Free Republic

The Tiger Woods story is back in high gear and the media love it. I’ve heard several people compare his plight to that of Bill Clinton and other disgraced politicians. In my mind the only people to whom Tiger Woods owes an apology are his wife, children and his sponsors. Tiger Woods doesn’t foist his morals or lack thereof on the public by signing or vetoing legislation. Tiger Woods doesn’t nominate Supreme Court Justices and Tiger Woods is not the Commander of the most powerful military on Earth. Tiger Woods plays a game. If anyone, the people who owe us...

The latest issue of People magazine features a cover story about the famously large Duggar Family along with a chilling question: “How Many Kids Are Too Many?” The moment I heard that Josie, the Duggars’ 19th child, was born prematurely, weighing only 1 lb. 6 oz., I knew the stars of the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting would face some harsh criticism for continuing to have children despite the risks. But really? This couple was facing some pretty tough criticism already. Every time the Duggars announce a new pregnancy or welcome a new baby, the comments sections...

Five Republican representatives – Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh "Joseph" Cao – have written a letter to Ugandan President Yoweri Mouseveni pressing him to stop pending legislation that would severely criminalize homosexuality and sometimes impose the death penalty for homosexual acts. In the letter, which you can read in full here, the men say their religious faith requires them to oppose the legislation because it contradicts the "foundational Christian belief in the inherent dignity and worth of all men and women." The Ugandan law has become a hot topic in America because, as National Public...

Just 18% of adults think it’s the government’s job to tell Americans what kind of light bulb they use, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Seventy-two percent (72%) say it’s none of the government’s business, and 10% are not sure. The federal government under an energy bill passed in 2007 is requiring consumers to dump incandescent bulbs, the ones we’ve used for well over a century, for more expensive incandescent ones. The plan is scheduled to go into effect over the next 10 years in the name of great energy efficiency. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans and...

Michael Scott points us to the fact that US Attorneys have requested data on anonymous commenters who commented on an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. From the description, it sounds like the feds are fishing for a lot more than they should be allowed to get. The subpoena requested: "full name, date of birth, physical address, gender, ZIP code, password prompts, security questions, telephone numbers and other identifiers ... the IP address," of everyone who commented Seem a bit excessive? It's not entirely clear what the feds are fishing for, but one indicator? Some of the comments were quite...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is at it again. Two years ago, mere weeks after the shootings at Virginia Tech, Mr. Bloomberg, who seems to think most gun violence originates in Virginia, authorized a rogue sting operation, sending teams of private investigators into the Old Dominion to set up “straw” purchases of firearms. He did this without informing any of the pertinent authorities of his intention, thus eliciting somewhat more than quizzical looks from Gov. Kaine and Attorney General Bob McDonnell. Just this past week, Mr. Bloomberg took aim at Virginia yet again — and at Mr. McDonnell in...

An ad campaign is being launched today to try to force New York City's gun-control laws on Virginians. The ads running in the commonwealth are funded by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The mayor should keep his big-government politics north of the Mason-Dixon Line where they belong. Mr. Bloomberg donated $500,000 last year to a gun-control lobbying outfit called Americans United for Safe Streets, which is running the campaign. The mayor's largesse accounts for 99.5 percent of all money raised by the group. The ads are pegged to the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and link...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is getting involved in an election other than his own this November, thanks to an issue he has long cared about: gun control. Hoping to make a splash in the Virginia governor’s race, Mr. Bloomberg showed up here Monday to unveil a new commercial criticizing former Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, the presumptive Republican nominee, who is a strong gun-rights supporter. Mr. Bloomberg was joined about a dozen people, including survivors of the Virginia Tech shootings, their relatives, and Tatyana Timoshenko, the mother of Police Offcer Russel Timoshenko, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is pushing to protect Antarctica's fragile environment by imposing mandatory limits on the size of cruise ships sailing there and the number of passengers they bring ashore.

That was Rep. Charlie Rangel’s response when I recently confronted him about his mounting ethical and financial scandals. Rangel’s uncouth snit began in the Longworth House Office Building after I asked the New York Democrat about his publicly-subsidized luxury vehicle, shady property deals, and unpaid taxes. Americans are struggling just to pay their bills. While the economy contracts by the month, politicians like Rangel are helping grow the government—and the taxes of those Americans with it. As proof, Rangel, who chairs the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, frolics around in a 17-foot, 300-horsepower Cadillac DeVille paid for by you,...

Our intrepid Hot Air TV special correspondent Jason Mattera is back on Capitol Hill! You’ve watched him corner smear merchants Jack Murtha and John Kerry, ask William “Cold Cash” Jefferson for bribe-freezing tips, and roam the Democrat National Convention in an orange Gitmo suit exposing far Left insanity. This time he catches tax cheat Charlie Rangel and confronts him about his mounting ethical and financial scandals. Charlie Rangel’s message for Jason - and for all you bothersome taxpayers wondering about his shady rental property deals, publicly-subsidized Cadillac, and unpaid taxes: “Why don’t you mind your goddamned business?” Because, you damned...

A 17-year-old girl having sex with her boyfriend and getting pregnant is suddenly not only everybody’s business, but the most shocking thing to happen since the Beatles broke up. Could it be because she’s the daughter of the Republican VP nominee, a woman who is not only pro-life but pro-abstinence? Call me cynical, but I think there’s a connection here....

You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes? Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg's brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he'll be sending to children across America. "I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center. "I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios." The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics,...

Lindsay Lohan on Friday had sharp words for the Los Angeles police chief who one day earlier was accused of outing the 22-year-old when he said the star of films like "Freaky Friday" had "gone gay." "Police chiefs shouldn't get involved in everybody else's business or their personal lives. It's inappropriate," Lohan told the photographers as she made her way through Los Angeles International Airport. Video of the encounter was posted on

Monday, December 31, 2007 Hillary to Iowa Voters: None of Your Bees Wax   [Jonah Goldberg] So much for listening tours. From the Des Moines Register: Iowa Falls – Iowans have noticied that Democrat Hillary Clinton is not taking public questions from audiences during her final-push campaign rallies. After her 40-minute monologue ended shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, Clinton immediately began to sign autographs, pose for photographs and listen to caucusgoers’ concerns one on one. Iowa Falls resident Alene Rickels, 51, when asked her thoughts about the event, said: “Her speech was really good, but it would’ve been interesting to...

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, has called for clear separation between Internet access and Internet content. Speaking at the World Wide Web conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday morning, Berners-Lee gave his views on the growing battle over Net neutrality. "It's better and more efficient for us all if we have a separate market where we get our connectivity, and a separate market where we get our content. Information is what I use to make all my decisions. Not just what to buy, but how to vote," Berners-Lee told journalists. "There is an effort by some companies in the U.S....

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations committee against torture told the United States on Friday that any secret jails it ran for foreign terrorism suspects, along with the Guantanamo Bay facility, were illegal and should be closed. In its first review of U.S. policy since Washington launched its war on terrorism, the influential body of 10 independent experts also urged President George W. Bush to ban interrogation methods that could be regarded as torture or cruel treatment. It cited use of dogs to terrify detainees, ``water-boarding'' which is a form of mock drowning, and sexual humiliation, saying that some detainees...

Falun Gong Accuses China of Running Death Camp Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 11:17 am Press Release Express deepest grievance and concern regarding the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners held in Sujiatun death camp, China. On 6th April New Zealand Falun Gong practitioners will gather at Parliament to express our deepest grievance and concern regarding the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners held in Sujiatun death camp, China. On March 8, 2006, a Chinese journalist on the run from the Chinese communist regime disclosed to Falun Gong practitioners in the United States an appalling news: a secret death camp in Sujiatun,...

Virginia Should Ban All Forms of Workplace Discrimination, Says DNC (Washington, D.C.) The Washington Post reported this week that Republicans in the Virginia Senate killed legislation that would have protected Virginia's LGBT community from workplace discrimination. The bill would have extended workplace protections installed by Democratic Governor Tim Kaine at the state level to all levels of government in Virginia. In his first official act as governor, Kaine signed Executive Order 1, which prohibits state agencies from discriminating against people based on sexual orientation. Democratic State Senators Mamie Locke and L. Louise Lucas proposed Senate Bill 700, which would have...

A US human rights watchdog has urged the Indian Government to change "colonial-era" sodomy laws to end discrimination against gays. It has also asked India to provide for protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Human Rights Watch referred to January 4 incident in which, it said, Lucknow police had arrested four men on the charge of operating a "gay racket" on Internet as well as engaging in "unnatural" sex. The police action, it added, shows that India's "colonial era" sodomy laws continue to threaten human rights and encourage...