Free Republic

In a piece titled, “When white people lack “bourgeois values,” the Salon Editor at Large manages a race and class-baiting exacta, covering an alleged economic disdain shown by Republicans towards African-Americans, and charging the GOP with promoting policies which “shackle women to the home.”

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) The LDS Church Library no longer allows access to the Nauvoo City Council and High Council minutes from 1839 to 1845. That’s a shame, but the minutes, when accessible, were recorded. Signature Books, with the assistance of historian John Dinger, has published the minutes, along with notes, and they’re just plain fascinating for enthusiasts of history. Without spin, they lay out the controversy that swirled in Nauvoo prior to Joseph Smith’s murder and the LDS exodus west. The documents lend credence to the belief that the then-secret doctrine...

Go to any Ron Paul event and the audience is part of the tale. They’re younger, rowdier, more socially diverse than Republican rally regulars. Any one of them might have driven across the state to see Paul speak or be able to riff at length about Austrian economic theory. Any one of them also might be a Democrat or an independent, a fact that’s poised to play a big role in Paul’s story in 2012. ...The fact that roughly half of Paul’s primary supporters are Democrats or independents is probably an asset in selling his general election viability, which his...

(The following is a transcript of a Ron Paul article from 1990 in his newsletter, The Ron Paul Survival Report. Links to the scanned copies are here: http://i43.tinypic.com/2rylfv7.png http://i44.tinypic.com/wgqgeh.png David Duke received 44% of the vote in the Senate primary race in Louisiana, 60% of the white vote and 9% of the black vote!. This totaled 100,000 more votes that the current governor when he won. Duke lost the election, but he scared the blazes out of the Establishment. If the official Republican hadn’t been ordered to drop out, he might have won. Certainly there would have been a run-off....

We have a new kind of bigot today, the virtuous bigot. You can find a virtuous bigot by reading the writings of just about any apologist for Islam. It seems that it almost impossible for an apologist to resist proving the point of the beauty of Islam, by saying that those who find fault in Islam are bigots, racists, haters, and Islamophobes. All of those who use fact-based arguments against Islam or reveal the enormous suffering caused by Islam are attacked by being called members of the KKK and worse. Any criticism of Islam is treated as hate speech. bigot_-_behead-those-who-insult-islam2...

Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Mormon church that practises polygamy, is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was given the maximum sentence for taking girls as young as 12 to be his brides. SNIP ...a Texas jury took just 40 minutes to hand him the toughest sentence open to them – life in prison for aggravated sexual assault and 20 years in prison for sexual assault of a child... SNIP The polygamist Mormons, under Jeffs's leadership, refused to renounce plural marriages and now have about 10,000 followers. The jury heard that Jeffs...

Many conservatives and Tea Party activists across the country are eagerly anticipating the entry of Texas Governor Rick Perry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Yet Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino suggests that many New Yorkers on Wall Street, presumably of both political parties, are not at all excited about the possibility of a Perry presidency. Gasparino warns: “I talk to a lot of Wall Street guys . . . you know I don’t think a guy from Texas can win again. I just think there’s a Texas taint to it all. And I know the big money...

In a recent letter to the editor, the author of “The right vs. the law (5/26)” compared illegal immigrants to the early leaders of the church. He observed the early church members violated the law to practice polygamy and those men were still doing what was right, therefore there are cases when it isn’t wrong to break the law. This is all true. But then he implies by this same reasoning, illegal immigrants may not be doing something wrong. This is a false analogy, because the two situations are not the same in the relevant way. What made the church...

When journalist and media consultant Gil Robertson first moved to Marietta from Los Angeles eight years ago, he found himself frustrated by not being able to find a African-American general physician. “Just like a female often feels more comfortable having a female gynecologist, many African-Americans like to have African-American doctors because you feel like they understand the health risks you both face as African-Americans,” Robertson said. “And there are other professions that culturally you may feel you have more in common with and will just naturally trust more if they share in your culture, like a lawyer or an insurance...

As can be expected from a book published by Greg Kofford, Craig L. Foster’s A Different God? is well researched and engaging. This book begins by examining the rise of the religious right and the power it exerts on the current political landscape. Foster presents a good deal of information that most Latter-day Saints will not be well acquainted with, such as the difference between evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the emergence of the charismatic movement, the rise and fall of the Moral Majority, and the subsequent establishment of the Christian Coalition. This background is particularly pertinent to the majority of...

In last week’s issue I explained that even if evidence for an early Christian community in Mesoamerica could be found, that still wouldn’t satisfy most critics or prove that the Book of Mormon is true. The task of finding the evidence of a real ancient community of New World Christians becomes difficult once we understand the complexity and nature of what might be found.First, it’s important to remember that the Nephites were “Christian” for, at the most, 400 years. Second, the Nephite-Christians were a small group of persecuted believers among a sea of non-Christian believers in the ancient Americas. Some...

They are more than the people who go door-to-door asking to talk about religion. They are not the polygamists pictured in reality TV shows. That’s what the University’s student branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wanted students to know at their Meet the Mormons event at the Institute of Religion on Wednesday. Set up like a small career fair with colorful posters, the hosts of Meet the Mormons aimed to provide an open forum to religious and non-religious students alike. “A lot of people are curious about Mormons, but reluctant to actually talk to them because...

SALT LAKE CITY— Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 39 suspects on suspicion of dealing in child pornography after a month-long investigation. It is part of Operation FrostyLime Squeeze. The unique name stems from FrostWire and LimeWire.com, two of many file-sharing websites local police, the FBI and the Utah Attorney General cracked down on from February 28 to March 31. The most arrests came out of Utah County with many of the suspects in positions of trust and lived a double lifestyle, according to investigators. “These are your next door neighbors, pastor, scout master, teacher, the coach....

In a recent survey by pollster Gary Lawrence of how Americans view "Mormonism," a whopping 77 percent said they were not sure Mormons are Christians. Understanding how the public views us can improve our responses to gospel questions. SNIP 2. Ditch the lingo. Gary Lawrence is a respected pollster and adviser to the missionary department. He suggests we use simple terms to which our Christian friends will relate: Use "Christianity" instead of "gospel," "re-established" instead of "restoration," and "men changed" instead of "apostasy." 3. Stay on message. Only 12 percent of Americans know our central message. It is this: We...

SNIP Teach of faith to keep all the commandments of God, knowing that they are given to bless His children and bring them joy. 4 Warn them that they will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to misery. To prepare to meet God, one keeps all of His commandments. It takes faith to obey them, and keeping His commandments will strengthen that faith. Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow...

Introduction If Mormonism itself is not the "one true religion" as it claims to be, then that claim, of course is not true, and is a lie. If Joseph Smith did not really see angels, and if he did not really translate the Book of Mormon with divine help, then those claims are lies.But the purpose of this article is not to deal with those broad issues, since the amount of evidence that would be required to demonstrate the falsity of those claims (and the other broad claims of Mormonism) is more than can be dealt with in a small space. Rather,...

Bexar Democrats' leader likens foes to insectsBy John W. Gonzalez Updated 10:39 p.m., Thursday, March 17, 2011 Calling his detractors worms, jerks, morons, idiots and liars, Bexar County Democratic Chairman Dan Ramos said Thursday that he'd resign “when hell freezes over” despite demands he quit immediately due to his harsh words about fellow Democrats. Denying allegations that he has disparaged gay party members and others, Ramos cast himself as an old friend of minorities. But he also compared gay Democrats to insects, called several local elected Democrats “yo-yos,” and found a common denominator among the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, the...

Demands Grow For Resignation Of Bexar County Democratic ChairPublished Statements By Dan Ramos 'Stunned' Party Leaders Jessie Degollado, KSAT 12 News Reporter POSTED: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 SAN ANTONIO -- A spokeswoman for the Bexar County Democratic Party said its chairman, Dan Ramos, will be holding a news conference on Thursday morning after his published statements in the San Antonio Current and increasing demands for resignation. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie, members of the Bexar County Democratic Party Executive Committee and the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus have called for Ramos to step down. In their statement, the executive committee...

In Washington, bigwigs can misspeak and misstep a million times without drawing attention. And then there are the seemingly harmless moments that stick to a person like super glue: Joe Wilson barking “You lie!”; Jesse Jackson mumbling into a hot mic that he wants to castrate Barack Obama; Dan Quayle trying to spell things. Like coal crushed into diamonds by the pressure of a million eyeballs, such moments are forever. During an exclusive dinner hosted Monday by the Alfalfa Club, Obama adviser Valerie Jarret had just such a moment. And were it not for an irritated tipster, Jarret might have...

Appearing on MSNBC, Monday, to promote his new special on Barack Obama, Chris Matthews attacked "older white people" for still holding bigoted feelings against the first African American President. Lavishing praise on younger Americans, he added, "And I think that's a generalization and I'll stick with it. I think younger people do not see race as an obstacle." He then touted the "non-judgmental" attitude of Obama voters, fawning, "In fact, they say [race is] irrelevant and don't even notice it, whereas older people notice it all the time."

Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary Next, they'll be trying to snuff out officers who are too straight, or too white... (Gazette) A religious rights group is calling for the removal of the Air Force Academy’s top officer after a flap over a speaker planned for a February prayer luncheon at the school.The Military Religious Freedom Foundation says the academy’s choice of retired Marine 1st Lt. Clebe McClary shows that superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould remains tilted toward evangelical Christianity and tolerates an environment where proselytizing is accepted.Lt. Gen. Mike Gould“We’re done,” said academy graduate Mikey Weinstein, the foundation’s founder and...

HAYDEN, Idaho -- While most see the holiday season as one of joy and merrymaking, at least one Hayden, Idaho, resident is taking the opportunity to spread a little hate courtesy of a noose-carrying, KKK hood-wearing snowman on their front lawn.

Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. Where to start with the doomed campaign of Republican Tea Party-backed Charlotte Bergmann, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen for the Ninth District Congressional seat? Let's start with her campaign signs -- symbols of a political novice and her delusions.

Tom Tancredo this afternoon criticized his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, as an out-of-touch elitist after video surfaced of Hickenlooper talking of "backwards thinking" in rural areas of the Interior West. In the video, Hickenlooper is responding to an question from transgender journalist Eden Lane regarding why the Matthew Shepard Foundation would establish its headquarters in Denver. "I think a couple of things, I mean, you know, the tragic death of Matthew Shepard occurred in Wyoming," Hickenlooper says in the video taken in late 2009. "Colorado and Wyoming are very similar. We have some of the...

Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez has apologized for calling comedian Jon Stewart a bigot on a radio program last week, Sanchez's wife revealed Monday. Sanchez's wife, Suzanne, revealed the news on her Facebook page Monday, writing "Rick apolog

Former Air Force Officers: UFOs Tampered With Nuclear Missiles Updated: 2 hours 39 minutes ago (Sept. 25) -- Former U.S. Air Force officers and a former enlisted man are about to break many years of silence about an alarming series of UFO encounters at nuclear weapons sites -- incidents officially kept secret for decades. When the group appears at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday, it will offer testimony about events so chilling, it will seem like a day at a science fiction movie festival. To put you in the mood for the...

Oakland, CA, USA — "… If you want to help Haiti, let's start, let's start, let's start by telling the truth. Okay? The truth is that on April 7, 2003, President Aristide, a democratically elected president on the side of the poor, called together a Restitution Commission which determined that France owed Haiti twenty-one billion dollars. And within weeks, France and The United States told Aristide it was time for him to go. Step aside, step down, resign or be killed. "The Haitians had their duly elected, democratically elected president kidnapped by United States Marines …" On Sunday September 19th...

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to begin floor debate on a defense authorization bill that would repeal the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces. Last month, a top military official offered a glimpse of how the military might look should the new policy take effect: Those serving who oppose the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) agenda are no longer welcome. Those were the views of Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army's deputy chief of staff in charge of personnel matters who spoke about "Don't...

President Barack Obama is hoping that black voters don't stand on the sidelines when Democrats need all the election help they can get this year.

On Monday the head of Finland’s branch of Amnesty International, Frank Johansson, termed Israel a “scum state.” Writing in his blog, which appears on the Web site of Iltalehti, one of Finland’s largest newspapers, he based his characterization of Israel on his “own visit[s], which occurred during the 1970s and for the last time in the 1990s.” Johansson further justified his rhetoric toward Israel because he has previously invoked strong language against former Pres. George Bush on Finnish TV. He called Mr. Bush “the biggest executioner in the Western Hemisphere.” Turning Israel and the United States into whipping boys is...

Disclaimer: This comic is making fun of Helen Thomas. We do not support her vile rhetoric against Jewish people. We do support making fun of Helen Thomas and people who use vile rhetoric. This is also not a real book...

Newsmaker Shirley Sherrod is set to appear before thousands of journalists on Thursday, July 29 at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Annual Convention in San Diego, Calif. Sherrod has made headlines over the past two weeks for her forced resignation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted video excerpts of Sherrod's address at a March 2010 NAACP event on his website. The NAACP initially condemned her remarks and U.S. government officials called on her to resign. Upon review of the unedited video in context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the...

Hurray for Michigan State Univ This is true -- http://www.snopes.com/ Professor Wichman E-mail Claim: A Michigan professor sent an e-mail telling Muslim students to leave the country Status: True. Professor Wichman E-mail Hooray for Michigan State University (The Spartans) and Professor Wichman! Well, what do we have here. Looks like a small case of some people being able to dish it out, but not take it. Let's start at the top. The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman. Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association. The e-mail was in response...

"He's got the whole world in his hands?" To one atheist, it's more like ‘He's got the whole world under his thumb." David Smalley, the editor of American Atheist magazine and a self-described "civil rights activist," wrote in a personal blog post June 7 that Christian daycare "a form of child abuse." "In short, by starting your child off in a Christian environment, you are heading them down a path of forced ignorance," Smalley wrote. "At least let your child begin in a secular world, and if he or she chooses Christianity after an age of accountability, then so be...

Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan blamed Jews for financial ruin of blacks. Farrakhan claims Jews for centuries have worked to financially undermine Black people. Disgusting. Radical Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan sent a letter to Jewish leaders asking them to repair the damage they have caused blacks for centuries. The Washington Examiner reported: Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has written the leaders of more than a dozen major U.S. Jewish groups and denominations seeking “repair of my people from the damage” he claims Jews have caused blacks for centuries. Farrakhan sent the letter along with two books from the Nation...

Sen. Robert Byrd may join Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy among historic figures who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda — an honor only bestowed upon 28 other Americans over the past 160 years. Senate leaders are likely to make a request for Byrd to lie in state, aides said Monday, but they are still awaiting approval from Byrd’s family to go ahead with a formal resolution that would allow Byrd’s casket to rest under the dome for a public viewing. With a career that spanned nearly 58 years and ranked him as the longest-serving member in congressional...

Regardless of what you may think of Penn Jillette, the guy is spot on on issues 99% of the time. He is smart and informed and quite funny,,, IMHO!

Nine Speakers, the agency that represents Helen Thomas, has dropped her as a client. This comes in the wake of controversial remarks on the Middle East. The notice, obtained by POLITICO: It is with a heavy heart that Nine Speakers, Inc. announces its resignation as the agent for Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps. Ms. Thomas has had an esteemed career as a journalist, and she has been a trailblazer for women, helping others in her profession, and beyond. However, in light of recent events, Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can...

White House correspondent and current Hearst Corporation columnist Helen Thomas told a documentary filmmaker at the White House that “Jews should go back to Poland…back to Germany…and America, and everywhere else.” The YouTube video, which can be viewed here, demonstrates an outrageous and complete lack of understanding of history. Thomas seems to have been schooled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a belief that Jews appeared in Israel after the Holocaust. Thomas ignores historical facts that Jews have called the Land of Israel home for more than 3,000 years, long before any other group made a home in the land....

Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House press correspondents, embarrassed herself, her employer, and the journalism profession itself with her repugnant remarks that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine." Thomas was present on the sidelines of the White House Jewish Heritage Day event on May 27, when she was asked her opinion of Israel by Rabbi David Nesenof. When pressed on the matter, she added that Palestine is a country of occupation, whose occupiers should leave the region, returning to "Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else". Thomas issued an apology on her website, writing “I deeply...

In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker went to Southeast Portland on a patrol call. With a few minutes to spare, he decided to get a coffee. So, he popped into the Red & Black cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out when a customer approached him, saying she appreciates the hard job that police officers do every day in Portland. One of the co-owners of the cafe, John Langley, has another point of view. While the officer and customer were chatting, he walked up and asked Crooker to leave, saying he...

It isn't just the pro-Palestinian press that is attempting to distort the reality behind the recent flotilla incident off the coast of Gaza. Former Democratic Congresswoman, and 2008 Green Party candidate for President of the United States, Cynthia McKinney, has voiced her own version of reality through an anti-Israeli rant in Arab News. McKinney is of course, a reliable source on the topic, having been involved in her own little attempts at defying and breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza (translation - aiding and abetting a terrorist regime). In her column for Arab News, McKinney expresses outrage over ‘Israel's needless,...

L.A. "teacher" Ron Gochez strikes again. Gochez, who for some unknown reason remains a teacher at Santee H.S. Complex in Los Angeles, is at it again in this video, railing against the police as "apes of repression", calls L.A. the "occupied territories of Mexico" and says he "represents" a "Mexican revolutionary organi...zation". He must teach one heck of a "history" class to young minds full of mush in L.A. This 2007 video adds to the prior footage of Gochez' racist, anti-Semitic and seditious rantings. If Gochez had been a Caucasian teacher who called for a white uprising against the U.S....

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that he hoped a letter he plans to send to Irish Catholics about the child sex abuse scandal in the church would help with "repentance, healing and renewal" there. Benedict acknowledged the Irish church had been "severely shaken" as a result of the crisis and said he was "deeply concerned." However, speaking in English at his weekly general audience, the pontiff did not make any mention of the issue in his homeland, Germany. The scandal in Germany, where some 300 former Catholic students have come forward with claims of physical or sexual...

Aegon insurance company has put aside a million euros to pay for claims by Dutch victims who suffered at the hands of Catholic clerics. Aegon and the archdiocese of Utrecht, which acted on behalf of the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands, came to this agreement in 2006, an investigation by NRC Handelsblad and Radio Netherlands Worldwide has shown. If damages exceed a million euros, the Church will have to pay for them itself. Aegon broke with church after 45 years The deal ended a long-lasting dispute regarding the coverage offered by the church’s liability insurance policy with Aegon. The...

Sweden’s National Public Employment Agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) has decided not to appeal its fine for discriminating against a Muslim man who had his benefits withdrawn after refusing to shake the hand of Jeanette Löding, the female CEO of a firm with which he was seeking employment. We have worked hard so that women and men can be seen as equals in the workplace. If feels like we have slipped back a few steps here," Jeanette Löding, CEO of Melament AB told The Local on Wednesday regarding the court's decision. The agency explained that it had decided to accept the Stockholm District...

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan claims the "white right" is trying to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Speaking to an estimated 20,000 followers of the black nationalist movement at the United Center on Sunday, the 76-year-old Farrakhan said, "The white right is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated." Referring to a Southern Baptist preacher's recent prayer that the president die, Farrakhan said, "There are Christians praying for God to kill Obama." Obama distanced himself from Farrakhan before the presidential election because of Farrakhan's long history of anti-Semitic remarks. But in a 3½-hour Saviours' Day speech Sunday,...

Texas Representative Ron Paul won the 2010 CPAC straw poll tonight, beating out both Mitt Romney & Sarah Palin, and raking in 31% of the vote. Paul, a Libertarian who is perhaps best known for his aggressive stance against the Federal Reserve, has a dedicated group of followers which have again affirmed their influence within the Republican party. What this means for a 2012 bid for presidency is uncertain, however; Paul’s supporters were a vocal and visible group when he ran for President in 2008, but in the end, Paul walked away with only a small percentage of the actual...

The Texas congressman who rattled the GOP establishment with his libertarian-leaning outsider run for president has suddenly found himself the target of the anti-incumbent Tea Party movement some credit him with helping inspire.