Free Republic

Last week, President Obama's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in a case that pits religious protections against the courts' ordinary ability to intervene in a labor dispute to prevent discrimination.In the early 2000s, Cheryl Perich was a "called teacher" or "commissioned minister" at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Mich. As such, she taught religious classes, led students in prayer and incorporated religious teachings into secular subjects like math, science, social studies and art.But in 2004, she was diagnosed with narcolepsy and became unable to teach the fall semester that year. When she...

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...

David Cameron today defended the Government's plans to limit housing benefit, saying it was not fair for working people to see their taxes used to fund homes 'they couldn't even dream of'. The Prime Minister dismissed reports there could be a climbdown over the proposals, telling Labour leader Ed Miliband: 'We are going forward with all the proposals we put in the spending review and in the Budget'.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia in June, was one of several suspected targets of Indonesian militants captured in police raids recently, an expert on militants said on Friday.

LONDON – Three former Cabinet ministers have been suspended from Britain's ruling Labour Party over allegations that they tried to trade access to government officials for cash, as the country's Parliament faces a new set of ethics scandals. Former defense secretary Geoff Hoon, former transport minister Stephen Byers, and ex-health secretary Patricia Hewitt have all been suspended from Britain's Parliamentary Labour Party, the party said in a statement late Monday night, only hours after a documentary caught them apparently boasting of their influence to a fictional U.S. lobbying firm. Byers was filmed by an undercover television documentary crew apparently offering...

.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says a homosexual activist who is attacked following a Christian minister's sermon about homosexuality would be protected by a proposed new federal law, but a minister attacked by a homosexual wouldn't be. The revelations come from Holder's recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was taking comments on the so-called "hate crimes" proposal. It also was the subject of discussion on talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh's show today. "This is the question," Limbaugh said. "[Sen.] Jeff Sessions [R-Ala.] presents a hypothetical where a minister gives a sermon, quotes the Bible about homosexuality and is...

You Tube's Local Pstor is back at it. His newest clip had me laughing out loud at the song choice... Thanks to Morningstar madness we will soon see Todd and his new, young wife on a platform near you. ...

A group of young British Muslims are being named as advisers to ministers as part of a drive against extremism. The move comes as part of fresh plans to prevent radicalisation and address community concerns. The 22 Muslims aged 16-25 will hold regular meetings with key ministers and civil servants. Muslims called for a voice for youngsters in an official plan after the 2005 London suicide bombings which killed 52 people. The advisory group comes as the government is rethinking how to prevent violent extremism, a key element of counter-terrorism strategy. Officials have acknowledged more work needs to be done...

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have condemned sexual predators and are urging churches to flush out molesters using federal background checks. But a simple search on the convention's Web site shows they have yet to purge their own house of predators. SBC's MinisterSearch, a Web database for finding clergy members, contains the names of pastors both indicted and convicted of sexual abuse. Among them is a former Cordova pastor charged in October with rape and sexual battery. "It's a double standard," said David Brown, an abuse victim and coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in...

IRAQ AND ITS NEIGHBORS: A NEW APPROACH TAKES SHAPE by Amir Taheri Asharq Alawsat October 26, 2007 When Iraq's neighbours meet next week to discuss the situation there they will be confronted with a simple question: Is the fire that has been burning Iraq since 2003 growing or diminishing? This would be the second time this year that Iraq's neighbours, accompanied by the United States, Russia and the European Union meet with the avowed aim of coordinating policy on the war-stricken country. When the first meeting was held, Iraq seemed doomed to an uncertain future with no prospect of even...

Senior Iraqi cabinet members over a six-month period blocked investigations and prosecutions of corruption within their ministries valued at $35 million, using a Saddam Hussein-era law meant to shield officials from political abuses of the justice system, according to a recent memo by an official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reinstated the law, under which no governmental corruption case can be instituted against an Iraqi minister or former minister without the minister's permission. The ministers can, in turn, selectively immunize their subordinates, thus protecting them from being prosecuted for corruption. As a result, more than...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Finance chiefs from the G7 industrialized countries have endorsed nuclear energy, an increasingly attractive power source as governments confront global warming and over-dependence on fossil fuels. The Group of Seven, following a meeting here Friday, described energy diversification as an important priority for both rich and poor nations. "Diversification can include advanced energy technologies such as renewable, nuclear and clean coal," said the ministers and central bank governors from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. The group at previous meetings had been unable to agree on a text citing nuclear power, notably in...

BAGHDAD - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has asked the prime minister to suspend two Cabinet ministers from his bloc because they backed a plan that likely will turn the oil-rich city of Kirkuk over to Kurdish control, a parliament member said Thursday. Saleh al-Aujaili, the Sadr bloc legislator, said the cleric had asked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to hold the seats open for his block when he reshuffles his cabinet, a moved that has been promised for weeks. Health Minister Ali al-Shammari and Agriculture Minister Yarrub Nazim, both members of the Sadrist movement, were among Cabinet ministers who agreed...

Ministers compared to Nazis over Islam stigma By Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:33am GMT 17/12/2006 A senior Muslim invoked Hitler's 1930s Nazi regime while attacking the Government over its treatment of British Muslims. Mr Bari drew compared the Government's treatment of Muslims with the Nazis' persecution of Jews Muhammed Abdul Bari accused ministers of stigmatising Britain's Islamic community and fuelling xenophobia. Mr Bari, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, criticised the Government for "unfairly targeting" Muslims, and said that it was undermining their status as "equal citizens". He warned that blaming extremism on "a small, largely...

Ministers to ban creationist teaching aids in science lessons · Schools will be told not to use special pack · Intelligent design group asks for meeting The government is to write to schools telling them that controversial teaching materials promoting creationism should not be used in science lessons. The packs include DVDs and written materials promoting intelligent design, a creationist alternative to Darwinism, that were sent to every school in the country by the privately-funded group Truth in Science. Advocates of the theory argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex that they must have been...

MUSLIM leaders have accused ministers of “stigmatising an entire community” and launching a “relentless barrage” against Islamic Britons.Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has written to Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, accusing her of pandering to an “Islamophobic” agenda. The letter follows Kelly’s announcement last week that the government was cutting funding and official ties with the MCB, which until now has been the main body representing British Muslims. One senior Muslim source said: “The government is pandering to a far-right neocon agenda which is promoting Islamophobia.” The MCB says in the letter: “In recent...

Families of soldiers killed in Iraq launch party to challenge ministers · More than 70 candidates to contest Labour seats· Bereaved to meet within two weeks to plan strategy Steve Boggan Saturday August 5, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Whenever news of British military deaths in the Middle East flashes on to their TV screen, Reg and Sally Keys become silent and you can see anxiety wash across their faces. This week has been particularly tough; three soldiers killed in Afghanistan, one in Iraq. Each time it happens, it reminds them of their son, Thomas, one of six royal military policemen...

Ministers warned of terrorism threat from Iran Press Association Thursday June 29, 2006 The intelligence agencies have warned ministers that Iran could launch terrorist attacks against British targets if the row over its controversial nuclear programme escalates, it was disclosed today. The parliamentary intelligence and security committee - which oversees the work of the agencies - said the possibility of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism was now considered one of the main threats facing the UK. "There is increasing international tension over Iran's nuclear programme and backing of groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah," the committee said in its annual report. "There is...

A minister embedded with some of the Marines who are alleged to have killed up to two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, after one of their own died in a roadside explosion says he heard about the dead civilians but saw no distress among Iraqis or Marines in Haditha several weeks after the killings. "I knew he had been killed and there had been a response. I got the impression insurgents were killed and also some civilians got killed," the Rev. Christopher Price of suburban Atlanta recalled Friday of his conversations with Marines in Haditha in January. "As it was...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 8, 2006 – Discussions on the expansion of NATO's mission in Afghanistan and the continued development of the NATO Response Force topped the agenda at a defense ministers meeting here today. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (right) and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (seated across table) engage in discussions during defense ministerial meetings in Brussels, Belgium, June 7. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The defense leaders also discussed NATO support to training Iraqi forces and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. NATO forces in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved three new key ministers, including a Sunni Arab to head the defense ministry, ending a stalemate among Iraq's religious and ethnic groups over the crucial posts. The three, including ministers for national security and interior, were sworn in after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the death of al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The new defense minister is Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji and Shiites Jawad al-Bolani for interior and Sherwan al-Waili for national security. The posts are considered crucial for al-Maliki's government to implement a plan allowing Iraqi...

With praying, singing and plenty of applause, about 400 people launched an effort yesterday at First AME Zion Church on the Near East Side to counter what they see as divisiveness created by religious conservatives. The clergy-led group, We Believe, says it will encourage voter turnout and try to give the less fortunate a voice in politics. Its members say they will work to shape public policy but will adhere to Internal Revenue Service rules barring religious groups from supporting candidates or political parties. The Rev. Timothy Ahrens, senior minister at First Congregational Church Downtown and a founder of We...

Rights group attacks Iran's 'ministers of murder' By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 15/12/2005) Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has packed his government with former security and intelligence officials responsible for serious human rights abuses, including the killing of thousands of dissidents in Iranian jails, a leading human rights group said yesterday. After Mr Ahmadinejad caused renewed international outrage by calling the Nazi Holocaust of Jews a "myth", a report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York, took aim at his hardline cabinet - in particular the new interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has renewed his attack...

ov. 26, 2005 23:20 | Updated Nov. 27, 2005 19:22 Sharon waits to appoint ministers By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to leave the Knesset. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was expected to appoint the six ministers who joined his new Kadima party to temporarily fill the vacancies left by the seven Labor ministers who quit the government last week, will continue to hold the portfolios of the Labor ministers who resigned for at least another 10 days. Attorney General Meni Mazuz recommended that the government be designated a government in transition...

Manhattan prep school officials and parents aren't the only ones who hope the NYPD tracks down and arrests a defrocked priest accused of molesting a student. His son wants him behind bars, too. "I'd love to see him get caught," Aaron Jacques, 25, the youngest child of school fund-raiser Bruce Jacques, told the Daily News yesterday. "If he really did what they say he did, that would make my day." Bruce Jacques, 57, is on the run after a male student at the Robert Louis Stevenson School on W. 74th St. claimed the ex-priest sexually assaulted by him in Central...

In the post-Civil War era, inspired by Abraham Lincoln and Union victory, those blacks who could overcome state requirements aimed at preventing their voting usually voted Republican. President Dwight D. Eisenhower overwhelmingly was supported by blacks when he ran for re-election in 1956. Then came Senator John F. Kennedy, D-Mass., in the 1960 presidential race. Blacks switched and voted for JFK. They helped him win that squeaker election against Vice President Richard M. Nixon. What happened? At the time I had just begun my broadcasting career and was working at WLIP in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Working alongside me on weekends was...

The Nordic model mixes welfare and economic success, but Sweden's social democrats are at risk from a loss of confidence. The prime minister has been in power nine years and the people are tired of him. They say their not well-liked leader should have made way for someone else by now. A new conservative challenger to this long-standing government of the left is a young dynamic moderate, uniting the fractious forces of the right. So a social democratic government risks losing to that most lethal human instinct - boredom. The age-old "time for a change" impulse may replace a successful...

LONDON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush allegedly said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, a new BBC documentary will reveal, according to details. Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003, the ministers told the documentary series to be broadcast in Britain later this month. The US leader also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said. Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: " President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a...

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) -- Mauritania's Cabinet ministers have given themselves a 600 percent salary increase, a Finance Ministry official said Thursday. The reported reason: to tackle corruption in the impoverished West African country. Since March 1, the 26 ministers have been taking home the equivalent of US$3,333 instead of US$526 per month, a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

The Palestinian justice minister, Nahid Rajes and the minister of planning, Nabil Kassis, have handed in their resignation. Mr Rajes says he's resigning due to his dissatisfaction with the chaos within the justice department and over the influence of President Arafat on the judicial system. The continuing unrest in the occupied territories was also a contributing factor to Mr Rajes' decision to resign. Minister Kassis says he is resigning for personal reasons. He will become the director of the West Bank University. The resignations are yet to be officially tendered.

<p>Parents of inner-city school children locked in failing public school systems should be given school vouchers to attend private or public schools elsewhere, a coalition of black clergy leaders said yesterday.</p> <p>"For the 26 years I have been in New Jersey, there have been a host of public school reform proposals, a multitude of major state Supreme Court rulings and billions of dollars spent to achieve parity and improve test scores," said the Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council. "Yet, the fact remains, that with few exceptions, urban schools and most minority students still do not meet minimum state standards or receive a quality education," Jackson said, speaking at a news conference in Trenton.</p>

The Government has published a Bill which will give authorities major new powers to cope with civil emergencies, including terrorist attacks. The Civil Contingencies Bill, drawn up in the wake of the September 11 outrages in the USA, will allow ministers to issue emergency orders without the approval of Parliament. These could include measures to bar public access to sensitive sites, evacuate affected areas, deploy the armed forces, requisition property, ban public gatherings or set up a special court to deal with a disaster. The Bill has aroused concern among civil liberties campaigners and parliamentarians, who warned that as initially...

Think-tank accuses ministers of 'spin' over migrants' tax By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 05/01/2004) The Government is accused today of exaggerating the contribution made by immigrants to the economy to cover up its "failure" to control the country's borders. Ministers have claimed repeatedly that legal immigrants pay £2.5 billion more in taxes than they receive in benefits. This figure is based on Home Office research published last year. But Migrationwatch UK - an independent think-tank that questions the need for mass immigration - challenges the way ministers used the research. It says they omitted qualifications in the original...

Chirac calls in ministers after arson on Jewish school By Philip Delves Broughton in Paris (Filed: 17/11/2003) President Chirac has called an urgent meeting of senior ministers for today to discuss growing anti-Semitism in France after an arson attack against a Jewish school in a Paris suburb. Prosecutors in Gagny have launched a criminal investigation into the attack on an orthodox Jewish school in the early hours of Saturday. In a statement within hours, M Chirac said: "The French will not tolerate any acts of anti-Semitism and schools especially should be places of tolerance and respect." The fire in Gagny...

Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer are on a working visit to the United States. They will hold talks with US Vice-President Dick Cheney about the ongoing problems with restoring order in Iraq. Mr De Hoop Scheffer is expected to argue for a more prominent role for the United Nations. Tomorrow the Dutch ministers will have breakfast with President George W Bush. Mr Balkenende and Mr De Hoop Scheffer will also lay a wreath at Arlington national cemetery.

Those Ministers Who Say Judge Moore Acted Improperly Need To Tear Daniel Chapter Six Out Of Their Bibles! By Chuck Baldwin Food For Thought From The Chuck Wagon August 29, 2003 I have listened to minister after minister publicly rebuke Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore saying, as a Christian, he should have obeyed federal judge Myron Thompson's unlawful order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. Those ministers need to reread Daniel chapter six. Daniel was a government official in the court of King Darius. In fact, Daniel was the second-in-command answering only to...

Ministers accused of threatening BBC chiefs By James Morrison and Andy McSmith 27 July 2003 Ministers threatened revenge on the BBC in the feud that led to the death of the government scientist David Kelly, according to senior sources within the corporation. One said: "There have been phone calls from within government saying 'we are going to get you', talking about 'vengeance'. There's a war going on against the BBC of some kind." The threats were seen by the BBC as part of an orchestrated campaign to intimidate the corporation over its coverage of Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction....

Al-Qa'eda 'plotted assassination of Saudi ministers' By John R Bradley in Jeddah (Filed: 09/05/2003) Saudi Arabia is hunting a large al-Qa'eda cell accused of plotting to assassinate the interior and defence ministers. The operation comes as the kingdom steps up efforts to liberalise the political system and restrict the influence of the powerful Islamist religious establishment.The government offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of 19 men thought to be on the run after a gunfight with security forces. The suspects were all Saudis, but for a Yemeni and an Iraqi. A security official said the intended...

<p>POLLOCK - Some ministers and others in Grant Parish are not happy about a camp near Pollock that caters to the gay lifestyle.</p> <p>"We have a good, quiet community. We certainly don't want that (camp) in our community," said the Rev. Eddie Douglas of First Baptist Church in Pollock.</p>

Tridentine Mass, Eucharistic Ministers by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. The spirit of innovation of the past forty years has dulled the sensibilities of many churchmen to the seriousness and gravity of their almost routine ruptures with tradition. If it is pointed out to them that some innovation would obviously have been detested by the entire assembly of saints, they either do not care (an attitude that at one time would have been unthinkable for a Catholic) or they actually claim that we have made "progress" since their time. Such is the level of our spiritual idiocy that an age as...

On Dominus Iesus and the JewsDr. David BergerRabbinical Council of America[Delivered at the 17th meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee, New York, May 1, 2001.]The Declaration Dominus Iesus, issued in September 2000 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, aroused deep concern among many Jews and not a few Catholics. Let me first survey the specific areas of concern, proceed to address the question of whether or not Jews can plausibly be said to lie outside the effective scope of the document, and finally express some personal views about the propriety or impropriety of the objections that...

Ex-KKK leader now a minister fighting racism "When I heard the Klan and the skinheads say they wanted to kill all the blacks, I used to think of Rev. Watts, and think, 'Do you really want to see this man hurt?' He was such a good man that I started doubting all these things I was supposed to teach." Johnny Lee Clary, former KKK leader COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION: Johnny Lee Clary holds a Bible while standing in front of a poster of Martin Luther King Jr. in his home in Tulsa, Okla. Clary quit the Ku Klux Klan in 1989 and...

Ministers avert World Bank crisis Brown and Short ensure funding Charlotte Denny in Halifax, Nova Scotia Saturday June 15, 2002 The Guardian Gordon Brown and Clare Short claimed last night to have safeguarded the future funding of the World Bank after heading off an American plan to convert half the soft loans to poor countries from the international development lender into grants. Following a protracted battle with Washington, Britain and the other leading European nations struck a deal last night ahead of today's meeting of the G7 finance ministers in Halifax. The compromise agreement will mean that the World Bank...

Fallen Priests and the Sad Story of Ministerial Abuse by John H. Armstrong The Roman Catholic Church has taught, for centuries, that sexuality is a sacred gift from God. Being a gift from God, sexuality is good. But this is a gift that can be used unfaithfully. The Church teaches that the only legitimate expression of sexuality is between heterosexuals in the sacrament of marriage and this is to occur when the husband and wife remain open to the possibility of conception. For this reason the Catholic Church condemns all homosexual acts as well as all sexual expressions outside of...

The Arab League Council, which met at the level of Arab Foreign Ministers, Sunday issued its final statement in which it dealt with the following issues: -To continue Arab political moves at the United Nations and with the parties concerned to halt Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and their leadership and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Geneva conference on 5/12/2001 to apply the fourth Geneva convention on occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem. To urge popular Arab organizations to continue to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people...