http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/despotism/ en-us Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:49:19 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2095716/posts British authorities arrested three Muslims in London on Saturday after fires broke out in the offices of the publishing house Gibson Square and at the home of the publisher, Martin Rynja. Gibson Square had been planning to publish The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones, a trashy novel sensationalizing the marriage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to the child Aisha (Muhammad was in his fifties, and Aisha was nine, when the happy union was consummated). Cross Action News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2095716/posts#comment Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:49:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2091977/posts Reports continue to come in that Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign is threatening legal action against his critics. On Tuesday (September 23), CBS affiliate KMOV reported that Obama had enlisted a number of Missouri law enforcement officials, including local sheriffs and prosecutors, “to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad [against Obama] during the presidential campaign." The CBS report is the latest of several incidents where the Obama campaign has threatened critics with civil or criminal prosecution. According to World Net Daily, his campaign “also sent ‘threatening’ letters to several news agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio demanding they... Federal Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2091977/posts#comment Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:29:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090218/posts Bill Maher's Anti-Religion Movie “Religion is detrimental to the progress of society.” That’s my favorite quote from Bill Maher’s often brilliant, but often unfocused “documentary,” called “Religulous.” It opens in early October right after its debut at the Toronto Film Festival. The articulate, quick-witted comedian sets out in this film — which was supposed to have been released last Easter — to prove that line is true. Directed by Larry Charles, the man who put "Borat" together so skillfully, "Religulous" is blatant about Maher’s feelings: religion is bad. All religions are bad. They are ruining everything. If you go for... Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090218/posts#comment Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:58:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086100/posts We hear on the internet underground that hackers and/or script-kiddies have declared an internet war against Fox News and columnist Bill O'Reilly and plan a cyber-assault for later today. Reportedly, parts of O'Reilly's site have already been compromised. This is serious business, no doubt. To get to the bottom of the issue, we spoke to an insider, a frequent poster on a certain well known online support group for young-adult agoraphobics where these things are planned and executed. He prefers to remain anonymous. (We starred-out the names of internet sites because, apparently, they don't like to be noticed.) G4: What... G4TV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086100/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:28:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086012/posts RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content. Many expressed worry the recent comments by Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan — chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council — would fuel terrorism, encouraging attacks on station employees and owners. Foxnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086012/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:07:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084386/posts Much of Barack Obama's political success can be traced to a database listing contact information for millions of people, a tool that has proved invaluable in raising record sums of money and organizing a national volunteer network. Now Obama's presidential campaign is increasingly using the list to beat back media messages it does not like, calling on supporters to flood radio and television stations when those opposed to him run anti-Obama ads or appear on talk shows. It did so as recently as Monday night, when it orchestrated a massive stream of complaints on the phone lines of Tribune Co.-owned... Chicago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084386/posts#comment Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:30:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084450/posts <p>Chicago radio station WGN-AM is again coming under attack from the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama for offering airtime to a controversial author. It is the second time in recent weeks the station has been the target of an "Obama Action Wire" alert to supporters of the Illinois Democrat.</p> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084450/posts#comment Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:28:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067513/posts SEATTLE - Only in Seattle could an event touted as a way to help the environment get washed out during what is supposed to be the driest time of the year. 'By order of the Mayor' - One neighborhood is closed off to car traffic during selected weekends this summer. On Sunday it was the area around 14th and Republican on Capitol Hill, a residential area that's normally quiet anyway. "I think it promotes awareness of whatever we're promoting awareness of," said resident Thomas Hubbard. "A car passes by every once in a while, just people trying to get home.... King 5 news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067513/posts#comment Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:26:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065740/posts “Voter suppression, intimidation and harassment systematically engaged in by the Obama campaign, its allies and supporters.” It is obvious that Hillary Clinton endorsed Obama only because she would probably have been excommunicated from the Democratic Party for failure to do so. The truth is that her campaign accused, and credibly so, the Obama campaign of serious misconduct during the Nevada Caucuses. This misconduct included intimidation of voters and what sounds a lot like Chicago-style machine politics at their worst. We encourage our readers to circulate the following PDF file, and/or the optical character transcription of it, as widely as possible... The Husaria: For Our Freedom and Yours http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065740/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:05:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065551/posts [A]s a public service, the Surrounded by Reality Welcome Team has put together a very brief supplement to last week's Newcomers Guide. No guarantees that you'll be able to pass as a bona fide Ithacan, but it might spare you some small measure of embarrassment: **** Politics - When I voted downtown in February for the primary, the line for the Democratic booth snaked out of the building and it took over an hour to vote. During that time, a single Republican skulked in, looking like he'd just punched out the home team mascot. The concern in Ithaca is that... Ithaca Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065551/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:30:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065525/posts Members of the carpenters union in New York City have ruined any chance that authorities there will take their union out of government oversight by beating unconscious William Davenport, a union dissident running for office in the union. After an August 5 candidates forum, the candidate was beaten by members of the carpenters union audience outside a church. Outside a CHURCH! This thuggery along with continued Mob involvement, indictments and convictions on corruption of union members convinced Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. not to release the union from government oversight.... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com... publiusforum.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065525/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:42:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2063354/posts It seems that 'Media matters' is OK with murder in its name August 15, 2008 'Media matters' is basically a radical group that poses as "fighting inaccuracy", in it's fanatical goal it even cows to Islamic militants' actvists such as "CAIR" and those that dare criticize militant Islamic terrorism against the entire world in the name of Islam and its attempts of conquest (otherwise known as Islamo-fascism) as "islamophobes" their "charge" against Michael Savage (for speaking out against this danger) who just (15 August, 2008) stopped his valid case against CAIR for defamation.. only because of advisors advising him that CAIR's tactics might... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2063354/posts#comment Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:56:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060683/posts The Rev. Robert Jones went to the Capitol last Wednesday hoping to make his voice heard. What he got instead was a swear-word laden rebuke from Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who interrupted Jones' testimony to say: "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bull----." The exchange left Jones, the senior pastor at Oak Park United Methodist Church, stunned and offended. "It is a slap in the face," he said in an interview. The outburst occurred as Jones, 46, testified at an informational hearing on how California will cut global warming emissions. Jones, who is African American, said he went... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060683/posts#comment Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:18:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042974/posts Barack Obama has published an enemies list and conspiracy web on his presidential campaign website, Fight the Smears.The site lists conservative activists David Bossie, Floyd Brown, Bob Perry, Craig Shirley, Bruce Hawkins and James Lacy.The Obama campaign posted an accompanying graphic that lays out a web of connections between the conservatives, groups they represent and their efforts opposing liberals, including "Swift Boat", "Clinton Impeachment" and "Willie Horton Ad".The text never connects any of those listed to 'smears' against Obama, but instead lists their politcal sins such as working with the Minutemen, Ann Coulter, Gary Aldrich, donating to the Swift Boat... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042974/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 17:09:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036252/posts There's a splendid controversy brewing at the University of Chicago--at least we'll consider it splendid so long as it has a happy ending, which now seems likely. The U of C may be best known these days as home to the law school where Barack Obama used to lecture on constitutional law (twice a week!), but in simpler times it was most famous as the academic perch of the great free-market economist Milton Friedman, who died in 2006. So when a prestigious university wants to name a research center after its most celebrated (Nobel prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, etc.,... Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036252/posts#comment Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:12:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2032943/posts More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report. Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report. bbc http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2032943/posts#comment Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:47:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029615/posts As I was 'channel surfing' at my grandmother's house in San Juan this past weekend, I came upon TeleSUR, the new Hugo Chavez T.V. venture, live from Caracas. The programming I saw -- after enduring a cooking show featuring how to make 'arepas', the equivalent in Venezuela of 'pancakes' -- started with anti-U.S., anti-'Imperialists', anti-Bush, et.al. from their news proogramming dept. and then, in the entertainment dept., a segment featuring a musician named Rene Calle 13, who basically told the audience: "F*ck George Bush, he's the worse president ever". Here in the U.S. we have Al Jazeera and other international... TeleSUR TV - Venezuela http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029615/posts#comment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:04:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013698/posts How do you get the Associated Press to use the word "terrorism" in an article without scare quotes? lgf http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013698/posts#comment Fri, 9 May 2008 18:34:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2000111/posts BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Venezuelan armed forces occupied 32 sugar plantations Thursday, the latest in a wave of takeovers that some say is a bid by President Hugo Chavez to regain political momentum and reverse his recent slide in the polls. The farms in Lara state were taken over by army units at the request of the Chavez government's National Land Institute, or INTI. The institute in recent years has handled the takeover of thousands of acres of farmland and turned them over to worker cooperatives. The government last week said it would seize privately owned cement manufacturers, and Wednesday it... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2000111/posts#comment Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:40:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999750/posts Muhammad Al-Munajid: Some of these heretics say: "Islam is not the private property of anyone." So what do they want? They say: "No sect has a monopoly on Islam." So what do they want? They say: "We want to issue rulings." Someone who is ignorant, who does not know any Arabic, or who has no knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence wants to issue rulings?! They say: "We reinterpret the texts." There is a very dangerous conspiracy against the religion of Islam in newspapers and in what these people say. A journalist, or one of those lowlifes, wants to... These people are... MEMRI TV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999750/posts#comment Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:32:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1999801/posts A judge on Thursday dropped nearly half the charges against "private eye to the stars" Anthony Pellicano and a co-defendant at the request of prosecutors, who were preparing to rest their case in the wiretapping and bribery trial. The 28 counts against Pellicano and ex-Los Angeles police sergeant Mark Arneson were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer after federal prosecutors said that witnesses required to prove them could not be brought to court. Both men still face 35 counts in the case, which centers on accusations that Pellicano wiretapped telephones and bribed police and telephone company officials to run... Yahoooooo! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1999801/posts#comment Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:05:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999130/posts Immigration agent Cory Voorhis was found not guilty of violating the law by accessing a confidential government database for political purposes — providing information on illegal immigrants used in a campaign attack ad against now-Gov. Bill Ritter. The federal courtroom was full, with some 50 supporters of Voorhis and members of the public. The jury apparently rejected the prosecution's argument that they would have to find Voorhis guilty simply if he exceeded his authority in going on the National Crime Information Center computer to obtain information on illegal aliens who won plea bargains while Ritter was district attorney. Voorhis admitted... Rocky Mountain News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999130/posts#comment Wed, 9 Apr 2008 20:05:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996231/posts HARARE, Zimbabwe - Security agents and paramilitary police in riot gear are surrounding a Harare hotel housing foreign journalists. A man answering the phone at the hotel says they are taking away some reporters. The man refused to give his name but said about 30 police entered the hotel Thursday and were preparing to take away four or five journalists. Foreign journalists have been in Zimbabwe to cover elections in which President Robert Mugabe's party lost control of parliament. He is apparently facing a runoff for the presidency. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996231/posts#comment Thu, 3 Apr 2008 18:57:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1995550/posts HAVANA (AP) — Cuban shoppers are snapping up DVD players, motorbikes and electric rice cookers that are going on sale to the general public for the first time. Lines stretch out the doors of major government department stores as Cubans gaze at the new gadgets on display. The goods that went on sale Tuesday previously were available only to foreigners. But the government of new President Raul Castro has lifted that ban. There was no sign yet of two highly anticipated items: computers and microwaves, though salespeople said computers would soon hit the shelves. AP) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1995550/posts#comment Wed, 2 Apr 2008 16:48:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975015/posts HEMPSTEAD -- The Trans Texas Corridor may be the most controversial highway ever built in Texas. That is, if it ever gets built. All month, there have been public hearings throughout the area where people have been showing up in droves to oppose it. People don’t drive very fast on Odis Styers’ family ranch near Hempstead, but TxDOT wants that to change. “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful,” Styers said. “It’s a shame a road is gonna mess it up.” The road is the Trans Texas Corridor. The plans call for it to come through here, and with it: separate lanes for... KHOU.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1975015/posts#comment Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:17:59 GMT