Free Republic

‘The Western world no longer aspires, as did the Western Europe of Dante’s day, to be a place of a single faith,” A.N. Wilson writes confidently in his recent book, Dante in Love. Really? It doesn’t? Has Western society given up that dream? Because many in the United States’ particular corner of civilization seem not to have gotten the memo. Maybe it’s the scientist in me, but I’m always looking for what Einstein called the “Theory of Everything” — one formula that explains the world, and clinging to the hope that society will someday be populated entirely by your co-religionists...

The FBI said it searched eight addresses in Minneapolis and Chicago as part of a terrorism investigation Friday. Warrants suggest agents were looking for connections between local anti-war activists and terrorist groups in Colombia and the Middle East. FBI spokesman Steve Warfield told The Associated Press agents served six warrants in Minneapolis and two in Chicago. "These were search warrants only," Warfield said. "We're not anticipating any arrests at this time. They're seeking evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism." The homes of longtime Minneapolis anti-war activists Mick Kelly, Jess Sundin and Meredith Aby were among those...

The two most talked about scandals this week have a lot in common. The sexual harassment allegations being made against Herman Cain expose a peculiar phenomenon also present in the scandal of Penn State icon Joe Paterno. Although both of these men are being accused of despicable behavior, people have rallied to their sides as if they are unfortunate victims. The revelation that Paterno, an icon in the sport of college football, had knowledge that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was allegedly sexually abusing boys should have been devastating to the students at Penn State. These students should have...

The War Against the Poor: Occupy Wall Street and the Politics of Financial Morality by Frances Fox Piven. Tom Dispatch: We’ve been at war for decades now -- not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it’s been a war against the poor, but if you hadn’t noticed, that’s not surprising. You wouldn’t often have found the casualty figures from this particular conflict in your local newspaper or on the nightly TV news. Devastating as it’s been, the war against the poor has gone largely unnoticed -- until now. The Occupy Wall Street movement has already...

Both the protesters and the police are at fault for the violence yesterday. I'm not clear on what happened in Oakland last night, except that it was bad. The police are saying that they had to deploy beanbags and maybe tear-gas because people started throwing bottles, plates, and rocks when they tried to clear out the encampment at Occupy Oakland. I don't find this entirely implausible. The protesters are saying that when their authority was challenged, the police reacted with overwhelming and inappropriate force, which I also don't find entirely implausible. Since the police and the protesters seem, to date,...

"Don't touch me!" the man in the wheelchair shouted to stop me from placing my hand on what used to be his left arm. "I'm sorry -- I was just -- " "I know what you were doing," he said calmly. "You were showing me you care. I get it. But you have no idea how much pain I'm in. Don't feel bad. People are always touching me -- and because my left arm is gone and most people are right-handed, well ... Doctors, believe it or not, are the worst -- always touching me there. You'd think they of...

NPR Host/Occupy Protester Says She's Been Fired By Tim Graham Created 10/20/2011 - 10:56am AP is reporting NPR host/Occupy protest leader Lisa Simeone has been fired: "A freelance broadcaster who works for music and documentary programs has been fired from a job after NPR questioned her involvement in a Washington protest." Lisa Simeone said Thursday that she was fired from "Soundprint," a documentary show that is not produced by NPR, but by Soundprint Media in nearby Laurel, Maryland. "Simeone says she was fired Wednesday in a phone call during which NPR's code of ethics was read to her." Simeone is...

KKKolumbus no hero: He's a murderer who caused the genocide of the Indigenous people! “It has been said of the Spanish Conquistadors, that first they fell on their knees, and then they fell on the aborigines.” Eric Williams - Columbus to Castro. Annually, on the 2nd Monday of each October, most of the United Snakes of Amerikkka celebrate the anniversary of when Cristoforo Colombo discovered that the planet wasn't as flat as all of Europe then thought.  At the same time, many so-called Indians across the U.S. publicly protest the holiday, demanding that it be renamed ‘Indigenous American Day'.

A loose coalition of left-leaning groups like Adbusters and Anonymous are beginning their "occupation" of Wall Street today at noon. Their goal is to "see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades, and occupy Wall Street for a few months." According to the protest's website, a "leaked bulletin from the New York Police Department reveals that they expect at least 5,000" to show up today, and ask participants to being "warm clothing" along with other provisions due to the recent cold snap. Mayor Bloomberg told his eponymous news organization, "People have a right to protest,...

Law enforcement officers arrested the owner of BoCoMo Bay yesterday after firearms and a large amount of synthetic marijuana were found at his south Columbia home, they said. Approximately 100 firearms along with a large amount of substances believed to be synthetic marijuana were discovered at the home of Kevin E. Bay, 47, at 400 E. Old Plank Road, according to a Boone County Sheriff’s Department news release. Bay operates BoCoMo Bay at 1122 Wilkes Blvd. ***** Bay was arrested on the outstanding warrant from Stoddard County that charges him with six counts of delivery or imitation of a synthetic...

Despite an instant, commanding lead in the polls, newly-minted GOP presidential candidate Gov. Rick Perry is already being viewed as “unelectable.” The panel of reporters on Sunday’s The Chris Matthews Show reached a general consensus that Perry’s loose talk and extreme views will eventually lead the Republican establishment to choose the more moderate, more electable Mitt Romney to challenge President Obama in the general election. Barely a week into his campaign, the Texas Governor has talked himself into trouble, and not just with liberals and Democrats. While John Heilemann sees Perry’s smashmouth certitude as an advantage over Mitt Romney, The...

The American Renewable Energy Day conference in Aspen didn't cite Gore by name, but one of the opening speakers on Thursday suggested that audience members adopt aggressive tactics when dealing with climate deniers. Jigar Shah, CEO of an organization called the Carbon War Room, told the audience they must “confront the liars” on climate change issues or they are “part of the problem.” Shah urged them to “make a scene in public” by confronting politicians or speakers who suggest that alternative energy isn't a viable option for handling power needs and reducing carbon emissions. ... Lester Brown...founder and president of...

A careful audit of combat support and reconstruction contracts reveals that at least $360 million in US tax dollars has gone to fund the Taliban and terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Corrupt contractors and subcontractors are responsible for the diversion of funds which have surely resulted in harm to soldiers and civilians throughout the region. LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - The losses demonstrate one of the challenges the US faces in Afghanistan, specifically, rampant corruption. Private Afghan corporations are providing many support services to the US and NATO forces and are collecting payments from the military for their services. However, the...

PBS Hosts Blast Obama on Poverty TourBy Stephanie Samuel | Christian Post Reporter Fri, Aug. 12 2011 10:23 AM EDT PBS hosts Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, once strong supporters of Barack Obama, are traveling the country criticizing the president for failing to protect the poor during the debt talks. Noted African-American evangelical Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. agrees that the president has done little to help the poor, but says systemic changes, not more wasteful spending, are necessary to lift Americans out of poverty. Radio and television hosts Smiley and his PBS Princeton University co-host West, have taken to the...

Immediately after President Obama took office, his Hollywood benefactors clamored for the creation of a "Secretary of Culture." Tinseltown was disappointed with the administration's crony arts czar choice (Chicago lawyer Kareem Dale), but left-wing artists and entertainers have now been mollified. Instead of one government-supported arts czar, the White House has designated an entire herd of them. On Tuesday, as part of Obama's "Winning the Future" initiative, the president designated members of the liberal activist group Creative Coalition as official "America's Champions of Change for the Arts." This is the latest in a series of "public engagement" efforts overseen by...

'Doomsday Plane' Would Save President and Joint Chiefs in Apocalypse Scenario By MICHAEL MURRAY June 7, 2011 In the event of nuclear war, a powerful meteor strike or even a zombie apocalypse, the thoroughly protected doomsday plane is ready to keep the president, secretary of defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff and other key personnel in the air and out of danger. It may not deflect a Twitter photo scandal, but it can outrun a nuclear explosion and stay in the air for days without refueling. The flight team for the E-4B, its military codename, sleeps nearby and is ready to...

decora writes "Crypto-mathematician Bill Binney worked in the Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center at the NSA. There, he worked on NSA's ThinThread program; a way to monitor the flood of internet data from outside the US while protecting the privacy of US citizens. In a new interview with Jane Mayer, he says his program 'got twisted. ... I should apologize to the American people. It's violated everyone's rights. It can be used to eavesdrop on the whole world. ... my people were brought in, and they told me, "Can you believe they're doing this? They're getting billing records on US...

At nearly 90 years old, Betty White has a message for senior citizens: get over it. The Golden Girls star can be seen stressing that age really isn’t a big deal in her promotional videos for AARP. Age shouldn’t be a deciding factor when voting for politicians either, the starlet told Politico in an interview Monday. “I think it’s mental activity and physical health that should have a lot to do with it, not just the number of years,” White said. For White, the age of the politician doesn’t necessarily make them an incapable public servant. “I think someone’s health...

Cast your minds back to November. Barack Obama had received his "shellacking" in the midterm elections, as the Republicans regained a majority in the House of Representatives and seized control of 29 of the 50 state governorships. It was the worst midterm defeat for the Democrats since 1938. Just a week earlier the president's approval ratings had fallen to a record low of 37%. Fast forward six months, and the president is enjoying the "Bin Laden bounce". His approval ratings stand at 52%, according to Gallup – up six points on April. Historians may look back on 1 May 2011,...

Osama bin Laden He changed our world for the worse, but remains with us in everyday life and will be here for years to come. The assassination of Osama bin Laden may change some of the future — perhaps the computer data retrieved with his corpse will help prevent subsequent planned acts of terror. Nevertheless, the terror he wrought to date is far from over, even in the unlikely case we never experience another al- Qaida assault. It is with us on the most annoying human level when we suffer the multiple indignities of using airports everywhere on the globe:...

Holding a tattered POW/MIA flag in his hands, Korean War veteran Bob Dumas can not hide the disgust at the vandals who damaged it. "Desecrating a flag that represents so much to the families is unbelievable," said Dumas, 81, of Canterbury. For years, the POW/MIA flag flew on the flag pole outside the Plainfield Post Office, until vandals got a hold of it. "This happened sometime during the night Tuesday night into Wednesday," said Plainfield Deputy Police Chief Michael Surprenant. Vandals removed the flag, cut deliberate holes in it with a knife and then ran it back up the flag...

For some time now, the left has been whipping up a boycott campaign against its favorite bogeymen, David and Charles Koch, billionaire owners of Georgia Pacific. As the lefties see it, the Koch brothers fund conservative organizations and politicians, like the Tea Party — which means, according to Common Cause, that they are “moving democracy into the control of more wealthy corporate hands.” (Common Cause, it should be noted, is itself heavily funded by corporate types, including the Kochs’ left-wing counterpart, George Soros.) But now, a top official of the United Steelworkers union, International Vice President Jon Geenen, has discovered...

“Gaman-subeki.” Translated from the Japanese, the words mean “we must endure.” It’s these words the Japanese are using to describe the way they are dealing with the nightmare engulfing their country, according to an edited report by Winnetka native Dan Simon, 30, who has lived in Tokyo for the past three years. “The Japanese people have responded to the situation with resilience and determination,” said Simon, a journalist who is now working for a public relations company. “They are hanging tough and proud of the way they have responded to the crisis. This is the Japanese way: continue on, do...

At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised & Arrested for Standing Silently As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday, condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for...

TUCSON — A victim of the shooting spree here that severely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was taken into custody on Saturday after the police and witnesses said the man spoke threateningly at a televised forum intended to help this stricken city heal. Eric Fuller, 63, a military veteran who was passionate about liberal causes and who had supported Ms. Giffords, was “involuntarily committed for mental health evaluation,” according to Jason Ogan, a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff’s office. Mr. Fuller, who was shot in the left knee and the back on Jan. 8, was among several victims, medical personnel...

Breaking: Tucson Tea Party Leader Threatened At ABC Taping, Audience Member Screams: “Trent Humphries You’re Dead!” While Trent was speaking at the event, an audience member screamed, “Trent Humphries, you’re dead!” ABC News held a town hall event today in Tucson, Arizona. Local officials, friends and heroes were at the event. News anchor Christiane Amanpour was the host. The segment will air tomorrow. ABC gathered members from the Tucson community to discuss the tragic shooting last Saturday that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and left 6 people dead. State Representative Terri Proud was at the event sitting between Trent and the...

TUSCON, Ariz ( KTLA) -- Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged Tucson gunman, was described Saturday as a politically radical loner. Now an internet trail emerged in which he apparently railed against the US government and told friends: "Please don't be mad at me". There are unconfirmed reports that 22 year old Jared Lee Loughner once met with Rep. Giffords in 2007. A former high school friend said that he had often talked about meeting and talking with the congresswoman. Arizona court records show Loughner has twice been charged with previous offenses. The first, in October 2007, related to the possession...

"The Communist Manifesto" and Hitler's "Mein Kampf" were among the favorite reading materials of Jared Lee Loughner, the suspected gunmen in today's fatal shooting that reportedly left six dead and gravely injured a U.S. congresswoman. Lougher, 22, listed those tomes among his favorites on his YouTube channel, in which he wrote that "conscience dreams" were a "great study" at his college, Pima Community College. One user on Twitter, Caitie Parker, wrote she went to high school, college and was in a band with the gunman. She said she hadn't seen him since 2007. Parker wrote of Lougher, "As I knew...

Someone cut off my link, here's the video of the live show

If you would like to believe that some people in Hollywood are sane then don’t look to the cast of Mad Men. The popular cable show has at least one guy who basically thinks having children is irresponsible and hurts the environment. He hopes the rest of us will learn to live as responsibly as him. Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser did an interview this week with MSNBC’s Tamron Hall to talk about how to go green. The progressive network thought the actor was qualified to interview, because he’s insanely green in his personal life. The guy has no car, thinks...

A recently released propaganda video by the Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is quite revealing. Not only does the video demonstrate the group’s growing effort to package arguments in a manner designed to appeal to Westerners on the political left, but it also serves as a barometer of radical Muslim groups’ broader shift in rhetorical strategy. The video, “Iraq: Past and Present Colonialism,” appears for the first twenty-seven minutes to be a standard leftist critique of the Iraq war, indistinguishable from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. The slickly-produced video begins with the history of past colonialism in Iraq—including the Mongol conquest...

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A California non-profit is urging sponsors to pull their ads from Fox News Channel, because of "a would-be assassin inspired by" Fox personality Glenn Beck. The Tides Foundation, which says it promotes human rights, justice, and a healthy, sustainable environment, has come in for frequent criticism on Beck's show. A suspect in a July 28 shootout with police, Byron Williams, told police in an affidavit he had intended to go to the Tides Foundation's office in San Francisco and kill founder and Chief Executive Officer Drummond Pike.

Two top California legislators are coming under fire after new evidence has emerged that they helped a group of radical antiwar activists cross the Iraqi-Jordanian border in order to deliver aid to families of enemy insurgents in the war-ridden Iraqi city of Fallujah. In December 2004, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D) each sent letters of diplomatic courtesy to the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, requesting assistance for members of the radical group Global Exchange and the antiwar group Palisadians for Peace. The letters, according to a January 4, 2005 article written by Islam Online correspondent Adam...

In addition to her $877,000 compensation package, Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, lives rent free in a $5 million East Side apartment that the museum bought when she came aboard. he Metropolitan Museum of Art houses its director, Thomas P. Campbell, in a $4 million co-op that it owns across Fifth Avenue from the museum. The director of the Museum of Modern Art, Glenn D. Lowry, may have the best deal of all. In addition to the $2 million in salary and benefits he earned last year, he lives in a $6 million condo...

The commission appointed by President Obama to investigate the Gulf oil spill (the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling) does not include a single member with specialized knowledge of petroleum engineering. This is akin to performing a heart transplant with a surgical team that has never set foot in an operating room. Of the seven members appointed to the commission, not one is a petroleum engineer, and all have long-standing ties to the environmental movement. This is certainly the case with Frances Beinecke, Donald Boesch, Terry Garcia, and Frances Ulmer, all of whom have...

Jonathan Alter's report just the first chapter of presidential work in progress When this writer was a young boy, he overheard a woman of considerable age and learning remark, only half in jest, “I have to read Walter Lippmann every morning so I know what I think.” Go ahead. Admit it. You do something like that, too. We all do. It isn’t that we are Dittoheads. It isn’t that we are chumps. But we typically have favorite pundits we like to look to. Some news happens, a White House leak or a gulf oil spill, and even as we consider...

(Boy at left is on his father's shoulders. You can guess what the shirt says about the war, when unwrinkled) (A few seconds later, guy at left tore Cheney's head off.) (Female at left was leading children in song.)

Stop the presses! Pigs are flying! Hell is freezing over! The same Black liberal Democrat church leaders that have always willingly broken IRS rules to allow Democrats campaign in their churches have apparently experienced their “Road to Damascus Moment.” They are now demanding that the Democrats who rule them in Chicago allow the hated (by liberals) WalMart to open a store within the limits of the Windy City. A group of more than 200 Black church leaders representing about 100,000 people is demanding that Mayor Richard M. Daley “make it happen” and the store be opened as soon as possible...

Remember when Sarah Palin told us she was quitting as governor of Alaska because she's not a quitter, and she explained what her mission would be in the weeks and months to come? "I'm gonna do some huntin' and some fishin' for sure, but I'm also gonna make me a boatload of dough," Palin said. "What with the book sellin' and the public speakin' and whatnot, I'll be making way more money than any of your losers in the lamestream media!" Oh wait. She didn't say that. What Palin said in part was: "I choose, for my state and my...

“I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” -- William F. Buckley At this point, I would go Buckley one better: I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 254 people we could pull out of a minimum security prison rather than the Democrats who are currently in Congress. In all fairness to the Democrats we have in charge now, that change probably wouldn't make Congress any less corrupt (not much more corrupt either), but at least...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen is drawing national attention for remarks he made about the tea party movement in a recent radio interview. The Commercial Appeal reports that the two-term Democrat said the tea party - "without hoods and robes" - has shown an angry, hardcore side of America that's against diversity. He made the comments Thursday night on The Young Turks, an Internet and satellite radio talk show. Cohen went on to say tea party members have shown hostility toward anybody who isn't "a clone of George Wallace's fan club," and that he has seen no...

<p>During the showdown over healthcare reform, some of the members of the Tea Party took off their masks.</p> <p>Many African Americans had already suspected some of these people are more opposed to the skin color of the man in the White House than they were to the president's political ideology.</p>

This doesn’t balance out ObamaCare for conservatives, but it eases the pain a little: The once mighty community activist group ACORN announced Monday it is folding amid falling revenues — six months after video footage emerged showing some of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. Well, at least they’re willing to accept responsibility. Oops. “It’s really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives

ACORN Closing in Wake of Scandal Monday, March 22, 2010 CHICAGO — The once mighty community activist group ACORN says it's folding. National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization's board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues. Some other national operations will continue operating for at least several weeks before shutting for good. Scandal enveloped the organization six months ago when video footage emerged showing ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. Several big affiliates, including ACORN New York and California, broke away...

Rosie O’Donnell has teamed with syndication vets Dick Robertson and Scott Carlin to develop another daytime talk show, according to the Hollywood Reporter. With The Oprah Winfrey Show preparing to sunset next year, O’Donnell is hoping to launch a new yakker that could conceivably fill the bill in the fall of 2011. Dick Robertson, the former head of syndication of Warner Bros. Television, and Scott Carlin, who worked with Robertson there for years, have sealed a deal to distribute O'Donnell's new talk show, which will probably premiere in fall 2011. Robertson and Carlin worked closely with O'Donnell on her first...

Acorn on Brink of Bankruptcy, Officials Say By IAN URBINA BALTIMORE — The community organizing group Acorn, battered politically from the right and suffering from mismanagement along with a severe loss of government and other funds, is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, officials of the group said Friday. Acorn is holding a teleconference this weekend to discuss plans for a bankruptcy filing, two officials of the group said. They asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. Over the last six months, at least 15 of the group’s 30 state...

Annabel Park, the purported creator of the Coffee Party movement does damage control with the help of CNN, claiming that her movement, aided by Soros-funded organizations and planned at RootsCamp, a left wing organizing workshop held at the teachers union NEA Headquarters, is actually a spontaneous, self-organizing movement. Why I started the Coffee Party By Annabel Park "As the Constitution dictates, we want a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Coffee Party USA is a democracy movement, and our goal is to have the government truly reflect the will of the people." Someone should tell Ms....

All hail the new political class!!! LOL

"A family source said Bishop, a mother of four children - the youngest a third-grade boy - was a far-left political extremist who was "obsessed" with President Obama to the point of being off-putting."--Boston Herald, February 15, 2010 'Oddball' portrait of Amy Bishop emerges:http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100215oddball_protrait_emerges_suspects_family_pals_offer_clues/srvc=home&position=0___________________________________________________ "The woman accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville was a suspect in a 1993 attempted mail bombing, according to a report by The Boston Globe. The report broke the day after it was learned that Bishop fatally shot her brother in Braintree in 1986. More than fifteen years ago,...