Free Republic

~~snip~~ The Girl Scouts have a cross-dresser in the front office. Ten years ago, Girl Scouts media relations officer Joshua Ackley was frontman for the “homopunk” band the Dead Betties. In publicity shots, he’s dressed in women’s clothing, and in music videos, he appears to be naked and feigning masturbation. The video for “Hellevator” portrays a woman being strangled in an elevator shaft while Mr. Ackley flashes a menacing grin. Today he issues press releases, posts news and views on the Girl Scouts’ blog, and tries to mollify moms who are concerned about Girl Scout ties with Planned Parenthood. In...

Everybody just relax. Islam is badly misunderstood. The negative stereotype of Islam is the usual evil-doings of Zionists in America and their foolish fellow travelers, fundamentalist Christians. Please don’t listen to what these hatemongers say about Islam and hear us out. So implies the nationally-launched campaign of Muslim organizations in the United States. Ads are popping up in newspapers and magazines proclaiming the magnificence of Islam and aiming to refute the “false allegations” of Islam’s ill-wishers.

Baltimore Orioles slugger Luke Scott(notes) stopped by baseball's winter meetings Tuesday and, after some harmless chatter about his team's offseason dealings, stated with conviction that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Oh, yes, he did. Scott's opinion about the president's birthplace — while certainly not unique — was a stunning climax to a friendly and frank 20-minute Answer Man session that spanned his enthusiasm for baseball, hunting, firearms, personal responsibility and smaller government. "(Obama) was not born here," Scott asserted to Answer Man in the session's last segment. "That's my belief. I was born here. If...

"A few may genuinely believe global warming is a left-wing plot. Others may be singing the tune of corporate benefactors. And many Republicans have seized on the cap-and-trade climate bill as another way to paint Democrats as out-of-control taxers. "In one way or another, though, all are custodians of a strategy whose guiding principle has been to avoid debate about solutions to climate change by denying its existence — or at least by diminishing its importance. The strategy worked, destroying hopes for Congressional action while further confusing ordinary citizens for whom global warming was already a remote and complex matter....

WASHINGTON – The FBI probe of two men arrested in Amsterdam after suspicious items turned up in one of the men's luggage is finding they were probably not on a test run for a future terror attack, a U.S. official said Tuesday, casting doubt on earlier suggestions even as Dutch authorities held the pair on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

For the last week or so, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has presented relentless coverage of the Ground Zero Mosque issue. All of the coverage was in favor of the Mosque. Comedy Central are even pleadingly presenting the Muslim generated straw-man arguments. CC insists that it is not a mosque, it is a 'cultural center' (yeah right) and Muslims are good honest people and only Al Quiada is bad. We know that the Left uses, so called, 'comedy', to say what they really believe and to attack people personally in the most vulgar way possible. The Daily Show is...

...the near future: Augustus Merryweather IV glanced up at the tapping on his office door. Harvey Carbunkle stood there... "You're firing me?" "I have no choice. Your work, ...it hasn't been up to the standard we expect for an editor at Merryweather Publishing. Frankly, I'm surprised. When I saw that you were a graduate of BU, I couldn't wait to hire you..." A proud smile. "Yes, sir. That's Beck University." Augustus was confused. "I've never heard of..." ..."You know, Glenn Beck? ...He founded an online university back in 2010 so people could learn the real truth they don't get in...

Let's document here the numerous death threats the Left has made against us and right-wing politicians. A few that come to my mind immediately: The movie "Death of a President" (2006) by British film makers Gabriel Range and Simon Finch Cindy Sheehan's Book: "Peace Mom" in which she fantasizes about going back in time and killing the infant George W. Bush. Alec Baldwin's suggestion on the David Letterman show that Henry Hyde and his family should be dragged into the street and stoned to death. Nicholson Baker's " Checkpoint," a novella conversation between two people about the advisability of assassinating...

Majority of Republicans: Obama is a Muslim A new national Louis Harris poll finds that a majority of Republicans believe that President Obama is a Muslim, while 45 percent agree with the so-called "Birthers" that the president was "not born in the United States." The poll of 2,230 Americans, taken during last weekend's health care showdown in the House of Representatives, shows how successful Obama's opponents have been in demonizing the 44th president. Full results are expected tomorrow, but preliminary findings were released in The Daily Beast by John Avlon, whose book "Wingnuts" details the hyper-partisanship that has swept America...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who is accused of beheading his wife is due in a Buffalo courtroom for proceedings in advance of his murder trial. Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan is tentatively scheduled to stand trial later this month for the death of his wife, Aasiyah Hassan, last year. Pretrial motions are scheduled for Friday.

It dawned with the warmest winter on record in the United States. And when the sun sets this New Year's Eve, the decade of the 2000s will end as the warmest ever on global temperature charts. Warmer still, scientists say, lies ahead. Through 10 years of global boom and bust, of breakneck change around the planet, of terrorism, war and division, all people everywhere under that warming sun faced one threat together: the buildup of greenhouse gases, the rise in temperatures, the danger of a shifting climate, of drought, weather extremes and encroaching seas, of untold damage to the world...

Clueless Chris Matthews: "See - we have a problem," Matthews said. "How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he's an Islamist until he's made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever, according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al Qaeda. Is that the point at which you say, ‘This guy is dangerous?' That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?" [VIDEO AT SITE]I love it how Dr. Jasser is trying to...

<p>Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in yesterday's Fort Hood shootings that killed 13 and wounded 30, identifies as a Muslim.</p> <p>Much has and will be made of his religion from people too ignorant to read a Qur'an, or too isolated to talk to a Muslim, or too stubborn to educate themselves. Even the Washington Post calls him a "devout Muslim." But can a "devout Muslim" commit such acts? No more than a "devout Christian" can, no.</p>

A hacker's claim that he compromised the successor to President Obama's campaign Web site appears to be a hoax, according to information that surfaced since the matter came to light early Monday. The kerfuffle started when a hacker and blogger with a history of posting evidence of security vulnerabilities in popular and high-traffic Web sites published evidence indicating that poor security at barackobama.com had exposed internal databases at the site. The hacker, identified only as "Unu," claimed that a security flaw in barackobama.com allows anyone to view the user names and passwords needed to administer the site. With that access,...

The White House launched a coordinated effort Tuesday to combat what it calls a “viral whisper campaign” to torpedo health care reform. Its playbook: the same one Barack Obama’s campaign used in 2008 to shoot down rumors and questions about his citizenship, faith and patriotism. The new offensive started early Tuesday morning when the White House posted a video response to a hodgepodge of clips on the Drudge Report that portrayed President Obama as favoring the elimination of private insurance. On the White House blog, Obama’s director of new media, Macon Phillips, asked supporters to send in leads for debunking...

In case you haven't heard, President Obama is a member of a secret Kenyan terrorist cell who is scheming to dispatch waves of government bureaucrats to tell grandmas and grandpas how to off themselves. Such is the intellectual weight of a segment of the Republican Party these days. Or as one commentator recently put it, the GOP has decided "to double down on crazy." We're talking about two controversies here, one involving the so-called birther movement, which questions the citizenship of the president; the other involving mandatory "end-of-life" counseling that's supposedly part of the president's health care plan. The controversies...

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3179840 As some of you may have noticed, recently the Republican Party has begun cracking down on the "birthers", realizing that openly supporting the most crazy members of your party is, well, problematic for appealing to non-crazy people. This, of course, leads to even more crazy, as they turn on their leaders for hiding the "truth". It's a drat shame to let all this crazy go to waste, when properly cultivated and raised it could be so much more. So welcome to the first FreeRepublic Infiltration Contest! We're going to infiltrate freerepublic as agents provocateur. This can take several forms;...

<p>WASHINGTON — The false allegation that President Barack Obama was born in another country is more than a fact-free hit job.</p> <p>Marked by accusations and backstabbing, it's the story of how a small but intense movement called "birthers" rose from a handful of people prone to seeing conspiracies, aided by the Internet, magnified without evidence by eager radio and cable TV hosts, and eventually ratified by a small group of Republican politicians working to keep the story alive on the floors of Congress and the campaign trails of the Midwest.</p>

Why a website defending government? Because for decades, conservatives have been attacking government and not enough has been done to defend it. Ever since Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 that "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem," Republicans have been waging a political war against this institution. Their core message: the free market is good and government is bad.

In the seven weeks since Notre Dame announced President Barack Obama as its 2009 Commencement speaker, the campus has seen prayer gatherings, academic debates, banner-flying planes and bloodied baby dolls in strollers. Now, with a week and a half to go until Obama lands in South Bend to address the graduating class, another group has arrived in town to demand Notre Dame be stripped of its Catholic identity.It's really been quite the month and a half. I spent the entire day stuck in the library studying for exams, but luckily the South Bend Tribune was on the scene Tuesday to...

A couple of years ago, when speaking to a local group, I mentioned that The Chronicle was losing money. A couple in the back of the room rudely applauded. How thrilled those two must have felt when - if - they learned of Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega's announcement Tuesday that the Hearst Corp. will implement "significant" workforce cuts. If the cuts don't pay off, then the Hearst Corp. will "offer the newspaper for sale or close it altogether." Bloggers and e-mailers are crowing. If The Chronicle is shuttered, they'll be dancing a jig. Many conservatives feel a warm glow at...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009, the Christian Action Network premiered Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S. at Washington, D.C.’s Landmark Theater. The crowd of 160-175 people left the theater with their jaws dropped, only moving their mouths to thank the members of CAN for their hard work. The robust Q&A session brought only positive remarks and constructive questions about the networks of an organization known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a group led by a Pakistan-based cleric named Sheikh Mubarak Gilani with at least 35 radical Islamic compounds here in the United States under the name “Muslims of America.” A key feature...

During the Monday 12PM EST hour of MSNBC news coverage, anchor Norah O’Donnell interviewed conservative film maker John Ziegler, creator of ‘Media Malpractice,’ a documentary on media bias against Sarah Palin, and denied any such bias: "Well, let me ask you, you called the treatment of Sarah Palin and her family a, quote, 'media assassination, one of the greatest public injustices of our time.' Is that a little strong? Are you and her a little thin-skinned?" Ziegler responded by pointing out O’Donnell’s own anti-Palin bias: "The evidence is overwhelming. It's continuing today. I mean, just a few weeks ago, Norah,...

Fox news, other news channel, presser coming up.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain on Wednesday of stooping to low tactics by labeling the Democrat a socialist. "I don't know what's next," Obama, the presidential candidate, said at an outdoor rally in North Carolina. "By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Obama turned to ridicule to rebut McCain's daily references to Obama's encounter with "Joe the Plumber." McCain has capitalized on a moment when Obama told an Ohio plumber that he...

...For months, the Democratic nominee has advocated a rough 16-month timetable for withdrawal, and for months, his Republican rival has said such a schedule would amount to "surrender." That was a fertile ground for debate. But last week ...Bush and Maliki agreed on the idea of a "time horizon" for withdrawing American troops, and Maliki said that U.S. troops should leave "as soon as possible, as far as we're concerned." "U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about sixteen months," he said. "That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." All...

What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are? Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required. Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph...

Must see - several clips of Obama before the speech and Obama during the speech, complete contradictions.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Barack Obama is being endorsed by fellow Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee who lost to George W. Bush that year and gave up his own plans for a 2008 run a year ago.[snip]Besides any potential help for Obama, Thursday's endorsement was a slap at Edwards, who was Kerry's running mate in the last election. The two had their differences during the campaign over strategy and spending. In post-mortem interviews, Edwards said he would have been more aggressive in challenging the unsubstantiated allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Vietnam War veterans...

For some people, ending a pregnancy is the only way to keep on living Yael Mishali Published: 12.26.07, 00:39 / Israel Opinion Abortion is a type of murder; I have no doubt about that. In this context we can debate over questions such as the duration of a pregnancy and when exactly do several cells turn into a person with a soul, but I have no interest in doing that. I accept the universal assumption that as of a certain moment, we are talking about a real person, and “aborting it” is a type of murder. And still, as a...

It’s New Year’s Eve a few years back: candles are lighted in Emily’s “cozy one-bedroom” apartment, iTunes shifts seamlessly from the Magnetic Fields to Maria Callas to Nina Simone, and although we love to look out her second-story windows at the packs of people clamoring between bars and parties, and although we half-made plans to go to bars and parties ourselves, there’s no way we’re going out. The abortion is scheduled for two days from now, and we’re holing up.

The rumors first surfaced during Obama's run for Senate but took off in a viral e-mail campaign in 2006. One e-mail called Obama "The Enemy Within." GOP strategist Ed Rogers also pointedly mentioned Obama's middle name, Hussein. In January, the Obama campaign was forced to denounce Fox News for repeating a false Insight magazine report that he had spent fours years in an Indonesian madrasa, an Islamic school. Though CNN sent out a reporter who found that the school Obama had attended had nothing in common with the Pakistani incubators for jihadists, and though his campaign has set the record...

It's no secret that I don't care much for Ron Paul, but after reading some of the hurt and angry responses from Ron Paul fans to his first place finish in the Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Least Favorite People On The Right (2007 Edition) poll, I thought it might be worth taking the time to explain to them why Paul is so unpopular with mainstream conservatives. In an effort to be polite, I am not going to be snarky about it, but I should forewarn Paul's fans and, for that matter, any "Big L" Libertarians who may be reading, that...

There's a radical theory that's being considered in hushed tones. That the 9/11 conspiracy chorus, which started to rise before the ashes of that day had completely fallen, has reached a natural and final crescendo. That despite the tremendous popular success of online videos, forums and books -- claiming the U.S. government was behind the deaths of almost 3,000 people, the planes were remote drones and the towers were brought down with military-planted explosives or missiles -- the movement has left its most productive days behind. That -- even as it, according to a poll last year, convinced a third...

Dear Camille, To those of you against the war in Iraq, here is what you do not understand: Iraq is but one battle in the 60-plus-year ideological struggle we call "the war on terror." Do you really want to leave Iraq and wait for the enemy and ideology that dropped the World Trade Center to grow into a much stronger, deadlier and efficient killing force? Did you not understand or believe President Bush in his address to the nation on Sept. 20, 2001, when he said: "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but does not end there ......

Rudy Giuliani never misses an opportunity to remind people about his track record in fighting crime as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. "I began with the city that was the crime capital of America," Giuliani, now a candidate for president, recently told Fox's Chris Wallace. "When I left, it was the safest large city in America. I reduced homicides by 67 percent. I reduced overall crime by 57 percent." While crime did fall dramatically in New York during Giuliani's tenure, a broad range of scientific research has emerged in recent years to show the mayor deserves...

It was hard to tell what was making Andrea Mitchell angrier: Bill O'Reilly's assertions that NBC has a liberal bias, or his repeated and perhaps ungentlemanly references to the lady's "30 years" of experience. In any case, the look on Andrea's face was unmistakable: she was not the happiest of campers. Mitchell appeared on this evening's Factor for purposes of touting her new book. But kudos to O'Reilly for taking the occasion to directly confront a leading NBC light with the network's undeniable leftward tilt - which Mitchell proceeded to flatly deny. This is must-see video, which you can...

Islam teaches peace, they told anyone who would listen in news conferences, at interfaith services and, most famously, standing in a mosque with President Bush. But five years later, the target audience for their pleas has shifted. Now the faith's American leaders are starting to warn fellow Muslims about a threat from within. The 2005 subway attacks in London that investigators say were committed by British-born and -raised Muslims, and the relentless Muslim-engineered sectarian assaults on Iraqi civilians, are among the events that have convinced some U.S. Muslims to change focus. "This sentiment of denial, that sort of came as...

One person was killed and at least 14 others injured when a rampaging man intentionally targeted pedestrians with his sport utility vehicle in San Francisco and Fremont on Tuesday afternoon, according to police. The driver, Omeed Aziz Popal, 29, of Fremont, was taken into custody on suspicion of 14 counts of attempted murder and one count of willful flight after causing serious injury or death, according to San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens. The spree apparently began around noon across the bay, where Fremont Police Sgt. Chris Mazzone said a 55-year old man was struck and killed by a black...

An LGF reader has forwarded the following email (I suppose you could say our reader “leaked” it), sent to all Associated Press employees, congratulating themselves on the propaganda photos from Qana and awarding the photographers cash prizes: "Dear Staffers: Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. AP’s extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide. Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of...

Grassroots Democrats weighing in on several popular liberal web sites Thursday morning said that they were troubled by reports that al Qaeda's top operational terrorist, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, had been killed in a U.S. air strike. Reacting to the news, one visitor to the Daily Kos complained that using military force to kill Zarqawi "violates everything my America stands for." "It violates the rule of law and invokes the rule of force in what should be a criminal, not a military, matter." Another Daily Kos'er was irked because he thought the news would benefit President Bush: "No doubt Karl...

No terrorism in deadly Toronto doughnut shop explosion: police Last Updated Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:16:42 EDT CBC News Police have ruled out terrorism as the cause of an explosion at a Tim Hortons doughnut shop in a trendy downtown area of Toronto on Sunday, killing one man. The victim was likely an arsonist or attempting suicide, Staff Sgt. Don Cole of Toronto police told reporters hours after the explosion. "He's not a strap-on al-Qaeda bomber guy," Cole said. "It sounds to me like a guy who either wanted to do a torch job or commit suicide." Police said...

There was no Clinton pillow talk over the former first couple's split on the Dubai port deal - because the ex-president's lips were sealed. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton revealed yesterday that her husband never confided in her that he was advising Dubai leaders...

As a Ph.D. Islamologist and Arabist I really hate to say this, but I'll say it anyway: 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. The war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape. It's a tough thing to admit because I know on which side my bread is buttered and dropping Islam from the 9/11 equation is dropping my slice of bread butter-side-down. The myth that 9/11 had something to do with Muslims has poured millions, if not billions, into Arabic and Islamic studies. I finished my Ph.D. last year, so all I have to...

Many of you have heard conservative traditionalists rant about "The Gay Agenda." But no one really knows what that agenda is. Well, I've discovered a copy, and I will summarize it for you: 8am - Protein shake 9am - Work out at the gym 10am - Rape straight men, give pornography to children, bulldoze all churches and destroy the sanctity of marriage (or what's left of it after Fox's "Married By America.") Hey, wait a minute... Some of the most important people in my life are gay men and lesbian women. And I can assure you, being gay does not...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on the resounding Democratic victories in elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and across the country: "The resounding victories tonight by Jon Corzine and Tim Kaine have sent a powerful message that when Democrats stand up for what we believe in, we win. They showed that the values and priorities of the Democratic Party are the values and priorities of the American people. "Jon Corzine and Tim Kaine were strong candidates who offered vision and leadership based on the shared values and priorities of the...

MINISTRY Mainman: GEORGE W. BUSH Is A 'Loser' - Oct. 25, 2005 Jeff Kerby of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen. A few excerpts from the chat follows: KNAC.COM: I've been dying to ask you this since last November — what was running through your mind when you saw the electoral map and state after state kept coming up Bush red? Jourgensen: "First of all, we were in Nashville that night — a red state. Let me tell you…we were walking around that night because we were on tour, and people were stunned, so as far...

A 17-year-old has died after explosives he appears to have been trying to make in his Oslo flat detonated. The blast blew out some windows in the block and left the victim's 19-year-old brother injured. Three other friends escaped unhurt. Norwegian police said internet instructions on how to make explosives and some powder were found at the flat. Police are questioning those present but are not reported to think they had links to any extremist groups. Other apartments in the three-storey block were evacuated after the blast. "At the scene we found written instructions on how to make explosives and...

A 17-year-old has died after explosives he appears to have been trying to make in his Oslo flat detonated. The blast blew out some windows in the block and left the victim's 19-year-old brother injured. Three other friends escaped unhurt. Norwegian police said internet instructions on how to make explosives and some powder were found at the flat. Police are questioning those present but are not reported to think they had links to any extremist groups. Other apartments in the three-storey block were evacuated after the blast. "At the scene we found written instructions on how to make explosives and...

DR. DEAN: I said I wasn't sure, but I said I thought there probably were. But the thing that really bothered me the most, which the 9-11 Commission said also wasn't true, is the insinuation that the president continues to make to this day that Osama bin Laden had something to do with supporting terrorists that attacked the United States. That is false. The 9-11 Commission, chaired by a Republican, said it was false.