Free Republic

Thank you, Andrew! Here's some instant analysis of me own:

I thought the president did a wonderful job. One of the army of fervid and self-important commentators said, "He had a couple of aces up his sleave, didn't he?"

Boy did he ever!

I loved the way he began talking only about domestic problems. He got his points across masterfully about the benefits of his proposed tax reductions and the strengthening effect they should have on the economy, and he ALSO stole a lot of the Democrats' thunder by promising access to "unrationed" medical care for all Americans and prescription drug benefits for the elderly. His admonition to Congress to end partial birth abortion was politically brave, but obviously the right thing to do. May they find the courage and the will to act on ending this atrocity at last. The only POSSIBLE excuse for such a practice would be if it were the only way to save the life of the mother.

I'm glad too that the president remains committed to the idea of putting more and more of the social security money under the direct control of each citizen -- thus giving the possibility of earning a MUCH greater return on the investment and making it an inheritable part of every family's net worth.

The president's amazing statement of concern for the victims of AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, and his ambition to bring massive amounts of financial aid to the Dark Continent and other deprived areas was a real zinger. It may have been aimed primarily at the Congressional Black Caucus to help defuse some of their perpetual ire, but I think Mr. Bush's concern is sincere and his compassion real.

How we are going to pay for all of this and fund the War on Terror too I can't imagine, but we've always managed before in times of even greater crisis, and I'm sure we will this time too. sacrifice is good for the soul. As a nation, we've been on a pretty foolish joyride for a very long time. A little bitter medicine may be exactly what we need to regain our moral compass.

I also loved his frequent references to God and our need to rely on the Almighty for ultimate guidance. How refreshing it is to see a leader in action who is not ashamed of his ties to Christianity and who refuses to equivocate on the subject!

The most memorable quote of the evening told us,"Freedom is not America's gift to the world, but God's gift to humanity."

Yes, indeed!

Did anyone see the shots of Senator Daschle glaring balefully at the president as he spoke? This is a bitter, power-mad little man with a poisonous philosophy of governance and a shriveled soul. Hitlery, as always, was unable to camouflage her unwarranted attitude of smug superiority. Those famous contemptuous sidelong glances ought to do her in by all that's holy, but no one ever got rich by overestimating the intelligence of the average American voter -- particularly those who live in "Black" and "Blue" America.

All day the media has led us to expect that the president would say little or nothing about Iraq. That was another masterstroke, because when Mr. Bush got to that subject at long last, he really gave us a clear demonstration of his absolute certainty that Iraq has hidden arsenals of deadly weapons. And, he was most reassuring about his commitment to ending the brutal career of Saddam Hussein and of hunting down and destroying the shadowy, elusive agents of Al Qaeda -- one way or another.

The opposition will say, of course, that the president was trying to frighten us into supporting him by highlighting and exaggerating the brutal nature of the many dreadful possibilities that threaten our security at home and abroad. Many of these perils are insidious. I struggle to believe that the measures he briefly outlined about increased vigilance at our borders and ports of entry are adequate, but it's good to know that at least SOMETHING is being done.

Mr. Bush's hopeful attitude about the eventual development of a strategic missile defense system is heartening. And, I LOVED his vision of a new kind of hydrogen-powered automobile that would not only free us from too much dependence on foreign oil but would also be pollution free. I sure hope I live to see it come to pass.

What I love most about our president is his calmly serious, direct approach. He's not playing to the peanut gallery. Yes, he pandered to the Demonrats more than I'd like by supporting a lot of socialistic ideas, but he HAS to do that in order to survive politically. There are just too many Democrats. They have lots of power still and cannot simply be swept aside or passed over

Our president may not write every word he delivers, but I get the feeling that he really BELIEVES what he is saying. David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, who has just written a book about the president, was saying just today on C-Span that Mr. Bush takes a very active interest in the speeches written for him and edits them mercilessly to better reflect and suit his own ideas.

There's an essential NICENESS and clear-eyed DECENCY about our president that's very hard to resist. I wish him -- and us -- every success.

May God bless America!

//free speech must be truthful, otherwise the origin of the free speech is subject to libel and slander.\\

Not for anyone in PUBLIC life. All public figures are fair game.

Old Walter Winchell was ALWAYS being hauled into court to defend himself in countless libel, slander and defamation of character suits. He made a CAREER out of it, and no one was ever able to stop his malicious mischief.

Even when a private citizen is ABLE to bring suit, he HAS to PROVE malicious INTENT in the part of a publication or accuser. Evidently, from the abundant health and strength of the scandal mongering business, that is a very difficult thing to do.

What we suffer from most today is the death of both common sense and what-used-to-be-known-as good taste.

What an extreme reaction to the use of a perfectly good English word!

In countless books, plays, movies and articles, police and law enforcement agencies such as the FBI or Scotland Yard are referred to as "the authorities."

The word has different shades of meaning. The late Milton Cross was considered an authority on Opera. The late Marchette Chute was an authority on Shakespeare. Albert Einstein and Edward Teller were authorities on Mathematics and Nuclear Physics. Bill Gates is an authority in the fields of Computer Science and Market Manipulation. Jesse Jackson an authority on Hypocrisy. Madonna an authority on Hype.

Obviously, anyone given the power (authority) to arrest and detain private citizens for interrogation and possible incarceration must be considered an "authority," since he is granted awesome powers by the State in order to do his job.

A judge is also considered an authority. "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife."

Words have specific meanings to be sure, but they also have MULTIPLE meanings in many instances.

Cheer up. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but name-calling in cyberspace will never harm me.

What a gruesome imagination!

If you are right, however, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BODY?

THANK YOU so much for this WONDERFUL post. I have thought EXACTLY the same thing for many MANY years.

The McMartin case was one of the prime events that made me forever suspicious of the agenda-driven media, who want to discredit private enterprise, weaken the American family, destroy privacy and promote ever greater -- and tighter -- STATE CONTROL of domestic affairs.

As I said in an earlier post:

VENGEANCE belongs to God. WE ought to be more in the business of binding up wounds and healing the broken lives of those often fatally damaged by the fallout from a crime. The innocent husbands, wives and CHILDREN of perpetrators ought not to be left to suffer cruelly for the crime of someone on whom they were dependent.

Our priorities are all wrong.

//Scott Peterson is no Richard Jewell.\\

But how do you KNOW? Has he confessed something to you privately that you ought to share with the authorities?

Obviously she was one of those Lesbian Vampires of Sodom. They made a movie about them once, remember?

Personally, I think she was kidnapped by agents of Saddam Hussein. She was "drafted" to become the newest member of his harem.

Next thing you know, he'll be using her and the newborn baby as "human shields" to stop GWB's attack.

Adultery is NOT murder. And, unsavory as most of us find it, adultery really IS no one's business but the FAMILY or FAMILIES involved.

YOUR adultery doesn't affect ME in the least -- unless you are fooling around with MY wife.

God will punish the wicked in His own good time -- and in His own way. Vengeance belongs to Him -- not to us.

To ALL:

PROMINENT SUSPECTS?

Why not give THEM a break? The truth is we don't KNOW anything. We only THINK we do. Fortunately, that's not good enough for the Law.

Far better that a thousand guilty men go free than that one innocent person be sent to jail -- or worse -- EXECUTED.

I'd love to see a Public Trust Fund set up to compensate the Victims of Wrongful Prosecution. And don't think there isn't PLENTY of that.

Many a corrupt, venal DA has built a successful political career by making a patsy of some vulnerable target.

VENGEANCE belongs to God. WE ought to be more in the business of binding up wounds and healing the broken lives of those often fatally damaged by the fallout from a crime. The innocent husbands, wives and CHILDREN of perpetrators ought not to be left to suffer cruelly for the crime of someone on whom they were dependent.

Our priorities are all wrong.

It's music to my ears and it makes my heart sing with gladness.

In New York and other liberal crackpot it looks like states you're supposed to let the intruders murder your wife and slit your throat rather than "take the law into your own hands."

What a crock!

Hurrah for Texas!

if SHE ever gets elected president (God forbid!), it will prove that "we are done and we might as well be dead."

Thank you, Oscar Hammerstein II.

This historic first meeting of the CONGRESSIONAL LESBIAN CAUCUS is hereby called to order.

We're the Bargain TP Girls. Our motto is: "We're rough, We're tough, and we don't take no stuff off of anyone."

//Diversity gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside - doesn't it?\\

No. It brings on insomnia, migraine headaches, irregular heartbeats and severe attacks of nausea.

Diversity is the code-word for DIVISIVENESS.

--- As in "Divide and CONQUER." ---

The Left knows that the only way they can turn this country into a Socialist Workers Paradise is by creating doubt and confusion as to the nature of TRUTH, thus dividing us into warring factions armed with IGNORANCE and DISINFORMATION.

Hate is the fuel that empowers Leftists. Lust for Power and Control is their TRUE and ONLY motivation.

Joe McCarthy was RIGHT.

Bush is WRONG to give even LIP-SERVICE to DIVERSITY.

It is a curse.

Does Sharptongue realize that just about everybody in the South AND the North who is not a worshipper of loudmouth liberal demagogues is praying for his removal as a so-called viable political candidate? I'm sure the DemonRats -- both liberal and conservative alike -- are praying the hardest and the longest along these lines.

Does anyone realize that Sharptongue and his ilk would never get ANYWHERE, would never be known at ALL outside their immediate neighborhoods if the MEDIA didn't give them a megaphone?

Its the MEDIA, stupid! The MEDIA! They've been cynically plotting our downfall for DECADES.

Why?

Just to prove they can DO it, I suppose. Power mad. that's what they are. The power to destroy is as important as the power to create as far as they're concerned. They are THAT short-sighted and THAT corrupt .

Does anyone really believe that these people drop these attitudes when they come to the United States to "study?"

Mosques are Masks for seditious, anti-social, TREASONOUS behavior -- particularly in the West.

Islam, like ANY virulent contagious disease must be QUARANTINED -- ISOLATED in the Middle East -- the ONLY place it legitimately belongs.

Look what Islam has done for people THERE.

Does any SANE person want that to happen HERE?

"The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind."

Thank you very much for your thoughtful, well-written reply. I asked some deliberately provocative (although not insincere) questions, and you gave us some very good answers.

I'm not sure that the relative freedom South Korea enjoys today was worth the extraordinarily high price WE had to pay for it, since the benefits -- both economic and political -- to the United States seem dubious to me.

I have been critical of the Gulf War, because -- again -- we paid too high a price for too small a victory. I would feel very differently if the first President Bush had not failed to finish the job and bring down Saddam Hussein then and there. Caving in to the, I think, foolish notion that the UN has some sort of jurisdiction over our policies has always struck me as pusillanimous.

I truly believe that if we're going to prosecute a war, we should never try to do so with half measures. look at the mess we're in today, most probably BECAUSE Bush I didn't FINISH the job.

Grenada? I left that out, because it was such a pushover, I suppose. I'm certainly not sorry we did it.

I was a vigorous and outspoken supporter of Admiral Poindexter, General Secord and Colonel North during the Iran Contra Affair. I sent each of them considerable sums of money and wrote countless letters to newspapers, magazines, Senators and Representatives on their behalf. The nakedly political attempt by the Demonrats to destroy Ronald Reagan's presidency over this trumped up issue struck me as contemptible at the time. Nothing that has been written subsequently has changed my mind on that.

My views on Iraq differ from yours ONLY in that I truly believe we ought to clean our OWN house -- by first sealing our borders, and then deporting, excluding and disempowering Muslims and their apologists from any sort of participation in American society, until the conflict is resolved in our favor.

By leaving our homeland virtually undefended and sending a large number of our troops abroad, we MAY be leaving ourselves wide open to further attack here at home. That is why I think we may be putting the cart before the horse in going after Saddam.

By that line of reasoning it is both too late -- and too EARLY -- to wage war on Iraq.

World War II was a just and necessary. thank God we were able to win it. It's terrible thing for humanity that we had to use the atomic bomb to end it, however.

I've never been convinced that the so-called "Korean Conflict" or "Viet Nam" were either necessary or justified. Tragic errors both of them.

Thank God we won the Cold War. And God bless President Reagan (and Mr. Gorbachev) for their roles in that.

I was not very impressed with our move on Panama or the much touted Gulf War either. The campaign in Somalia was a disaster and our military adventures in Kosovo seem to have done little good.

What exactly have our little wars accomplished since WWII?

We are almost universally disliked and distrusted. Since Viet Nam we have been a house divided against itself. (We've never really recovered from the Sixties, despite the pleasant hiatus of the Reagan years.)

I personally think we are foolish to go waltzing off to war in the Middle East when we have utterly failed to cover our backsides here at home.

Our Immigration and naturalization policy is a DISASTER. Our unwillingness to tackle the severe problem of the unchallenged presence of several million Muslims running loose in our midst is a DISGRACE.

IF, as the anti-war crowd suggests W. is cynically prosecuting this war for the sake of cheap oil and ultimate personal gain and because he is somehow the "slave" of Israel, then he deserves to fail. But I doubt the truth of those assertions.

//Despite the film's success, and the Greek habit of vigorously supporting anything remotely Greek that does well, not everyone in "the old country" has taken the film to their hearts.\\

My own experience sadly tells me that the one thing people can't stand to see or hear is the truth about themselves -- even when it's FLATTERING.