Free Republic

Following a thorough review, University of Wisconsin-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell today announced that lecturer Kevin Barrett will teach, as scheduled, a class titled "Islam: Religion and Culture." Barrett's remarks regarding his theories on the events of Sept. 11 recently drew widespread attention and criticism. As a result, Farrell, along with Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science, and Ellen Rafferty, chair of the department of languages and cultures of Asia, met with Barrett. They reviewed his course syllabus and reading materials and examined his past teaching evaluations. "There is no question that Mr. Barrett holds personal opinions...

America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions. Dean said he is looking for "the age of enlightenment led by religious figures who want to greet Americans with a moral, uplifting vision." "The problem is when we hit that '60s spot again, which I am optimistic we're about to hit, we have to make sure that we don't...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. acted appropriately by firing a Catholic pharmacist who refused to interact with patients seeking birth control prescriptions, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge John Shabaz dismissed a lawsuit brought by Neil Noesen, who claimed he was fired last summer at a Wal-Mart store in Onalaska, WI out of religious discrimination. The lawsuit also named Medical Staffing Network, a staffing agency that placed Noesen at the store as a temporary pharmacist. Shabaz said Wal-Mart and Medical Staffing Network accommodated Noesen's religious opposition to contraception by having other pharmacists fill prescriptions. But he...

VeriChip chairman Scott Silverman's appearance on American TV this week has raised fears of the introduction of RFID technology. According to RNIF, he "bandied about the idea of chipping foreigners on national television Tuesday". RINF said Silverman appeared to be emboldened by the Bush Administration call to know "who is in our country and why they are here". He told Fox & Friends that the VeriChip could be used to register guest workers, verify their identities as they cross the border, and "be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level". He added: "We have talked to many people in...

I received an email from a friend regarding the Trade Towers collapse. I haven't watched the entire video in the attachment as it is over an hour and I have other things for my Saturday planned. However, before I watch it, for those who have seen such 'evidence' that the towers collapsed due to controlled implosion or something like that, what is your view of the conspiracy theory. I've never seen Michael Moore's stuff (don't plan on seeing it either). I haven't delved too deeply into any of the conspiracys other than to know they exist. Am interested in hearing...

Cynthia McKinney stepped in it again today during an exclusive interview granted to local Atlanta station CBS46 News.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday called border security his party's top immigration priority for November. "The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done."

Picured here is a fresh placenta just taken out a woman's womb. It could have been big meal for Cruise.(file photo)    BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhuanet)-- Tom Cruise boasted about eating fiancèe Katie Holmes's placenta when baby Cruise is born, Cruise said in an interview.     The Mission: Impossible III actor, 43, said: "I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I am gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there"     But when it was pointed out it would be a very big meal, he retorted: "OK. Maybe I won't."    Though some claim that eating afterbirth may help prevent post-partum depression, it won't help the mom...

TOM Cruise has claimed he will eat the PLACENTA after fiancée Katie Holmes has their baby. The actor, 43 — who wants her to give birth in silence according to his Scientology cult rules — said: “I’m gonna eat the placenta, too. “I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I’m going to eat the cord and the placenta right there.” But when a GQ magazine interviewer said it would be a big meal, Cruise replied: “OK, maybe I won’t.”

The actor, who proposed to the pregnant 27-year-old just two weeks into their romance, said he could just tell Katie was expecting. He told America's GQ magazine: "I just picked something up. I knew at that moment that she was pregnant." The 43-year-old Hollywood star has also revealed his love for the former 'Dawsons Creek' actress is stronger than his feeling for any of his exes - including former spouse Nicole Kidman who he was married to for over a decade. Tom described his fist date with Katie as "the best day of his life", adding: "She's just right for...

WASHINGTON -- Tom Cruise says his father was abusive and that school, where he faced other bullies, was difficult, in an upcoming issue of Parade magazine. "He was a bully and a coward," the 43-year-old actor says of his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III. "He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life - how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang! "For me, it was like, 'There's something wrong with this guy. Don't trust him. Be careful around him.' There's that anxiety."...

Dean: Democrats Offer a Bold Agenda for Real Security March 31, 2006 Today, Democratic leaders across the country will join House and Senate Democrats in unveiling a comprehensive plan for providing the American people with real security. The agenda stands in stark contrast to the dangerous incompetence of the Republican leadership, which has undermined the security of the American people. Given their failed record, it’s no wonder Republicans are losing credibility on a range of issues including security and defense. In fact, according to a recent DNC poll, the Republican rhetoric is not working, as Americans want policies that are...

Dear American Organized Labor Officials, I am “Lucifer” but you may call me “Satan”. SEE LETTERS FROM LUCIFER... http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/index.html ... I am elated by how you use union resources to advance my issues like abortion or the destruction of the American family through your successful support for the homosexual agenda and same sex marriage. I am the beast of deception, mystification and doubletalk. I am out to exploit your families, destroy your culture, abandon your values, devastate your morality, kill your unborn, turn your children into practicing homosexuals and put America on its knees to my altar. I am lining...

A high school social studies teacher who was put on leave after comparing President Bush's State of the Union address to speeches made by Adolf Hitler defended his lecture on Tuesday, saying he was trying to encourage students to think. "My job as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically about issues that are affecting our world and our society," Jay Bennish said on NBC's "Today Show." Bennish is on paid leave from Overland High School in suburban Aurora, Colo., while Cherry Creek School District investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy requiring that balancing viewpoints...

The Associated Press reached a new level of incompetence, and the "news" industry they serve doesn’t seem to care. If you want political opinion, you’ll find it in Associated Press dispatches. If you want news, you might have to read conservative opinion columns. On February 22nd, Walter Williams, a Townhall.com columnist, scooped the mainstream media. Williams reported that high school teacher Jay Bennish lectured his geography class stating: 1) "[President Bush’s State of the Union Speech] sounds a lot like the things Adolf Hitler used to say." 2) "Bush is threatening the whole planet." 3) "[The] U.S. wants to keep...

COLORADO high-school sophomore Sean Allen couldn't convince his father that his geography teacher was as over-the-top as he contended. So Allen taped one of his teacher's rants on his MP3 player. Too bad for Jay Bennish: His 20 minute lecture ended up on talk radio. As aired on Mike Rosen's show, Bennish said President Bush talks like Hitler: "I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same," but that the two share "eerie similarities." Peruvians and Iranians arguably have "a right to bomb North Carolina" because the state grows tobacco. On Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives were...

by Mark Finkelstein March 7, 2006 Turns out the real culprit in the Colorado kerfluffle over the teacher who compared Pres. Bush to Hitler is . . . the student who complained about it. Just ask Matt Lauer. Interviewing teacher Jay Bennish this morning, Lauer laid out this sympathetic scenario: Lauer: "The family here, the student's family, didn't go to the school board with this tape." Bennish: "They never contacted me." Lauer: "They shopped it around to conservative media outlets and finally released it to one and created an uproar. On the tape you can hear Sean Allen [the student...

Student 'starting to get crucified,' his dad says By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News March 4, 2006 Sean Allen's dad says he isn't handling this week's media attention and threats as well as his son. "Sean has handled this way better than his father," Jeff Allen, Sean's dad, said in an interview with Sean Hannity, syndicated talk show host with Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes. "To read some of these e-mails that are attacking Sean is just devastating," he said. "It looks like the tactic is to turn it around, to make it about Sean and not about the...

March 2, 2006 — A Colorado school is in upheaval following the suspension of a teacher who was recorded comparing President Bush's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler. More than 100 students at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo., walked out of class this morning to protest the decision to put geography teacher Jay Bennish on administrative leave. The school administration made the move after a student went public with a 20-minute recording of Bennish's comments to his class. In the tape, the teacher is heard saying there were similarities between remarks Bush made in his State of the Union...

SAN FRANCISCO - An owner of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music player filed a federal lawsuit against the computer maker, claiming the device causes hearing loss in people who use it. The portable music players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, which seeks class action status. The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, seeks compensation for plaintiffs' hearing loss and upgrades that will make the iPods safer. Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they...