Free Republic

Panel discussion and call-in session on C-Span2 now and for another hour. Michael Beschloss, Michael Lind, and others. Lind presents important information from newly opened archives in China and Russia which he says shows the Vietnam war coincided with the Korean war and Afghanistan as an imporant element in our global struggle against communism - as a necessary war.

Ann Coulter is speaking on C-Span2 now until about 12:30pm est - a presentation made to the American Alternatives Foundsation on conservative politics last night. Will maybe be repeated on C-Span2 later today - check their schedule.

Fox News just announced the Oregon referendum to establish free medical care for all residents paid for by the state is going down to defeat by 80% to 20% with about half the votes counted. High cost and people moving into the state for free care were the predominant reasons given by voters for rejecting the initiative.....

Romney also picked as new Gov Of Massachusetts

This afternoon's three hour interview/call-in show with George Will and Brian Lamb is scheduled for repeat at midnight est on C-Span2. Interesting and thought-provoking discussons on politics, culture, sports, "post-modernity", and on and on.

Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar is the featured work on tonight's Booknotes on C-Span. Ziglar is a "motivational speaker" who says that he "loved" Ronald Reagan and that Clinton was a "tragedy". An odd choice for Booknotes perhaps, but interesting because of such strong stands by Ziglar in being willing to put his politics and religious beliefs on the line as part of his exhortations to others. On now and later at 11:00 pm edt.

Michael Rose is scheduled to discuss his book Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption to the Catholic Church this afternoon at 4:00 pmedt as part of the BookTV series on C-Span2. Book outlines how "progressives" sought to have Catholic doctrine liberalized and those who would question and challenge articles of faith admitted to the priesthood, eventuating in, among other things, the homosexual/pedophile scandals of this summer.

Meanwhile, back in Trenton, Governor Jimmy McGreevy today apologozed to the people of New Jersey and announced that there was not enough money available in the budget to send out annual Homestead Rebates to Jersey taxpayers. He admitted that his staff had warned him weeks ago that funding was short and said that he should have made the situation known to the public earlier. The rebates, usually mailed during July, are a return of a small portion of the state income taxes for the previous year to the taxpayers, and are targeted especially to the elderly and lower income groups....

Charles Murray scheduled to present at 12:20 AM ET on C-Span2

C-Span Booknotes interview with Judge Richard Posner on his latest book "Public Intellectuals: A Study in Decline" is scheduled to be repeated at 11:30 PMEDT. Posner describes himself as a being originally a liberal who changed to more conservative views especially after seeing some of the disruptions of the '60's. He describes public intellectuals as those who attempt to apply the world of ideas to the concerns of the general public. He mentions John Stuart Mill as perhaps his favorite of the best known intellectuals because of his advocavy for limited government involvement in peoples' lives. Some time is spent...

Two and one-half hour panel/Q&A session on "Is Higher Education Compatible with Patriotism?" just concluded on C-Span2 but will be repeated at 5:20 AMEDT. Panel was sponsored by the pretty-much-conservative National Association of Scholars. A promising tone was set by the moderator, Gertrude Himmelfarb, who began by observing that the title of the program brought to mind a more fundamental question - "Is Higher Education Compatible with Education?" - then answered her own question - "No". A couple of like-minded speakers including Walter Berns followed, but unfortunately, for balance apparently, the panel also included a couple of leftwingers - William...

Repeat of discussion of Joshua Muravchik's book Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism, with the author, Irving Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer, is scheduled for 8:05 PM EDT on C-Span2. Forum was held in April at AEI. Socialism is described as an economic system which over-reached in attempting to also satisfy man's spirtual needs and eventually failed...or did it? At one point Kristol talks about his background as a socialist and describes it as a "love affair", saying that he really has no regrets; at least socialism doesn't have "blood on its hands" the way communism has. Finally...

Subject: Determining Intelligence Given that Al Gore has no job, he decides to take a sightseeing vacation abroad. While visiting England, he is invited to tea with the Queen. He asks her what her leadership philosophy is. She says that it is to surround herself with intelligent people. He asks how she knows if they're intelligent. "I do so by asking them the right questions," says the Queen. "Allow me to demonstrate." She phones Tony Blair and says, "Mr. Prime Minister, please answer this question: "Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is...

Heineman discusses his new book Throw Your Bodies on the Wheel: Student Revolts of the 1960's in a repeat broadcast at 9:50 PM EDT on C-Span2. He debunks some of the myths of the student movement - for instance, although supposedly broadly based, at it's height the movement included only about fifteen percent of all college students in its ranks. At Columbia University where about one-third of the students were involved in the movement to occupy school buildings, two-thirds opposed the activity and many volunteered to New York City police to help go in and drive the protesters out. Heineman...

Repeat of speech by co-author of "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young", Joseph Galloway, earlier this week at the US Naval Institute: C-Span, 1:25 AM EST. A television rarity - words of praise for Vietnam vets....

Rebroadcast of John Leo's talk on the current state of American Culture coming up on C-Span at 12:15 AM est. Talk was given at Calvin College in early February and begins with a listing of some of the horrendous trends in culture today, such as "V" days where thousands of women get together and shout "vagina, vagina, vagina..." for an hour to celebrate their "womenhood" and a display on the history of science at the Smithsonian sponsored by the American Chemical Society which shows only science's failures, including Three Mile Island and Love Canal. The good news is that Generation ...

The History Channel carried an interesting program over the weekend on WWII German POW's who had been held in this country. Apparently the Geneva Conventions require that POW's must be detained under conditions equivalent to those provided the troops of their captors. In Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi, where the Germans were sent in the US, this meant barracks, PX availability, and even their own theatres and bands. POW's received fresh vegetables and meat daily, when US citizens were still under wartime rationing and often couldn't get these items themselves. In one location, prisoners had a daily beer ration, although the ...

Relative of a relative working in the Administration says that within a few days the word out of DC will be that US citizens should be stocking up on bottled water, canned goods, and battery-powered lights and radios. No indication of why. "You might as well do it now and beat the rush..."...

By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press WASHINGTON Supreme Court declined to take on the volatile issue of racial profiling by police, rejecting an appeal Monday from young blacks in upstate New York who say they were rounded up because of their skin color. The court could have used the case to set guide lines for the arrests or questioning of minorities, a subject that has been widely debated since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in which young Arab men were the suspected killers. Considering the tension, "there may be a better time to look at this kind of case," said racial ...

Heard story on Fox News this afternoon re big money types from Silicon Valley and other locations, mainly in California, forming organization to put up $20 million reward for bin Laden and hire mercenaries to go after terrorist camps in Afganistan and elsewhere. They named no names although Ross Perot was hypothesized as perhaps one of them (after inflicting two terms of Clinton on us, he does owe the Country bigtime). Those involved were described as having given millions to both Republicans and Demorats in the past...