Free Republic

Timothy "Big Russ" Russert Passes Away By Chris Ariens on Sep 24, 2009 09:15 PM Russ_9.24.JPGThe father of the late Tim Russert, and grandfather of NBC News correspondent Luke Russert, Timothy Russert passed away today. "While he was affectionately known to the world as 'Big Russ,' he carried no more important nor meaningful titles than those of father, grandfather, great-grandfather, patriot and friend," reads a statement from his family. "We warmly thank all those who were inspired by his life and his lessons." In 2004, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of "Meet the Press" Tim Russert wrote "Big Russ...

There is little question that in most families the mother is the central unifying person emblematic of unconditional love that can be tough love when necessary. Recent research, however, suggests that fathers are more important in the lives of children than had been previously understood. It is still unclear how much this reflects the fact that, although many single parents are successful in that challenging role, children raised in intact two-parent homes enjoy certain tangible advantages, or that fathers bring certain essential characteristics to family life. Some research indicates that fathers are more likely to engage in vigorous physical play,...

Republicans and Democrats agree their favorite TV Dad is ...Bill Cosby? But over half of the top-15 dads are from the old days. Ozzie, Andy, and more.

This Father’s Day sets up a special call to greatness for Catholic men, as it falls the day before the feasts of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. The first was a model family man, the other a passionate pastor. Both died for the Catholic faith, demonstrating the devotion all Christian fathers must give their families (See Ephesians 5:25). Fathers of nuclear families and spiritual families can learn much from these two English martyrs. “St. Thomas More taught his children, by both word and action, that we’re all called to be God’s good servant first,” says Father Roger Landry, pastor...

Father’s Day 2009: “An End to Buffoonish Fathers” Ah, Father’s Day is upon us. I can’t think of a better time for dads and men to remember how to be dads and men. Flip on the tube any time during the day and you’ll see fathers portrayed as hapless buffoons – saved from themselves by their wives and all-knowing children. The real life of the modern dad isn’t much prettier. To be sure, the state of the American male is in a shambles – though I’m not fully sure how we got here. I remember the ‘60s. The women’s movement...

One of the child actors who starred in the Oscar-winning flick "Slumdog Millionaire" received a severe beating from his dad today after the 10-year-old star refused to be put on display like a trophy. Less than a week after strutting down the red carpet in Los Angeles, actor Azharuddin Mohammed was slapped and kicked by his dad Ismail, The London Sun reported today on its Web site. "I was very sorry that I did what I did," he said afterward. "I was so confused and stressed by my son's homecoming that I did not know myself for a minute. I...

NEW Zealand's most celebrated centenarian, a rare reptile known as Henry, has discovered his charm and become a father for the first time at the age of 111. Henry the tuatara, a lizard-like creature of prehistoric origin, has become the father of 11 offspring over the past four days, staff at the Southland Museum in the southern city of Invercargill said today. Henry once had a reputation for aggression and was not interested in sex, but he turned his life around after a cancerous growth was removed from his bottom. He mated last March with Mildred, 31 years his junior,...

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- An Ohio man was in custody Saturday after three people were found shot at the scene of a fire. The fire was reported at a building in the 9700 block of Sacremento Street at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said that when they arrived at the home, they saw a man outside armed with an assault rifle. The man then ran back inside the home, officers said. Rescue units noticed smoke as they tried to get inside the home. When police made it inside, they found the three victims -- a man, a woman and a...

NEW ORLEANS – A man who initially told police gunmen kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son was arrested Saturday, accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said. Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference. "He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.

It was a surprise the entire Pittsburg Primary school knew about, but little did five year old Cameron Dickson know, he was in store for an early Christmas surprise. Cameron's Dad, who he hasn't seen in a year came up behind him and surprised him with a big hug. It was an early Christmas gift. Cameron's Marine Dad is now home back, in East Texas from fighting in the Iraq war"It was rough being in Iraq.  It's hard leaving  your family but it's all worth it in the end. Cameron was definitely surprised and he's grown like a weed. It was a good feeling for me," said...

I'll be home for Christmas A three-year-old girl gets a special Christmas gift granted. WXII'S Kim Gebbia reports.

Truck-driving dad dies in accident en route to reunion with son home from Iraq MIDDLEVILLE -- Richard Crawford was sleeping when his son Keith, serving in Iraq with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, called early Monday. Keith told his father he "was on American soil." Richard Crawford, a trucker and retired Army sergeant, told his son he would see him this week. He had a delivery down South, and would swing by Fort Campbell, Ky., where Keith, the older of his two sons, was stationed. He couldn't wait to see his son. "But he didn't make it," his wife,...

Video here. Great interview with Sarah Palin in her own home kitchen as she prepares dinner and talks about what an awesome father to their kids Todd Palin is and related topics in the best four minutes and twenty eight seconds from the most recent home interview by Greta Van Susteren.

OMAHA, Neb. - Nine children were left at a hospital by their father late Wednesday under the state's new safe haven law, a move officials say illustrates the problems many feared when the rule went into effect. The father, who was not identified, left the children aged 1 to 17 at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room. The law, which went into effect in July, allows caregivers to abandon children at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution. It was initially intended to protect infants — like similar laws in other states — but was amended to include children and...

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — A father who bought a beer for his 4-year-old son at the Fond du Lac County Fair and shared it with the boy's 2-year-old sibling was cited after becoming belligerent when he was approached by police. A woman working at a beer tent last July told an officer she thought the man was joking when he asked for two beers — one for him and another for his 4-year-old son. When he was questioned by an officer, he told him it's legal for underage children to drink in Wisconsin, as long as they're with their...

A Deltona father ended up in jail Thursday after finding his daughter's teenage boyfriend naked in the girl's bedroom and hitting him with a pipe, sheriff's officials said. Raul Colon, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend -- or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year. So when he heard noises coming from his daughter's room early Thursday and saw a naked stranger standing on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe he had taken from the garage, hitting the 15-year-old, according to a Volusia County sheriff's report. Colon was...

An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room. Authorities say the father, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year. When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.

An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation’s prison at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, according to a report by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Parents in prison — 52 percent of state inmates and 63 percent of federal inmates — reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children. Among state inmates, the percent of parents in prison decreased from 55 percent in 1997 but has remained stable for federal inmates.

SPRING HILL, Fla. -- A Gulf Coast man was charged with murder after he said he gave his 15-year-old son powerful prescription drugs because he wanted the boy to know "how to party right." Steven Alfano was charged with third-degree murder after son Vincent died of an accidental overdose in June. Witnesses said the 47-year-old Spring Hill man showed his son how to crush and snort pills like the painkiller oxycodone and the heroin substitute methadone. Alfano was arrested Friday and is being held without bail in the Hernando County Jail. Officials did not know if he had a lawyer....

A 23-year-old father was booked into jail under suspicion of second-degree child abuse after leaving his son in his car while he watched the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight." David Farnham of Salt Lake City left his 2-year-old son inside his car in the parking lot of the Century 16 Theaters at 125 E. 3300 South on Saturday night. An onlooker walking by the car at 1:22 a.m. on Sunday saw the baby inside the vehicle crying and sweating profusely, said detective Gary Keller with the South Salt Lake City Police Department. Farnham rolled the windows up in the...

Violence broke out Sunday in Anderson when an 18-year-old man returned home from a gay pride parade and was assaulted by his father. According to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, the battering took place about 1 p.m. Sunday on P Street. During the assault, the teen's 49-year-old father yelled, cursed, swung a baseball bat, prayed and tried to “cast the demon of homosexuality out of him,” according to the teen's version of events to Deputy S.C. Weymouth, the incident report states. About 2 p.m. Wednesday, the teen said his father punched him when he returned to the house for clothes...

He was kicked in head after daughter was slapped.Eight males took turns stomping and kicking the head of a father who had yelled at one of them minutes earlier for hitting his daughter's buttocks at Valleyfair, according to assault charges filed in Scott County District Court. The attack happened about midnight on July 4 after the father confronted two men who touched his 12-year-old daughter. The 41-year-old father's wife heard one of the men use his cell phone to say "he needed his boys over here," the charges said. The wife said a minute later several men arrived and assaulted...

Army Sgt. Aeren Nauman served on active duty for nearly two years, part of that time in Iraq, and even stood to recite the Infantryman's Creed at a memorial service for a fallen comrade. But when he decided to buy a home on his return to the Twin Cities last fall, he found his credit ruined by identity theft. The alleged thief: his dad. "What kind of dad is this?" asked Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman after his office charged the father, Leonard Gus Nauman, 61, of Long Lake. "He waits until his kid is overseas; he creates these forged...

A decision on a man’s fight to harbor five dogs in violation of a Cumberland County rule will have to wait while officials reconsider his situation. On Thursday, the county Board of Adjustment voted to postpone Henry Carroll’s appeal of a zoning officer’s decision in March that he was violating an ordinance that limits him to three dogs at his residence. When — or if — the case will return is not known. Carroll, 45, says he has three dogs of his own and is keeping two more that belong to his 22-year-old son, Adam, a soldier deployed to Iraq...

Dear Duncan Hunter Supporters: Sunday November 18, 2008 is our DAD! DAD? Yes - Duncan Awareness Day! Sunday November 18th 30,000 voices will speak as one! We can and will introduce Mr. Duncan Hunter to America! How? I'm glad you asked! Remember: This is to just be a brief introduction. Not a hard sales pitch or a fund raising campaign. Just a simple "Hi, how are you? My name's Duncan Hunter and I'm very pleased to meet you." Many of us may be very creative writers. However remember the KISS principle. Use something right from Mr. Hunters web-site. That way...

Here's the description of the event: "The Defending the American Dream Summit promises to be a massive show of force for our shared belief in lower taxes, more limited government, and free-market policies that promote prosperity. On October 4-5, please join your fellow Americans for Prosperity members from across the country as we descend on the nation’s capital to demonstrate to presidential candidates, elected officials, and the national media that there exists a real and powerful national grassroots movement focused on reining in the out-of-control government spending and taxation that threatens our very freedom and prosperity. We're going to bring...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — A man accused of shooting and paralyzing his daughter's boyfriend has been charged with first-degree battery and a terroristic act. ... Authorities say Reed came home and found Guzman hiding in the closet of his 17-year-old daughter's bedroom. Police said Reed beat Guzman with a pool stick, then left the room to retrieve a gun. Guzman and his girlfriend blocked the bedroom door with a dresser, and Reed began shooting through the door, police said.

Yesterday morning 8/8/07 @ 6AM my father lost his 5 year struggle against ALS,He was very smart, and was a self made man who provided very well for his family through hard work and very shrewd stock investments.He will be sorely missed by familyand a myriad of friends.All through his struggle with a terrible disease he never lost his sense of humor.I've been helping care for him 24/7 for the last 2 years and I now have a gaping hole in my heart that cannot be filled. He made me the die-hard conservative that I am todayMy only solace is...

BENTONVILLE -- The father of a 17-year-old girl found his daughter's boyfriend hiding inside her bedroom closet Tuesday, beat him bloody with a pool stick, then left the room to fetch a gun. The daughter and boyfriend blocked the door with a dresser, so the father shot through the closed door, hitting the boyfriend in the back and paralyzing him, police said. George David Reed, 48, posted a $150,000 bond and was freed from jail Wednesday afternoon as Michael Austin Guzman, 19, underwent surgery to treat a bullet lodged in his spinal cord. Three of Guzman's vertebrae are fractured and...

  Happy Father's Day Fathering a child is truly a blessing from God.. It answers a primal calling, as it memorializes a man as a virile instrument fulfilling his destiny by passing his unique genic bloodlines on to the next generation. Fatherhood thus, offers a man a level of respect, and is universally recognized as one of his most important achievements.  However, is it really that much a personal accomplishment? Proof of true masculinity however, is not to be found simply in the act of procreation, if you are looking for a title that carries some real weight, ...try being...

Y'all know the rules. No spittin', kickin', gougin', cussin', listin', or disobeying the grand poobah of the neeners, the Lord High Protector, yada, yada, rights and privileges apertaining thereunto. Special dispensations, indulgences, awards granted solely at the whim of the Lord High Protector. Absolutely NO lists!

Navy Capt. Garry Mace, right, commander of Joint Crew Composite Squadron 1 in Baghdad, meets up with his son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Mace, April 25, 2007, at combat outpost Rawa, Iraq, where the son is a Marine scout assigned to the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Jon E. McMillan U.S. Navy Capt. Garry Mace U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Mace Navy Dad, Marine Son Meet in Al Anbar By Multi-National Corps, Iraq Public Affairs COMBAT OUTPOST RAWA, Iraq, May 22, 2007 — While on a site survey mission visiting sailors and...

NEW YORK — A young mother's car left out of gear accidentally rolled over her only son and killed him, a year after her soldier husband was killed in Iraq, relatives and police said. "It's a tragedy for all my family," said Evelyn Mercedes, 65, the soldier's grandmother. "My grandson dies. Now, this happens to the baby." Christopher Mercedes, who turned 1 last month, slipped from his mom's arms as she got out of the sport utility vehicle that began rolling because it was in neutral gear rather than park, police said. "She was hysterical, crying out, 'Somebody help me...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The patriarch of a family of elected officials that siphoned about $3 million from a public housing agency was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison. Raymond Asselin Sr., 69, who lorded over the Springfield Housing Authority for three decades, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and tax evasion. His wife, Janet Asselin, 70, who also admitted her role in the fraud, was sentenced alongside her husband to nine months of home confinement and a year of probation. The couple also were ordered to pay $162,000 in fines and restitution. Four of their sons, including ex-state Rep....

EDINBURGH, Scotland, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nurses and other health care professionals should avoid using the terms ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ to refer to family relationships since the terms could be offensive to homosexual couples with children, a new directive published by Scotland’s National Health Service recommends. Issued in conjunction with the country’s leading homosexual activist organization Stonewall Scotland, the publication is entitled Fair For All - The Wider Challenge: Good LGBT Practice in the NHS. Americans for Truth reported Feb.11 on the publication’s release. The booklet calls for a “zero-tolerance policy to discriminatory language” among Scotland’s health care system. Included in discriminatory...

My dad passed away February 1, 2007. He was a veteran of two wars, and he was truly a hero, but you couldn’t get him to agree to that, ever. He’d always say, “No, I was just doing my job.” You could try, but a more patriotic man you would never find. During WWII and the Korean War, Dad was a builder of bridges and a mechanic for the planes he often times was heard referring to as, "a bucket of bolts." He was born in Rosemont, West Virginia, the son of a coal miner. Not an educated man, he...

At last count, Florida attorney Willie Gary raked in roughly $1 million a month. Featured on the TV show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," the 59-year-old lives in a sprawling, $6 million waterfront home in Stuart, Fla. His law firm, which recently employed former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, has three posh offices and owns two jets, including a 32-passenger Boeing 737 outfitted with an 18-karat gold sink and a $1.2 million sound system. But just how much money is too much money to pay in child support? Atlanta resident Diana Gowins — the mother of twins fathered by Gary...

Mom, dad risk arrest if child misbehaves Monday, January 15, 2007 By RENA HAVNER Staff Reporter Bayou La Batre parents can now be arrested and fined $100 if their children misbehave in school or have excessive unexcused absences, according to a recently passed city ordinance. State education officials say Bayou La Batre is the only municipality in Alabama to have such a policy. To that, Bayou La Batre Mayor Stan Wright said: "Shame on all the other cities."In Bayou La Batre, if a student "comes to school and continues to beat the other children up, curses the teacher, mistreats his...

BERLIN - A thirsty German sold his 6-year-old step-daughter's pet beagle to the owner of a bar to pay for beer, the Bild newspaper reported on Friday. The unemployed man offered to take the dog for a walk and then stopped at a bar where he convinced the owner to buy the 3-year-old dog for $53 (40 euros). The man spent the proceeds quenching his thirst for beer. The bar owner has now returned the dog to its owner.

Mums help chicks if dad was ugly 29 September 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. Evolution holds hope for ugly males. Females appear to invest extra energy in getting their poorer-quality offspring off to a good start, at least among house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus). Female birds can deposit different amounts of health-promoting compounds in their eggs, depending on social and environmental conditions. Previous studies on zebra finches showed that females were more likely to invest in eggs fertilised by high-quality males. Kristen Navara, now at Ohio State University in Columbus, expected to see the same pattern with house finches, in...

LANTANA, Fla. Sep 13, 2006 (AP)— It seems a father's plan to cure his daughter's fear of heights fell short. Troy Stewart and his 10-year-old daughter were on their daily bike ride about 7:45 p.m. Monday when Stewart, 31, suggested they jump off a 15 foot bridge. Stewart held his daughter Meagan Stewart's hand as they jumped off the bridge into the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said. "At first he said, `Do you want to do it or not?'" Meagan said. "I thought, `It's kind of high,' and then he's like, `Trust me.'" Meagan made the jump safely, but her father...

My Dad is in the hospital now. He's 88 and has been in a nursing home for about 3 years and assisted living about 3 years before that. He had a stroke in 1998 that incapacitated him - no use of right side. He has had many trips to the hospital over these years for various complications of stroke, vascular disease, CPOD. He was sent to the hospital Sunday for asperation pneumonia. He seemed to be doing better Monday and Tuesday. But Wednesday got weak and now he's back on a non-breather oxygen aparatus. His breathing is very labored. They...

In the name of the fatherhttp://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1033732006 http://tinyurl.com/ozefu DANI GARAVELLI Sun 16 Jul 2006 ONCE upon a time, I believed it didn't matter a whit whether a baby was born into a family with one parent or two. Or with two mothers or two fathers rather than a mother and a father. Why should it? What was important was not the number or gender of the parents, but whether or not they were loving and attentive. That was, of course, before I had any of my own. Now I realise that bringing up children is a challenge even for two well-meaning...

Maybe America didn't want to see a deadbeat dad Superman who stopped fighting for "the American way" after all.A mere days after the much-hyped Bryan Singer film "Superman Returns" opened, reports are coming in that the film is struggling at the box office. In fact, Fox News reports that the box office take is dropping as word of mouth spreads about the film.The new film had upset some Superman purists before its opening, once news surfaced that the plot of the movie had the Man of Steel learning that girlfriend Lois Lane had given birth to his illegitimate son. Others...

The number of the tributes in the mainstream media to dads over the Father's Day weekend was stunning, something that no one would have believed a decade ago.Even liberal columnists were praising fathers, their own included, when not long ago it was a matter of progressive conviction to either ignore or ridicule the importance of fathers.Even black columnists recently have been uttering the unthinkable, that the absence of fathers in the lives of African-American children has had a devastating impact of the social, psychological, economic and moral well being of their families. God bless them for having the courage to...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY No matter how you cut it, being a father, or what now constitutes a Father is getting a whole lot fuzzier, and a lot less difficult.. They, my 5 kids, and 5 grand kids call me, Dad, daddy, old man, pa, papa, pop, and even Father, when I am needed most in my role of family patriarch.. Dad, is the rank, position, title, no matter which you choose, they all are music to my ears.. Everything about being a dad has been the only truly redeeming factor of my existence thus far. However, apparently not everyone sees...

The Earliest know picture of Dad and GRRRRR My dad taught me to work hard, be honest and be self reliant. He showed me how to play baseball and came to my games. That gift of sportsmanship has helped me all through my life. Hard work is its own reward. Knowing I have made him happy and proud is the greatest gift I can give back to him. Love ya Dad.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special. . The origin of Father's Day is not clear. Some say that it began with a church service in West Virginia in 1908. Others say the first Father's Day ceremony was held in Vancouver, Washington. Regardless of when the first true Father's Day occurred, the strongest promoter of the holiday was...

Hey, you moms and dads out there showing off the latest photos of your kids and bragging about their recent achievements. You might not want to be quite so smug: Parents are more depressed than adults without kids. Despite the joys you think parenthood may bring, a study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior reports that having children does not make you happier.

FAIRFIELD, Ohio - A soft-spoken suburban real-estate broker, John Prazynski didn't consider himself political and never expected to become a public figure, much less a pro-war activist. But in the year since his son Taylor, a Marine, died in Iraq, Prazynski has devoted much of his time to supporting the troops through fundraisers, two trips to Camp Lejeune, N.C., and interviews backing the war effort. "I could easily have gone the other way," Prazynski said. He says his activism is a tribute to his son, trying to "make something positive happen out of something so negative. That's what Taylor would...