Free Republic

BERLIN/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The killing of Osama bin Laden when he was unarmed has raised concerns the United States may have gone too far in acting as policeman, judge and executioner of the world's most wanted man. But for several Muslim leaders, the more unsettling issue is whether the al Qaeda leader's burial at sea was contrary to Islamic practice. The White House said on Tuesday that bin Laden had resisted the U.S. team which stormed his Pakistan hideout and that there had been concerns he would "oppose the capture operation". Spokesman Jay Carney declined to specify what sort of...

TAMPA, Fla. — He was 28. She was 11. Her parents said they gave consent, claiming cultural norms of the Guatemalan highlands. But in Dover, Florida, a little girl with a baby raises questions. When deputies came, Teodoro Pablo-Ramirez understood only some of what they said, according to his lawyer. He speaks no English and little Spanish — just the Mayan tongue of Mam. The indigenous language, understood by few interpreters, has stymied court cases across the country. One interpreting service in Washington resorted to recruiting a Mam speaker out of a jail lobby. In Hillsborough Circuit Court, two cases,...

April 25, 2007, 0:00 a.m. Hillary in BlackfaceA reverse “Sister Souljah” strikeout. By Michelle Malkin In 1992, Bill Clinton hit a political home run with his “Sister Souljah” moment. In 2007, Hillary Clinton suffered a reverse “Sister Souljah” strikeout. If it isn’t the end of her presidential aspirations, it should be. Allow me to explain. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Clinton was looking to solidify his centrist credentials. An obscure quote by an obscure black radical rapper provided the perfect exploitable opportunity. In the wake of the Los Angeles riots, Souljah was interviewed by The Washington Post. “If Black people...

A friend of mine recently was surprised when I told him that I am not voting Republican this fall. "You are one of the most conservative people I know," he said. "Exactly," I said, "and that is precisely why I am not voting Republican." For me, illegal immigration has been the final straw. And the GOP's recent decision to pull funding from Randy Graf's campaign shows the writing on the wall: CONSERVATIVES, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN THE GOP. Of course, the GOP will take conservatives' votes and money, but if a real conservative runs for office, he almost certainly...

Did anyone catch Rummy at today's DOD briefing? He was in great form again today!!! One reporter asked him if he was "micro-managing" the bombing/maneuvers on the ground in Afghanistan, citing a " news story" which used an "unnamed source" for the allegation. Rummy responded by saying the news story had "no named sources," and said it was obviously written by a "world class thumb-sucker" (which brought a big laugh). ROTFLOL--Yah gotta love Rummy!!!

FOR CALIFORNIANS WEARY of voting, it is tempting simply to sit this special election out. Moreover, this election feels especially unnecessary; each of the issues raised in these eight ballot measures should have been taken up by the Legislature, and none is of such dire urgency that it couldn't have waited until next year's regularly scheduled statewide election. It was tempting for this editorial page, too, to ignore this special election. The Schwarzenegger administration itself is the product of a special recall election that was intended to send an outsider to fix Sacramento. Alas, much like its opponents, the governor's...

I haven't written about President George W. Bush all year, and that suits me fine. I get tired of calling presidents liars, and he doesn't care what some blue-state hack thinks. So it's a win-win. Nevertheless, etiquette requires me to write about the president today. He sent a message to me and my colleagues in the media, and it deserves a response. Don't worry: I will be polite, and I will use more fingers than he did. Bush, it seems, has given the press the presidential bird, a digital message of the kind you see exchanged between angry drivers at...