Free Republic

See the cross? See it? Why are you laughing? Warning! Your salad could be making you into an Infidel! "Salafist group warns tomatoes are 'Christian,'” by Angie Nassar for NowLebanon.com, June 12 (thanks to Lachlan) ...A Salafist group called the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association has come under fire after sending out a warning on Facebook urging its followers not to eat tomatoes because the vegetable (or fruit) is a Christian food. The group posted a photo on its page of a tomato - which appears to reveal the shape of a cross after being cut in half – along with...

Facing heightened pressure to revive his presidential bid, Rick Santorum was forced to explain another apparent misstep as he courted Louisiana voters Friday, the eve of a critical contest in a Republican nomination battle that increasingly favors Mitt Romney. Santorum said he would support the eventual GOP nominee - if it isn't him - despite what he insists are similarities between front-runner Romney and President Barack Obama that make them indistinguishable on some issues. He caused an intraparty uproar earlier in the week after suggesting he'd prefer a second term for Obama over a Romney presidency. "I've said repeatedly and...

Although it has been seven years, I still have the vestiges of Islamic rituals stamped into my brain. For example, I still refuse to pet my dog before I pray. Why? Well, because in Islam, dog saliva makes all prayers null and void. There are tons of circumstances and elements that can cause a Muslim's prayer to "not count," like sighing, talking, clapping, turning away from the Qibla (direction of prayer), folding one's hands, not washing up properly, intentionally laughing, intentionally weeping about "worldly matters," prostrating an incorrect number of times and (excuse me for being crass) farting. These silly...

Most women wouldn't mind if they were constantly being compared to Angelina Jolie. But then, most women aren't Megan Fox. The 23-year-old Transformers star opens up in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly about the trials and tribulations of being equated to one of the most desirable women in the world. "It's a lack of creativity on the media's part," Fox complains. "Because I have tattoos and dark hair and I was in an action movie? That's as far as the similarities extend."

Undisciplined. Disorganized. Overreaching. Dangerous. Even the Democrats are taking off the upside-down plastic buckets they've kept over their heads, like David Broder, David Ignatius, and even David Brooks, the house conservative at the NYT, who keeps trying to hug that dangerous median strip on the superhighway of life, dancing and dodging between all the whizzing cars and trucks. But the commentariat still doesn't understand that Obama is the worst control freak to occupy high office in the history of the United States. Obama is the Nanny to end all Nannies. Socialism is not a political philosophy for him. It's the...

There was a "gay" bookstore called Lobo's in Austin, Texas, when I was living there as a grad student. The layout was interesting. Looking inside from the street all you saw were books. It looked like any other bookstore. There was a section devoted to classic "gay" fiction by writers such as Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, and W.H. Auden. There were biographies of prominent "gay" icons, some of whom, like Walt Whitman, would probably have accepted the homosexual label, but many of whom, like Whitman's idol, President Lincoln, had been commandeered for the cause on the basis of evidence no...

A woman in Shelton, Wash., who was reported missing by her husband, was found dead under piles of clutter in their home, where she suffocated to death, according to police. Shelton Police Chief Terry Davenport said the home was so cluttered that police officers' heads touched the ceiling as they climbed over the clutter. Authorities found the body of 62-year-old Marie Rose buried under clothes after 10 hours of searching. She reportedly suffered from a condition known as hoarding. Rose's husband believes she fell while looking for the phone in the house this week and suffocated. There were so many...

CHICAGO — Joe Neglia was a retired government intelligence worker with Parkinson's disease (search) when he suddenly developed what he calls a gambling habit from hell. After losing thousands of dollars playing slot machines near his California home several times a day for nearly two years, Neglia stumbled across an Internet report linking a popular Parkinson's drug he used with compulsive gambling. "I thought, 'Oh my God, this must be it,"' he said. Three days after stopping the drug, Mirapex (search), "all desire to gamble just went away completely. I felt like I had my brain back." A Mayo Clinic...

A leading expert on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who advised actor Leonardo DiCaprio on portraying Howard Hughes in "The Aviator" says the actor himself developed a serious case of the condition. "There were moments when I was very concerned for Leo," UCLA psychiatry professor Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz told Scotland on Sunday. Schwartz, who was called in to by director Martin Scorsese to help replicate the characteristics of OCD from which Hughes suffered, says DiCaprio's brain started to malfunction, as he reawakened his own OCD he suffered as a child. "He let his own mild OCD get worse to play the part, Schwartz...

Pledge Dad sues to ban ministers at oath Published 1/14/2005 2:07 PM WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Atheist Michael Newdow wants a U.S. district judge to ban prayers by clergy at the president's inauguration ceremony, the Washington Post said Friday. Newdow, a California doctor and lawyer who sued to have the words "under God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance in 2003, told the court that prayers offered by two Protestant ministers during the Jan. 20 ceremony when the president takes his oath of office would violate his constitutional rights. "This is like the Super Bowl, the Olympics. It's a...

  JOHN KERRY: CONGENITAL LIAR(his mother knew)POURQUOI JOHN KERRY EST DANGEREUX POUR L'AMÉRIQUE (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) NEW! compleatjohnkerry.blogspot.com NEW! unfitforcommand.blogspot.comjohnkerryisdangerousforamerica.blogspot.com [M]y mom passed away a couple years ago, just before I was deciding to run. And she was in the hospital, and I went in to talk to her and tell her what I was thinking of doing. And she looked at me from her hospital bed and she just looked at me and she said, "Remember: integrity, integrity, integrity." Those are the three words that she left me with. And my daughters and...

Implanted Devices May Alter Treatment of Many Disorders A handful of scientists around the world have begun cautiously experimenting with devices implanted in patients' bodies to deliver precisely targeted electrical stimulation to the brain in hopes of treating otherwise hopeless behavioral, neurological and psychiatric disorders. While stressing that the ethically sensitive research with "brain pacemakers" has just begun, the scientists say the results so far have been so promising that it could mark the beginning of a new era in treating often intractable cases. The approach builds on rapid recent advances in understanding how the brain works, on high-tech imaging...

<p>For 25 years, a difficult-neighbor problem plagued Curtis and Elaine Colvin of Seattle. The neighbor's home and lawn resembled a junkyard. Finally, last spring, the elderly man was taken out of state by relatives.</p> <p>Konstantinos Apostolou bought the house — and sent in five men to clear the floor-to-ceiling junk. "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life," says his son, George Apostolou. There was nowhere to walk, except for a narrow "goat path" connecting the rooms. The men hauled out seven Dumpsters' worth of clothes, books, magazines, spoiled food, firewood, car parts, tires, bank statements and 50-year-old tax records. "I feel bad for the guy," says Apostolou. "I'm sure he was ill."</p>

  Why bill "it was the TERRORISM, stupid" clinton would have been an utter failure even if he weren't a corrupt, cowardly, vacuous, self-serving, balkanizing, opportunistic RapistThug And why the missus deserves no less than half the credit by Mia T. 5.28.03 Achieving leadership in any area demands the ability to reach good decisions promptly. What is the essence of success on the battlefield? It is to make instant decisions on the basis of best available information, then act on that decision. And be right about that decision, because lives are on the line and will be lost if you...

<p>A few penguins swimming leisurely every now and then at the San Francisco Zoo is nothing new. But dozens of them doing laps in unison all day to the point of exhaustion has zookeepers perplexed.</p> <p>"We've lost complete control," said Jane Tollini, the zoos penguin keeper. "It's a free-for-all in here. After 18 years of doing this job, these birds are making mincemeat of me."</p>