Free Republic

An unsuccessful suicide bomber released from prison as part of the deal to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli conscript, on Wednesday vowed to fulfil a childhood ambition by "sacrificing" her life for the Palestinian cause. As she returned to her family home in northern Gaza, Wafa al-Bis insisted she would seize any opportunity to mount another suicide mission and encouraged dozens of cheering schoolchildren to follow her example. Bis was one of hundreds of Palestinian militants freed by Israel on Tuesday in the first phase of a prisoner swap agreed with Hamas, Gaza’s Islamist overlords, to win the freedom of...

With a government shutdown looming, Capitol Hill was a pretty serious place on Wednesday afternoon. But for Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), what better way to ease the tension than with a congressional ladies personal shopping trip in Arlington, Va.? According to an email from Brown’s scheduler titled, “Outing with Congresswoman Corrine Brown,” staff member Cathy Gass invited Brown’s fellow female Congressional Black Caucus members to join the lawmaker at a boutique in Crystal City, Va. on Wednesday afternoon. According to the email, which was addressed to “CBC Schedulers,” Brown “would like to invite the woman [sic] CBC Members to go...

Comedienne Sandra Bernhard called Bristol Palin a hooker on Wednesday's "The Joy Behar Show." JOY BEHAR, HOST: After weeks of speculation that the low-scoring Bristol Palin could actually take the "Dancing With The Stars`" win, the nation breathed the sigh of relief last night as Jennifer Grey was crowned the champion (ph). With me now to talk about this and other stories in the news are Sandra Bernhard, comedian and singer, Rebecca Dana, senior correspondent for the Daily Beast, and Andrea Marcovicci, singer and actress. I called you Andrea. Is it Andrea or Andrea? ANDREA MARCOVICCI, SINGER: It`s Andrea. BEHAR:...

(Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) CNSNews.com) – Rev. Carlton Veazey, president and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, told a small crowd of pro-abortion protesters that women have a “God-given right” to abortion and that opposition from pro-life congressmen and religious leaders would never take it away. Veazey, closing speaker at a “Stop Stupak” rally on Capitol Hill staged by major pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, NARAL-Pro Choice, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) told the crowd that not only did they have a constitutional right to abortion, but that they had a God-given one as well....

...his economic policy, healthcare policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl-Marx-style politics, for starters. Other than that, I don't like his evil, baby-killing abortion policy, his anti-family gay rights policy, his anti-freedom gun-grabbing policy, his anti-America global warming and energy policies, or the constitution-hating liberal activist judges he would appoint. And I absolutely abhor his cowardly, cheese-eating surrender monkey policy. In fact, I can't think of a single policy of his that makes sense for America. I don't think there's been an election in my lifetime where the choices haven't been more starkly opposite. McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden are...

A three-legged, one-eyed, cancer-afflicted dog named Gus has been crowned the World's Ugliest Dog at a fair in California. Gus, a Chinese Crested dog, beat allcomers to take the title at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Owner Jeanenne Teed, from Florida, said she would spend the $1,600 prize on treatment for Gus's skin cancer. The competition has been running for 20 years, and is one of the fair's top attractions, organisers said. Vicki DeArmon, marketing director of the fair, said that in the past few years, winners had been dogs that had been abandoned or neglected before being adopted by dog-lovers. "They...

For the record, Helen Thomas, who at age 86 has been covering news at the White House for about half a century, no longer heads straight to the office at 5:30 a.m. each weekday. Instead, she goes to Starbucks, where she orders her coffee -- black -- and settles in for some quality reading time with the New York Times and Washington Post. Then, she heads to the White House press room.

THIS is the muzzle The Daily Telegraph has sent to batty loudmouth Germaine Greer on behalf of all Australians furious over her comments about Steve Irwin. Today The Daily Telegraph calls on all Crocodile Hunter fans to tell the controversial academic exactly how they feel - and ... this afternoon we can also publish a new address to contact her. Greer raised the ire of a nation this week when she made the bizarre claims that the animal world had taken "revenge" on Steve Irwin when he died tragically from a sting ray attack in northern Queensland. A furious Queensland...

ABC News has confirmed that Adam Gadahn, the American who converted to Islam and joined al Qaeda, has been charged in a sealed indictment with providing material support to terrorism. Gadahn recently appeared with al Qaeda's No. 2 in command Ayman Zawahiri exhorting Americans to convert to Islam. Gadahn, in addition to helping al Qaeda with propaganda and communications, is also suspected of helping al Qaeda with English translations and understanding U.S. culture and vulnerabilities. Charges may be announced in the next week. Officials have also considered charging Gadahn with treason.

SNIP.... MINOR EDITINGMAC Cosmetics has censored Sandra Bernhard for bashing the GOP. The cosmetics giant, owned by Estée Lauder, got hundreds of complaints after it posted an online ad this week for its Plushglass lip gloss in which the balloon-lipped comic does some free-form ranting, including a riff about an "intimidated, frightened, right-wing Republican thin-lipped bitch." But Mac oddly didn't cut a line in which Bernhard cheekily discusses the bodily fluids of a horny barnyard bird.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The sights and sounds of thousands of swooning gearheads were just too much for General Motors Corp. to deny. The concept Camaro, unveiled earlier this year without the slightest touch of subtlety, proved to be one of the highlights of the Detroit auto show back in January, and immediately prompted speculation that the real deal would make it into showrooms. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner responded to what he called an "overwhelmingly enthusiastic response" by announcing the automaker will begin production of the revived Camaro at the end of 2008, slated to hit dealer lots...

Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla,

Check out this greeting card I just got from my sister-in-law, I guess Hillary Bashing is now readily available in the mall!!

When you think you have seen it all, then this picture is in the front page of today's El Nacional. The picture was taken at yesterday's anniversary of the city of Caracas, where the illustrious Mayor of the Libertador municipality, Freddy Bernal, gave a medal to the wife of the new Minister of Defense, who is the man in white on the right of the picture. His wife is shown on the left in military garb.

Why Men Prefer Pretty Faces So you think beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Think again. According to new research from the University of Exeter in Great Britain, the preference for pretty faces over ugly ones is embedded in our brains from the moment of birth and possibly prior to birth. Newborn babies come fully equipped with built-in preferences, including a preference for an attractive face, that help them make sense of their new environment, report the BBC News Online and Newsweek magazine. The Exeter researchers showed more than 100 infants two images that were placed side by...

Today, Val Prieto's Babalu blog got written up in the Miami Herald and is getting tons of visitors, some of which have not been too friendly. Later val posted this picture, which I understand is from Porto Alegre where Chavez has been for the last few days. I blow it up on the right the image on the shirt to leave no doubt that it is that icon of the revolution and hero of the "trasnochados" Che Guevara, who at least was quite gutsy and principled. Now, the image below evokes so many thoughts in my mind that I better...

I got this link over at DU. This was supposed to be this monster rally during yesterday's election certification. About 200 people showed up... DU is calling it "A sea of people". The people you see are actual posters at DU, pretty scarey looking... I hope you didnt eat yet.

Thu Feb 26, 5:51 PM ET Comedian Rosie O'Donnell (news) (R) kisses Kelli Carpenter after getting married to her at City Hall, in San Francisco, California, February 26, 2004. O'Donnell wed her lesbian partner on Thursday in San Francisco, a day before California's attorney general is set to file a lawsuit that may end the controversial weddings. REUTERS/Kimberly White

Chelsea Clinton, 23, and Ian Klaus, 22, are back on, we hear. The former First Daughter was said to have wanted to cool things down with her Oxford University boyfriend. "She wanted some space," says a source. "But after a while, she realized how much he meant to her." The couple finished their final exams last week and have been celebrating ever since. We'll have to see whether Klaus, a Californian, follows her to New York, where she's due to take a $120,000-a-year consulting job at McKinsey & Co.

KARACHI, Pakistan -- On the eve of his capture last weekend, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, al Qaeda's deadliest operator, took a commercial flight from the Pakistani city of Quetta to Islamabad, the capital, according to Pakistani investigators. Even with the breath of his enemy on his neck, Mohammed couldn't tolerate an arduous trek by car. With signature audacity, he hopped a plane. The self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was apparently convinced that the groomed man with a receding hairline pictured on FBI wanted posters bore no resemblance to the overweight, tangle-haired man he had become. But Mohammed had...

Lecturer Trond Andresen of the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim accuses the media of discriminating against the ugly and emphasizing beautiful people whenever possible. Andresen wants higher ugly quotas on television. "Ugly people should be spotlighted in the media in the same way that the media wishes to emphasize persons from ethnic minorities," Andresen, a lecture at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics, said to newspaper Bergens Tidende. Andresen blasts journalists, photographers and TV producers for concentrating on beautiful faces and bodies and accuses the press of choosing attractive interviewees from schools or the workplace, and avoiding others.Andresen compares the...