Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- In an agreement U.S. immigration officials hope will begin to reshape the entire 30,000-bed detention system, some asylum-seekers and immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings could soon be held in facilities where they can wear their own clothes, participate in movie and bingo nights, eat continental breakfasts, and celebrate holidays with visiting family members.....

In a statement reminiscent of Howard Dean’s controversial statement from 2005 about the RNC and "people of color," Time magazine columnist Joe Klein blasted Karl Rove’s recent slam of Barack Obama on Monday’s "Election Center" program on CNN. "I just think that the image is kind of hilarious when you think about it: Barack Obama at a country club sipping a martini. It's kind of a parody of the Republican view of the world. Everybody belongs to -- since when [did] we start letting people like Barack Obama into Republican country clubs?" "People like Barack Obama"? That sounds like Dean’s...

The Catholic priest who lived the high life on money he stole from his well-to-do Rumson parish has spent his first night behind bars. The Rev. Joseph W. Hughes was locked up in the Monmouth County Jail yesterday afternoon after a Superior Court judge turned aside his pleas for leniency and sentenced him to five years in prison. Hughes soon will be moved to state custody, and the judge likely will recommend incarceration in a minimum security prison. Superior Court Judge Bette E. Uhrmacher disagreed. She told Hughes that his theft of church money had eroded the trust parishioners have...

California's highest court ruled Monday that country clubs must offer gay members who register as domestic partners the same discounts given to married ones — a decision that could apply to other businesses such as insurance companies and mortgage lenders. The decision by the California Supreme Court dealt with a policy at the Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego that allowed only the children, grandchildren and spouses of married members to golf for free. Birgit Koebke, 48, an avid golfer who pays about $500 a month in membership fees, challenged the policy after being told that her longtime lesbian...