Free Republic

A new article profiling Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul's college days alleges that Paul and a friend once kidnapped a classmate and tried to force her to smoke marijuana. The GQ Magazine article, written by Jason Zengerle, contends that Paul has cast himself as an outsider since his days at Baylor University in Texas, joining a "secret society" called the NoZe Brotherhood. The society was "a refuge for atypical Baylor students" and enjoyed needling the school's administration and its piousness, according to Zengerle. The author relates an anecdote about Paul and another alleged member of the NoZe Brotherhood, shared...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The national panel that approves doctors as board certified said U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul isn't on the list, even though he has campaigned as holding the endorsement. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the American Board of Medical Specialties, which works with the American Medical Association, doesn't recognize certification by a group Paul founded in 1991 and heads. Paul, a Republican from Bowling Green and an opthamologist, says he's certified by the National Board of Opthamology. "He's not board certified," Boukas said Doctors do not need to be certified to practice medicine in Kentucky. But, hospitals generally...

April 11, 2004 Kerry Ignores Reproaches of Some BishopsBy KATHARINE Q. SEELYE OSTON, April 11 — Rejecting the admonitions of several national Roman Catholic leaders, Senator John Kerry received communion at Easter services today at the Paulist Center here, a kind of New Age church that describes itself as "a worship community of Christians in the Roman Catholic tradition" and that attracts people drawn to its dedication to "family religious education and social justice."Mr. Kerry's decision to receive communion represented a challenge to several prominent Catholic bishops, who have become increasingly exasperated with politicians who are Catholic but who deviate...

Kerry's Easter Plans Include Catholic Service 2 hours, 26 minutes ago Add Politics to My Yahoo! By Patricia Wilson CHICAGO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), a Catholic whose support of abortion rights has prompted some in the Church hierarchy to say they would deny him Communion, will receive the sacrament if he attends Easter Sunday services at Boston's Paulist Center. Reuters Photo   As the first Catholic at the top of a major party ticket since John F. Kennedy in 1960, Kerry has opened a new debate over religion and politics. Frequent visits...