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Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches. Benedict approved a document from his old offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that restates church teaching on relations with other Christians. It was the second time in a week the pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church. Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long...

A bill to overhaul the way evolution is taught in Louisiana public schools easily cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday despite threats of a lawsuit. Opponents, mostly outside the State Capitol, contend the legislation would inject creationism and other religious themes into public schools. However, the Senate voted 36-0 without debate to go along with the same version of the proposal that the House passed last week 94-3. The measure, Senate Bill 733, now goes to Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is expected to sign it. Backers said the bill is needed to give science teachers more freedom to hold discussions...

NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the pugnacious prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead" and "The Executioner's Song," has died at the age of 84. Mailer died Saturday of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, J. Michael Lennon, the author's literary executor and biographer, said. "He was a great American voice," said a tearful Joan Didion, author of "The Year of Magical Thinking" and other works, struggling for words upon learning of Mailer's death. From his classic debut novel to such masterworks...

I often wondered what exactly makes a FReeper a FReeper? Is it the simple act of reading articles on FR? Do you have to post articles or replies? To call yourself a FReeper do you need to engage in effective activism like writing letters to politicians, getting out in the street to carry signs, or, is being a FReeper an attitude. If so, what attitude is that? Knock yourself out.

DALLAS -- A DPD officer was shot and killed in West Dallas after confronting a homicide suspect. The officer died at Parkland Hospital as the suspect entered into a standoff with Dallas SWAT.

Ford will announce on Wednesday plans to rename its Five Hundred mid-size sedan "Taurus," according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires. The name change will be announced at the Chicago auto show. A month ago, a report in BusinessWeek suggested Ford could revive the Taurus name, but it seemed unlikely at the time. CEO Alan Mulally was quoted as saying Ford should have never dropped the nameplate in the first place. "I havent had time to do the deep dive on why we stopped investing in Taurus, but I'd like to," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally. "The Ford Five...

There are still a lot of questions about the suspected drunk driver who killed a woman and two of her children while driving under the influence on Christmas Eve. Carlos Prieto is in the Salt Lake County Jail. In the past couple of hours we've learned that he's been in Utah at least a couple of years and that he may be in the country illegally. Prieto was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion on vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, and driving without a license. Prosecutors are still screening the case, and formal charges are expected...

We could all use a good laugh - especially at Google's expense. Type "French military victories" into Google and click I'm feeling lucky

Thank you for giving us blanket amnesty for illegals. Thank you for courageously abandoning our troops. Thank you for handing victory to the terrorists. Thank you for guaranteeing higher taxes. Thank you for guaranteeing no more conservative judges. Thank you for empowering John McCain. Thank you for bringing back universal health care. Thank you for endless investigations. Most of all, I want to thank you for showing complete disregard for the tens of thousands who spilled their blood to give you your right to vote. Your callous, self-serving apathy has guaranteed the government actions that you so bitterly complained about....

Images of Uranus reveal for the first time a dark spot. During the past decade, many bright spots have been seen on Uranus, in both red and near-infrared filters. But this is the first dark spot ever seen on the planet. A team led by Lawrence Sromovsky of the University of Wisconsin and including Kathy Rages of the SETI Institute, Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute (Boulder, CO), and Patrick Fry of U. Wisconsin, observed the dark spot on Aug. 23 using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

John Kerry recently volunteered that he was prepared to “kick [the Swift Boat Veterans’] ass from one end of America to the other” and that he would “demolish” us. He ought to take a Christmas cruise to Cambodia to calm down. Maybe he could take a side trip to tour “Genghis Khan” ruins. It is a little difficult to imagine Kerry (“I voted for it before I voted against it”) kicking the most decorated living serviceman, Bud Day, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or our salty commander, Adm. Roy Hoffman, anywhere. Perhaps Kerry had in mind using a “Rice...

Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blasted the Bush administration for war and homeland security policies that he said leave Americans more vulnerable to attack. Kerry’s remarks came in a Faneuil Hall speech on the eve of tomorrow’s five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In his fourth speech this year at the venue, Kerry accused the administration of using the tragedy that killed about 3,000 Americans to justify the war in Iraq. “It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn (to) excuse the invasion of Iraq,” Kerry said. “They were attacked and killed not by Saddam...

MOTOR racing legend Peter Brock has been killed in an accident while taking part in the Targa West rally in Western Australia, motor sport officials have confirmed. The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) said in a statement the accident occurred about 1.50pm (AEST). Sixty-one-year-old Brock's co-driver, believed to Mick Hone, has been taken to hospital in a stable condition. CAMS said it would conduct a full investigation into the incident. In the meantime, CAMS and event officials were working with the relevant civil authorities. "On behalf of the motor sport community, CAMS offers its sincere sympathy to Peter's family...

by Mark Finkelstein August 2, 2006 - 14:07 On the one hand, liberals enjoy portraying themselves as models of tolerance and racial sensitivity. But woe betide someone who runs afoul of their orthodoxy. Liberals don't hesitate to bring out the crudest racial imagery to mock them. We've all seen the vulgar caricatures of Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice and Ward Connerly. Add Joe Lieberman to the liberal media hit list. Have a look at the image of Lieberman that popped up at Huffington Post today. It's in a column by one Jane Hamsher, who, her bio informs us, is a 'progressive...

After Enron's former chairman Ken Lay died on July 5 of a heart problem, the mainstream media were quick to point out how President George W. Bush affectionately once called the convicted criminal "Kenny Boy." Numerous references were made to the close ties between the two.SNIPHistory shows, however, that Lay supported Ann Richards when George W. Bush first ran for governor of Texas in 1994. While it is true that Lay and Enron gave some $6 million to various candidates and both parties, mostly to Republicans, at least $1.5 million went to Clinton and the Democrats. What did Lay and...

"The Syrian people are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes," said a communiqu¿ from the party's national command issued after a meeting. It said Israel and the United States "are trying to wipe out Arab resistance in every land under occupation" and that President Bashar al-Assad was aware of the seriousness of the situation in the region.

When the New York State Assembly's legislative session ended on June 23, 2006, Assembly Bill 8036 died in committee. If enacted, the bill would have required that "all pupils in grades kindergarten through twelve in all public schools in the state ... receive instruction in all aspects of the controversy surrounding evolution and the origins of man." A later provision specified that such instruction would include information about "intelligent design and information effectively challenging the theory of evolution." The bill was never expected to succeed; its sponsor, Assemblyman Daniel L. Hooker (R-District 127), was reported as explaining that his intention...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The earliest known hominid fossil, which dates to about 7 million years ago, is actually some kind of ape, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan. The finding, they say, suggests scientists should rethink whether we actually descended from apes resembling chimpanzees, which are considered our closest relatives. U-M anthropologist Milford Wolpoff and colleagues examined images and the original paper published on the discovery of the Toumaï cranium (TM 266) or Sahelanthropus tchadensis, as well as a computer reconstruction of the skull. Two other colleagues were actually able to examine the skull,...

Investigation Continues as Congressman Enters Mayo Clinic May 5, 2006 — Capitol Police have taken disciplinary action against a watch commander for the handling of Rep. Patrick Kennedy's car accident, acting Capitol Police Chief Christopher McGaffin said. Lou Cannon of of the Fraternal Order of Police for the District of Columbia said there are questions about whether Rep. Patrick Kennedy received special treatment. (ABC News) McGaffin said the incident was improperly delayed due to "poor judgment" on the part of police managers and that a field sobriety test should have been administered to Kennedy after his car hit a barrier...

Commander in Chief has been pulled by ABC. I can't believe that they did this.