Free Republic

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has triggered a storm of protests across the Asian Muslim country over controversial photos showing her hugging a French paraglider at a paragliding show in Paris last week. "I haven't done anything against tenets of Islam. I am better Muslim than those criticizing me for hugging a 71-year old man, who is of my father's age," 48-year-old Bakhtiar told IslamOnline.net.

WACO, Texas — School administrators gave a 4-year-old student an in-school suspension for inappropriately touching a teacher's aide after the pre-kindergartner hugged the woman. A letter from La Vega school district administrators to the student's parents said that the boy was involved in "inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment" after he hugged the woman and he "rubbed his face in the chest of (the) female employee" on Nov. 10. DaMarcus Blackwell, the father of the boy who attends La Vega Primary School, said he filed a complaint with the district. He said that his son doesn't...

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

Tehran, 8 Sept. (AKI) - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will travel to Caracas, Venezuela, on an official visit after taking part in a United Nations General Assembly in New York on 19 September, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced friday. The Islamic Republic and Venezuela have together with Cuba, Bolivia and Syria led international criticism of US foreign policy. Late July, Chavez travelled to Tehran where Ahmadinejad gave him the highest honor of the Islamic Republic.

United Nations: The world body this week invited Zimbabwe's dictator, who starves his own people for political purposes, to its World Food Day — where he compared President Bush to Hitler. We kid you not. ... Also on hand at the celebration was Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, who used the occasion to accuse the U.S. and our allies of threatening "all life on the planet." Chavez praised Mugabe's policies, and said Venezuela was enacting similar "reforms." Mugabe and Chavez were photographed embracing happily, like the two birds of a feather they are.

PRESIDENT Bush spoke at great length about Social Security reform on Wednesday — but all anybody wants to talk about is The Hug. The president sent a clear message to the potentates of the Middle East that they need to start thinking about liberty — but all that seems to have paled next to The Hug. And why not? The embrace we all witnessed during the State of the Union between the grieving mother of an American soldier killed in action and an Iraqi woman who exercised the franchise for the first time on Sunday was one of the most...

'The Hug' becomes a TV ad for Bush MASON - At the Faulkner household, it's known as "The Hug." Now the embrace between President Bush and then-15-year-old Ashley Faulkner has turned into something more than just a personal moment. It's also the most expensive TV ad campaign of the presidential election. The commercial, unveiled Tuesday by the Progress for America Voter Fund, will run on cable stations and in nine states - Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri - at a cost of $14.2 million. Among the group's major contributors are Reds owner Carl H....

GOP wants Daschle-Bush hug pulled By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer Last Updated: Thursday, September 2, 2004 8:14 AM MDT The Republican National Committee doesn't want to see that warm embrace shared by President Bush and Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At least they don't want to see it in Daschle's re-election TV ad that went on the air a week ago. An RNC lawyer fired off a "cease and desist" missive to the Daschle campaign Tuesday afternoon. "You are using the picture in a manner that could create the misleading impression...

Tom Daschle’s adamant denial of an embrace with Michael Moore elicits flashbacks of a president, a wagging finger, and a similar disclaimer: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” I didn’t! Honest. Someone is smoking something, and it has resulted in a hallucination of epic proportion. Even in an age when sex is not sex and ejaculatory release with anyone at all and no one in particular is de rigueur, I thought a hug was still a hug. In classic one-night-stand tradition, one partner (Michael) fell in love and the other (Tom) pretends not to recall the evening....