Free Republic

Illinois Republicans have just forced state party chair Pat Brady to resign because of his support for gay marriage. What is this, Alabama? Brady, rather famously, came out in support of gay marriage in January of this year, and even made phone calls to lawmakers urging them to support gay marriage legislation before the Illinois legislature. And now he’s politically-dead, killed by a Republican party so permeated with hate and intolerance that even in a moderate-Republican state like Illinois, the GOP just couldn’t stomach having a fag-lover as party chair. This is why I, an Illinois Republican, left my party...

This is another instance of breaking the Fourth Wall, but we want to share something that happens consistently to us that we’re just incredibly puzzled by, since we don’t see how behavior like this helps in any way to remove the current president and his corrupt party from power. That’s our goal, see, and it’s something we are putting everything we have into. We put everything we had into stopping Obama from becoming president from 2007-2008 because we knew what he would do to this country. We did everything we could to stop him in the primaries. We put aside...

TALLAHASSEE — Movies and TV shows with gay characters could be ineligible for a "family-friendly" tax credit in Florida under a little-noticed provision tucked into a $75 million incentive package that Republican House leaders hope will attract film and entertainment jobs to the state. The bill would prohibit productions with "nontraditional family values" from receiving a so-called family-friendly tax credit. But it doesn't define what "nontraditional family values" are, something the bill's sponsor had a hard time doing, too. "Think of it as like Mayberry," state Rep. Stephen Precourt, R-Orlando, said, referring to The Andy Griffith Show. "That's when I...

E(mail) Last Friday, in a judicial decision that hinged on a legal technicality, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., upheld the right of the local pro football team to keep its unconscionable nickname. Gloated team attorney Bob Raskopf, “It’s a great day for the Redskins and their fans and their owner, Dan Snyder.” Alas, it was another shameful day for America. Redskins helmet. (Stephen J. Boitano/AP Photo) In clinging to the most racially offensive moniker held by a major U.S. professional sports team since the Emancipation Proclamation – yes, I know, since forever – the franchise continues to...

On the eve the last Senate election of 2008, a still-campaigning Sarah Palin declared: "You Georgians are going to have the opportunity to determine the direction this country is going to take." The Georgians blinked. Instead of stepping into the 21st century with most of the rest of the country – including the southern states of Virginia and North Carolina, both of which backed Barack Obama for president and replaced Republican senators with Democrats – Georgia opted for the past.

Bill Clinton helped elevate Richardson to the national stage: He named him his energy secretary and U.N. ambassador. And Clinton left no doubt about how importantly he viewed Richardson's support for his wife's campaign: He flew to New Mexico to sit down with Richardson and watch the Super Bowl as part of a high-profile courtship. But Richardson stopped returning Bill Clinton''s telephone calls days ago, the former president's aides said. And as of Friday, Richardson said, he had yet to pick up the telephone to call his former boss to tell him of his decision. The reaction of some of...

Newspapers are supposed to be so much better at television at providing hard facts and context to today’s news. That’s not what the Washington Post did on Saturday in a snarky Style section article on Rush Limbaugh raising $2.1 million on eBay (and donating the same amount) to a worthy charity auctioning off Senator Harry Reid’s snotty letter to Clear Channel Communications denouncing Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about phony soldiers like Jesse Macbeth.Neely Tucker’s short piece failed to explain the context of (a) what Rush originally said on the air about phony soldiers and (b) what Reid’s letter to Clear Channel...

Country music is the nation's most popular genre--with nearly twice as many stations devoted to it than any other--and perhaps its most political. These days, the jingle jangle jingoism from Music Row seems to only be getting louder. Consider these lyrics from a few recent chart-toppers: "Some say this country's just out looking for a fight / After 9/11 man, I'd have to say that's right." "You can stay behind or you can get out of the way / But our troops take out the garbage for the good old U.S.A." "You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S....

Just wanted to send a note and say hey and tell you about one of the darnedest things. And I gotta say it is one of the clearest examples of how CONservatives (not to be confused with honest conservatives) have managed to convince so many people so many lies are in fact the truth. This is indeed a rather mind numbing stor ... eh ... no ... actually it's what I'd expect. So here's what happened, Droppings: Somebody with the screen name of "presidio9" picked up my piece Green diets vs. global warming and posted it on the Internet message...

'ONE NATION' CLAMORS FOR 80 DIFFERENT LICENSE PLATES Published: Friday, November 18, 2005 NEWS 01E By Ann Fisher The Columbus Dispatch The cynics among us would suggest that the newest state license-plate option -- "One nation under God" -- is just a pithy way of reminding people that it's really "one nation under GOP." Certainly, Ohio government is dominated by Republican officeholders who need all the help they can get in these uncertain times of rare-coin investments and other nonsense. If becoming a lap dog to the religious right does the trick, who's to begrudge the effort? The newest entry...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal lawmakers reached an agreement on Saturday on a compromise bill to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-dead Florida woman whose feeding tube has been removed, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said. "We are confident that this compromise addresses everyone's concerns," DeLay, a Texas Republican, said at a news conference. "We are confident it will ... restore nutrition and hydration to Miss Schiavo." Senate leaders earlier had reached a deal to push forward the legislation that would put Schiavo's case into federal court, a Democratic aide said. The agreement would allow the House of Representatives...

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberals. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NO Rights. ARTICLE...

HUMAN RIGHTS organisations expressed increasing concern yesterday over the treatment of the captured Iraqis on the American “deck-of-cards” list of most-wanted regime members. Their intervention came after the detention of three more senior officials on Wednesday, including the former chief of military intelligence and the former head of the country’s military air defences. Their arrests brought the total to 11, but the Bush Administration is refusing to disclose where or in what conditions they are being held. The whereabouts of Abu Abbas, the Palestinian behind the 1985 hijacking of the cruise liner Achille Lauro, who was arrested by US special...

YOU’RE NOT gonna believe this, but the usual Democratic spinners are expending a lot of worry time on how to counteract the well known conservative media. That’s right: the conservative media. Huh? Didn’t that used to be an oxymoron? These days liberaldom feels itself outgunned by the Rush Limbaughs and all the dittoheads out there on the airwaves. Which is like an armored division worried about a bunch of pesky mosquitoes. Having the three old networks on your side isn’t enough for some people. (From left to lefter: Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings.) As if that weren’t enough...

By JOHN ENDERS The Associated Press 4/24/02 3:23 AM PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Church, community and political groups in Oregon and Washington are demanding an end to what they call 'hate radio' and have called on a station owned by billionaire Paul Allen to drop talk show host Michael Savage. Savage, whose home base is KSFO in San Francisco, is syndicated on more than 350 radio stations nationwide. He is featured on KXL radio in Portland during the key afternoon drive-time slot, 4-7 p.m. "The content is an unbroken stream of hate and chauvinism directed against women, people of color,...