Free Republic

Riverdale High School, the stomping ground of comic book legend Archie Andrews, will open its doors to its first openly gay student. Kevin Keller will be the new student to join Archie, Jughead, Veronica, Betty and Reggie, Archie Comics publications announced Thursday. "The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie's hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books," said Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics co-CEO. Kevin will make his entrance in the comic book in...

THREE Mexican cartels have joined forces to destroy a gang of hitmen that has grown into a feared drug-trafficking outfit reaching into Central America. Intelligence reports indicate the Gulf cartel has recruited former rival, La Familia, to crush the Zetas gang in the border state of Tamaulipas, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico's federal police. An official with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this week said the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking organisation, has also joined the alliance against the Zetas, whose rise to power has come to threaten all three cartels. The pact...

Meinhardt Raabe who played the Munchkin coroner in the 1939 MGM film classic "The Wizard of Oz" has died, according to Jean Nelson, founder of the Wizard of Oz Festival in Chesterton.

So, I got to see this as a sneak preview, as I know a bunch of 'insider' friends. I, like many people of my age, grew up thinking the original Clash of the Titans was a classic and Ray Harryhausen's best stop-action work. Well, experience now tells me otherwise, but you can't take away that the original in many ways shaped my love of the Greek mythological genre, and of adventure movies in general. The original (which, unfortunately for it, opened the same week as Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the latter becoming an all-time money maker and classic,...

It was but only a short six years ago today that Air America first began arriving over the airwaves and to your ears. That is if you lived in the small micro-chasm that actually had it on the dial when it first aired. Even though you showed promising growth the first two years, but eventually lying about the amount of venture capital you had was your undoing. Oh wait, that’s not right, you’re undoing was your abysmal ratings...

Before even listening to the show, I had already determined the idea lent itself well to stand-up: “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that, if Jesus was to really come back, given what’s going on in the world today, I don’t think his first priority would be securing a syndication deal with Clearchannel. I’m just sayin’… And this begs the question: If Jesus has his own radio show, and the fairness doctrine was restored, will the stations airing the Jesus Christ show have an obligation to give equal time to Beelzebub? Oh wait… I think we have that already. It’s called the...

Tick, tick, tick … and done. After eight seasons, Fox’s “24” is coming to an end. The groundbreaking action drama will air its final real-time episode in May, the victim of a confluence of circumstances: a swelling budget, declining ratings and creative fatigue. Yet for fans of Jack Bauer, there remains hope. Studio 20th TV is developing a theatrical film that takes Bauer to Europe, and showrunner and executive producer Howard Gordon says other possibilities are being explored as well. “There are other possible iterations of Jack Bauer and his world,” Gordon said (full Q&A with Gordon about series ending...

Actor Dennis Hopper is dying and too weak to testify in his own contentious divorce from wife Victoria Duffy-Hopper, according to his lawyer...As evidence, Mannis included statements from Hopper's doctor and personal assistant. According to Dr. David Agus, Hopper weighs less than 100 pounds and being questioned by his wife's lawyers "could actually threaten his ability to survive the current health crisis."

http://gin-rummy.appspot.com/GinRummyApp/GinRummy.htmlThis is the link to the greatest online gin rummy java game you can find anywhere. Don't give up in our important struggle, but take a little time off now and then to recharge. Warning: this game is very addictive!!!

“So Let it be Written; So Let it be Done!” by Norma Zager If only I could get through one Oscar night without blubbering. There is always a winner that has just lost a parent, one who thanks a parent or spouse for their encouragement and love or another who recounts a story of suffering and anguish guaranteed to turn on the waterworks. Some watch the Oscars with a bowl of popcorn. I bring a box of Kleenex. Watching the Oscars this week, the tears really flowed. The capper of the evening for me was Steven Spielberg and his mother...

Apparently Satanist/Illuminati rapper Jay-Z and his posse made a house call last week, dropping in to spend some quality time with Obama. Here's some pics of them in the Situation Room. What do you suppose Obama would have in common with an entertainer so closely associated with witchcraft symbols, occult lyrics, and illuminati imagery? Wonder what they talked about... Is Jay-Z a satanist? I'm not the first to ask that question. See links here, here, and here

Yeah, yeah, we all know that Avatar's going to get some lovin' at the Oscars, but did you know just how mushy the FAR LEFT is about James Cameron's offensive, cliche-filled, America-bashing, Earth-worshipping money-maker... and WHY?

A little conservative humor....

In the scramble to replace Indiana Senator Evan Bayh after his abrupt retirement, a growing number of grassroots Democrats are pushing an unlikely successor: John Mellencamp. Though nearly 1,500 people have joined the "Draft John Mellencamp for Senate" Facebook group, the singer's far-left politics and inexperience make him a longshot, say state political experts. Still, says Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, Democrats need a "populist candidate" to hang onto Republican-leaning Indiana. Could the outspoken liberal rock star actually win a spot in the Senate? (Watch a Fox report about John Mellencamp's rumored Senate run) What an "inspired" idea:...

25 years ago America's biggest musical stars came together to raise money for African famine relief. The song, Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie's We Are The World, was a 3-time Grammy winner. It also raised more than $63 million for a great and urgent cause. The song included all of the biggest mainstream acts at that time, with the exception of Prince, who flaked out because of his jealousy of Michael Jackson. Fast forward to 2010. Again, America's biggest musical stars came together to produce a song to raise money for a worthy cause: Haitian earthquake relief. However, two points...

Proof positive that life provides us all with an embarassment of riches whether we are wealthy or poor. Today is the day we set aside each year to remind ourselves as much as our loved ones that, perhaps, love is the greatest of all riches. I wanted to post something for Valentine’s Day that says, very simply, how much we appreciate our readers. The task was enormous for several reasons. First, “Thank you” doesn’t cover the enormity of gratitude we feel for our readers who have boosted Grand Rants into one of the top blogs in our first year. It...

Charlie Sheen has been accused of a felony and could face three years in jail. So why is he being given a free pass by the press and Hollywood? One would think that a major TV star showing up at a courthouse in Aspen, facing domestic violence allegations, would merit a blitzkrieg of paparazzi and press. And yet x17, one of the leading celebrity gossip Web sites, which chronicles every Britney Spears-Starbucks entry and exit, and every step Jessica Biel takes on Robertson Blvd., didn’t even send a photographer when Charlie Sheen showed up in court earlier this week with...

Just For Fun: example answer: "I'll have a gin and tonic"

Some days on ABC’s The View, there is absolutely no conservative on the set, even Elisabeth Hasselbeck. On Thursday’s show, the whole panel, including guest host Meghan McCain, endorsed gays in the military. But the liberal unity was really obvious when atheist comedienne Sarah Silverman showed up to promote her Comedy Central show. She said marriage was "gross" and bigoted as long as gays couldn’t marry, ABC also re-aired and applauded – Hasselbeck applauded – Silverman’s Catholic-bashing video urging the Pope to sell the Vatican to feed the hungry. But they omitted the part where Silverman said this sale would...