Free Republic

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is attempting to stop a deal that would give a state-owned Arab company control of six U.S. ports. Lewis is writing an amendment he wants to attach to a spending bill for the Iraq war and Gulf Coast relief. The emergency spending package designates $70-billion for Iraq and Afghanistan and $19.8-billion for hurricane relief. Lewis, who is chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Chairman, says, "I have heard from many of my constituents who have strong concerns about the possibility of foreign-owned companies managing U.S. ports. I have also heard...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A high-ranking California Republican congressman preserved funding for a defense project critical to a New York investment company that raised more than $130,000 for him, according to a published report Thursday. Rep. Jerry Lewis, who now chairs the House Appropriations Committee, denied wrongdoing in response to the USA Today story. He said he had no knowledge of the connection between the investment firm Cerberus Capital Management and the $8.8 billion project to build a secure computer network for the Navy and Marines until he heard about it from USA Today. "It is absolutely and unequivocally false to...

Protest Cuts Short Jerry Lewis Appearance (CBS) CHICAGO A noisy protest Wednesday night cut short a Chicago appearance by entertainment legend Jerry Lewis. Lewis was at the Chicago Library to promote his new book, "Dean and Me - A Love Story." The auditorium was packed when disability activists in wheelchairs began heckling Lewis. Lewis has held telethons to fund research to find cures for people with muscular dystrophy. But members of a group called Jerry's Orphans accused him of portraying the disabled as people to be pitied. Lewis yelled at them to get out and stormed off the stage. “When...

2006 Congressional Election Cycle Has Begun  50 Republican Incumbents Undeserving of Support by Pro-life Voters   The Republican National Coalition for Life PAC is currently receiving phone calls from Republican candidates for Congress in the 2006 Republican primaries. Our usual practice is to mail our Candidate Questionnaire to Republican candidates in each district as soon as the filing deadlines are reached. When we receive the results of the questionnaire, they are recorded on our website at www.RNCLife.org so that voters can see for themselves it those seeking to represent them in Washington are truly pro-life. We hope that this service...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Jerry Lewis can pinpoint the moment he knew his Labor Day telethon had to be more than another chapter in his long effort to help children with muscular dystrophy. It had to benefit hurricane victims, too. A TV news report on lost youngsters in New Orleans, followed by footage of an elderly woman being pushed through flooded streets on a mattress, moved him to act. "I had a box of Kleenex and I'm bawling like a child and I'm not believing it," Lewis told The Associated Press. "If I had the slightest chance of helping them a...

Comic legend Jerry Lewis is getting the television academy's prestigious Governors Award in recognition for his more than half-century of work on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy. Lewis, national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, was chosen for the prestigious award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors in recognition of his work for the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. The award will be presented to the 79-year-old entertainer and humanitarian during the 2005 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 10. The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be televised Sept. 18 on CBS. "Television has few traditions...

Dear people of Free Republic, I recently had to come into this wonderful country that is your website. After reading a post about the come back of Bruce Springsteen andt the fact that you think he is anti-american and a traitor just because he dared to use his FREEdom to speak and said publicly that Bush was a liar., i told myself, that, if this wonderful country uses the word FREE to call itself, I should use this opportunity to answer and to use MY FREEdom to speak as well. I posted under “blec93” an article showing how high the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Southern California congressman is a leading candidate for one of the most powerful jobs on Capitol Hill - chairman of the House committee that determines government spending. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, won't talk publicly about his bid to lead the House Appropriations Committee, and there are no candidate debates or attack ads in this race. But behind the scenes Lewis is campaigning hard for the post, donating about $1.3 million to Republican candidates and causes and making pitches to fellow House members, individually and in groups. To demonstrate his fitness for the job to Republican leaders...

Jerry Lewis telethon raises $59.4MTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSLOS ANGELES -- The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised $59.4 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, but organizers said Monday that power outages and other disruptions from Hurricane Frances contributed to a decline over last year.Donations totaled 1.8 percent less than last year's $60.5 million.Television stations in the Florida cities of Jacksonville, Sarasota and Gainesville canceled broadcasts of the telethon completely. Other Florida stations showed only the national portions, preventing the broadcast of local segments during which most pledges are made.Lewis, 78, was assisted during the 21 1/2 hour fund-raiser by Ed McMahon,...

What is he least proud of? Politics, he says. Not his politics, but the world's politics - the madness, the destruction, the general lack of respect. Does he believe President Bush can make the world a better place? "President Bush is my president. I will not say anything negative about the president of the United States. I don't do that. And I don't allow my children to do that. Likewise when I come to England don't you do any jokes about 'Mum' to me. That is the Queen of England, you moron." He is working himself into an unprovoked rage....

Bush to Back Gay Marriage Ban Amendment By DEB RIECHMANN WASHINGTON - Jumping into a volatile election-year debate on same-sex weddings, President Bush on Tuesday backed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage _ a move he said was needed to stop judges from changing the definition of the "most enduring human institution." "After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization," the president said in urging Congress to approve such an amendment. "Their action has created confusion on an issue...

Lewis: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Congressman Jerry Lewis from California. It's my privilege to chair the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations and we had the Secretary of Defense and his colleagues before us today. I think it will be a very productive hearing. I know you're more interested in his thoughts about the hearing than mine, so it's my pleasure to [give you] Don Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense. Mr. Secretary? Rumsfeld: Thank you. Glad to be here. Questions? Q: Mr. Secretary, [inaudible] attacks taking place over the last several days including the one which involved General Abizaid today. Is it really...

Jerry Lewis released from rehab, drops 50 pounds By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Jerry Lewis, looking more like his old self after shedding 50 pounds (23 kilos) gained from steroid treatments, has returned home from a three-month hospital stay, a spokeswoman said Monday. Lewis, 77, had checked into the rehabilitation center of an undisclosed Las Vegas hospital in mid-October to undergo a managed withdrawal from prednisone, which he had been taking for the chronic lung ailment, pulmonary fibrosis. He was discharged from the facility on Jan. 16 and plans to make a return engagement March 3 at...

LAS VEGAS -- Jerry Lewis has been hospitalized for several weeks trying to wean himself from a steroid medication he took for a life-threatening respiratory condition, his manager said Friday. The 77-year-old comedian was trying to recuperate and strengthen his lungs at an undisclosed Las Vegas hospital as he stopped taking prednisone for pulmonary fibrosis, manager Claudia Stabile said. The medication caused him to gain so much weight that his body appeared noticeably bloated in recent years. "The important thing is he's fine and I would say in a few months he's going to be active again in the business,"...

Top Capital Hill military money man visits 101stby Pfc. Thomas DayMOSUL, Iraq (Sept. 28, 2003) -- Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-CA, chairman of the House Military Appropriations sub-committee, led a nine-member congressional delegation Sunday to meet constituents fighting with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.The delegation included GOP Texans Henry Bonilla and Kay Granger, fellow Republicans John Shimkus (IL), George Nerthcutt (WA), and Don Sherwood (PA). Democrats Tim Holden (PA), Norm Dicks (WA), and Ellen Tauscher (CA) made the trip a bipartisan affair.Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, 101st Airborne Division commanding general, who has hosted a number...

LOS ANGELES - The Jerry (news - web sites) Lewis (news) Labor Day Telethon to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association received a record $60.5 million in nationwide pledges, a telethon spokeswoman said Monday. AP Photo The 77-year-old Lewis, his body bloated due to steroid medication he takes for pulmonary fibrosis, was assisted during the 21 1/2-hour fund-raiser by Ed McMahon (news) and performances from a number of entertainers, including Cher, Celine Dion (news) and Don Rickles (news). "I'm consistently humbled by the generosity of the American public. Every year I ask, and without blinking, you open your hearts...

NEW YORK: According to Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Monroe could never have fooled around with the late President John F. Kennedy or Frank Sinatra – because she was too busy spending time with him. Lewis stunned Fox news interviewer Bill O'Reilly when he asked Lewis about Monroe's sexual history. "Half of it is bullshit!" Lewis cried. "Monroe was the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful girl in this world. Troubled, but a marvellous lady." He denied Monroe's documented dalliances with the Kennedys, exclaiming: "I know because she was involved with me! OK? And it was nice, by the way."

<p>Was that really the president of France on KROQ/106.7 FM Wednesday morning?</p> <p>Members of the radio station's morning team, Kevin and Bean, insist it was. Impersonating comedian Jerry Lewis, KROQ DJ Ralph Garman called the president's office and, after a long hold, was put in touch with Jacques Chirac.</p>

Sure, Congress might be wolfing down Freedom Fries these days. But legendary comic and card-carrying French icon Jerry Lewis doesn't want to jeopardize his status with the Eiffel Tower set. The onetime Nutty Professor and proud owner of France's highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor, is reportedly seething over a radio hoax involving a Lewis impersonator and French President Jacques Chirac and is even considering a lawsuit against the perpetrators, his lawyer says. Alan Isaacman, Lewis' legal rep, tells EW.com that the funnyman was less than amused when he heard Los Angeles radio station KROQ's top-rated "Kevin & Bean"...

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. -- Their religious symbol has been hidden from view. But no one has told them they can't pray here -- at least not yet -- so that is what a few dozen desert residents did on a cold Easter Sunday morning. "This," said Mountain Pass resident Wanda Sandoz with a sweep of her hand, "is our closest church." The congregation did not haphazardly choose this spot in the middle of Southern California's Mojave Desert. On a very special rock, dubbed Sunrise Rock by locals, stands a 10-foot-high steel and concrete cross that has made this a...