Free Republic

Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. Kekua, 22 years old, had been in a serious car accident in California, and then had been diagnosed with leukemia. SI's Pete Thamel described how Te'o would phone her in...

Islamic honor killing in Texas: "Santa" who murdered family on Christmas morning was Muslim who didn't like his daughter dating a non-Muslim Aziz Yazdanpanah, a Muslim, didn't like his daughter's non-Muslim boyfriend and was exhibiting stalker behavior. “She couldn’t date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn’t date anyone outside of their race or religion.” Again and again we have seen honor killings in which fathers kill daughters who are dating non-Muslims or have supposedly besmirched the family honor by some sexual indiscretion. Lt. Todd Dearing says that...

If cities can establish themselves as "sanctuary cities" where federal laws are not enforced with regard to immigration, can a city establish itself as a tax sanctuary city? I may broach this in my small Texas town. Talk about creating an economic boomtown. If you come to our town, you cannot collect any federally adminstered benefits including social security, medicare, etc.... But, you pay no federal levies or taxes. If you are a business, you operate your business as our founding fathers intended. Do you think Obama would turn a blind eye as he does to immigration sanctuary cities?

Subhead of this Sunday's print edition of the Dallas Morning News reads, "0Agency reported to have hidden secret counterterrorism project from Congress on ex-VP's order." The first paragraph reads, "The Central Intelligence Agency withheld informatin about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eigght years on diret orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday."

Max Blumenthal, writing in The Nation, plays at the age-old political sport of guilt by association: Senate majority leader Bill Frist appeared through a telecast as a speaker at "Justice Sunday," at the invitation of the event's main sponsor, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. "Justice Sunday" was promoted as a rally to portray Democrats as being "against people of faith." Many of the speakers compared the plight of conservative Christians to the civil rights movement. But in sharing the stage with Perkins, who introduced him to the rally, Frist was associating himself with someone who has longstanding ties to...

The killing of a pregnant woman is horrifying enough. But the murders of Lisa Underwood, who was carrying a baby, and her 7-year-old son underscore a problem largely unknown to the public: Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women. "What pregnant women do not know is that instead of facing joyful celebration at the announcement of pregnancy, too many face violence and death," said American College of Nurse-Midwives Executive Director Deanne Williams, in a 2003 report on maternal homicides. "When we think of all the other things that cause women to die during pregnancy, such as infection...

NORTH AMERICA DATES AND TICKETING INFORMATION March 28th San Diego, CA - Sports Arena April 1st Anaheim, CA - Arrowhead Pond April 5th Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center April 9th San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion April 14th Phoenix, AZ - Glendale Arena April 20th Denver, CO - Pepsi Center April 24th Seattle, WA - Key Arena April 28th Vancouver, BC - General Motors Place May 7th & May 9th Chicago, IL - United Center May 14 Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center May 17 & May 18 East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena May 21 New York, NY...

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume will hold a press teleconference Friday morning in response to a notice from the Internal Revenue Service that the NAACP's tax exempt status is under review. According to the IRS, Bond's July 11 speech to the NAACP Convention allegedly intervened in the Presidential political campaign. The NAACP believes the timing of the IRS audit is aimed at slowing down the expected large turnout of African American and Latino voters. WHAT: Telephone Press Conference, call in number: 1-800-362-0595; password: National

The NY Sun has an article today where Mr. David Van Os, Bill Burkett's attorney conceded that his client “was not direct” about where he got the memos, “to protect a promise he made to the man who gave them to him.” He said Mr. Burkett’s lies “pale in comparison to CBS’s.” link to story However, US Today runs a story where Burkett offers this explanation of how he came upon the documents: "Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents. USA TODAY...

To date, I've heard of several links/stories that have been removed from John Kerry's website after their veracity was questioned. I'm trying to compile a list of the deletions showing the site as it appears now versus links to the site as it appeared before. The action of removing stories after their truth is questioned amounts to an admission that something was incorrect. If you have any links or information on the following instances (or any other examples) please post them First, there was a reference to combat action conducted on January 29, 1969 that was attributed to John Kerry...

"It’s very much a get-to-know-you process," said spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter at the same time Kerry’s convention scriptwriters labored to find the combination of words, symbols and images to make the perfect introduction. Campaign strategists said the millions of voters who don’t know about Kerry comprise the audience they’re targeting convention week. At the same time, Kerry’s aides have taken pains to say they don’t expect a major surge in public support as a result of the convention. "Challengers sometimes get their convention and vice presidential selection bounces because they have not consolidated their partisan base," Kerry’s pollster, Mark Mellman, wrote...

Could the abuses at Abu Ghraib launch a renewed commitment to feminism? Women who've fought for equal opportunity answer the call

When Sen. John Edwards reappeared on our political radar last week, we realized that we remembered just two things about him: his great hair and his sound bite about "two Americas." And Vice President Dick Cheney? Well, he's spent much of the past four years in an undisclosed location, so we dusted off his bio, too.

The ultra-leftists at "Frontline" have a well-reasoned poll question: What do you think the US should do in Iraq? 1. Get out now! Let Iraqis decide what to do 2. Keep the course! Shoot anyone who disagree 3. Invite the UN in, and then leave

I’LL go straight to the point,” said Arlen Specter, shortly after sitting down to dinner with Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation in March. “I’ve got a primary and I’m being hit from the right. I want your support.” The Republican senator from Pennsylvania wasn’t going to get it merely by breaking bread. Says Weyrich: “I told him I was disgusted with how he comes around just before his elections and asks for conservative endorsements, when we all know he won’t give us the time of day later on.”

Five months before Sept. 11, the government warned airlines that Middle Eastern terrorists could try to hijack or blow up a U.S. plane and that carriers should "demonstrate a high degree of alertness.”

Gibson goes for shock value over substance.... The message -- that if you do not embrace Jesus Christ, you will go directly to hell -- could not be presented any more oppressively. The Passion of the Christ, finally, is an invitation-only affair -- if you're not a believer the way Gibson thinks you should believe, you have no place at his (or His) table.

Mel Gibson says he isn't an anti-Semite. Maybe not. But he can't disguise a disturbing truth: that he's not a very moral man.