Free Republic

Lear leaves behind a legacy of trailblazing shows that redefined the subject matter traditional sitcoms could cover. Norman Lear, the prolific and groundbreaking TV producer whose portfolio of comedies focused on social issues and advanced the idea that sitcoms could help drive the conversation about relevant and taboo subjects, has died. He was 101. Lear died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, his family said. His death was attributed to natural causes. "Norman lived a life of curiosity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding...

The mysterious flight between the two nations had many asking "Whodunnit?" A privately owned, unidentified Challenger 604 jet departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport, landing first in the Jordanian capital of Amman and then in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Tuesday evening, causing many to question which Israeli decided to pay the Saudis a visit. The plane in question departed from Israel and flew to an airport in Amman, where it remained on the ground for about two minutes before taking off again and landing in the Saudi capital. After a little less than an hour, the plane, privately...

FLINT, Michigan — Lear is planning a massive three-day hiring effort to fill 400 open jobs at its new Flint manufacturing facility: Resumes can be dropped off 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 3-5 at the new Lear plant, 902 E. Hamilton Ave. in Flint. Pay starts at $13.85 for the positions, which are permanent, with a second- and third-shift premium of $0.30 per hour. Lear also offers annual pay increases as well as health benefits including low-cost medical, dental, and vision coverage after 90 days of employment. Employees also are eligible for 401(k) and paid vacation time after one...

Norman Lear continues to defy convention about career longevity and age. The TV icon, who today celebrates his 96th birthday, and his Act III production company have signed a two-year first look deal with Sony Pictures TV. The pact includes the option to re-imagine titles from Lear’s extensive library including All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, among others. “I couldn’t be prouder and more excited about joining Sony Pictures Television, who has the guts to go with a kid,” Lear quipped. Sony Pictures TV, which owns the Norman Lear library, has been...

The TV veteran — the subject of Sundance's opening night film 'Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You' — sounds off on politics and reveals his Democratic presidential choice.

Veteran actor Brian Blessed collapsed on stage with an apparent heart problem while playing King Lear. The 78-year-old had just started delivering his lines at the start of the Shakespearean tragedy when he fainted, toppled off a raised platform and fell heavily, his crown rolling to a halt at the front of the stage. Fellow actor Noel White, playing the Earl of Kent, announced quietly: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is not part of the play. Is there a doctor in the house?’ Indeed there was. A barely conscious Mr Blessed, flat on his back and surrounded by worried cast members...

Jan Schill has a message for voters in Oklahoma choosing a district judge in elections on Tuesday -- do not vote for my dad. She and her husband have taken out newspaper ads urging voters not to vote for John Mantooth, who they believe had a lousy record as a judge and does not deserve the job.

Does anyone know anything about this group? It is a 503c that was started by Norman Lear. According to the website it "is committed to the rebirth and re-expression of citizenship through informed and thoughtful activism." Forgive me if I screw up this post, I've never doe it before....

Doctors have been trying to diagnose King Lear for more than two centuries. They haven’t succeeded, of course, for a couple of reasons that are not mutually exclusive: first, King Lear does not exist, and second he is not available for tests or examination. The latest technology, no matter how sophisticated, will never settle the matter. No imaging studies for King Lear: he was born much too soon for them, and now will never be diagnosed properly. Not, of course, that that puts doctors off, far from it. Nineteenth-century mad doctors in Britain and America said Lear’s case was...

Lyn Davis Lear is worried. As Mrs. Norman Lear writes in the Huffington Post, President Bush, Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney appear awfully confident of retaining a Congressional majority. This, despite the fact the mainstream media merrily reports every poll suggesting a huge Democratic victory, if not a landslide, is only two weeks away. Mrs. Lear frets that Republicans are planning an election eve surprise, or may win by spending so much more than their opponents. Then again, maybe they're planning to just steal the election. Gore Vidal suggested to her that "the Bush-Cheney henchmen could simply call on...

A system that provides electricity, refrigeration and water - the three vital elements of emergency situations such as hurricanes and war - has been created by two University of Florida professors. William Lear, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and S.A. Sherif, a mechanical engineering professor, combined a gas turbine power plant with a heat-operated refrigeration system. The cool air from the refrigerator makes the turbine more efficient and powerful, Lear said, while waste heat from the turbine then powers the refrigeration. The engine, which runs on conventional fossil fuels, biomass-produced fuels or hydrogen, also forms about one...

Moroccans learn to write Berber By Martha Dixon BBC News, Morocco In a village school perched on a hill on the edge of Morocco's Atlas Mountains, Amazigh children are learning in their own language. The Berber script - Tifinagh - is related to Egyptian hieroglyphics Morocco has been dominated by Arabic culture since the seventh century when the Arabs swept across the Middle East and North Africa in the name of Islam. Now the original inhabitants of this country are reasserting their influence. The word Amazigh means free or noble, but the Arabs called the Amazigh people Berbers - or...

New York ON A THURSDAY they had the book party. It was a simple affair: just family, friends, coworkers, and journalists. They came to Ambassador Joseph Wilson's house, nestled in the ritzy Palisades neighborhood of Northwest Washington, to celebrate the release of his first book, The Politics of Truth. One thing Joe Wilson keeps track of is his "Notoriety Quotient," or the amount of attention he receives from the media. And that Thursday it seemed to be on the rise. For the past week The Politics of Truth was mentioned in the same breath as Ron Suskind's The Price of...