Free Republic

Though he doesn't "feel very British," Ben Gordon would like to play in front of his English home's fans in 2012. Ben Gordon is putting on a new team's jersey next season. But don't panic, the Pistons haven't fallen out of favor with the shooting guard -- at least not yet. While continuing his rehabilitation from off-season ankle surgery, Gordon made a whistle-stop visit across the Atlantic on Thursday to pledge his allegiance to Great Britain, vowing to play for the national team next summer. Gordon, 27, was born in London. "I moved to New York when I was 10...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Former NBA player Chris Dudley has won his rookie political contest, grabbing the Republican nomination for governor of Oregon. Dudley defeated Allen Alley with 40 percent of the vote, with 70 percent of the expected vote counted. Alley had 32 percent. Dudley has been a consultant on executive benefits and a wealth adviser since retiring from basketball in 2003. He played 16 seasons, including six with the Portland Trail Blazers. Both he and Alley are from the upscale Portland suburb Lake Oswego. Former state legislator John Lim had 14 percent and conservative ballot activist Bill Sizemore...

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Police have arrested a South Korean couple whose toddler starved to death while they were raising a virtual child online, authorities said. The couple fed their 3-month-old daughter once a day between marathon stretches in a local Internet cafe, where they were raising a virtual child in the fantasy role-playing game Prius Online, police told local reporters Friday

Joe the Plumber is biting the hand that vaulted him into national prominence. "I don’t owe him s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it," Joe -- aka Samuel Wurzelbacher -- said of John McCain in an interview with Pennsylvania public radio correspondent Scott Detrow. "McCain was trying to use me. I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy." :::: He then reportedly went on to announce that his enmity towards the 2008 GOP presidential candidate is so high that he no longer backs Sarah Palin -- because she is...

WEST PALM BEACH — Even for a business that sells $250,000 Rolls-Royces, a tax increase of 602 percent is too much. So Braman Motorcars is fighting a change that West Palm Beach made to its business tax in 2007, and is refusing to pay a higher rate this year than it did before that change. And the city commission is considering relenting. If it does, six of the city's largest retailers may be getting a rebate, thanks to Braman. "I don't feel this was on purpose, but as a result of the new ordinance, we were severely penalized," said Vince...

Richard Nixon is long gone, buried with so many secrets detailing the chaotic end of a flawed presidency. But in Palm Beach, an 85-year-old retired general has more knowledge of what transpired in Nixon's final days in office than any other man alive. One of the nation's most unceremonious moments occurred 35 years ago Sunday, when - for the only time in U.S. history - a president relinquished his power. No man had a better look at the unraveling of a president than Alexander Haig, the White House's chief of staff who helped orchestrate Nixon's removal from power. Haig, who...

It sounds like your bubbie's egg noodle casserole, but Koogle - a clever combination of Google and kugel - could play a large part in integrating Orthodox Jews into cyberspace. And it could provide a model of how religious groups from all backgrounds, and secular people looking for a cleaner version of the Internet, could one day view web sites without worrying about R-rated, or even PG-13 material. Koogle, (koogle.co.il) the brainchild of Israeli Yossi Altman, aims to give religious Jews a chance to surf the Internet. Altman estimates that about 10-to-15 percent of Israelis are strictly observant Jews who,...

WEST PALM BEACH — It's the start of the Jehovah Witnesses' convention season, and this year they'll be preparing for the end of the world. Starting Friday, the Witnesses will host 14 consecutive weeks of conventions at the Christian Convention Center on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. This year's theme, "Keep on the Watch!" is designed to discuss world events and how they relate to the Bible's prophecy of the apocalypse. While all conventions are open to the public, the Witnesses are specifically inviting the public to a discussion with the provocative title, "How to Survive the End of the World,"...

Had Bob Dylan not survived his 1966 motorcycle crash, or had he chosen to retire into obscurity at that time, we would have had seven stunning albums and a lifetime of curiosity — where would Dylan have brought music? Even after his first seven albums, Dylan was in the running for the century’s most innovative and influential musician. He certainly clinched that title by releasing another 26 albums after 1966 that continued to explore every avenue of American music. While not every album is a classic, Dylan refused to become a novelty act, recording everything from Christian rock, acoustic folk,...

In difficult times like these, it's not a bad idea for the governor to be the state's cheerleader-in-chief as well its chief executive. Charlie Crist has the cheering part down -- he's Florida's biggest booster. He's also eternally cheerful and almost depressingly optimistic. His glass is not just half-full; it's always two-third's full, which is how he sees Florida's future. But is he the right leader to move Florida to that future through the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes? I began to wonder last week after interviewing the governor in Fort Lauderdale before a town hall, watching him conduct...

(CNN) — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says his party is going to launch an "off the hook" public relations campaign that will update the GOP’s image by translating it to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings." The new GOP leader told the Washington Times that the party’s defeat in states such as North Carolina and Virginia made it clear they needed a new approach. “We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section…” he said in an interview published Thursday. “We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands...