Free Republic

(Oct. 14, 2009) — What most people know is that the Associated Press (AP) is one of the largest, internationally recognized, syndicated news services. What most people don’t know that is in 2004, the AP was a “birther” news organization. How so? Because in a syndicated report, published Sunday, June 27, 2004, by the Kenyan Standard Times, and which was, as of this report, available at http://web.archive.org/web/20040627142700/eastandard.net/headlines/news26060403.htmThe AP reporter stated the following: Kenyan-born US Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday...

The U.S. Air Force has backed away from developing a new electronic warfare aircraft. Now it will rely on UAVs equipped with jammers, and electronic jamming pods on non-specialized (as jamming aircraft) warplanes. This was not the preferred approach. Last year, the air force revived a program to convert some of its B-52 heavy bombers into radar jamming aircraft. This would be done by equipping the bombers with jamming pods (that are similar in appearance to large bombs). The air force planned to buy 24 sets of pods, for a force of 34 B-52s. Each pair of pods would cost...

Sister Sobodka said: "Several times he (Pope John Paul) would put himself through bodily penance. "We would hear it – we were in the next room at Castel Gandolfo. You could hear the sound of the blows when he flagellate himself. He did it when he was still capable of moving on his own." The flagellation is also confirmed by another bishop who has given testimony. Emery Kabongo was a secretary for Pope John Paul. "He would punish himself and in particular just before he ordained bishops and priests," he said. "I never actually saw it myself but several people...

WITHOUT A DOUBTDear Congressman Kennedy BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN 11/12/09 12:00 am Since our recent correspondence has been rather public, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few reflections about your practice of the faith in this public forum. I usually wouldn’t do that – that is speak about someone’s faith in a public setting – but in our well-documented exchange of letters about health care and abortion, it has emerged as an issue. I also share these words publicly with the thought that they might be instructive to other Catholics, including those in prominent positions of...

Massachusetts voters will have to wait until Jan. 19 to elect a successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, but Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing to name an interim appointee in the meantime.... Right now, Massachusetts law does not allow the governor to appoint a temporary Senate replacement. But Patrick said he supported plans for a hearing Sept. 9 on a bill that would give him the power to do just that.

The Washington Post yesterday afternoon reported "President Obama delivers remarks on Ft. Hood shooting at end of tribal leaders conference." The transcript begins: SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA [*] OBAMA: Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference. I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (ph) was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see...

I just received this email. Did y'all see this? Now we have a little insight into why Obama said to not jump to conclusions about Dr. Nidal Hasan and why Congressmen were not briefed before the press leak. This Muslim terrorist who killed and wounded soldiers and civilians at Ft. Hood, Texas was an advisor to President Obama's Homeland Security team. Look on page 29 of the Homeland Security Institute link below. I wonder how many more skeletons there are to come out of the closet. Who else in government among the numerous advisors or Czars will harm our country...

Today many in the United States are crying out to President Obama and Government to do more and more to fix our social ills. The notion that Big Government has all our answers and the solutions we need in this very chaotic and unstable world is fairy tale. It is one that is rooted in the personal belief that Fallen Man through and by the efforts of Big Government or "Socialism" can bring security and comfort to it's inhabitants. There is no man made ideology or system that can ever usher in a world Utopia of perfection and bliss. These...

Did President-elect Barack Hussein Obama commit a federal crime in September of this year? Or did he never actually register and, instead, did friends of his in the Chicago federal records center, which maintains the official copy of his alleged Selective Service registration commit the crime for him? It’s either one or the other, as indicated by the release of Barack Obama’s official Selective Service registration for the draft. A friend of mine, who is a retired federal agent, spent almost a year trying to obtain this document through a Freedom of Information Act request, and, after much stonewalling, finally...

It was the last way John Bernard would have wanted his voice to gain prominence in the national debate over the war in Afghanistan. The retired Marine had been writing to lawmakers for weeks complaining of the new rules of engagement he believed put U.S. troops at unacceptable risk in the insurgency-wracked country. He got little response. Then Bernard's only son, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard — a Marine like his dad — was killed in an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, the latest victim of a surge in U.S. combat deaths. Three weeks later, Joshua became the...

This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!! To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature and the Senate. It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons: The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke. Yet, two non-government businesses, UPS & FedEx, company's who did not get any government subsidies starting from scratch, have far superseded the USPS in their successes! Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is...

South Bend, Ind., Oct 19, 2009 / 04:48 pm (CNA).The Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame has elected Fr. John I. Jenkins, CSC, to a second five-year term as university president

An incredible host of conservative bloggers, ranging from Mark Tapscott at The Examiner, who is a member of the Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame, to me and Brian Faughnan at respective blogs at the Washington Times, to the directors of Red State, to Breitbart's blog, to several at Red County, to a particularly well-researched one by Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot at NRO, .... has stepped forward in solidarity with John McCormack of the Weekly Standard to demand that New York congressional candidate Dede Scozzafava withdraw .....

(DAVIS COUNTY)—Attorneys for a former Bountiful school teacher accused of having sex with a student presented their case in court for the first time Friday. At the conclusion of Friday morning’s preliminary hearing for Valynne Bowers, the judge ruled there’s enough evidence for Bowers to go to trial. The alleged victim, who is now 15 years old, testified Friday morning and gave mostly short “yes” or “no” answers to the attorneys. The teen admitted he initiated the relationship with Bowers, his former math teacher at Bountiful Junior High. After engaging in sex with the boy, Bowers faces first-degree felony charges...

(ST. GEORGE)—A Washington County school teacher has been charged with sexually abusing a student. The 42-year-old Douglas Bullock was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility Thursday night on 12 counts of sodomy with a minor. Bullock is a teacher at Bloomington Hills Elementary. Washington County School District officials say they’re concerned about the charges but don’t believe elementary school students were involved. The district told the Spectrum that Bullock is on administrative leave pending a full investigation.

(HELPER)—Two teachers at a small-town school are facing charges, accused of illegal sexual conduct with students. Both women had been working at Helper Junior High, until the Carbon School District learned of the cases at the end of July. Investigators say Melissa Andrini developed a sexual relationship this summer with a boy who may have been one of her students the previous year. Andrini has since resigned. Another teacher is accused of unlawful touching during the 2007-08 school year. Carbon School District Special Programs Director Robert Cox said she is currently on paid administrative leave, pending the investigation. Carbon County...

Albania wants the remains of Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa and the only post-independence monarch to be returned to the country, the prime minister has said. Mother Teresa's remains are in India and King Ahmet Zog's in France. Prime minister Sali Berisha's government has asked India for the Roman Catholic nun's to be returned by the 100th anniversary of her birth in August. Berisha yesterday said Albania has started negotiations with India's government,which "will be intensified this year". Macedonia and Albania have been engaged in a dispute over the national identity of Mother Teresa, who was born in Macedonia to...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A top adviser from John McCain's presidential campaign who has criticized Sarah Palin's odds as a 2012 presidential candidate defended Wednesday the decision to pick her as McCain's 2008 running mate. Steve Schmidt, who was chief strategist for the Republican's campaign during the 2008 election, said choosing Palin — then a little-known Alaska governor — helped the GOP gain ground against the Democrats and Barack Obama. "I believe to this day that had she not been picked as a vice presidential candidate, we would have never been ahead, not for one second, not for one minute,...

Americans are the most heavily armed people in the world. They are also probably the most heavily doped, drugged and indebted. With the economy breaking down, an explosive cocktail could be brewing. The protests at the G-20 and nato summits could be a harbinger of what is headed for Main Street America. Parts of Strasbourg resembled miniature war zones during the nato summit (April 3 and 4). It was like a French Gaza. Masked protesters hurled rocks, smashed windows and even lit a hotel on fire. Stratfor reported that rioters armed with loaded weapons indicated the violence could have easily...

We didn’t think the Polanski matter could get a whole lot stranger. But it has. And given the way this situation has unfolded in the last couple days, we’re going to go out on a limb and say that we think it’s going to get a lot weirder before all is said and done. The news: Over at the Daily Beast today, Marcia Clark (yes, that Marcia Clark; the prosecutor in the OJ Simpson murder trial) writes a piece which, if true, could hurt Polanski’s case going forward. The background requires a quick trip back to the late 1970s. Polanski...