Free Republic

So who's Hillary's enforcer? Last week we asked "who got to Donny Deutsch?" when he suddenly became supportive of Hillary whereas just the week before he had been very critical of her. Now the same thing has happened with Ed Rendell. Just yesterday, the former DNC Chairman and Pennsylvania governor was quoted in the New York Times saying Hillary has handled the email scandal "poorly, maybe atrociously, certainly horribly." But on today's Morning Joe, Ed was suddenly singing a different tune, claiming Hillary is doing everything right and plaintively suggesting that there is no problem. That led Mark Halperin to...

Unless celebrities were invisible or shipped in from the roof through a chimney, the Obama fundraiser at Sarah Jessica Parker’s house last night was not so star-studded. From every report filed, the main star who attended was Meryl Streep. Unless, she’s suddenly changed her entire past practice of political donorship, it’s unlikely that Streep donated $40,000 to anything. Aretha Franklin stopped in for a few minutes, and then headed off to the Songwriters Hall of Fame dinner uptown. That left a few fashion people, and a sighting of Olivia Wilde, an up and coming actress who’s given some money to...

WEST DEPTFORD, N.J., It perhaps didn't have the shock factor from "The Godfather," but the delivery of a fake horse head to New Jersey's Senate president drew a lot of attention. Robert Godman, 61, of Wenonah, N.J., was charged with fourth-degree harassment after delivering the fake horse head to the Gloucester County office of Senate President Steve Sweeney in West Deptford, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported. Investigators said the incident was taken seriously when the toy head was delivered Jan. 15, the newspaper said Monday. "We don't really know what his motivation was here. The intent's not clear," State Police Sgt....

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. - A councilwoman found a severed horse’s head in her swimming pool Tuesday, state police said. “We’re looking at a threat as a possible angle,” Lt. Pierce Gallagher said. “Certainly, we can’t rule that out.” There have been some prior instances of harassment directed toward Wawayanda Councilwoman Gail Soro, Gallagher said. One of the most famous scenes in “The Godfather” showed a movie mogul waking up with a horse head in his bed after he refused to bow to the will of the title character, played by Marlon Brando. Wawayanda is located 106 miles southwest of Albany.

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush’s $2.6 trillion budget plan working its way through Congress is dishonest, irresponsible and violates the core values of average Americans, said Bush’s former rival for the presidency, Sen. John Kerry. “This budget is like an Enron budget: smoke the numbers, cook the books, hide the truth and hope no one finds out,” Kerry, who was last year’s Democratic presidential nominee, said in prepared remarks for a speech Thursday. Kerry criticized the Republican leadership’s priorities in a budget that includes proposed cuts in health care and education and up to $106 billion in tax cuts over the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 January 15 An Orion Deep Field Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler Explanation: Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, the glowing Orion Nebula and the dark Horsehead Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. They both appear in this stunning composite digital image assembled from over 20 hours of data that includes exposures filtered to record emission from hydrogen atoms. The view reveals...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 October 7 The Colorful Horsehead Nebula Credit & Copyright: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT), Hawaiian Starlight, CFHT Explanation: While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula. The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 July 13 The Horsehead Nebula Credit & Copyright: Nigel Sharp (NOAO), KPNO, AURA, NSF Explanation: One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion, is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud. Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s. The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula,...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 4 Clusters and Nebulae of the Hexagon Credit & Copyright: Axel Mellinger Explanation: At first, the bright stars of the large asterism known as the (northern) Winter Hexagon might be hard to pick out in this gorgeous deep sky mosaic from December 2002. But placing your cursor over the picture will reveal the hexagon's outlines and the bright clusters and nebulae along a stunning portion of...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 29 Orion's Horsehead Nebula Credit & Copyight: Loke Kun Tan (StarryScapes) Explanation: The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the dark indentation to the red emission nebula seen above and to the right of center in the above photograph. The bright star on the left is located in the belt of the familiar constellation of Orion....

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 May 30 Orion Nebulosities Credit & Copyright: Emmanuel Mallart Explanation: Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, the glowing Orion Nebula and the dark Horsehead Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. They both appear in this stunning composite color photograph along with other nebulosities as part of the giant Orion Molecular Cloud complex, itself hundreds of light-years across. The magnificent Orion Nebula (aka...