Free Republic

I'm a huge Beck fan, in fact I'm listening right now here http://www.ksfa860.com/common/gap_streamer.php but something really confuses me. It takes the ability to use real critical thinking to know what Beck (and most of us know about the state of the country and where we are heading). That is, we have the ability to discover the truth no matter how much the media or conventional wisdom try to hide it. Yet on Mormonism, Beck is cleary wrong. Any Christian knows that the book or momonism is severely flawed and that Joseph Smith was no prophet. How can Beck cut through...

The NAACP issued a statement in full support of President Obama's embattled Green jobs czar, Van Jones. The NAACP further called Glenn Beck a "right wing extremist," called controversies over Van Jones' past "diversionary tactics," and questioned advertisers' sponsorship of Beck's show.

When Barack Obama said that the Henry Louis Gates affair was a teachable moment, he spoke truly. But the key is ensuring that the right things are taught and the right people learn. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen. There is no need to rehash the events of July 16 chapter and verse. We all know about how the Harvard professor flew into a rage of racial accusations and haughty posturing after Sergeant James Crowley appeared at his Cambridge home to investigate a report of a possible break-in. We've heard that Gates called Crowley a "racist" and said he was...

Ace Washington Times reporter Kerry Picket has the scoop on a Democratic Party official whose MySpace page is a sewer of racial hatred.Following up on fellow Times reporter Jerry Seper's report on the Obama Justice Department's dropping of a case of voter intimidation by Democratic party poll watcher and New Black Panther member Jerry Jackson, Picket reports on the vile racist language that gets Republicans run out of town on a rail, but gets Democrats elected to be party officials. In Jackson's case, that means being an elected member of the 14th Ward Democratic party committee in Philadelphia.Here's a sample...

The news junkies can't get enough of her NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Sarah Palin is the most fascinating politician of her time. Sure, Barack Obama is the most accomplished and respected but news junkies can't get enough of Palin, love or hate her. She is a lightning rod. The left loves to mock her as a buffoon. In the New York Times, Maureen Dowd dubbed Palin as "Caribou Barbie." Palin has to expect coverage like that in the Times , the darling of the Eastern establishment elite. She has mastered the art of using the media to divide and conquer...

Stating flatly that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is no racist, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) gave a clear indication that the first Hispanic nominee for the Court will have smooth sailing in the Senate, even from Republicans. According to The Hill, Graham provided this interesting exchange which depicts his clear-as-mud thinking on this issue:

A Democratic Strategist memo, written by James Vega, entitled, What is ‘Right Wing Extremism?’ is another example of the lies and distortions aimed at defaming Christian conservatives. In the fallout of the discredited department of Homeland Security report on “Right Wing Extremism,” that labeled virtually anyone with an opposing view to the Obama administration as a potential domestic terrorist, this “strategy paper” is supposed to be a thoughtful response. But it only shows the left’s hypocrisy and paranoia. Vega makes slanderous generalizations in an attempt to demonize Christians and conservatives all the while proclaiming that liberals are the potential victims...

The first time she was ever called the most offensive of racial slurs, Tamu Smith was in the Salt Lake LDS temple. An elderly man spied Smith, a new bride, and asked aloud what a [racial epithet] was doing there. Instead of reprimanding him, temple workers defended him, saying he didn't know better. Smith didn't leave the LDS Church over such hurtful language then, and she remains faithful, but frustrated, nearly 15 years later. She will join other Mormons this week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the June 8, 1978, revelation that opened the church's priesthood to "all worthy...

Faith often gets short shrift in the news - unless a little sex and politics are thrown in. Unprecedented pontiff bashing has taken hold in the press - prompted by Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of the use of condoms in anti-AIDS programs, made on his arrival Tuesday for a weeklong tour of Africa. "This is one of the most horrifically ignorant statements made by a world leader since former President George W. Bush's promise to 'smoke 'em out' in reference to terrorist leaders including Osama bin Laden," said Bonnie Erbe, a PBS host and columnist. A London Times editorial called...

Ok folks, question time: Which is the REAL party of hate? Ten seconds... Ding! Time's up! Read the excerpted comments below (screen names withheld to protect the idiots) and you decide. "Black man said it to the White man The White Man snitched it to the the Boss man The Boss man slapped down the Black man..." "How pathetic. How many conservative politicians are gonna apologize to this guy? Rush is a bigot, a racist, a drug addict, a liar and a college drop out. Why in the world would you care what he thinks about you? Why would you...

Immigrants rally in Prince William County against an alleged incident of police brutality.

Solution to crisis at the Bank of England: Female staff should wear lipstick and high heels By DAN NEWLING 02nd February 2009 A Bank of England summit held to tell women what to wear has been condemned as sexist As Britain plunges into its worst recession for 70 years, the economic superbrains at the Bank of England have been asking some searching questions. But while the vital issues of interest rates and bank bail-outs may have exercised the minds of many financial high-fliers, others have found time to turn their thoughts to an even more pressing agenda. Like ‘should I...

The wobbly video shows a group of adults mulling inside Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in Susquehanna Twp. Suddenly it pans left and captures a fight breaking out. The 22-second clip, uploaded Sunday to YouTube, is the latest example of what police describe as a disturbing and bizarre crime trend: escalating violence among adults at a place designed for children's birthday parties. Susquehanna Township police have been called to the restaurant on Union Deposit Road 12 times in the past year for reports of disorderly conduct, assault and theft. Those calls have resulted in 13 arrests, including six women -- five...

In 1844, there were approximately 26,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet, when W.W. Phelps penned a song of tribute to his beloved, fallen prophet, he promised that "millions shall know Brother Joseph again." Those words were truly prophetic, says Mack Wilberg, conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which will be releasing a special Joseph Smith tribute album, "Praise to the Man," on Tuesday, the 203rd anniversary of the prophet's birth. Now known not only to the millions of members of the LDS Church, but also by countless more around the world, Joseph Smith has...

I thought it would be safe," Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor told CNN. "It's always a shock when your sign is censored or stolen or mutilated. It's not something you get used to." The sign, which celebrated the winter solstice, had some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation said in part. The sign, which was at the Legislative Building at 6:30 a.m. PT, was...

A word that liberals like to throw at those who disagree with them in the tiniest of disagreement to be bigots. Conservatives are considered bigots because they won't vote for Obama or because of certain viewpoints. Christians are considered bigots because they teach that faith in Christ is the only way to heaven and because of their belief in moral absolutes and because of exclusive beliefs. Of course every religion is exclusive and has a fixed set of morals. They also teach that they are the only way. The Buddhist is exclusive, the Muslim is exclusive, the Jew is exclusive,...

CBSNews.com: So, Tom Ridge, who's been discussed. You think … Richard Land: That would be a catastrophe. CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community? Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She's strongly pro-life....

Stars like P.Diddy and Alicia Keys rallied up to show their support for Obama at the BET awards on Tuesday. Diddy got on stage and started chanted "Obama or Die." He told the crowd, "If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America." Diddy wasn't the only one overexcited about the possibility of having Obama as our next president. As Alicia Keys picked up her award for Best Female R+B Artist, she said, "Together we can do anything," before adding, "Obama y'all!"

Just as Sen. Barack Obama sought to distance himself from controversial racial remarks made by his pastor, an anti-American government, anti-white and virally anti-Semitic black supremacist party has endorsed the presidential candidate on Obama's own website. "Obama will stir the 'Melting Pot' into a better 'Molten America,'" states an endorsement from the New Black Panther Party, or NBPP, which is a registered team member and blogger on Obama's "MyObama" campaign website. The NBPP is a controversial black extremist party whose leaders are notorious for their racist statements and for leading anti-white activism. Malik Zulu Shabazz, NBPP national chairman, who has...

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright thinks that, given their treatment by white America, black Americans have no reason to sing “God Bless America.” “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America,” he told his congregation. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human.” I’m not a believer in guilt by association, or the campaign vaudeville of rival politicians insisting this or that candidate disassociate himself from remarks by some fellow he had a 30-second grip’n’greet with a decade...

Key Tenets of Mormon Faith By The Associated Press – 18 hours ago Key tenets of the Mormon faith: _Nature of God: God once was a mortal who became an eternal being after a great trial. _Jesus Christ: Christ was God's first-born spirit child, his only earthly child and the only perfect mortal. _No Trinity: Mormons reject the idea of the Christian Trinity — God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as one ethereal being. Instead, they believe the three are separate beings joined in a common purpose. _Pre-existence and the afterlife: Before their mortal birth, humans existed in pre-mortality...

Democrats Seek Protection from 'NASCAR People' Posted By Bobby Eberle On October 15, 2007 at 6:28 am Who's afraid of NASCAR people? The answer is the Democrats.... so much so that they're vaccinating themselves so they don't catch any rare disease such as NASCAR cooties or the bubba virus. It sounds ridiculous right? Well, it is, but unfortunately, it's true. The issue deals with a memo from the House Committee on Homeland Security which suggested that staff members receive vaccinations against hepatitis A and B in addition to other vaccinations before they travel to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and Lowe's...

It got the GOP's engines revving - a Democratic official suggesting staffers get immunized for several diseases before heading south from Washington and into the Red State wilds of NASCAR country to conduct research at a pair of races. The reaction on both sides illustrates just how valuable candidates for elected office consider the votes of NASCAR fans who pack grandstands by the thousands every weekend and the donations of business leaders who spend millions to sponsor the sport.It started last month, when an official with the House Committee on Homeland Security suggested that staff aides get immunizations before visiting...

It got the GOP's engines revving - a Democratic official suggesting staffers get immunized for several diseases before heading south from Washington and into the Red State wilds of NASCAR country to conduct research at a pair of races. The reaction on both sides illustrates just how valuable candidates for elected office consider the votes of NASCAR fans who pack grandstands by the thousands every weekend and the donations of business leaders who spend millions to sponsor the sport. It started last month, when an official with the House Committee on Homeland Security suggested that staff aides get immunizations before...

I love history. I’m proud of my Southern heritage. But for me to be angry to the point of protesting a moment in Southern history that happened nearly a century-and-a-half ago would be just, well, nonsensical. And would in some ways tarnish that heritage.

“The government and the corporate media,” declares a prominent activist Web site, have created a “propaganda machine whose goal is to continue the expansion of a (fascist) state and to control every aspect of our lives and fortunes.” Sounds like one of a bajillion posts on a left-wing “netroots” Web site these days, right? Wrong. It’s from 1998. And I cheated a little. I’ve doctored the quote. “Fascist” was originally “collective.” The activist Web site? The populist-conservative FreeRepublic.com. The short history of the Internet is already long enough to repeat itself. In dog years, I’m 288, but in Internet years,...

Democratic political consultant Mark Mellman has a very good piece up today at The Hill on the baffling and illegitimate opposition among voters to Mitt Romney due to his religion. I liked his closing paragraphs: In July of 1958, 24 percent of respondents told Gallup they would not vote for a Catholic for president, almost identical to Gallup’s reading on Mormons today. Two years later, John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic to assume the oath of office. Within eight months, the number refusing to vote for a Catholic was cut almost in half. [snip] Mellman also discusses an interesting...

The goal was to work within the halls of Congress. Now, immigrant-rights groups want to replace the lawmakers who walk them. Labor unions, immigrant advocates and Democratic activists have spent the two weeks since the Senate squashed a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill constructing the early framework of a political payback plan. Capitalizing on the Latino voting bloc and its disaffection with the Republican Party, the groups intend to use the recent debate as a rallying shriek in the 2008 election. "We are the fastest-growing sector of the electorate, and we have shown a capacity to show up when we are...

Along with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has been the Bush administration’s voice in an immigration debate that has divided Republicans. Gutierrez, a Cuban immigrant who became chief executive of Kellogg’s, said this week in an interview that he’s not disappointed by Republican opposition to the immigration bill, and that he hasn’t seen evidence that Democrats want to withhold a victory for President Bush. Gutierrez repeatedly framed the debate as a national security issue, predicting victory in part because of the “inevitability” of immigration reform. Q: If the Senate doesn’t approve a comprehensive immigration reform bill...

Call it by its right name. It's not the "immigration bill" or the "attempted immigration bill" or the "failed immigration bill" or the "immigration bill in need of amendment." The American government tried to pull a coup against its people. It failed. It did, however, succeed in giving me a feeling I'd completely forgotten. I was 5 years old. My mother gave her younger sister Margie enough money to take me, Margie, and her friend Harvey to a special kids' show which was five cartoons end to end; no feature film which 5-year-olds find boring. On the way to the...

On his radio talk show last Friday, dittohead in chief Rush Limbaugh was working himself into quite a lather. The subject? Immigration reform, specifically the controversial immigration bill now before the Senate -- or, as Limbaugh dubbed it, the Comprehensive Destroy the Republican Party Act. Though Limbaugh pummeled his usual targets on the left, complaining that the current immigration reform proposal was yet another Ted Kennedy-led scheme to destroy America, Limbaugh was also unsparing toward national Republicans: At the end of the day here, what we're talking about is the marginalization, if not the destruction, of the Republican Party. Look,...

A bunch of pictures........ To say that Americans who stand for the rule of law... and stand against illegal immigration... are all racist, is just typical and silly. It's just another ploy by the Left and now some Republicans... and even the President... to label their opposition a certain type of evil, like racist, enabling them to ignore our opinions and beliefs as they pertain to this most critical issue. When the ignorant regurgitate the usual... "but we're a nation of immigrants," they tend to forget, or ignore, the fact that this seemingly never-ending invasion of Mexican criminals has not...

RUSH: I was going to call in to the show on Friday and do some minor gloating and take a little credit here for the immigration bill being pulled, but right about the time I hit my third birdie on the front nine I said, "To hell with it, I'm going to keep playing golf." Besides, in all candor, it's not dead. It's still on life support. The president's going to meet with some people: Congress, GOP, probably Ted Kennedy, too, sometime tomorrow. It may even go up to the Capitol. The original meeting was supposed to be lunch at...

The left has been making great inroads in their quest to remake society to their own specifications. From their perches in the media, universities and the halls of Congress, secular progressives (meaning Godless liberals) are winning the culture war. Their tactics are simple. Take control of a certain issue and immediately go on the offense. First, change the rules of debate to stigmatize dissenters. Then change the meaning of words to mean whatever they want them to mean (and outlaw certain others). Finally, keep opponents so busy trying to prove a negative they simply neglect to address the core issue....

On May 25, I wrote a column entitled “Latino Fear and Loathing” that has provoked considerable anger and recriminations among my fellow conservatives. In the column I asserted that, “Some people just don’t like Mexicans — or anyone else from south of the border,” and described some of the fears shaping these sentiments: “They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent, and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos...

In an episode that can only be described by a sane person as disgusting, homosexuals in the Castro District of San Francisco held an "anti-memorial" for The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who died today in Lynchburg VA at the age of 73. From SFGate: "Michael Petrelis, a blogger, longtime HIV survivor and organizer of the 5 p.m. event, said that the founder of the Moral Majority needed to be remembered for his legacy of hatred. "I remember Falwell's hatred of people with AIDS and gay people at the height of the AIDS epidemic," Petrelis said. "It was so un-religious. I feel...

A couple who sued a fertility clinic after the wife gave birth to a daughter whose skin they thought was too dark for her to be their child may proceed with their lawsuit, a judge has ruled. Thomas and Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses. They said the Park Avenue clinic botched the insemination of Nancy Andrews' eggs. The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas...

When a candidate for president blows into town, most reporters show up. There’s always a chance he or she will say something surprising or stupid, and there could even be a chance to ask a substantial question and get an answer with some teeth to it, but it’s not likely. That’s just the way these things go. But when the Idaho press showed up today for Republican candidate Mitt Romney, his people were still rehearsing – badly - the drill of the classic obligatory campaign fly-through. They issued conflicting information about the place and time of the press conference, with...

FOX8 WGHP -- To no one's surprise (in this newsroom anyway), NASCAR fans in the Piedmont don’t like being stereotyped as toothless, white trash rednecks. The remarks were made after a group including Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip went before Washington state lawmakers about wanting to build a race track in the Evergreen State. Washington state representative Larry Seaquist made this comment about NASCAR fans with southern roots: “These people are not the kind of people you would want living next door to you. They’d be the ones with the junky cars in the front yard and would try to...

The ABC show “The View� can’t give it up. It started with a discussion about James Cameron’s latest Titanic tale—the one about Jesus’ tomb—and it quickly degenerated into another round of mockery. About Catholicism, that is. Rosie O’Donnell began by demonstrating her command of the Bible by saying, ‘Weren’t, weren’t, wasn’t the Bible written 200 years after the death of Jesus?’ No, it wasn’t, wasn’t, wasn’t. Someone needs to clue her in—she’s only off by over a hundred years. But that someone is surely not co-host Joy Behar. Today she confessed that ‘I am not really a scholar. I don’t...

You have to see how smooth Romney handles this heckler: http://www.mittreport.com Unchecked bigotry, illustrated by this heckler, toward Mormons is unbelievable. If someone stood up and commented about a person's gender, race, etc., the public and media would be outraged. My guess the mainstream media lets this go unchecked. -MR

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A second blogger working for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards quit Tuesday under pressure from conservative critics who said her previous online messages were anti-Catholic. Melissa McEwan wrote on her personal blog, Shakespeare's Sister, that she left the campaign because she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the level of attention focused on her and her family. "This was a decision I made, with the campaign's reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign," McEwan said Tuesday night. Kate Bedingfield, a spokeswoman for the Edwards...

Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for posts they had written elsewhere on the Internet. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, demanded that Edwards fire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan. "John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots," Donohue wrote in a statement. "He has no choice but to fire them immediately." The Edwards campaign declined to comment. McEwan and Marcotte did not respond to e-mails requesting a response. Donohue cited posts that...

Immigrants wishing to live in a small Canadian town have been told they must not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them. This extraodinary set of rules has been released by the local council of Herouxville, Quebec. The declaration, published on the town's Website, has deepened tensions in the predominantly French-speaking province over how tolerant Quebecers should be toward the customs and traditions of immigrants. "We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here," said the...

WASHINGTON -- Zalmay Khalilzad, who was announced this week as leaving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the leading prospect to replace John Bolton as envoy to the United Nations. President Bush was reported by aides as looking for someone who approximates Bolton's combination of toughness and diplomatic skill and has tentatively decided on Khalilzad. A native of Afghanistan, he has served in government posts dating back to 1985 and is the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush administration. Speculation on a new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to succeed John Bolton is focusing on the current U.S. ambassador in...

A dog that refuses to go away is a problem that many will be familiar with. But in Israel, a dog which refused to leave the doorstep of a dead Rabbi house was the subject of a 'redemption ceremony' to get it to move on. The dog, believed to be a stray, appeared at the house of the recently deceased Rabbi Nahman Dubinky, and then wouldn't leave. Rabbis expert in Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, concluded the animal might have been possessed by unhappy souls seeking redemption from the departed Rabbi. By tradition, Ultra-Orthodox Jews do not keep dogs as...

Reiner: Gibson, Come Clean on `Passion' LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mel Gibson's apology for making drunken anti-Semitic remarks isn't enough to redeem him, actor-producer Rob Reiner said. The actor also must acknowledge that "his work reflects anti-Semitism," particularly the 2004 hit movie "The Passion of the Christ," Reiner told Associated Press Radio. "When he comes to the understanding that he has done that, and can come out and say, you know, 'My views have been reflected in my work and I feel bad that I've done that,' then that will be the beginning of some reconciliation for him," Reiner said....

(AP) Mel Gibson's apology for making drunken anti-Semitic remarks isn't enough to redeem him, actor-producer Rob Reiner said. The actor also must acknowledge that "his work reflects anti-Semitism," particularly the 2004 hit movie "The Passion of the Christ," Reiner told Associated Press Radio.

Open House organization decides to hold gay pride parade in capital this year More controversy? Jerusalem's Open House for Pride and Tolerance has decided Sunday to hold a gay pride parade in the capital this year as well, GLBT portal Gogay has reported. The decision was taken by a 5 to 1 vote during the Open House's management committee meeting, which featured various community members who expressed their views on the subject. Most participants backed another parade in order to show they would not capitulate in the face of ultra-Orthodox and homophobic threats. However, some participants did voice concern over...