Free Republic

Well, well, well! While the United States is engaged in combat against terrorists in Iraq, our ubiquitous Hanoi Jane can't seem to get a handle on attaining maximum attention from her most recent book tour promoting herself. Please don't question that statement; what else could she have possibly wanted to do when she entitled her book: "My Life So Far"? Gee, I certainly wanted an update, didn't you? And then today we hear . . . "I've decided I'm coming out," says Miss Fonda. She went on to say, "I can't go into detail except to say that it's going...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Three civil rights groups and two legislative committees Wednesday jumped into the fight over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to reshuffle how legislative and congressional districts are drawn in California. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the William C. Velasquez Institute and the Congress on Racial Equality Legal Defense Fund filed lawsuits challenging placement of the governor's proposal on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. Meanwhile, the Senate and Assembly elections committees announced they would hold a joint hearing next month on the controversy surrounding signature gathering to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Schwarzenegger's press...

Am finalizing, polishing on a book project about PRESSURE that 9-15 year old male children experience, perceive themselves to experience. Would appreciate any experiences you or friends or extended family members have had in this ball park. Am interested in SOURCES, CAUSES, ISSUES, CONTEXTS, of PRESSURE as well as complications, solutions, preventions etc. I think I've fairly covered the waterfront but am assuming that that is unlikely in a thoroughly comprehensive way. Besides, there's so much wisdom amongst my loved-ones hereon, thought I'd risk a rare [for me] vanity and ask. If you know of someone with a story to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dozens of interest groups on the right and left are poised to spend millions of dollars and mobilize thousands of activists in an expected fight over a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy that could tip the court's balance on hot-button social issues like abortion. With the retirement of ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist widely anticipated, if far from certain, when the court ends its term next week, advocacy groups are planning for all possibilities and researching a long list of President Bush's potential replacement nominees. Both sides have extensive battle plans that feature the trappings of a modern...

When US Representative Henry Hyde spoke about the bill that would penalize the United Nations half the dues it extorts from the US annually for not embracing reform he included as shocking a statement that has ever been uttered on Capitol Hill. He alluded to the fact that those who represent us in Washington DC need to be “good stewards of the people’s money.” Of course, for this statement of common sense to have any meaning those in Washington would first have to understand that the money they “appropriate” isn’t theirs, it’s ours, and that they work for us. I...

WASHINGTON - Senators traveled to exotic foreign capitals and fabulous resort towns with beaches and golf courses in 2004 — all in the name of business of course and rarely on their own dime. One such trip was taken by Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who went to Cape Town, South Africa, for an international affairs conference, according to the Senate's financial disclosure forms. That trip was paid for by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the South African Institute of International Affairs. Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was reimbursed...

Riddle me this: What do Madonna, Bono, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair all have in common? They want to help poor Africans, that's what. But how to do that is the rub. Madonna has signed up for the latest Bob Geldorf concert series to heighten "awareness" of the dire African situation. She will join Paul McCartney and other pop stars in a series of shows next month. This is a nice, if somewhat fuzzy, idea. The last time Geldorf swam into these waters, in 1985, his "Live Aid" project raised about $150 million dollars for Ethiopian famine victims. The...

The leader of a U.S. Muslim lobby group met with Republican Sen. John Warner this week to demand a full Senate investigation into alleged incidents of Quran desecration. Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, also asked the Virginia senator to support Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., in calling on the Bush administration to shut down the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bray contends the Department of Defense's denial of the May 9 Quran-in-toilet report by Newsweek, which the magazine retracted, contrasts with subsequent statements by both Defense and the White House, acknowledging various...

LOS ANGELES - Nearly half the country's Hispanics, Asian Americans and other minorities prefer ethnic newspapers, television and radio to mainstream media, according to a poll released Tuesday. Outlets from Korean-language dailies to Spanish-broadcasting powerhouse Univision Communications Inc. attract 45 percent of adults in major minority groups, or about 29 million people nationwide, at least several times a week over their mainstream counterparts, a poll commissioned by the nonprofit New California Media shows. Overall, ethnic media reach approximately 80 percent the groups studied — about 51 million people, or a quarter of the U.S. adult population. "This is something that...

Throughout Europe, people are standing idly by as Muslim women are being murdered for having the audacity to date, or to not wear their head scarves outside, or to yearn for a life outside of the home. The problem is most pronounced in Germany. Last month six German women were murdered by their Muslim families for flirting with Western culture. Most recently, Hatin Surucu, a twenty-three-year-old Turkish woman who had been forced into marrying her cousin at age 16, was gunned down at a German bus stop. The attack had been planned. The motive-- Surucu had divorced her husband, discarded...

Sen. Hillary Clinton is "abusing the system" -- using New York State voters as a springboard to the presidency, according to a 38-year-old Republican who would like to stop Mrs. Clinton in 2006, well before the 2008 Democratic race for president. "[Clinton] is not even running for U.S. Senate, she is running for president and she clearly has no intention of fulfilling a six-year Senate term if she is re-elected," said likely GOP Senate candidate Adam Brecht in an interview with Cybercast News Service. "Unfortunately, she's abusing the system," Brecht said. "I think putting everyone through the charade of a...

Human eggs which could grow into embryos have been created in a laboratory for the first time, scientists announced yesterday. They were created by scraping stem cells off the surface of ovaries and exposing them to a chemical which stimulated growth. The breakthrough suggests limitless supplies of eggs could be grown, solving the problem of the acute shortage of donor eggs for infertile women wanting IVF treatment. But the idea has horrified pro-life groups after scientists admitted they could use the technique to 'farm' embryos for their research. The procedure was tested by a University of Tennessee team, which took...

Dozens of nonprofit organization leaders protested Thursday against a Los Angeles Unified plan to charge youth groups to use district athletic fields and facilities. Critics say the plan -- which would take effect in July and cost groups $78 for a permit and up to $48 an hour -- could force soccer associations, Girl Scouts and others to cancel activities. "The schools have been built by the community and they should be used by the community," said Mary Ann Lapointe, a teacher trainer with the Good News Club, a children's evangelical group that holds after-school classes in 22 schools in...

When Abraham Lincoln declared that government of the people, by the people, and for the people would not perish from the earth, he could not have anticipated the times we live in. A time when politicians would allow themselves to be corrupted by money from the rich and powerful, whose desire is to stomp all over the rights of we the people. We the people, the citizenry, once the most powerful in this nation, have become the least powerful, and now the despised. Money is the name of the game, and money means power, and we the people have increasingly...

Wed 13 Apr 2005 9:47am (UK) Naval Security Reviewed over Ship Intruder By Ben Mitchell, PA A review of security at a major UK naval base has been carried out after an alleged intruder was found on board a visiting US aircraft carrier, the Royal Navy said today. The alleged trespasser was discovered on board the USS Harry S Truman, anchored off Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hants, on Saturday night during a week-long visit to Portsmouth Naval Base. A navy spokesman said the man had allegedly passed through both Royal Navy security and US Navy security to get on board passenger...

Mention the Vietnam War, and most Americans will likely recoil. The War of the 1960’s and 1970’s killed over 58,000 Americans, but most of those people have gone forgotten. Hundreds of thousands of Americans served in that War, but thousands more protested that war. I believe those protests marked a change in America. Suddenly, America was no longer the “United States;” instead, America soon became a largely appeasement-minded culture, with the exception of several leaders. Soldiers from the Vietnam War have every right to feel left out. Very few of these courageous men were able to enjoy respect for their...

"Parents must not abdicate their parental responsibilities to their child's public school," says Finn Laursen. Laursen is executive director of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI). He is himself a product of public schools and worked 32 years in public schools. Founded in 1953, CEAI became the first national organization of professional Christian educators working in public, private and charter schools. From the beginning, the group has served the education community by encouraging, equipping and empowering Christian educators in public and private education. For many, CEAI is the perfect alternative to the National Education Association, a teachers union that has been...

For decades, neuroscientists have recognized that the brain has three distinct systems. One is derived from primitive reptiles that were adept at survival strategies. Another includes the limbic system – often called the “seat of emotions.” The third includes the neocortex and prefrontal lobes (comprising the right and left hemispheres of the brain) that account for thinking, verbal abilities and other “higher” functions. My theory is that Terri’s putative husband Michael, his attorney George J. Felos, and Judge George Greer – who ruled for years against Terri’s right to life – have highly developed reptilian brains and prefrontal lobes, but...

Today was a busy day. SB206 (proof of citizenship for welfare) by Jim Holt was before the State Agency and Government Affairs Committee at the Arkansas State Capitol. Tuesday, only two of the committee members showed up, which delayed any vote. Today, they were all there for the morning session (after some pressure from conservative activist). After Holt made beginning statements, Sen. Wilkins began whining at Holt about a pamphlet and it's "hatred" and "bigotry" how globalist we need to be and how there was a bunch of demagogery blah blah blah. It turns out Holt never passed out the...

Asbestos and Alar are only two of many instances where vast sums were spent on hypothetical risk while science was ignored. In the past we used our natural resources freely. We took great pride in our ability to convert resources into products with a direct benefit to the public. We turned trees into houses, coal and iron into automobiles. Today we hear that we must stop using our economic resources. Scale back! Harvest fewer trees. Drill fewer oil wells. Use less fertilizer. Build no new power plants. Encourage the government to buy back land it once offered to its people,...