Free Republic

This war is for real By Major General Vernon Chong, USAF, ret. October 1, 2005 To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII). The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war, and even fewer who realize what losing really means. First, let's examine a few basics: 1. When did the threat to...

How many people remember the Armstrong,Aldrin, Collins first moon landing? Most. It happened on July 21st, 1969. What else happened that day, or, the night before?Teddy Kennedy was responsible for the death of Mary Jo Kopchne, of willfuly leaving the scene of an accident, not reporting her death, and, of covering up the whole sordid affair.His technique? Go to a hotel, establish a time alibly. Talk to your lawyers. Then, buy off her family.Sound familiar? Yes, the same technique used so successfully later by the infamous klintoon, who must have studied well the Teddy portfolio. 36 years later Teddy is...

What Are Islamic Schools Teaching? 04/2/05 "Shocked" is how Aisha Sherazi, principal of the Abraar Islamic school in Ottawa, described the reaction of the school's administration and board on learning last week that two of its teachers had incited hatred of Jews. And "shocked" was how Mumtaz Akhtar, president of the Muslim-Community Council of Ottawa-Gatineau, described his own reaction to the front-page news about the Abraar school. But they may have been the only two persons on the planet to be "shocked" to learn that teachers at an Islamic school are promoting anti-Semitism or other aspects of the Islamist agenda....

[Caution: Explicit language used. Use prudence with young children and some adolescents.] Our immune system, certainly one of the great marvels of nature, equips us with 100 billion (100,000,000,000) immunological receptors. Each of these tiny receptors has the uncanny natural capacity to distinguish the self from the non-self. Consequently, they are able to immunize or protect our bodies against the invasion of foreign substances that could be harmful to us. Marvelous as nature is, it is never extremist. From a purely immunological point of view (from the standpoint of an all-out defensive strategy), a woman's body would reject the oncoming...

The Visible Church Was There All Along by Cindy Beck “Lord,” I prayed later that night, “I’ll go wherever You want me to go. Please, just lead me to the truth.” I never imagined that I would one day become Catholic, even when I knew I could no longer be Protestant. Catholicism simply wasn’t an option. When I left Protestantism, I had no idea where I was going. I only knew that there had to be something else. No matter where it led, I had to find the truth. I never dreamed it would be in the last place I...

Trapping Bush's Team 11/17/03 What do erstwhile Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein and the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Jay Rockefeller, have in common? They both seem to have been so keen to defeat George W. Bush that their subordinates resorted to laying traps for the President and his administration. According to press reports, Saddam personally endorsed the initiative conjured up by senior Iraqi intelligence officers involving an 11th-hour deal to stave off Operation Iraqi Freedom. One can be forgiven for wondering whether Senator Rockefeller also had prior knowledge of the trap described in a memorandum written by...

by Daniel Pipes and Asaf Romirowsky Fulbright's Terrorist Tie 10/27/03 The killing of three Americans by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza on Oct. 15 had a bitterly ironic quality. The victims were security personnel protecting an academic review committee en route to interview Palestinian applicants for the Fulbright program, an academic exchange funded and run by the U.S. government. The three, in other words, were murdered by Palestinians while on a humanitarian mission to help Palestinians. But the irony runs deeper: According to the Israeli government, a current Fulbright scholar from the West Bank “is known as an activist” in Hamas...

Know Thy Enemy 10/23/03 The biggest imponderable concerning the war on terror is whether the American people and their leaders are clear on a central question Exactly who is the enemy in this war? We are, after all, not fighting some abstraction called "terror." The truth is we are engaged in a death struggle with people who use terror — usually involving the deliberate murder of innocent civilians — as an instrument to advance their agendas. As to precisely who those people are, the past twenty-five months have brought to light a bewildering array of terrorist organizations pursuing a variety...

Dennis Kucinich: Selling His Pro-Life Views for the White House 10/17/03 by Maria Gallagher. Dennis Kucinich used to be a friend to the pro-life movement.. While he indicated he would not be a leading spokesman for the pro-life cause, he accumulated a solid 90+% pro-life voting record, according to National Right to Life. The Democrat met eagerly with pro-life leaders in his home state of Ohio and expressed appreciation for their efforts against abortion.. Then, thrust into the national spotlight with his passionately anti-war stand, the Congressman began casting votes that troubled pro-life observers. Not long after, Kucinich began a...

by Michael Barone Governor Arnold 10/16/03 The recall Of California Gov. Gray Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him is, first of all, a repudiation of left-wing Democratic governance. A state that Al Gore carried 53 percent to 42 percent voted 55 percent to 45 percent to recall Davis. Schwarzenegger got more votes than "no" on recall and more votes than Davis did in 2002. Davis was first elected in 1998 on competence and as a centrist. But his mishandling of the electricity crisis called into question his competence, and his big budget deficits — caused by...

Preaching Terror 10/14/03 Frank Gaffney When Senator Jon Kyl opens a hearing of his Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism this morning [Tuesday], the subject will be the penetration of the U.S. military's chaplain corps and American prison systems by radical Muslims (also known as Islamists). Unfortunately, a man as responsible as anybody for the recruitment, training and certification of Muslim military chaplains - Abdurahman Alamoudi - will not be there. He is currently in jail, awaiting prosecution on charges of illegal ties to terrorist-sponsoring Libya. Alamoudi's indictment late last month came amidst a flurry of arrests of service personnel connected...

The Real Story Behind the Leak 10/14/03 Joseph C. Wilson IV is having the time of his life. The former-diplomat-turned-Bush-administration-accuser spent last week ruminating over who might play his wife-the now-famous CIA operative Valerie Plame-when Hollywood comes knocking on the couple's door. "She is really quite amazing," Wilson told The Washington Post, which described Plame as a slim, 40-year-old blonde, possessing "the looks of a film star" herself. Somehow, this doesn't sound like a man worried that the leak of his wife's name and identity as a CIA employee by someone high up in the Bush administration might jeopardize her...

A Jewish Screenwriter's Candid Response to The Passion 10/10/03 An Open Letter to Mel Gibson by Alan Sereboff Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 Dear Mel, It’s now been a month since I viewed “The Passion,” and I write this letter hoping enough time has passed so that I can speak with some semblance of objectivity. Quite simply, I believe you have made one of the most breathtaking, poignant movies of our time. I cannot recall a film that has had such a profound effect on my understanding of history, religion and, perhaps most importantly, what we as human beings are capable...

Tom McClintock's Antidote 10/02/03 G. K. Chesterton once observed there's no use talking about reform without reference to form. This wise adage helps put the California recall election in perspective. The State's enormous budget deficit is driving much of the antipathy toward Gray Davis. But without major reform of state government, a new governor could hardly make a dent in Sacramento. Even if he cuts the budget by $1 billion, $5 billion, or even $10 billion, what difference does it make with a $38 billion shortfall? What's needed is not a tune-up but an overhaul. But what sort of change...

I'm Not Religious, But I'm a Very Spiritual Person 10/02/03 “It's not a religious film, it's a philosophical film. It uses themes and elements from various religions and spiritual beliefs. Stop simplifying things... Look, I’m not religious, I just have my own spirituality.” In This Article... Yes, Humptey Dumptey, There is a Meaning The World Comes with Instructions Whoops, Too Late Yes, Humptey Dumptey, There is a Meaning How many times have we heard, or perhaps even made, remarks like this? Better yet, what in blazes do these remarks mean? It seems that people throw around words like “philosophical”, “religious”,...

Can someone update me on the status of the Child Tax Rebates we were supposed to be getting starting this July? Also, the retroactive tax rate decrease ( to last Jan ), that was supposed tokick in?

The Air Force is planning to give the A-10 Warthog an ignominious homecoming from the Persian Gulf. In early April, Maj. Gen. David Deptula of the Air Combat Command ordered a subordinate to draft a memo justifying the decommissioning of the A-10 fleet. The remaining eight active duty A-10 squadrons (in 1991, the number was 18) could be mothballed as early as 2004. This is a serious mistake. The A-10 was one of the most effective, lethal and feared weapons of the Iraqi war. Its absence will put troops on the battlefield in grave danger. The decision to take this...

PARTICIPATION OF CATHOLICS IN POLITICAL LIFE Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith DOCTRINAL NOTE on some questions regarding,p> THE PARTICIPATION OF CATHOLICS IN POLITICAL LIFE The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having received the opinion of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has decided that it would be appropriate to publish the present Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life. This Note is directed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church and, in a particular way, to Catholic politicians and all lay members of the faithful called to participate in the...

Does anyone have the latest on this? On how its original intent to bring equality between men and women to all countries, has now been perverted into forcing same sex unions , etc.?

Fetal tissue fails InParkinson treatment "Catastrophic" side effects A study released in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the experi- mental treatment for Parkinson's disease which uses implants from the brain -cells of aborted babies, has "disastrous side effects." The results have prompted research- ers including Dr. Paul Greene, a neurolo- gist at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, to back out of work in the area. "No more fetal trans- plants. We are absolutely and adamantly convinced that this should be consid- ered for research only. And whether it should be researched in people is ...