Free Republic

French police have banned a street party whose organizers planned to serve alcoholic cocktails and pork sausages in a heavily Muslim neighborhood of Paris, authorities said in a statement Tuesday. Organizers said they were holding the party to protest Islam's encroachment on traditional French values in the neighborhood. Muslim groups had announced a counterparty serving halal, or religiously approved, food. The woman who organized the party on Facebook and gives her name as Sylvie Francois denies any ties to the extreme right. She told the free daily Metro newspaper on Tuesday that she had launched the party as a way...

PARIS – French police have banned a street party whose organizers planned to serve alcoholic cocktails and pork sausages in a heavily Muslim neighborhood of Paris, authorities said in a statement Tuesday.Police said the party, called "Sausage and Booze," could have been viewed as a provocation in the Goutte-d'Or neighborhood of northern Paris, where many Muslims pray on the streets because there are not enough mosques. Alcohol and pork are forbidden by Islam and the party had been slated for just after Friday's main Muslim weekly prayers.Organizers said they were holding the party to protest Islam's encroachment on traditional French...

A piece of literary criticism entitled “Honor In A Noir Universe” summed up the role of Congressman Jeff Flake in our current U.S. Congress. Its author, C.S. Thompson, writes crime novels for a living and articles in noir webzines for personal enjoyment. He may write extensively about evil people, but his piece describes perfectly the dilemma of Congressman Flake, one of Washington’s last good men. C.S. Thompson’s article header quotes another critic’s description of the Noir Hero. "That is the noir character. Alone, a loner in a world he knows he can’t fix. Alone in a world that has turned...

Dems to Wipe Out Pet Projects in Bills Dec 11 8:08 PM US/Eastern By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Democrats tidying up a cluster of unfinished spending bills dumped on them by departing Republican leaders in Congress will start by removing billions of dollars in lawmakers' pet projects next month. The move, orchestrated by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, could prove politically savvy even as it proves unpopular with other members of Congress, who as a group will lose thousands of so-called earmarks. "There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and...