Free Republic

Alec Baldwin’s angry, over-the-top voice-mail tirade at his daughter, Ireland, was clearly wrong. Unfortunately, while we’ve been wringing our hands over how bad Baldwin is, we’re ignoring the case’s central truth – Kim Basinger’s well-documented parental alienation campaign against Baldwin. Parental alienation often arises after a divorce, as one angry, vengeful parent tries to turn the children against the other parent, destroying the loving bonds the children and the target parent once enjoyed. Baldwin claims that his outburst occurred in the context of Basinger alienating Ireland and trying to drive him out of his daughter’s life. This claim appears to...

"The Palestinians are using the security fence as an excuse to continue their violent attacks, but from Israel's point of view, the fence saves lives and does not diminish the possibility of creating a Palestinian state, quite the opposite," said Foreign Minister Tzipi on Thursday. Livni made the remarks after meeting Louis Michel, the European Union commissioner for development and humanitarian aid. The foreign minister went on to say that any portrayal of terrorists as freedom fighters must be avoided. "Israel shares European values and expects Europe to fairly judge others according to the attributes prevalent there," she said, adding...

It's too bad the brash-mouthed babes of John Edwards's campaign blog resorted to gutter-speak to make their points. Their points were lost in the netherworld of right- and left-wing truculence and in the jousting, jabbing, and parrying so prominent in today's nonstop news cycle. It's too bad because the points they meant to make were worth considering. Last month, Edwards's campaign hired two women, described by salon.com as "outspoken, potty-mouthed feminist bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan" to blog for the campaign website. They were hired to lure lefty Democrats into the Edwards camp. As is so often the case...

Longtime defense attorney Ellis Rubin, originator of such defenses as television intoxication leading to murder and nymphomania as prostitution's cause in a frequently unorthodox five-decade legal career, died Tuesday at 81. His law firm said he died early Tuesday at his Miami home. Rubin had battled cancer for more than six years, recently issuing a farewell statement from a Miami Beach hospital bed. But he remained active in his legal practice until nearly the end, winning his last case when he got a judge to rule that a Reform Party candidate for governor should be permitted in a gubernatorial debate....

Caledonia, Mich. -- A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war with an Indiana National Guard unit has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure. "It was a shock," said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. "I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours." Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., a Caledonia employee-benefits company, confirmed...

The cost of mass deportationBY MARY SANCHEZKnight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) - The desire to rid the United States of illegal immigrants is understandably common. But while there most certainly are causes for concern, sound reasoning is too often left out of the conversation.Take for instance, thoughts about what to do with illegal immigrants already living inside North America."Round them up and deport them.""If people can't come legally, then they shouldn't be here."And my personal favorite: "What part of illegal don't you understand." The fact that mass deportation continues to ring feasible to so many people is astounding. Do people really...

MARYVILLE, Tenn. - A teenager was jailed for nine days after being accused of burning an American flag on the Fourth of July, and he faces trial next month. While the case could test a state statute against flag burning - an act the U.S. Supreme Court says is protected under the First Amendment - prosecutors said Andrew Elisha Staley has yet to argue that he was exercising free speech rights."Bottom line is, the kid got drunk," said Lisa Lee, his mother. "He's never been in trouble before."Staley, 18, is accused of taking the flag from a residence and setting...

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was so ill in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl that a teammate had to call a play in the huddle, center Hank Fraley said. "He fought to the end," Fraley told Comcast SportsNet on Monday. "He gave it his all. He was almost puking in the huddle. One play had to be called by (wideout) Freddie Mitchell because Donovan was mumbling because he was almost puking." Offensive lineman Jon Runyan also echoed Fraley's comments in the same interview aired on two local radio stations on Tuesday after the Comcast report. McNabb...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Sun, Aug. 15, 2004 On Kerry, news services play catch-up YVETTE WALKER READERS' REPRESENTATIVE Some of you think the paper isn't doing its job of covering Sen. John Kerry and the controversy surrounding his military record. Last week, readers called and wrote in, saying The Star hasn't covered critics' assertions that: 1) Kerry's claim of being in Cambodia on Christmas of 1968 was a lie; and that 2) One of the swift boat veterans says he was misquoted by the Boston Globe, and is still fully behind the anti-Kerry movement. True, The Star hadn't published either of...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's the universal question on many women's lips. "What could he be thinking?" she shrieks, or sighs or sulks at her husband, boyfriend or son. What is it with men and cars? Why doesn't he notice how much housework needs to be done? Why does he need to keep a grip on the remote control? And the most bewildering one of all -- why won't he just talk to me? The answers, says social philosopher and author Michael Gurian, lie not in laziness, sexism or sheer pigheadedness but in profound differences between the male and female...

That's it. I don't give a flying fig if Texas comes back(its 28-14 right now.) Fire the fickle folding fraud that is Mack Brown. Once again, he's couldn't prepare his team for the big game. Once again outcoached. Once again overhyped. Once again his team can't run. Once again his defense is shredded. Once again he ignored an offseason opportunity to replace his coaches who have used smoke and mirrors and early high rankings to fool the media into thinking his team would finally be better than what they are. Same ol' sham. Arkansas first truly exposed the fraud that...

Denver Post al knight The Times forgives itself By AL Knight Denver Post columnist Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - The difference between an explanation and an excuse, it is said, is normally several hundred words. The New York Times, a publication that is not accustomed to being outdone, used up 7,200 words last Sunday in offering its excuse for having hired and promoted the now-discredited Jayson Blair as part of its racial-diversity program. Blair, it turns out, was not only prone to writing fiction but was also just too clever for The Times' editors. The newspaper now claims Blair hid...