Free Republic

JAN 18th NATIONAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON to demand: NO WAR AGAINST IRAQ! ELIMINATE U.S. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION! Rally at 11 am on the West Side of the Capitol March on the Washington DC Navy Yard What: Charter Buses leaving Ithaca at 12:30AM Saturday January 18th, 2003, to arrive in Washington DC at 8AM. Buses Leave DC at 6PM to arrive back in Ithaca by 1AM Sunday January 19th, 2003. Three, 47-passenger buses are reserved. Where: Green St. Bus Shelter, Tompkins County Public Library Tickets: $40 Round Trip, Available at Autumn Leaves Bookstore on the Commons, Ithaca Scholarships: Up to...

What: Movie Night: "LUNA: The Stafford Giant Tree Sit" When: January 8; 7 pm Where: "Old Jailhouse", 125 E Court St, Ithaca, NY This video chronicles the amazing story of Julia Butterfly Hill's heroic effort to protect a two thousand year old redwood tree. She lived on the tree for over two years, and faced harassment from Pacific Lumber throughout her tree-sit. But the world wide attention that she gained for the tree helped to preserve it forever. This is more than just a story of one woman's fierce campaign to save a forest. It is the story of the...

Lisa Guido, Peter DeMott and Grace Ritter of Ithaca and 13 others were arrested on December 28, 1:30 pm at the White House in Washington DC for participating in a nonviolent, peaceful die-in to protest the ongoing war against Iraq and the invasion of Iraq, now well underway. Some of the participants poured their own blood on themselves during the protest. DeMott and Ritter were charged with participating in a stationary demonstration in a restricted area and released with an order to appear in DC court on April 16; Guido is still being held. All three were part of the...

Meanwhile, at Cornell . . . While Saint Xavier busies itself with damage control over a history professor who cannot distinguish between protest and pedagogy, Cornell University’s health service is debating the important question of whether to sell vibrators in its dispensary. “Many students,” a college newspaper reports, “feel it would be helpful for Gannett [health center] to have vibrators available because Cornell is located in Ithaca, not a major city.” Somjen Frazer, Cornell ’03, explained the problem: “At this point, you either go online or go downtown to the sort of scary and not very woman-affirming place sex-shop.” Paraphrasing...

<p>ITHACA -- While some people dread the cold and snowy weather, Rauncie Pelletier loves everything about the crisp, white flakes covering Tompkins County. "There's just something about the snow and the lights, and I think about getting together with my family," she said. "It just feels really magical to me."</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Thirteen demonstrators were taken into custody Saturday after occupying the foyer of a military recruiting office for more than an hour.</p> <p>The group's supporters, about 60 people dressed in black, marched peacefully outside the office at the Cayuga Mall on Triphammer Road, protesting the United States' and Britain's stance toward Iraq.</p>

<p>When the state began redistricting congressional seats a year ago, Rep. Amo Houghton was worried that his Southern Tier district could disappear.</p> <p>So the wealthy and influential Corning Republican did whatever he could to preserve the constituency he has served for 16 years. Ultimately, he got most of what he wanted.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Cornell University introduced Jeffrey S. Lehman as its 11th president Saturday afternoon, an alumnus who is the current dean of the law school at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.</p> <p>Lehman will succeed Hunter R. Rawlings III on July 1, 2003. Rawlings announced in March he would step down to return to teaching.</p>

Cornell University announced on Saturday that it has chosen Jeffrey Lehman as its new President. Lehman has been the Dean of the Law School at the University of Michigan. To get an idea of what Lehman is about, I ran a Google search on him. Virtually the only issue that he seems to be strongly associated with is defense of race-based affirmative action. It is Lehman's UM Law School that is the defendant in the famous lawsuit of Grutter v. Bollinger. The plaintiff is a white applicant who was denied admission despite having academic credentials that would have virtually guaranteed...

This is a warning. The story you are about to read is full of Republicans talking about their right-wing views and their impressions on what it likes to be a member of the GOP in a very liberal community. This is a one-sided piece about the role the GOP plays in Tompkins County and about how conservative idealism manages to survive - and some would say thrive - in our politically charged region. If you are not sure you can read a piece that is devoid of left-wing commentary, you may wish to peruse through the rest of this paper....

<p>ITHACA -- If pacifists and human rights workers could agree on a national spokeswoman, Amy Goodman might be it.</p> <p>If Goodman wasn't too busy being a reporter.</p> <p>An anti-establishment hero and host of the national public radio show "Democracy Now!", Goodman will appear at Ithaca College tonight. She spoke to the Journal on Wednesday about the theme for the evening, the role of "independent" media during war.</p>

Last month, a group of conservative students at Cornell University (including yours truly) squared off against radical leftists in a debate on the following question: "Does Cornell University promote racial segregation on campus through its housing policies?" The event was attended by several hundred students, most of whom were extreme left-wing racial minorities who were unable to maintain civility. They repeatedly interrupted speakers, whooped uncontrollably, and viciously attacked a black conservative on the panel. By debate’s end, the audience resembled the sort of trash one would expect to see at the Jerry Springer Show. Still, important arguments were brought to...

<p>"County Tax Bills to Reflect State Mandates" -- Ithaca Journal headline, Dec. 4, 2002.</p> <p>For months now, the Tompkins County Board of Representatives has been on a mission. The goal -- to evade responsibility for a county property tax increase more than five times the rate of inflation.</p>

Tenured Adolescents For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!” But it’s “Saviour of ’is country” when the guns begin to shoot; … —Rudyard Kipling, “Tommy” (1890) We have been reminded of Kipling’s poem “Tommy” a good deal lately. Its most famous line—in which Kipling speaks of “makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep”—has a special relevance at a moment when anti-war animus is bubbling out of the universities and other protected redoubts of politically correct sentiment. Living in the aftermath of the 1960s and its culture of protest, most of us...

<p>Democrats need to stop blaming themselves for the Republican victories in the 2002 election and start understanding the religious right.</p> <p>Pat Robertson, founder of Christian Coalition wrote in his book "Millennium" in 1990, "with the apathy that exists today, a well organized minority can influence the selection of candidates to an astonishing degree." History has proven Robertson to be correct.</p>

Make Room for Daddy Government The vast majority of government regulations result in restrictions on individual liberty that flush valuable resources down the toilet. Consider the case of an 85-year-old landlord in Ithaca, New York. Let’s call her Mrs. T. to protect her from the long arm of the local government. Mrs. T., like many older widows, does not make use of a large portion of her home. Hence, she chooses to rent out space in her house to college students so as to supplement her income. Each year, she engages in private voluntary arrangements with students who choose to...

<p>"Bush is superman -- but we are his kryptonite!" exclaimed one speaker at the Nov. 15-17 protest against the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation (known as the School of Assassins to critics).</p> <p>Between 10,000 and 15,000 people from all over the United States traveled to Fort Benning, Ga. to demand that the federal government shut down the institute and to bring to the attention of the national media this obvious contradiction in U.S. policy.</p>

<p>Regarding the British government's recent condemnation of Saddam Hussein for human rights abuses I pose the following question: From what moral perch does the British government have the audacity to assert that Saddam Hussein is any more an abuser of human rights than England or any other imperialistic autocracy?</p>

<p>President Bush's appointment of Henry Kissinger to lead the investigation of "failures of intelligence" surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks is the last straw for me. This is such an outrageous insult, not only to the families of victims but to the entire American public, that it is almost surreal.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Picture this: A single Cornell University student consumes 140 pounds of reading material and 56,000 cases of paper are used and disposed at the campus each year.</p> <p>To help people visualize these facts, one artist is inviting people to go to Cornell Arboretum and take a walk to Newman Park and inside Slim Jim Woods. There visitors will find a symbolic representation of the consequences of viewing a forest as a natural resource.</p>