Free Republic

Aaron Stevens will run the Boston Marathon for the sixth time in April, and his fifth as part of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute team. For each of the past two years, he has raised $16,000 for the cancer center. The effort is personal. Stevens lost a cousin in her 30s to colon cancer, and his father survived grueling treatment for bladder cancer that included a nine-week stay in intensive care. He’s got his two-pronged fundraising strategy down pat—an email list of 500 people get monthly appeals from him, and he can count on at least 100 of those people to...

A pair of Arizona-based Christian artists is challenging the local law that threatens to fine and imprison them for refusing to make same-sex wedding invitations. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio in Phoenix, lost a case at trial level which accused them of violating a local ordinance that protects homosexuals from discrimination, Fox News reported. The ordinance also prevents the business owners from publicly explaining their convictions or even defending their decision lest they face jail time for that as well. This apparent violation of the First Amendment protection of free speech is at the...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Obama administration is seriously considering not extending invitations to Iranian diplomats for July 4 celebrations overseas, senior administration officials tell CNN. The officials said intense discussions on the issue were taking place, but the final decision had not been made. Late last month the State Department sent a cable to its embassies and consulates worldwide informing them they “may invite representatives from the government of Iran” to their July 4th celebrations. The U.S. receptions marking Independence Day usually feature symbols of Americana, such as hot dogs, red-white-and-blue decorations and remarks by U.S. officials about America’s founding...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 – A Marine who lost both legs in Iraq, a 61-year-old doctor who joined the Navy after his oldest son was killed in Iraq, a soldier and an airman wounded in Iraq, and a Marine whose unit was part of the troop surge in Iraq’s Anbar province will join first lady Laura Bush tonight during the president’s State of the Union address. The servicemembers were selected as special guests for the annual address to both houses of Congress, President Bush’s eighth, and the last before he leaves office. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said today...