Free Republic

Most had been keeping an eye out for green slime and glitzy celebrity guests but it was Michelle Obama’s daring wardrobe choice which had the fashion set glued to last night's Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. The First Lady stepped out in leather pants, designed by New York-based designer Wes Gordon, for the star-studded event which she attended with her daughters Malia, 13 and Sasha, 10. Mrs Obama’s two girls also helped shine the light on lesser-known designers, both wearing designs by UK-based shopping website ASOS.

Rick Santorum suggested that the Republican presidential field is shrinking to just two candidates. Santorum's comments come as he and his supporters increasingly suggest that the former Pennsylvania senator would benefit from Newt Gingrich dropping out. "So we feel pretty good that it's now narrowing to a two-person race," Santorum said in an interview with Bloomberg TV set to air Friday. "We've been competitive."

An Open Letter to Rick Santorum: Dear Senator: As a strong, common-sense Conservative, I have a favor to ask of you. Could you please consider not answering, off the cuff, every question thrown at you? Would you please engage your brain before putting your mouth in gear? I’m beginning to see now, how, as an incumbent, you lost your Senate seat by 18 pecentage points to the brain-dead Bob Casey. Women vote Senator; and, they vote in large numbers. Now, please consider this common-sense observation from a Conservative male: Women have been in combat for years now. Women have used...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared on Meet the Press today to do damage control for Mitt Romney and to explain why Newt Gingrich would not be an ideal Republican nominee despite his strong victory in South Carolina last night. He claimed that Gingrich’s past actions have embarrassed the Republican party, and Mitt Romney was more suited to be the nominee because of his record and how he conducted himself in office as opposed to Gingrich. David Gregory asked Christie to explain what about Newt Gingrich’s politics or his character disqualified him from being the Republican nominee against President Obama....

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state radio says Tehran will give the United States a model of the American surveillance drone captured by the Islamic Republic. The report Tuesday said the toy model of the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone will be sent to the White House in response to a formal request from Washington last month asking Iran to return the aircraft that went down over Iran in December.

This morning Republicans are just beginning to assess the damage that former House Speaker and current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has done to the GOP budget plan currently before Congress. On "Meet the Press" Sunday, Gingrich denounced House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan's plan to restructure Medicare, saying, "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate."

In a new book he [Ron Reagan] has speculated (on slender evidence) that Reagan had symptoms of Alzheimer’s as early as 1981. I’m not saying that this isn’t a legitimate topic of discussion for historians. But to do this to mark the centenary of the most kind and gentlemanly president of the 20th century – your own father? His old enemies lapped it up, Ron. Hope you’re proud of yourself.

AMONG the many firsts in the 2010 elections, it is safe to assume that the following words had never before been uttered about a future member of Congress, “This is a candidate who is probably best known for getting drunk and having sex on television.” The comment, made by the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, was lobbed at Sean Duffy, who overcame his bawdy past as a star on MTV’s “Real World: Boston” in 1997 to ride a wave of conservative discontent into office. Some of Mr. Duffy’s youthful indiscretions that were captured on film and dredged up by...

SALT LAKE CITY — The American political atmosphere is becoming an embarrassment, former President Jimmy Carter told reporters at the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City Thursday Morning. "Americans don't realize how dramatically our political atmosphere has gone downhill," Carter said.

Governors often use their official State of the State addresses to do a little bragging, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm's February, 2010 outing was no exception. Unfortunately, what was intended as an "economic development" victory lap - citing companies expected to create jobs thanks to selective tax breaks and subsidies provided by her administration - has become a series of embarrassing blunders including Hangar42 studios (Grand Rapids), GlobalWatt, Inc. (Saginaw), and Unity Studios (Allen Park). In the first of these, the day after the governor's speech, Hangar42 officially announced the opening of its studio, which allegedly involved an investment of at...

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning. The ad urged people to go to the "southbendon.com" website for a look at the "15 best things about our pubic schools." That's right, the billboard said "pubic" instead of "public" schools. The letter "L" had been left out of the word public. Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error...

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning. The ad urged people to go to the "southbendon.com" website for a look at the "15 best things about our pubic schools." That's right, the billboard said "pubic" instead of "public" schools. The letter "L" had been left out of the word public. Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error...

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning. The ad urged people to go to the "southbendon.com" website for a look at the "15 best things about our pubic schools." That's right, the billboard said "pubic" instead of "public" schools. The letter "L" had been left out of the word public. Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error...

"The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed," former President Jimmy Carter told 60 Minutes last night. "It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill." Carter's observation, fleshed out in his newly published diaries from his presidency, may seem shocking to Democrats who posthumously credit Kennedy with the health-care bill passed earlier this year. But for anyone who has followed the last brother's forty-seven years in the Senate, Carter's complaint rings true. Ted Kennedy was a party cannibal who built his...

Thanks to a slew of gaffes, blunders, miscalculations and alarming personality revelations, Obama has become a surprising liability where our reputation abroad is concerned - surprising not only because he was elected, in part, to restore our supposedly damaged image overseas, but also because he was touted as a smooth and charming diplomat. But whatever generosities we afforded the inexperienced junior senator from Illinois, smooth and charming he is not, it turns out. And these rookie mistakes are getting downright embarrassing. The latest came last week, when the President sent the G-20 a pointed but pleading letter imploring Europe to...

It was a headline I never expected to read: “US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute.” Washington has declined to back Britain in its dispute with Argentina over drilling rights in the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. President Obama’s position is one of strict neutrality, refusing to take sides. According to the State Department: We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the...

Holder's decision to Mirandize the Christmas bomber was bad enough. Telling the world he was talking again waseven worse Security: The administration says the Christmas bomber is now cooperating with authorities. We thought they got all the information he had in a 50-minute chat. So just why are we letting our enemies know he's talking? In any war, it's vitally important that you know what your enemy is planning and doing, just as it's important that your actions and plans remain secret. And when you know about your enemy's plans it's important they don't know that you know. We were...

ABC’s Good Morning America finally picked up on the deep bow President Obama performed for the Emperor of Japan over the weekend. Co-host Diane Sawyer ran through how other U.S. Presidents have greeted either Emperor Akhito or his father, the late Emperor Hirohito over the years — some bowing, some not. Sawyer claimed that Americans are “not trained to greet royalty” and “it’s just too confusing.” Actually, the government employs lots of experts on culture and protocol to make sure that our presidents are fully “trained” on what to do when they represent our government overseas — which is not...

In recent decades, soft, squishy tissues have been discovered inside fossilized dinosaur bones. They seem so fresh that it appears as though the bodies were buried only a few thousand years ago. Since many think of a fossil as having had the original bone material replaced by minerals, the presence of actual bone--let alone pliable blood vessels, red blood cells, and proteins inside the bone--is quite extraordinary. These finds also present a dilemma...