Free Republic

How long will it be before Christianity becomes illegal in Britain? This is no longer the utterly absurd and offensive question that on first blush it would appear to be. An evangelical Christian campaigner, Stephen Green was arrested and charged last weekend with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. So what was this behaviour? Merely trying peacefully to hand out leaflets at a gay rally in Cardiff. So what was printed on those leaflets that was so threatening, abusive or insulting that it attracted the full force of the law? Why, none other than the majestic words of...

One of two teen-agers arrested in South Texas for a string of home invasions while wielding AK-47s has been identified as an illegal alien, previously deported who lied about his age being tried as an adult for the attacks, which also include a drive-by shooting and a sexual assault. The sheriff's department in the Rio Grande Valley now believes one of the attackers is a 19-year-old adult and not the 16-year-old juvenile he claimed when he was arrested. His accomplice is believed to be 16. The suspect's fingerprints matched that of a 19-year-old Mexican national who had been previously deported...

(CNSNews.Com) - Drug cartels operating along the southwestern U.S. border are a "country unto themselves" with intelligence capabilities, weaponry and communications equipment that far exceed the resources made available to local law enforcement in the U.S., according to sheriffs who have organized a new border security coalition. Sheriff Leo Samaniego of El Paso County, Texas, told Cybercast News Service that the same infrastructure that facilitates illegal immigration from Mexico creates enormous opportunities for heavily armed criminal enterprises like drug cartels and terrorists. "A lot of people make their living transporting illegal aliens," Samaniego said. "The 'coyotes' [as human smugglers are...

THE NEW BATTLE FLAG now being waved high over the armies of Allah mustering across the world is not the banner of Muhammad, but a flag almost as ancient as the prophet, the Bloody Shirt. Among the weak in arms and courage and righteousness, the Bloody Shirt is their weapon of mass distraction; their attempt to storm the moral high ground and hold it as they wait for their reinforcements of love, peace, compassion and truce to flow in from the far corners of the world screaming "Stop this barbaric war that slaughters, for God's sake, innocent women and children!"...

After 29 years in the United States as an undocumented worker, Ruben Esbarco is concerned that he could easily be deported under a proposal by U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor. Patrick Tapia, right, director of El Centro, talks with Ruben Esbarco who has questions about the immigration proposal by Rep. Charles Taylor. (MIKE DIRKS/TIMES-NEWS) "My fear is that police officers could stop me without necessarily having committed anything against the law and only because I'm Latino," he said. Taylor, R-Brevard, announced on July 13 that his 11th Congressional District would become the first area in the country to go to a...

The Star Spangled Banner Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host...

To The Editor: Did an American general's recent mocking of an Iraqi leader mishandling a weapon and wearing Keds plumb the depths of pettiness? First, the gun was American -- not Iraqi -- one American troops need weeks to handle well, and an older version prone to jamming. More importantly, what if he's indeed clumsy? So what! If it turned out Napoleon cut himself when unsheathing his sabre while wearing flip-flops, how would that affect his military prowess? Somehow, this klutz with his vastly outnumbered and outweaponed raggle-taggle crew (Rummy's "dead enders") is holding at bay the greatest-ever military power...

A funny thing happened to Nancy Pelosi on her way to becoming Speaker. She had been kicking the old "culture of corruption" can down the road, when it suddenly became very heavy and began to hurt her toe. The fraud was working as long as the media was focusing on the tribulations of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican representative from California jailed in March for corruption. Nevermind the fact that former Rep. Frank Ballance (D-N.C.) was carted off to jail three months earlier, also for corruption. Both Ballance and Cunningham currently reside in the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner. A...

TAMMY BRUCE OPENS John McCain Thinks Americans Are French with a picture that says ten thousand words, and this caption to get you started: "Pfc. Jonathan Dixon provides perimeter security in Iraq on 3/31/06. Wait a minute! This is a hard, dirty, underpaid job--how did they find Jon? President Bush and Senator McCain told me Americans won't do these types of jobs!" Last week the news also gave us reports of how the New Orleans demographic grew a sudden Hispanic bump when word got around that construction jobs at $16 an hour were to be had for the asking all...

The CP interview: Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy talks about the flu that could bring the world to its knees. (snip) Of the 100+ human cases of H5N1 flu recorded, the vast majority have involved bird-to-human transmission, mostly among open-air poultry handlers in Asia. In addition, there are confirmed clusters in which it has passed person to person, though none of those has yet resulted in a breakout of the virus. One thing is clear, however: In its present form, H5N1 has killed over half of the people it's infected....

WASHINGTON -- For weeks now civilized observers around the world have been astonished by the dispendious angers vented by indignant young Muslims. These young indignados have listened to the counsel of their venerable leaders in government and in the mosques. They have noted the intolerable provocations of the unbelievers. Finally, they have taken to the streets and city squares to burn flags, bash passersby, rush the cops, and -- from what I have observed on the TV news -- take a swing or two at each other. Their righteous anger could be contained only so long. Taking it all in,...

The desecration of Islamic sanctities by a Danish newspaper and the subsequent repetition of this contemptuous act by other European publications reveal that their print media is controlled by the Zionist lobby and those who are hostile toward Islam. After Denmark published cartoons to insult Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), publications in Norway, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland and New Zealand also reprinted the same in defense of the so-called freedom of speech. They promptly forget the fire and fury their leaders recently unleashed when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned their prejudices regarding the Holocaust of Jews. Muslim nations must immediately...

JEDDAH, 4 February 2006 — Lawyers in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have decided to forge an alliance in defense of Islam following the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in some European newspapers. The lawyers wanted to take legal action against those who insult and demean the Prophet. “I have contacted our colleagues in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. They have all supported the idea,” Al-Madinah daily quoted lawyer Sulaiman Al-Sanie, who spearheaded the campaign. “We also need the support of businessmen and media persons to enact laws that would incriminate...

WASHINGTON – It wasn't just a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the United Nations that President Bush delivered in New York yesterday. Instead, he laid out an ambitious program of increased U.S. foreign aid to tackle worldwide problems of poverty and disease. Think of it as Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" plan gone global. And he characterized this plan as an extension of his war on terrorism. "Confronting our enemies is essential, and so civilized nations will continue to take the fight to the terrorists," Bush said. "Yet we know that this war will not be won by force...

An article charging that Switzerland is the “most contemptible among the enemies of Islam” was recently disseminated across several jihadist and password-protected al-Qaeda affiliated forums. The document, originally authored by Colonel Doctor Muhammad al-Ghanam, the former Director of Legal Investigations in the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and a political refugee in Switzerland, explains the alleged false guise of Swiss neutrality, not only on a political level, but on a personal level in light of al-Ghanam’s own experiences. Switzerland is branded one of the “most dangerous links in the ‘international pact of the cross’,” due to its continued participation in the...

A man listed on the Department of Homeland Security's terrorist watch list is accused of stabbing his common-law wife Monday, fleeing the scene with their 10-month-old baby and later slitting the baby's throat before cutting his own throat. The baby girl was listed in critical condition Monday night at Mission Hospitals, said a hospital spokesman. Her father, Mohammed Al-Hilo, 22, was listed in serious condition. No condition report on victim Batrina Lynn McKinney was available Monday night from Pardee Hospital. Al-Hilo is an Iraqi alien listed on the Terror Watch List, Henderson County Sheriff's Department Detective Walt Harper said. His...

WASHINGTON - Social Security numbers, birth dates and other private data on roughly 33,000 Air Force officers -- about half the branch's officer corps -- were stolen from a military computer database, the service informed its personnel late last week.Officials of the Air Force Personnel Center, based at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, said the intrusion occurred sometime in May or June, apparently by someone who used a legitimate user's log-in information to gain access to the system.The exposed data did not include financial records, but contained such personal information as marital status, number of children and academic...

Want a kinder, gentler America? Then turn off the radio and read this newspaper. Journalism professors at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism have determined that it is the type of media a person consumes, not necessarily the message, that determines how polarized Americans become on a certain issue. The school's study finds that radio listeners are the most polarized news consumers, particularly those who listen to "conservative" political commentators like Rush Limbaugh. Newspaper readers, at the same time, are the least polarized. Conservative listeners have their ideals reinforced by radio shows, explains journalism professor Wayne Wanta, which ultimately...

Yesterday, much to the vexation of the ACLU and company, President George W. Bush invited a group of religious leaders to the East Room of the White House. There, he talked about the importance of prayer, and then (you'd best sit down) he prayed. Yes, on government time and on government property, he prayed.Who does he think he is? In this enlightened era when progressive, free-thinking liberals insist on the removal of all religious references and symbols (Crosses, Ten Commandment monuments, etc.) from federal, state and local public places, the President of the United States impudently promoted the merits of...

If my daughter runs off with a fellow named Clyde and starts shooting up banks, I'll know I made a terrible mistake — as my wife will no doubt remind me. Call me a "gun nut" if you must. But I'm really not one. Still, I did give my sweet, innocent 5-year-old daughter a gun for Christmas. Not just any gun, mind you. It's commonly called a "street-sweeper." It's automatic or semi-automatic. Honestly, I don't really know much about guns. My wife is horrified. It's not that she is anti-gun; it's just that when you pull the trigger, it is...