Free Republic

Stephen M. Lilienthal, Director of the Center for Privacy and Technology Policy at the Free Congress Foundation, expressed concern that the House Judiciary Committee bill extending the USA Patriot Act does not retain the existing sunset powers. The House Judiciary Committee legislation does not include the provision for administrative subpoenas, a power which could receive judicial review only after searches have been executed. That omission from the legislation is certainly welcomed. "The concern is not that the Patriot Act powers will be used against the terrorists; it is that the powers will start to be used in other areas of...

Paul Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of Free Congress Foundation in Washington, DC, has a one hour radio program on RightTalk every Friday at 1:00 pm Eastern time. The name of the program is The Right Hour. John Zogby, pollster, was Mr. Weyrich's guest last Friday. I and another FReeper called in with questions and comments. If you go to the link, you can click "replay" and listen to the program and our input. I suspect that many here will like what you hear!

Below is a email I sent to the Sears customer service web site,and the reply I received. I had received one of those e-mail "chain emails" that we all get stating what I thought were bogus claims,so I sent my own email off to get verificiation. It is really good to see a Corporate citizen like Sears taking a step like this,and I can only hope other US corporations learn from it and adopt similiar programs. In the meantime,if you need something Sears sells,pay them a visit and buy it there. You might even want to mail them a letter...

The following interview was conducted by a reporter for the Al-Jazeera network with the third-in-command of the Al Queda organization, Mr. Mohammed Al-Asuquf. Al-Asuquf's background is impressive; a doctorate in physics and masters in international economics. In the interview, he talks of Al Queda's plans with total detachment, with deep knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to his cause. This interview was sent to Abel-Bari Atwan, chief editor of Al Quds, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, but was never printed, due to its highly revealing [inflammatory?] contents. A copy of the interview came to Foz-do-Iguaçu, and was translated into Portuguese...

One of the few consistencies of the war in Iraq is America's ability to make the wrong choices. From starting the war in the first place through outlawing the Baath and sending the Iraqi army home to assaulting Fallujah and declaring war on Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, we repeatedly get it wrong. Such consistency raises a question: can we identify a single factor that consistently leads us in the wrong direction? I think we can. That is not to say other factors are not also in play. But one wrong notion does appear to underlie many of our blunders....

The Council for American-Islamic Relations minced no words about the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israel, calling it "an act of state-sponsored terrorism." CAIR described the Shiekh as a "quadriplegic" and "the most prominent Palestinian Islamic figure." That the Sheikh had been a prime strategist in the suicide bombings targeting Israelis was not mentioned. Once again CAIR rhetoric fails to square with reality. But that's to be expected from CAIR, a self-described "civil liberties" organization. Any responsible organization that has had officials arrested on charges of terrorism would feel compelled to address the apparent wrongdoing by its associates and...

Liberals are so used to spending your money that when they are faced with spending their own they have problems. Air America, supposedly the liberal's answer to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Reagan et al, was bumped off the air in Chicago and L.A. because, according to Multicultural radio owner Arthur Liu, they bounced a million dollar check after just two weeks. You see Al Franken and company were, in essence, renting airtime from Arthur Liu's stations. When they didn't pay (or I should say when they passed Liu a bad check), he yanked them off the air. Rush Limbaugh...

We have just finished, in the Jewish faith, the Feast of the Passover, and in the Christian faith, Easter or Pascha or the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both feasts have been looked upon as new beginnings for their followers. Indeed here in the Washington area, with its gorgeous cherry blossoms and other flowering fruit trees, there is always the sense that we have begun again. Spring comes and at least there is a break from the cold. Spring comes and the beauty of God-created nature takes on a splendor no man made painter could originate. Spring comes...

When radio stations host an audience appreciation promotion, we generally see an on-air contest where listeners can "call in and win!" One radio station in Baltimore changed that tried and true formula with something far more substantive: spinal fortitude. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) complained bitterly when WWMX radio pulled their ad promoting the "March For Women's Lives" - an event that is slated to take place in the nation's capital on Sunday (of all days), April 25th. NARAL's deputy communications director, Evelyn C. Becker, told the Washington Post: The right wing stands up for their position so...

A few weeks ago, the world's attention suddenly turned to a dramatic battle in Pakistan. The Pakistani Army, we were told, had trapped a large force of al Qaeda, including a "high-value target," possibly Ayman Zawahiri. The Pakis brought in artillery and air power. The fate of the al Qaeda fighters was sealed. Then the whole thing evaporated into thin air. First, Zawahiri wasn't there. Then no other "high-value target" was there either. The Pakistani Army invited local tribal elders to mediate, declaring a cease-fire while they did so - not the sort of thing you do when you are...

Senator Thomas Andrew Daschle, aka Tom Daschle, of South Dakota, hails from Aberdeen, South Dakota, population about 25,000, where there is posted on a federal highway a federal sign noting Aberdeen is his hometown. Perhaps without the sign he would be baffled in trying to find his way home. The sign does not mention that following a South Dakota State College degree and three Air Force years the Daschle career has been on the taxpayers' payroll - first a Senate staffer, then a Representative in Congress, then a Senator. His biography claims all manner of (mostly local) awards; obviously his...

When you are a press secretary for a United States Senator, which was my first job in Washington, and that Senator has a colleague from the same state who is from the same political party, you end up having a fair amount to do with your counterpart who works for the other Senator. Such was the case when I was press secretary for the senior Senator from Colorado, Sen. Gordon Allott (R-Co.) and the junior Senator was Senator Peter Dominick (R-Co.) I didn't get along with my counterpart at all. He was unpleasant, uncooperative and, in my view, incompetent. I...

About two weeks ago, the world's attention suddenly turned to a dramatic battle in Pakistan. The Pakistani Army, we were told, had trapped a large force of al Qaeda, including a "high-value target," possibly Ayman Zawahiri. The Pakis brought in artillery and air power. The fate of the al Qaeda fighters was sealed. Then the whole thing evaporated into thin air. First, Zawahiri wasn't there. Then no other "high-value target" was there either. The Pakistani Army invited local tribal elders to mediate, declaring a cease-fire while they did so - not the sort of thing you do when you are...

Back and forth all week long it was counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke versus the Bush Administration. Charges and counter charges. It was hard to keep track of it all. On paper, the Administration won. They produced a letter of resignation, a transcript of an off-the-record briefing and two books in which Clarke contradicts what he told the 9/11 Commission. The Commission is in the midst of trying to find out who is to blame for the greatest attack on the United States in her entire existence. In testimony before the 9/11 Commission Clarke said the Clinton Administration was totally focused...

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is waging an important crusade and he wants your help. At stake is the acknowledgement in our schools of the importance of Western Civilization to our country. There used to be jokes about the way Communists would literally scrub the Soviet Union's history books to reflect the current line of the Kremlin. Do Americans really know how our own history has been hijacked? A few years ago, New Jersey, in trying to develop new guidelines for history instruction in public schools, omitted mention of the Founding Fathers, the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. Fortunately, we are still...

When I first went to work in the United States Senate, I frequently accompanied Senator Gordon Allott (R-Co.) to the Senate floor. There I watched as Senators had to cast vote after vote on liberal issues which often were unrelated to the legislation at hand. I asked the Senator what was going on? He replied: It's all politics. The liberals want to use these votes in the next election. The liberal ploy went unanswered for many years. Time and again moderate and conservative Senators had to explain why they voted to deprive poor children of milk, or voted for dirty...

An article in the Friday, March 29 Washington Post pointed to the long-expected opening of Phase III of America's war with Iraq. Phase I was the jousting contest, the formal "war" between America's and Iraq's armies that ended with the fall of Baghdad. Phase II was the War of National Liberation waged by the Baath Party and fought guerilla-style. Phase III, which is likely to prove the decisive phase, is true Fourth Generation war, war waged by a wide variety of non-state Iraqi and other Islamic forces for objectives and motives that reach far beyond politics. The Post article, "Iraq...

Every year I get asked to participate in various panel discussions. I must decline most of the invitations for one reason or another however, I am glad I accepted the invitation of the Interfaith Alliance for a panel on religion and politics at the National Press Club. I was the token conservative of the group that included Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. senior minister of the Riverside Church in New York, syndicated columnist Clarence Page, Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard University and pollster John Zogby. Forbes is the most articulate and reasonable sounding...

Last week, suicide car bombings left around 200 Shiite pilgrims dead and scores more wounded in Iraq. How did the locals respond? By blaming the Americans. U.S. troops, including medics who were trying to help the wounded, found themselves attacked by stone-throwing mobs. Similarly, in Haiti, when gunmen opened up on a demonstration by Aristide opponents, the locals blamed American Marines for the casualties. What gives? Neither the American soldiers and Marines on the spot nor American citizens at home can understand why we get blamed when Iraqis or Haitians kill each other. After all, we didn't do it. The...

The Marines have landed, and the situation is not well in hand, nor will it ever be. I am speaking, of course, of Haiti, that boil on the Western Hemisphere's posterior which no plaster can ever cure. In the 18th century, Haiti was so rich, thanks to the sugar trade, that it alone provided two-thirds of the value of France's overseas commerce. Today, Haiti is so poor that the average American dog probably lives better than the average Haitian. But I forget: just ten years ago, we solved all of Haiti's problems. Applying the neo-cons' prescription for the whole world,...