Free Republic

David Bowser for The New York Times The sculptor John Sherrill Houser standing beside the head of the horse that the explorer Don Juan de Oñate will ride in a monument planned for El Paso. Some historians dispute savageries attributed to Oñate. SANTA FE, N.M. — Four hundred years after he colonized what is now New Mexico for Spain, Don Juan de Oñate (half of him, anyway) lies here with scattered pieces of his horse as if dismembered on a battlefield of titans. But by the end of next year, if all goes according to plan, this helmeted giant will...

PUTNAM VALLEY, N.Y. — Three hundred and eighty years ago, a huddled band of Europeans set out across the Atlantic to seek a new life in wilderness America. They survived hardship, gave thanks, ate turkeys and eventually flourished. And every year at Thanksgiving we ignore them. No, I'm not talking about the Pilgrims, nor about that other sect often hailed as progenitors of America, the Puritans. There was another group of settlers at the start of things. You might call them the un-Pilgrims, for they lack the neat mythic qualities that won the Plymouth residents their plum role in the...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

I thought I was in the wrong century when I heard Sean Hannity babbling away on Fox News about who should get the contracts for Iraq's oil. "What happened to the idea that 'to the victor go the spoils'?" he asked. "Maybe if we get twenty years of royalties on Iraq's oil, it'll pay for the intervention that got them their freedom." Yeah, right. The freedom to have us treat their oil as if it belonged to us. There are only two ways to look on this vile proposal: Either we are establishing Iraq as a colony of a new...

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) _ For years, experts predicted fire ants couldn't tolerate frosty winters in the north Georgia mountains. But the aggressive, fast-breeding South American pests have defied predictions, spelling trouble for crops, wildlife and people. Fire ants have spread to all of Georgia's 159 counties and a new type discovered in the Rome area seems especially adept at hunkering deep in the ground to escape the cold, said Wayne Gardner, a University of Georgia entomologist. With no natural enemies outside South America, fire ants have spread across about 275 million acres in the past 80 years, mostly in southeastern...