Free Republic

Jerry Reed, the country and western star who was also world famous for his role in the 'Smokey and the Bandit' films, has died. He was 71. Reuters reports that Reed passed away on Monday from complications arising from emphysema. Known as 'The Guitar Man', Grammy winner Reed made his first record aged 18 and went on to release over 40 albums. Reed wrote for Johnny Cash and Brenda Lee and two of his early songs, 'US Male' and 'Guitar Man', were recorded by Elvis Presley with Reed playing on the studio versions.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 28, 2008 – He began his singing career by singing gospel music at his local church in Indianapolis when he was only 4 years old. Now, at 21, he finds himself on center stage, showing off his vocal abilities. “It is just something I love to do,” said Sgt. Victor Cole, who enlisted in the Army as a human resources specialist in 2005. “Singing and writing music calms me down, and is just something I do that gets my mind off of the everyday stresses of being deployed.” Since arriving in Iraq in December 2007 with Headquarters...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Vinny Appice, Anita Baker, Jello Biafra, Andrea Bocelli, Simon LeBon, Kate Bush, Belinda Carlisle, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shaun Cassidy, Darby Crash, Randy DeBarge, Bruce Dickinson, Thomas Dolby, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Siobhan Fahey, Neil Finn, Bela Fleck, Martin Fry, Lisa Germano, Grandmaster Flash, Jools Holland, Ice-T, Alan Jackson, Michael Jackson, Tony James, Joan Jett, Al Jourgensen, Nik Kershaw, Sammy Kershaw, Limahl, Madonna, Bird McIntyre, Mike Mills, Thurston Moore, Alannah Miles, Gary Numan, Michael Penn, Vicki Peterson, Prince, Stacey Q, Will Sergeant, Nikki Sixx, David Sylvian, Toyah, Tanya Tucker, Paul Weller, Jane Wiedlin, Jah Wobble.

Peter Singer is a calm, lucid and able debater, and our debate at Biola University in Los Angeles on April 25 was lively and hard-fought. Not for nothing is Singer considered a world-class philosopher and advocate. To watch the debate go to dineshdsouza.com and click on my AOL blog. Singer praised me for not simply making assertions of faith or hurling Bible passages at him but rather for using reason and argument to make my case . And I complimented Singer for stepping, so to speak, into the lion's den. (Biola actually stands for Bible Institute of Los Angeles.) Unlike...

We just love it when the Washington Post gets all [expletive] on us, particularly in a Hillary Clinton story: A more explosive example of the stress came a few days later. Phil Singer, the campaign’s deputy communications director, emerged from a meeting on Feb. 11 and without explanation started angrily cursing the war room. “[Expletive] all of you,” he shouted, according to a witness, then stormed out and did not return for several days. Penn was growing increasingly aggravated by what he saw as an untenable management structure, which another aide described as an “oligarchy at the top.” Penn had...

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Drug hitmen have killed a popular Mexican singer along with his manager and assistant near the U.S. border, authorities said on Wednesday, the latest murder among musicians who sing "narcocorrido" ballads glorifying drug traffickers. The body of Jesus Rey David Alfaro, known as "The Little Rooster," was one of six that turned up tortured, murdered and pinned with threatening messages for Mexico's army last week in the border town of Tijuana near San Diego. "We believe Alfaro had links to the Arellano Felix cartel," said an official with the Baja California state attorney general's office who...

Kuala Lumpur - A popular rock singer has apologised for sparking an uproar in Muslim-majority Malaysia by baring his chest during a live TV concert and will do community service to atone for the stunt, his record company said on Wednesday. Faizal Tahir - one of Malaysia's most exuberant stage performers - stripped off his jacket, undershirt and belt and flung them into the audience at a Kuala Lumpur concert on Sunday. The moves revealed a bright red Superman logo painted on his chest. Television network 8TV said in a statement it was "utterly shocked and caught by surprise" by...

The Michael Vick dogfighting scandal is morphing into a broader NFL dogfighting scandal, as other NFL players also appear to be involved in this very weird pastime. But as animal-rights groups get more aggressive in their accusations and demands, the whole scene is getting stranger. And the closer you look, the more you see the deep conflicts in core values that fracture our society. among PETA's prohibitions, is the use of animal skins. The ball, as in football, is an inflated leather object endearingly called the "pigskin." Why does PETA oppose existing NFL conduct policy, and not football itself? J.C....

A Sherborn teen was charged yesterday with having sex with sheep at a farm near his home, and police reports suggest the encounters may have gone on for nearly a year. Roger Henderson II, 18, was arraigned yesterday in Natick District Court on charges of bestiality, cruelty to animals and breaking and entering in connection with an incident police say took place at Boggastow Farm on June 27. According to a police report, the farm's barn had been the target of at least a dozen break-ins between August 2006 and June 2007, prompting the property owner to install surveillance cameras....

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2007 – After having breakfast with some of her fans in Nashville, Tenn., yesterday, country music singer LeAnn Rimes, as one of her songs says, had absolutely “Nothin’ Better to Do” than present a handicap-accessible van to a severely injured veteran. LeAnn Rimes hands the keys to a brand new Chevrolet to Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Peter Reid on June 7, 2007, in Nashville, Tenn. His wife, Michele Reid, right, and his full-time caregiver, Brian Kroen, look on. Chevrolet and Rimes teamed up at the Country Music Association Music Festival to present the vehicle to...

Life for Kellie Pickler has definitely changed since she competed on "American Idol" last year. The beauty school dropout from Albemarle has moved to Nashville, Tenn.; released an album; and was nominated for a new female vocalist award at the Academy of Country Music Awards. And those plastic surgery rumors? "Oh, my boobs? I don't care," the 20-year-old singer told WCNC-TV in Charlotte recently. "You know what? The most important thing is you're happy with what you see when you look in the mirror." Pickler, who has been touring with Brad Paisley, said she's happy with herself and believes what's...

Here are some outrageous and racist comments by environmentalists. These are compiled and documented in my book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club: Muir said American Indians are “mostly ugly, and some of them altogether hideous.” They “seemed to have no right place in the landscape,” he continued. Muir is still honored without qualification on the Sierra Club web site, which proclaims, “John Muir is as relevant today as he was over 100 years ago.” Paul Ehrlich, influential “overpopulation” guru and professor of population studies at Stanford University: In his best-selling book,...

3/20/2007 - AUSTIN, Texas (AFNEWS) -- The air crackles with anticipation, as he makes his first move. G,C,C,G,C,C,D,G. The letters are the opening chords of country music artist Charlie Robison's song, "My Hometown," one of the songs he will perform during an Armed Forces Entertainment tour March 18 to 27 to Kuwait and Iraq. He feels the song is perfect for the audience he will be seeing overseas since they all have many different hometowns of their own. Fellow country star Kevin Fowler will also perform during the tour. Mr. Robison first gained an appreciation of the military by watching...

Singer Barbara McNair, who became a film and television star in an era when such opportunities were opening up for black women, has died, her sister said. She was 72. McNair died Sunday after a battle with throat cancer in Los Angeles, sister Jacqueline Gaither said. "She was very family oriented," Gaither said. "She was more than just a star or a famous personality. She was a person of her own." McNair made her Hollywood acting debut in 1968 in the film, "If He Hollers, Let Him Go." She later starred opposite Sydney Poitier in "They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!"...

LOS ANGELES — The California Highway Patrol recommended Monday that actress-singer Brandy be charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a freeway crash that killed a woman motorist last month, a city attorney's spokesman said. The CHP referred the matter to the city attorney's office for review, said spokesman Nick Velasquez. "The office is currently reviewing the case and determining whether the evidence warrants the filing of a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter," Velasquez said. A message seeking comment from Brandy's publicist, Courtney Barnes, was not immediately returned. Brandy, whose real name is Brandy Norwood, has publicly expressed condolences to the...

An Eritrean Christian gospel singer, detained by the authorities without charge for more than two years, has been freed, Amnesty International says. Helen Berhane was among about 2,000 members of illegal Evangelical church groups in Eritrea, who Amnesty says have been arrested in recent years. She was reportedly imprisoned inside a metal shipping container and beaten in an effort to make her recant her faith. But Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Abdu denies all knowledge of her case. More than 90% of Eritreans belong to one of four recognised religions - Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Churches and Islam. Ms Berhane, a...

HELMUT LOTTI    HELLO DOLLY   http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/68be3480434290f3c997afba7d722492   SUCH A NIGHT   http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=4xkFENoLzVY&eurl=&iurl=http%3A//sjl-static16.sjl.youtube.com/vi/4xkFENoLzVY/2.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskICXnedL2bCeF6u2-8xjQDt   LARA   http://www.sterren.nl/index.php?id=videoplayer&streamID=246   DREAM AWAY   http://www.sterren.nl/index.php?id=videoplayer&streamID=245   TV SHOWS IN EUROPE FEW WEEKS AGO.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yZltln3jEs     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F5gNnqQBik     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSjFyp_hSS4     HELMUT LOTTI IS THE BEST ROMANTIC VOICE IN THE WORLD TODAY. HE SINGS IN MORE THAN EIGHT LANGUAGES.   OFFICIAL WEB PAGE   http://www.helmutlotti.be/   LAST CD "THE CRRONERS"    

Fans remember Anna German, a Polish singer who became a star in the Soviet Union while keeping quiet about her tragic past. For millions of Soviet citizens, she was a Polish star who sang about love in melodic, accented Russian at a time when others were singing odes to communist glory. But she was actually born in a remote part of Uzbekistan, and only later did her mother take her to Poland, fearing for her life amid Stalin's purges. She was Anna German, a singer who moved fluidly between Russian, Polish and Italian, and won fame for romantic songs...

WASHINGTON, July 4, 2006 – The Defense Department's "America Supports You" program is a good thing for the nation's men and women in uniform, breakout country music star Rockie Lynne said today on ABC's "Good Morning America." Country music singer, songwriter and lead guitarist Rockie Lynne greets a group of wounded servicemembers during a visit to the Pentagon May 12, 2006. Lynne said he'll never forget the positive outlook of one young man he met at the Pentagon. Sitting in a wheelchair wearing a prosthetic limb from the knee down, the young veteran had a huge smile. He told...

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 29, 2006 – Darryl Worley did not follow his family tradition of joining the military, but fate led him to another way to support his country -- by supporting those who followed the call to military service. Country music singer Darryl Worley entertains the audience at the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tenn., May 27, during an All-American Salute Signature Show featuring tributes to America's men and women in uniform. Worley, who wrote his hit single "Have You Forgotten" after visiting U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan, frequently entertains the troops stateside and overseas. Photo by Chris Hollo...

Here is the story of the singer who just bastardized our National Anthem. We can't make up this stuff. Girl Trouble: The True Saga of Superstar Gloria Trevi and the Secret Teenage Sex Cult That Stunned the World by Christoph Mcdougall Synopses & Reviews Publisher Comments: How did a chart-topping superstar, whose beauty and artistry were sensational enough to make her both a pinup girl and a feminist icon, end up behind bars in a Brazilian prison, accused of helping to mastermind the kidnap, rape, and brainwashing of nearly a dozen teenage girls? In a foreshadowing of today's American...

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2006 – Growing up in Bristol, Tenn., country singer April Taylor heard tales of her grandmother's struggles while her grandfather served in Korea, and she's hearing similar tales from her friends today. America Supports You member and country music singer April Taylor remembers her grandmother's struggles as a military wife, and is working to support military spouses, their families and the troops. Twenty percent of the proceeds from Internet sales of her single "Hero at Home" will go to benefit military spouses. Taylor recently became a member of the America Supports You program. Photo by Samantha...

McKinney event called illegalBy BOB KEMPER, SCOTT MacFARLANE Cox News Service Wednesday, April 05, 2006 Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., center, walking down the steps of the House side of the U.S. Capitol after the last scheduled vote of the day Thursday, March 30, 2006 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) WASHINGTON — When Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) spent money from her congressional office budget to fly singer Isaac Hayes to DeKalb County last year, it wasn't just to have the superstar attend the opening of her new district office or talk about music education for children of...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The singer who dressed as a policeman in the flamboyant late 1970s disco band "Village People" has been arrested after disappearing while drug and gun charges against him were pending, officials said on Monday. Victor Willis, who co-wrote some of the band's hits such as "In the Navy" and "YMCA" has had a number of run-ins with the law since he left the group in 1980 and now faces as much as five years in prison, said Morley Pitt, assistant district attorney in San Mateo County south of San Francisco. "It's just sad that his life...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2006 – Raymond Harris hopes to do something no other performer is doing. The country music singer plans to spend five years on a tour to every possible military installation to support America's troops. America Supports You member Raymond Harris (center) poses with Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore and Army Col. Angela Manos-Sittnick at Fort Gillem, Ga., Dec. 14. A country music entertainer, Harris is in the midst of a five-year tour of military installations to support America's troops. Photo by Sherrye Ehrenberg   In the past 13 months, Harris has played to crowds at 70 military...

Jessica Simpson snubs Bush Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:50 PM ET By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson on Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed. The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders on Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event. The blond star of the film "The Dukes of Hazzard" still plans to visit Washington...

'American Idol's Pickler: Singer and survivor19-year-old from Albemarle overcomes lifetime of adversity to grab her chance at stardom MARK WASHBURNTV/Radio Writer THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Spunky Kellie Pickler and her fellow "American Idol" finalists are the "It" gang of Hollywood this week, notching record TV ratings and making the celebrity rounds. It is a heady trip for the 19-year-old waitress at Sonic, a long way from both her hometown of Albemarle and a sometimes heart-breaking childhood, she says, one that included abandonment and a child-custody battle that landed her in the compassionate embrace of her grandparents. She shared her story with...

The recent US Supreme Court decision concerning Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law was really about whether a federal drug-control law provided a US attorney-general the authority to punish a state's doctors for acting in accordance with a state statute. But by contending that physician-assisted suicide is a "legitimate medical purpose" for the prescription of a drug, there can be little doubt that the ruling helped bring the idea of abetting suicide a bit closer to mainstream thinking. That's a deeply unfortunate thing. As it happened, the decision came exactly seven days after a New Jersey nurse who has confessed to killing...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Singer Lou Rawls is dead. A spokesman says he died this morning at a Los Angeles hospital. He sold more than 40 million albums, and his hits included "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine."

HONOLULU - Legendary Hawaiian crooner Don Ho says he could barely walk, let alone sing, and would have been a "goner" without an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart earlier this month in Thailand. Ho, known for his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," said he hopes to return to the stage soon. "I'm feeling terrific, 100 percent better," Ho told The Associated Press in one of his first interviews since surgery Dec. 6. "I'm ready to go, but I've got to listen to the doctors. "When they say my heart is strong enough to get excited, I'm on." The...

ST. PARIS, Ohio -- Steven Zorn had put the pen gun to his head and clicked before, thinking it was jammed and would not work. But on the third try, the tiny, silver pistol went off as the 22-year-old budding rap singer was drinking to celebrate an impending record deal. He died later at the hospital. The shooting Nov. 18 at Zorn's home in this rural village of 2,000, about 50 miles northeast of Dayton. Family, friends and law enforcement officials believe it was accidental. Family and friends said Zorn drove himself to succeed in the music world. He loved...

PRINCETON, December 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Infamous advocate of infanticide and the man often credited as the founder of the modern radical animal rights movement, Dr. Peter Singer, was featured in the National Post this week predicting that the traditional ethics of western civilization would shortly be abolished. Singer’s comments appeared first in the September/October edition of the journal Foreign Policy as a speculation on what cherished social institutions would still exist in 35 years. Singer, a strict utilitarian and the man the New York Times called the “greatest living philosopher,” says, “By 2040, it may be that only a...

Click Here To Listen I have no idea if this is his voice but it looks like it Interesting!

Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy. Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart. "We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter,...

He says he wants to live. But his wife, caregivers and South Carolina state officials are so focused on carrying out a decade-old, out-of-state living will that 79-year-old Jimmy Chambers can't get a word in edgewise. That's the account of 10 of Chambers's children and their spouses who signed sworn affidavits in an attempt to block their mother from removing his life-sustaining ventilator, which would cause his death. It's a case that's reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo controversy which captured the attention of millions around the world, in which a fault line opened up in the middle of a formerly...

We, the Witness Protection Program For Freepers, aka the Wild Turkeys, aka the Coalition of the Sane, have through mutual discussion and rigourous thought, determined that: 1. The discussion threads regarding Terri Schiavo (hereafter referred to as "TS") have become too full of innuendo, rumormongering, hyperbole, hysteria, namecalling, paranoia, and general poor behavior to warrant participation. 2. Said threads have degenerated into "echo chambers", wherein the same, common thoughts are continually posted again and again, and the same old disreputable, unconfirmed and/or false urban myths are propagated. 3. Anyone who joins in said theads with alternative viewpoints to the most...

During the next 35 years, the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse under pressure from scientific, technological, and demographic developments. By 2040, it may be that only a rump of hard-core, know-nothing religious fundamentalists will defend the view that every human life, from conception to death, is sacrosanct. In retrospect, 2005 may be seen as the year in which that position became untenable. American conservatives have for several years been in the awkward position of defending a federal funding ban on creating new embryos for research that prevents U.S. scientists from leading an area of biomedical...

NEW HAVEN — A two-hour animal rights demonstration on the Green Monday sparked outrage instead of sympathy from the public. "This is the most racist thing I’ve ever seen on the Green. How dare you," roared Philip Goldson, 43, of New Haven at the protest organizers at Church and Chapel streets. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a national animal rights group, posted giant photographs of people, mostly black Americans, being tortured, sold and killed, next to photographs of animals, including cattle and sheep, being tortured, sold and killed.

Peter Singer arrives for lunch with the liberated air of an east coast intellectual taking a break from George Bush’s America. The other diners at Woodlands, a Tamil vegetarian restaurant near Piccadilly Circus, don’t look up as he and his wife, Renata, pass by. Doubtless none of them realise that the lightly tanned man with wisps of white hair is one of the most consequential thinkers of our time: a radical philosopher whom many regard as the father of the animal liberation movement. The restaurant was my choice, not his. Singer asked me to book an old vegetarian haunt called...

MIAMI - Frances Langford, whose steamy rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love" captivated soldiers stationed overseas on Bob Hope's tours during World War II, died Monday. She was 92. Langford died at her home in Jensen Beach, her lawyer Evans Crary Jr. said. She had been ill with congestive heart failure, he said. Langford, a recording artist, radio star and actress from the 1930s to 1950s, joined Hope's troupe to boost wartime morale at military bases and hospitals through Great Britain, Italy, North Africa and the South Pacific. She entertained a new generation of soldiers in Korea and...

ATLANTA, June 30, 2005 – Country music artist Mark Wills didn't deliver a speech during the Military Child Education Coalition lunch and opening general session here June 29, but he spoke to the more than 550 conferees in the international language: music. Country singer Mark Wills performed some of his hit songs, including the megahit, "19 Something," for attendees at the Military Child Education Coalition conference in Atlanta on June 29. Photo by Rudi Williams (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. To the audience's delight, Wills and his musicians spoke to the crowd through some of his hit songs,...

Okay, y'all. I don't post vanities but this one is a doozie. If you can help, great. If not, that's fine, too. And if this gets pulled, I understand.This young (15-year-old) Texas performer has a chance to make it huge, and bring real rootsy-feeling music to the masses.Maren Morris has been invited to compete in CountryThunder.com's Young Guns 4 competition, which has 40+ performers battling (through internet voting) for the opportunity to share the stage with folks like Darryl Worley, LeAnn Rimes, Sara Evans and Montgomery Gentry.Country Thunder is a huge 5-day fest in Wisconsin next month.I believe this young...

Afghan Pop Star Killed After Toronto Concert Tuesday, May 10, 2005 VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Afghan singer Nasrat Parsa (search) died after an attack outside his hotel following a weekend performance at a downtown Vancouver theater, police said Monday. He was 36. Parsa, who had performed in Toronto (search) earlier in the week, was outside his hotel with his brother, Najib, when he was assaulted by three men early Sunday, police constable Tim Fanning said. Parsa, who had been living in Germany (search), died later after sustaining a brain injury, according to his official Web site. A 19-year-old man was...

NEW YORK -- By the dawn's early light, Caroline Marcil finally finished on national TV what she started at a hockey game — a flawless rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The Montreal singer was to perform the national anthems of two countries before the United States' 5-4 exhibition victory over Canada on Friday in Quebec City. Despite two tries, she forgot the words to the U.S. anthem and then left to get the lyrics. When she returned to the rink, she slipped on the carpet covering the ice and plopped on her back before a Quebec Coliseum crowd of 7,166....

MARCH 15 - Leavenworth, KS PX Appearance, Ft. Leavenworth, 11am to 1pm - Kansas City, MO NAIA Basketball Tournament Dinner, 5 pm to 8 p.m. MARCH 16 Kansas City, MO - NAIA Basketball Tournament, Champions of Character Programs 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. - Ottawa University, Ottawa, KS 12 noon to 1pm - Ottawa High School, Ottawa, KS 2pm to 3 pm MARCH 17 Kansas City, MO - St. Patrick's Day Parade, WDAF Float 10am - Whiskey Tango Club, Keni Thomas and Cornbread, Performing with Trick Pony, 9pm MARCH 18 Kansas City, MO NAIA Basketball Tournament, Champions of Character Program 8:45...

Keni Thomas - Flags Of Our Fathers - A Soldier's Story Monday, February 21 2005 @ 01:14 PM ESTContributed by: ACstaff By: Christine Bohorfoush - AngryCountry.com Staff Writer Why Keni Thomas and Cornbread made this record: "It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon on the third of October, 1993 when someone in the hanger yelled out, ‘Get it on!’ A mission was coming down. It was time to gear up. And just like that; our lives were changed and bound forever." "About one hundred and fifty men from Task Force Ranger were sent into downtown Mogadishu, Somalia in search of a...

Visiting Tanzanian singer Remmy Ongalla last evening shocked a public religious gathering in Nairobi when he confessed of having been a devil worshipper. Amidst exclamations from the audience, Ongala revealed how he drank human blood and ate human flesh in a satanic ritual. "I would drink one glass of blood every week and the blood was from people like you," he said. "This is the truth but nobody, not even my wife knew about it," said the Standard Five dropout and father of four. He is married to a British high school teacher. Ongala was giving his testimony at Uhuru...

When talking to Prof. Peter Singer, you don’t get the impression that you’re talking to a monster. His views on what constitutes an ethical life might be diametrically opposed to 2,000 years of Catholic moral teaching and might even be construed as monstrous as seen through a God-centered view of the universe, but Peter Singer the person is intelligent, affable, complex and serious.For years he has held one of the most prestigious positions in academia as an ethics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.Born in Australia, Singer has written and taught extensively on the topic of ethics. If his...

Silent No More: A Major Crisis in the African-American CommunityBy Rev. John J. Raphael, SSJRoman Catholic ChaplainHoward University, Washington, DC Do you know what the leading cause of death in the African American Community since 1973 is? Think about it for a minute. Is it heart disease-2,266,789 deaths since 1973, cancer-1,638,350, or accidents-370,723? Is it AIDS-203,695, or violent crimes-306, 313? There is one possibility that is often overlooked. It happens 1452 times a day in our community. It has taken over 13 million Black lives within the last 30 years. It has taken 1/3 of our present population. What...

WASHINGTON - Elton John (news) called his Kennedy Center Honor "icing on the cake," but actor Robert Downey Jr. (news - web sites) got a frosty reception when he introduced the rock legend as "the other first lady." John, opera diva Joan Sutherland, conductor John Williams and actors Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were honored Sunday with a star-studded tribute at The Kennedy Center. The six recipients of the 27th annual Kennedy Center Honors were saluted for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts. But Downey stole the show with his rambling tribute to John....