Free Republic

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were arrested Thursday on charges of sneaking illegal immigrants out of jail in exchange for $300,000 in cash bribes. Mario Alvarez, 44, and Samuel McClaren, 43, released inmates from an immigration jail to a smuggling ring that operates in El Centro, about 120 miles east of San Diego, according to a federal complaint filed in January and unsealed Thursday. The smugglers then allegedly took the migrants to Los Angeles. The agents were assigned to a joint effort between the Border Patrol and Mexico's attorney general's office under which migrants arrested in...

Poll finds fears about gas prices, Iraq, the economy and disaster costs Associated Press WASHINGTON - Evangelicals, Republican women, Southerners and other critical groups in President Bush's political coalition are worried about the direction the nation is headed and disappointed with his performance, an AP-Ipsos poll found. That unease could be a troubling sign for a White House already struggling to keep the Republican Party base from slipping over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Gulf Coast spending projects, immigration and other issues. "Politically, this is very serious for the president," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University. "If...

... big hair, big gut, fat butt, holy-rolling ... In the new issue of The American Spectator, Dan Peterson provides this sober analysis of the media's handling of intelligent design: Among certain sectors of the media, for example, it is an article of faith that those who believe in God, or advocate principles supporting that belief, are just a mob of Bible-thumping, knuckle-dragging, Scripture-spouting, hellfire and brimstone-preaching, rightwing, gun-toting, bigoted, homophobic, moralistic, paternalistic, polyester-wearing, mascara-smeared, false-eyelashed, SUV-driving, Wal-Mart shopping, big hair, big gut, fat butt, holy-rolling, snake-handling, Limbaugh-listening, Bambi-shooting, trailer-park-dwelling, uneducated, ignorant, backwater, hayseed, hick, inbred, pinhead rubes, mostly from...

The irony of “conservative punk,” or ConPunk as it’s uncommonly known, is not lost on yours truly. According to my thesaurus, “conformist” is a synonym of “conservative.” We’ve heard enough about Punkvoter.com and Rock against Bush in the past year to be swayed into thinking that punk rock – the few remaining bones of punk rock’s corpse not already sold to television commercials – is decidedly liberal. But punk rock’s history is steeped in conservative politics; it should come as no surprise that there’s been a rise in conservative punk in recent years. To those who choose not to take...

My Wife and I are Proud to announce we have cast two of the first votes for George W. Bush