Free Republic

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced Tuesday that he plans to order flags on public buildings to fly at half-staff on the day of Whitney Houston's funeral to honor the songstress and Jersey native. "Whitney Houston was an important part of the cultural fabric of this state," Christie said during a press release Tuesday. Christie also said the pop legend belongs in the same category as Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Bruce Springsteen. He said he will sign the order later in the week after Houston's family makes a final decision regarding time and place of the funeral. A Newark...

Mr Bozell took issue with the fact Mr Matthews said that Mr Gingrich 'looked like a car-bomber' in a video clip this past March. Mr Matthews repeated the comparison several times, adding that he thought Mr Gingrich has 'got that crazy Mephistophelian grin of his. He looks like he likes torturing.' Feud: Mr Bozell brought up his remarks when he was talking about an insult Chris Matthews (pictured) made in March Feud: Mr Bozell brought up his remarks when he was talking about an insult Chris Matthews (pictured) made in March Mr Bozell then argued that similar comments would not...

Police in Salisbury say a driver who was stopped for having tinted windows ended the night with drug charges after they saw crack fall from his pants and watched him eat it in front of them. According to police, Salisbury's Police Interdiction Team stopped the vehicle of 31-year-old Kenneth Dwayne Swann Thursday night along Green Street at the dead end. Officer's say Swann was pullled over for having tinted windows in his vehicle, but when he stepped out of the car, officers noticed him walked stiffly. Thats when police say a small bag of crack cocaine fell out of his...

We can agree that this election is the most important of our lifetimes, and therefore let's also agree that we may need to do things differently than we have in the past.Surely we can learn from our mistakes last time around. Nothing is more important to our future than replacing the worst President in the history of our country. The best way to be sure that Obama is a one term president is to run “our team versus their team”, rather than “our guy versus their guy”. This way, we take ‘race’ out of the equation, and possibly blunt some...

You just can’t make this up. Oaf Joe Biden told reporters he joked with shooting victim about “cracked heads.” Vice President Joe Biden, with a big smile on his face, walked to the House floor and said, “I came to see Gabby, that’s why I’m here.” …When Biden was asked about what he spoke with Giffords about, he joked, “She’s now a member of the cracked head club like me.”

Washington’s representative to Congress said Saturday she feels like the city was the victim of a “sellout” by Democrats in Friday night’s spending negotiations after the District of Columbia was the focus for two of the biggest policy fights.President Obama signed off on restricting the city from using its own taxpayer money to fund abortions, and agreed to restore the city’s school voucher program, which is popular with parents but opposed by many elected officials.We knew that the House Republicans were on the attack when they took our vote in the Committee of the Whole on the first day of...

The weight of the world may be on his shoulders but there's not much around President Barack Obama's middle. The U.S. president has invoked the concern in America after walking out of a gym looking skinnier than ever. Clutching an energy drink, Mr Obama is pictured looking cheerful as he left the gym at Fort McNair in Washington

West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin today gave Sarah Palin both barrels over her US TV reality show, accusing the contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination of shooting an animal "for political gain". Sorkin, writer of the recent Facebook movie The Social Network, also accused the Fox News contributor of making a "snuff film" after the latest episode of Sarah's Palin's Alaska featured the politician going hunting with her father and shooting a caribou. He described Palin as "deranged", a "witless bully" and a "phony pioneer girl". He also said The Learning Channel, the US cable network, "should be ashamed...

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 16) -- Betty Sugiyama was rushing to catch a train for a shopping trip when authorities say the unthinkable happened: A homeless woman leapt from a bench and shoved her onto the tracks. Witnesses said the woman then calmly returned to her seat as Sugiyama writhed in pain on the tracks with a cracked skull. The 84-year-old Little Tokyo resident died soon after, and the suspect was arrested on murder charges. A sister of Sugiyama who witnessed the attack remained stunned Tuesday that anyone would want to kill her friendly younger sibling, a Japanese-American who had grown...

You might think being found naked and disoriented by cops, screaming profanities while a porn star hides out in your trashed hotel room, then being hauled to a hospital for a psych evaluation, would scare a guy into cleaning up his act. But not Charlie Sheen. Today, a new report from RadarOnline claims that just days after the fiasco in New York City's Plaza Hotel, Sheen's handlers are "frantic" because the star has returned to Los Angeles with, apparently, nothing but self-destruction on his mind. Sounding the alarm, an insider who has considered himself Sheen's friend for two decades is

This is my first vanity piece, so let me know if I did something wrong. Republicans seem to think they will sweep the upcoming elections. I disagree. I tend to think any Republican candidate that does not have a MINIMUM 5 point lead on their Democratic challenger by Tuesday, will lose. I say this because Democrats have this huge apparatus in place to facilitate voter fraud, intimidation and outright manipulation and Republicans need an average 5 points and that is a conservative estimate, (probably needs to be higher) to help overcome these deficiencies. If you don't believe me, just look...

Barack Obama is a reformed doper, so of course he's against legalizing marijuana. Another disappointment for the legions of politically progressive fans who'd taken to Obamania as though it was its own opiate. Who is this guy, anyway? He's said he smoked dope and snorted coke in his youth. So where's the empathy, man? But forget about its effect on his policies. His druggie past is not helping him shape the overarching grit of his public character nearly as much as it could be. Weed and cocaine? Who's going to be impressed with that, when his hugely successful contemporaries like...

Austin city officials and attorneys for the family of Nathaniel Sanders II, who was fatally shot by a police officer last year, have agreed to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit for $750,000, sources close to the negotiations said this afternoon. The agreement is pending an Austin City Council vote this month. The sources asked that they not be identified because the agreement has not been finalized. Council Member Bill Spelman confirmed the two sides had reached terms on a settlement and that the council is scheduled to make a decision July 29, which is the next time the council...

38 year old child movie star Corey Haim was found dead today in his apartment, known for movies like 1986's feel good movie Lucas, also starring Winona Ryder and Charlie Sheen, and 1987's Horror/thriller The Lost Boys and with Keifer Sutherland and lifelong friend Corey Feldman ...

One of the recurring thread-types we have chronicled here at the DUmmie FUnnies over the last five years is the "My Encounter With A Freeper" thread. In a MEWAF thread, the DUmmie recounts an incident in which he or she either 1) converted the Freeper, 2) put down the Freeper, or simply 3) experienced bizarre boorish behavior from the Freeper. This latter subtype--a "MEWAF-III," as we call it in the trade--is what we are dealing with here today, a Freeper Encounter of the Third Kind. It should be noted, MEWAF threads may be more or less fictionalized to make...

A homeowner who had twice ordered a teenager to leave the property — once while holding a rifle — shot the teen dead after the boy refused to leave and walked toward him, authorities said. “He feared for his life,” said Harris County sheriff’s Lt. Rolf Nelson. Dwayne Austgen, 69, was inside his north Harris County home in the 5500 block of Susanna around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when he noticed a teenager in his front yard, officials said. The man went outside, confronted 17-year-old Vidal Herrera, and told him to leave, authorities said.

Middle School Teacher Cavaluzzi, A Former Successful Lacrosse Coach, Admits To $500 A Day Crack Habit Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Trying To Entice 15-Year-Old By KATHRYN BROWN, CBS 2 HD News NEW YORK (CBS) ― A Westchester County teacher has been accused of living a double life -- social studies by day and hardcore drugs by night. Prosecutors charged a Pelham middle school instructor and former lacrosse coach for allegedly trying to meet with a child on the Internet for sex. And as CBS 2 HD found out on Monday night, students and parents can't believe it. Gregg...

A friend of the daughter of Vice President Joseph Biden is attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows Ashley Biden snorting cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware. An anonymous male "friend" of Biden took the video, said Thomas Dunlap, a lawyer representing the seller. Dunlap and another man claiming to be a lawyer showed The Post about 90 seconds of 43-minute tape, saying it was legally obtained and that Biden was aware she was being filmed. The Post refused to pay for the video.

Since this current bear market took sixteen months to materialize, I estimate that within one year from today, fifty percent off the losses will be recovered, which would put the DJIA at around 10,700. The following year, we'll probably see an additional 30-40% rally, which will push it above 14,000.

U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone kicked a soccer ball and chewed coca leaves with Bolivia's leftist president Tuesday during an interview for a planned documentary.

The rapper Diddy completely loses it over Palin's selection. It's quite funny. His incoherent ramblings are quite representative of the logic people use to support Obama. See here

Hi everyone interested - I am Dutch and hence I don't know anything on this Pelosi woman, other than that she's the stepmother of a well-known Dutch journalist. Can you tell me in brief why she's not erm... that popular around here? Please don't misconstrue, it's a serious question. I can give most important U.S. politicians a place by now, but she escapes me still in this respect.

Barack Obama's campaign efforts to "stop the smears" are quickly morphing into an attack on free speech. In a June 28 article, "An attack that came out of the Ether", Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk attacks FreeRepublic.com and falsely associates a 2007 article I wrote with a stupidly written email claiming that Obama's Indonesian step-father was a "radical", that Obama went to a "Wahhabi" school, and that Obama swore his oath of office on a "Kuran". In fact my article, "Obama: Secular Muslim stealth candidate favored by the corrupt?" served to sort out truth from fiction in such emails and...

Venezuela's controversial President Hugo Chávez has revealed that he regularly consumes coca -- the source of cocaine -- raising questions about the legality of his actions. Chávez's comments on coca initially went almost unnoticed, coming amid a four-hour speech to the National Assembly during which he made international headlines by calling on other countries to stop branding two leftist Colombian guerrilla groups as terrorists and instead recognize them as ``armies.'' ''I chew coca every day in the morning . . . and look how I am,'' he is seen saying on a video of the speech, as he shows his...

The Germans landed on the Moon as early as propably 1942, utilizing their larger exoatmospheric rocket saucers of the Miethe and Schriever type. The Miethe rocket craft was built in diameters if 15 and 50 meters, and the Schriever Walter turbine powered craft was designed as an interplanetary exploration vehicle. It had a diameter of 60 meters, had 10 stories of crew compartments, and stood 45 meters high. Ever since their first day of landing on the Moon, the Germans started boring and tunneling under the surface, and by the end of the war there was a small Nazi research...

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the United States wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday. Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by “clearing the decks” with a “quick burst of violent action” had led to “the worst of all worlds”. In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation. He said the crisis was caused not just by America’s actions but also by its misguided...

hello does anyone know about drug testing cocaine and marijuana.

A Jacksonville mother filed suit Monday against Orange Park Medical Center after she developed complications during pregnancy that left her permanently disabled. Natasha Meeks said her health problems started during the first trimester of her third pregnancy with frequent bouts of severe vomiting. She was hospitalized Jan. 12, 2006, after her condition showed no signs of improvement. Doctors at Orange Park Medical Center treated her for malnutrition, but it was later discovered she was suffering from far more than the aftereffects of vomiting. She said she first knew something was out of the ordinary when she went to a bathroom...

Ravenel steps down as treasurer Indicted official resigns after first court appearance on drug charges By Rick Brundrett and John Monk · The (Columbia) State Updated 07/25/07 - 12:36 AM COLUMBIA -- Thomas Ravenel's surprise resignation Tuesday as state treasurer and his continuing treatment for an apparent drug problem are signals he won't challenge the evidence against him, say lawyers familiar with the federal system. Both also could be strategies that would get him a lighter sentence if convicted, experts say. "It would be safe to assume his resignation is an indication he does not plan to fight these charges,"...

OBAMA STATEMENT ON LIBBY CLEMENCY Mon Jul 02 2007 18:38:17 ET “This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law. This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people’s faith in a government that puts the country’s progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years.” END

South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been suspended from office, following his indictment by a federal grand jury for distribution of cocaine.

Fred Thompson 44% Hitlary 43% Fred Thompson 37% Hussein Obama 49% Poll based on 800 likely voters over March 21-22..

Barack Obama visited New Hampshire, wowed the Democrats there and jumped up more than 20 points in the polls to a tie with Hillary Clinton, all of which means he could be in for it. “Where’s the beef?” more and more people will ask and already are asking, even including Gary Hart, the most famous political target of that withering inquiry. In 1984, when he was trying to wrest the Democratic nomination for president away from Walter Mondale, Hart talked endlessly about the need for new ideas, even though it was not apparent he had any. Mondale noticed as much,...

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama By Reviewed by Yuval Levin From issue: December 2006 Off and RunningThe Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama Crown. 364 pp. $25.00 Barack Obama, the Democratic star of the moment in American politics, is the junior Senator from Illinois, and for the past two years has been the only black member of the U.S. Senate. Elected after seven years in the Illinois state legislature and a short career as a lawyer and community activist in Chicago, he first came to national prominence when John F. Kerry...

In this holiday season, Democrats are trying to decide if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is the gift their party has been waiting for, or just another sack of sticks and ashes. One thing is certain: He has presidential hopefuls on both sides of the aisle checking their hole cards. Obama is a genuine, up-from-the-grassroots phenomenon. On the wings of one spectacular speech, he has ignited the hopes of disillusioned voters from coast to coast. We haven't seen his like in a generation or more. Whether that star-power can withstand the withering fire that will be directed at him from...

This public relations plant is Rodham's opening salvo to destroy Obama.

Mayor Daley has decided to abandon his long-standing tradition of remaining neutral in Democratic primaries and endorse Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential race, City Hall sources said Tuesday. "Here you have not only an Illinoisan, but a Chicagoan who is a major contender for the highest office in the land. . . . When in our history have we ever had a favorite son this close to [the White House]? Why not get on board early?" said a Daley confidant, who asked to remain unnamed. "Hillary Clinton has been a great senator, a wonderful civic leader....

Peggy cites the pop-culture glitterai who are ga-ga over Obama; opines on his book; and concludes he's a narcissist. Caveat Emptor.

Should Sen. Barack Obama run for president? It will be a tough call for the senator and for those who admire and respect him personally. If he runs, he has a good chance of winning because he represents what Americans want in their president at this very troubled time in their history, a man of firm principles but not an ideologue, a moderate who can sympathize with his opponent's position, a modest man with self-deprecating wit, a politician who tries to bring people together instead of polarizing them against one another. A candidate who does not swagger or shout and...

LAKELAND -- Deputy Billy Osborne heard the man's cries for help but couldn't see him through the thick brush and pre-dawn darkness. " 'I have two broken arms, and an alligator's got me pinned. I can't move. Please help me,' " the Polk County deputy sheriff recalled the man saying at a news conference Wednesday. As Osborne listened, he followed the pleading voice through more than 20 yards of weeds in Lake Parker's murky, chest-deep water about 4 a.m. Then he saw them: a naked man slumped over, caught in the jaws of a huge alligator amid thick cattails in...

Naked Couple Enters Waffle House, Chase Ensues POSTED: 8:04 am CST November 3, 2006 UPDATED: 12:24 pm CST November 3, 2006  | Print this storySign Up for Breaking News Alerts NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Customers at a west Nashville Waffle House restaurant were in shock Friday morning after a naked man and woman walked into the restaurant.Authorities said the naked man, Larry Boyd, and the unidentified woman were sharing a room at the nearby Super 8 motel.The woman told police that Boyd took a hit of cocaine and started acting crazy, trashing their room and choking her. She then ran to the...

America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions. Dean said he is looking for "the age of enlightenment led by religious figures who want to greet Americans with a moral, uplifting vision." "The problem is when we hit that '60s spot again, which I am optimistic we're about to hit, we have to make sure that we don't...

Man charged with having crack in sundae Fri Jun 16, 9:13 PM ET RICHMOND, Texas - This banana split was topped with something more potent than just a cherry. A motorist was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance after he was caught with two rocks of crack cocaine he had stashed in his ice cream dessert. Oscar Martinez, 41, of Richmond, had been pulled over by police officer David Bentley late Sunday after he failed to stop at a pedestrian crossing on the campus of Wharton County Junior College. Bentley discovered that Martinez had a suspended driver's...

WAUKESHA, Wis. - A woman who entered a couple's Waukesha home hit the owner with a metal pooper scooper and armed herself with two scissors before eventually being subdued by five officers and hauled away in a bag, authorities and the homeowner say. "I tried to reason with her," said John Dormer, whose wife, Linda, discovered 47-year-old Leisa Reed in her kitchen about 4:40 a.m. Sunday after going to check why their dog was barking. The Dormers said they left a door unlocked for their son because he was at an all-night graduation event at Waukesha South High School, and...

Hello, fellow white people! Yeeeeeehaawwwwww! What in tarnation is all this jibber jabber I hear about the Iraqi war going anything but one hundred percent perfectly?! I tell ya what that is: COMMIE talk! These Un-American libs (which include minorities, women, and other minorities, such as blacks and homosexual gay queers!) the war has turned into a black hole with no "forseeable" (whatever in tarnation that big word means) end in sight. To this I say, shut your damn mouth! The only opinions that should be expressed are those that are in total agreement with our distinguished president, Dick Cheney,...

A circuit judge in St. Louis has sentenced a woman who turned in voter registration cards in the name of dead local politicians to probation, community service and relaxation training using transcendental meditation. Michelle Robinson, 36, pleaded guilty Friday on charges of 13 violations of election law and of possession of crack cocaine and a crack pipe. Robinson worked for a campaign called Operation Big Vote that aimed to boost the participation of black voters in the 2001 St. Louis mayoral election. But some of the cards she turned in on Feb. 7, 2001, were made out in the names...

John McCain is running for President 2008. As a republican candidate, John McCain could win the republican nomination. Many feel if John McCain runs against Hillary Clinton, he would win the presidential election in 2008. John McCain graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958. After graduation, John McCain became a Naval Avaitor. For over 5 years, John McCain was a Vietnam captive. John McCain became a US Senator for Arizona in 1986. Senator John McCain is now Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and is known for his successful passing of Campaign Finance Reform. Express your...

Tampa, Florida -- A man is in jail for asking a couple of officers to test his crack pipe. Tampa Police say 47-year-old Phillip Williams wanted to make sure he was getting real drugs. So he approached the officers on Tuesday morning and asked them to test the drug. They did, and it was. Police arrested Williams and charged him with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Jail records said Williams was a security worker at MacDill Airforce Base, but officials at MacDill deny him being an employee. Williams is currently being held at Orient Road Jail.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- An agent for Randy Moss was charged with possession of crack cocaine after police were called to a hotel to investigate a disturbance, authorities said Wednesday. Dante DiTrapano and his wife, Teri, of Charleston, W.Va., were arrested Tuesday at a hotel in St. Petersburg, police said. The hotel's management called police to report a disturbance in couple's room. When officers entered the room they found the drugs, police said. Three other people were also arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine, police said. "Dante has been battling depression over two tragedies that occurred this past...