Free Republic

The Democrats made huge errors in tactics and judgment during the last presidential campaign. But they thought that the patronizing contempt they held – and continue to hold – for the electorate would go unnoticed. Heady with the multimillions pouring into their coffers, with a monopoly on an old media that historically and unfailingly back leftists, and by mistaking their candidate's verbal contortions for substantive policy, they deluded themselves into thinking that the Oval office – as well as the Congress, Senate and a good many governorships – were theirs for the taking. What they failed to grasp was that...

Mr Osama, are you OK? By B Raman Dear Mr bin Laden, Are you OK? One has not heard from you since October 29, 2004, when you sent a recorded message through al-Jazeera on the eve of the US presidential elections. One knows that such periodic spells of silence are not unusual in the interest of your physical security. But whenever there are long spells of silence, the rumor mills start over-working. This had happened in the past and this is happening now, but this time, the rumors are stronger and more persistent than before. In the last week of...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (May 9) - The woman accused of fabricating a story about finding a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili smiled, gave a thumbs-up sign and mouthed "I love you" to television camera crews during a brief court appearance on Monday. Anna Ayala, 39, also shouted an enthusiastic, "Thank you, judge!" when Santa Clara County Judge Jerome Nadler set bail at $500,000. She is due back in court May 18 and remains jailed on charges of attempted grand larceny and grand larceny. Ayala, who has maintained her innocence, faces a maximum seven-year sentence if convicted of attempted...

Soon after the November elections leading Democrats agreed that the party was ailing and in dire need of a new direction, a new focus, new ideas to lead it forward. "It's critical we realize why the electorate voted the way it did," Representative Bob Menendez, of New Jersey, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said of the party's devastating loss in the presidential election and its setbacks in both houses of Congress. In February, House Democratic lawmakers held a retreat in Virginia to hash out what to do next. Something miraculous happened. They recovered—or at least they're behaving that...

An operations manager for Jack in the Box was late for a meeting and called his boss to let him know he was running late. As the manager was leaving the voicemail message, he witnessed an accident and went on to provide a "play by play" account of the incident. This is the actual voicemail message. It was forwarded so many times within Jack in the Box that it crashed their voicemail server. Click Here For Audio

He took the name Benedict[1] from the co-patron of Europe who founded over 40,000 communities of monasticism to combat widespread corruption. It should be no secret what Pope Benedict XVI's papacy will be like. For those 'enlightened' Catholics who dissent from magisterial teachings and who are grieved by the election, we bid you peace. Barely one day before his election as the 264th Pope of the Church, Cardinal Ratzinger, a formidable intellect who will not yield to modernists, delivered a remarkable homily, calling for Catholics to be 'true Adults in the faith.' He explained: "Being an 'Adult' means having...

VATICAN CITY, APR 20, 2005 (VIS) - Following is the complete text of the first message of Pope Benedict XVI which he delivered in Latin at the end of this morning's Mass with the members of the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the 264th successor to St. Peter in early evening yesterday. "Grace and peace in abundance to all of you! In my soul there are two contrasting sentiments in these hours. On the one hand, a sense of inadequacy and human turmoil for the responsibility entrusted to me yesterday as the...

State Controller Steve Westly on Thursday said he has decided to make a move toward running for governor because Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "has taken a conservative right turn." The former eBay executive, who will be eligible to run for re-election in his controller's post next year, announced that he is forming an exploratory committee in a first step to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006. Westly had said in the past that he did not plan to run for governor if Schwarzenegger seeks re-election. But on Thursday, Westly said that has changed. "This year the tone and...

The Democrats, apres le deluge de 2004, are tinkering with a new approach to abortion rhetoric. This is to be distinguished, of course, from a new approach to abortion. Is it repentance or repackaging when Howard Dean (the Party's new chairman) starts saying things like "I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats"? Is it substance or semantics when Sen. Hillary Clinton says abortions should occur "only in rare circumstances"? Is it from the heart or pandering to the heartland when a defeated John Kerry tells a pro-choice gathering in D.C. after Thanksgiving that...

Kids spend more time in high school sending text messages than reading textbooks, a New Jersey father discovered to his horror — after his 16-year-old daughter rang up a whopping $1,058 cellphone bill. The bill covered a month and a half, was more than 200 pages long and listed more than 12,000 text messages, said John Taylor of Oaklyn. His daughter Ashley had sent and received almost all those messages while she was in school, where students are supposed to stow their cellphones in their lockers before classes start. Ashley, a junior at Gloucester City HS, "no longer has a...

Code: ZE05032701Date: 2005-03-27John Paul II's 2005 Easter Message"Jesus, Crucified and Risen, Stay With Us!"VATICAN CITY, MARCH 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the message John Paul II wrote for this Easter, which was read on his behalf by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, at the end of Easter Sunday Mass. The Mass was celebrated in St. Peter's Square. * * * 1. "Mane nobiscum, Domine!" Stay with us, Lord! (cf. Luke 24:29). With these words, the disciples on the road to Emmaus invited the mysterious Wayfarer to stay with them, as the sun was setting on...

(VANITY) For Open Discussion:Been noticing much more media proclivity to focus in on the big protest signs being carried at Terri's hospice.These signs say a lot in a few words. Because many Americans may focus in on them instead of the story. Busy folks multitasking who have the TV sound down. Folks in a department store or going through an airport terminal or at an auto repair shop waiting room or at a rental car agency, wherever in the heartland of America, this Saturday.The more thinking by all of us about these signs and their potent messages to millions of...

ALGIERS (UPI) -- Algerian officials said Sunday Iran asked them to send a message to the United States that Tehran will defend its right to nuclear energy. An official source told United Press International on condition of anonymity that the visit to Algeria last week by Hassan Rowhani, secretary-general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was aimed at "sending a clear message to Washington that Iran is ready to defend its right to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." The source said Rowhani asked for Algeria's support on the nuclear issue and to tell the United States his country "is...

There have been huge disastrous floods in Guyana and the nation is openly appealing for help from the American military. This may seem like an old story, but it's not. I hope we help Guyana. There are good reasons, and it's in everyone's interest. The tsunami relief effort got word to the world that when you are in deep trouble, America is the one, the only one, you can reliably turn to. Swift efficient help to impossible areas, soldiers who are friendly and compassionate, soldiers who won't shake you down, soldiers who will treat you with dignity and help you...

As the day of President Bush’s inauguration draws near, liberal organizations seem to be on the brink of implosion; they don’t know what policies to pursue, they don’t know who their chairman should be, and they don’t know whether they should attack the presidential inauguration as a bourgeoisie-perpetrated fraud or as simply too expensive. Just recently on C-Span, a group of anarchists could be observed planning a protest to the inaugural ceremony. Other liberals have accused Bush of stealing 118,000 votes in Ohio. But as of late, the primary argument that they’ve asserted for the pursuit of their policies is...

So where does the shifting political landscape leave Democrats? Should they elect pro-life, pro-gun, pro-war presidential candidates? Not necessarily. But they may consider doing something radical: supporting candidates in Middle America that represent the viewpoints of... well, Middle America. Zell Miller is right. The Democratic Party is a national party no more. But give Ed Gilliespie, Ken Mehlman or myself the keys of the DNC for four years and we could once again put Democrats in power in the House and Senate. That's because Republicans understand middle America-national Democrats don't. Maybe if the Party of FDR listened more to Peter...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) led the world's one billion Roman Catholics into Christmas Day and said the troubled world needed the message of Jesus more than ever, braving Parkinson's Disease to deliver his sermon. The Pope celebrated Christmas midnight mass in St Peter's Basilica attended by some 10,000 people and watched by tens of millions live on television in more than 70 countries, including several predominantly Muslim nations. The 84-year-old Pope, who has difficulty speaking because of his illness, lessened the strain this year, limiting his sermon to a mere eight paragraphs --...

Democrats look for message, messenger to win back power and influence policy BY STEVEN THOMMA Knight Ridder Newspapers Posted on Wed, Dec. 08, 2004 WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Which should come first for Democrats as they retool for the future, message or messenger? In their first meeting since their dark Election Day, Democrats will gather in Florida this weekend desperate to find a way back to power. Their focus will be on a search for a new messenger in the form of a national party chairman to voice the party's ideals on such issues as national defense, Social Security and...

Among the things that were brought to light during the recent Presidential campaign was what I would term the "unconscious message" that the Democrats sent to Americans. This unconscious message was a function of, primarily, two things: The impact of standard-bearers — including Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and Whoopi Goldberg, among many others — who, because of their high profile, came to represent what the Democrat Party stood for to many Americans; and some of the tactics which the Democrats allowed to be employed in the name of electing their candidate. Indeed, while many high-profile Democratic spokespeople might have gotten...

NOTE: If I know anything about the rabid naysayers on FR, at least some of the RELIGIOUS [vs spiritual] types will wail and rant that ANYTHING having to do with numbers and The Bible has to be crossing the line into dealing with Biblically forbidden NUMEROLOGY. This is nonsense. The dictionary definition of “numerology” makes clear that numerology is the study of numbers, as the figures designating the year of one’s birth, “to determine their supposed influence on one’s life, future, etc.” [Quix color, bold emphasis on the definition from: HERE: http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0562554.html Clearly, the Biblically prohibited issue is INTEREST IN,...