Free Republic

Carrots vs. fries, pledge on politicians are tummy-turning So if I've got this straight, Glenn Beck is in favor of childhood obesity? Sometimes it's difficult to figure out exactly what Beck means when he's working that chalkboard and firing up the crowd. Example: Appearing before about 5,000 hard-core fans last Saturday night at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates (seating capacity, 11,000), Beck said: "Will all of you raise your right hand and swear you will stop sending politicians to the rest of us!" What does that mean? He's asking the people in the audience to stop sending politicians to...

So sometimes you have to put your right foot forward Your turn. Michael Trujillo, LtCol, USMC (Retired): "I have always been a fan of yours, but I would like to take this opportunity to disagree with you. Understandably, you took exception to [Ted] Nugent's behavior. Now you know what the right feels when entertainers from the left spew the same kind of venom at President Bush. . . . When's the last time you wrote a column on the classless behavior from the left? Lord knows you've had ample opportunity." Sir: I understand where you're coming from. No doubt I've...

Give it up! After I noted that giving up e-mail or text messaging for Lent would be much more of a sacrifice than giving up red meat or chocolate, I asked for your Lenten abstinence stories. I heard from more than 300 of you. Only about 5 percent of adults said they were going to try to cut back on the techno-stuff. Kristina Lambin: "I'm 24 and I'm giving up alcohol for Lent. Wine, vodka, beer, etc. And I'm on a diet where I can eat virtually no sugar, so there's really no outlet and I'm about to go crazy!...

A number of readers have asked why I haven't weighed in on Ann Coulter, the harpy-racist-homophobe who hates liberals like a 4-year-old hates vegetables -- although the 4-year-old expresses his hatred in a more sophisticated manner. How about this comment -- not from Coulter's book, but from her Web site: "Let's pause for a moment to observe that two facts are now universally accepted: Liberals are godless and Hillary [Clinton]'s husband is a rapist." Somewhere, Stalin must be smiling. Coulter must really hate her country to make such an un-American statement. (Did she go to law school at the University...

From John Casey of Chicago: "I don't blame you for being taken in by Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish. Even Tim Russert was taken in. ... I took the "Meet the Press" piece as pure political theater. ... I had planned on writing you to suggest including this Broussard nonsense in your next book of urban legends." Dozens of readers have chastised me for writing that Broussard's weepy story about his colleague's mother -- who kept calling for help, but was left to die -- was "one of the defining moments" of the hurricane coverage. Broussard was talking...

I thought you were a little bit more progressive than that. How could you promote that obviously racist song? Do you think that weak excuse for a defense is going to make everyone forget the racist tones that were meant by the band. The same band that used a Confederate flag as a backdrop. I got some other bands that people like you may enjoy: Hatebreed, Screwdriver, Arayan Way, just to name a few. Boy, I've been a reader of your column for years. You have even printed my reponses to a couple of your columns. Never again. Gerald ***...

Real conspiracy theorists never admit they're wrong. No matter how many facts and bits of logic you throw at them, they'll always say, "That's all well and good, but you haven't proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm wrong. Why can't you produce concrete evidence that the Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist?" Well, because it's a little tough to prove a negative. If Lee Harvey Oswald materialized from the beyond, knocked on the door of the JFK Assassination Conspiracy Headquarters and said, "I want you to know that I acted alone," the typical JFK conspiracy theorist would say:...

This one's for the Undecideds. If you're planning to vote today and you haven't made up your mind, here are 50 reasons not to vote for President Bush. Osama bin Laden: Looking rested, fit and loony. Still not captured. Bush just says "Yes" to attending fund-raisers. Bush says "No" to attending military funerals. He's not much of a reader. Said he doesn't read newspapers, and didn't bother to read an August 2001 brief titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside U.S." He's the president of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Morris and Ann Coulter. Wore a flight suit, landed on...

"Our goal is to change the direction of the government and change the current administration come November." -- Bruce Springsteen, writing a guest editorial in Rolling Stone magazine. Attention, all Bush-loving conservatives! We need to talk about your taste in music. Do you have anything by any of the following artists: Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Usher, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Five for Fighting, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Jurassic 5, Keb' Mo' and/or Death Cab for Cutie. If so, I regret to inform...

Any list of the great TV characters of the 1980s would have to include Bill Cosby as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on ''The Cosby Show'' (which ran from 1984-1992), Ted Danson as Sam Malone on ''Cheers'' (1982-1993), Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton in ''Family Ties'' (1982-1989) -- and Ronald Reagan as the president of the United States in ''The Reagan Years'' (1981-1988). He was not only the president, he played one on TV. In politics, Reagan achieved something he never managed in show business: He became an A-list star. Forget about all those years playing second fiddle in the...

'There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up." -- Rush Limbaugh, Oct. 5, 1995, on the Excellence In Broadcasting network. Rush Limbaugh's fans often tell me I don't have the right to criticize "El Rushbo" because I don't regularly tune in his program. Granted, I often go weeks without listening to Limbaugh, but I do check out his show from time to time,...