gold mine on Friday morning, with EIB-Informed callers putting better questions to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) than any journalist you can name. Callers challenged Teddy on why average-income people should have to pay for Bill Gates' prescription drugs, why Democrats misquote Newt Gingrich's comments on reforming the Health Care Financing Administration to look as if he was talking about Medicare - and finally - the highlight of my broadcast career - Teddy's introduction of Bill Clinton at a 1994 campaign rally. What Were You Saying...

The attack plans of 9-11-01 were well known since 1997. Many people were given precise, accurate details of those attacks. The warnings were derided and ignored.