Free Republic

This is based on a genealogy table I made. Had a bit more trouble than I should have tracking down the first round results, wth.

A clearly miffed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called on Newt Gingrich and other Republican presidential candidates Tuesday to temper their remarks on U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, warning they run the risk of dividing the GOP and emboldening the Taliban. Graham, a vocal defender of military action in Afghanistan and previous operations in Iraq, said he was “very disappointed” with the former House speaker’s recent comments that the United States no longer has “the willpower or the capacity to do the things you have to do to fundamentally change” Afghanistan.

SALT LAKE CITY -- An LDS-oriented group is calling on GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum to disavow a pastor who made anti-Mormon comments earlier this week. In a news release, MormonVoices, which is associated with the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, called for Santorum to "condemn the anti-Mormon comments made by his supporter, an honorary Florida chairman, the Rev. O'Neal Dozier" of the Worldwide Christian Center. On Monday Dozier said "the Mormon religion is prejudiced against blacks, Jews and native Americans." He called Mormonism a "racist" religion and called on Romney to renounce it. The Church of Jesus Christ...

The federal government is holding the first of several public meetings on plans for oil shale development on public lands that would keep activity off thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive areas in three Western states. Under the proposal, new leases initially would be issued strictly for research on how to commercially produce oil from oil shale in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.The first meeting is being held Monday in Silt to discuss the environmental impact and the different options that have been announced.The George W. Bush administration made almost 2 million acres available for potential oil shale development and 431,000...

The Brady Bunch has released their annual scorecard rating states based on how strict their gun laws are. The scorecard is a very useful tool to help rights groups understand how their state compares to others on a liberty scale; more points = less liberty. Alaska, Arizona, and Utah have all achieved the coveted Zero Points/Zero Stars on the Brady scale and are now competing to see which state will be the first into negative numbers – which is possible through bonus points. Arizona and Alaska can reach a –2 point score by protecting carry rights on campuses of state...

Lawmakers who want to seize control of federal lands are pushing a legal battle they insist is winnable despite multiple warnings their effort is highly unconstitutional and almost sure to fail in court. Utah is poised to become the first state to pass a package of bills that demand the federal government relinquish claims to huge sections of public land. A proposal that advanced Wednesday demands that by 2014 the federal government cede control of nearly 30 million acres -- nearly 50 percent of the entire state. A bill setting an identical deadline is also moving in the Arizona Legislature....

The truth behind the Liljenquist rhetoric. Utah needs a Senator that actually votes...

He's eluded authorities for more than five years, a mountain man who roams the wilderness of southern Utah, breaking into remote cabins in winter, living in luxury off hot food, alcohol and coffee before stealing provisions and vanishing into the woods. Investigators have clawed for clues, scouring cabins for fingerprints that match no one and chasing reports of brief encounters only to come up short, always a step behind the mysterious recluse. They've found abandoned camps, dozens of guns, high-end outdoor gear stolen from the homes and trash strewn around the forest floor. But the man authorities say is armed...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Honduran-born Antonella Cecilia Packard converted to the Mormon Faith 20 years ago, she said it was like “coming home.” The Catholic-educated Packard, who grew up in “the middle of Mayan ruins,” appreciated the faith’s strong sense of family and conservative values. She also saw her own history in the Book of Mormon with stories of migrations, tragedies and triumphs of a people many Mormons believe are the ancestors of some present-day Latinos. But two decades after her conversion while a college student at Mississippi State, the 43-year-old Packard finds herself on a new mission: defeating Mitt...

LAIE, Hawaii — Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour were married Saturday on the North Shore of the island of Oahu. The couple exchanged vows at the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of a small group of immediate family members, according to a statement released by Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas. The wedding party was celebrated at a private reception and luau. Following Saturday's festivities, the couple planned to leave on an extended honeymoon to an undisclosed location. "Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want — to celebrate her nuptials in...

He's eluded authorities for more than five years, a mountain man who roams the wilderness of southern Utah, breaking into remote cabins in winter, living in luxury off hot food, alcohol and coffee before stealing provisions and vanishing into the woods. Investigators have clawed for clues, scouring cabins for fingerprints that match no one and chasing reports of brief encounters only to come up short, always a step behind the mysterious recluse. They've found abandoned camps, dozens of guns, high-end outdoor gear stolen from the homes and trash strewn around the forest floor. But the man authorities say is armed...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

Bin Laden Zombie Film Coming This Summer A Utah production company announced today that it has shot a movie based on the premise that Osama bin Laden rises from his watery grave and leads an army of zombie terrorists in a violent jihad of the undead. In the feature-length film, "Osombie: The Axis of Evil Dead," a NATO Special Forces unit races to defeat zombie bin Laden and his flesh-seeking militia, while also stopping the infection from spreading to even more terrorist corpses. According to the film's executive producer, Kynan Griffin, the script was written before the real al Qaeda...

PROVO -- A major new art exhibit is currently undergoing installation at the BYU Museum of Art is expected to attract 100,000 visitors and will feature art from the world of Islam. KSL was able to get an exclusive first look. The "Beauty and Belief" exhibit is expected to attract 100-thousand visitors. Works will travel to four museums in America, but they make their first stop in Provo. The exhibit team is mounting 250 works of art. A pair of 19th century mother-of-pearl doors from India were donated by the Doris Duke Foundation in Hawaii. A heavy, jewel-encrusted box from...

The monster who killed himself and his two young sons in a Washington house fire two years after his wife vanished reportedly attacked the boys with a hatchet before setting the blaze. The sons of Josh Powell, who were just 7 and 5, suffered what police described as "chop wounds" to their heads and necks before the Graham, Wash., home went up in flames as a helpless social worker looked on Sunday. The cause of death for all three is believed to be smoke inhalation. The grisly new details emerged as investigators combed through the charred rubble of the home...

A man accused of fatally shooting a police officer and wounding five others during an Ogden drug raid last month says he feared for his life because he thought people were breaking into his home to rob and kill him. Matthew Stewart told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/zMxrig ) that he never heard the drug strike force members identify themselves or announce they were at his home to serve a search warrant the night of Jan. 4. Stewart, in an interview Friday at the Weber County Jail, said he was asleep when he heard his alarm clock and then a...

Do I agree with Obama's interpretation of Luke 12:48? No. Do I agree with Obama in his 2004 interview "I have a deep faith" in which he said that there many paths to heaven/the Father and his words which were contrary to Jesus saying He is the "Way, Truth, Life...no man comes unto the Father but by me." Absolutely not. Do I agree with Mormon teaching that Jesus and Satan are brothers? Again, absolutely not. (link below in comments section.) The point of the this thread is to point out that Orrin Hatch was wrong. In fact, I believe that...

Utah's gentleman bruiser, Don Fullmer, 72, who fought some of the world's most famous boxers and came within a single fight of a world title himself, died peacefully Saturday morning surrounded by the prize he valued most — his family. Fullmer and his boxing brothers, Gene, the oldest and a world middle weight champion in 1957, and Jay, second oldest who left the sport with a 20-5-2 record after an eye injury, put Utah on the international boxing stage in the 1950s and '60s.

Reporting from Port Saint Lucie, Fla.— Dubbed the "proxies with moxie," Mitt Romney's congressional backers have been crashing Newt Gingrich's events to offer a counterpoint to the former House speaker's remarks. It's an unusual tactic to begin with, but their collisions with Gingrich's testy spokesman, R.C. Hammond, have made their sparring into the campaign trail's version of must-see TV. Gingrich said he doesn't mind their presence, which he said is a sign of desperation by Romney. "They send a member of Congress, we send R.C. It's a slight overmatch — R.C.'s a little bit more informed than they are, but...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...