Free Republic

Rewriting history to egregious ends, Field of Lost Shoes recounts the true-life saga of seven Virginia Military Institute cadets who in 1864 died in service to the Confederate Army during the Battle of New Market. Awash in phony-looking facial hair and clichéd period drama, Sean McNamara’s drama defines those brave boys via their love of black people, their embrace of Jews, and their desire to fight so that they might protect their homeland from “foreign invaders,” uphold their “traditions,” and preserve their “future.” Save for a brief prologue, there isn’t a pro-slavery Southern man to be found in this fantasyland...

Republican candidate Mitt Romney chose the battleground state of Virginia to issue a major foreign policy address at VMI. More than a month after the Democratic convention in Charlotte, where President Barack Obama painted a sanguine picture of Islamic extremism in decline, Romney responded that this narrative was at best wishful thinking and at worst a deception. Perhaps at the time of the Democratic convention, the Romney campaign was either too fixated on economics or felt that Americans so wanted to believe the president's message that Romney would just be considered a party pooper. The events in Libya and the...

Updated: Monday, October 8, 11:39 AM Mitt Romney today delivered an address on foreign policy, titled “The Mantle of Leadership” to the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. The following remarks were prepared for delivery: I particularly appreciate the introduction from my good friend and tireless campaign companion, Gov. Bob McDonnell. He is showing what conservative leadership can do to build a stronger economy. Thank you also Congressman Goodlatte for joining us today. And particular thanks to Gen. Peay. I appreciate your invitation to be with you today at the Virginia Military Institute. It is a great privilege to be...

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney visits the Virginia Military Institute on Monday to lay out his foreign policy vision, and contrast it with that of President Obama. Coming off a widely reported success in last week's domestic policy-focused Presidential debate, Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan held rallies in Virginia on Thursday and Friday. The Presidential candidates have a week off before the next debate, which is a town hall format. The final debate, which focuses on foreign policy, will take place October 22. Romney has previously struggled in the foreign policy arena, with an overseas trip this...

Mitt Romney in a major speech Monday will call for a change of course in U.S. foreign policy -- saying the recent, deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya is part of a “profound upheaval” and that “hope is not a strategy.” The speech will mark one of Romney’s final opportunities before Election Day to show his potential as a world leader -- amid political turmoil in the Middle East. “The attacks on America last month should not be seen as random acts. They are expressions of a larger struggle that is playing out across the broader Middle East...

Secretary of StateHillaryClinton isbeing honored by Virginia Military Institute with the Distinguished Diplomat Award. Clinton will accept the honor on Tuesday and address students and faculty during a noon address on the Lexington campus. VMI's superintendent, Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, calls the award "highly appropriate" based on Clinton's long and varied career on the national and international scene.

Hillary Rodham Clinton to visit VMI next week Associated Press LEXINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is visiting Virginia Military Institute next week. VMI says Clinton will be presented with the college's Distinguished Diplomat Award on April 3. She also will address VMI cadets. VMI Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III says Clinton's work throughout her public life makes the award "highly appropriate." The award is given in recognition of outstanding achievement in advancing U.S. interests abroad through diplomacy. The event at Cameron Hall is free and open to the public.

An Air Force officer from Midlothian was among eight service members killed when an Afghan military pilot opened fire at the Kabul airport Wednesday. Ransom was a Virginia Military Institute alumnus and was vice president of the Class of 2001. He was a computer science major, a cadet corporal platoon sergeant and Rat Challenge corporal. VMI released a statement Friday that said the Air Force had selected Ransom for promotion to the rank of major. The statement recalled that in a 1988 speech at the school, Ransom "promised he would be a fighter for all of us. That he was....

A fusion between two worlds began 1300 years ago with Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar in 711. Please join us to commemorate the brilliant contributions resulting from the blending of eastern and western cultures. The agenda will tell the vital story of the achievements when Christians, Jews, and Muslims thrived side by side in Western Europe, building a society that lit the Dark Ages. Experts will discuss how to transform education, promote tolerance, civility, political reform, and advance human development so that we can emulate the spirit and triumphs of the early years. Diplomacy and Democratization...

LEXINGTON, Va. Feb. 10, 2011 – Undoubtedly, many of you have received information about the controversy during the past few days surrounding VMI’s “East Meets West” Conference which will be held March 23-25, 2011. The purpose of this is to dispel some of the misinformation that is appearing in e-mail and blog postings and ensure you are aware of what this conference is truly about. The online registration information on the VMI website contained a summary of the conference. In that overview it was stated that this year was the 1300th anniversary of Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing the Strait of...

The disease called moonbattery kills from within by attacking the most vital centers. The Virginia Military Institute has been home to Stonewall Jackson and George Patton. Now it produces politically correct celebrations of Muslim victories over Western Civilization. Next month [Jackson's] beloved Virginia Military Institute will be convening a celebration commemorating the 1300th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Spain under the Muslim warlord Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 A.D. The March 23-25 celebration entitled "711-2011: East Meets West" and organized by VMI's Center for Leadership and Ethics, is scheduled to feature standard Muslim apologists Reza Aslan and Akbar...

Stonewall Jackson is rolling over in his grave. Next month his beloved Virginia Military Institute will be convening a celebration commemorating the 1300th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Spain under the Muslim warlord Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 A.D. The March 23-25 celebration entitled “711-2011: East Meets West” and organized by VMI’s Center for Leadership and Ethics, is scheduled to feature standard Muslim apologists Reza Aslan and Akbar Ahmed. VMI Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay has even filmed an invitation to the celebration.

LEXINGTON, Va. (April 19, 2010) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will receive the Distinguished Diplomat Award from Virginia Military Institute when she visits the post on April 28. “Secretary Clinton’s work throughout her public life representing the United States in numerous venues and on issues of national and international importance makes this award highly appropriate,” said Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, superintendent of the military college. “It is an honor for us that she is taking time from her busy schedule to come to VMI to address the Corps of Cadets as well as receive this award.”

LEXINGTON, Va. — Virginia Military Institute is defending itself against a lengthy investigation into accusations that the school's policies are sexist and hostile toward female cadets, a dozen years after women won the right to enroll. The federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has an ongoing investigation of a sex discrimination complaint at the small, state-supported school that so far has taken nearly a year and a half — three times longer than usual. Defenders say VMI has worked hard to recruit women and make them comfortable since the U.S. Supreme Court ordered co-education in 1997, but women...

Monsignor Joseph L. Luca, pastor of St. Louis Church, sought to ease the grief of family, friends, and classmates from Mount St. Joseph High School and Virginia Military Institute - 1,200 in all - who gathered Saturday at the Clarksville Roman Catholic church to mourn the death of John Alexander Evans. Evans, a 19-year-old VMI cadet from Highland who had graduated earlier this year from Mount St. Joe, died last Saturday in a Lexington, Va., hospital after collapsing in his barracks room upon completion of a 10-mile training march. Autopsy results are expected this week. "Our hearts go out to...

I thought this was an impressive display: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07dI-6OO6ho

U.S. District Judge F. Bradford Stillman this morning ruled that the College must turn over the names of 20 students suspected of downloading music illegally to the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA plans to sue the students for copyright infringement after they allegedly downloaded music on peer-to-peer music sharing programs such as Limewire. 7 students have already settled independently, paying between $3,000 and $5,000 each. The suit had previously been denied by U.S. District Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. Kelley recently retired, and the RIAA asked Stillman to overturn his ruling. According to RIAA lawyer Katheryn Coggon, the...

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2008 – America needs dedicated public servants now more than ever, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told graduates at the Virginia Military Institute, in Lexington, Va., today. Gates congratulated the 246 graduates of the state military college on their accomplishments and said the institute has taught them lessons on the importance of public service and duty to their fellow citizens. “For generations, VMI has graduated young people ready to raise their right hands and defend their homeland,” the secretary said. “This is something to be grateful for in any time period, but never more so than in...

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan - More than 100 U.S. Marines stood at attention before four empty boots and two sets of dog tags Tuesday to honor the first Marines to die in Afghanistan since their unit's deployment last month. 1st Sgt. Luke J. Mercardante, 35, and Cpl. Kyle W. Wilks, 24, died in a roadside bomb explosion in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on April 15, said Lt. Col. Ricky Brown, the commander of Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina. Dark, overcast skies, a blustery wind and light droplets of rain reflected...

As a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Luke Mercardante trained more than 1,200 men, turning them from civilians into Marines. Later, at Camp Lejeune, Mercardante visited the Wounded Warriors barracks and was approached by a young man who had been one of his recruits. The man told him that a lesson he learned from Mercardante at boot camp saved his life, said Mercardante's girlfriend, Kimberly Hull. The young man remembered Mercardante yelling at him, telling him not to move, Hull said. So when the time came, he didn't move, and lived.