Free Republic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The former rector of the nation’s largest Episcopal church has become a Roman Catholic.The Rev. Larry Gipson was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, from 1994-2008.Last month, Gipson was accepted as a Catholic into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to accept former Anglicans into the Catholic Church. “The nature of authority in the Catholic Church is what...

PORTLAND, Oregon — Police in Portland say a maximum $1,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest in the case of Italian marble religious statues damaged at a Catholic shrine and botanical garden.Sgt. Pete Simpson says three statues were damaged this week, with the heads removed.Police recovered one of the statue heads Friday after a passer-by called to say it was perched on a post at the west end of the 62-acre site popularly known as The Grotto. That head belonged to a statue of the Virgin Mary.Still missing are heads belonging to statues of St. Joseph...

The principal of at a high school in Mesa, Arizona violated policy when he required two boys who were fighting to hold hands in front of other students, according to a report on azcentral.com. Tim Richard, principal at Westwood High School, has not been reprimanded but has met with Mesa Public School officials, who advised him not to speak to the media about the incident, according to the article posted on Friday. …

NORMAN — Deisy Escalera considers Oklahoma her home. She graduated from high school here, goes to college here and pays taxes here. But in some respects, Escalera isn't American — at least, not on paper. “I consider myself an American,” she said. “I was not born here, but I consider myself an American.” Escalera, 23, came to the United States illegally from Mexico with her mother when she was 6 years old. Today, she's one of 25 undocumented students at the University of Oklahoma. Several of those undocumented students and their supporters gathered on OU's South Oval Tuesday evening to...

Bryan Denton for The New York Times Rebels in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, in August. The opposition to the Syrian government is developing a political structureWASHINGTON — The United States is moving toward recognizing the Syrian opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people as soon as it fully develops its political structure, American officials said Thursday. A decision to recognize the group could be announced at a so-called Friends of Syria meeting that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to attend in Morocco on Dec. 12. It is the most immediate decision facing the Obama administration...

Whip out your web site links and get ready for Phase #3 or is it #4 as it comes ashore, the hills are soggy.. the sandbags are ready.. Twenty days out from the Mayan calendar scenario.. got life jackets?

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is Catholic, indicated on Friday that she supports forcing St. Mary’s Medical Center, the oldest continuously operating hospital in her San Francisco-based congressional district, to provide health plans to its workers that cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs free of charge even though the Catholic faith says this Catholic hospital may not do so because these things are intrinsically immoral. “We are committed to furthering the healing ministry of Jesus,” says the hospital's mission statement. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius—who, like Pelosi, is Catholic—issued the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate as a regulation under...

A growing number of Republicans in the House of Representatives—including a handful of Tea Party-backed conservatives—are signaling greater flexibility than their leaders to reach a “fiscal cliff” deal with President Barack Obama. They are not buckling on demands to slash spending or agreeing with Obama’s exact proposals to avert across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts set to start on January 1. But unlike House Speaker John Boehner, they suggest they would be open to higher tax rates on wealthy Americans as part of a broader deal to slash deficits.Obama is hoping to appeal to more potential renegades to get a...

Casper College Incident -snip- Investigation has revealed that Chris Krumm stabbed Heidi Arnold to death at the residence on Hawthorne prior to driving to Casper College where he carried a compound bow and two knives, covered by a blanket, into the Wold Physical Science building. Once inside, he stepped into Professor Krumm’s classroom and shot his father in the head with an arrow, knocking him to the ground. Despite being mortally wounded, James Krumm got up and fought with his attacker enabling the students in the room to escape unharmed; an incredible act of courage and heroism to say the...

Second Seal: World War 3 Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 @ 03:10 am   My dearest beloved daughter I must inform you that a Third World War is about to unfold in the world My tears flow this morning as you can see.*The Second Seal is about to unfold as foretold to John the Evangelist in the Book of Revelation.It will start in Europe.Your banking system will be the cause and Germany, once again, will be involved in this tragedy as it was on the last two occasions.When it commences much will be over saving the economy and catastrophe will affect...

Steve Hayes, with A.B. Stoddard and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

I received a letter from The Social Security administration; they had made some kind of mistake in calculating the benefits due to my daughter and I. They had corrected the mistake, and had deposited over $1,800 into my checking account.

A new animated video by Israeli animation firm "The Scratch Group" explains the complex situation Israel is in, with regard to Arab terror from Gaza – and it does so, arguably, better than all of the official spokesmen combined. In under three minutes, the talented team conveys the frustrating dilemmas Israel faces in its asymmetric war against a terror state that has the world on its side. Commentators are divided with regard to the success of Operation Pillar of Defense, but there is general agreement that Israel's effort in the field of hasbara – or national public relations and information...

Have Israel and the Islamists joined forces against Iran? According to DEBKA the answer is yes. But do we believe DEBKA? On Nov 23rd DEBKA reported Obama’s pledge of US troops to Sinai next week won Israel’s nod for ceasefire....it will be a great victory for PM Netanyahu and Israel. But if that is true, why hasn’t Netanyahu mentioned it in concrete terms and why has no one corroborated the report. The article explains: “When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Jerusalem from Bangkok Tuesday, she tried assuring Netanyahu that President Obama had decided to accelerate the construction of...

Featured Term (selected at random):NIMROD A descendant of Noah and son of Cush. He is impressively described in Genesis as ' the first potentate on earth" and "a mighty hunter in the eyes of Yahweh." Several Babylonian cities are mentioned as being "in his empire" (Genesis 10:8-10). These phrases, brought together, seem to indicate that he was a prominent military leader respected by neighboring peoples. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Residents of states that refuse to set up health insurance exchanges under Obamacare are set to be hit with higher premiums under new rules announced by the Health and Human Services Department. Insurance companies will be charged 3.5 percent of any premiums they sell through the federal exchanges, the department announced Friday. And insurers are likely to pass that surcharge on to clients, leaading to higher premiums. The only states to be affected are those that refuse to set up their own exchanges because of opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They are almost certain to be...

BUCKWILDIn just a few weeks, it will be time to pack up the beach towels, tanning oils, and tanning oils and say goodbye to Jersey Shore for good. How will you fill your Thursday nights at 10 p.m.? MTV is hoping to hit pay dirt (mud?) several hundred miles southwest of New Jersey with Buckwild, a new reality series about nine young-adult friends in small-town West Virginia who say they are living by the motto, “Whatever happens, happens.” And what seems to be happening is a lot of riding down hills inside giant tires, driving trucks dangerously through mud, tearing...

The "Affordable Care Act" might die a death of a thousand legal cuts. Last June, upon learning that the Supreme Court had ruled Obamacare's individual mandate constitutional, many observers were forced to concur with the Dickens character who opined, "If the law supposes that… the law is an ass." Yet, the increasing number of anti-PPACA lawsuits that have been receiving serious attention from the courts suggests that the legal system may not be as irrational as it seemed when Chief Justice John Roberts began braying from the bench on June 28. If this seems Pollyannaish, consider the fate of McCain-Feingold....

The leaders of 45 conservative and religious groups co-signed an open letter to Republican members of Congress urging them to resist compromise with Democrats that “would be a disaster for conservative principles.” They warn that any who cave in to Democratic demands on fiscal cliff negotiations will face strong primary opposition at the next election. “Let us … remind you that a great many potent conservative organizations and millions of conservative and liberty-loving voters do not believe in the divine right of incumbents to be re-nominated,” says the letter written by Liberty Institute president Morton Blackwell, in his capacity with...

And so the government takeover of our health care system begins: Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, plans to begin denying health insurance to newly hired employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week.. ... By making the fine for not providing health care cheaper than providing health care, this was always the plan: to encourage employers to send us to the government. Remember how Obama's big ObamaCare sell was, "You get to keep the health insurance you have"? It was all a lie, a hustle, a con, a ruse…