Free Republic

uring CBS's special coverage of the papal election on Wednesday, correspondent Mark Phillips singled out two dissenters from Catholic tradition in the middle of crowd of hundreds of thousands in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, mere minutes after the white smoke went out of the Sistine Chapel's chimney, and before Pope Francis emerged onto the balcony over the piazza. The two activists, who wore pink "ordain women" pins, not only sought to change the Catholic Church's teachings on the all-male priesthood, but spotlighted "LGBT issues [and] reproductive health care" – a thinly-veiled reference to abortion and contraception – as...

President Obama will propose a 1 percent pay raise for federal civilian employees in the administration’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal, the Washington Post has learned. At the same time, the House plans to vote soon on legislation that would extend the current freeze on basic pay rates through the end of calendar 2013. The freeze was originally set for two years and scheduled to expire at the end of last year, but it was extended until a temporary budget measure expires next month. When the measure expires, federal employees will receive a 0.5 percent raise for the remainder of 2013,...

In an effort to downplay Romney's support at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, MSNBC used an edited video to make it appear as though the crowd was screaming "Ryan, Ryan," Joel B. Pollack reported at Breitbart.com on Friday. But a closer look at the actual unedited footage from CSPAN tells a much different story. MSNBC first aired the video on Wednesday, "prompting an embarrassed Joe Scarborough to mutter 'Oh, sweet Jesus' and a purse-lipped Mika Brzezinski to ask 'What’s wrong with those people,'” The Blaze reported on Thursday. Video: MSNBC caught doctoring clip from Romney/Ryan rally Beckett Adams wrote that...

American families make and live by a budget. But not the Congress.

The furious mom of the Seattle college coed at the center of Weinergate yesterday demanded that the cocky congressman come clean about the lewd photo. "I'm really upset. I feel like he's a person of power and influence, who can make a statement and make all this go away," Carol Mizuguchi said, blasting Rep. Anthony Weiner for his continued snarky sidestepping. "As her mother, I'm really upset," Mizuguchi told The Post. "I'm pissed off at that." Mizuguchi's 21-year-old daughter, Gennette Cordova, got the surprise package -- a close-up of an underwear-clad crotch -- over the weekend in a tweet from...

The Democratic National Committee wanted to honor Nancy Pelosi Thursday -- but its praise wasn't good enough for the House minority leader. When the DNC's Resolutions Committee brought up a resolution commemorating Pelosi's years as speaker of the House, Pelosi's daughter sought to alter the proposal at her mother's behest, adding some of the accomplishments that the elder Pelosi felt the committee had overlooked. "I have some friendly amendments," said Christine Pelosi, a political strategist, at the committee's session during the DNC Winter Meeting Thursday. She is a member of the committee. "You think I'm kidding," Christine Pelosi added, to...

TAUMALIPAS, MEXICO - Fifteen bodies have been discovered on a highway between Matamoros and Ciudad Victoria. Mexican authorities discovered the bodies of 13 men and two women early this morning near the town of San German. The victims were found tortured and executed with their hands bound behind their backs with plastic zip ties. The letter "Z" was painted on all their shirts.

In 2007, when Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein founded JournoList, an online gathering place for several hundred liberal journalists, academics and political activists, he imagined a discussion group that would connect young writers to top sources. But in the heat of a bitter presidential campaign in 2008, the list’s discussions veered into collusion and coordination at key political moments, documents revealed this week by The Daily Caller show. In a key episode, JournoList members openly plotted to bury attention on then-candidate Barack Obama’s controversial pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman, for instance, suggested an effective tactic...

THE DEATH OF JOURNALISM– The criminals in the state-run media planned to destroy Sarah Palin. We all knew they did. There was even a movie made on how these leftist cranks obliterated the popular Governor of Alaska who enjoyed an 80% approval rating when she was selected by John McCain to be his running mate for Vice President. “Media Malpractice” reported on how the liberal media destroyed Sarah Palin:

No laws, no rule of law. Anarchy. This is so outrageous, it leaves one feeling..... powerless. Raping America. Ethics, morals, the best of America squashed in a stealth coup. ACORN is a criminal racketeering organizations. Prostitution, child trafficking, fraud, illegal voter registration -- all sanctioned and financed by ACORN. It's a sewer, and so is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Obama Justice Department Shut Down Federal ACORN Investigation According to Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailing...

A steamy Calvin Klein billboard that seems to show a teenage girl in a threesome - with suggestions of a foursome - is raising eyebrows and ire. Passersby can't miss the massive, sexually charged ad on a building at Lafayette and Houston Sts. in SoHo, and they can't believe their eyes. "It's borderline pornographic," said neighborhood resident Lisa Marchese, 36, a marketing specialist who was disturbed by the youthfulness of the models. "They all look so young, particularly the girl. And to portray them in a threesome - it's just taking it too far." The ad depicts a topless young...

The Democrat made a net gain today in a count of formerly rejected absentee ballots that pushed his advantage to more than 300 votes in the U.S. Senate race. Democrat Al Franken today extended his lead over Republican Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate election, following the counting of about 350 formerly rejected absentee ballots this morning by a three-judge panel. Unofficially, Franken took 198 of the ballots, while Coleman added 111. The ballots added about 87 to Franken’s recount lead, enlarging his margin over Coleman to more than 312. The result makes it even more likely that, barring an...

Listen: http://www.ifilm.com/profile/breitbart/video/2829104

Congress may be on the brink of passing unexpectedly sweeping new rules on ethics, but any claim that the culture of corruption is in retreat is ludicrous. Consider that with the forced exits of former Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Bob Ney and Tom DeLay, the one lawmaker who most exemplifies this debased culture happens to be the new Senate majority leader – Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is now arguably the nation's most powerful politician after President Bush. It's bad enough that for decades Reid has dispensed favors to companies and institutions from his home state that employs some...

The old song lyrics “I need a place to hide away” traditionally have applied to the bathroom in conventional culture. It was the one comfort zone in which to be alone. Don’t count on it. The New York Times says attitudes about privacy are changing, and cutting-edge bathrooms have translucent glass or acrylic walls that make the interior visible from other rooms. Joel Sanders, an architect and professor of architecture at Yale, has designed several see-through bathrooms. The shame about the body is not a factor for many clients, he told the Times. Ideas about privacy are more relaxed. Some...

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin has called for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, saying it's the only solution after recent religious violence in that nation. Harkin's comments place him among the first members of Congress to publicly state that the war in Iraq has become a fight between Muslim factions. The criticism follows a CBS poll last week that showed 65 percent of respondents disapproved of President Bush's handling of the war, his worst marks since the war started three years ago. A White House spokesman says retreat before victory would be reckless.

Old blowhards don’t fade away, we learned again last week, they just serve as Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was almost two decades ago that Sen. Joe Biden (D.-Del.) chaired the confirmation hearings that gave America a new verb: to Bork. When President Reagan nominated U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, it was Biden who led his Democratic committee colleagues Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont in what was then the unprecedented trashing of a nominee of unquestioned professional qualifications and unblemished character. In 1991, in a committee still chaired by...

'Excuse me Condi, can I go to the bathroom?' By Philippe Naughton, Times Online President Bush had a more pressing worry than terrorism or reforming the United Nations during a Security Counil meeting in New York yesterday - the leader of the world's only superpower wanted to go the loo. At one point during the Council's debate on international security and UN reform, Mr Bush picked up a pencil and wrote a short note to Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State. "I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?" the note read. The photograph, taken by a...

Sean Penn bales water out of a boat with a plastic cup as he and members of his entourage make an attempt to rescue stranded people in New Orleans.

An Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, says he has not encountered trouble from fellow soldiers and would like to stay if not for the policy that permits gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. "I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open,"...