Free Republic

Lurker Bill joined Anomoly99, My Hero (Chris) and me on Valentine’s Day. Lurker Bill gave me a special sign on loan from [Mr] T. Being a girl, of course I loved the hearts and message! I was proud to hold the sign. After reading [Mr] T’s Olney AAR, I would like to thank Legionnaire Dave’s lady friend for the request. A special thanks to [Mr] T for obliging a lady’s request and sharing the love! When not present, his spirit is still with us. BELOW LEFT: RockerMom holding awesome signs BELOW RIGHT: My Hero (Chris) being the typical trooper BELOW...

No, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly doesn't have a secret Valentine's Day crush on the dean of the White House Press Corps. It's an apology bouquet, of sorts. O'Reilly called Thomas, the "wicked witch of the east" earlier this week on his show. SoupCans talked with Thomas who got the flowers today. Her only response: "I'd like to thank Bill O'Reilly for the flowers." Way to take the high road Helen. Will you be our Valentine?

Here is video of Pakistani youth protesting -- "Valentine's Day" on the streets of Karachi yesterday. If ever there was an image that says it all about the real nature of radical Islam, it is the image on video here of Muslim youth burning a Valentine's heart. This kind of mindset is what we are up against in the War on Terror. . . . . (Watch Video)

New York man Muzzammil Hassan founded pro-Islam station Bridges TV five years ago to combat the negative public image of Muslims. He is currently under arrest for beheading his wife. The couple in happier times, before Hassan removed his wife’s head.....

After telling the nation it was so urgent to pass the stimulus bill there was no time to even read it, President Obama took off for Chicago with wife Michelle, to dine at a fancy Chicago restaurant and spend the night at home in Hyde Park for Valentine's Day. The Bill will just have to wait for him to sign it next Tuesday. How to explain this odd behavior? Was this a calculated move? What could be the thinking behind it? Obama and his advisors are no doubt counting on the press to avoid noticing the contradiction between the alleged...

As we celebrate the Valentine's Day just passed, it's important to note the emergence of an eternally verified reality: Love is the strongest human force fighting against terrorism and jihad. "Al Gharam mamn’uh, al Gharam kufr," screamed the self-declared cleric in al-Ansar’s chat room this Friday. “Love is forbidden, love is infidel” -- said the online fatwa about the “legitimacy of loving and being in love.” A weekend before Valentine's Day, jihadist souls were not questioning the “commercialization” of romance, but inquiring about the ban on “being in love.” The “scholars” said human love is evil. The simple feeling of...

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The FBI has issued an alert to 350 law enforcement agencies in the southwest and Salt Lake City for potential Valentine teddy bear bombs after a suspicious transaction at a Wal-Mart last month. Law enforcement sources said authorities also were on the alert at airports in case the suspected bear-bombs might be carried onto airplanes on Valentine's Day. The FBI said a clean-shaven male, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, purchased nine Valentine teddy bears, 20 inches tall, and 14 canisters of propane, 9 inches tall, small enough to fit inside the teddy bears. The man...

It’s the eve of Valentine’s Day and the political operatives at the Republican National Committee are turning cupid’s arrow on the Democrats. G.O.P. ValentineGOPvalentine.com Tom Daschle, who withdrew last week as the nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, was the butt of a joke on a Valentine’s Day e-card from the Republican Party.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:13-14

New Delhi: The nation saw shocking pictures of moral policing from the same cops who were expected to check such incidents on Valentines Day. This sub-inspector publicly beat up a couple in Haryana's Jind and even dragged the girl to the police station by her hair. Later, on reaching the police station he could not figure out what charges to press, so he meted out more punishment. The cop has now been suspended. “The SI has been suspended, Dept enquiry is opened to be conducted by the DSP, complaint was filed for abuse of power and misbehaviors with the woman...

resident Barack Obama is getting away from Washington for a few days to his home in Chicago, leaving behind Cabinet headaches and a partisan divide over his economic stimulus package. Obama was to make a Friday afternoon flight with his wife, Michelle, and daughters to his chilly hometown, his first return there since taking office. Aides said he planned a low-key, four-day holiday weekend, including a Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday with his wife and a likely basketball game with friends. Congress this week reached a compromise on a $790 billion economic package that Obama had wanted to sign before...

Bangalore Unfazed by the outrage over its attack on a Mangalore pub, the self-styled moral brigade of Sri Rama Sene on Thursday threatened to forcibly ‘marry off’ couples dating in public on Valentine's Day. Sri Rama Sene founder Pramod Muthalik said that his activists would hold protests at hotels, hostels and colleges where Valentine's Day celebrations are held. "Those found dating, expressing their love, cosying up to each other would be married off," Muthalik, who has been released on bail in the Mangalore pub attack case, said. He said at a meeting of the Sene held on Wednesday it was...

NEW YORK — Women throughout the world — 13,000 at latest count — will be sending Pramod Mutalik a pair of pink panties for Valentine's Day. But these undies won't make his heart go pitty-pat. Mutalik is the leader of Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram’s Army) — an extreme right-wing organization in India that purports to be the “custodians of Indian Culture.” Members of Mutalik's group are suspected of being behind a widely publicized incident last month in which a group of men brutally attacked women in a bar in the southern city of Mangalore — beating them, and kicking...

Thanks for watching this poem/paper puppet show. Enjoy Valentine's Day. Once a happy handsome boy Met a sweet and pretty girl Said I'd really like your number She said my boyfriend's name is Earl Didn't hang his head low He hoped she'd come around in time Didn't hang his head low He hoped she'd come around in time Mean ole Earl was a hitter And was quite the jealous kind Who was asking for your number Pretending that I wouldn't mind Then he kicked her down low But no: She wouldn't cave this time Then he kicked her down low...

Red Roses Hit the Black Market as Saudis Ban Valentine's Day Gifts Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Anyone in Saudi Arabia looking to shower a loved one with Valentine’s Day gifts better be ready to break the law and shell out serious cash. Religious police in the Arab country are banning the sale of any gifts related to the romantic holiday, driving up black market prices for offerings like the ever-popular red rose, according to BBC News.

President Barack Obama plans to make his first trip to the presidential retreat at Camp David this weekend ....

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2008 – It was a Valentine’s Day lunch, and there was a lot of love in the air for wounded warriors at the Marine Barracks here yesterday. Retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace and his wife, Lynne, continued a tradition they started during his service as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Paces hosted picnics at their quarters for wounded warriors and their families, and hosted this at historic Crawford Hall – a beautifully restored section of the Marine Barracks founded in 1801. The Marine Band’s “Free Country Quartet” – down to a trio due to...

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — A Kashmiri Islamic women's group Thursday raided restaurants to prevent young Muslim couples from meeting on Valentine's Day, an event it denounced by as "anti-Islamic." "We have formed a number of squads to educate young couples that Valentine's Day is a Western conspiracy to involve Muslims in vulgar activities," said Nahida, a member of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of Faith, as she took part in a swoop on a restaurant in Srinagar. The women's group, all covered from head-to-toe, did not encounter any resistance as couples patiently listened to them and left restaurants. Nahida, who did not...

(Abridged Spanish-language translation) [Puerto Rico] Senate President Kenneth McClintock defended the decision not to convene a session yesterday on account of St. Valentine’s Day, which prompted criticism from Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP) Representative Víctor García San Inocencio. If the House of Representatives or the Senate is going on recess for more than three days, either is required to obtain consent from the other chamber. In the Senate’s case, it recessed on Wednesday and will not reconvene until Tuesday next week since Monday is a holiday. When the announcement was made in the House yesterday that the Senate will not...

AWWWW, WHAT A GUY - join the sing-along

Which is more important in a mate? Looks Intelligence

Casey's Valentines Day Rules To Live By Ladies, having sex with your partner is NOT a Valentines present. Even if you wear his favorite outfit, and do whatever he wants. This is insulting, and is the most flagrant of Valentines Day fouls. You are obligated to perform sexual favors (if of age) for your man ... the opposite is true for you guys as well. If men have to get you presents ... you have to get them presents. Now pony up cheap ass! Men, taking your partner out to dinner is NOT a Valentines present. You are supposed...

Good grief. No Valentines for you, Charlie Brown. At least not in Kuwait. And no roses or cards with red hearts for you, Lucy. Not in Saudi Arabia. The ever-tolerant Muslim world is now condemning Valentine’s Day. Jamaan al-Harbash, a member of the Kuwaiti parliament, has called for Valentine’s Day celebrations to be banned. “We call on the commerce minister,” he declared in a fine froth of moral indignation, “to perform his duties by banning celebrations of Valentine’s Day which is alien to our society -- and contradicts our religion’s values and teachings.” Another Kuwaiti MP, Waleed al-Tabtabai, chief of...

Roses are red, Violets are blue. If you call me your Valentine, my lawyer will sue. Welcome to Valentine’s Day, 2008. Or, as it’s known in some classrooms, “Friendship Day.” Or perhaps your kid’s school calls it “Cupid’s Day.” Then there’s Saudi Arabia, where it’s simply known as “Day for Public Flogging of Infidels Who Insult Islam.” Love hurts. The United Press International reports that Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has banned stores from displaying “roses or any other red items” around this date. Too sinful. And while Boston may not be burkha...

I've become tired of women trying to hijack every holiday as if it was all about them. So I decided to put into writing my Valentines Day rules that I've been living by for years. Casey's Valentines Day Rules To Live By * Ladies, having sex with your partner is NOT a Valentines present. Even if you wear his favorite outfit, and do whatever he wants. This is insulting, and is the most flagrant of Valentines Day fouls. You are obligated to perform sexual favors (if of age) for your man ... the opposite is true for you guys as...

KUWAIT CITY — Valentine's Day is just three days away, but one Muslim politician is heading up a committee to make sure it goes completely ignored. Kuwaiti MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae, head of the National Assembly’s Committee Monitoring Negative Alien Practices, will chair his group Wednesday to discuss ways to repress all public displays recognizing the international day of love. “We want to discuss measures that should be taken by these ministries to prevent such alien events from impacting Kuwaiti society and spreading corruption among the Kuwaiti youth,” Al-Tabtabae told reporters Monday. Committee member Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said many Islamic...

Feb. 13, 2006 — The familiar double-lobed heart symbol seen on Valentine's Day cards and candy was inspired by the shape of human female buttocks as seen from the rear, according to a professor of psychology who studied the origin, history and symbolism of the Feb.14 holiday. Galdino Pranzarone of Roanoke College in Salem, Va., told Discovery News that he analyzed "essential literary and speculative evidence from mythology and secondary sources," which led to his theory. He believes one rather obvious bit of evidence is that the heart symbol does not directly duplicate the heart human organ. "The twin lobes...

RED-NECK VALENTINE'S LOVE POEM Collards is green my dog's name is Blue and I'm so lucky to have a sweet thang like you. Yore hair is like cornsilk a-flapping in the breeze Softer than Blue's and without all them fleas. You move like the bass, which excite me in May. You ain't got no scales but I luv you anyway. Yo're as satisfy'n as okry jist a-fry'n in the pan. Yo're as fragrant as "snuff" right out of the can. You have som'a yore teeth, for which I am proud; I hold my head high when we're in a crowd....

Sonya Rinker was looking for a guy: someone who was kind, respectful and had a special place in his heart ... for tractors. She wanted a man who could share the thrill of a good tractor-pull show, who could see beauty in a shiny row of green and yellow of John Deere tractors. She didn't know that somewhere along these rolling Pennsylvania hills, there was such a man, a shy guy named Tom with two vintage Deere tractors. He had been looking for a gal, someone who'd put up with his milking cows at 3 a.m. and his six-day work...

Real Valentines by: Samantha Soller, February 08, 2008 Lewisburg, Penn. – The Bucknell University Conservatives Club will be selling carnations and roses to benefit Susquehanna Valley Women in Transition, a shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The Conservatives Club will take orders for flowers February 11, 12, and 13 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The sale will take place on the ground floor of the Langone Center at Bucknell University. Roses cost $6 each; carnations cost $2 each. The flowers will be delivered by members of the club in suit and tie on Valentine’s Day. Carnations...

For decades, children have enjoyed singing about the little donkey which is said to have carried the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem.   The calendar features Lord Nelson forced to wear a life jacket But one group of young singers was ordered to change the traditional lyrics of the Christmas song - because they were said to be "too religious".Instead of "Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way", the youngsters were told to sing "carry Lucy" for fear of offending non-Christians. The incident, at the school's Christmas concert, appears on a new calendar alongside 11 other examples of extreme political...

<p>LONDON -- A couple of millennia after their steamy affair went scorching across the Roman Empire, Mark Antony and Cleopatra remain among history's most romanticized lovers. But in the looks department, they may both have left much to be desired.</p>

When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests. Men and women are sure to argue about this one. In fact, the man and woman who led the study disagree on the meaning of the results. Psychologists have long known about "reactance," the tendency to do the exact opposite of what's requested by a loved one or boss. The new study aimed to find out whether the phenomenon might occur at a subconscious level. Participants were asked to...

An estimated 1,000 volunteers formed a human Valentine heart at Invesco Field at Mile High on Wednesday as part of a local radio station's plan to show support for American troops serving overseas. An estimated 1,000 volunteers formed a human Valentine heart at Invesco Field at Mile High on Feb. 14 as part of a local radio station's plan to show support for American troops serving overseas. Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper were on hand for the event just after noon. The volunteers formed a large heart on the field in the stadium that then took on...

It was hardly a Hallmark moment. As a Valentine's Day card smoldered, more than 100 members of the Hindu extremist group Shiv Sena gathered in central New Delhi chanted "Death to Valentine's Day" and "People who celebrate Valentine's Day should be pelted with shoes!" Valentine's Day has in the past two decades made strong inroads in India as the country has slowly opened itself up to the outside world - its economic boom bringing in not just foreign investment, but also aspects of Western culture virtually unknown here a quarter-century ago. Across the country, stores stocked heart-shaped balloons and chocolates,...

[An oldie but goodie!] Romantic love is the predominant theme in modern American culture. It's the number one topic of popular music. Movies that aren’t love stories usually have an amorous subplot. Affairs saturate soap operas and Oprah-type TV focuses on relationships. Valentine's Day is devoted to love. And the activity that is most associated with and often mistaken for romantic love—sex—is an industry in itself, with magazines, videos, and Web sites devoted to every desire and proclivity. One wonders, why with all this love in the air we have crime, hate and anger in our society? One also wonders,...

Check out JealousAstronaut.com and prepare to laugh your space helmet off.

A quick quiz: St. Valentine was: a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14. b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II. c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded. d) all, some, or possibly none of the above. If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and...

February 14, 2006 HOLLYWOOD AND ACLU VS. CATHOLICISM One of the stories on tonight’s episode of “Boston Legal” concerns a teenage girl who is raped, becomes pregnant and then wants to sue a Catholic hospital for denying her emergency contraception. Catholic League president Bill Donohue took note of this show today: “If there is one Hollywood producer who has shown himself to be positively obsessed with Catholicism, it is David E. Kelley. His treatment of Catholicism on ‘Ally McBeal,’ ‘Picket Fences,’ ‘Chicago Hope,’ ‘Snoops,’ ‘The Practice’ and ‘Boston Legal’ is so well known that we have a big fat file...

Celebrating Valentine's Day is sinful and forbidden for Muslims, an Indonesian Islamic leader warned. "This celebration comes from another religion and has no legal basis in the Islamic Sharia law," said Muslim Ibrahim, who is chairman of the highest authority on Islamic affairs in Aceh province. "Therefore, taking part in celebrating the day of love is haram (forbidden) for Muslims," Ibrahim told the state Antara news agency. St Valentine's Day is named after a Christian martyr and over the years has become the day on which lovers traditionally express their feelings for each other. Ibrahim said Valentine's Day went against...

LONDON (Reuters) - Men will be able to buy impotence treatment Viagra over the counter in Britain for the first time from Valentine's Day, chemist chain Alliance Boots said on Sunday...

OK, I admit I'm a little jaded. I've heard a lot of love songs, but the songs that people consider romantic classics have always bothered me. Valentine's Day is coming up, and I don't want someone to make a tragic mistake by playing the wrong love songs on that special day of romance. Here's a list of some songs that I think should never find their way into a Valentine's Day playlist: 1. "Sometimes When We Touch," Dan Hill This sounds like it was written by that guy who just can't recognize that the girl of his dreams has gotten...

Have you ever watched a book-based TV segment in which the hosts never pronounced the book's name? Fox & Friends Weekend pulled off the feat this morning -- presumably because the cookbook in question had a title a bit too spicy for Fox's taste. With Valentine's Day looming, Martha Hopkins was in to suggest some sensual dishes to share with one's sweetie. Her claim to expertise? She is co-author of a book entitled . . . "Inter Courses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook." Hopkins treated the Fox hosts to two of her recipes: artichoke hearts and strawberries and whipped cream. But...

Sheik Jamal Said stood before the packed mosque and worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Speaking Arabic, the prayer leader asked for a donation of $10,000. No one responded. He asked for $5,000, and three men raised their hands. < SNIP> The recipient of the worshipers' generosity was Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist accused by the U.S. government of aiding terrorists. And the prayer leader's passionate appeal is a reflection of the ascendancy of Muslim hard-liners at the mosque, one of the most outspoken and embattled in the U.S. The mosque did not become this way without a struggle. Relying...

Three months after the RCMP began arresting 18 suspects accused of plotting terror attacks in Canada, an investigation by the National Post has uncovered a web of links to Pakistan. Today, in the first of four parts, the role of a Pakistani training camp is revealed.- - - BALAKOT, Pakistan - A worn footpath climbs from the Kaghan Valley highway into the lush mountains above the River Kunar, on Kashmir's western frontier. The locals all know where it leads. An hour's walk up the steep trail there is a training camp built by Islamic militants called Madrassa Syed Ahmed Shaheed...

"When I had my wisdom teeth pulled out," family friend Joseph Pignatore was saying, "my brother-in-law said, 'We should take a ride to White Castle.' I basically gummed the burger while soda was dribbling down my mouth." Yesterday, Pignatore, all teeth in place, could enjoy his sack of Slyders in peace at the White Castle on Stelton Road in South Plainfield. The Hillsborough resident, along with his wife, Joanne, and son, Matthew, were among thousands of people nationwide who enjoyed Valentine's Day, White Castle style. Participating White Castles, including six of the 24 in New Jersey, invited couples to a...

/16/2006 - BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, Washington D.C. (AFPN) -- Ninety Air Force and civilian volunteers from Bolling and the Pentagon visited the Department of Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System Medical Center in Baltimore and the Baltimore VA Rehabilitation Center Feb. 14 as part of National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week. Before the trip, members of the First Sergeants Council “shared their love” by sending the volunteers with snacks and drinks for the trip to Baltimore. The volunteers spent time talking with the veterans on the hospital wards, as well as in the pharmacy, the out-patient clinic and the...

Teens fight for a chaste Valentine's ABSTINENCE: Some high school students suggest honoring Feb. 14 as a "Day of Purity. BY STEPHANIE SIMON LOS ANGELES TIMES High school sophomore Ally Hall plans to exchange valentine cards with her friends today. But her true tribute to the romance of the season was Monday, in the principal's office at Lebanon High School in the small town of Lebanon, Ohio. Hall wrote a brief script to be read over the public-address system. Her message: The most romantic way to celebrate Feb. 14 is to honor it as a "Day of Purity," by pledging...

Yesterday, I did one of the dumbest things I will ever do in my long (but still pretty) life. I volunteered to assist a friend of mine who owns a flower shop with his deliveries. NEVER DO THIS. Yesterday, I delivered flowers and other associated items to 55 separate addresses throughout San Diego County, mostly between La Jolla, Del Mar and Carlsbad. Some deliveries were to offices, but most to homes where I fought dogs, fences, gates and young children in various stages of curiosity and disgust about what I was bringing ‘mommy’ instead of to them. I had strategically...

Some women get flowers, others jewelry. This year, first lady Laura Bush got a formal dinner and an intimate concert by a well-known crooner from her valentine. ADVERTISEMENT For the second year in a row, President Bush and his wife spent the lovers' holiday formally entertaining about 100 friends and associates at the White House. Singer Michael Feinstein capped the romantic evening by serenading the crowd, which included new Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, actor Chuck Norris — wearing black cowboy boots with his tux, of course — singer Wayne Newton and Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn....