Free Republic

Jon Voight intended to turn heads with the “very strong points” in his Washington Times op-ed last week (titled: Voight: My Concerns For America ~ Obama sowing socialist seeds in young people). But he probably didn’t expect so many of them to reside in Hollywood. In a sign of the growing interest in politics this election year, bloggers who normally focus on the entertainment industry are expanding their presence in one of the Internet’s other spheres of influence. Voight’s piece slammed Democratic candidate Barack Obama, praised GOP contender John McCain, and even repudiated his own Vietnam War protests as the...

Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether. Witnesses said the imams stood to do their evening prayers in the terminal before boarding, chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah" -- coincidentally, the last words heard by hundreds of airline passengers on 9/11 before they died. Witnesses also said that the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq. About the only scary preflight ritual the imams didn't...

Howard K. Stern just announced on Larry King that he's the Dad of Anna Nicole's Baby and that they're in love. That's all.

FORT HUACHUCA — It’s early in the morning, the sun has yet to start its rise in the east and the only lights breaking the darkness on this Southern Arizona Army post are the soft orange illuminations from street lamps. But already there are stirrings as GIs begin to awake, stretching their muscles, yawning and occasionally growling their discontent knowing ahead of them will be chow, physical exercises, training and duty before the work period ends. It’s a routine part of a soldier’s day. And in today’s Army, a sense of security is also part of soldiers’ lives, developed through...

The magazine to the stars, Variety, called the New York Times’ James Risen a “journalistic hero.” In an article about the problems that Risen’s new book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," might pose for the Times, Variety reporter Michael Learmonth began by offering great praise for the author: “After years of entanglement with Judith Miller, the New York Times can celebrate a true journalistic hero in James Risen, the reporter who uncovered the NSA eavesdropping story.” Learmonth continued:

Prior to "Roger and Me" Moore was a writer of a small magazine in Davison Michigan. It has been said Moore became confused with what his role was as a writer and the role of the actual Flint activist workers he saw , so he decided to become the " Flint Don Quixote" and subject of his own story to see if America would believe it...and they did. Moore may have wanted to be a blue-collar rebel but some believe he was really a very confused white-collar writer.It mattered not ...to Hollywood...............

"DisneyWar," James B. Stewart's expose of Michael Eisner's 20-year tenure at Disney, arrived in bookstores Wednesday -- three weeks ahead of schedule. Publisher Simon & Schuster, which had sought to preserve a publicity campaign tied to the original release date of March 7, decided earlier this week to accelerate publication. Several Disney executives and reporters had seen early drafts of the manuscript, which paints a decidedly unflattering picture of Eisner's time atop the Mouse HouseMouse House. The leaks generated so much publicity for "DisneyWar" that industry insiders have begun to speculate whether the accelerated schedule was an elaborately choreographed PR...

Until the 18th century, there was basically only one kind of Judaism, that which is now called Orthodox. It meant living by the religion's 613 laws, and doing so suffused Jews' lives with their faith. Then, starting with the thinker Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) and moving briskly during the Haskala, or "enlightenment," from the late 18th century, Jews developed a wide variety of alternate interpretations of their religion, most of which diminished the role of faith in their lives and led to a concomitant reduction in Jewish affiliation.These alternatives and other developments, in particular the Holocaust, caused the ranks of the...

...Terry McAuliffe called the program "an illegal in-kind contribution" to the Bush campaign and said the Democratic National Committee is filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. Over at the FCC, Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps interrupted his Columbus Day holiday to dub the broadcast "an abuse of the public trust." More ominously, Kerry adviser Chad Clanton told Fox News yesterday that "I think they (Sinclair) are going to regret doing this, and they better hope we don't win." ...It wasn't the intention of the Founders to give elected officials veto power over press reports.... The excuse for such broadcast...

...Variety reports that Mr. Barton, a Texan who heads the Commerce Committee, told a trade group this week that newscasts "need to have safeguards to prevent reporters from infusing their opinions into news reports." Never mind the scores of other newspaper, television, radio and Web options viewers may turn to if they now deem "60 Minutes" untrustworthy. The Congressman apparently doesn't believe that the spectacle of Mr. Rather and CBS becoming punch-lines for late-night talk show hosts is much of a deterrent to other news outfits. Aside from the fact that it's a terrible idea to have Congress monitoring the...

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Kilauea Eruption Update Click to see the larger version Click to see the larger version Graham Lyth Photography Grand Canyon GalleryMount Hayden The scenic landmark below no longer exists. Do you know where it is and what it was named?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – What are the limits of organic life in planetary systems? It’s a heady question that, if answered, may reveal just how crowded the cosmos could be with alien biology. A study arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council (NRC), has pulled together a task group of specialists to tackle the issue of alternative life forms -- a.k.a. "weird life". To get things rolling, a workshop on the prospects for finding life on other worlds is being held here May 10-11. The meeting is a joint activity of the NRC’s Space Studies Board's Task...

SACRAMENTO — Faced with the possibility that he could lose his office, Gov. Gray Davis has rushed to fill vacancies that have languished for months and even years, giving seats on boards and commissions to large campaign donors and positioning members of his inner circle for prestigious judgeships. In recent months Davis has made 359 selections for posts ranging from positions on the UC Board of Regents and the California Parks and Recreation Commission to those on less visible boards dealing with police officer training and workplace regulation. Judicial nominations have also shot up. In the last 10 weeks, Davis...