Free Republic

Here we go again! A "core group" of "influential" evangelical leaders is about to try to address "global warming" using political weapons. Like previous efforts - Prohibition in the 1920s and the Moral Majority with which I was associated in the 1980s - this one is doomed because it distracts and dilutes the primary calling of evangelicals. Do evangelicals have time on their hands because they've finished the mission to "go and make disciples of all nations"? Is this not a great enough commission that "global warming" and a host of other "issues" must be added to make evangelicals contemporary...

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (AP) -- On Bravo, it's "Celebrity Poker Showdown." On ESPN, it's "The World Series of Poker." On compulsive-gambling help lines, the real stakes emerge. Now a New Jersey lawmaker wants cable networks that feature gambling to help gambling addicts by giving money to treatment agencies. Assemblywoman Joan Voss, a Democrat, on Tuesday called for a surcharge on state cable providers if the networks don't cooperate. "Cable television channels that are heavily promoting the Texas Hold 'Em rage should be held responsible for some of the unglamorous side effects, like juvenile gambling addictions," said Voss. New Jersey...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's Legislature is flush with good ideas. Sen. Al Lawson's involves a 2 cent-per-roll tax on toilet paper to pay for wastewater treatment and help small towns upgrade their sewer systems. The Democratic lawmaker's pay-as-you-go bill has been the source of many jokes -- bathroom humor you might say -- but he says the issue is a serious one, especially in some of the fast-growing Panhandle coastal counties in his district. ``They're experiencing a tremendous boom in growth and they're not able to accommodate the growth,'' Lawson said. ``We've got 17 million people in this state and...

New York Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton is up for re-election next year. New York is a blue state that voted for John Kerry. Yet Saint Hillary is smart enough to look at election returns and trends and know that if she runs as herself, she might lose. After all, New York - although a liberal state - does have a Republican governor and did elect Rudolph Giuliani as mayor of New York City. Simply put, if The Hildabeast wants 6 more years in the United States Senate (really 2 more, since she's running for president in '08) she is going...

The Democrats have now told the Bush Administration that they are willing to talk about Social Security reform. They are willing to talk so long as there is no talk of private social security accounts. I launched into a particularly good rant/sermon from the pulpit of the Church of the Painful Truth earlier this week .. a sermon about the most dangerous epidemic sweeping this country, the epidemic of stupidity. Actually, it's more of an epidemic of ignorance. Stupidity means you can't learn. Ignorance means you haven't. We talk about the epidemic of obesity, and all that it is costing...

Dear Antonio: Thank you for your recent email concerning a picture of a deer posted on my website ( www.DrAdams.org ). Your email asked how I could kill and eat such a beautiful creature with a clean conscience. Actually, that is a two-part question. The “how can I kill it” part would take too long to answer. I recommend the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) for tips on how to harvest a healthy buck. But the “how can I eat it” part is a little simpler. First, you need to decide whether venison is right for you. I would suggest starting...

You can say one thing for today's funeral for Nicola Calipari. At least it got Martha Stewart's mug off the front page. Nicola Calipari is the Italian secret service agent who was killed when U.S. troops in Baghdad open fired on a car rushing freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the Baghdad airport. Sgrena had just been freed by Iraqi insurgent forces ... freed after Italy paid a cash ransom. Let's talk about this ransom business for a bit. The United States refuses to pay for the release of hostages. Italy has a history of doing so. We refuse to...

It's kind of amusing to see President Bush encouraging Arab tyrants to let their people vote. After all the screeching about the Iraq war, it seems to have a certain persuasive power many people thought it would never have. Remember when people said America's arrogance and unilateralism had robbed the United States of its power to influence? Hmmm — where are those people today? Have you noticed George Bush exercising diplomatic skill and power the last couple days? He didn't invade Syria (search), he didn't bomb Syria and he didn't send Black Ops teams into Syria to have people killed....

AN EXPERT has warned that bungee jump safety may be fatally flawed. Evidence from an inquest into the horrific death of a 22-year-old Welsh student at a charity jump raises safety concerns for jumpers across the UK. Chris Thomas, a 20-stone photographic technician from Llanelli, plunged to his death after leaping from a 180ft crane in the car park of a pub in Swansea. The appalling accident at the Old Barn Inn in Pontlassau, Morriston, was witnessed by onlookers at a family fun day including Chris's girlfriend Helen Perkins, 23, and his parents David and Yvonne Thomas who were filming...

Good morning students! Welcome to our “senior seminar for college-bound students” at Springfield High School. My name is Dr. Obvious. I taught at ASU (Any State University) for thirty years until my recent retirement. I am pleased to accept a position teaching young students everything they need to know before they attend college. For most of you, that will be some time within the next year. Springfield High designed this course as a way of preparing next year’s freshmen to function in college. I have decided to take a slightly different approach. I intend to teach you things you will...

Dear President Spitzer (spitzer@gonzaga.edu): Recently, I received a letter from two third-year law students at Gonzaga University (GU) School of Law. The students described your law school as one that is “secular” and which fraudulently holds itself out to be Catholic. They also stated they had experienced first-hand the school’s trampling of the rights of Christian students. Specifically, they accused GU of violating the rights of their first Christian pro-life group. As a preliminary matter, I understand that your “Catholic” law school has the words of Matthew 22:35-38 emblazoned on one of its walls: “One of them, an expert in...

Dear Human Resources Director: Recently, I gave serious consideration to filing a sexual harassment suit against a fellow employee who was talking about her husband’s erectile dysfunction in the workplace. All of her angry ranting about her husband’s lovemaking deficiencies infringes on my right to feel comfortable at all times in the workplace. I am aware that the right to feel comfortable is not found in the United States Constitution. Fortunately, it is found in the campus diversity handbook, which trumps state and federal statutes as well as the U.S. Constitution. I learned that during Black History Month, which was...

Dear Dean McCarthy (xxx.xxx.xxxx): Recently, I browsed the Marquette University website www.mu.edu and found the following mission statement: “Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university dedicated to serving God by serving our students and contributing to the advancement of knowledge. Our mission, therefore, is the search for truth, the discovery and sharing of knowledge, the fostering of personal and professional excellence, the promotion of a life of faith, and the development of leadership expressed in service to others. All this we pursue for the greater glory of God and the common benefit of the human community.” Below your mission statement,...

Hi Roger! As you may know, I often post my responses to hate mail like yours on my website, http://www.DrAdams.org. You may also know that the responses are often curt and sarcastic. But, Roger, since your intellectual prowess was so obvious from the opening line of your missive, I feel obligated to give you a more thoughtful response. I trust you are telling the truth when you say you have never been as offended as you were after you saw my appearance on Fox News’ Heartland (with John Kasich) on Saturday night. Your statement that my “attack on moral relativism”...

Those who listen to my show know that I am not what you might call "friendly" to the idea of government educating our children. Every day I try to find at least one government-education horror story to share with my listeners, and every day that task becomes easier and easier. Just two days ago I was telling you about a school district in Rhode Island that had cancelled the annual spelling bee. An administrator said that the spelling bee violated the spirit of "The No Child Left Behind Act" because one child would win, and the others would be left...

Teacher: 'It Wasn't Anything Malicious' POSTED: 8:29 am EST January 28, 2005 FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- A high school teacher charged with using a rubber stamp to batter a student is also being sued in federal court by the teen and his father. The misdemeanor charge alleges that South Adams Junior-Senior High School teacher Robert D. Vickery, 46, of Hartford City, stamped a 16-year-old student several times on the hands and head in class last April. Vickery said the student, Brent Newport, broke a tape dispenser during a class, which Newport denied. A few minutes later, Vickery approached Newport at...

OSWIECIM, Poland -- Vice President Dick Cheney's utilitarian hooded parka and boots stood out amid the solemn formality of a ceremony commemorating the liberation of Nazi death camps, raising eyebrows among the fashion-conscious. Cheney replaced the zipped-to-the-neck green parka he sported in Thursday's blowing snow and freezing wind with a more traditional black coat - red tie and gray scarf showing underneath - for his tour of Auschwitz on Friday. Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower." "Cheney...

<p>WASHINGTON -- In parliamentary systems it is not uncommon to turn a political nomination -- or even a relatively insignificant bill -- as a way of expressing a lack of confidence in the government or in a major policy. In the United States that is far less common, but 12 Senate Democrats (plus the independent Jim Jeffords) have done precisely that over the Condoleezza Rice nomination for secretary of state.</p>

DALLAS - (KRT) - Bacteria are still showing up in the running water aboard the nation's airliners, even though carriers promised to flush and disinfect their water systems every few months. In fact, the results are looking worse. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that coliform showed up in 17.2 percent of 169 randomly tested passenger aircraft, up from 12.7 percent of 158 planes in August and September. The EPA cautioned passengers with compromised immune systems to drink only canned or bottled beverages when they fly. Travelers also might stay away from tea or coffee, unless they're made with...

Throughout 2003 and into 2004, a surge of protests roiled American campuses. You probably think the kids were agitating against war in Iraq, right? Well, no. Students at UCLA, Michigan and many other schools were sponsoring bake sales to protest . . . affirmative action. For white students and faculty, a cookie cost (depending on the school) $1; blacks and Hispanics could buy one for a lot less. The principle, the protesters observed, was just that governing university admission practices: rewarding people differently based on race. Indignant school officials charged the bake-sale organizers with "creating a hostile climate" for minority...