Free Republic

Shortly before the Revolutionary War, one-third of the colonists were for independence, one-third were content with the British tax system and left-side-of-the-road travel, and one-third were neutral or completely unaware of what was going on. Naturally, for a nation seeking direction, the wise thing to do would be to base their course of action on the last second thoughts or whims of that latter third, right? That's how we seem to handle it these days. If you don't have an opinion, we'll make you have one, and sometimes even drive you to the polls! What a bad way to run...

According to USA Today, a pet-cloning company called "Genetic Savings and Clone" in California has created two cats. The company says that the clones, Tabouli and Baba Ganoush, are similar to the clonee, Tahini, in every way – including the propensity to become incredibly nervous when driven near a restaurant that serves Middle Eastern food. This news comes just a couple of years after researchers at Texas A&M successfully cloned a domestic cat, named "CopyCat." The researchers had already cloned a pig, a bull and a goat, and now, odds are, they're working on duplicating a can of Carpet Fresh....

Is how accurately a politician throws a baseball a reason that they should win your vote? This seemingly ridiculous question came to me while watching John Kerry at a Red Sox-Yankees game, throwing out – or down rather – the first pitch. I cringed, expecting an uproar by animal-rights activists because of rumors that a ground mole that was living 10 feet in front of the plate met it's demise. In addition, having spent the past few seasons as a Detroit Tigers fan, I suffered traumatic and painful flashbacks due to Kerry's wild pitch. The latter would make for an...

In June of 2003, when John Kerry was running third in the polls and facing an uphill battle in his quest to be the presidential nominee for the Democrats, I wrote a column titled John's hair will Kerry the Day. It was a light-hearted look at how the candidate with the best hair always seems to get the nomination. Now, Kerry's rubbing in the fact that he thinks he has the best hair, and it's time for the follicly challenged to fight back. The gloves are off ... along with our hair. Balding men of America: Unite to defeat John...

The media frenzy is reaching a fever pitch this week now that Bill Clinton's memoir, "My Life," has become the former president's most heavily reported release outside of the Oval Office. Media outlets are saturating the airwaves and newspapers with all things Clinton, but nobody's drinks have been spiked with more Spanish Fly than those at CBS. Their coverage is so intense and giddy that this is going to become one of those "you remember where you were when ..." type of events, with the answer for many of us being "vomiting." CBS is at the forefront, and behaving less...

There's not much that can be said after the events last week celebrating the life of Ronald Reagan, other than "wow." The processions, the dignitaries, the bands, the military, and the memories all fit together perfectly. There were a few protesters, as could be expected. At first it struck me as repugnant, the very idea of protesting during a funeral, but then the optimism and wit that filled Reagan spilled over and softened my opinion. It occurred to me that, if Ronald Reagan was told that there were a few protesters near his funeral, he'd have said something along the...

Lucidity in the balance: Al Gore's bad trip -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 31, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Doug Powers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com "Nurse Ratchet, white courtesy phone ... Nurse Ratchet, white courtesy phone." The meds cup is on the way ... perhaps a bit too late. Al Gore, speaking of the abuses at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in a recent speech at New York University, stated, "Where do we go to get our good name back?" The man who was Bill Clinton's VP for eight years didn't even snicker when he said this. Ah, yes, the good ol'...

Dear United States Armed Forces, Not wanting the current distractions and finger pointing to be misconstrued as a genuine lack of appreciation by the American people, we thought it necessary to offer you a quick note of "thanks." You've always been there for us, protecting our nation, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, and all while asking nothing in return. This makes you the only exception to the "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is" rule. Thanks to you and your predecessors, we're free. Throughout our history, you've fought for, and won, independence....

Pro-choice was, at one time, a way of life for me. It wasn't necessarily anything pertaining to abortion specifically, but rather a general lackadaisical approach to things in general. Perfectly happy to "la-de-da" my way through this existence, unaffected by any seriousness, and rarely taking sides, I was the Sweden of teenagers – minus ABBA and the ability to stand up on skis. Like any average 18-year-old in the early '80s, I thought that if it didn't happen right in front of my face or in Rolling Stone Magazine, it didn't matter. Cold War threats, the 10th anniversary of Roe...

The way that Americans deal with crisis and stress is impressive. Let's face it – just before you turn on the news or glance at the front page of the paper, your face is probably covered with a cringe expectant of upcoming revulsion, as if you knew you were about to see Gene Shalit naked. In today's world, we're tense, nervous, apprehensive and ... still quite nice to each other. It's time for the media to spend a day pointing that out. Politics and politicians are fluid, and subject to change every so often (excluding Sen. Byrd), but the American...

Apologies to every comic book character ever created, and even some that never were ...In Washington, D.C., last week, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, Al Gore and many other Democrats, got together for what was billed as a "unity dinner." The group put aside their differences to join forces and form the "Stupor-friends" band of not-so-super heroes. Together, they stand united with one goal in mind: to defeat Bush's "Legion of Doom & Halliburton." Let's take a closer look at the major "Stupor-friends," the powers they possess and some general facts about them: Bill Clinton, aka "The DNAvenger," formerly...

The coming religious 'Passion' of Hollywood Posted: March 22, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," is approaching $300 million in box-office cash – and soon will surpass "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and perhaps even Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's amateur film, "Dumb and Hummer," in total worldwide earnings. One thing is certain: Hollywood is taking note, and is sure to begin offering up their own array of religious fare very shortly. Like sharks with chum in the water, the arousal factor of that much cash floating around is what puts the "wood" in...

John Kerry's choice of a vice presidential candidate could be a "make or break" for his campaign. Kerry knows he needs somebody more to his political right, which doesn't narrow it down much, since he could consider every single American and only end up eliminating Michael Moore and Ed Asner from the list of potentials. The latest buzz has been over the possibility of Arizona Sen. John McCain switching parties and becoming Kerry's running mate. Will it happen? At first thought, this may seem plausible, but it won't occur. Recently, McCain further stoked the coals of the rumor furnace after...

13 reasons to vote for Bush Posted: March 8, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Here are 13 things that play into the president's favor this November: 1. Pride in the United States Armed ForcesAbout 228 years ago, a people who were tired of living under a faraway king's laws, taxes and fruity-looking powdered wigs, sacrificed their lives, and in many cases, fortunes, and staged a daring fight for independence. That fight continues, with the U.S. military at the forefront. There is no whining by the U.S. military. There is no pomp and circumstance. There are no flagrantly overexaggerated marches, like the...

Here are 13 things that will play into the president's favor this November: 1. Pride in the United States Armed Forces About 228 years ago, a people who were tired of living under a faraway king's laws, taxes and fruity-looking powdered wigs, sacrificed their lives, and in many cases, fortunes, and staged a daring fight for independence. That fight continues, with the U.S. military at the forefront. There is no whining by the U.S. military. There is no pomp and circumstance. There are no flagrantly overexaggerated marches, like the limp-wristed goose-step and other "Chorus Line-ish" promenades that prove nothing other...

"The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone" – Frankenstein's monster, in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly's "Frankenstein" Step aside, big fella, because Hollywood has created it's own monster. He's also going it alone, but, unlike Frankenstein's monster, not lamenting that fact. The wealthy, talented beast that learned his craft and gained a vast fortune from the Left Coast masters has turned on them, and his name is Mel Gibson. From Tinseltown power brokers all the way down to the rank-and-file casting-couch slimeballs, many cogs...

Soldier of political fortune: John Kerry's military disservice Posted: February 16, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com As a kid in the early '70s, I remember catching glimpses of the fallout from the war on the TV news. The death of my cousin, a proud Marine, in Vietnam brought the war home to my family several years earlier, and I'd heard them talking about it, but I was too young to understand what was happening. All I knew was that, whatever it was, it was something controversial. We watched nightly as Walter Cronkite showed us people burning draft cards, throwing rocks, and...

Most of us are well aware of what happened during halftime of the Super Bowl. The Federal Communications Commission is investigating, CBS is apologizing, and advertisers are asking for refunds. After the halftime display, shock and dismay circled the globe. Well, not really shock. The real surprise was that it wasn't that shocking. Did anyone really expect to have Janet Jackson, who resembles her brother Michael circa 1987, only more masculine and without the Cub Scout entourage, on stage, and not expect something controversial? Who would possibly think that P. Diddy, Puff Doodle, Pop Cheeto – or whatever he calls...

Iowa's nickname of the "Hawkeye" state is thought to either have been first applied by a newspaper writer as a tribute to Chief Blackhawk, or some think it was taken from the name of the scout, Hawkeye, in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." Those things have, for some reason, evolved into what the word has come to symbolize today – a bird of prey. The transformation of the meaning of the word must have started around the time politicians arrived for the first Iowa caucus. I don't live in Iowa, but if I did, on the night...

The pictures of the surface of Mars, beamed back from NASA's Spirit Rover, were fantastic. The photos show a flat, barren, rock-speckled surface, awash in a red glow, leading into absolute nothingness; a maroon of desolation and emptiness – like wearing 3-D glasses and looking at Anna Nicole Smith's CAT scan. If President Bush has his way, manned missions to the Red Planet may in the not-too-distant future, but would the eventual colonization of Mars really make us a happier species? One of the first problems will be convincing qualified people to even consider going. A simple observation of the...