Free Republic

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, what happened this week at the Supreme Court is profound regardless the outcome. It was an eye-opening experience for millions of Americans that were paying attention maybe for the first time to this kind of thing. But the reason that I harp on this is... and I'm still struggling with a way to explain this to you. The reason I think it's profound is that the next time one of these events such as Hayward just reviewed in this horrible month for the Democrats, the next time the media and the Democrat Party get...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The prosecutor in the Casey Anthony murder trial has decided to retire, sources told WFTV on Tuesday. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton was part of the team of attorneys who tried to prove that Casey Anthony was guilty of killing her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony. However, the prosecution was not successful. Casey was found not guilty Tuesday in a case that captivated the nation as it played out on national television from the moment the toddler was reported missing three years ago.

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. -- A pedestrian struck by a car and killed just north of the international border was identified Friday as a 31-year-old Tijuana woman. Alma Luz Alfaro Gonzalez was crossing the street in a crosswalk at Paseo de las Americas at Siempre Viva Road when she was hit by a tractor-trailer rig making a right turn just after 6 p.m. Thursday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. San Diego police Officer David Stafford said the woman was talking on her cell phone and ignored a red light. Witnesses gave aid to the woman and called...

Obama's "million-mouthed dog," Organizing for America (OFA), was especially busy the week leading up to Obama's commencement address at Hampton University on May 9, in which he bemoaned information technology as "a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment." On May 6, the OFA blog encouraged its 13 million supporters to engage in the "fun" technology of the President's twitter account:

The recent scandals surrounding the climate change debate and the science behind climate change have prompted politicians and law makers across the country to order climate scientists to hand over the data that represents their findings.  In some cases, climate scientists have even been threatened with criminal charges if it is found that data was intentionally altered for the purposes of furthering a pro-climate change agenda. 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences have responded to these charges in an open letter entitled Climate Change and The Integrity of Science.  The letter denounces the charges made against them by...

This is a Democrat inspired game to distract conservatives from pending policy initiatives. There is a game of distractions being played in Washington, D.C. right now. It is both intentional and designed to minimize conservative strengths. We must not play the game as the left would have us play it. Here is how the game is played. The President pushes cap and trade to the Senate while also advancing socialized healthcare. As those balls advance, the Attorney General makes rumblings about prosecuting individuals who engaged in enhanced interrogation techniques. While conservatives get distracted by the Attorney General, the administration claims...

Does anyone else think Kris Allen, who was very good won American Idol over Adam Lambert who was great because Red Staters siad "No!" to Lmabert for reasons other than talent? Lambert is the best ever on the show, but I think he was denied because Red State America has had "enough." I hope I'm wrong, just thinking out loud.

SAN LEANDRO -- A teenager who was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in San Leandro while apparently absorbed in a cell phone call was identified by the Alameda County coroner's office today as 16-year-old Daniel Segundo. Segundo, a San Leandro resident, walked around a lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks before being hit at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the Oakland station, authorities said. The circumstances of Segundo's death remain under investigation. None of the 20 passengers or crew aboard the train was...

Can any legislation be successful in banning all distractions for motorists? Like California, many states are banning the use of cell phones while driving a car, and some bans go way beyond cell phones. So far, Vermont may have the longest list of no-nos for motorists, with a proposed law that even prohibits playing the flute while driving. I've played a bit of flute in my time — not very well — but not as badly as if I were trying to drive and "tootle" at the same time. The Vermont law also would forbid such driving distractions as smoking,...

In Colombia, beauty can kill. Drivers ogling attractive women rather than paying attention to the road are one of the South American country's leading causes of car accidents. Distraction was the No. 1 cause of the 115,000 road accidents in Colombia last year, costing the equivalent of about $250 million Cdn, according to research by the Road Safety Fund, a private organization. The cell phone was the biggest distraction for drivers, accounting for about 10 per cent of all accidents. Second was men staring at women, which accounted for nearly one in 20 crashes. "It's a culture here of drivers...

Forty years ago this month, I began training to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil. I was excited to be going to serve in the only South American country where Spanish is not the principal language. I would be deployed by myself to a small city in the interior, so the necessity to become proficient in Portuguese was the cornerstone of my comprehensive training. The returned Peace Corps volunteers from Brazil who were part of the training staff told us that we would become fluent within six months. I found that hard to believe, but it came to...

In a Feb. 4 News story, "Panel: No phones for newest drivers," 16-year old Annie Lewis testified in favor of a bill to ban cell phone use by teen drivers as a safety measure. Asked, perhaps with a considerable amount of sarcasm, whether she would also support a ban on eating while driving, she responded: "As far as food goes, it's not talking back to you." With that astute observation, she exhibited far greater wisdom than the many who oppose any ban on cell phone use while driving. As Lewis so wisely stated, the problem with cell phone use while...

The United States has deflated tin-pot dictator Fidel Castro's latest attempt to act tough by describing his massive new military exercises as a mere attempt to distract the Cuban people from the hardships of their lives in his tropical gulag. Cuba's paranoid defense minister, Raul Castro, brother of the paranoid dictator, claims the military maneuvers are supposed to deter the United States from attacking the island. As if we'd bother. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted Monday that the United States repeatedly had urged Cuba to begin a peaceful transition to freedom. "We think that's what the Cuban people deserve,...

<p>This year's award for "Legislation Not Supported by Facts or Research But We're Going to Pass It Anyway" goes, once again, to the California Assembly, this time for a bill that would fine drivers for using hand-held cell phones.</p> <p>Only the California Senate and governor stand in its way now. If you are not a Californian, you won't be left out: Similar legislation has already been enacted in New York and is pending, in some form, in more than 40 states.</p>