Free Republic

Republicans Already Smearing Themselves Vicious mail, anti-Mormon slurs, a man-size dolphin and a weeping girl turn the race for the White House into a race to the bottom. By Michael Scherer March 7, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- With 10 months left before the first ballot is cast, the Republican presidential primary has begun to get dirty. Unsigned e-mails have been sent to voters in South Carolina touting "dark suspicions" about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. Anonymous letters have shown up in mailboxes in the state calling Mike Huckabee a "Huckster" and Romney a "Say Anything" politician. A man-size dolphin, without a...

U.S. Friendly Fire Video Leaked to Media A leaked video in which an American pilot is heard saying "I'm going to be sick," then "we're in jail, dude," after U.S. troops killed a British soldier during a friendly fire incident in Iraq was released by The Sun newspaper Tuesday. Lance Cpl. Matty Hull died when troops fired on his convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on March 28, 2003. [...] The transcript printed in The Sun records the alleged exchange between the pilots after they realize what has happened. Pilot 1: "I'm going to be sick." Pilot 2:...

What's the best adultery song? In light of current events, KFOG's Dave Morey conducted a contest this morning for the best adultery song ever. His listeners (of a certain demographic) nominated a bunch, including the Eagles' "Lyin' Eyes," Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," and Derek and the Dominos' "Layla" -- which has the advantage of being about the most famous adulterous affair since, what, Paris and Helen of Troy? Dave's winner: "Me and Mrs. Jones," by Billy Paul, which isn't much musically but does have lyrics that resonate with people who've got a thing going on. Even...

February 1, 2007 Posing as a Family, Sex Offenders Stun a Town By JENNIFER STEINHAUER EL MIRAGE, Ariz., Jan. 31 — To neighbors, Casey Price was a seventh grader with acne and a baseball cap who lived an unremarkable life among a bevy of male relatives. [...] In nearby Surprise, where Casey was enrolled as a 12-year-old in a public school for four months, he was regarded as a shy, average student with chronic attendance problems. A man identified as his uncle had registered him, attended curriculum night and e-mailed his teachers about homework assignments. Now Casey is in jail,...

Woman Jailed After Reporting Rape - By PHIL DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, January 30, 2007 (01-30) 12:43 PST Tampa, Fla. (AP) -- A woman who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest. While she was behind bars, according to the college student's attorney, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions. The 21-year-old woman was released Monday only after attorney Vic Moore reported her...

Hawks knock surge plan's command structure Buried in the Bush escalation plan is a who's-in-charge nightmare that violates U.S. military doctrine. Now even John McCain and Frederick Kagan are balking. By Mark Benjamin Jan. 29, 2007 | As the Senate nears an unprecedented debate on President Bush's escalation of the Iraq war, almost all the public criticism has been aimed at the inadequate size of the new forces being sent to Baghdad (21,500 troops) and the extreme difficulty of reversing the course of the civil war. But last week, little noticed by the press and public, the Bush plan began...

Why I defend "terrorists" An open letter to Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, from a lawyer representing five men at Guantánamo. By Anant Raut Jan. 17, 2007 Cully Stimson Deputy Assistant Secretary for Detainee Affairs Department of Defense Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. Stimson, I am an associate in the Washington office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, a New York-based, international firm with 1,100 lawyers. I practice general corporate litigation. I also represent, on a pro bono basis, five men who are being held as "enemy combatants" at the U.S. detention center in Guantánamo Bay,...

Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim By Debbie Schlussel Many months ago, readers began asking me whether Barack Obama is Muslim. Since he identifies as a Christian, I said, "no," and responded that he was not raised by his Kenyan father. But, then, I decided to look further into Obama's background. His full name--as by now you have probably heard--is Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Hussein is a Muslim name, which comes from the name of Ali's son--Hussein Ibn Ali. And Obama is named after his late Kenyan father, the late Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., apparently a Muslim....

"These people should be court-martialed" Former Air Force officer Mikey Weinstein says evangelicals are trying to turn his beloved military into a "frickin' faith-based initiative." By Alex Koppelman Dec. 13, 2006 | When a Christian group shot a video inside the Pentagon that featured uniformed senior military officers talking about their evangelical faith, Mikey Weinstein went on the attack. Himself a former Air Force lawyer and Air Force Academy grad, Weinstein, who is Jewish, is the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He founded the MRFF earlier this year to oppose the spread of religious intimidation in...

A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals Posted: December 12, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular. Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless it's organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food. The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them...

Santorum defends Iraq war By ALISON HAWKES Bucks County Courier Times Embattled U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said America has avoided a second terrorist attack for five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been drawn to Iraq instead. Santorum used the analogy from one of his favorite books, J.R.R. Tolkien's 1950s fantasy classic “Lord of the Rings,” to put an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq into terms any school kid could easily understand. “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said, describing the tool the evil Lord Sauron used...

Oct. 11: "Countdown" has obtained a copy of new book that suggests the White House repeatedly uses evangelical Christians for their votes, while consistently given them nothing in return. More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.[..] “National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just...

I write to you in my capacity as secretary of the World League of Despots. It is with great pleasure that I am finally able to extend an official invitation to you to join our ranks. For many years, we have watched your efforts to fulfil the requirements necessary to join our number. From the start, we were greatly impressed by your disdain for democratic principles - the way you wrested power from the democratically elected candidate in the 2000 election, and again in 2005 when you managed to swing what was clearly going to be a victory for your...

Why Mommy is a Democrat may look like a traditional children's book but it definitely isn't just for children. With numerous subtle (and not so subtle) satirical swipes at the Bush administration, Why Mommy will appeal to Democrats of all ages!

In an Islamic history class, a saying ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad that translate, “Whenever God wants the destruction of a people, he makes a woman their leader.” The professor, Ingrid Mattson, suggested that the phrase be analyzed in its historical context when Islamic societies consisted largely of tribal raiding parties. A male Saudi student contended that all such sayings were sacred and not to be challenged, the argument growing so heated that he stormed out of the classroom. Professor Mattson stood her ground, as was her style. Now she is challenging convention again. This month, Professor Mattson, a 43-year-old...

Cardinal Warns About Colombia Abortion BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A leading cardinal said the Vatican will excommunicate the doctors who performed Colombia's first legal abortion on an 11-year old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, made the announcement in an interview with RCN television Tuesday. ''Every Christian Catholic who submits to an abortion, whether it be directly or indirectly, will be excommunicated,'' Lopez said. It was not immediately clear if he also was referring to the girl and her family. [... cut to excerpt] The...

The believer Francis Collins -- head of the Human Genome Project -- discusses his conversion to evangelical Christianity, why scientists do not need to be atheists, and what C.S. Lewis has to do with it. By Steve Paulson Aug. 07, 2006 | As the longtime head of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins is one of America's most visible scientists. He holds impeccable scientific credentials -- a medical degree as well as a Ph.D. in physics -- and has established a distinguished track record as a gene hunter. He's also an evangelical Christian, someone who has no qualms about professing...

Conrad Burns chastises Hotshots over Billings fire By JENNIFER McKEE of the Missoulian State Bureau HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a “poor job” of squelching a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows. Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hotshots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia - were at the Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and U.S. Forest Service representatives. Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had “done a poor job” and “should have listened...

Smithsonian tweaks show after Mormon complaints Associated Press Salt Lake City, Utah — Smithsonian Museum curators changed a new Washington exhibit after two Utah congressmen and others complained that it portrayed Mormon church founders in a negative light. The National Portrait Gallery's American Origins display pays tribute to influential Americans from 1600 to 1900, including Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Brigham Young, the second leader of the faith. The text accompanying portraits of Smith and Young offended at least two Washington-area church members who got a sneak preview of the display. The...

AUSTRALIAN ARCHBISHOP DEFENDS SHOWING OF DA VINCI CODE The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Australia has parted ways with several other Catholic clerics and has refused to support a boycott of The Da Vinci Code. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp., Archbishop Philip Wilson said today (Tuesday), "I think people should go and see the movie. I'm sure that many people have read the novel. ... If they take it at that level, remembering it is a novel, it is a story." At the same time, he remarked, "The church has a responsibility to help people to see the...