Free Republic

Recently I’ve been asked about witnessing to “unsaved believers” as one writer called them. I usually refer to them as Christians-in-name-only. They call themselves Christians and do some things that make them appear to be Christians. They go to Church, make regular contributions, sign up for volunteer service projects, even teach Sunday School, but they’re not born again. Being born again means you know you’re a sinner in need of a savior. You believe Jesus died for all your sins and have asked Him to be your Savior. According to Jesus, people who are not born again will be denied...

California's pension system is living in a fantasy world where investment returns average 12.5% annually and there's enough money for everyone.Unfortunately that's not going to happen. A big study from Stanford Professor Joe Nation along with California Common Sense analyzed the need for major cuts to CalPERS, CalSTRS and UCRP.The largest union, CalPERS, has a 82% chance of a budget shortfall in the next 16 years.More highlights via Eric Savitz at Forbes: The June funded ratio, which measures assets to liabilities. is only 74% for CalPERS even using a high-rate of return assumption for its investments. Assume a 6.2% return,...

In an interview with ABC News, President Obama is asked by Barbara Walters if he will "be a mediocre two-term president." "I want to be a really good two-term president," Obama told Waters. Walters then asked Obama if he feels he has been a really good one-term president.

Pakistani officials say NATO forces knew they were opening fire on Pakistani forces, and even apologised to Pakistani officers, throughout the friendly fire incident on a military checkpoint that killed 24 troops near the Afghan border in November. Pakistani officials on Thursday briefed reporters in Washington on their findings, drawn from interviews with survivors and local residents in the remote, mountainous area. Results of NATO's official investigation are due next week. Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC, said it could be an attempt by Pakistani officials to shape public opinion before the NATO report is released. “The Pakistanis...

Apple could face disruption to its iPad sales in China after a court rejected its claim to own the iPad trademark in the country and a rival sought to halt sales of the tablet device in two Chinese cities. The developments are the latest in a long-running dispute between Apple and Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a struggling Taiwanese-owned company that registered trademarks for the name IPAD in many countries long before Apple conceived its smash hit tablet computer. >SNIP< Huizhou Intermediate People’s Court has scheduled a hearing in the other for January 7. “We are starting with these two cities, and...

O don’t know cable. Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey is losing money, viewers, executives — and even her best friend, Gayle King, who bolted this week — in her battle to make OWN Network a relevant programming destination. Winfrey intended to “enlighten” and “inspire” her loyal fan base when transitioning from network TV to cable, but all she’s done is alienate herself, posing as a philosopher rather than a journalist.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) -- Republican presidential contender Herman Cain grew agitated with reporters after a debate with Newt Gingrich and is vowing to never answer questions about allegations of sexual harassment a decade ago. Speaking after a one-on-one debate with rival Gingrich on Saturday, Cain cut off reporters who asked about allegations of sexual harassment and suggested journalists who wanted answers were behaving unethically.

Sally's husband was often abusive. One morning, over breakfast, Hank began yelling at her because she was on the phone instead of keeping him company. Later, after Hank went to work, Sally picked up his shirts from the laundry, ran some other errands for him, and decided to cook his favorite dish for dinner. Do you think Sally did the right thing? Sally, alas, believed that if she could only create an ideal loving home atmosphere, her husband's abusiveness would stop. Unfortunately, she was in fact rewarding her husband's negative behavior. In response to his outbursts, Hank found his chores...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday there is a chance that the government could shutter at the end of this month.

 Criticizing House Republicans for the disaster relief provisions in their budget bill, Reid told reporters, "We're not going to cave on this."



Barry Rubin reports on Arab - especially Egyptian - reactions to Thursday's terror attacks and their aftermath. At one point, either confused or after the terrorists hid among a group of Egyptian soldiers dressed the same way, Israeli soldiers fired and reportedly killed three real Egyptian soldiers. Israel has apologized in line with international norms. Amr Moussa, the man most likely to be Egypt’s next president and known for his hatred of Israel and strong dislike of the United States (a radical nationalist who opposes Islamism but might make a deal with the Brotherhood to get into power and to...

People who hate government will love what's going on in Wildomar. The city just cut its police protection contract from 72 hours a day in officer shifts to just 40. Oh yeah. They're closing City Hall on Fridays. Yippee. The city manager is taking 17.25 furlough days, saving the city $15,000 in salary. Hot dog. And the City Council will meet only once a month. Hallelujah. All this and much more from a city that has only three full-time employees and already has closed one of three parks after voters rejected a mere $28 annual fee. More cuts could be...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Deputies say a man is dead after the motel clerk he tried to sexually assault and rob early Monday morning fought back and killed him. Investigators say 43-year-old Vincent Carson of Orangeburg entered a Days Inn motel at 133 sometime before 6:00 a.m. As the female clerk went into the breakfast room to prepare breakfast, she found Carson waiting inside. The victim said Carson held a knife to her throat and said, "This is a robbery." Investigators said when her attacker slipped the knife into his pants pocket to begin tying her up with plastic ties,...

An Iranian scientist believed to have links to the country's nuclear programme has been shot dead outside his home in Tehran, Iranian media say. Isna news agency named him as Daryoush Rezaei, 35, adding that his wife was wounded and rushed to hospital. In 2010, nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi was killed by a remote-controlled bomb in Tehran. Iran blamed that attack on Israeli secret service Mossad. Israel has long warned about Iran's nuclear programme. Some reports said the latest attack involved assailants on a motorcycle, who shot him in the neck in front of his house. Mr Rezaei was...

It looks like crack, but it is much cheaper, four times more lethal and called “oxi” or “oxidado” (rust). It’s a cocaine derivative, just like crack, but it contains kerosene or gasoline, acetone, battery fluid and other chemicals. The highly addictive drug is smoked, but there are also cases of oxi being grounded up in cigarettes or snorted as powder, and has been showing up in Brazil in alarming rates. Oxi is known as ‘the drug of death’ because it’s extremely harmful to the body and addictive right after the first try. “You use oxi once, and you want to...

What’s bad for Syrian President Bashar Assad is bad for Israel, and vice versa, the dictator’s cousin told The New York Times Tuesday. Rami Makhlouf, a wealthy tycoon, warned that instability resulting from the growing and stubborn protest movement against Assad could have severe repercussions for Israel. Many analysts have said that toppling Assad would weaken the Iranian regime and possibly reduce the nuclear threat from Tehran, but the Times interview did not mention the Islamic Republic. “If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel,” he told the newspaper in an interview conducted...

This year, Good Friday and Earth Day fall on the same day and internet giant Google has chosen to prop up the liberal eco-celebration, and ignore a sacred Christian holiday celebrated by billions worldwide.

Amazing. Not that The One would try an end-around Congress; that’s been his policy M.O. ever since the GOP took back the House. No, what’s amazing is that President Present took sole ownership of this very risky mission instead of forcing Congress to share the blame by demanding an authorization for the operation. If he had gone to Reid and Boehner and asked for an AUMF, he’d have a good chance of getting one. Progressives would have been nervous about another adventure and some tea partiers would have balked at the cost, but Democrats wouldn’t want to defy a president...

That brings the grand total so far up to … 928 cars. Which, believe it or not, is considerably more than its rival, the Nissan Leaf. I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t someone want to own a $41,000 electric car that under some circumstances gets worse mileage than a Prius? Why, it’s downright un-American not to. Peruse Chevrolet’s February sales release, and you’ll notice one number that’s blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company’s detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn’t something that GM wants to...

Now, our scientific overlords inform us that if you just pop a few nukes, somewhere far away from where Dr. Genius parks her SUV, it may not be a total suckage field. Nothing quite reverses the Demon Global Warming like a nice, billowing cloud of carbonaceous aerosols...

"It could be said that human history is marked from the very beginning by the limit God the Creator places upon evil." — John Paul II, "Redemption as the Divine Limit Imposed upon Evil." [1] "Later, when the war was over, I thought to myself the Lord God allowed Nazism twelve years of existence, and after twelve years the system collapsed. Evidently this was the limit imposed by Divine Providence upon that sort of folly." — John Paul II, "The Limit Imposed on Evil in European History." [2] I. Pope John Paul II will be beatified on the Feast of...

My name is Edward L. Daley, and I'm what's known as a deist. That is to say that I embrace no particular religious faith, yet I do believe in an eternal creator of all life and existence... as best we understand those terms. I simply do not claim to know the motives or methods of our creator.

In a recent New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof attacked Catholic Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix. Olmsted did something that Kristof considers unconscionable. He made a moral decision that was consistent with the Bible and the teachings of his Church-and he had the audacity to act upon it. In late 2009 a pregnant woman suffering from pulmonary hypertension went to St. Joseph’s Catholic Hospital in Phoenix for treatment. And part of the treatment was an abortion. Now it is true that pregnancy can be a mortal risk for a woman with pulmonary hypertension. But from the bishop’s point of view,...

As we head into Super Bowl XLV, where Christina Aguilera is slated to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner," let's pause to remember some of the previous celebrities who've tested their lungs with the anthem...

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Sales of semi-automatic Glock handguns have surged since Jared Loughner gunned down six and injured 14 more, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on the weekend. According to Bloomberg, one-day sales of pistols in Arizona leapt 60% on January 10 - the Monday after the shooting, compared to the previous week. The owner of two Arizona gun shops told Bloomberg the store was "at double our volume over what we usually do.”

Just felt a pretty decent quake here in San Jose. Not enough to get me off the couch. It was weird. It's like it was taking batting practice witha few fits and starts then... a good slow rumble. I am guessing it lasted 3 seconds. Anyone else feel it? Nothing on the News.

A new year causes most folks to decide on their resolutions for the coming year. Rather than setting in stone resolutions, which will no doubt be broken by mid-January, I try to use this time to count the blessings I have received during the past year. Reflecting on all the good in my life is a humbling experience each and every time. My blessings are beyond measure as I have a loving family and a large circle of friends who mean the world to me. This year, these blessings also include a very special lady who gifted me with the...

MONT VERNON – A father and daughter, whose courage and indomitable spirits served to comfort the rest of New Hampshire during their own grueling ordeal, are the New Hampshire Union Leader's 2010 Citizens of the Year. The ordeal of David J. Cates and his daughter, Jaimie, actually began in October of 2009 with the brutal attack on the then 11-year-old girl and her mother, Kimberly, in their Mont Vernon home. It continued in 2010 with the arrest of several young men in connection with the crime and, in November, with the nine-day murder trial of the first defendant, Steven Spader....

In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles "Engine Charlie" Wilson was asked how he would handle conflicts of interests in the Defense Department's dealings with his old firm. Wilson replied that "for years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa." For decades, Wilson's comment -- misquoted as "What's good for General Motors is good for the country" -- has been paraded by liberals as an example of conservatives putting the concerns of a giant corporation ahead of those...

Glenn Beck One positive from all the medical tests: giant milkshakes! See you tomorrow on radio and TV!

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -24 (see trends).

Liberals love their billionaires, a very long and sometimes radical list that includes Barack Obama's special favorites Warren Buffet and George Soros. Warren Buffet provides economic advice to his goofy novice, and then has to watch our over-rated chief executive herald that a non-existent metric - the profit-to-earnings ratio - had reached levels that cried out to all those sitting on the sidelines to jump back into the stock market.

Do you believe in God? Every time I answer the question honestly I lose friends. Still I tell the truth: I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in the evolution either. I just believe we don’t have enough knowledge to know the world yet. If you are still reading, I appreciate your tolerance. Glenn Beck’s answer to America’s troubles is turning to God. Where does it leave us: the non believers? Beck’s solution reminds me of my godmother, who is a nun in an Eastern Orthodox Monastery on the Balkans. When I visited her she answered every question...

Ethan Harris, the bank's chief North American economist, said early data for August suggest that "an already weak recovery is getting weaker" with a rising risk of a relapse into recession, yet the two parties seemed determined to outbid each other with austerity measures. "Politicians are clamouring for quick action, not to stimulate a dangerously weak economy, but to bring down the budget deficit. We strongly support efforts to bring down the deficit, but only once the economy is on a healthy growth trajectory," Mr Harris said. The Democrats want to see an end to the Bush tax cuts for...

THE release of a notorious killer who shot dead a German tourist and then savagely attacked his family has been criticised by MSPs as another example of "soft-touch Scotland". James Boyce, 70, is to be freed after serving 17 years for killing Thomas Boedeker, even after being told that he would be locked up for at least 20. The brutal murder and Boyce's savage attack on the victim's family stunned the quiet community of Cairnryan, near Stranraer.

Ex-Governor Heard On Tapes Discussing Possible Cabinet Appointment, Ambassadorship For Senate Appointment A former top aide to Rod Blagojevich testified Tuesday that the former governor was so anxious to leave Illinois and put his political woes behind him at the end of 2008 that he saw President Barack Obama's election as a chance to broker a deal to go to Washington, D.C. Prosecutors played several secretly taped phone calls between Blagojevich and his then-chief of staff, John Harris, during Harris' second day on the stand Tuesday.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Police say a woman fatally shot one of two pit bulls that attacked her basset hound Saturday in South Los Angeles. Officers were notified of the shooting at 835 W. Rosecrans Ave. at around 10:30 a.m. The woman said she and her dog were about to leave their apartment for a walk when the attack happened. She described how the two pit bulls suddenly appeared and lunged at the basset hound. "She couldn't get the dogs off her dog. She went inside (her apartment) and got a gun," said LAPD Sgt....

I watched the movie Kick-Ass, with some considerable misgivings, but ended up doing so, mostly because everything else seemed even worse. It's been several days since I went, and had some time to digest it. The movie is gory, bloody, violent, and has a lot of death and some very profane characters. It also presents some very unmuddled ideas about who or what is good and what is evil. In the movie, a geeky and unremarkable teen tries to become a super hero. He also finds it's harder than it seems, and that he's doing it just so he can...

Sad but true: Bill Moyers Journal has shuffled off the air and into the archives of PBS and the Paley Center for Media. From a story in the Columbia Journalism Review: In 1948, when he was fourteen years old, Bill Moyers heard Lyndon Johnson give a rousing speech at a courthouse in Marshall, Texas. Without a megaphone or a loudspeaker, LBJ mesmerized the crowd. “I remember the sheer presence of the man,” Moyers has recalled. “And I thought, ‘That’s what power is. And this man is reaching this audience. And he’s got this audience. And he’s telling this audience something...

Our Lady of Good Counsel   by Zsolt Aradi The majesty of the Roman countryside has remained unchanged for centuries. Just to the south of the city rise the famous Castelli Romani, the Roman Castles, the popular name given to the hills and townships in Rome's immediate neighborhood. These hills are studded with the palaces of the once rich nobility of Rome who leave the city whenever the depressive and humid scirocco hits the Eternal City. The Castelli Romani are still a part of Rome, yet once we enter that district around Palestrina, popularly called Ciociaria, we are in a...

Drug addicts in the US are being paid to get sterilised so that thousands of children are "saved from growing up within a damaged environment," a media report has said. American charity organisation, Project Prevention, in North Carolina state, has stopped more than 3,500 drink and drug addicts from having children by paying them up to £200 to seek permanent forms of contraception such as an IUD implant or full sterilisation, the Independent reported on Saturday. Encouraging drug addicts to seek sterilisation saves thousands of children from growing up within a damaged environment, Barbara Harris, founder of the organisation, was...

First problem: there's still a magazine called Good Housekeeping. Magazines and newspapers are dying left and right, the whole publishing industry is imploding, yet Good Housekeeping lives on? It survives not only to give women crucial tips on vacuuming, ironing, or what Febreeze actually is, but to produce a commemorative "125th Anniversary Collector's Issue" graced with the creepiest cover photo of Michelle Obama I've ever seen. This from Jezebel's Jessica Coen: The entire bottom half of Michelle's face seems to have been replaced, her forehead has been nicely tightened, and the entire right (our left) side of her face seems...

Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States. The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan,...

President Obama's doctors hinted Sunday that he still might be sneaking smokes when Michelle and the kids aren't around to yell at him. ... Obama's routine physical at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center found him in "excellent health" and "fit for duty" but the docs also included a cryptic recommendation that he "continue smoking cessation efforts." Obama should continue his "nicotine replacement therapy - self-use (gum or the patch)," the doctor said.

NEW YORK — A three-legged pitbull mix that played in a game of doggie baseball has won "Best in Show" at a talent competition held by one of New York City's largest animal shelters. Nine dogs competed in Friday's contest at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. But it was Prince who impressed the judging panel the most with his feat of catching three baseballs.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Citing responsibilities as a parent and a professional, former Rep. Susan Molinari announced today she would not challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November. Said Ms. Molinari in a press release: "Over the past week, I've taken the counsel of friends, family and New York political and civic leaders about seeking election to the United States Senate. These are challenging times for our country and returning to public service to address issues like the economy and terrorism would be a great honor. "After much reflection, it is clear that a statewide race this year is...

Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh remained in "good, stable condition" Thursday after he was admitted to a Hawaii hospital for chest pains. Limbaugh's guest host Walter Williams told listeners the talk radio king "continues to rest very comfortably" at a Honolulu hospital, where doctors planned a complete medical exam.

A 25-year-old man was shot to death on Orlando's west side while apparently trying to break into a home. WDBO's sister station, Channel 9 Eyewitness News, is identifying the dead suspect as Mark Clark. He was found outside the front door of 5369 Botany Court, near Kirkman Road, around 7:30 Wednesday night. The Orlando Police Department has not provided any details other than that they're working a death investigation. The homeowner's mother said her daughter heard three men trying to break into the house and opened fire. The other two suspects ran away.

Lieberman Announces Senate Investigation Into Fort Hood Shooting The Independent Democrat, who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said there were 'strong warning signs' that the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was an 'Islamist extremist.' print email share recommend (15) 2009 AP Nov. 5: Emergency personnel transport an unidentified soldier from the Soldier Readiness Center following a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Sen. Joe Lieberman announced Sunday that he intends to lead a congressional investigation into the mass shooting at Fort Hood, saying the attack could qualify as a "terrorist act" rooted in Islamic radicalism...

"Of course I dislike the Nazis. But who is to say they're morally wrong?" The shocking statement was made by a college student in New York, as documented by author Kerby Anderson in a much-needed book, "Christian Ethics in Plain Language". The professor of the class, Anderson reports, "....said that he has never met a student who denied the Holocaust happened. But he also reported that 10 to 20 percent of his students cannot bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong." This is certainly an indictment of how modern society has made a false religion out...