Free Republic

Asampling from the web: ``Why are these Muslim invaders allowed to carry on freely in this country -- protected by outreach, Obama, and PC mental illness?'' ``Simply put, most Muslims in non-Islamic countries have an evil axe to grind and a scurrilous hidden agenda.''

“I hope he fails.” — Rush Limbaugh It is, of course, a calculated outrage. Meaning, it was spewed by a clown in the media circus to kick a familiar sequence into motion: angry denunciation by bloggers, pundits and supporters of President Obama (the “he” whose failure is hoped), followed by Rush Limbaugh refusing to retract a word, a courageous truth teller who will not be moved. And, trailing behind, like the folks with brooms trail the elephants in the circus parade, Limbaugh’s devotees, complaining that their hero has been misquoted, misunderstood or otherwise mistreated. “What Rush meant was ... yadda...

GRAHAM, Texas -- A couple whose pit bulls fatally mauled their 7-year-old neighbor were sentenced to seven years in prison, the first conviction under a new state law that holds owners responsible if their dogs injure or kill someone. Crystal Michelle Watson, 28, and Jack Wayne Smith, 45, were convicted Thursday of a dog attack resulting in a death, a second-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The law says owners are guilty if their unsecured dogs injure or kill a person in an unprovoked attack off their property. "I compared it to someone leaving a...

Yes, there's a list of titles floating around the Internet right now, but it's a fake. It is, however, established fact that our would-be vice president has in the past tried to pull books off library shelves. The New York Times reports that as a member of the City Council of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin complained to colleagues about a book called Daddy's Roommate, described in promotional material as being ''for and about the children of lesbian and gay parents.'' Laura Chase, who ran Palin's campaign for mayor, explained that the book was harmless and suggested Palin read it. Chase told...

So, what's going on with you? Nothing much? Wish I could say the same. As you may know if you've seen CNN or read the paper, yours truly has lately been the target of death threats and harassment from the ranks of the not-so-tightly-wrapped. This, after a June 3 column about the torture murder of a young white couple, allegedly by four African Americans. My column took on white supremacists and far right bloggers who contend that this ''genocide'' -- their word -- goes unremarked by news media too PC to report black-on-white crime. It was an argument made for...

Syrian Papers on US Republican Representatives' Meetings, Statement in Damascus Originally published on 4/2/2007 by Syria -- OSC Summary in Arabic The three official Syrian daily newspapers -- Al-Ba'th, Tishrin, and Al-Thawrah -- on 2 April publish only the two Syrian News Agency reports on the separate meetings that Republican House of Representative members Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, and Robert Aderholt separately held with President Bashar al-Asad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu'allim in Damascus on 1 April. They offer no further reporting and make no comment. Damascus Al-Watan in Arabic, a private newspaper, on 2 April publishes, in addition to...

Friday, August 11, 2006 A LITTLE INCONVENIENCE?? I almost chocked on my extra-hot latte this morning when I started reading Leonard Pitts' (Miami Herald) column. Seemed that Leonard was coming over to the dark side by agreeing that a little inconvenience, when it comes to added airport security after the London arrests, was fine and that "getting killed is the biggest inconvenience of all." Leonard went on to praise the British for their handling of this situation and even suggested that it might be a good idea to adopt a more El Al form of airport security. For those not...

All the news that's fit to be requested By LEONARD PITTS JR. lpitts@herald.com Dear Colleagues: Have you had enough bad news? I don't mean the bad news we report. No, I'm talking about the bad news that is reported to us, the steady diet of doom and/or gloom that goes with working for a daily newspaper these days. I'm talking about reports that, despite all the focus groups we study, all the redesigns we commission, all the shorter stories we write and all the bigger typefaces we employ, newspaper readership is still falling like a boulder from a skyscraper. It's...

Lee Pitts, an embed reporter of the Chattanooga Times traveling with a National Guard unit, prodded one of its soldiers to ask Rumsfeld about why military units in Iraq are lacking proper armor for many vehicles. Tony is also talking to Lieutenant Bryan Suits, who hosts a radio show in Seattle, Washington on KVI, but is serving in Iraq now. Suits recently experienced an IED attack... Listen to the inside story - You can hear Tony Snow's radio show audio streaming online at www.tonysnow.com.

It's a great question: why don't we have enough armor? Kind of like it's great to see a contestant win a lot of money on a game show - but it's a LOT better when it's not manufactured. Fixed. Staged. Chroreographed. Whatever you want to call it, the news is always better when the reporter doesn't insert himself into the mix, as Edward Pitts has supposedly done. According to Drudge: From: EDWARD LEE PITTS, MILITARY AFFAIRS Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:44 PM To: Staffers Subject: RE: Way to go I just had one of my best days as a...

Text of press release from the office of Rep. Joe Pitts:Washington -- Congressman Joe Pitts (R, PA-16) called S. 2845 National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 good, but incomplete. The legislation, modeled after the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, outlines an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence community. Congressman Pitts opposed the bill which passed the House this evening. He issued the following statement outlining his concerns with the bill. "The purpose of this bill was to enact the 9/11 Commission's most important recommendations," said Congressman Pitts. "The House version did just that, and I voted for it. This House-Senate...

Let me share with you the daydream that gets me through to Friday. I retire. I move to a house on a wooded acre from which I cannot see my nearest neighbor. My new house has a media room with a state-of-the-art sound system and plush recliners. When I am not there, I am lounging on the screened-in porch out back, watching the river travel past. Swell as all that is, here is what makes the daydream lovely: There are no children in the house. They have all grown up and moved away. Oh, I love them to death; don't...

Dan Rather introduced the June 15 CBS Evening News profile by relating how Pitts "talked one on one with Theresa Heinz-Kerry and her one of a kind take on life and politics." Pitts began his glowing profile: "She is both rich and reachable." Heinz-Kerry in a classroom with pre-schoolers: "I'd like to be a dog. Wouldn't you like to be a dog? I would. Dogs are friendly." Pitts: "Teresa Heinz-Kerry is one of the wealthiest women in the world, worth an estimated $500 million. She is not easily defined." Pitts to Heinz-Kerry, as two sit in chairs in an ornate...

John Kerry appeared on Monday's Good Morning America on ABC to respond to a story from ABC's Brian Ross about how, in contradiction to what he's maintained since, he stated in a 1971 interview that during a protest his threw away his own medals from the Vietnam War, but instead of making Kerry's very contentious interview with Charles Gibson or his credibility the focus of the day's news, ABC and the other networks painted Kerry's post- Vietnam War actions as an unfair burden and/or Kerry as a victim of unfair attacks from pro-Bush political operatives. With "Kerry's Dilemma" as the...

A few words about race, justice and Marcus Dixon. Hundreds of people rallied last week in Atlanta, hoping to persuade the Georgia Supreme Court, which is considering an appeal filed on his behalf, to set Dixon free. Meanwhile, he sits in a cell in a Georgia penitentiary, serving a 15-year sentence for statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. Prosecutors say the crime stems from the fact that last year when he was 18, Dixon had sex with a girl who was three months shy of 16. But critics say the true ''crime,'' in the eyes of a Deep South justice...

quot;Violence,quot; said Isaac Asimov, quot;is the last refuge of the incompetent.quot; In a democratic society, this is certainly so. Democratic government depends on the rule of reason rather than the rule of force, and whenever one side of a political issue resorts to violence rather than persuasion to gain its way, democratic government begins to collapse.But there is a warning sign just before a society gets to the violence stage. The political conversation changes tone. Words cease to be tools of reason and become weapons. And then we get the next to the last refuge of the incompetent: the sneer.Now...