Free Republic

Rest in Peace, Matthew Wallace.

Soldier in need of prayer.

When writer Marcia Segelstein headed to the bookstore to scout out books for her 12-year-old, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But she certainly didn’t expect rampant drinking, drug use, profanity, and explicit descriptions of sex and nudity. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what she found. Segelstein’s daughter had been clamoring to read the Gossip Girl series, which “‘all’ of her friends were reading,” she said. After seeing what was in the books, Segelstein was floored. But a school librarian confirmed, “They’re very popular among sixth and seventh graders.” Even worse, the librarian added, “Some parents are so happy that their kids...

Five Rancho Sahuarita homes that were under construction were destroyed Friday night in what officials are calling suspicious fires. The Rural/Metro Fire Department began receiving multiple 911 reports just before 11 p.m. of several homes on fire off of South Rancho Sahuarita Boulevard, south of West Sahuarita Road, said Battalion Chief Rick Flores, a department spokesman. When firefighters arrived, they found five homes that were under construction fully engulfed in flames, he said. Officials suspect that the homes were set on fire one by one. It took more than an hour and a combined 40 firefighters from Rural/Metro and the...

Some Kashmir Quake Survivors Burned Books By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer Sun Dec 11, 4:18 PM ET MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - When night fell after the Oct. 8 quake, many survivors burned broken furniture to stay warm. Some, however, stormed the shattered state-run Khursheed National Library, pulling out books and newspapers to make bonfires. An estimated 10,000 books went up in smoke that night. Three days later, half the library's books — including Qurans — had been turned into ashes, when the army stepped in and stopped it.Mohammed Hanif, a clerk at the library for 14 years, "did not believe...

A woman is suing the Pizza Hut in Lehighton, Pa., because the hot poppers she ordered as an appetizer were, well, hot and popped when she bit into them. Sorana Georgescu-Hassanin claims she may be permanently impaired because the ''excessively hot'' oil in the deep-fried, cheese-stuffed hot pepper severely burned her chin. Her husband, Hatem Hassanin, is suing for the loss of companionship and comfort of his wife. They are suing Pizza Hut for at least $25,000! each. The suit names the Dallas corporation and Richard Whitso n, who owns the Lehighton franchise and his company, QSM, LLC. It says...

FAITH UNDER FIRE Radicals threaten to burn Christians to death Warn of consequences if they don't reconvert to Hinduism by Sunday Posted: November 17, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com More than 60 Christian converts in northern India will be burned to death if they refuse to return to Hinduism by Sunday, a group of extremists has warned. The radical Hindus severely beat the converts' pastor, Feroz Masih, in a Nov. 4 attack in the state of Himachal Pradesh, accusing him of "forcibly converting" Hindus, reported Compass Direct, a news service that monitors persecution of Christians. Masih sustained internal...

November 11, 2005 -- Thousands of Arabs, outraged by the Muslim-vs.-Muslim bombings in Jordan, angrily rallied against al Qaeda yesterday as investigators arrested Iraqi suspects. "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" Jordanians chanted outside one of the hotels blasted by alleged supporters of al Qaeda's Iraqi chief. Click here for the rest of the article

Vermont may sue to stop tire burn November 6, 2005 By Darren M Allen Staff Writer MONTPELIER — If New York environmental officials choose to disregard Vermont's opposition to plans by International Paper Co. to burn up to 72 tons of shredded tires at its Ticonderoga, N.Y., paper mill for a two-week test, Vermont will likely take the matter to court. Gov. James Douglas and his administration, in cooperation with the Vermont Attorney General's Office, are prepared to exercise every legal avenue at their disposal, the governor's press secretary said last week. "Gov. Douglas has asked the Agency of Administration...

There simply wasn't enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90 degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave — the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding. Earlier, Lt. Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon leader had...

FAIRFIELD, Ohio Two teenage boys charged with burning 20 small American flags set up in honor of a soldier who died from injuries sustained in Iraq have been sentenced to community service. A Butler County juvenile court judge ordered the two boys, aged 13 and 15, to complete 40 hours of community service at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post. The boys admitted to taking the flags from the yard and setting them afire under a car belonging to the soldier's sister-in-law. The vehicle was destroyed. The flags commemorated Army Private First Class Tim Hines of Fairfield, who died in...

On August 9 the California Teachers Association and its most famous employee, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, announced that they were suing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for $3.1 billion in money they think the public schools are owed under Proposition 98. The fees for the lawyers for both sides of this dispute will be paid for by the taxpayers, using money that could have been used to fix stopped-up toilets in our schools or buy textbooks for the kids. Prop. 98 was passed by telling the voters it set a minimum level of funding for K-12 public schools of...

A WOMAN WHO was branded with part of Con Edison's logo after falling onto a burning hot Manhattan manhole cover is suing the utility. A lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court accuses Con Ed of allowing the manhole cover at E. 13th St. and Second Ave., to become excessively hot through a buildup of steam under it. Elizabeth Wallenberg, 27, suffered "excruciating pain, disability and grotesque cosmetic disfigurement," according to the suit, which seeks unspecified damages. The fall left Wallenberg with a "C" and "O" and part of the manhole grid burned onto her back, just above the buttocks,...

1GLENS FALLS, N.Y. -- A man on house arrest suffered burns on 60 percent of his body Thursday after the tracking device on his ankle caught fire, authorities said. Witnesses said 25-year-old Jason McClaskey was engulfed in flames on his front porch just before 6 a.m. Firefighters found him in his bedroom with most of his clothing burned off, Assistant Chief Ray Ives said. McClaskey had lighter fluid on his leg and although he told officials he was trying to light his grill, that didn't seem likely since there was no charcoal on it, Police Chief Richard Carey said. McClaskey...

Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture The realm of human imagination is a God-given gift, a faculty of the mind that is intended to expand our understanding by enabling us to visualize invisible truths. In the modern era this zone of man's interior life has moved to the forefront of his experience. With the advent of film, television, and now the near-virtual reality of special-effects videos and other electronic entertainment, the screen of the imagination is stimulated to a degree (both in quantity and in kind) more than at any other period in history. This has prompted a...

BRYAN, Texas (AP) - An 18-year-old ice cream vendor has been charged with injury to a child after being accused of burning several children by having them hold dry ice in their hands, police said. Roberto Martinez Sanchez, who sold ice cream from his bicycle, had apparently told several kids on April 20 that he would give them the frozen dessert for free if they could hold a piece of dry ice in their bare hands for 10 or 15 seconds, according to investigators. Dry ice is so cold it can freeze flesh, causing a burn-like injury. It is usually...

Douglas and Clinton April 29, 2005 How delighted Jason Gibbs must have been to utter the following sentence: "Governor Douglas believes we need people in the United States Senate who understand how important it is to protect and improve our environment." Gibbs is Gov. James Douglas' principal spokesman, and he was responding to a letter from Sen. Hillary Clinton to New York environmental officials supporting a test burn of tires at the International Paper plant in Ticonderoga, N.Y. IP wants to conduct a two-week test burn at the plant, and Clinton weighed in on the company's behalf, saying the plant...

Douglas rips Sen. Clinton on endorsement of tire burn MONTPELIER, Vt. Senator Hillary Clinton is jumping the gun in endorsing a two-week test tire burn at International Paper's Ticonderoga mill. That's the word from Vermont Governor James Douglas in a letter to the New York Democrat today. Douglas says Clinton's timing was off when she sent a letter earlier this month to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation urging that it approve the test tire burn. The governor notes that International Paper has yet to file an application for a permit amendment. He says he hopes the company will...

Get on the Bus Caption Contest--post a comment or photoshop

She is a national hero in her homeland, hailed for plucking her little sister from their family home as it was consumed by flames. Now, Nastya Ovchar, her body burned extensively during the rescue of her sister, lies in a room at Shriners Burns Hospital Boston, half a world away from her home in the Ukraine. If they made a movie about Nastya, they could well call it ''The President and the Little Girl," for it was the intervention of a national leader who had endured his own share of physical suffering that assured the 5-year- old could receive lifesaving...