Free Republic

Gotta' see this. Here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVnnoz_Gqp8 and at the link above....Somebody is streaming a short video clip on "YouTube.com" of a recent live TV broadcast tirade during Venezuelan communist dictator Hugo Chavez' 'weekly address to the People', whereby the despot launches into a comical tirade against George Bush.You will hear el Presidente comically trying to grasp at such epithets as 'donkey', and 'little bird', and 'Mr. Danger', all spouted by Hugo in reference to George W. Bush. I wonder if he realizes how silly he looks, including his attempts at very poor English. For the entertainment value alone, this is worth watching,...

Criticizing US President George W. Bush is fine in Germany, but doing so by displaying the Nazi swastika is a crime, and it's got film director Fatih Akin in trouble with the German authorities. Fatih Akin attending a film debut in Hamburg last year. Police in the northern city of Hamburg are investigating award-winning Turkish-German film director Fatih Akin, 32, for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt bearing the word "Bush" in which the letter "s" was replaced by the swastika. Displaying Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany. He wore the T-shirt on a film set and an unnamed man who...

"The reason this happened was they were warned, they could hold any sign they wanted as long as it didn't say 'honk' on it," Kitchen said. "They were warned a couple of weeks ago. They decided to test it, evidently." Police Chief Michael Kitchen said . . .it's illegal to "incite people to sound their horn when not reasonably necessary." Kittila said. . . police first approached protesters in mid-June and said the signs urging people to honk had to go because they caused too much noise. . . changed the signs to say 'Ferndale police say don't honk if...

Mr. Bush has lied to us about many important issues, he has entered us into a pre-emptive war for the first time in the history of our country, and has no exit strategy. He refuses to accept any responsibility for anything he does, and only appoints friends of his, usually totally unsuited for the job, to high positions in the administration. This alone should be impeachable, and the fact that he believes himself to be above the law has been repeatedly shown as well -- warrantless wiretaps are just one example. Impeach this incompetent man before he does more harm...

COUNTERTERRORISM has become a source of continuing domestic and international political controversy. Much of it, like the role of the Iraq war in inspiring new terrorists, deserves analysis and debate. Increasingly, however, many of the political issues surrounding counterterrorism are formulaic, knee-jerk, disingenuous and purely partisan. The current debate about United States monitoring of transfers over the Swift international financial system strikes us as a case of over-reaction by both the Bush administration and its critics.

Disappointing airplay for the first two singles from the new album by the Dixie Chicks exposes a deep -- and seemingly growing -- rift between the trio and the country radio market that helped turn the group into superstars. "Taking the Long Way," due out May 23, is the band's first album since singer Natalie Maines sparked a major controversy in 2003 by declaring that she was ashamed to hail from the same state as fellow Texan President George W. Bush. Radio boycotts ensued, and many fans abandoned the band. The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," peaked at...

A 10-year-old girl was barred from singing a President George W. Bush-bashing ballad at her elementary school talent show because her principal deemed the song inappropriate and too political. "Dear Mr. President," performed and co-written by pop star Pink, criticizes Bush for the war in Iraq and policies including his stance on gay rights. Nancy Shoul said her daughter Molly should be lauded for choosing lyrics that are full of substance and that the ban violates her daughter's right to free speech. "If this was a student singing a pro-administration song, no one would quibble with it," Shoul said Thursday....

A 10-year-old Coral Springs girl won't be allowed to sing a controversial President Bush-bashing ballad at her school talent show after her principal deemed it inappropriate and too political. The song, Dear Mr. President, performed and co-written by the singer Pink, criticizes the president for the war in Iraq and other policies, including his stance on gay rights.

As dozens of anti-war demonstrators heckled President Bush outside an Indian Wells resort last weekend, a plainclothes Riverside County sheriff's deputy and another man moved through the crowd, the deputy waving a protest sign as the two snapped digital photographs of the demonstrators. Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle said that the U.S. Secret Service asked that members of his department's intelligence unit monitor the protest. Any photos taken Saturday of the protesters were snapped "under the auspices of the Secret Service," Doyle said. But Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., said the agency did not...

“The only reason why Mao Zedung is given the bad reputation he has is because of the bourgeois press and their racism toward the Chinese,” said Marlene Kowal’s professor on the first day of the history class, Contemporary China. Kowal, a senior at Temple University in Pennsylvania, offered a number of examples of things frequently said in classrooms at Temple and presumably at other universities across the country when she spoke last week at the Academic Freedom conference in Washington, D.C. In the same class, Kowal’s professor declared herself to be a Maoist and that the purpose of her teaching...

In Vermont, vote to impeach president spurs backlash NEWFANE, Vt. -- The protest unfolded in a white meeting house on one of the prettiest town commons in Vermont. The debate at the Town Meeting was by all accounts unfailingly polite. And when the secret ballots were counted, residents of this tiny resort town had voted 121 to 29 to impeach President Bush. The roomful of rural neighbors expected a reaction. But none of them thought their small act of dissent would provoke national outrage. Angry calls and e-mails flooded Newfane, population 1,680, the next day. One critic sent a mock...

George Soros' Open Society Institute is preparing to dole out a goodly sum to ensure that all the positive, fawning coverage Hurricane Katrina's death and destruction has been receiving finally gets balanced out a bit with the hitherto unheard bad news: The Katrina Media Fellowships, sponsored by The Open Society Institute (OSI), will support media makers working in print and radio journalism, photography, and documentary film and video to generate and improve media coverage of critical issues of poverty, racism, and government neglect in the Gulf Region that were laid bare by Hurricane Katrina. This one-time fellowship will be awarded...

Democracy Cell Project They protest in front of the Circuit City on the corner of Central Expressway and Meadow Road. I think every Friday now. I have been meaning to get some pics but I'm in a mad dash to get to work.. Anybody else in N. Dallas seen these people? From the Democracy Cell Project forum... "For almost a month now, we have been visiting Hutchinson's office on a daily basis. So far, twelve have been arrested or issued citations. Last week, two ministers and an 80-year old anti-war grandma were arrested and thrown in Lew Sterritt prison for...

Some say Dick Cheney is toast. He's too hot to handle, throw him over the side if he won't drop himself into the waves. Don't look now, but that isn't water surrounding the Bush ship of state. It's gasoline. Have you ever noticed how on a scale of one to 10, every untoward event in the life of the Bush presidency goes straight to a 10? The Abu Ghraib photos? A 10 forever. Dick Cheney catching a hunting buddy with some birdshot? An instant 10. The Bush National Guard story? Total 10. How can it be that each downside event...

On his triumphalist tour of India and Pakistan, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush has an itinerary that's getting curiouser and curiouser. For Bush's March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved. Plan Two was to have Bush address the masses from the ramparts of the magnificent Red Fort, where the Indian prime minister traditionally delivers his Independence Day address. But the Red Fort, surrounded...

Your 15 Minutes Are Up, Please Exit Stage Left By Julie Mosher Sometimes there has to be an end. There comes a time when America just needs to send a double-strength nudge off the stage to Cindy Sheehan... Enough becomes truly enough. Well this is one of those moments. I don't know about you, but I am sick of seeing and hearing about Cindy Sheehan. This woman is pathetic! There...I said it! Pathetic! It feels good too! Sheehan, 48, likes the attention so much she wants to create the news by being the news. So when she was arrested before...

Demonstrators gathered in San Francisco at Union Square on Tuesday to rally noisily against President Bush and his State of the Union address. Organizers estimated the crowd at about 4,000 people, many of whom beat makeshift drums, clanged pots and pans, blew whistles or just screamed as Bush's speech was broadcast live -- without sound -- on a giant video screen. The World Can't Wait, a national protest group calling for Bush to step down, organized the demonstration to urge the protesters to march in an anti-Bush rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. "Through this political action and this mobilization...

The protest by the World Can't Wait coalition is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., one hour before Bush's State of the Union address. Rally organizers secured a permit for the square that runs through 9 p.m., officials said. Police plan to close off Post and Powell streets at the square. In addition, the northbound lane of Geary Street and the westbound lane of Stockton Street will be closed.

On January 19, 2006, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast excerpts from a new audiocassette by Osama bin Laden, in which the Al-Qaeda leader threatens further attacks on the U.S., "immediately with the completion of the preparations.” At the same time, bin Laden makes a plea to accept and uphold a long term truce under fair conditions [if America offers it to him], which will provide security and stability to both sides and will make it possible to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. "We are a nation forbidden by Allah to betray and lie," promises bin Laden. Contrary to mistranslations in the media, from...

We all remember high school and how awkward it was to break up with someone you had been seeing. You rarely just told someone it was over. Usually you just drifted away, often hiding from the other person, until they got the message and left you alone. Though, it seemed easier at the time, I’m sure it was actually far more difficult, lasted longer and created far more damage to both parties. And so it is in adult