Free Republic

Steven Tyler's attorneys can claim partial victory in a new court ruling as arguments continue in a child sex-abuse lawsuit brought by the former Julia Holcomb. Los Angeles County Judge Patricia A. Young has dismissed claims of alleged abuse in Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts, citing laws governing the age of consent and the statute of limitations. Crucially, however, the California-based charges against Aerosmith's frontman can go forward. In terminating the other claims, Judge Young would apparently stop them from being refiled again. She promised a written decision soon. "I have clearly signaled how I intend" to rule, Young said from...

The Republican Party must oust its longtime consultants and replace them with advisers who come from a world of “reality," noted political columnist and author C. Edmund Wright. “It’s not just Karl Rove [who] has certainly been, for about 12 or 13 years, the face of the establishment messaging machine," Wright — author of “WTF?: How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost ... Again" — said on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show." "This is a group [of consultants] that called Newt Gingrich the devil and then turned around and called Obama a nice guy and they thought they could...

HARRISBURG | A national political group for gays is staging dozens of mock ''retirement parties'' for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum across the country this month as part of a campaign to mobilize activists for the 2006 elections. So far, the National Stonewall Democrats and its local chapters have signed up hosts for about 40 parties in more than a dozen states, including six in Pennsylvania and several as far away as California, organizers say. Nearly all the parties are scheduled for Nov. 13. Although the parties are expected to generate little money — the collective goal is only $5,000 —...