Free Republic

There is a vital battle over education in our day. And if we lose it, we could ultimately lose the country.

SNIPPET: "As always, the safety of all of our students is of primary concern to us and we will continue to review safety and crisis plans on a frequent basis."

This article analyzes the history of labor union violence, and how Rep. Capuano's comments are a perfect continuation of this historical truth. Labor Unions: A History of Murder and Sabotage The New American 28 February 2011 The raging union-led protests in Wisconsin have resulted in many Americans taking a closer, more critical look at labor unions and their political clout and influence in shaping policy. With the ubiquitous announcement from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka that he is granted an audience at the White House “nearly every day,” the American people have become more skeptical of unions and the role...

PULLMAN, WA - SNIPPET: "Police said that 23-year-old Yazeed M. Alhaidari entered the apartment through a balcony and laid down next to a woman asleep. The women who lived there told the man to leave and then called the cops." SNIPPET: "Police believe that Alhaidari intended to rape the victim. The case is still under investigation and police said that it's possible that Alhaidari tried entering other apartments in the area earlier that night."

ctor Sam Elliott claims that the Catholic Church prevented Hollywood from proceeding with the next two film’s in the His Dark Materials trilogy based on Philip Pullman’s books. “The Catholic Church ... lambasted them,” said Elliott. “I think it scared New Line off.” The film...angered Catholics who accused it of promoting atheism. In the book trilogy, set in a series of parallel worlds, heroine Lyra fights the Magisterium, an evil organisation some have interpreted as being based on the Catholic Church. Pullman, 63, told the Western Mail: "If Sam is right then I am very disappointed because it obviously would...

ATHEIST author Philip Pullman yesterday spoke of his “disgust” at the triumphalism of America’s religious right following its successful campaign to sideline attempts to dramatise the last two books in the writer’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Actor Sam Elliott, who starred in the film version of the first novel The Golden Compass, that grossed £230m, says a campaign by conservative Catholics has halted plans to complete the trilogy.

He enraged America's religious right with his portrayal of God as a senile old man in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and now Philip Pullman is set to court more Christian controversy – this time with a novel about "the Scoundrel Christ". The book will provide a new account of the life of Jesus, challenging the gospels and arguing that the version in the New Testament was shaped by the apostle Paul. "By the time the gospels were being written, Paul had already begun to transform the story of Jesus into something altogether new and extraordinary, and some of his...

And in only its second weekend in release, the bottom fell out of costly domestic flop The Golden Compass from New Line, which forked over $200+ million to make it. I know, I know, the pic is doing OK overseas after earning $50.9 mil from 27 territories December 7th-9th. But the fantasy epic is so lost domestically it earned only an anemic $2.6 million Friday and $3.7 million Saturday from 3,528 nearly empty runs for 3rd place and a new cume of just $40.5 mil. I hear studio topper Bob Shaye once again is blaming everyone but himself -- including...

Christmas Football Most people believe the jerseys are either black or white. On the black team are materialistic unbelieving atheists. On the white team are all the "people of faith." But if you think this way, change the channel. You are watching the wrong game. The real game, going on under our noses, is much more complicated. Modern day atheists are not all they seem to be. Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, who comes over as a rationalistic materialist, actually said in an interview on BBC radio interview, Dec 9, 2007, (I was awake and heard it!) that...

The controversy surrounding the recently released film, The Golden Compass, is in part because of the author's avowed atheism and in part because of the message of the film and its potential effect on children. This is a "fantasy Western," complete with Sam Elliot in a cowboy hat. There are good guys and bad guys with a confrontation and battle between the two (good wins). In addition to the human beings, there are also demons and witches and goblins — some good and some bad. Compare The Golden Compass to the first Star Wars film and to the Harry Potter...

Not the oasis it was intended to be, The Golden Compass failed to guide the box office out of the desert. A dispirited response to the fantasy adaptation combined with a largely pathetic group of holdovers led to the least attended early December frame in 13 years. The Golden Compass pointed to $25.8 million on approximately 5,600 screens at 3,528 theaters, which was about average for a live action fantasy. The turnout was well below half that of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Lord of the Rings movies, and the picture was...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has withdrawn a positive review of the film "The Golden Compass," after more than a week of criticism about the church's apparent approval of a pro-atheism work. The review, which had said that the film "can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil, and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism," was not available on the USCCB.org Web site last night.

There was no Saturday miracle surge for New Line. The Golden Compass, an effects-laden family film starring Nicole Kidman with a reported budget of $200M, received a modest 16% increase from its opening day, posting an estimated $10.2M on Saturday. Assuming a Sunday drop of 33%, Compass will finish its opening weekend with a disastrous $25.84M. (For a comparison to other big budget, family-oriented films in this mold along with details about New Line’s dismal 2007 and Nicole Kidman’s box office cold streak, scroll down to my Friday Night report.) Disney’s Enchanted blew past $80M domestic with a $4.9M Saturday,...

No one in Hollywood quite knows where "The Golden Compass" is pointing, though it appears to be south of blockbuster status. ...Unlike "Narnia" or the "Rings" and "Potter" movies, most of which hauled in more than $60 million in their first three days, "Compass" may open in the $30-million neighborhood, or worse, according to market analysts. [Yet] it's unlikely to spell financial catastrophe for New Line. The studio admits to a production price of $180 million, though some industry insiders believe the true cost soared past $200 million... Even so, the film was cofinanced by Royal Bank of Scotland, and...

My box office gurus are telling me that New Line Cinema's holiday tentpole The Golden Compass is going to be a huge bomb. They predict an opening domestic weekend starting today only in the high $20s million from 3,528 theaters. That's disastrous because, with a pricetag of $200+ million without P&A costs, the fantasy epic should be making a minimum $50 million debut. Not to mention that the studio has spent big bucks marketing the heck out of the PG-13 pic based on UK author Philip Pullman's young adult book trilogy His Dark Materials. Problem is, Golden Compass has sparked...

BALTIMORE, December 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Controversial advertisements suggested to the nation's top 50 Catholic diocesan papers advertising the upcoming movie "The Golden Compass" have been pulled.  A letter from Advertising Media Plus (AMP) to the papers last week suggested the ads. The ads were based on a positive review of the film by the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.  LifeSiteNews.com tracked down those in charge of AMP and found surprisingly that it was ultimately the Archdiocese of Baltimore's Cathedral Foundation, which publishes the English weekly version of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano....

Michael Medved is discussing the upcoming film "Golden Compass" now. I'm not familiar with the book, but I've seen that there is controversy about it being anti-Christian. He says people should be concerned and is explaining it now.

A star-studded, big-budget fantasy film released for Christmastime features religion as the villain. Hollywood is collaborating with a militant atheist British children's book author to indoctrinate children. "The Golden Compass," which opens this week, stars Nicole Kidman and cost Time Warner's New Line Cinema $180 million to produce, is based on the first installment of Phillip Pullman's children's book trilogy "His Dark Materials." Pullman is a fire-breathing British atheist who has told the Washington Post that "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief" and remarked that "My books are about killing God." He has also noted that "I...

A controversial children's movie described as anti-Christian is set for release in South African cinemas on Friday, prompting an outcry from Christians, and email circulars warning people against taking their children to see the film. The Golden Compass is based on the book Northern Lights, the first of a trilogy entitled His Dark Materials by British author Philip Pullman. Pullman has described himself in the European and American press as both an agnostic and an atheist. He was quoted saying that to his knowledge, there was not the "slightest evidence" that God existed. He added that he loathed The Chronicles...

When parents look at the beautiful covers adorning the gift-boxed sets of Philip Pullman's fantasy series, His Dark Materials, they might be forgiven for believing that these books follow in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, the publishers are counting on it. The display tables have arrived just in time for Christmas and the release of the screen adaptation of the first volume: The Golden Compass.What Pullman's promoters desperately hope is that parents will not get beyond the colorful covers, which appear to depict nothing more than an...