Free Republic

Recently, Senator John Kerry introduced a bill in the Senate intended to create a two-way professional exchange program that would allow young Americans to work in Muslim countries and citizens of those countries to live in the US. Forgive my cynicism but our government has expended massive resources in the form of money, manpower, and bureaucracy in order to track down terrorists. Multiple arrests recently of homegrown terrorists illustrate the dangers of shipping young Americans off to Muslim countries. Furthermore, many of the 9/11 terrorists were in the US on student visas. Does the Department of Homeland Security really need...

KABUL, Afghanistan - A group of servicemembers from the International Security Assistance Force Volunteer Community Relations Program here donated more than 300 bags of food, clothes, toys and other supplies Thursday to a local Afghan Refugee Camp during a Humanitarian Aid mission. The team of volunteers, led by U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Maj.) Michael Goecker, ISAF chaplain, collected hundreds of supplies donated by ISAF members and U.S. volunteers to give to local Afghan orphanages, camps and families in an effort to help with their state of living and support the ISAF Counterinsurgency plan. “We receive the donations from private organizations...

Lawmakers across Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans, were surprised to learn recently that the Obama administration has made reaching out to Muslim nations a top priority for the space agency NASA. They will probably be more surprised to learn that administration officials told the Middle East news organization Al Jazeera about it before they told Congress. Rep. Pete Olson, the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, got a call from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on June 28, the day the White House released its new long-term plan for the space program. "He ran down some...

It's been a year since President Obama addressed the Islamic world in Cairo, his most visible gesture to a people, culture and religion he believes the Bush administration antagonized unnecessarily. But, according to a new poll, the Muslim world has not exactly grasped his extended hand. In fact, Muslims have lost confidence in Obama over the past year, the poll found. And in Egypt, the Arab bellwether nation where Obama chose to deliver his speech, the U.S. standing today is worse than during the final year of the Bush administration.

  Story by Senior Master Sgt. Jessica D'Aurizio PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Zormat District in Paktya Province is considered a very dangerous area, according to Afghans that live in eastern Afghanistan. But this did not stop the Air Force Medical Embedded Training Team at Forward Operating Base Lightning and their Afghan national army counterparts at FOB Thunder from setting up a free medical clinic and addressing some concerns of the Afghan villagers, May 18.Each month, the joint AF and ANA medical team travels to a designated village to provide medical care as part of a village medical outreach mission....

During World War II Nazi Germany tried to rally support in the Arab world, often trying to find common ground in anti-Semitism. The extent of the Nazi propaganda in Arabic has been revealed in a book titled Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World. Historian Jeffrey Herf based his book on wartime broadcasts in Arabic that were transcribed by the American embassy in Cairo. Thousands of transmissions were sent from 1939 to 1945.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A newly released LifeWay Research survey of 1,004 Protestant pastors found only 3 percent of their churches served as the primary sponsor of a church plant (new congregation) during the previous 12 months, and only 14 percent gave financial support in partnership with other churches to help start new congregations. However, a second study completed in partnership with Leadership Network revealed more churches open than close yearly. Only in recent years has the annual number of new churches in the United States outpaced the annual number of churches closing their doors. Twenty-eight percent of the congregations participated...

It was the basketball game for the ages. On Monday night, the Duke University Blue Devils survived a desperate, last-second shot by the underdog Butler University Bulldogs to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. It was a great game-a classic “David and Goliath” matchup, given that Duke has appeared in eight championship games under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and that Butler had never even made it to the Final Four. You may hear folks talking about the game for some time. When you do, you can add to the conversation by revealing an interesting fact: Basketball was invented more than...

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, the moderate Santa Maria Republican running for lieutenant governor, opened his speech to party convention delegates Saturday afternoon by acknowledging the discomfort many of them have with him for supporting new taxes, among other votes he has taken. When he walked into the room, he said, a delegate greeted him by saying, "Hey Abel, I think you're with the wrong party." "And I looked at him, and I said, 'I'm not with the wrong party, I'm with the right party. Let me tell you why.' " Maldonado, who spoke after the room had somewhat emptied following...

The LifeWay Christian Store on South State Street in Salt Lake City has a shelf of LDS literature. These are books, however, that probably not one Mormon in a million will ever read. Basically, they are "defense manuals," handbooks for helping Protestants deal with this ambitious, upstart religion that's out to perform a baptism for every soul who has ever set foot on earth. Last Monday, I spent about an hour thumbing through the books on the Mormon shelf at LifeWay. The books range from "kind and honest" to "kind of honest." The best remind me of the volume "I...

AUSTIN – A bent to conservatism and family makes Hispanics a promising pool of votes for Republicans, but the party's targeting of illegal immigrants has withered its attraction. Regardless, Gov. Rick Perry has fared relatively well, perhaps because of his anti-Washington rhetoric and his careful immigration stance, a recent poll indicates.

Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations. Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood. Secretary Napolitano spent an hour and a half briefing them on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counter-radicalization and anti-terrorist programs. The intensive briefings spanned two days (January 27 and 28) and were called by the DHS. Although there is no evidence of an exchange of classified information, this meeting was the beginning of an Obama administration...

The Obama administration's efforts to find common ground with congressional Republicans ran into two pockets of resistance Tuesday: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner. At a closed-door White House session, Pelosi expressed skepticism over an administration proposal to offer tax breaks to business that create new jobs. And Boehner urged Obama to abandon much of the Democrats' current agenda on the ground that it's killing jobs by creating uncertainty in the markets. The White House session with congressional leaders was supposed to be a step toward bipartisanship, with a focus on jobs. But Pelosi made it...

Pastor Rick Warren, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) ,and Valerie Jarrett Warn Against Stereotyping Muslims Pastor Rick Warren, left, shakes hands with Yusuf Islam, best known by his former name Cat Stevens, after speaking at the convention. [Pic in URL] Ahmed Mohamed Staff Writer Washington — More than 30,000 Muslims from across America attended the 46th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) July 3–6 in Washington, where they heard calls for building bridges of understanding and for increased involvement in community service programs. The ISNA meeting is described as the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans. Also...

This video is arranged with a short instrumental medley of the hymns; Softly and Tenderly, Lord I’m Coming Home! Also with an animated hummingbird!

Animated tropical puffer fish with a inspiring message!

President Obama continued his outreach to the world's Muslims today, sending greetings to pilgrims to Mecca. .... "Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions," Obama said in a statement. "During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand...

You notice he's not going to Ft. Hood to build bridges to our troops or kissing the wounds of our brave soldiers.

The day after he was elected then President-elect Barack Obama sent Anti-Israel adviser Robert Mally to reach out to Syria. WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Presidential-elect Barack Obama has promised to improve U.S. relations with Egypt and Syria. Aides said Obama had sent senior foreign policy adviser Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria over the last few weeks to outline the Democratic candidate's policy on the Middle East. The aides said Malley, who served in the administration of President Bill Clinton, relayed a pledge from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo as well as reconcile with...

Red shoulder hawk animation singing a Christian song, This Little Light of Mine! Song sung by Revski - o7jimmy!