Free Republic

How the mighty have fallen! A day ago, the leftwing loons were high-fivin' each other about how helpful Rev. Jeremiah's Detroit speech would be to Barack Obama. By yesterday evening, cold cruel reality has set in and now the loons are pronouncing DOA for Obama's candidacy. While watching this VIDEO clip of Wright doing impressions of JFK and LBJ as well as doing an imitation of the Florida A&M marching band, one thought kept going through my mind: this clown was Obama's mentor and spiritual guide. If Obama looked up to this whack job what does that say about...

U.S. Rep Calls for Revocation of Carter's Passport IPT News April 17, 2008As former President Jimmy Carter tours the Middle East, his plans to meet terrorist leaders have met with increasing criticism from authorities within the United States, including a senior U.S. Representative requesting Carter's passport be revoked by the State Department. On Tuesday, Carter physically embraced senior Hamas official Nasser Shaer, a former Deputy Prime Minister in the Hamas government, at a meeting in Ramallah. Additionally, Carter has voiced his plans to meet with the Hamas' top leadership, including Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siam, in Cairo and Hamas Supreme...

Are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elton John breaking U.S. laws by allowing the British pop singer, a foreign national, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign by performing a concert on her behalf? That's the question Inside the Beltway put to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yesterday, which does not rule out the possibility. First, some background supplied by the FEC: The goal of the 1966 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was to "minimize foreign intervention" in U.S. elections by establishing a series of limitations on foreign nationals. In 1974, the prohibition was incorporated...

Tucker Carlson Out at MSNBC NEW YORK (AP) — The bow tie is out at MNSBC. David Gregory is replacing Tucker Carlson as host of a one-hour show each evening. The news network is making a handful of changes to respond to heavy political interest. Gregory's new show is called "Race for the White House" and will be on each weekday at 6 p.m. starting next Monday. Carlson has been at MSNBC for nearly three years. MSNBC also says that Andrea Mitchell will anchor an hour each afternoon. Keith Olbermann's popular "Countdown" program will rerun every night at 10.

UNION CITY, Ga. - A McDonald’s employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer’s burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick. Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail. Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who “tried to thump the salt off.” ~~~ “If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?” said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five...

At 7:57 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, while taping "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" for broadcast later in the evening, Fred Thompson finally said: "I'm running for president of the United States." The studio audience responded with thunderous applause. Thompson rejected the notion that he has waited too long to get into the race for the White House. "People treat politicians sort of like the dentist -- they don't have anything to do with them till they have to," he said. "A lot of people have been, of course, running for some time. Everybody kind of changed the rules. "...

WASHINGTON - President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term on Monday, issuing an order that commutes his sentence. This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals panel unanimously ruled Monday. The decision is a major setback for Libby, who is running out of legal options and who probably will have to surrender to prison in...

A 71-year-old former Marine opened fire on two robbers at a Subway Sandwich Shop in Plantation late Wednesday night, killing one and critically wounding the other. According to Plantation police, two masked gunmen came into the shop at 1949 N. Pine Rd. just after 11 p.m. There was a lone diner -- retired Marine John Lovell, who was finishing his meal. After robbing the cashier, the two men attempted to shove the ex-Marine into a bathroom and rob him as well. They got his money. But then the ex-Marine ........

A heavy metal fan has been awarded sickness handouts after doctors said his addiction to music was a disability. The ruling means Roger Tullgren, 42, will pocket thousands of pounds in state benefits to help finance his 36-year obsession. His boss is also letting him play his ear-splitting music at work and giving him time off for concerts, reports the Daily Mirror. It marks an end to Roger's 10-year bid to have his "condition", which began when he started listening to Ozzy Osbourne's band Black Sabbath in 1971, officially classified as a handicap. Bedecked in his traditional heavy metal skull...

Carter: Stop favoring Fatah over Hamas By ASSOCIATED PRESS DUBLIN, Ireland http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181813074587&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements, former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was addressing a conference of Irish human rights officials, said the Bush administration's refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas was "criminal." Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Thou shall not drive under the influence of alcohol. Thou shall respect speed limits. Thou shall not consider a car an object of personal glorification or use it as a place of sin. The Vatican took a break from strictly theological matters Tuesday to issue its own rules of the road, a compendium of do's and don'ts on the moral aspects of driving and motoring. A 36-page document called "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" contains 10 Commandments covering everything from road rage, respecting pedestrians, keeping a car in good shape and avoiding rude...

HAVING been out of the country for 10 days I came back to find Britain obsessed with a chubby, snaggle-toothed mobile phone salesman from Port Talbot who sings like Pavarotti. I was determined not to watch Britain's Got Talent because I'd decided it was just another tedious reality show full of no-hopers. But a colleague sat me down and forced me to watch Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma. And my heart did a back-flip. Within five seconds I was blubbing like a baby, within 10 I was praying with every fibre of my being that he'd hit all the high...

The Air Force on Tuesday confirmed a report that in 1994 a military researcher requested $7.5 million to develop a non-lethal "love bomb" that would chemically alter the state of mind of enemy troops and make them want to have sex with each other rather than fight. Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Reardon said the idea was proposed by an Air Force researcher at a lab at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas, but it was rejected by the Defense Department. Officials noted that the Air Force constantly is considering funding proposals. No money was spent, Reardon said, and...

A 41-year-old man drowned Wednesday after getting stuck in a storm sewer trying to retrieve a cell phone, police said. The man weighed more that 300 pounds and was wedged with his head and shoulders underwater in a vertical storm drain in front of his home, said police Lt. Tim Eirich. The man's identity was not released pending notification of relatives. Neighbor Chris Van Erem said he saw the man kneeling over the sewer before he fell in. Police said the man pulled the iron gate off trying to get the cell phone. Then, a child from the neighborhood ran...

The U.S. military executed a strike against a suspected Al Qaeda target from a Naval warship off the coast of Somalia Friday, a U.S. official confirmed to FOX News.

Sen. John McCain, who officially announced his bid for the 2008 White House Wednesday, stopped by "Good Morning America" to talk about his campaign and ended up defending himself about a joke. The Arizona Republican said that people upset by his comments about IEDs to Jon Stewart on Tuesday night's "Daily Show" should "lighten up." After being grilled by Stewart , McCain jokingly told him that he had a present for him -- an IED that he could place under his desk. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., was furious and publicly assailed McCain on the House floor. "Imagine a presidential candidate...

Ex-Miss America shoots thief's tires 82-year-old wielded snub-nosed .38: 'He was probably wetting his pants' Posted: April 20, 2007 2:18 p.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Venus Ramey (Photo: MissAmerica.org) Tough isn't a word necessarily associated with Miss America, but three thieves arrested after their truck tires were shot out by 82-year-old Venus Ramey might beg to differ. Ramey, who won the elite beauty crown in 1944, confronted one of the three robbers on her farm in Waynesburg, Ky., about 140 miles south of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. "He was probably wetting his pants," said Ramey, who balanced on her...

By Jim Loney MIAMI (Reuters) - Global warming could increase a climate phenomenon known as wind shear that inhibits Atlantic hurricanes, a potentially positive result of climate change, according to new research released on Tuesday. The study, to be published on Wednesday in Geophysical Research Letters, found that climate model simulations show a "robust increase" in wind shear in the tropical Atlantic during the 21st century from global warming. Wind shear, a difference in wind speed or direction at different altitudes, tends to tear apart tropical cyclones, preventing nascent ones from growing and already-formed hurricanes from becoming the monster storms...

Breast implants saves woman after Hezbollah attack Tue Aug 15, 8:07 AM ET JERUSALEM (AFP) - One Israeli woman has received an unexpected boost from her breast implants during the Lebanon war -- the silicone embeds saved her life during a Hezbollah rocket attack, a doctor said. "This is an extraordinary case, but it's a fact that the silicone implants prevented her from a more serious and deeper wound," Jacky Govrin, of the hospital in Nahariya that treated the woman, told army radio Tuesday. "The young woman went through surgery two years ago to have a larger chest," he said....

"The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build inbackdoors for eavesdropping, CNET News.com has learned." "One source, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of last Friday's meeting, said the FBI viewed its CALEA expansion as a top congressional priority for 2007."

Somali Muslims who fail to perform daily prayers will be killed in accordance with Koranic law under an edict issued by a leading cleric. The requirement for Muslims to pray five times a day under penalty of death appears to confirm the hard-line nature of the increasingly powerful Sharia courts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "He who does not perform prayers will be considered as infidel and Sharia law orders that that person be killed," said Sheikh Abdalla Ali, a founder and high-ranking official in the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia. "Sharia law orders the killing of any Muslim person...

The American army in Iraq suffered a fresh blow to its image today as it emerged that five soldiers were being investigated for allegedly raping a woman and then murdering her and three members of her family. The soldiers are accused of burning their alleged victim's body, according to sources quoted by the AP news agency. Major General James Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, has ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of the family of four in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, in March. "The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening. We’re...

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 Dear Mr. Keller: The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide. In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their...

pdate: The Steelers have confirmed that Ben Roethlisberger was involved in a motorcycle accident on Monday, KDKA-TV reports. Update: Reports from the scene seem to indicate that the accident was serious. According to an eyewitness, Roethlisberger went over his handle bars and hit his head on the windshield of a car. He was not wearing a helmet. The eyewitness reports that Roethlisberger tried to get up, but was bleeding from the head. We'll update the situation as further details become available.

He died after ‘he mumbled something,’ military spokesman says WASHINGTON - A mortally wounded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, still alive after a U.S. airstrike on his hideout, mumbled briefly and attempted to “turn away off the stretcher” he had been placed on by Iraqi police, the U.S. military said Friday. U.S. officials had said Thursday in announcing the attack that Zarqawi was dead when U.S. troops arrived on the scene. Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, briefing military reporters at the Pentagon from his post in Baghdad, said he learned after getting briefings Friday that Zarqawi was alive when Iraqi police first arrived...

A former Marine who police say killed a woman that attacked him during a gang robbery attempt told reporters Tuesday he acted only to save his life. "My first instinct was to run," said former Cpl. Thomas Autry, 36. "Those kids were younger than me. They caught me and cornered me. It was about life preservation." "I'm sorry this whole thing happened. I hate this world has gotten to the point where it is predatory," said a shaken Autry. The pack of would-be robbers, including a 17-year-old woman, might have mistaken the tall, thin, waiter for an easy mark, said...

Former Senator and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, a courtly Texan who as the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 1988 famously told rival Dan Quayle he was "no Jack Kennedy," died Tuesday. He was 85.

LONDON - Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney, said Wednesday that they are separating after nearly four years of marriage, blaming intrusion from the media and insisting their split is amicable. Rumors of a rift between Mills McCartney and the singer's children — especially Stella McCartney — have circulated for years. Talk centered around the idea that Mills McCartney — who is nearly half his age — wanted to devote more time to campaigning against land mines and fur. "Having tried exceptionally hard to make our relationship work given the daily pressures surrounding us, it...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., of Charlotte and six other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy on Tuesday while protesting the killing and starvation that continues in that African country's Darfur region. "We will not tolerate genocide," said caucus chairman Watt. "We are saying to Sudan: `This has to stop.' " The protesters' plan was to get arrested, Watt told the Observer, and they alerted Capitol Police beforehand that they would block the embassy entrance. Watt said the group was advised to stay off the sidewalk -- the jurisdiction of the District of...

BOULDER, Colo. - An investigation of a professor who likened some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi found serious cases of misconduct in his academic research, a University of Colorado spokesman said Tuesday. One member of the five-person investigative committee recommended that ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill be fired, and four recommended he be suspended, university spokesman Barrie Hartman said. Churchill has denied doing anything wrong. He said earlier Tuesday that he had yet to see the report. University officials had earlier determined Churchill could not be fired for his comments about the terrorist attacks, but they launched an inquiry...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), a potential anti-war candidate in the 2008 presidential field, urged fellow Democrats on Monday to show more backbone in challenging President Bush on Iraq. "We must get out of our political foxholes and be willing to clearly and specifically point out what a strategic error the Iraq invasion has been," Feingold, D-Wis., told a National Press Club audience. He said some Democrats in Congress gave in to "intimidation" by the Bush administration when they voted to authorize the war in 2002, and warned: "If we do not show both a practical...

"It's encouraging to see not just the number but the sales and receipts of black-owned businesses are growing at such a robust rate, confirming that these firms are among the fastest growing segments of our economy," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. Slated for release today, the report also shows a significant if not quite as dramatic increase in local black business ownership. It found 4,363 black-owned firms in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area as of 2002, up 38.8 percent from 3,142 in 1997. Revenue figures for the metro area, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties,...

U.S. to Contract Hong Kong Firm to Help Scan for Nuclear Materials Passing From Bahamas to U.S.WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of Americans' favorite beach destinations, the Bahamas, is getting a new U.S. arrival -- sophisticated equipment to detect radioactive materials in shipping cargo. But U.S. customs agents won't be on site to supervise the machine's use as a nuclear safeguard for the American shoreline that is just 65 miles away from Freeport. Under an unusual arrangement, a Hong Kong company will help operate the detector. The Bush administration says it is finalizing a no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. It...

February 22, 2006 - 9:14 p.m. Eastern (WORLDNET DAILY) A community college student in Massachusetts faces possible disciplinary action for shouting “Remember Chappaquiddick!� during an on-campus speech by Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy. Paul Trost, 20, a student at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Mass., says he was upset by an introduction of Kennedy given by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., in which the congressman noted how the long-time senator overcame hardship in life on his way to success. “Lynch said Kennedy had overcome such adversity to get to the place he was, and that’s a bunch of bull,� Trost said of...

No, not that he's a liberal, but that he is a major league "rectum opening." I rarely watch his show but stayed up late last night because I knew that Bill O'Reilly would be on. From the moment O'Reilly was introduced, Letterman acted like a jerk. First, he belittled O'Reilly for taking on the "anti-Merry Christmas" crowd. Then he came down hard on Bill for having the audacity to criticize Cindy Sheehan. He closed by telling O'Reilly that "I believe that 60% of what you say is crap." Bill asked him if he watches the show. Letterman replied that he...

Are you a Republican or conservative? Want to get invited on a morning MSM show? No problem! Just be prepared to do one thing - criticize the Bush administration. We've seen the pattern in recent weeks at the Today show. First there was Bill Kristol, fiercely attacking the Miers nomination. Yesterday, GOP congressman-turned-MSNBC-host Joe Scarborough upped the ante, accusing VP Cheny of a "lie." And this morning brought an appearance by conservative uber-celebrity Ann Coulter. The first hint that a warm reception was planned for Ann was the fact that Today chose Matt Lauer to interview her, rather than Katie...

Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman's breast implants. One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person's whole music collection. BT futurology, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years. BT Laboratories' analyst Ian Pearson said flexible plastic electronics would sit inside the breast. A signal would be relayed to headphones, while the device would be controlled by Bluetooth using a panel on the wrist. According to The Sun he said: "It is now very hard for me to thing of breast implants as just decorative....

LONDON -- Monica Lewinsky has been accepted for a one-year master's degree course in London, the London School of Economic and Political Science confirmed Wednesday.

COUNTDOWN TO THE STATEWIDE PROTEST/VIGIL AT BRUNSWICK NAVAL AIR STATION When: Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005 Where: March begins at Brunswick Mall, and ends at NASB Main Gate Time: 9 A.M. (at the Mall) The Event We're Protesting: The Navy's "Blue Angels" Air Show Theme of Our Protest: "Stop the Worship of the Gods of War!" On Sat., Sept. 10th, Maine Veterans for Peace will be joined by other major peace and justice groups (see list of co-sponsors below) in a massive protest: . to protest the false god idolatry of the Blue Angels Air Show, whose "ooh-&-aah"performances have one purpose:...

Suspects allegedly created worm that disrupted computer networks of major U.S. news organizations. WASHINGTON (CNN) - An 18-year-old Moroccan national and a 21-year-old resident of Turkey have been arrested for creating and spreading computer worms that disrupted services on computer networks of major U.S news organizations and other institutions earlier this month, the FBI announced Friday. Farid Essebar, a Moroccan who used the screen name "Diabl0," and Atilla Ekici of Turkey, who used the moniker "Coder," were arrested in their home countries by authorities who cooperated with U.S. investigators in tracking the origins of the Mytob worm; a damaging variant,...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Aug. 23, 2005) -- The Greyhawks of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 first deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. This deployment marks the third occasion ‘161 has deployed in support of OIF. The squadron deployed here Aug. 11 and is ramped up to provide casualty evacuation and logistics transport. At the end of their 2004 deployment the squadron had flown more than 750 missions transporting more than 2,900 passengers, 116,000 pounds of cargo and 300 casualties to urgent care facilities throughout Iraq. “This squadron started the CASEVAC mission last year during its second deployment...

Jul 25, 9:04 AM (ET) (AP) Jane Fonda poses for a portrait at the Four Seasons Hotel Sunday, April 10, 2005, in Los Angeles.... Full Image SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Actress and activist Jane Fonda says she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq. "I can't go into any detail except to say that it's going to be pretty exciting," she said. Fonda said her anti-war tour in March will use a bus that runs on "vegetable oil." She will be joined by families of Iraq war veterans...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- What has formed with the Lakers is "a community," to use Phil Jackson's terminology. It's one that is governed by three great branches, a society in which everyone accepts that Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant rule - but everyone else gets respect and glorification as a result. "It's kind of our way to get into the Hall of Fame," Lakers forward Rick Fox said. "They'll show pictures of the team that won it each year, and I'll be able to go there and show my kids my picture alongside Shaq and Kobe, with Phil, and...