Free Republic

The terror suspect who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane is the son of a Nigerian banker who alerted U.S. authorities to his "extreme religious views" months ago, it was reported Saturday. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/12/26/2009-12-26_father_of_umar_farouk_abdul_mutallab_nigerian_terror_suspect_in_flight_253_attac.html#ixzz0ak17CQQV

Couple to read biblical story of Christmas at Pistol Creek Station in MaryvilleBy Melanie Tucker Last modified: December 11. 2009 10:04PM A Blount County couple has obtained a demonstration permit to read the biblical Christmas story in a Maryville park Monday night. Several Blount County churches, including New Hope Independent Baptist Church in Maryville, are expected to join the demonstration. The reading amounts to a protest of the Maryville mayor's decision to cancel the reading of the Christmas story at its annual tree lighting ceremony, which was held Monday night. James Raucci and his wife Heather will read from the...

ACORN–The LA Story, Part II: ‘We knew we were gonna put in Obama.’by Gary Hewson I was driving to my local OSH hardware store in West L.A. yesterday to buy some tools for the house where I spotted an ACORN rally across the street at some FOX studio. After buying some supplies, I went into my car to get the brand new hand-held HD video camera I had purchased just the night before for an upcoming vacation. With camera in hand, I walked towards the protesters to gather some pictures and video footage of the rally. I also called my...

President Obama he has paid nearly $1.7 million to his top eligibility lawyer since the election. Obama for America, Obama's 2008 political campaign, merged with the Democratic National Committee in January and is now known as Organizing for America. The grassroots army that some refer to as "Obama 2.0" is still collecting financial contributions. Federal Election Commission records for "Obama for America" show that the lobby organization has paid international law firm Perkins Coie exactly $1,666,397.01 since the 2008 election. --------

In little noticed remarks, Michelle Obama stated at a public event that her husband's mother, Ann Dunham, was "very young and very single" when she gave birth to the future U.S. president. Her comments further undermine the official story as told by Barack Obama – that Dunham was married to his father, Barack Obama Sr., at the time of birth. -------

By far, the best movie I have ever seen about the savagery and ruthlessness of Communism, an ideology which indeed puts Nazism and Fascism to shame.

Mmm . . .mmm . . .mmm . . . Barack Hussein Obama is a commie like his mama . . . mmm ... mmm ... mmm will not name his true papa; Mmm . . .mmm . . .mmm . . . Barack Hussein Obama claims he was born in hawai-i-a . . . mmm ... mmm ... mmm not canada nor kenya; Mmm . . .mmm . . .mmm . . . Barack Hussein Obama lived in indonesia . . . mmm ... mmm ... mmm and memorized the sallah; Mmm . . .mmm . . .mmm ....

But not for the reasons Obama cites. She "was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne," he said in one telling. Beaton did not lose her insurance because she failed to own up to a skin problem in her past. She lost it because, when enrolling in the plan, she had not reported a previous heart condition and did not list her weight accurately. Obama tells stories of real-life hardships repeatedly, in his speech to a joint session of Congress, in interviews and at his...

Frank: "Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chile cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment, and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table, asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Native New Mexicans) that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy; and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted and became Judge 3." Here are the scorecard notes from the event: CHILE # 1 -...

Un jeune fille française raconte l'intrigue.A little French girl tells a story.

The story of, Tanyard Lane is true and the place that this story happened is in, Chepachet Rhode Island in the late 1960’s. Roy was young when he went to his final home a few years later and had faith in his Saviour Jesus Christ the Lord.

The story of, Tanyard Lane is true and the place that this story happened is in, Chepachet Rhode Island in the late 1960’s. Roy was young when he went to his final home a few years later and had faith in his Saviour Jesus Christ the Lord. The instrumental song of this video is, What A Friend, by Smoky Mountain Hymns.

This story is wonderful and the greatest story ever told and being told. Song is, I Love To Tell The Story and sung by o7jimmy.

I visited a fourth-grade class in a slum school recently. Since I’m a storyteller by trade, the teacher asked me if I’d tell the kids a story. Now I’m a good storyteller and an all-around charming guy, no doubt, but I wasn’t prepared for the degree of fascination I inspired. Rambunctious mischief ceased on the instant and resolved itself into riveted attention and awestruck stares. I was awfully pleased with myself by the time I was done. “Don’t take it personally,” the teacher told me brusquely. “It’s just that they’ve never seen anyone like you before. A man—obviously tough—who’s not...

Short Passover video from Israel. This was really well done. Worth a look. Click on link.

  Ronald Reagan Tells a Story (RNC's Tribute to Ronald Reagan, 1994)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008 – Army Maj. Lisa L. Carter, a two-time Iraq veteran, wants to share her life’s success story with the American public. Army Maj. Lisa L. Carter. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Carter recalled her days as a single mother working at a post office in Atlanta while caring for her 2-year-old daughter a few years after her 1984 graduation from Fulton High School there. “I met a lot of retired military personnel” at the post office, Carter said, noting the veterans encouraged her to join the Army Reserve as a way...

True Story? Men Prefer 'Chick Flicks' When They Are Explicitly Fictionalized ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2008) — Characterized by a heart-tugging plot, emotional melodrama is a subtype of dramatic entertainment that fosters deep emotional reactions on the part of the consumer. Often labelled "chick-flicks," "tearjerkers," or "human interest stories," the importance of this form of entertainment is underscored by the popularity and success of movies like Titanic and the "Oprah Winfrey Show." However, despite the apparent popularity of melodramatic entertainment, scant academic attention has been paid to the genre. Now, new research examines emotional melodrama and finds a significant difference between...

Haven't been on here for a couple years. I was lucky to even remember my user name and password. Here's the help I need: I remember a couple of times on Christmas I read a story, namely Ramona and The Three Wise Persons to my kids. I would like to do so again this year but have no idea what book or story anthology it would possibly be in. I was at a used book store yesterday and the gentleman searched on amazon to no avail. Anybody ever heard of this story or know where I could get it?

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2007 – Minutes after terrorists slammed a hijacked commercial airliner into the Pentagon six years ago today, Army Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell thought he was going to die. Retired Army Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell, a Pentagon survivor of the attacks Sept. 11, 2001, speaks to a packed auditorium during a memorial service Sept. 7, 2007. Birdwell lived through burns over 60-percent of his body and excruciating physical therapy to eventually begin a ministry that helps burn victims and wounded servicemembers. Defense dept. photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, U.S. Navy  (Click photo for screen-resolution...

Diamonds tell story of Earth's beginning By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 12:01am BST 22/08/2007 Diamonds really are forever, according to a study that has found tiny examples of the gems that date from near the birth of the Earth. Tiny diamonds discovered inside crystals of zircon Over four billion years old, the diamonds are the oldest identified fragments of the Earth’s crust and were discovered in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia, suggesting they were created only 300 million years after the planet itself was born from the dust and debris encircling our Sun some 4.5 billion...

7/11/2007 - ST. LOUIS (AFPN) -- A once-young usher who worked at Busch Stadium, home of the World Series multi-champion Cardinals, is now a man who now ushers in technologies which go way out of the ballpark. Nearly 40 years after his days of ushering people to the stands at Busch Stadium, Maj. Gen. Thomas F. Deppe, the 20th Air Force Air Force commander at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., returned to the ballpark July 8 to throw out the "first pitch" during the Cardinals vs. (San Francisco) Giants' game. It was part of the Air Force Week St....

Though many of them have never met, the women of the armed services are a band of sisters. And Jacksonville resident Kirsten Holmstedt wants the world to know their story.

OMAHA, Neb. -- A child injured by gunfire Tuesday night was home talking about the incident on Wednesday. Omaha police said they were called to the area of 30th and Parker streets after 11 p.m. for a report of shots fired. Aliyah Cain, 5, had been shot inside the home. Police said that she was sleeping at her grandmother's house when a bullet grazed her leg. The child was treated at the scene and not transported to a hospital.

In relating the story of Jesus, the Qur’an describes how Mary, the mother of Jesus, was approached by an angel from God, bringing her tidings she had never imagined: that she will give birth to a son, a Messiah, who will be of the righteous and will be a prophet of God, calling the Children of Israel (the Israelites) to the straight path of God.

"Our Muslim population is better educated and economically better off than the average American," Chertoff said CAIRO — The US sees its Muslim population as a success story because they are well integrated into society, warning that 9/11-style attacks would likely be launched from Europe where immigrants feel second-class citizens.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2007 – The Military Channel is asking servicemembers across the armed forces to submit videotaped stories about their service in the global war on terrorism for broadcast on television, company officials said. “We want to give a voice to the troops to allow them to tell their stories,” Jill Bondurant, Military Channel publicist, said during an interview with American Forces Press Service today. The Military Channel plans to use servicemember-submitted video for broadcast during nightly one-hour blocks of programming starting in early February, Bondurant said. The dates and times haven’t been specified yet, she said. Video...

FORT HUACHUCA — Chief Warrant Officer Sidney Dahlin-Walker didn’t know if she would be alive to celebrate Christmas. And neither did her husband, British Army Maj. Don Walker. “I didn’t think I was going to make it to the end of last year,” she said. In 2005, the 18-year Army veteran was told she had breast cancer and it was nearly in the third phase of the destructive disease, a time when survival would become less likely. She and her husband had been married for about three years when the news came. Although the couple were in Germany, they were...

10/5/2006 - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AFPN) -- Retired Lt. Col. James and Ellie Spatafora possess a unique answer to a common question couples are quizzed about. When asked where they met, they answer that the seeds of their 56-year marriage were planted during the historic Berlin Airlift. The couple was able to catch up on old times with friends during a Berlin Airlift plaque dedication at Veterans Memorial Park here Oct. 4. More than 150 people attended the dedication, which was one of numerous events held during the weeklong reunion of the Berlin Airlift Veterans Association. The Berlin Airlift was a...

Nigeria: The Story of Congressman Jefferson Vanguard (Lagos) COLUMN September 21, 2006 Posted to the web September 21, 2006 Christopher Drew "A case against politicians, a tale of friendship, ambition and betrayal". In July 2005, Vernon L. Jackson returned home to Louisville from Washington, where he had just met with Representative William J. Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who had been helping to promote his fledgling digital-technology company. David Harper, a lawyer for the company, said he had never seen Mr. Jackson so demoralised. For nearly five years, the inventor and the congressman had carried the message that Mr. Jackson's company,...

US Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos attorney is Mary Stillinger (article at the end of this email) http://www.marystillingerlaw.com/index.jsp (915) 544-0415 I just spoke with Attorney Mary Stillinger's legal assistant, Ruth. She said that the U.S. Border Patrol Agents are scheduled for their sentencing on August 22nd. Ruth said IF WE SEND LETTERS stating the border patrol agents have been wrongly accused THAT ATTORNEY MARY STILLINGER CAN USE OUR LETTERS WHEN SHE GOES BEFORE THE JUDGE on August 22nd. Letters could be helpful for both the sentencing and the appeal in this case, she said. I have been researching this issue...

EL PASO, Texas - Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos could hear his heart racing. He could feel the dry, hot dust burning against his skin as he chased a drug trafficker trying to flee back into Mexico. Ramos' fellow agent, Jose Alonso Compean, was lying on the ground behind him, banged up and bloody from a scuffle with the much-bigger smuggler moments earlier. Suddenly the smuggler turned toward the pursuing Ramos, gun in hand. Ramos, his own weapon already drawn, shot at him, though the man was able to flee into the brush and escape the agents. Now, nearly 18...

The story, if I remember correctly was written by a young man who actually died shortly after it was penned. It talks about going to heaven and finding a large card catalogue shelf with a drawer with his name on it. Upon opening he sees all the sins of his life... thousands of them. In his shame he thumbs through them and at the deepest depth of dispair he is approched by Jesus. He begs Jesus not to read the cards but he begins anyway. As Jesus begins to pull cards out of the deck they are blank. one by...

Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly modern spine supported human ancestor Bruce Bower Bones from a spinal column discovered at a nearly 1.8-million-year-old site in central Asia support the controversial possibility that ancient human ancestors spoke to one another. WIDE OPEN. A recently discovered Homo erectus vertebra from central Asia (left) displays a larger spinal cord canal than does a corresponding bone (right) from a skeleton that had been found in Kenya. Meyer Excavations in 2005 at Dmanisi, Georgia, yielded five vertebrae from a Homo erectus individual, says anthropologist Marc R. Meyer of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The finds occurred...

Morning Edition, April 28, 2006 · The debate over immigration has been dominated by politicians, pundits, and activists with differing viewpoints -- but rarely from those who hire immigrant workers, particularly in the garment industry. Dov Charney runs American Apparel, the largest single garment factory in the United States. It's not your typical garment factory. There's electronica music playing in the showroom, hip, edgy, sexually suggestive photo ads on every wall, and a thriving team spirit among the workers. And Charney is not your typical garment factory boss. The energetic and wiry 37-year-old regularly stops by each department to greet...

Leak reveals official story of London bombings · Al-Qaeda not linked, says government· Internet used to plan 7/7 attack Mark Townsend, crime correspondent Sunday April 9, 2006 The Observer (UK) The official inquiry into the 7 July London bombings will say the attack was planned on a shoestring budget from information on the internet, that there was no 'fifth-bomber' and no direct support from al-Qaeda, although two of the bombers had visited Pakistan. The first forensic account of the atrocity that claimed the lives of 52 people, which will be published in the next few weeks, will say that attacks...

The Hamas-run web site promoting suicide terrorism to children has been updated with a new illustrated story glorifying a young girl’s suicide attack on the “Zionists”. The story, entitled “A Palestinian Girl's Heroism,” describes how the young girl calmly progresses, step by step, though the planning and execution of the terror attack, in which she dies. In death she is said to be "smiling, lying on the grass, because she died as a Shahida, martyr for Allah, for Palestine." “The illustration with the story on the web shows a young smiling girl with four candles,” a report by Palestinian Media...

The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment... Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it. The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories. Ashley said, "My father's a farmer and we have a lot of egg-laying hens. One time we were taking our eggs to market in a basket on the front seat of the car when we hit a big bump in the road and all the eggs went flying and broke and made a mess." "What's the moral of the...

The first bullet struck Cpl. Eddie Ryan above the right eyebrow and bored through the frontal lobes, the seat of personality and memory in his brain. Traveling at about a half-mile a second, the bullet generated a shock wave that widened as it went. The pressure crushed brain cells into jelly. The hunk of metal slammed into the left side of his skull and shattered. A second bullet came from the opposite direction. It sliced through the back of his lower left jaw and burst out his chin. Ryan collapsed on the Iraqi rooftop in Ramadi where he and two...

Hill near Evros holds story of PlotinopolisDig suggests ancient settlement Part of a building excavated at Plotinopolis, the city founded by Trajan to honor his wife Plotina. Mathaios Koutsoumanis of the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities will discuss the excavation on Monday. Ever since the 1960s, the site where the hill of Aghia Petra rises between the Evros and Erythrpotamos rivers has been identified with the city of Plotinopolis. The Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) founded the city 2 kilometers from the Evros in honor of his wife Plotina. In 1965, soldiers digging a trench in the area...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2005 – As the United States wages its first war with widespread 24/7 news coverage, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the media to ensure it's telling the whole story about Iraq, not just focusing on events that make dramatic headlines. Rumsfeld, speaking at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University's campus here Dec. 5, said troops frequently ask him why the American people aren't getting a more accurate picture of what's happening in Iraq. They question why violence seems to get the heaviest coverage, while "good news" stories about successes tend...

Reporter's Notebook: The Making of "Winning Iraq" By Greg Palkot FNC's Greg Palkot It was one of those good news/bad news offers. The good news is you get to go to Iraq to do something more than the typical schedule of live shots. The bad news is you get to go to Iraq and do more than the typical schedule of live shots. Meaning: You put yourself in as much harm's way as nearly possible to find out how people not trying to cause harm are living. You see the point is, we, out of necessity in the business,...

Correction: Aug. 18 New Orleans Story Friday December 2, 2005 12:46 AM By ALAN SAYRE Associated Press Writer In an Aug. 18 story about crime in New Orleans, The Associated Press, relying on information from a University of New Orleans criminologist, erroneously reported that university researchers conducted an experiment in 2004 in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon and that no one called to report the gunfire. Instead, about 900 rounds of live ammunition were fired by officers over a two-day period in December 2003 during a demonstration of a gunshot...

11/21/2005 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- After years of deployments, some of the ideas Airmen come up with evolve. As the holidays approach, one of those simple ideas is making an impact on family members back home. The Story Time Video Program gives deployed troops here the opportunity to be a part of their children’s lives though they are thousands of miles away. The idea: parents are video taped reading to their children. Airmen at this base can read one of more than 200 stories to their children or simply talk to their families at the learning resource center --...

Heart & Iron, ISBN: 1-4137-5397-3 a novel. Excerpt from actual manuscript: It had been a good start, Daniel thought, as he heard the body count of the long shirts armed with AK47’s and RPG’s. A number of figures were swirling through the grapevine and only the lesser of these discouraged him, but still it had been a good hunt and the Taliban were displaced from their atrocities in a mere few days. His unit with the 26th Marines was relatively new to the scene and anxious to see the test and work through whatever it proved to be and live...

LAKE PLACID (Oct. 31, 2005) -- On any given day, the staggering heights and breath taking view of the Verizon Sports Complex’s Mt. Van Hovenburg is an attraction for many who visit Lake Placid. However, for a salty Marine veteran, the beauty of the mountain and the rest of Lake Placid is just another day at the office. A son of an Army WWII veteran, former Marine Sgt. Mike Gonyea lived amidst the frigid winters and picturesque summers of Lake Placid all his life. As young teenager, like most children of Lake Placid, Gonyea took to winter sports. Hockey was...

A 6,000-year Dales story of ritual and cannibalism... Bone finds in Yorkshire caves finally throw light on stone age life after breakthrough in radio-carbon dating. Sally CopeFarmer Tom Lord pictured at the entrance to the caves in Giggleswick THEY roamed the earth almost 6,000 years ago, performing rituals on animal remains and devouring human body parts. But these are not the strange creatures of film or fiction – they were farmers in the Yorkshire Dales. New research on bones discovered in six Dales caves has revealed that farming in the area dates back thousands of years – and with it...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Oct. 4, 2005) -- It was June 23, 2005, when 20 Marines boarded a seven-ton truck and began, unbeknownst to them, their treacherous journey back to Camp Fallujah, Iraq. What happened a short distance down the road, is something that has and will continue to change their lives forever. Sitting in the second to last seat in the back, on the right side of the truck was Lance Cpl. Erin Liberty of Niceville, Fla., an ammunition technician with Ammunition Company, 2nd Supply Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group. She remembers talking with the female...

One of the few truly unique hip-hop artists to revel atop the commercial side of the industry during the early 2000s, Kanye West spent most of his time producing flavorful hits for Jay-Z and other top-tier rappers, yet he eventually seized the opportunity to launch his own rapping career as well. Granted, West himself wasn't a phenomenal rapper, but he had a lot going for him. For one, he was witty, coming up with off-the-wall lyrics like "She's got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson" that were smart and funny at the...

A good friend just forwarded this first-hand account from his fraternity brother at Loyola. Why aren’t we hearing these stories? Why aren’t the cameras on the ground capturing some of this? Keep in mind, as you read, that this guy lives in New Orleans. As do many of the volunteers, apparently . . . Yes, it’s hellish there right now, but not everyone has gone mad.