Free Republic

Taking offense certifies the modern man as one who cares. If we take offense on behalf of another, we can number ourselves among the sensitive and loving. If we take offense personally, we can brandish a stop sign declaring to all that the offense must cease. In either case, the offending words must stop and the conversation must end. For the modern lover never offends. Instead he unfailingly affirms. He affirms us with an “okay” that builds our self-esteem, engenders good feelings, and requires nothing of us beyond self-affirmation.But can people who love one another do so simply by...

Ralph Nader on Tuesday said President Obama has committed impeachable offenses dating back to the United States' effort in 2011 to create a no-fly zone in Libya. Nader, who has previously called for Obama's impeachment, said Congress would not take up articles of impeachment at the time of the Libya mission because it has “abdicated” its responsibility in matters of war. "Libya was the most egregious violation of the Constitution by President Obama," Nader told ABC News-Yahoo News. "He attacked Libya with European nations without a declaration of war, he didn't ask Congress for an authorization of funds. He didn't...

Today, I instructed my wife to prepare for post Obama election by doing the following:

A top advisor to President Barack Obama urged Congressional Democrats on Friday to "go on offense" against Republicans on the issue of taxes and argued that the Supreme Court ruling upholding the incumbent's signature health care law should be the "clear and final" word on the issue. In a memo made public by the White House, David Plouffe accused Republicans of "trying to misrepresent" Obama's record on taxes. "We welcome this debate on middle class taxes, and we urge you to seize this opportunity to go on offense to illustrate how the President and Democrats in Congress are standing up...

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.(Luke 17:1-2)There are times when, although you already know about a bad societal trend, an event occurs which crystallizes all that you sense was wrong about it. I had one of those moments when I opened a Saturday edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, our local newspaper, and read an...

Rep. Joe Sestak, the winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, says quite openly and repeatedly that he was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race against Sen. Arlen Specter. Having secured Specter's conversion to the Democratic Party, thus giving the party a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Obama administration obviously sought to keep its word to Specter that it would do its utmost to deliver the Democratic nomination to him. According to Sestak, that included a job offer. Who made the offer? What position was offered? And when did it...

Doubling-down on defense isn't going to win the War on Terror. Yesterday's scare in Times Square shows just how hopeless that strategy is -- if a cooler can be a threat, not even the NYPD will be able to stop them all. Yet the uptick in home-turf terror plots -- with last Saturday's bomb attempt just the latest -- has many screaming for us to fund an infinite range of new security steps. Faisal Shahzad hadn't even been charged before the rear-mirror scrutiny began. How did he slip past security and board a flight to Dubai before finally being nabbed,...

Experts: US gov't needs to prepare for cyberwar Cyberwar is difficult to define, but the U.S. needs a strategy, a group of experts says By Grant Gross, IDG News Service January 27, 2010 04:31 PM ET Sponsored by: The U.S. government needs to figure out how it will respond to acts of cyberwar, as foreign governments increasingly look to gain advantages in cyberspace, a group of cybersecurity experts said Wednesday. One problem, however, is that there wasn't consensus among the panelists on what exactly constitutes an act of war in cyberspace. The U.S. military has used cyberattacks to disrupt enemy...

The United Methodist Church's top court recently ruled that clergy, both active and retired, cannot perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. Performing such services is "a chargeable offense," Bishop Beverly J. Shamana ruled last Friday. UMC's Judicial Council affirmed her decision. The council further ruled that an annual conference, or regional body within the UMC, "may not negate, ignore, or violate provisions of the Discipline with which they disagree, even when the disagreements are based on conscientious objections to the provisions." The council’s ruling was on a resolution passed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference last year, months after the California...

Barack Obama said Thursday at a fundraiser in Chicago that the GOP is trying to make him and his wife Michelle appear "scary" and "too black." "They’re going to try to make me into a scary guy. They’re even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. Right?" Obama said at an event in the Hyde Park area, according to CNN. Obama said Republicans were trying to start a drumbeat questioning Obama's patriotism and whether he is "too black." "I don’t know, before I wasn’t black enough," Obama said. The Illinois senator then suggested Republicans might say, "'now he might...

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major operation to strike against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists, the U.S. military said Tuesday, hoping to build on a recent reduction of violence and push militants from their strongholds. The division and brigade-level operation, dubbed Phantom Phoenix, will cover the entire country, the military said. U.S. and Iraqi forces will "continue to pursue al-Qaida and other extremists wherever they attempt to take sanctuary," Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in a statement announcing the start of the joint operation. "We are determined not to allow...

Saying that he learned a lesson from 2000, John McCain eschewed the quiet approach yesterday and blasted rumors that he did favors for a Washington lobbyist. Matt Drudge posted that the New York Times had a story that would show McCain -- a staunch activist for reducing lobbyist influence -- had his own scandal brewing. Both of the principals in the story have hired lawyers, and the Times has clammed up: Sen. John McCain said yesterday that he has "never done any favors for anybody -- lobbyist or special interest group," as his presidential campaign issued a statement denouncing allegations...

The Problem of Offense by: Bethany Stotts, November 28, 2007 Offense is a “psychological construct,” argued University of Nevada-Reno Adjunct Psychology Professor William O’Donohue at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference on the politically-correct university. He noted that proponents of political correctness often do so in order to reduce offense, yet define political correctness so broadly and inconsistently as to encompass Aleutian Islanders while excluding the oft-persecuted Jews. These inconsistencies inherent to politically-correct ideology require proponents to simultaneously uphold contradictory doctrines, argued George Mason University Professor Jeremy Mayer at the conference. “To be liberal on a college campus today...

Taking Offense for Fun and Profit   Have you seen the bumper sticker out there that says “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention? Living in Minneapolis, I see that one rather frequently along with “Hate is not a family value”, “Would Jesus Discriminate”, “Buck Fush” and myriad other erudite and intellectually stimulating bumper stickers from our friends on the Left that express just how outraged they are at… well…everything. To hear them talk, you might get the idea that the Left believes that life is one big series of unending injustices and that this profoundly bothers them....

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2007 – Al Qaeda terrorists have chosen Iraq as the central front in their worldwide campaign against freedom, so America must stay in the fight to prevent them from establishing a safe haven from which to launch more attacks, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said in Iraq today.  Al Qaeda leaders believe they can wear down the United States, force the troops out of Iraq and make the country a launching pad for new attacks in the region and abroad, Cheney said in remarks to members of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Tikrit. “The terrorists...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 5, 2006 -- President Bush today released his updated National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, which outlines the U.S. government’s strategy to protect and defend American interests at home and abroad from terrorism. “The best way to protect America is to stay on the offense,” Bush told an audience today at the Military Officers Association of America here. “Since 9/11 our coalition has captured or killed al Qaeda managers and operatives and scores of other terrorists across the world. The enemy is living under constant pressure, and we intend to keep it that way.” The strategy update emphasizes that...

Former Wilkes teacher, accused of sex offense, is found deadFire & Police Briefs: First Edition Tuesday, August 22, 2006 JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT NORTH WILKESBORO - A former teacher in Wilkes County accused of having sex with a student was found dead Sunday, according to a report filed by the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office. Stephen George Kennedy, 26, was found dead at 8:35 a.m. in his parent's home. His mother found him hanging by a necktie tied to a bedpost. The death appeared to be self-inflicted, the report said. In May, Kennedy was called out of class and arrested...

A woman who accused her doctor of molesting her and having his identical twin impersonate him to assault her must pay the doctor $2.8 million because she fabricated the allegations, a judge ruled. Judge Katherine Stolz dismissed Perla Saldivar's lawsuit against her doctor, Dr. Dennis Momah, and his twin, Dr. Charles Momah, a gynecologist, saying her allegations were inconsistent with evidence. "The contradictions and inconsistencies in Ms. Saldivar's testimony were some of the most pronounced this court has ever seen," Stolz wrote Wednesday. The ruling is the latest in a saga involving the Momahs. Charles Momah was sentenced in November...

Getting fired for incompetence from the University of California system is apparently harder than it looks. How else to explain how UC President Robert Dynes kept his job? But if the UC Board of Regents wishes to stick with the current administration, the board had better explain how it plans to forestall further UC compensation abuses. The regents on Thursday supported Dynes despite his presiding over hundreds of secret executive pay deals totaling tens of millions of dollars. Over the past five years, three under Dynes' watch, the president's office approved more than 700 "separation agreements" -- a euphemism for...

Teacher-Coach Charged With Sex Offense UPDATED: 12:13 pm EDT May 4, 2006 WILKESBORO, N.C. -- A substitute teacher and wrestling coach in Wilkes County faces sex charges, according to authorities. Stephen George Kennedy, 26, was charged with a first-degree sex offense, second-degree statutory rape, indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties with a student, WXII 12 News learned from investigators. The sheriff's office said other charges are pending. Authorities said Kennedy knew the student at North Wilkes Middle School when the student was 13 years old and that Kennedy continued having relations with the student until the student was...