Free Republic

LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas. Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only. But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums. Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from...

It's been four years of bad news for flight attendants. First, 9/11 happened. Then, they were laid off. With airline bankruptcies like Northwest's, they are being laid off again. Now, in another blow, the movie, "Flight Plan," is hitting theaters, tomorrow. Starring Jodie Foster, it's an outrageous piece of propaganda and incredible display of the irresponsible. I'm embarrassed to say that a very distant cousin of mine--Charles J.D. Schlissel--is executive producer of this outrage. The J.D. must stand for "Just Despicable." If you're a freedom-loving American like me, the rotten tricks of this movie will disgust you. If you want...

The usually unflappable Rice was wide-eyed when she was shown a copy of the photo yesterday during a meeting with The Post editorial board. "Oh, my goodness . . . there are no secrets," she said, laughing. Rice explained that when Bush handed her the note, she told him all he had to do was get up and go, and that she'd take his seat while he answered nature's call. The Security Council session continued uninterrupted during Bush's brief absence.

Warning: THIS IS SPECULATION. Obviously, I think it's somewhat well-informed speculation, or else I wouldn't be writing this. But it is speculation. (1) There will be a Supreme Court resignation within the next week. But it will be Justice O'Connor, not Chief Justice Rehnquist. There are several tea-leaf-like suggestions that O'Connor may be stepping down, including the fact that she has apparently arranged to spend much more time in Arizona beginning this fall. There are also recent intimations that Chief Justice Rehnquist may not resign. This would be consistent with Justice O'Connor having confided her plan to step down to...

An art work purportedly made from excess fat from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sold for $18,000 (£9,862). Switzerland-based artist Gianni Motti claims to have bought the fat from a clinic where the leader had a liposuction operation performed. He moulded it into a bar of soap which he named Mani Pulite (Clean Hands). The work was put on display at the Art Basel fair in Switzerland and was sold to a private Swiss collector. Motti gave it the title Clean Hands as a reference to an anti-corruption campaign of the 1990s. It reflects the artist's view of...

THE man whose presidential ambitions were destroyed when he plagiarised Neil Kinnock is set to become America’s chief foreign policymaker if John Kerry is elected President next Tuesday. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware has been asked by Mr Kerry to become Secretary of State in a Democratic administration, according to Kerry campaign aides. Mr Biden, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the past four years, ran for President in 1988. His campaign ended abruptly when it was revealed that a key element of his stump speech had been lifted directly from Mr Kinnock’s general election speeches...

The NYT story on Americans "losing" the RDX and HMX explosives at al Qa Qaa referred to here and here is neither over nor debunked. In the past twelve hours, the 10 April 2003 report of NBC's Jim Miklaszewski, who was embedded with the 101st Airborne as it arrived as al Qa Qaa, has been touted (see here, here and here) as proving that the explosives in question were gone when the Americans arrived. Well. They were gone when the 101st arrived, sure. But the Third Infantry Division beat them to the site by one week. The Milkaszewski story therefore...

The polls are open! After a busy nomination period, we've counted your suggestions and placed the most popular sites on the ballot. Now it's time to check out each category's candidates and cast your vote for the best of the best. We're relying on you, the clicking and chattering masses, to pick the standouts in a very competitive contest.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Carlos Santana speaks about the world like a benevolent visitor from outside. His views may be romantic and idealistic, but the guitarist is sincere. He was honored as the Latin Grammys person of the year Monday for his dedication to education, the fight against AIDS and other social endeavors. Santana, who won nine Grammys for his 1999 album "Supernatural," talked to The Associated Press about his political views, his upcoming CD and how to absorb accolades without arrogance.

OK, now I'm pissed off. Look, I can take a bit of media bias. And frankly I was surprised at just how gracious and positive Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, and the rest of the MSNBC crew were. So I guess I wasn't too surprised that eventually, Ron Reagan had to spoil the party tonight on the MSNBC After Hours show, calling Schwarzenegger's speech "ordinary", and "expecting a little bit more." But what pisses me off ROYALLY is that he launched into a speech about how this party's platform is against civil unions and gay marriage, and made the point that...

I'm told that now coming across the newswires is a new column from Bob Novak that contains extensive quotes from Retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. Schachte, call-sign "Batman," has broken his press silence to insist that he was indeed aboard the Boston Whaler or "skimmer" in the early morning mission on December 2, 1968, out of which Sen. John Kerry's first Purple Heart was awarded. Schachte maintains that Kerry's minor arm wound was not sustained while under enemy fire, but was indeed the result of Kerry — code-named "Robin" on this mission — being careless in firing an...

KERRY CHALLENGES BUSH TO WEEKLY DEBATES: In Anoka, MN, John Kerry challenged President Bush to weekly debates on the issues. BUSH CAMP REAX: "There will be a time for debates after the convention, and during the next few weeks, John Kerry should take the time to finish the debates with himself. This election presents a clear choice to the American people between a President who is moving America forward and a Senator who has taken every side of almost every issue and has the most out of the mainstream record in the U.S. Senate," said BC'04 spokesman Steve Schmidt.

A funny parody of Fahrenheit 9/11.

PAT BUCHANAN, GUEST HOST: Is John Kerry unfit for command? That's what John O‘Neill says. He is the Naval officer who took over command of Kerry‘s swift boat in Vietnam. His new book claims Kerry is no war hero at all, that he didn‘t deserve his Purple Hearts, Bronze Star or Silver Star, and that he committed acts bordering on treason in wartime. John O'Neill is here to tell all for his first interview on MSNBC.

Do you think Congressman Porter Goss is qualfied for the job of CIA director?

Hugh Hewitt just finished playing an entire story from Fox News wherein Carl Cameron confronted the Kerry campaign regarding his Cambodia claims. Intially, they denied that Kerry had ever said he was in Cambodia. So Carl presented them with the Senate Record and the Boston Globe article where he most unambiguously did so. They said they would have to get back to him on this one, but sticks to their story that he was near Cambodia, but not actually in Cambodia. THIS STORY HAS LEGS!

In Rush's closing segment he said that he just received a story or document saying that lawyers for both the Kerry and Edwards teams were sending out letters to TV stations warning them about showing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisement!

New York Gov. George Pataki is not known as a fire-breathing conservative. So when he brings out the rhetorical big guns, it's a signal that it's safe for the GOP moderates to lock and load. From his CNN appearance: PATAKI: “Judy, I think Howard Dean is an embarrassment. I mean, he almost makes Michael Moore look objective in how he analyzes these situations, and the American people got to know him during the campaign and rejected him. The sad part is that his policies and his warped beliefs are having a significant impact on Senator Kerry's policies. Senator Kerry talked...

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. A few of you may be surprised to see someone with my last name showing up to speak at a Democratic convention. Let me assure you, I am not here to make a political speech, and the topic at hand should not -- must not -- have anything to do with partisanship. I am here tonight to talk about the issue of research into what may be the greatest medical breakthrough in our or in any lifetime: the use of embryonic stem cells -- cells created using the material of our own bodies -- to...

Elton John has said stars are scared to speak out against war in Iraq because of "bullying tactics" used by the US government to hinder free speech. "There's an atmosphere of fear in America right now that is deadly. Everyone is too career-conscious," he told New York magazine, Interview. Sir Elton said performers could be "frightened by the current administration's bullying tactics", The singer likened the current "fear factor" to McCarthyism in the 1950s. "There was a moment about a year ago when you couldn't say a word about anything in this country for fear of your career being shot...