Free Republic

"...listen, you've got the perfect storm building. You've got all the passion around Trayvon, and what a horrible injustice that was. And it turns out you can draw a direct line back to the Koch Bros, you can draw a direct line back to to mainstream corporations..."

Reading Jason Mattera’s book, "Hollywood Hypocrites," made me feel like I was back in grad school, except I was sober this time. The last week has been a graduate seminar in Hollywood Hypocrisy, and reading Mattera's book while paying attention to the recent goings on earned me a masters degree with a minor in Media Irresponsibility. Mattera’s tome takes a slightly differ tack than Ben Shapiro’s "Primetime Propaganda." Where Shapiro, a Harvard-trained lawyer (though you’ll never hear that from him), builds a thorough brief indicting the industry on about 1,000 felony counts of Conspiracy to Impose a Leftwing Narrative, Mattera...

This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church’s hand and with the Church’s funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops’ somehow “banning contraception,” when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting...

Everybody should have a nanny like this one!

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 22-year-old car theft suspect tried to elude police Tuesday morning, but was stopped in his tracks when he was confronted by a gun-toting 64-year-old woman.

Before she became Nafanya, beloved pinniped of the Russian people and star of her own live webcam broadcast, the blue-eyed, rust-colored creature was known only as the Loneliest Seal in the World. The Daily Mail reports that only two months ago, “ginger”-colored Nafanya was shunned by her all-black seal colony on the Russian island of Tyuleniy. Photographer Anatoly Strakhov snapped heartbreaking photos of the forlorn seal cowering under a pile of logs, unable to survive without the support and guidance of flippered breathren.

high earners need to save extremely high percentages of their income -- as much as 77 percent for the 45-year-old just starting to save for retirement at age 62 -- to produce that 80 percent. The concept underlying Munnell's paper, and a lot of other retirement planning advice, is that you can figure out how much you need to save once you have a number for that 80 percent replacement rate. But there's reason to believe that oft-quoted 80 percent figure is wildly on the high side. That, in turn, makes the retirement calculations based upon it also wildly off....

Keith Little envisioned a place that would house the stories of the Navajo Code Talkers and where people could learn more about the famed World War II group who used their native language as a weapon. His family now hopes to carry out his dream of a museum in Arizona that also will hold wartime memorabilia and serve as a haven for veterans. Little, one of the most recognizable of the remaining Code Talkers, died of melanoma Tuesday night at a Fort Defiance hospital, said his wife, Nellie. He was 87. Little was 17 when he joined the U.S. Marine...

In a sort of power lunch for the not-so-powerful, President Barack Obama broke bread Friday with four winners of a contest for people who give to his campaign in small amounts. The suggested donation to enter the drawing: $3. The winners, including a teacher and an Afghanistan war veteran, gathered at a restaurant in Washington. The Obama re-election campaign has offered the meals with the president, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to boost online contributions.

A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer. Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband's funeral, claiming that he was a neighbor who wanted to say hello. The 18-year-old Oklahoma City area woman did not let him into her home that day. On New Year's Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. The two soon...

NEW YORK (AP) -- In today's digital age, it's easy to send out an email by mistake — even for a company that's in the business of communication. The New York Times thought it was sending an email to a few hundred people who had recently canceled subscriptions, offering them a 50 percent discount for 16 weeks to lure them back. Instead, Wednesday's offer went to 8.6 million email addresses of people who had given them to the Times. That was the first mistake.

Flashmob--if this is a duplicate, please excuse and ask mods to delete.

Prayer Request We are asking everyone to say a prayer for "Darkhorse" 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and their families They are fighting it out in Afghanistan & they have lost 9 marines in 4 days. IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE the message spread if more could pass it on. Nothing in the media about these guys because no one seems to care: Justin Allen, 23, Brett Linley, 29, Matthew Weikert, 29, Justus Bartett, 27, Dave Santos, 21, Chase Stanley, 21 Jesse Reed, 26, Matthew Johnson, 21, Zachary Fisher, 24, Brandon King, 23, Christopher Goeke, 23, Sheldon Tate, 27. All...

Images of prisoners' brains show important differences between those who are diagnosed as psychopaths and those who aren't, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. This study found reduced connectivity between an area of prefrontal cortex (PFC, red) and the amygdala (blue).

In one of the more generous incidents in recent prep sports memory, a Florida girls cross country team voluntarily gave up their runners-up medals and trophy to a school which they felt deserved them more, and they did so entirely of their own volition, without any influence of a coach or other adult.

A Massachusetts fisherman pulled in an 881-pound tuna this week only to have the federal authorities take it away. It sounds like a libertarian twist on the classic novella by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, but for Carlos Rafael, the saga is completely true.

Link.

Veterans Affairs It is imperative that America's military men and women receive the support they deserve for the sacrifices they have made. Our members of the Armed Forces have fought to preserve the freedoms we cherish and I believe Congress must be steadfast in honoring our commitment to them. Last year, I supported the largest increase in funding for veterans programs in theVA’s history: over $37 billion for veterans programs. This legislation also adds more than 1,000 new claims adjusters to help ease the backlog of over 400,000 VA benefits claims. Congress must work to alleviate VA bureaucratic procedures, improve...

Just a link.