Free Republic

Rhode Islanders may get a chance to shorten the state's longest-in-the-nation formal name over its ties to colonial slavery. Officially, Rhode Island is called the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. But the House Judiciary Committee approved a resolution Tuesday that would allow residents to vote next year on whether to drop the words "Providence Plantations" from that name. The issue now heads for a House floor vote. Supporters say "Providence Plantations" conjures painful images of colonial slavery. Rhode Island merchants grew wealthy off the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years...

President Barack Obama's name was spelt wrongly in an official release from the White House. Following President Obama's trip to Russia, an official release touting the agreement between the US president and President Dmitry Medvedev over how to craft a follow-up to the START arms reduction treaty was put out. But the White House claimed the document had been signed by one "Barak Obama" - missing the 'c' from his first name. Russian and American negotiators salvaged the summit by agreeing the text of a preliminary deal on nuclear disarmament, deflecting fears that the most important element of Mr Obama's...

Teachers Spot Trouble In A Name Can teachers really predict behaviour from a name? Teachers think they can tell which pupils are likely to play up by looking at their names, a survey suggests. The poll of 3,000 teachers found more than one in three expected pupils with certain names to be more disruptive. Pupils called Callum, Connor, Jack, Chelsea, Courtney and Chardonnay were among some of the ones to watch. The online survey by parenting club Bounty.com found 49% of UK teachers made assumptions about a child when they first looked down the register. But it is not all...

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd called today for Congress to change Barack Obama's middle name from Hussein to Fitzgerald.

An unemployed Arkansas woman — and her unborn son, whose name she tried to auction on eBay — can't seem to catch a break. After five auctions on the Internet marketplace, Lavonne Drummond, 36, saw a winning bid of $6,800 was dashed Tuesday when the winning bidder, a producer at an Internet radio talk show, told the mother of six that he had no intention of paying for the naming rights of her seventh child. "They just apologized," Drummond told FOXNews.com. "They just wanted to help but didn't think they would actually win." Drummond, whose first four auctions were removed...

The Obama administration has failed to name an envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism around the world as mandated by US law since the previous ambassador was relieved of his duties at the start of the president's term more than six months ago, officials said Thursday. The failure to name a new envoy for the post raises questions about the importance the new administration attaches to the fight against anti-Semitism, said Rafael Medoff, director of the Washington DC-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. "Foot-dragging on the selection sends a message that anti-Semitism is not of great importance to...

This divorce decree shows Barry's parents divorcing with two children one a minor child and one and adult still dependant on education. So at age 19 his parents were still Soetoro.. he was still Soetoro. Then when he goes to law school in IL he signs a document that declares he never had any other name than Barack Obama. That is a sworn lying statement and a felony and you could be disbarred for false information. If y This was posted on Orly’s facebook

Someone might want to look into whether an impostor took President Obama's place during his trip to Russia In a release touting an agreement between Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev over how to craft a follow-up to the START arms reduction treaty, the White House claimed the document had been signed by one "Barak Obama." Whoops:

Can I change my screen name without losing my longevity date?

NEW YORK - Alicia Istanbul woke up one recent Wednesday to find herself locked out of the Facebook account she opened in 2007, one Facebook suddenly deemed fake. The stay-at-home mom was cut off not only from her 330 friends, including many she had no other way of contacting, but also from the pages she had set up for the jewelry design business she runs from her Atlanta-area home. Although Istanbul understands why Facebook insists on having real people behind real names for every account, she wonders why the online hangout didn't simply ask before acting. "They should at least...

BERLIN: Germany is renowned for fighting inflation, but the battle extends beyond money and into the realm of names. In a split decision on Tuesday, the German Constitutional Court upheld a ban on married people combining already-hyphenated names, forbidding last names of three parts or more. It was not the first time the court was forced to weigh in on the subject of names, which are regulated start to finish, fore to family, in Germany. This time, it was a Munich couple who decided to challenge the constitutionality of a 1993 rule limiting the names of married people to a...

The Zodiac killer, who taunted and terrified Bay Area residents in the late 1960s with cryptic letters and a trail of victims, has been identified, according to a group claiming to have cracked the case that has baffled police for decades. The killer is not one of the handful of men repeatedly linked to the 40-year-old crime spree, according to the group, which plans to announce its findings today.

You can't make this stuff up.

Study links unusual surnames to criminality Jennifer Harper Thursday, January 29, 2009 Mama, stick with Michael. But Malcolm? Maybe not. A man's first name can predict his criminal tendencies, according to research released Wednesday by economists who compared crime statistics and a roster of more than 15,000 first names to reveal a distinct "name-crime link" among American males. The more unpopular or uncommon the name, the greater the chance the lad will end up in jail, said David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University. "Regardless of race, juveniles with unpopular names are more likely to engage in...

Gov. Blagojevich today is expected to name former state Comptroller and Attorney General Roland Burris to Illinois' vacant U.S. Senate seat, a knowledgeable source said this morning. A news conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sweet: Burris to be named to Obama's Senate seat Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, had lobbied the governor for the position in recent weeks. Burris made a previous attempt at the Senate seat in the past -- unsuccessfully. In 1984, he was beat out for the Democratic nomination by Paul Simon.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Department of Justice said late Tuesday that Anurag Dikshit, founder of Internet gambling company PartyGaming PLC, has pleaded guilty to "using the wires" to transmit bets and wagering information in interstate commerce.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said Friday that he was fighting to get "my name back" after he was identified as "Senate Candidate 5" in a criminal complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. says neither he nor any emissaries offered favors in exchange for a Senate appointment. Jackson, the son of famed civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and a six-term Democratic congressman from Chicago, had publicly sought to succeed President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Jackson had talked to Blagojevich, the person with the sole power to make the appointment, on...

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Matthew 20:29 Have you ever seen a famous person on the street? It’s kind of a cool experience. To this day on occasion you’ll probably "drop a name" if given a chance. "Yeah, I rode the elevator with that guy." In the previous passage, we see the mother of James and John vying for her sons to take seats of honor in the coming Kingdom (and the remaining 10 disciples becoming angry about it). They all knew who Jesus was. The very thought of the Messiah being...

First I admit that I took the meaning of her name from another thread and expanded and documented it a bit, but it is truly very interesting. You entered: SarahThere are 5 letters in your name.Those 5 letters total to 20There are 2 vowels and 3 consonants in your name. What your first name means: Muslim Female Variant of Sara: Pure. Happy. Hebrew Female Princess. In the Bible, Sarah was the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Her name was originally Sarai (quarrelsome), but God commanded that her name be changed to Sarah before the birth of her son. Biblical...

A Quebec businessman whose name is one of the many that have erroneously landed on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's flight passenger watch list has decided to change his name to avoid lengthy security hassles at the airport. Mario Labbé, an executive with a Montreal-based record company, says his Canadian passport triggers a red alert on the computers of U.S. customs agents every time he tries to board a flight to the U.S. — which is about once a month for the past seven years. "I was pulled aside in a room ... and you have to wait your...

Friday, August 29, 2008 Bengals wide receiver changes last name to Ocho Cinco Associated Press CINCINNATI -- Maybe receiver Chad Johnson can go by the name that his head coach hates. The Cincinnati Bengals receiver has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Broward County, Fla., a switch that became official this week. Johnson, who lives in Miami, didn't return a message left on his cell phone Friday night.

Politico.com: Sen. Joe Biden’s gotten a lot of unsolicited advice on how to curb his gaffe habit, but he might start by practicing his running mate’s name. Three times during his inaugural speech as Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate Saturday, Biden butchered Obama’s name — in different ways. Biden called Obama “Barackal Bama” and “Barack Obaman,” as well as — perhaps most bizarre — “Barack America.” Obama, by his own admission, has a “funny name,” and Biden did get it right at least a dozen times in his speech. But the mispronunciations did not go unnoticed. The campaign cleaned up...

Swedish authorities said parents can now name their newborns "Budweiser" or "Metallica" if they so wish. For decades, Swedish tax authorities had banned parents from naming their children after fast food chains, rock bands or their favorite brand of beer.< Snip >

A Southeast Washington man who did not disclose his Muslim name on an application for a job as a private security guard at Andrews Air Force Base was convicted yesterday of making a false statement. Darrick Jackson, 38, left his Muslim name off the application, prosecutors said, to conceal his ties to a local imam known for inflammatory comments. Jackson, whose first trial ended last year with a hung jury, was tried again this week in federal court in Greenbelt. After deliberating for about a day and a half, the jury found Jackson guilty. He faces up to five years...

US man has sold the domain name pizza.com for $2.6m (£1.3m) - after maintaining the site for just $20 a year since 1994. Chris Clark, 43, accepted the offer from an anonymous bidder after a week-long online auction. "It's crazy, it's just crazy," Mr Clark, who lives in North Potomac, Maryland, was quoted as saying by the Baltimore Sun newspaper. "It will make a significant difference in my life, for sure," he added. Mr Clark registered the domain name in 1994, when the world wide web was just starting. He had hoped that pizza.com would help to get a contract...

~Freeper Names.How did you get your Freeper name?Please tell us:) ~

I wondered how you chose your nickname, or even your tagline. I enjoy reading the wide variety of names and taglines, as well as some home pages. FReepers are very creative, and smart. I've learned a lot here!

“You Shall Call His Name Jesus” (Matthew 1:18-25)“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”The ancient Romans had a saying, Nomen est omen. Nomen est omen, which means, “The name,” nomen, “is a sign,” an omen. In other words, a person’s name sometimes, mysteriously, is a sign or omen of what is to come for that person. For example, if a little...

What's In A Name? Initials Linked To Success, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2007) — Do you like your name and initials? Most people do and, as past research has shown, sometimes we like them enough to influence other important behaviors. For example, Jack is more likely to move to Jacksonville and marry Jackie than is Philip who is more likely to move to Philadelphia and marry Phyllis. Scientists call this phenomenon the “name-letter effect” and argue that it is influential enough to encourage the pursuit of name-resembling life outcomes and partners. However, if you like your name too much,...

The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) is having its annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland starting today through Sunday. Now taxpayers in every state, listen up. Your money is paying for K-12 teachers from all 50 states to attend the NAME convention. The teachers can sit in on any of the workshops and determine which multicultural propaganda they would like to indoctrinate their government school with upon their return. Let's take a look at some of your workshop options: ***"The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Dismantling White Privilege and Supporting Anti-Racist Education in Our Classrooms and Schools." Designed to help educators...

A small but growing coffeehouse chain is changing its name amid concern that the moniker meant to celebrate the seed of its main product also is a disparaging term for Hispanics. Juan Tornoe, an Austin, Texas-based Hispanic marketing consultant, said it's clear to him and should be to anyone that Beaner's name is about coffee, not contempt. But the name change could be a smart move for a company with national aspirations: By 2050, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population will be of Hispanic heritage.

N.A.M.E. Sore, WV, 8/27/07, Zarr Chasm Public School Superintendent, Doctor P.C. Macher, has issued guidelines for implementation of the new NAME (Non Abhorrent Moniker Exchange) program beginning with he 2007-8 school year. “To prevent anyone from being offended by religious names and to insure absolute separation of church and state in Sore County, all children must have a name change upon attendance at our public schools,” explained Macher. “Obviously, children named Christian, Mohammed or Moses are going to be mutually offensive to one another; and, it is additionally illegal to allow the very mention of their names in a government...

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is threatening legal action against the makers of energy drink Mijovi -- because he thinks the beverage bears too much similarity to his own name. Marcos Carrington launched the coffee-based product in 2004 and claims he was inspired to name the drink Mijovi after his girlfriend Jovita. But the singer is demanding Carrington change the product label -- which is also marketed using the slogans "itsmijovi" and "itsmilife" -- or face a court battle. In a recent letter to Carrington, Bon Jovi's lawyer Peter Laird says, "As you should be aware, one of Bon Jovi's most...

PLANT CITY - Roger Karr Jr.’s first wheels were a Chevy El Camino. In fact, he’s driven nothing but Chevys ever since. So it seemed only fitting that he named his first-born son after his favorite brand of car, with the name of his favorite NASCAR driver — Dale Earnhardt Jr. — thrown in for good measure. Chevy Dale Karr arrived at Brandon Regional Hospital on June 13. His father had been mulling over names for months, ever since a sonogram confirmed the baby was a boy. “I wanted something interesting,” the young father of two said of the moniker....

A candidate in a Philippines regional election, desperate to boost his campaign, has changed his name to Osama bin Laden in a bid for extra publicity. Agakhan Sharief hopes his new moniker will capture the attention of voters in Lanao province.Osama bin Laden and Agakhan Sharief's election poster

LOS ANGELES - Mike Buday isn't married to his last name. In fact, he and his fiancee decided before they wed that he would take hers. But Buday was stunned to learn that he couldn't simply become Mike Bijon when they married in 2005. As in most other states, that would require some bureaucratic paperwork well beyond what a woman must go through to change her name when marrying. Instead of completing the expensive, time-consuming process, Buday and his wife, Diana Bijon, enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a discrimination lawsuit against the state of California. They claim...

PHOENIX — A T-shirt sold by a Flagstaff man has provoked potential legislation to make it illegal to use a fallen soldier's name or photo for profit without the permission of their next of kin. Brushing off concerns it would violate free speech, some state lawmakers want to broaden the scope of the legislation to forbid using the name or photo for any purpose. The bill, introduced Wednesday by Sen. Jim Waring, a Phoenix Republican, would make it a misdemeanor to publish the name or picture of any active or former member of the armed forces, without prior permission. If...

Senate leader Don Perata has a plan to provide all uninsured working Californians with Health Insurance at an estimated cost of $5 billion to $7 billion without a tax increase. Okay... The Perata plan would force businesses that do not provide health insurance, and their employees, through a payroll deduction, to pay into a state agency that would attempt to negotiate for "affordable" coverage. When paying taxes, workers would have to show proof of medical insurance. This is just plain wrong on so many levels -- let me count the ways. A plan that is estimated to cost $5 billion...

House Denounces French Street Name Thursday December 7, 2006 1:01 AM By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The House passed a resolution Wednesday denouncing a French city for naming a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was sentenced to death for shooting a Philadelphia police officer 25 years ago this month. ``We must stand together as one and send a strong message to the world that cop-killers deserve to be punished, not to be celebrated,'' said Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, a Philadelphia-area congressman who authored the resolution. The vote came a few days shy of the 25th...

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Internet Society of China has recommended to the government that bloggers be required to use their real names when they register blogs, state media said on Monday, in the latest attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content. The society, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Information Industry, said no decision had been made but that a 'real name system' was inevitable. "A real name system will be an unavoidable choice if China wants to standardise and develop its blog industry," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Internet Society's secretary general, Huang Chengqing, as saying. "We...

AN alleged burglar, dubbed "the new piano man", has baffled police who have been unable to work out the man's name, age, nationality, or even his language. The origin of the mysterious prisoner alleged to have broken into the same house three times is proving a major headache for authorities. The man, who apparently speaks no English, is accused of breaking into the house near Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, to wash and cook food, and is alleged to have stolen a sewing kit. But police have no idea where he is from, and have been completely unable to communicate. The new Piano...

The Nativity of Our Lady, by Andrea di Bartolo (in honor of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8) (The below following is taken from Dom Guéranger's entry in The Liturgical Year for the Fifth Day Within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 12, in Volume XIV of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook, as are all previous excerpts from The Liturgical Year on this blog.) 'Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as...

HOLIDAY, Fla.(Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – What began last year as a suggestion by retired Maj. Gen. Fred Raymond came full circle last Friday during a dedication ceremony of the new Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Fla. More than 500 family, friends, Soldiers, veterans, legislators, county officials and students were present. Raymond recommended to the Pasco County School Board in September 2005 that the new school be named after Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant 1st Class Paul R. Smith. Smith’s parents, widow and two children live in Holiday, and his 12-year old son David is now...

Chances are you don't have any friends named Nevaeh. Chances are today's toddlers will. In 1999, there were only eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh. Last year, it was the 70th-most-popular name for baby girls, ahead of Sara, Vanessa and Amanda. The spectacular rise of Nevaeh (commonly pronounced na-VAY-uh) has little precedent, name experts say. They watched it break into the top 1,000 of girls' names in 2001 at No. 266, the third-highest debut ever. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs, having made the fastest climb among all names since the government started keeping...

Someone needs to sit our people down and have a healthy discussion about the names we as African Americans are giving our children. We are hurting our kids and putting their futures in peril from the moment they are born. That’s right, I said it. We are KILLING our kids and crippling their futures with the names we give them. Don’t you want your kids to get JOBS someday? Good jobs, and serious careers? With a name like Jaquez Ja’Quan Diante’, you’re dooming your sons to a life of drug dealing on some seedy street corner. Our Black men face...

Reason rules the day for now, as a measure at my alma mater Northwest Nazarene University to drop its Crusader mascot name was defeated. But continued vigilance will be needed. The university's Board of Trustees - champions of political correctness that they are - now support finding a cuddly, soft definition of the crusades in step with our hip-hop modern times.

There's no helping you. This site is now just a diversion -- like a train wreck. This site is inherently for and about raving egomaniacs, and Jim's site policies -- which amount to excluding reality and actual dialogue in favor of political/militaristic pornography -- is conducive to cognitive dissonance, which at the times your worldview is threatened leads you into psychotic breaks (on the political cognitive plane, that is, and just maybe in other realms too). Not to mention that your baseline politics is based in mythology about American demographics, science, economics, ethics etc. You spoonfeed each other in the...

WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania - Just to make sure there's no confusion about which team they are supporting in the Super Bowl XL, the mayor and council voted unanimously to change this city's name. Welcome to Steeler, Pennsylvania. The name change for the city of about 15,000 people south of Pittsburgh will last through Feb. 5, the day of the football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks in Detroit. "I know the folks in the state of Washington are rooting for the Seahawks, so we wanted to make sure everyone knows the city of Washington is fully in support...

Fuk King Kwok was waiting for his driver's license to be printed when his name was called and a chuckling Illinois secretary of state employee offered some advice. "She [said] this is a dangerous name," the Chinese immigrant recalled. "She [said] the name translated is not so good, maybe I should change [it]. The word I hear is not so good." Not so good, indeed.