Free Republic

NEW YORK -- Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich paid a courtesy call on Monday to real estate magnate Donald Trump in what has become an obligatory stop for some GOP hopefuls in 2012. He called Trump "a genuine American icon." After their late-morning meeting, Gingrich said he and Trump discussed ways of creating jobs for poor children, an issue that got the candidate in hot water last week when he suggested that poor kids have no working role models except those that are "illegal." Gingrich said he asked Trump, the host of the reality show The Apprentice, to offer apprenticeships...

<p>Remember when conservative columnist George Will called Mitt Romney a “recidivist reviser of his principles”? As it happens, the veteran pundit has nothing nicer to say about Newt Gingrich, whose astounding sudden popularity in the polls recently prompted the candidate himself to say he’ll be the 2012 GOP nominee.</p>

Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, goes on Meet the Press and calls Newt Gingrich a political "sociopath." Does moderator David Gregory call her out? Nope. To the contrary, Gregory proceeds to play a clip of convicted felon Jack Abramoff accusing Newt of "corruption." View the video here.

Rick Perry’s awkward courtship of the Republican party reminds me a lot of the jig Sarah Palin performed right after the 2008 campaign. Unsure of whether to go the establishment route, Palin made overtures inside the Beltway before finally breaking with them and going with Tea Party. So, I thought it might be instructive to look back at some of the lessons Rick Perry can take from Palin’s base whispering. 1) Man up. Perry shouldn’t apologize for his shortcomings in debates or speeches. And his wife shouldn’t cry at a public speech about how brutalized he’s been by his rivals...

According to the White House, President Obama is planning to focus on “five pillars” during his 2011 State of the Union address — innovation, education, infrastructure, deficit reduction, and reforming government. Poor choice to focus on five points and call them “pillars.” As the president surely knows, there are “five pillars” of Islam which are the foundation for the Muslim life. Is this subliminal bow to Mecca worth opening that “can of worms” at the same time he is making a head fake towards center? The president says that his focus will be “jobs” and, according to Chip Reid, the...

NEW DELHI: The First Lady loves Indian food, especially the mutton and daal she sampled at the Prime Minister's banquet on Sunday night. Her younger daughter, Sasha, wants to become a dancer and when this wife has a tiff with her husband, he has to make up first. In an interaction with 17 school girls from rural areas of the country at the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, Michelle Obama spilled the beans on who calls the shots at home. Awed by her presence at first, the girls stammered and stuttered but by the time the one-hour session was over,...

Congress is looking to prevent women's rights from going down the toilet -- literally. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold hearings Wednesday on the "Potty Parity Act," a bill that seeks to address the shoddy restroom facilities for women in federal buildings. The bill would require any federal building constructed for public use to have similar toilets in women's and men's restrooms.

Pelosi says GOP has hijacked 'tea party' movement The Associated Press WASHINGTON House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is questioning whether the conservative "tea party" coalition truly represents a grass-roots movement. In a broadcast interview, Pelosi calls tea party voters the "astroturf" movement. She says many of those voters have good intentions but that the Republican Party has hijacked the movement for its gain. The San Francisco Democrat says the tea party coalition shares some common ground with Democrats, such as their dislike of special interests in Washington. She cited public disdain for the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance that...

Girls who hate having to sit down when they use public bathrooms may finally have an alternative. The GoGirl, a new product created by Minnetonka, Minn., company FemMed, allows women to take bathroom breaks while standing up. "Women have been faced with the challenge of unfit or nonexistent restrooms for quite some time," said Sarah Dillon, president and founder of GoGirl. Dillon calls GoGirl "the solution to any bathroom emergency a woman can face." The GoGirl is made of a flexible, medical grade silicone and has a splash guard to eliminate messing or spilling.

Exactly 15 years ago this week the world first heard the story of John Wayne and Lorena Bobbitt. John Wayne, an ex-Marine, was accused of coming home drunk and raping his wife. Lorena was accused of retaliating by cutting off her husband's penis while he was asleep. Lorena went from anonymous to notorious - her story the subject of countless newspaper and magazine articles. Now in her first ever network morning show interview she discusses how she's using her notoriety to help others. "All of a sudden, my private life is out in the open and it's an open book...

Cartoon upsets Muslims Anton Ferreira Zapiro’s dig at a Sunday newspaper’s zero tolerance for Satanism upsets some readers. Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro — better known as Zapiro — has riled Muslims with a cartoon that portrays Allah, but he is unrepentant. “I do these things because I believe in freedom of expression,” Shapiro said, acknowledging that his cartoon in the Cape Times yesterday had landed him in hot water. He said he understood the cartoon had provoked a flood of angry SMS messages from the Muslim community. It was drawn in support of columnist Deon Maas, who was fired by Rapport...

11/09/2007 PAKISTAN Another attack on the giant Buddha of Swat In the valley of Swat, north western Pakistan, Islamic militants have launched a second attack in less than a month on the gigantic sacred statue. The head, shoulders and feet have been destroyed while the militants threaten a third and final attack. Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A group of Islamic militants have attacked for the second time in less than a month the giant Buddha carved in the rocks of Swat Valley, in north western Pakistan. Despite the many requests for greater protection, the government has failed to intervene in any...

‘All modern discoveries are by Muslim scientists’ LAHORE: Muslim scientists have made all discoveries of the current age, said University of Columbia’s Arabic and Islamic Studies prof George Saliba at a seminar at the Government College University (GCU) on Monday. The seminar, titled The Problems of Historiography of Islamic Science, was held at Fazl-e-Hussain Hall. Saliba gave a critique of the standard classical accounts of the rise of Islamic science. He detailed problems in the accounts and explained alternative historiography that described the rise of an Islamic scientific tradition as a result of social and political conditions within the nascent...

'Sir' title sought for bin Laden to avenge Rushdie knighthood Posted on : 2007-06-20 | Author : DPA News Category : Asia Islamabad - A hard-line Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party on Wednesday demanded a "sir" title for Osama bin Laden, the lead of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation for Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie. "Muslims should confer the 'sir' title and all other awards on bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain's shameful decision to knight Rushdie," Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also...

If you’re a woman, rising the corporate ranks is never easy. Unless you live in Norway. Within the next year, the 510 Norwegian companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange must have 40% of their respective board seats occupied by women. Any company failing to comply will be booted off the OSE. For now, the law passed in 2002 only applies to publicly traded companies. But the government is considering extending the law’s reach to cover family-owned companies as well. Since the Norwegian government first issued its mandate, things have improved. The number of companies in compliance has risen from...

Women are being filtered out of high-level science, math and engineering jobs in the United States, and there is no good reason for it, according to a National Academies report released on Monday. A committee of experts looked at all the possible excuses — biological differences in ability, hormonal influences, childrearing demands, and even differences in ambition — and found no good explanation for why women are being locked out. "Compared with men, women faculty members are generally paid less and promoted more slowly, receive fewer honors, and hold fewer leadership positions," the Academies said in a statement. "These discrepancies...

Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Rosie O'Donnell are backing a new leftwing radio network that plans to appeal to women listeners and counter what the dominance of conservative talk radio that their network says is "dominated by a male point of view." The new talk radio network is called GreenStone and will be officially launched on September 12, 2006. Its Web site describes it as "a clear alternative to the polarizing, highly political talk commonly heard on AM radio." Unstated but clear is that GreenStone is at war with Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage and dozens of other hosts...

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I see so many people asking to be put on the 'ping list', what does that mean? I also see that you can be 'pinged' if something you are interested in is posted. Are you notified someway? Thanks

Yes, yes, yes, Michelle Wie should have the chance. That isn't the issue. As Jack Nicklaus was just saying: If you've got the game -- man, woman or child -- come on down and give it a shot for the U.S. Open. In the end, this isn't about the rights of the kid, but the responsibilities of the grown-ups to protect a prodigy for the long run. That she has the talent to make the cut in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier on Monday in Summit, N.J., isn't so much the concern than is if the ramifications of success and...