Free Republic

In not untypical fashion, the faithfully left-leaning National Council of Churches (NCC) has issued a poisonous little July 4 greeting to the American people. The statement from the NCC Governing Board is not a celebration of two centuries of American democracy and religious liberty, with gratitude to God. It is instead a screed against the "dishonorable" war in Iraq. "It has become clear that the rationale for invasion was at best a tragic mistake, at worst a clever deception," the statement generously opines. Although comprised of denominations totaling over 40 million mainstream Americans, the NCC has for 40 years been...

What the intrepid Norman Podhoretz so perspicuously calls "the War Against World War IV" continues apace. Its latest cause célèbre (to borrow the language of The Resistance — or is it The Insurgency?) is material-witness detentions, the target sited by (of course) the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, dutifully sketched by (of course) the New York Times...and timed (hilariously) to emerge just as our ears are ringing from the plaintive wails of prominent Democrats demanding an apology from Karl Rove for having the audacity to suggest that the Left does not take the terrorist threat seriously enough....

Ever wonder what makes Democrats so relentless in their quest to demean Republicans? Could it be that they learned their incessant doggedness from their heroes of the Watergate era, Woodward, Bernstein, and Deep Throat, now self-revealed as Mark Felt, a former illicit FBI informant? After all, this triumphant Rat Pack was credited with championing the downfall of a Republican administration. And, by so doing, it was the genesis of the Democratic Party’s political playbook and game plan that still exists today. Watergate represented a consummate dismantling of a Republican administration where the Democrats’ deftness of investigational and inquisitorial skills were...

Myers went on to say, "The real facts show that 10 major lines of inquiry, including an independent panel composed of non-Department of Defense (DOD) personnel, found that the Defense Department did not promulgate interrogation policies or give guidance that directed, sanctioned or encouraged abuse. The DOD has always required detainees to be treated humanely." Myers added, "The Post's continued distortion of the facts is a disservice to its readers and is insulting to the thousands of uniformed men and women who make sacrifices for our nation." That's correct. And this is why we maintain that this kind of media...

HOUSTON -- Scientists gather routinely at the Texas Medical Center to share research. But they are meeting this weekend in enemy territory for a war-room session on political strategy. Advocates of embryonic stem cell research from the fields of academia, politics, health care and medicine -- including South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk -- are plotting ways to quell opposition and get the research money flowing. -------------------- Houston's medical center is an oasis of support for the proponents gathering this weekend. ------------------ Siegel said legislation like some of the measures considered in Texas "sends a message to the biotech community:...

LONDON - Is Coldplay trying to tell us something with that multicolored symbol on the cover of their new album? Cubelike images adorn the packaging, both on the cover and the liner notes, of "X&Y," the British band's much-anticipated third album that was released Tuesday. New Music Express asked a number of top art experts to figure out what the geometric figure on the cover means. They've concluded that it's a 19th-century telegraphic code known as the Baudot Code, or The International Telegraph Code Number One. It was used in teletype machines in the late 1800s. So, what does it...

Amnesty International's latest report didn't denounce conditions for U.S. troops captured and held in detention facilities in Iraq. That's because, as far as anyone knows, there are no camps for American prisoners of war in Iraq. According to Pentagon sources, there is only one U.S. soldier listed as missing-captured in Iraq. Sgt. Keith Maupin, 21, has been missing since April 2004. Terrorists in Iraq don't take prisoners. They fight to kill. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office, noted that while there is no way of knowing how the terrorists would treat U.S. detainees, it is clear how they...

With Memorial Day only two days away, the Democratic party has again dishonored and exploited our troops in their callous Jihad to regain the political power the voters decidely took away from them and will continue to take away from them in elections. Below is yet another Democrat party email exploiting our troops and Memorial Day (see their previous email signed by (former) Governor Howard Dean at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1412198/posts). From:     "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com> To:          [Recipient] Subject:  Honor Our Fallen Soldiers: Investigate Bush's Lies Date:     May 28, 2005 12:00 PM Demand a Congressional Investigation of Bush's Iraq War Lies http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/39 Dear Activist, Monday is Memorial Day,...

For an object lesson on Old Media liberal bias, read the transcript of the May 17 press briefing by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. The recurrent themes jumping from the condescending reporters' questions were anti: President Bush, American military, U.S. Constitution, Republican Party, and pro: Democrat obstructionism, terrorist-sympathizing and Old Media arrogance, unaccountability and elitism. I can provide but a few examples in a short column, but they're telling. Question: "Scott, the Senate has managed to function -- or not function, as the case may be -- for more than 200 years without a ban on judicial filibusters. Is...

The Democrats made huge errors in tactics and judgment during the last presidential campaign. But they thought that the patronizing contempt they held – and continue to hold – for the electorate would go unnoticed. Heady with the multimillions pouring into their coffers, with a monopoly on an old media that historically and unfailingly back leftists, and by mistaking their candidate's verbal contortions for substantive policy, they deluded themselves into thinking that the Oval office – as well as the Congress, Senate and a good many governorships – were theirs for the taking. What they failed to grasp was that...

Funny, a couple of years ago President Bush was ridiculed by liberals for placing Iran and North Korea within the “Axis of Evil.” Now with both those countries giving negotiators and interested parties the middle finger with uranium refining, missile and pending underground nuclear tests, the media decided these next items should dominate the recent news…. Cockeyed Payout Boston Mayor Thomas “Forest Gump” Menino said yesterday that the City of Boston will soon announce a settlement with the family of Victoria Snelgrove, the Emerson College student who was killed by a pepper pellet shot by Boston Police who had to...

Bolton Accuser - Anti Bush Activist Who Committed PlagiarismThe news media and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have been despicable in their anti-John Bolton smear campaign. What they've not reported to you is that the highly touted Bolton critic, Melody Townsel - who accused Bolton of 'acting like a madman' and chasing her through the halls of a Russian hotel - was an anti-Bush activist (she founded the Dallas Chapter of "Mothers Opposing Bush") who has been discredited by her superiors and forced to come forward to admit that she committed plagiarism when serving as a journalist. CLICK...

A hush-hush meeting of 70 leftist fat cats heard billionaire George Soros lay out a five-year plan designed to build a network of think tanks, media outlets and training schools promoting Soros' brand of Marxism. Meeting in Scottsdale Ariz., last weekend, the assemblage of multi-millionaires, whose identities were kept secret by the meeting's organizers, planned to start the process of building an ideas production line for liberal politicians. They wwant to begin what organizers hope will be a long dialogue with the "partners," many from the high-tech industry, a group that backed John Kerry in last year's presidential election. According...

It’s business as usual in Washington DC, the land where the only thing more confusing than the word “is” is the word “ethics.” Yet another political standoff is playing out, this time in the House Ethics Committee. Democrats refuse to convene a hearing citing their “outrage” over rules changes that could protect Republican Congressman Tom DeLay from investigation. But a few facts suggest they could be refusing to meet in order to protect two of their own while allowing their pet 527s to politically damage DeLay as much as possible. Like the evil flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz,...

Secretary Bolton's intimate understanding of these subjects has caused him to have strong views about them. On occasion, he has expressed those views forcefully and with a measure of rhetorical hyperbole. While some have seized upon his choice of words to disqualify Mr. Bolton, he is indisputably correct in arguing that the UN has rarely been united in the way and for the purposes its founders envisioned. He is also correct in noting that the international community has generally proven most effective in dealing with international crises when led by the United States. It would serve U.S. interests well to...

The Washington Post published a story on Match 25 faulting President Bush for not injecting himself quickly enough into the tragic killings at the Indian reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota. Post reporter Ceci Connolly found a volunteer at an Indian office who said about Bush, "I don't feel he cares about the American Indian people." This is a classic case of a manufactured story designed to make the president look bad. Connolly, a contributor to Fox News, wrote that "The reaction to Bush's silence was particularly bitter given his high-profile, late-night intervention on behalf of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida...

It was interesting to see the crude oil prices spike again recently. It reminded me of the way in which lemmings run off of cliffs in a rapture that only they could ever understand. Somebody said they thought the prices could reach $110 per barrel and everybody that could jump on that did. I really have to wonder why that is. One would think that after the good ole dotcom con that people would be a little more cautious about such advice. Apparently not. The per barrel price began to drop within a week. That was but a sideshow to...

Every once in a while I stumble across an opinion article that's so irrational, hate-filled and hypocritical that I feel compelled to comment on it, and New York Times writer Paul Krugman's most recent column is no exception. Titled "What's Going On?", this rambling op-ed is filled with more unprovoked attacks on religious minded people than any other I have had the misfortune to read, and I've read more than I care to remember. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/opinion/29krugman.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fPaul%20Krugman Mr. Krugman begins his piece by attempting to impress upon his readers the dangers of extremism in democratic countries, quickly focussing his attention on the...

October 2000, Place de la République in Paris: the first of what would become an endless series of ambiguous pro-Palestinian demonstrations welcomed the snake of anti-Semitism into its heart. “Death to the Jews” rang out loud and clear that day as policemen stood by, journalists watched with apparent indifference, and the mass of demonstrators thronged and thrust as demonstrators do. 8 March 2005, Place de la République: a thousand young toughs pierced the heart of a student demonstration and unleashed their rage…not against the police but against the “privileged classes” in their own age group—the protesting lycée students. Operating in...

Terri Schiavo has been suffering from fatal dehydration for the past week and liberal anti-life crusaders have been relishing in every moment of it. That is, of course, despite last-ditch efforts by President Bush and the Republican party-poopers in Congress to have Terri’s feeding tubes restored. Amid all the fuss, the left’s latest rationalization for starving poor little Terri to death is this: There may have been political motives behind the Republicans’ endeavor to save Terri’s life! President Bush signed a bill on March 21 that would transfer jurisdiction of the Terri Schiavo case to a U.S. district court. This...