Free Republic

Newt Gingrich took the stage at the Georgia Republican Party state convention on Saturday wearing a Mitt Romney sticker, focusing his attacks on President Barack Obama and attempting to energize the crowd around his former Republican rival. "To every conservative, everywhere in America: When your choice on the one hand is Barack Obama, and your choice on the other hand is Mitt Romney, no serious conservative could possibly believe that electing Barack Obama is acceptable ... for America."

MIAMI, FLORIDA – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney scheduled a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser at the home of Phil Frost, the executive of the company that makes the Morning After Pill, on Wednesday night. Plan B One-Step is produced by Teva Pharmaceuticals, Frost’s company.

CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that her Catholic faith "compels" her to "be against discrimination of any kind" and thus for same-sex marriage. A reporter asked Pelosi: “Many of the people that are opposed to gay marriage cite their religion as the reason why they're opposed. You're a Catholic that supports gay marriage. Do you believe that religion and the idea that you can support gay marriage can be separated? And how do you grapple with the idea that you support gay marriage as a Catholic?” Pelosi responded: "My religion has, compels me--and I love...

Heard on the Hill — Roll Call's Gossip Blog North Carolina: Eric Cantor-Affiliated Group Backs Richard Hudson on Radio By Joshua Miller Posted at 5:39 p.m. on May 2 The YG Action Fund, a super PAC affiliated with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), is on the radio in North Carolina’s 8th district with an ad backing former Hill staffer Richard Hudson. The spot, backed by a $53,000 buy, is the second independent expenditure the super PAC has made on behalf of Hudson. On April 24, the group spent $22,750 on mailers supporting the candidate, according to Federal Election Commission...

As noted on another thread, political pundits often compare presidential elections to previous ones. In the case of Romney vs. Obama, conservatives should look north to the Dominion of Celine Dion and Maple Syrup. This is a repeat of John Tory vs. Dalton McGuinty, the 2007 election in Ontario during which the two candidates contested governance of Canada's largest province. The only difference, other than citizenship, is that John Tory was not Mormon. He was a nominal Protestant, for the most part indistinguishable from the Kennedy Catholic he was challenging. Nevertheless, religion would cost him the election. As Ontario Liberal...

April 11, 2012 (C-FAM) - On Holy Thursday Melinda Gates publicly professed her Catholic faith and then personally attacked her Church over its position on contraception. I could not help but be reminded of Judas and his mysterious betrayal of Christ that night, sealed with a kiss. In fairness to Mrs. Gates, her speech wasn’t expressly about the Church. It was about her foundation’s new “NoControversy” initiative to promote universal access to contraception. Her message was simple: Contraception is not controversial.  And to convince people of this, she argued that population control, abortion, and forced sterilization have nothing to...

On St. Patrick's Day I had the pleasure of speaking to about 350 Catholics who gathered together to attend a conference put on by New Ways Ministry, which is an effort to support the LGBT community in the Catholic Church. The women and men I spoke to included nuns and priests, children who had come out and parents who wanted to be supportive. Two female priests gave me special blessing and I left the meeting inspired by the devotion of those who attended. New Ways Ministry has a critical mission, since changing the Church will help those who suffer from...

Pat Buchanan, the columnist, author, and until recently MSNBC's token right-winger, garnered a lot of sympathy when he was fired from his job at the left-leaning news network apparently because of a book he wrote. Too bad, as reported in the Daily Caller, Buchanan had to ruin things by articulating how obnoxious his views really are. In essence, he suggested that Israel with its 300 estimated nuclear weapons was a bigger threat to the United States than is Iran with its nuclear program on Russian television. Buchanan went on about how his favorite Jewish conspiracy, which he called the "neocons,"...

Newt Gingrich is now the front runner for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination. It appears it will be a 2-man race between him and Mitt Romney. Some here have suggested that there is no difference between the two. Some have even suggested that Gingrich would be a worse choice than Romney, that he's more liberal than Romney, and that he would be as bad if not worse than another 4 years of Obama. Instead of hyperbole, let's examine the actual record, shall we?

In a new interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News, Gingrich said human life begins at implantation rather than conception, which science has established as the starting point for human life. Tapper asked him, “Abortion is a big issue here in Iowa among conservative Republican voters and Rick Santorum has said you are inconsistent. The big argument here is that you have supported in the past embryonic stem cell research and you made a comment about how these fertilized eggs, these embryos are not yet “pre-human” because they have not been implanted. This has upset conservatives in this state who...

The malady is far more serious than a mere affinity for mandates. When I read that Donald Berwick had resigned from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), I nearly shouted for joy. The cheer died on my lips, however, when my eye caught the following headline among those retrieved when I sent my search engine after more information: "Gingrich-Endorsed Health Care Expert Don Berwick Forced to Resign." Surely, I thought, the gods cannot be this cruel. But they are, of course, as another search confirmed. Newt has indeed lauded Berwick as a pioneer in the quest to improve...

Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential campaign duties kept him from participating in the House of Representatives vote on Wednesday, but the GOP hopeful says he is opposed to the recent bill to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as America’s motto. During a House vote on Wednesday, only nine lawmakers voted against reaffirming the slogan to be used in governmental buildings across the United States. Paul was unable to it to Capitol Hill to cast his own voice but says that he would have voted against it. "I would have voted 'no' not because I don't like the motto and don't think...

The desperate search for an acceptable Republican Party presidential candidate continues. Republican leaders apparently are pushing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who previously said no, to jump into the race. The GOP's frustration is palpable. Mitt Romney has been running for four years but generates little enthusiasm. Rick Perry was an instant front-runner before losing much of his support after unimpressive debate performances. Michelle Bachmann briefly streaked across the political firmament but now barely registers in the polls. Newt Gingrich committed political seppuku shortly after announcing his candidacy. Ron Paul's support is fervent but limited. However, the real Republican problem...

Steve Jobs is dead. I'm saddened. Besides the grief his family and loved ones must feel, his death brings a loss to the world. He was a true innovator. Apple products and the technologies derived from them have reordered our way of living. While Jobs did not invent either the personal computer or the graphical interface operating system, the PCs and personal digital devices he created implement these in a way that has had an impact on society equal to that of the automobile, telephone, and antibiotic drugs. I used Apple products exclusively throughout my thirty years as a graphic...

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley BALTIMORE, MD, August 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Edwin O’Brien, the archbishop of Baltimore, isn’t happy with the Catholic governor of Maryland’s decision to sponsor homosexual “marriage” legislation, but the governor has said that he has no intention of backing down. A July letter from Archbishop Edwin O’Brien to Governor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, and an August 4 written response by the governor, were both posted on the governor’s blog last Tuesday. In his original letter Archbishop O’Brien challenged Governor O’Malley to act in line with his faith and not to support homosexual “marriage,” suggesting that the...

Though President Obama has run rings about the Republican Party in the debt-ceiling debate, that party can yet emerge victorious, if it will stick to its guns. Clearly, the Republican strategy was not thought through, when the party chose the debt ceiling as the legislative terrain on which to fight its fiscal war. The president had wanted a clean debt-ceiling increase, but he seized the GOP challenge with alacrity. He invited House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor down to the White House and reportedly offered $3 trillion in spending cuts for $1 trillion in fresh revenue, in...

"...The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed. But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition. And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap....

CNN Ticker Tag only NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Signs State's Marriage Equality Bill. Same-sex couples will now be able to marry within 30 days.

“We want to send a message to the world,” said Tad Stahnke, director of policy and programs for Human Rights First, “that Americans do respect religious differences and reject religious bigotry and the demonization of Islam or any other religion.” Do the Qur'an readings below constitute demonization of Christianity? Would Tad Stahnke care to explain why not? Here are some readings that the congregants in the various churches might enjoy: Christians have forgotten part of the divine revelations they received: "From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the...

New Notre Dame trustee donated thousands to pro-abort EMILY’s Listby Kathleen Gilbert NOTRE DAME, Indiana, May 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The newest member of the University of Notre Dame’s board of trustees has dedicated thousands of dollars to supporting pro-abortion groups, including the pro-choice political action committee EMILY’s List. The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) broke the story May 11 that Roxanne M. Martino, president and CEO of Aurora Investment Management and Notre Dame alumna, had donated a total of $16,150 to EMILY’s List, an organization dedicated to “electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.” Notre Dame announced Martino’s election last month...

WASHINGTON — When it comes to spending cuts, members of Congress like to say that “everything is on the table.” Except, generally, food. But now federal farm subsidies, long decried by policy makers as wasteful and antiquated but protected by powerful political interests, appear to be in serious danger. This week, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and the chairman of the House Budget Committee, told reporters, “We shouldn’t be giving corporate farms, these large agribusiness companies, subsidies. I strongly believe that.” His budget proposal would take $30 billion out of the farm program over the next decade.

Editor of St. Mary’s student newspaper: college ‘Catholic in name only’ by Christine Dhanagom ... “Our identity as a Catholic college is in name only,” wrote Michael Bruer, in an article titled “My years at Saint Mary’s College” that appeared in the College’s official student newspaper, the Collegian. St. Mary’s has come under fire in the past for bringing the sexually-explicit play the Vagina Monologues to campus, and for hosting controversial speakers. ... and former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers delivered a lecture at the school in 2009.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Could the United States soon have it’s third president with the last name "Johnson"? Yeah, things didn’t go so well for Andrew Johnson (impeached in 1868) or Lyndon Johnson (left in disgrace 100 years later in 1968) but a growing number of Republicans, conservatives, libertarians and independents are coming around to the “more freedom, less government” message former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has to offer. Well, while Gov. Johnson (who served from 1995 to 2003) may be a long shot and hasn’t even officially announced his plans to run to run for president, his message of...

John McCain, so called maverick who at every turn has used his political capital to move this nation far left in the name of moderation. I worked for his campaign in 2008 because of his VP choice, and knew the background of the person he was running against. Immediately, I saw how unorganized his operations were and it seemed to me they were just going through the motions. The more I heard John say we need to tone down the rhetoric, the harder it became to show up and make calls. But once again I knew there was a promising...

Newt Gingrich’s political groups raised more than $4.2 million in the last three months of 2010, bringing the former House speaker’s total to $14.5 million for the year – a sum that far eclipses his potential rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Gingrich, who has increasingly signaled his desire to enter the race to take on President Barack Obama, raised more last year than the three next most prolific fundraisers eying Republican presidential bids combined – former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (whose political committees brought in $6.3 million in 2010), Sarah Palin of Alaska ($3.5 million) and Tim...

Fox News host Sean Hannity addressed the controversy surrounding a top Virginia exorcist Catholic priest at the end of his Hannity cable news show Wednesday night and made note of the unusually favorable treatment he has been getting from Huffington Post commenters. After playing portions of a now-infamous 2007 exchange in which then-Human Life International Father Thomas Euteneuer called Hannity a "heretic" and "cultural Catholic," Hannity read part of Fr. Euteneuer's recent confession to transgressions which caused him to be removed as head of Human Life International. "I take full responsibility for my own poor judgment, my weakness and my...

Police work is often lionized by jurists and scholars who claim to employ "textualist" and "originalist" methods of constitutional interpretation. Yet professional police were unknown to the United States in 1789, and first appeared in America almost a half-century after the Constitution's ratification. The Framers contemplated law enforcement as the duty of mostly private citizens, along with a few constables and sheriffs who could be called upon when necessary. This article marshals extensive historical and legal evidence to show that modern policing is in many ways inconsistent with the original intent of America's founding documents. The author argues that the...

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus led after the first ballot in the race for chairman of the Republican National Committee. Needing 85 votes among the 168 members to win, Priebus took 45 votes in the first round. Trailing Priebus after one round is Chairman Michael Steele with 44 votes, former RNC official Maria Cino with 32 votes, Michigan Committeeman Saul Anuzis with 24 votes, and former Missouri GOP Chairwoman Ann Wagner with 23 votes. Several more ballots are expected before someone reaches the 85-vote threshold. Steele won the 2009 race after six rounds, defeating a five-candidate field that included...

While I did not get a chance to watch the whole debate last Monday, I took the time to watch it this morning on youtube. The most applauded answer of the debate was given by Ann Wagner when asked how many guns she owned. She answered that she just got a new gun safe for Christmas, and she has 16 guns in total including a glock and an assault rifle. That was the dumbest answer of the debate. My father-in-law and I do not agree on much. He is a Democrat, I’m a Republican, but he taught me a very...

Maria Cino continues to get help from big GOP names in her bid for the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Cino's campaign was helped off the ground by her former colleagues in the Bush administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and GOP strategist Mary Matalin who hosted a fundraiser for her. More recently, she's been getting help from incoming House Speaker John Boehner. The Ohio Republican has made phone calls to some of the 168 committee members on Cino's behalf, two members told CNN. Boehner, however, has not publicly backed Cino, who is not among the favorites to succeed RNC Chairman...

GOP Chair Candidate Cino Explains Helping Pro-Abortion Group Washington, DC - Republican Party chairman candidate Maria Cino became the final candidate for the national party chairman position to interview with the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political group. http://www.lifenews.com/2010/12/31/gop-chair-candidate-cino-explains-helping-pro-abortion-group/

Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says Sarah Palin’s wrong and Michelle Obama’s right, at least when it comes to the first lady’s push to combat childhood obesity. “With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin, I think she's misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do,” the former Arkansas governor said Tuesday on the “Curtis Sliwa Show.”

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 12:09 PM Is this really what the Republican Party needs going into 2012? (Politico) Maria Cino, the former Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation under President George W. Bush announced her intention of running for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee in November. She has a distinguished career as a politician in the Republican Party. Maria Cino also worked as an Obamacare lobbyist for Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company since 2009. Pfizer CEO Jeffrey kindler was a staunch supporter of Obamacare. According to the Wall...

Long before the tea party movement grabbed half a dozen Senate seats, before its early proponents ever even dreamed of wearing Colonial-era garb in public, there was longtime Texas Republican Ron Paul, the one guy in Congress trying to abolish the Federal Reserve and shrink the government into near nonexistence. Paul won a devoted-bordering-on-cultish following during his 2008 presidential run, one which, obviously, didn't work out. But now Paul is telling the Times that "it’s at least 50-50" that he'll try again in 2012, and this time, with the movement built largely on his libertarian philosophy now a real force...

Diane Dougherty lives in a neat, white house that she shares with her cats, Pete and Gypsy Rose. She teaches second grade in Fayetteville. She smiles a lot, her eyes flashing with intellect. She hardly looks like someone flouting centuries of tradition, challenging the Roman Catholic Church. Dougherty, 65, wants to be a deacon. But in the Catholic Church, the position of deacon — like that of priest and bishop — is held by men only. The Newnan resident is in the forefront of a movement that seeks to change all that. In ordination ceremonies in the United States and...

Tea-party activists, keen to build on their success toppling GOP incumbents in primaries this year, are already targeting more Republican veterans in the 2012 election. GOP senators like Bob Corker, above, have drawn criticism from tea-party activists for some of the positions they have taken over the years. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress, already has a conservative GOP primary opponent. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Indiana) have all drawn fire from the right wing of their party. Tea-party activists have put these...

Friday August 20, 2010 Pro-Abortion ‘Catholic’ Groups Oppose Mother Teresa Honor August 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic League has for months been on a campaign to have the Empire State Building light its towers to honor the centenary of the late Mother Teresa on August 26.  While the owners of the Building have done so for other anniversaries, including the 60th anniversary of the Chinese communist regime, they have refused to honor Mother Teresa by lighting its towers.  Several pro-abortion groups which refer to themselves as Catholic have signed on to a statement affirming the decision by officials from...

On February 24, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), at a hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee, asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether he was aware of allegations that the Federal Reserve had been complicit in the Watergate cover-up and in the illegal funneling of billions of dollars in loans to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein: "It has been reported in the past that during the 1980s that the Fed actually facilitated a $5.5-billion loan to Saddam Hussein. And he then bought weapons from our military-industrial complex. And also that is when he invested in a nuclear reactor.... "Also there's been...

As if we needed anymore proof of Ron Paul’s anti-American treachery — and no, I am not speaking of his inclusion in the Democrats’ list of favorite Republicans (though it’s also quite telling), — he’s finally waded into the Ground Zero mosque controversy where — unsurprisingly — he’s chalked it all up to yet another conspiracy theory, fomented by those war-lovin’ neo-cons: “I think it’s a big distraction, a grand distraction from the real issues… To me it should have been a grand opportunity, and you really touched on the opportunity, because it’s really a property rights issue, and who...

Friday July 23, 2010 Catholics United to Bail Out Key Dems that Supported Pro-Abort Health Care Reform By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The left-leaning group Catholics United is dedicating $500,000 to bailing out the campaigns of key congressional "pro-life" Democrats who voted for the national health care reform, which was decried by pro-life leaders as vastly expanding abortion.Catholics United, which has many times conflicted with the U.S. Catholic Bishops over the primacy of pro-life teachings, intends to help defend the seats of Democrat Reps. John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03), Steve Driehaus (OH-01),...

Thursday July 15, 2010 Catholic Pelosi to Receive Planned Parenthood Award for Stopping Stupak Abortion Funding Ban By John JalsevacJuly 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-professed devout Catholic, will receive an award from abortion giant Planned Parenthood at a reception Thursday evening. The award will be given in recognition of her efforts in passing the federal health care legislation, and, in particular, for her help in ensuring that the Stupak abortion funding ban was not inserted in the bill.A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood confirmed with LifeSiteNews.com that Pelosi would be receiving the Champion for...

Pat Buchanan’s attempt to defend Republican National Committee Chairman (RNC) Michael Steele fails. Miserably. Steele, of course, recently insisted that Afghanistan is “Obama’s war,” which cannot be won and should never have been waged. Pat defends Steele on free-speech grounds. “A majority of Americans oppose the Afghan war,” Pat cries. And the point made by Steele about the futility of fighting in Afghanistan has been made by columnists George Will and Tony Blankley, ex-Rep. Joe Scarborough, Ron Paul and antiwar conservatives and moderates. When exactly did supporting Obama’s war policy become a litmus test for loyal Republicans? Pat misstates the...

Over at the Daily Paul blog, we learn that Rachel Maddow has been circulating an inaccurate transcript of her conversation with Rand Paul. As you can see in the above clip (starting about the 8:00 mark), the candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky gave an answer to Maddow's question on civil rights that included various interjections and interruptions. Someone in Maddow-land edited this down to the following exchange: Maddow: Do you think that a private business has the right to say, "We don't serve black people"? Paul: Yes. I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. As you...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday urged Catholic leaders to "instruct" their parishioners to support immigration reforms, saying clerics should "play a very major role" in supporting Democratic policies. "The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me and say, 'We want you to pass immigration reform,' and I said, 'I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. I want you to instruct your' -- whatever the communication is," said Pelosi, who is Catholic, speaking at the Nation's Catholic Community conference sponsored by Trinity Washington University and the National Catholic Reporter. "The people, some (who) oppose immigration...

A call by a German politician of Turkish origin for a ban on Christian crosses in state schools has sparked uproar in her conservative party and death threats from far-right groups. Ayguel Oezkan, the 38-year-old daughter of Turkish immigrants, is poised to become social minister in the centre-right government of the western state of Lower Saxony, and called for the ban in an interview with a German magazine. 'Christian symbols do not belong in state schools,' she told weekly Focus last week. 'Schools should be a neutral place.' Members of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela...

TORONTO - Ontario's Catholic schools can't opt out of a revamped sex ed curriculum even if it goes against their religious beliefs to teach kids about masturbation and homosexuality, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday. Several conservative and religious groups claim the changes coming this fall will corrupt young minds with "explicit" topics like anal sex. But Ontario's Catholic premier made it clear that all public schools must teach the lessons that will start as early as age six. The first changes to Ontario's curriculum in a dozen years will see students learning about masturbation in Grade 6 and oral and...

Cardinal George has allowed an honor to be bestowed on Fr. Michael Pfleger. Fr. Pfleger is not "controversial". Fr. Pfleger is an uncontrollable heretic. In the past I have seen Fr. Pfleger more in terms of a loony punchline rather than a serious problem. I have changed my mind. Having stupid ideas about politics is one thing, being supremely imprudent is one thing, but attacking the foundation of the priesthood from his highly visible platform is another. If Card. George will not remove Fr. Pfleger from his mandate as pastor, or remove his faculty to preach and say Mass publicly,...

In case you were wondering whose in Nancy Pelosi’s deck of cards, it includes Catholic priests who used to run the most influential Catholic universities in America: In the tense hours Sunday leading up to the House vote on a historic healthcare bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took time to call the former president of Notre Dame, Father Theodore Hesburgh.The House Democrats’ leader was not seeking spiritual guidance. What she wanted was Hesburgh to help lock up the vote of Rep. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat from South Bend, Ind., who was wavering over the abortion issue.Donnelly ultimately pressed the “yes”...

Cecile Richards head of Planned Parenthood. Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2010 / 07:28 am (CNA).- Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards has praised the Catholic religious sisters who endorsed the Senate health care bill, claiming they deserve gratitude for making “a critical demonstration of support” for a bill that significantly increased coverage of “reproductive health care.”Writing for the Huffington Post Wednesday in her capacity as president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Richards claimed that it was Catholic nuns who “most importantly broke with the bishops and the Vatican to announce their support for health care reform.”“This brave and important...

"...my deep respect and admiration for the McCains..." "Send the maverick back to the United States Senate!" "He is a man of the people!" http://www.johnmccain.com/live