Free Republic

Most of you are aware of Pope Francis' concern over the size of Catholic families. The pontiff suggested the use of Natural Family Planning while quipping that married couples do not have to "breed like rabbits." As I said on Facebook: "It's true that married people do not have to "breed like rabbits." But then, priests don't have to float around the altar like Liberace around his Steinway or resemble Judy Garland." Where is the Holy Father's concern over homosexual priests? At the onset of his pontificate, when asked about the Vatican's alleged "gay lobby" [read Lavender Mafia] the Pope...

The states challenging President Obama’s deportation amnesty have already won the first round in court after the case landed in the lap of Judge Andrew S. Hanen, a Bush appointee who issued a scorching rebuke to the Department of Homeland Security last year, accusing it of refusing to follow border security laws. It could hardly have been a worse outcome for Mr. Obama, who, in order to preserve his policy, will now have to convince a judge who is on record calling his previous, less-extensive nondeportation policies “dangerous and unconscionable.” Led by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the 20 states...

Airships aren't just powered balloon-like vehicles that hover above sporting events. Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are floating the idea that airships have potential for important scientific and commercial uses. NASA is considering issuing a challenge for developing stratospheric airships that can break records in terms of duration of flight at high altitudes. The agency has issued a request for information for this contemplated "20-20-20 Airship Challenge." Submissions will be accepted until December 1. "We are seeking to take astronomy and Earth science to new heights by enabling a long-duration, suborbital platform for these kinds of...

Spooks dig for secrets of Saddam As Blair prepares to issue his dossier on Iraq's weapons, Peter Beaumont and Ed Vulliamy assess the quality of intelligence - and the difficulty of obtaining it Peter Beaumont in London and Ed Vulliamy in New York Sunday September 15, 2002 The Observer He is there at almost every official photo-opportunity with Saddam Hussein, a compact and wiry military officer, his khaki shirt rolled up to his elbows, a beret pulled across his brow. A heavy handlebar moustache hangs over a solid jaw, grey with a permanent five o'clock shadow. The recent prominence of...

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for the ALS Association is sweeping the nation, and going viral in social media. However, do you know what you are supporting if you contribute funds to the ALS Association? The ALS Association describes their “mission”: Established in 1985, The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front.  By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life...

Texas Governor Rick Perry is being criticized for declining to greet President Obama at Austin-Bergstrom Airport tomorrow when Air Force One touches down and the bazillion-car motorcade takes off for some vital Democrat fundraisers. Perry instead would like a substantive meeting to discuss the foreign invasion currently ongoing at Texas' southern border, but Obama doesn't do substantive meetings, and in any case, as the principal facilitator of the southern invasion, any discussions between him and Perry probably ought to be conducted under the auspices of the UN at the Hague or in Vienna or some such. Maybe Putin or Assad...

A physics professor is so fed up with the claims made by “climate change deniers” that he has launched a “$10,000 Global Warming Skeptic Challenge.” The challenge issued by Dr. Christopher Keating, a professor who previously taught at the University of South Dakota and the U.S. Naval Academy, according to a news release, will award prize money to anyone who uses the scientific method to prove that human activity has not been a factor leading to climate change.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that taxpayers have a right to challenge an Internal Revenue Service summons enforcement action in court when they can show the tax agency might have issued the summons in bad faith. The tax-collecting IRS argued taxpayers already have opportunities to challenge a summons, but the nine justices ruled in favor of a Florida man who demanded an evidentiary hearing about the motives of IRS officials for issuing a summons.

While football teams in the Pac-12 and the Big 12 play nine conference games each season and the Big Ten is about to follow suit, the Southeastern Conference recently announced it will stick with eight conference games. Stanford coach David Shaw is not happy about that, especially now that there will be a four-team playoff beginning next season that will depend on a level playing field for each conference. He said he was “more disappointed than surprised” by the SEC decision. “It’s bigger, I think, than most people understand.”

The recent upset victory by Republican candidate David Jolly for the open seat in Florida’s 13th congressional district, a district carried by Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, has produced a rush of excitement in Republican circles. This coupled with polling data - Americans are increasingly unhappy with our president, with his signature health care law, with an economy still far from recovery, and with perceived weak American leadership on the international stage – is producing Republican optimism about 2014 mid-term election prospects and about 2016. But while unhappy voters may favor the party out of power, it takes more...

Lord Monckton invites ‘Chazza’ to spar over ‘unroyal’ global-warming remarkHis Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Clarence House, London.Candlemas, 2014Your Royal Highness’ recent remarks describing those who have scientific and economic reason to question the Establishment opinion on climatic apocalypse in uncomplimentary and unroyal terms as “headless chickens” mark the end of our constitutional monarchy and a return to the direct involvement of the Royal Family, in the Person of our future king, no less, in the cut and thrust of partisan politics.Now that Your Royal Highness has offered Your Person as fair game in the shootout of politics, I...

KEVIN Rudd will challenge Julia Gillard for the Labor leadership tomorrow morning. A petition for a ballot circulated among Labor MPs is believed to now have the required numbers for a spill of the PM.

This morning on WMAL, Allen West was asked if he would be open to a primary challenge against Rubio given all the disaffected Rubio voters in the state of Florida. While hemming and hawing on the subject a bit, he didn’t rule out the possibility and agreed that an immigration reform bill as long as this one is not what the American people want. So let’s just say it’s a possibility. Listen:

London, Nov. 26 (ANI): A retired NATO scientist is all set to launch his toy boat on its first unmanned trip across the Atlantic. The creator, 65-year-old Robin Lovelock, has spent four years developing a craft he believes can survive the 6,000-mile journey. The boat, named Snoopy Sloop, is 4 feet long, weighs just 30lbs and is held together in parts by bathroom light cord, reports the Telegraph. The boat has already demonstrated its endurance, having completed more than 5,000 miles during seven months of continuous sailing, albeit on the gentler waters of Bray Lake, just off the M4 motorway...

This is about revenge." -- Rush Limbaugh on the policies of President Obama, February 27, 2009 "Voting is the best revenge." -- Barack Obama, November 2, 2012 It was the grand leftist experiment. It was Obama's Revenge. A revenge designed to take what Ronald Reagan once called "the last best hope of man on earth" and, instead, to "transform America." A revenge designed to remake a nation founded on principles of liberty and freedom into a Westernized progressive utopia. An "Ameritopia" -- to borrow from Mark Levin's bestseller. Rush Limbaugh nailed this exactly way back on February 27, 2009. And...

Our Host: Jeff Foxworthy Comedian Jeff Foxworthy is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy® Award nominee and the best-selling author of 11 books. Widely known for his redneck jokes, his act goes well beyond that to explore the humor in everyday family interactions and human nature. It's just cool seeing people come and, within the course of an hour, win money to help change someone else's life. That's a neat thing to be a part of.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delivered a blow to the petroleum industry Monday by denying a petition that would have exempted refiners from part of a biofuel blending mandate, according to documents obtained by The Hill. EPA shot down the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) challenge of the renewable fuel standard (RFS), according to Monday court filings with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. EPA determined that enough advanced biofuels – generally understood to be made from non-food products – existed to meet that portion of the RFS for 2012.

Romney is stuck at dead center in the Opinion Polls. In order to move the Romney poll needle in a positive direction, why not encourage timid Mitty Romney to SEAL his Federal and State Tax Records when he announces who his Veep will be? In this way Romney would be calling Obama's Bluff, something that Obama has warned others not to do. The Veep announcement and the Sealing of Romney's tax records would give The Media a double surprise at a time of maximum Media audience. Sunday talk shows would then be forced to talk about Obama's sealed School and...

The Judges are making up the rules and evidence as they go. If you can't fight fair, they cheat. Read the ruling and listen to repatriate radio for a discussion of the hearing with Cmdr. Kerchner. ONLY THE GOVERNMENT CAN'T MAKE THE CONNECTION THAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE INSTITUTED TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE QUALIFIED. APPARENTLY ONLY CITIZENS CAN SEE THAT. http://www.youtube.com/haggz51

Mario Apuzzo argued for 3 and a half hours today to knock President Obama off the NJ primary ballot. Obama's attorney argued Wong Kim Ark (1898) and Ankeny. Apuzzo has been spring loaded for this argument for years and Obama's attorney's argument was no match for Apuzzo. He destroyed Obama's attorney!! The Judge will write an opinion and publish it tomorrow morning. No matter what the outcome, appeals will be filed. Wouldn't it be great if the US Supreme Court had to take the case because the NJ Supreme Court rules in our favor.... Check out Mario's account of the...