Free Republic

After eight years of magnanimous humility, servility and deferential governance toward his political opposition, ‘President selfless‘ awards himself the Medal of Distinguished Public Service. Thus, President Obama officially declares himself the greatest public servant during his own tenure. No. Really, not kidding. He did.

Pharrell Williams says he'll have all of humanity singing together at a worldwide concert June 18 to fight global warming. The pop star is teaming up with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Al Gore and producer Kevin Wall to pull off a "Live Earth" concert on seven continents to build support for a U.N. climate pact in Paris among more than 190 nations in December.

'Black people are less intelligent than whites', claims DNA pioneer One of the world's most eminent scientists is at the centre of a row after claiming black people are less intelligent than whites. James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has drawn condemnation for comments made ahead of his arrival in Britain tomorrow for a speaking tour. Dr Watson, who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, made the controversial remarks in an interview in The Sunday Times. The 79-year-old geneticist said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect...

Dear Günter Grass, First: why an open letter? I have never written one before, whereas you have written dozens. You are, so to speak, Europe's leading man of open letters. I admit that the idea of turning the tables on you did appeal to me. But there is another, more personal reason for my decision to address you in this way. In a newspaper interview about your autobiography, "Peeling the Onion," you have admitted after 60 years, that you belonged to the Waffen SS. I want to make you aware of my feeling of betrayal — a feeling I believe...

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A senior Hamas leader indicated Monday that the militant group is halting attacks on Israelis while the Palestinians prepare to choose a new leader, the latest sign of change following the death of Yasser Arafat. Sheik Hassan Yousef, the group's top leader in the West Bank, said Hamas also would consider a formal truce with Israel. Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks, killing hundreds of Israelis during four years of fighting. Since Arafat's death Nov. 11, there has been a sharp drop in violence. The Palestinians have turned their attention to...

Wiesel - on Iraq, word is his Bond By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News October 29, 2002 Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel confesses to a not-so-secret wish: that a James Bond-style raid would rid the world of a major terror base in Iraq. "Maybe it's a naïve and romantic notion, but if I were an American general, I would like to have a kind of James Bond operation to send in American, British and Israeli commandos to go in the evening, destroy all the factories of mass destruction and get out without killing a single person," Wiesel said...