Free Republic

Explanation: A broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth, suggesting its popular moniker -- The Seagull Nebula. This portrait of the cosmic bird covers a 1.6 degree wide swath across the plane of the Milky Way, near the direction of Sirius, alpha star of the constellation Canis Major. Of course, the region includes objects with other catalog designations: notably NGC 2327, a compact, dusty emission region with an embedded massive star that forms the bird's head (aka the Parrot Nebula, above center). IC 2177 forms the sweeping arc of the seagull's...

Bill Maher: Laura Bush Like 'Hitler's Dog' HBO "Real Time" host Bill Maher compared first lady Laura Bush to "Hitler's dog" during his Friday night cablecast, after flashing a parody photo of Mrs. Bush with a black eye, as if she'd been a victim of domestic abuse. To that, Maher replied: "Oh, come on. That's like Hitler's dog loved him. That is the silliest reason ..." "I think tomorrow you might be sorry you said that. Laura Bush is very gentle and talented," Hitchens warned. With that Maher retreated a bit, insisting: "That's not what I'm saying, of course she...

In 1993, Obama's radical Professor Derrick Bell talked about tenured faculty at Harvard University and the tenure candidacy of Lani Guinier.

Washington, D.C.— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement after the Senate defeated a Republican amendment to impose an artificial timeline on the Keystone XL pipeline project:“Today the Senate voted against Republicans’ attempt to impose an artificial timeline and short-circuit the process needed to plan the best route for the Keystone XL pipeline. If Republicans truly want to move ahead with this pipeline, they should stop treating it like a political football.“Half of the pipeline is already being built, and the company building the pipeline is submitting another application for the remainder of the route. This process should...

In an attempt to highlight the role of women in Beijing's annual National People's Congress, China's party newspaper the People's Daily published "Beautiful female journalists at two sessions," consisting of women asking questions and "beautifying" China's legislative session. It's hard to think of a more awkward way for a media outlet to celebrate International Women's Day, except maybe last year's offering from China's state news wire Xinhua: "Attractive females at NPC, CPCC sessions."A few points here: Surprisingly for staid state media, Xinhua and the People's Daily publish a lot of click bait in the form of near naked women: See...

Wisconsin gained an estimated 15,700 private-sector jobs in January while the state's unemployment rate declined to 6.9% from 7.0% in December, according to the most recent monthly unemployment data from the state Department of Workforce Development. "Wisconsin's preliminary January unemployment rate of 6.9% is now the lowest it has been since December of 2008, and it remains well below the national rate," department Secretary Reggie Newson said in a statement. The January numbers were the best in at least a year, according to data in the latest state jobs report. The January data is preliminary and subject to later revision.

Energy Secretary Stephen Chu testified today before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power on the department's FY2013 Budget Request. Chu was asked if he drove a Chevy Volt, a car he praised during the hearing, but claimed he didn't own a car 'at the moment'

With all the uproar over Rush Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke, their are many more examples of this nonsense by the liberal left. Case in point, the comments on Friday by liberal hack Mike Malloy about tornado victims in the South. "Their God … keeps smashing them into little grease spots on the pavement in Alabama, and Mississippi, and Arkansas, and Georgia, and Oklahoma. "You know, the Bible belt, where they ain't gonna let no goddamned science get in the way, it says in the Bible, blah blah blah blah blah. So, according to their way of thinking, God with...

You've got to love how all the time, especially now seemingly, opponents of the Church bring up polls that say Catholic women heart contraception by a massive majority. Ergo, the Church should change its "policy." They bring up polls as if the shifting whims of uninvolved nominal Catholics changes something. Here's what they don't understand. Truth doesn't change. God's word trumps popular opinion, as Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus recently said, according to EWTN:“According to Jesus' words, a leader in the manner of Peter must be solid as a rock, he cannot be fickle, he cannot change with the winds of...

We are really happy how many people participated in our survey. Over 1800 of you have answered the questions and I have spent the last few nights to whip all the responses into a presentable form. This is done now and I think it gives everyone a good idea what is on most people’s mind, why people prepare, what they prepare for and where you are standing compared to others.

Bill Burton, the former Obama 2008 campaign press secretary who went on to found the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA, appeared on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show Thursday, trying to distinguish between the rhetoric used by HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher and conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. Maher recently donated $1 million to Priorities USA. Mitchell asked Burton how Maher has gotten away with what he said about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin while Limbaugh was condemned for his own ill-advised remarks. “Well, a couple of things,” Burton said. “First of all, obviously, some of those things were vulgar and...

Twelve Democratic women senators urged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday not to hold a vote on controversial proposals to let religious employers opt out of the Obama administration’s contraception mandate. Republicans are downplaying the issue on their own after losing a Senate vote last week and seeing their narrative sidetracked by radio host Rush Limbaugh. Democrats have framed the issue around women’s health, rather than religious freedom, and Thursday’s letter to Boehner drove that theme home once more. “For most American women, the battle over contraception was settled a half-century ago,” the senators wrote. “Yet, over the course...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

A Republican bid to fast-track the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline was defeated by Senate Democrats on Thursday in a vote to amend the chamber's highway funding bill.

President Obama is twisting Democratic arms to stop the Keystone pipeline, which when built will end billionaire Warren Buffett’s railroad monopoly on shipping oil from the Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota. The billionaire investor is the second richest man in the nation and an ardent supporter of this regime. So obvious is President Obama’s opposition to allowing the pipeline to be built on his watch, that even CNN noticed. From CNN: A razor close vote is expected in the Senate Thursday on a Republican amendment to bypass the Obama administration’s objections and approve the Keystone XL pipeline, Senate aides...

Rep. Chris Smith WASHINGTON, MARCH 8, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Late last month, two bioethicists—Dr. Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva—published an outrageous “paper” in the Journal of Medical Ethics justifying the deliberate, premeditated murder of newborn babies during the first days and weeks after birth. Giubilini and Minerva wrote “when circumstances occur after birth that would have justified abortion, what we call after-birth abortion should be permissible.” If a newly born child poses an economic burden on a family, or is disabled, or is unwanted, that child can be murdered in cold blood because the baby lacks intrinsic value, and...

March 8, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) White House staff members have told U.S. bishops that the administration will not consider further revision of the mandate forcing religious employers to pay for birth control, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, and that the religious leaders should listen to “enlightened” Catholics who accept the president’s terms, reports Cardinal Timothy Dolan. In a letter sent to fellow Bishops last week, the New York archbishop revealed some of what had transpired in a recent meeting involving staff members from the White House and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). “Our staff members asked directly whether the...

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-sponsored measure Thursday that would have bypassed the Obama administration's current objections to the Keystone XL pipeline and allowed construction on the controversial project to move forward immediately. Fifty-six senators voted in favor of the amendment -- four short of the 60 required for approval. Eleven Democrats joined a unanimous Republican caucus in backing the plan.

Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama’s reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers. Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration. Obama campaigned on what he called “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has frequently criticized the role of money in politics. That hasn’t stopped him from offering government jobs to some of his biggest bundlers, volunteer fundraisers who gather political contributions from other rich donors. More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have...