Free Republic

HOLLYWOOD star Liam Neeson is considering giving up his Catholic belief and becoming a Muslim. The actor, 59, admitted Islamic prayer "got into his spirit" while filming in Turkish city Istanbul. He said: "The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. "There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim." Liam was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Catholic and altar boy...

President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances. Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt...

A group of "Christ Warriors" in Texas just outside of Dallas torched over 22 pairs of Air Jordan's (a lot of them the very ones people were rioting over during Christmas) on Friday night. The video is just making the rounds today on the net but they intend on making bigger statements shortly..that this was just the start. They are saying shoes and items like these are basically what is wrong with society in general and that at the end of the day they aren't worth anything without Christ in your life and at the gates of Heaven. Arguments have...

Something to really creep us out. Who would conceive of permission too shoot someone breaking into your home ? Wasnt there a time not long ago where breaking into an American's home, anywhere from the West Coast to Massachusetts to Michigan to Texas to Florida would get you shot at more than once ? Ordinary Americans being that unassertive in protecting themselves-now that is heart wrenching.

In AMC's zombie series, "The Walking Dead," tensions build between an old-fashioned veterinarian farmer, named Hershel Greene -- who thinks zombies have a disease that may be cured someday -- and a caravan of gun-packing refugees, led by Deputy Rick Grimes. Because Hershel wants to protect the zombies he has hidden in his barn, he orders Rick and company to leave his property -- even though leaving could make Rick, his family and his friends easy pickings for the undead. It's disturbing how self-congratulatory humanitarians can be willing to endanger the lives of others in order to maintain their worldview....

A kiss between two 12-year-olds is under investigation by authorities in Fort Myers. Deputies said they were called to Orange River Elementary School after a girl kissed one of her classmates during physical education class last week. The school reported the incident as a possible sex crime, and the Department of Children and Families was called in. Investigators said the girl could be charged with battery if the boy didn't consent to the kiss.

Too sad for commentary, but here is some math: total US debt has increased by 41.5%, or $4.4 trillion, from $10,626,877,048,913 on January 20, to $15,033,607,255,920, under Obama as president. (as a reminder the most recently updated debt ceiling is $15.194 trillion)

The federal government’s debt increased by $203,368,715,583.63 in the month of October, according to the U.S. Treasury. That equals about $650 per person for each of the 312,542,760 people the Census Bureau now estimates live in the United States. At the end of September, the total national debt stood at $14,790,340,328,557.15, according to the Bureau of the Public Debt. By the end of October, it had risen to $14,993,709,044,140.78. The debt increased far more this October than it did last October. Between the last day of September 2010 and the last day of October, the debt rose from $13,561,623,030,891.79 to...

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would allow federal block grants that states now use to subsidize child-care services to also allow for the purchase of diapers and "diapering supplies." The bill, S. 1778, would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to allow diapers and related supplies to be bought with grant money provided to states. Under current law, the money is meant to subsidize child-care services to parents who are entering the labor force or are in job training and education programs. It also helps subsidize child-care services for certain eligible...

A Republican senator is calling on President Obama to cancel the $12.8 million in bonuses that were approved for 10 executives at the government-seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that received a $170 billion taxpayer-funded bailout. “I am calling on the president of the United States to cancel those bonuses and explain to the American people, the taxpayers who bailed out Freddie and Fannie, why he continues to reward failure,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at a news conference Tuesday. The two housing giants have received about $141 billion in taxpayer funds since the government took them over...

Listening to President Obama speak to the Congressional Black Caucus about his past 32 months in office, two bizarre facts become apparent. First, Obama seems to believe that his policies and efforts have been successful. Second, Obama thinks we need to continue down the same path, that he "stood up for a different vision and did what was right. The future rewards those who press on." Sadly, it would seem that our President is not merely wrong, but delusional. Let’s take a look at what Obama’s policies have actually produced. Largest wealth destruction in American history: Net Wealth Lost 2009-2011...

I believe that the ruling class politicians see Palin as a real threat to their status quo, and her postponement of announcing her candidacy as a hindrance to their stopping her. One way to force her hand earlier than she intends is to move up the primaries. Anybody else see a pattern here?

In a video interview this week, White House Office of Science and Technology Director John P. Holdren told CNSNews.com that he would use the “free market economy” to implement the “massive campaign” he advocated along with Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich to “de-develop the United States.” In his role as President Barack Obama’s top science and technology adviser, Holdren deals with issues ranging from global warming to health care. “A massive campaign must be launched to restore a high-quality environment in North America and to de-develop the United States,” Holdren wrote along with Paul and Anne H. Ehrlich in the...

A basic definition of insanity often attributed to Albert Einstein is doing the same thing, over and over, while expecting different results. President Obama, by proposing nearly $500 billion more in government spending to "create jobs," demonstrates liberal insanity quite well. Michael Savage has a book out titled, "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" — I think he's on to something. True enough, many liberal politicians may know full well that European-style socialism does not work. Sooner or later the well of other people's money runs dry. But, in the meantime, many are content to buy votes by taking wages from...

WTF is Sarah Palin doing in a Patriots hoodie? I don’t know what bothers me more, that the shirt says “Once a Patriot always a Patriot” (because when was she ever a Patriots fan?) or that she’s just another politician stealing our name to appear “patriotic”. Note the girl in the foreground with the aptly-labelled “Alaska Grown”. That girl is the only thing in this picture that’s not full of s---, and that includes the hot dogs.

The owner of a Venice health food market and two other people were arrested on charges related to the allegedly unlawful production and sale of unpasteurized dairy products, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. The arrests of James Cecil Stewart, Sharon Ann Palmer and Eugenie Bloch on Wednesday marked the latest effort in a government crackdown on the sale of so-called raw dairy products.

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) is predicting that the $2.4 trillion that Congress has now added to the limit on the federal credit card--by increasing the legal debt limit--will be exhausted by the Treasury in only 18 months.

Those Yanks living overseas or posted on assignment/traveling will more than likely have to put up with CNN International, which is unfathomably a couple of magnitudes worse than domestic CNN.

Complete title: Right Out of Atlas Shrugged’: Hear an Exasperated Alabama Businessman Tell the Feds – ‘I’m Just Quitting’ *** Leaning against a wall during a recent Birmingham, Alabama, public hearing, Bryant listened to an overflow crowd pepper federal officials with concerns about businesses polluting the drinking water and causing cases of cancer. After two hours, Bryant—a coal mine owner from Jasper—had heard enough and, in a moment being described as “right out of Atlas Shrugged,” took his turn at the microphone: Audio .. (turn up volume) (note from audio site: For readers of my website, this is the audio...

Gwyneth Paltrow has seen the light -- at least as far as her kids Apple, 7, and Moses, 5, are concerned. The "Country Strong" star, 38, recently dished to a crowd at a London charity event that she and her husband, Coldplay rocker Chris Martin, are planning on raising their children Jewish, according to the Daily Mail.

McAllen, TX -- Gone are the days when a kid could make a few extra bucks by selling lemonade on the corner of their street. These days, it's against the law. A 12-year-old girl and her little brother were just trying to earn a few dollars for their two hermit crabs when a city code enforcement officer in Texas came and shut them down. The officer told their grandmother that the children needed a permit to sell lemonade, and their grandmother was ticketed for the offense. "I was mad," the 12-year-old said. "I don't understand why someone would want to...

Despite widespread media complicity, the nation is actually at the point where impeachment proceedings could begin for general and acute incompetence. This will not happen, but Barack Obama will be voted out of office in 2012, leaving four years of Blitzkrieg-level damage in his wake. It would take take a lengthy peer-reviewed scientific study to accurately rank the top five most destructive results of Obama's election, but: Holder's justice department leads the way (imprisonable gunrunning offenses and coverup, dropping charges against black panthers, complicit labor corruption, illegal pressure on ATF to massage statistics, reinvistagation of cleared CIA officers, list goes...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - When 18-year-old Tyell Morton put a blow-up sex doll in a bathroom stall on the last day of school, he didn't expect school officials to call a bomb squad or that he'd be facing up to eight years in prison and a possible felony record. The senior prank gone awry has raised questions of race, prosecutorial zeal and the post-Columbine mindset in a small Indiana town and around the country, The Indianapolis Star reported in its Tuesday editions. Legal experts question the appropriateness of the charges against Morton, and law professor Jonathan Turley at George Washington University...

After repeated violation of Pakistani air space, covert activities and military intervention, the US Embassy in Islamabad has arranged the first ever “Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Pride Celebration” ceremony and assured Washington's support to the participants. In response, all Islamic groups condemned this meeting as “social and cultural terrorism" against the Islamic democratic Pakistan. These students are gathered here to protest against what they say is the US attempts to promote vulgarity in Islamic societies under the pretext of human rights. The U.S. deputy ambassador, Richard Hoagland, who hosted the meeting was quoted in a statement on the US...

Many obstacles still lie ahead for supporters of same-sex marriage, and eventually they will need Congress or the Supreme Court to embrace their goal. For the moment, though, they are jubilantly channeling the lyrics of "New York, New York." "Now that we've made it here, we'll make it everywhere," said prominent activist Evan Wolfson, who took up the cause of marriage equality as a law student three decades ago. SNIP With the new law, which takes effect after 30 days, the number of Americans in same-sex marriage states more than doubles. New York's population of 19 million surpasses the combined...

President Barack Obama's administration recently threatened to veto the defense budget, citing "serious concerns" over provisions that limit the U.S. missile defense know-how that the White House is permitted to share with Moscow. This is the sort of information that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in his earlier days, would have assigned his spies to steal. Through its single-minded pursuit of "resetting" relations with Russia, the Obama administration may simply be willing to hand over this information and, in doing so, weaken U.S. national security. Only two days after issuing the veto threat -- and as Obama tried to warm...

Watch it and weep HERE.

SOQUEL, Calif. – Students banned from a Central Coast school for wearing a white t-shirt. On Wednesday, Soquel High School suspended at least two students. The students say it’s because of allegations, they’re part of a white supremacist group.

If there was ever a better symbol of what a fiscal mess we are in, I don’t know what it is. The Washington Times has this must read story today about Stanley Thornton. If you read nothing else today, read this. Thornton spends his days pretending he is a 350 pound adult baby. He sleeps in a crib, drinks from a bottle and wears (and presumably uses) diapers. His female roommate acts as his “nurse” giving him bottles and cleans him up. You are paying for them both through Social Security disability. Stanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias,...

The U.S. is hiring the Russians to deliver sensitive equipment and supplies to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? Because the U.S. military doesn’t have enough of the highly dependable and amazingly versatile C-17 airlifters. To make matters worse, we have no credible plan to resolve this problem. The need for C-17s will continue to grow because each year older, less reliable and less capable C-5A airlifters — some of which are over 40 years old — are being retired from the fleet because they are beginning to fail.

The Web site Think Progress (Think Liberal) speculated Mother Nature unleashed tornadoes last month that killed at least 349 people in several Southern states in retribution for their congressional delegations' recent refusal to support a resolution supporting the global-warming dogma: They "overwhelmingly voted to reject the science that polluting the climate is dangerous. They are deliberately ignoring the warnings from scientists." The pollution in question, of course, is carbon dioxide, which fuels earth's life cycle. But the bigger hole in this theory is last month's twister outbreak was far from the deadliest on record. For example, tornadoes killed 454 Southerners...

The Obama administration has decided to provide about $1 billion in debt relief for Egypt, a senior official said Saturday, in the boldest U.S. effort yet to shore up a key Middle East ally as it attempts a democratic transition.

Unemployment is rising, the federal government is broke, and so are many of the states. Now more than ever America needs its various governments to exercise restraint, and to scale-back on spending. And in the midst of this environment a stunning proposal has emerged in the nearly insolvent state of California: a third income tax. The proposal is actually worse than a mere “additional” income tax – and I’ll explain this in a moment. First let’s look at the “other two” income taxes. For the record, if you’re an American and you work and you earn personal income, your U.S....

When Glenn Beck announced yesterday that he would be transitioning off his daily Fox TV show, you knew MSNBC started salivating. And so it’s probably no surprise that MSNBC host Chris Matthews devoted a whole segment to the Beck story. Heck, he even invited a guest — the leader of the anti-Beck brigade and Media Matters president David Brock. Matthews decided to play some clips of Beck and then rehash the same things he’s been saying for the last two years, mainly that Beck is crazy, insane, and a race-baiter. Brock agreed. The two even agreed this is a “victory...

In a televised rant, Venezuela's controversial president says it's wrong for doctors to push cosmetic surgery on women who can't afford it Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez railed against doctors, who he says pressure women into buying breast implants they can't afford. Last weekend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez momentarily interrupted his ongoing critique of the U.S. to castigate another enemy: Venezuelan doctors who hawk breast implants. In a state television address, Chavez said Venezuelan women, egged on by doctors, spend way too much on plastic surgery, reports The New York Times. While the country's booming implant industry is already weathering controversy...

In Dayton Ohio, you can get the same as a D or F on the police exam and still become a cop. The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division run by Tom Perez (the same unit that dismissed the New Black Panther voter intimidation case) is requiring Dayton to lower police exam scores to 58 and 63 percent so enough black applicants can join the force.  The Obama administration mandate is too much for even the NAACP: “‘The NAACP does not support individuals failing a test and then having the opportunity to be gainfully employed,’ agreed Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward.”...

... Chicago’s pitifully short school day is getting even shorter. At five and a half hours, Chicago’s school day is already the shortest of any of the 50 largest districts in the nation. During the mayoral campaign, both Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and a rival, Gery Chico, brought that up. Mr. Emanuel noted that a child in Houston gets four more years of K-12 instruction than one here. But now comes “Breakfast in the Classroom ” for 410,000 students. Most schools already offer a cold or hot breakfast before the start of classes. It’s free for the 86 percent of public...

video of Harry Reid explaining why funding for cowboy poetry must not be part of budget cuts

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2011 – A commission created to improve diversity among military leaders has issued 20 recommendations its members say will make the military better reflect the composition of the United States in its ranks. The Military Leadership Diversity Commission, created as part of the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act, issued the findings yesterday of its 18-month research with recommendations for how the Defense Department can improve the promotion of women and minorities at a time when the nation is expected to become increasingly diverse. “The armed forces have not yet succeeded in developing a continuing stream of leaders...

The end of QE2 is still several months away and yet quite a few top Federal Reserve officials are already hinting that more quantitative easing may be necessary. Apparently the U.S. economy is not moving forward as rapidly as they would like. So it looks like "QE3" could be on the way. But did anyone out there actually believe that quantitative easing would come to a complete stop in June? Whether they call it "QE3" or something else entirely, the reality of the matter is that we have now come to a time when the Federal Reserve is going to...

If our founding fathers could see us today, what would they think? Unfortunately, they would probably come to the exact same conclusion that so many of us have come to - the U.S. government is absolutely brimming with idiots, incompetents and incredibly corrupt politicians. Today it is very rare to come across a politician that still has any integrity left. Washington D.C. has become such a cesspool that it seems to corrupt even most of the politicians that originally go there with good intentions. We have created the most complicated government in the history of the world and we have...

Predators such as wolves, bears and panthers are being reintroduced close to where people live, as a growing number of scientists believe they may hold the key to restoring damaged ecosystems."It used to be we would see it once every year or so, but now it's every two weeks," said Al Sanchez. "I'm starting to panic when I hear noises. If I come out here I'm concerned I'm going to be his prey." Mr Sanchez and Reg Malone, who live in a densely populated suburbs of Naples, Florida - a city of 300 000 people - are regularly visited by...

The UT Legislature went collectively mad late last night, and passed an amnesty bill for illegal aliens. If Gov. Herbert joins the ranks of the insane and signs it, ANY illegal aliens AND THEIR FAMILIES who come to Utah by May 11th will be eligible to STAY there indefinitely, by merely getting a "permit". As one opponent said, it is "pure and simple amnesty". There will be hell to pay for this disgraceful act.Join the fight on Facebook: Stand With Arizona

Yes, in New York, there's a "capital tax" -- a tax on money you have in the bank. New York, apparently, wants to encourage companies to take as much risk of bankruptcy as possible, by raising or retaining as little cash as possible, so it taxes them on cash they have in the bank. And we raised a whopping $3 million last summer, and we still have it in the bank. So that means we have to pay New York $10,000 of "capital tax" as punishment. Never mind that we've created 45 new jobs in New York and that most...

Graphic sex education for youth is the new battleground at the UN, as evidenced by side events during the past week at the Commission on the Status of Women. The theme of this year’s CSW is the “access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology.” While delegates are busy negotiating resolutions and outcome documents, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN organizations campaign for the installation of socially radical curriculums in Africa and America alike. “O**l sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education,” Diane Schneider told the audience at a panel on combating homophobia...

Exile is one option for Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. When asked if the United States would consider military aid to help topple the regime, Carney said “all options remain on the table.” President Barack Obama was meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the White House on Monday to discuss sanctions and other potential actions against the Gadhafi government. Gadhafi has ordered the toughest crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators of any Middle Eastern leader whose rule is threatened by anti-government uprisings. The regime’s violent response prompted the United States, Britain and...

The ability of burglars to ply their trade in the United Kingdom was given a boost in two recent incidents. In one, police ordered residents in Surrey and Kent to remove wire mesh from windows because it “could injure burglars.” “Wire mesh is an unexpected and abnormal structure for a home window,” police spokesman Reginald Addleman pointed out. “Persons breaking into buildings could be seriously injured. Treating such avoidable injuries would stress the already tight budgets of the National Health Service. Property owners have no right to impose these costs onto the rest of the nation.” In another, police chastised...

A Brit tells the truth about islam in this 6+ minute video: http://dotsub.com/media/b5ee5ada-5b37-4b0b-9916-e0896337ec4b/e/m

A New York court ruled last month that all income earned by a New Canaan, Conn., couple is subject to New York state taxes because they own a summer home on Long Island they used only a few times a year. They have been hit with an additional tax bill of $1.06 million. Tax experts and real estate brokers say this ruling could boost the tax bill for thousands of business executives who own New York City apartments they use only occasionally. It could also hurt sales in the Hamptons and New York's other vacation-home communities.

Stonewall Jackson is rolling over in his grave. Next month his beloved Virginia Military Institute will be convening a celebration commemorating the 1300th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Spain under the Muslim warlord Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 A.D. The March 23-25 celebration entitled “711-2011: East Meets West” and organized by VMI’s Center for Leadership and Ethics, is scheduled to feature standard Muslim apologists Reza Aslan and Akbar Ahmed. VMI Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay has even filmed an invitation to the celebration.