Free Republic

WASILLA, Alaska- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and...

Even in an age when cynical sleuths can hyper-analyze stories for truth and accuracy, the occasional hoax still slips through the cracks. Such was the case with a so-called "lost Amazon tribe."

A student at George Washington University recently complained that swastikas were scrawled on her dormitory door. Thanks to cameras hidden by university police, they have a suspect: The student who filed the complaint. I was shocked but not surprised, just as I am shocked but not surprised when, with thousands of cars on the road, some get into accidents. Similarly with the recent upsurge in national attention to swastikas, nooses and other racial vandalism in public places, I am shocked but not surprised that at least one case of racial-ethnic vandalism turns out to be phony. The young woman's sad...

Whether they take the form of a comic image of a giant cat or a desperate plea from a sick child, chain e-mail messages and Internet frauds are elements of the online landscape that we've all encountered. No topic is off limits: a medical warning, a promise of free money, or a believably (or shoddily) Photoshopped image. But at the end of the day, they're just elaborate hoaxes or clever pranks--and we've collected 25 of the most infamous ones ever to have graced the Internet or our inboxes. Though some of these deceptions originated years ago, the originals--and dozens of...

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally is no longer laughing about his suggestion that he saved President Bush's life during a recent White House visit. The No. 2 U.S. automaker has apologized after Mulally said his claim that he had intervened to prevent U.S. President George W. Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of an experimental Ford vehicle had been meant as a joke. On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "The story wasn't accurate, and I'll just decline to comment further." Ford said Mulally never expected the story he told...

MEXICO, N.Y. (AP) -- Ray DeLong took advantage of a break from the snow to use a blower to forge a path to his driveway as two contractors pushed streams of snow from the roof of his home. The brief reprieve Friday ended early Saturday as snow fell at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour, further burying a region already tested by nearly record snowfalls. "Have to move fast. Want to at least get it off my roof," DeLong said, just hours before more flakes began to fall. More than a week of bitter cold and slippery...

CLEARWATER - Sixty years ago this summer, something scary happened on the beach. A monster emerged from the Gulf of Mexico and wandered around in the dark. The Clearwater Monster didn't hurt anyone, but left lots of tracks, discovered the next morning on the sand. The tracks looked like nothing anyone had ever seen. They weren't the kind of tracks left by dinosaurs, but they were large, about 14 inches long and 11 inches wide. They featured a narrow heel and three long toes. The tracks were more birdlike than reptilian, though not entirely birdlike. They were a dispatch from...

“Secondhand smoke debate ‘over.” That’s the message from the Surgeon General’s office, delivered by a sycophantic media. The claim is that the science has now overwhelmingly proved that smoke from others’ cigarettes can kill you. Actually, “debate over” simply means: “If you have your doubts, shut up!” But you definitely should have doubts over the new Surgeon General’s report, a massive 727-page door stop. Like many massive reports on controversial issues, it’s probably designed that way so nobody (especially reporters on deadline) will want to or have time to read beyond the executive summary. That includes me; if I had...

..."The credibility that they've established is based on the laziness of reporters who have used them as a source." That last quote is quite chilling: A Los Angeles-based husband and wife---just two people with goodness knows what agenda or leanings---have somehow managed to establish themselves as a pretty big boulder in the information stream. Most people accord the Mikkelsons a fair amount of credibility as the best source for confirmation or refutation of widely distributed Internet memes. Given how much reliance is being placed on their determinations, it seems like we do very well to know where they're coming from....

Frightening text messages sent by a 13-year-old New Jersey girl who claimed she was kidnapped and being held captive were probably a cruel hoax, cops said yesterday. Natasha Browne - who sent the messages to her terrified mother in Jersey City - turned up unharmed on a Brooklyn street at around 1 a.m. Initially, Natasha told NYPD detectives a harrowing tale of being abducted on her way to school on Monday, held in a "pitch black" basement and later whisked to New York where two men raped her. But that story began to unravel quickly. "If it turns out to...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

THE contestents believe that they are taking one giant leap as space tourists.But their shuttle is a Hollywood prop and its inhabitants are set to become victims of one of the most elaborate hoaxes in the history of television, according to the makers of a new reality TV series.

Renewable Energy Problems ? Berlin: A German inventor, who says he has developed a way to make crude fuel oil from paper, rubbish, and plastics has found himself under attack. A local newspaper reporter somehow concluded he was making oil from dead cats ,and the published story set off a geyser of protest. “No, nay, never !” , responds the inventor. “It’s all paper , plastics, and rubbish.” “At worst “, he concedes , “the odd toad may have jumped into the batch.” Sidney: An Australian man, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a nylon/synthetic jacket , is reported...

Hoaxes and Fabrications That Made the News Fakery that has made its way into newspapers and broadcast reports: -Feb. 1, 2005: An Arabic-language Web site carries a photograph purporting to be of a hostage U.S. soldier. It is actually a toy action figure, but it briefly prompts news reports of a kidnapping. -Dec. 3, 2004: The British Broadcasting Corp. airs an interview with a hoaxer posing as a spokesman for Dow Chemical Corp. who says the company is accepting responsibility for a deadly gas leak in India. -May 12, 2004: A Boston city councilman disseminates photographs purporting to show U.S....

WTC Maintenance Worker Announces Plans For Upcoming National 9/11 Truth Speaking Tour While Appearing As Guest On St. Louis Drive-Time Morning Radio Show Wiliam Rodriguez, a man on a mission in memory of 200 friends lost at the WTC, is taking his story directly to the people as he looks for way to by-pass media and government censorship over his 9/11 story that blows the official account of how the towers collapsed "sky high." July 15, 2005 By Greg Szymanski Four long years have passed since 9/11and government officials and media heads are still throwing under the rug eye-witness testimony...

Tales of a runaway bride and a finger afloat in a chili bowl have seized our attention of late — but for sheer shock value, they can't compete with Mary Toft of the British town of Godalming. In 1762, Mary flabbergasted her doctor by seeming to give birth to rabbits. Soon top medical advisers, including the king's surgeon, investigated, witnessed the bizarre births and vouched for them. Only when she was sequestered and stricken with infection did Mary fess up: Craving a little attention, she had been inserting dead rabbits into her vagina. Hoaxes have been around as long as...

An man who routinely scratched the side of cars with a key claiming it was art has admitted his story is a hoax. Mark McGowan, 37, claimed he had "keyed" nearly 50 cars in Glasgow and in the Camberwell area of London. But the Londoner has now admitted he made it all up after police launched an investigation and a Glasgow gallery where he had been hoping to display his work refused to acknowledge him. Mr McGowan, who describes himself as the British David Blaine, said: "I never keyed any cars - it was just an art project that has...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

Gas costs so much. I cant afford it. Why want Bush do something? Don't say he can't. His daddy or his handlers could be on the phone in 2 minutes with the Rothchilds and by 1 week, oil prices would be under $20 and gas would be 1 dollar a gallon. You know it and I know it. Why want he? Do you know? Is there sombody we can call? Plaese advice.

<p>What is this palce? Are you peeple for reel? Is this some kind of joke?</p>

I apologize for being me, true and dedicated to freedom for everyone especially those who haven't seen it truly in a long time.

<p>Stop inhumane experiments on liberal trolls!!!!!!! Oh my! I recently encountered stunning liberal talking points concerning trolldom! Or concerning what FReepers do on the forum with idiots.</p> <p>I was really shocked and my eyes wide open when I was reading it! Unfortunately I lost the link but I will retell you what I happened to get to know. The people at the DNC set inhumane experiments over trolls! It is outrageous!</p>

The assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri has initiated an international political chess match which is being played out on the streets of Lebanon and in the media worldwide. Hariri's murder twenty-four days ago sparked a governmental crisis in Lebanon that resulted in Prime Minister Omar Karami's resignation, cries of blame on Syria, street protests by the opposition in Lebanon, a massive counter-protest by government supporters, the reinstatement of Karami, and continuing uncertainty.

i just joined up. i'm a liberal who's looking for some stimulating political discussion. i wasn't sure what the procedure was, so i thought i'd say hello. howdy.

The Media CIA CONTROLED MEDIDA AND/OR MEDIA MANIPULATION IS A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A FREE PRESS CONCERNING ALL 50 STATES AND EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN PLEASE REVIEW: http://government.rantnetwork.com/usgovcoverups (read website on "operation mockingbird") Journalism is a perfect cover for CIA agents. People talk freely to journalists, and few think suspiciously of a journalist aggressively searching for information. Journalists also have power, influence and clout. Not surprisingly, the CIA began a mission in the late 1940s to recruit American journalists on a wide scale, a mission it dubbed Operation MOCKINGBIRD. The agency wanted these journalists not only to...

The woman walking behind me froze when I turned to look at her after a stoplight flashed red. That became her signal to hurriedly walk in another direction. This is the 10th year that well-groomed people in the heartland have made me feel like garbage simply because of the clothes I had on. At least once a year I dress in my old army coat, black knit cap, faded jeans, frayed flannel shirt and grass- stained sneakers to gauge people's reaction to folks who appear to be homeless. The message is unspoken, yet unmistakable. People who are better off make...

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back. A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is...

Laurie Mylroie sent out an email about Paul O'Neill's appearance on 60 Minutes last night; she notes what appears to be a major error in Ron Suskind's book, which casts doubt on the credibility of both Suskind and O'Neill. Here is the key portion of Mylroie's email: "In his appearance this evening on '60 Minutes,' Ron Suskind, author of The Price of Loyalty, based to a large extent on information from former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, made an astonishing, very serious misstatement. "Suskind claimed he has documents showing that preparations for the Iraq war were well underway before...

 The New York Times' web site says that today's most emailed article was Tom Friedman's column titled Sunday News Quiz. Friedman writes:I'll give you 10 news stories from the past few weeks and you tell me what they all have in common. Friedman than recapitulates, in a sentence or two, ten recent news stories, all of which are intended to reflect badly the Bush administration; the general theme--reminiscent of leftism of the 60s and 70s--is that there is plenty of money for defense, while social programs are being cut. Friedman concludes:So what is the common denominator of all these news...

THE BUSH NAZI CONNECTION Richard Draheim is a policy analyst and speaker. He appears on the Dallas political affairs TV magazine America Outside the Beltway as a panelist and is a featured columnist for The Dallas Libertarian Post.

Hoaxes Propped Up CBS's Fraudulent Memos (Part III) Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minutes Hit Piece on President Bush's ANG Record based on Left-Wing Media Hoaxes. By Col. John H. Wambough, Jr. USAF (Ret.) October 31, 2004 380 Tons of RDX and HMX Missing Hoax Sugarcoated Officer Efficiency Report Hoax Left-Wing Media (LWM) treachery, deception and distortion laid a solid foundation for Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minute fabricated story and fraudulent memos. Thousands of communications misled the American people about George W. Bush's (GWB's) service in the Air National Guard (ANG). LWM fraudulently orchestrated so many hoaxes on President Bush's Air...

Hoaxes Propped Up CBS's Fraudulent Memos Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minutes Hit Piece on President Bush's ANG Record based on Left-Wing Media Hoaxes. By Col. John H. Wambough, Jr. USAF (Ret.) October 22, 2004 - See Bush and Uncommon Valor www.nsar.us Article: Series One Leapfrogged Hundreds Hoax and Political Influence/Favoritism Hoax Since Left-Wing Media (LWM) has fabricated many hoaxes (concerning President Bush's Air National Guard service), it is not practical to address each of them in one article - so they will be presented to the American people in a series, starting with the “Leapfrogged Hundreds Hoax” and “Political Influence/Favoritism...

BRIT HUME, HOST: It is an article of faith among Democrats that the 2000 election was stolen from them by the deliberate disenfranchisement of hundred of thousands, if not millions of voters in Florida alone. After the election, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (search), not noted for having Republican sympathy, conducted an investigation. And what did it find? Peter Kirsanow (search) is a Republican member of the commission. He joins me now from Cleveland. Mr. Kirsanow, welcome and thank you for joining us. PETER KIRSANOW, CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION: Thank you. HUME: Tell me about the Civil Rights Commission's inquiries into...

MY INTRODUCTION to conspiracy theorist Mike Ruppert came at the Take Back America conference in early June, when I met Steve, a bearded man in a lumberjack shirt and worn jeans who runs Creative Spirituality booksellers, a roving book mobile that specializes in stocking book sales at meetings of progressive activists. As I waited for a breakout session to begin I browsed through Steve's book racks, looking at the collected works of former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, at Ambassador Joseph Wilson's The Politics of Truth, at the most recent offerings of Eric Alterman and Michael Moore. Finally my eye...

PARIS (Reuters) - The CIA rejected as fantasy claims in a new book that it tried to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Osama bin Laden just two months before the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks against the United States. Richard Labeviere, author of "The Corridors of Terror," released on Thursday, says the CIA's Dubai station chief approached bin Laden while the al Qaeda leader was being treated for a serious kidney complaint in the United Arab Emirates. He said the meeting took place in the American Hospital in Dubai on July 12, barely eight weeks before al Qaeda militants slammed...

Booing the AP When the AP story about a Republican crowd booing President Bush's well-wishes for Bill Clinton first broke at 2:12 p.m., the story carried the byline of Tom Hays. After coming under fire, the AP pulled the story down. The original link now brings you to a dead page. After a brief interlude, the AP reposted the story, minus the claims that the crowd had booed Clinton's heart scare. The revised story is here. It carries the time stamp of 2:31 p.m. and, curiously, no byline. It also carried no mention of the story's previous version, nor any...

On May 13, 2004, Senator Edward Kennedy berated Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at the Senate Armed Services Committee, condemning "disaster after disaster" in U.S. Iraq policy. Well before the Abu Ghraib revelations, Kennedy has sought to transform Iraqi freedom from a philosophical and strategic issue into a partisan debate, without regard either to reality or result. On April 6, Kennedy called Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam." On March 5, 2004, Senator Edward Kennedy, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, took the president to task for allegedly exaggerating the threat posed by Iraq: "The evidence so far leads to...

After weeks of denigration of the Democratic challenger's Vietnam war record, Mr Kerry's backers have responded with allegations against the President - including the claim that he was once photographed in uniform wearing a medal ribbon he had not earned. As polls showed that Mr Bush had edged ahead of Mr Kerry for the first time, a pro-Kerry organisation labelled the President an "impostor" over the photograph, taken in 1970 and discovered in his father's Presidential Library in Houston, Texas. The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron...

< snip> After weeks of denigration of the Democratic challenger's Vietnam war record, Mr Kerry's backers have responded with allegations against the President - including the claim that he was once photographed in uniform wearing a medal ribbon he had not earned. As polls showed that Mr Bush had edged ahead of Mr Kerry for the first time, a pro-Kerry organisation labelled the President an "impostor" over the photograph, taken in 1970 and discovered in his father's Presidential Library in Houston, Texas. The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter...

An expedition of Russian researchers claims to have found evidence that an alien spaceship had something to do with a huge explosion over Siberia in 1908. Experts in asteroids and comets have long said the massive blast was caused by a space rock. The new ET claim is "a rather stupid hoax," one scientist said today. And it's one with a rich history. The latest claim was written up by news wires and was making the Internet rounds Thursday morning. According to Agence France Presse, the scientists say they've found "an extra-terrestrial device" that explains "one of the 20th Century's...

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

Charles Berlitz, who just died, was known as one of the world's top linguists and grandson of the founder of the Berlitz language schools. Yet his true claim to fame was as author of "truth is stranger than fiction" books that were actually just plain fiction. A Time magazine reviewer summarized all of Berlitz's paranormal works in describing one as taking "off from established facts, then proceed[ing] to lace its theses with a hodgepodge of half-truths, unsubstantiated reports and unsubstantial science." Among his vast repertoire: "The Mystery of Atlantis" (1969), "Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds" (1972), "The Bermuda Triangle (1974), "The...

Horrifying US Secret Weapon Unleashed In BaghdadExclusive By Bill Dash c. 2003 All Rights Reserved 8-25-03 A nightmarish US super weapon reportedly was employed by American ground forces during chaotic street fighting in Baghdad. The secret tank-mounted weapon was witnessed in all its frightening power by Majid al-Ghazali, a seasoned Iraqi infantryman who described the device and its gruesome effects as unlike anything he had ever encountered in his lengthy military service. The disturbing revelation is yet another piece of cinematic evidence brought back from postwar Iraq by intrepid filmmaker Patrick Dillon. In the film, al-Ghazali, whose english is less...

What 'serious moral goal' justified the murder of British Consul Roger Short in Turkey? For two years now, it's been apparent that increasing numbers of us are living in entirely self-created realities. For example, when I switched on the TV last Thursday, I saw US President George W. Bush being warmly received at Thanksgiving dinner in Baghdad. By contrast, Wayne Madsen, coauthor of America's Nightmare: The Presidency Of George Bush II, saw a phony stunt that took place not at dinnertime but at the crack of dawn. "Our military men and women," he insisted, "were downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce,...

<p>"Look, that comes with the territory," Karl Rove has said about rumors in the past.</p> <p>So it was not surprising that Rove was identified in news stories as a possible culprit when news broke that the Justice Department is considering investigating whether someone in the administration leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to journalists.</p>

<p>You are right Brooklyn, I just did a LexisNexis search and no such quote on the 13th of September.</p> <p>I know, I'm shocked as well.</p> <p>Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.</p>