Free Republic

True story: Way back in those ancient days known as the 1990s, I was a columnist for The Baltimore Sun. I had just done a piece about Dennis Rodman, the incomparable and, in some ways, indescribable forward for the Chicago Bulls. As indescribable as some of Rodman’s on and off-court antics were, I decided to take a shot at describing them. “Monkey shines” is the term I came up with. I’d no sooner sent the column to a line editor than a black female editor pulled me aside. Calmly and nicely, she expressed her doubts about whether I should use...

Cenk Uygur on The Huffington Post: Draft Hagel for Defense At this point, nearly everyone agrees that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should be fired (with the obvious exception of Vice President Dick Cheney, and hence, the President). Republican Senators like John McCain and Trent Lott have called for his dismissal. Nearly every Democrat in Congress believes he should be fired. Even neoconservatives like Bill Kristol have turned on him. But the question isn’t whether Rumsfeld should be fired – it’s who replaces him? Whoever replaces the Secretary will hopefully lead the Iraqi operation in a new direction that it...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...