Free Republic

The Obama administration has sunk so deeply into political correctness that it insists on referring to terrorist attacks as “man-caused disasters,” and to the war on terror as “overseas contingency operations.” The problem is that in addition to being revoltingly weak, these terms are inaccurate. As the Fort Hood attack showed all too clearly, when we no longer know we are in a war on terror, the operations are no longer overseas.

This is a video of an American group PRAISING the Islamic Murders at Ft Hood This is happening in America! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhHYiWCm8Gs

The Orlando Sentinel reports Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson brought three of children to use as human shields at a town hall meeting tonight on health care. The Sentinel also reported Grayson found a new way to stack the meeting with supporters. The paper reported that during a contentious point in the meeting, Grayson told a man to "knock off the bull" and invoked the presence of his children to try to keep the peace at the meeting.As for Grayson's new way to stack the meeting, the local Democratic party held a meeting in the same room right before Grayson's town...

The political unrest in Iran presents the Obama administration with a dilemma: keep quiet to pursue a nuclear deal with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, or heed calls to respond more supportively to the protesters there -- and risk alienating the Shiite cleric. President Obama and his advisers have struggled to strike the right tone, carefully calibrating positive messages about the protests in an effort to avoid giving the government in Tehran an excuse to portray the demonstrators as pro-American. Nevertheless, the Iranian Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents American interests in Tehran, to complain...

There can't be too many red-blooded men who'd want Sacha Baron Cohen's current job. The leather hotpants he wears look eye-wateringly tight and the leg waxes are surely excruciating. But they must certainly envy him for his fiancée. Isla Fisher arrived at the UK premiere of Brüno last night looking every inch the glamour puss. More...Sacha Baron Cohen goes naked for magazine shoot (but keeps his kugelsack hidden) Fancy meeting you here! Peaches and Pixie Geldof share delighted hug at Bruno premiere The Australian actress wore a tight strapless grey dress and a slick of red lipstick. And she came...

On his face is an angelic smile, in his pocket a blood-stained 50-rupee note. Ishaq Khan, a 12-year-old schoolboy, was given the money – equivalent to just 40p – to carry a bag to a spot in a busy bazaar in Kohat, a town in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. As he walked away, the bag exploded, throwing him to the ground with a shattered foot and leaving shoppers dead and wounded all around him. In a macabre new tactic, Taliban militants have begun paying children to plant lethal bombs in Pakistani cities. Ishaq, who comes from a...

SWORDLESS SAILORS Graduating midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are being told in writing to leave at home or in their vehicles all "ceremonial swords" and anything else "that might be considered a weapon or a threat by screeners" for Friday's outdoor commencement ceremonies featuring an address by President Barack Obama. Inside the Beltway has obtained the academy's list of prohibited items for this year's graduation exercises, which, besides ceremonial swords, includes umbrellas. Yes, cell phones and texting are still allowed.

JERUSALEM – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Tuesday to work with the incoming Israeli government, but delivered a clear message that could put her at odds with the country's next leader: Movement toward the establishment of a Palestinian state is "inescapable." Clinton also said the U.S. would soon send two envoys to Syria. It was the most significant sign yet that the Obama administration is ready to mend relations with the Damascus regime. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador in 2005, accusing Syria of supporting terrorism. "We have no way to predict what the future with our relations concerning...

Here is video of President Barack Obama today announcing his plan to withdraw all combat mission U.S. Troops from Iraq by August of 2010. He made the announcement in a speech before U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Obama's plan will leave 50,000 U.S. Troops in Iraq after the August 2010 deadline, but they will not be classified as "combat" troops. He said he wanted all troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. But Obama left wiggle room to alter these plans based on what happens in Iraq between now and then. Obama clearly wanted to leave...

So here comes the acid test: is Jacqui Smith, as she proclaims, an enemy of extremism in all its forms, or a cowardly hypocrite? In October, the Home Secretary announced 'tough new measures' to deny entry to Britain to anybody 'engaged in fostering, encouraging or spreading extremism and hatred.' In recent weeks she has put them to use by banning a Dutch MP with hugely controversial views on Islam, and a notorious anti-gay US preacher.

Cute Maalim the rescued black rhinoceros calf trots after his keeper all day, scared to let him out of his sight. Not yet one-month-old and still too weak to even climb a simple low wall, Maalim is under 24-hour care and supervision.He was named after the warden who found him abandoned in Kenya's famous Tsavo National Park in December. Maalim was brought to the country's premiere animal orphanage at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, just outside Nairobi.Found frightened and alone, at first he was confused for an infant warthog because he was so small.However, the staff at Tsavo quickly realised that...

Budget hero – or turncoat? Sen. Abel Maldonado has staked his political future on being the final piece of California's budget jigsaw puzzle. The $40 billion package to ease the state's budget crisis had been stalled, a single vote short, until the moderate Republican flipped to cast the decisive vote early Thursday morning. To secure his support for higher taxes, the Santa Maria lawmaker wrung concessions from resistant Democrats that could launch his ascent via a mixture of populism and tilting the political playing field to his advantage. Those victories, however, came at a political cost. Maldonado had to abandon...

According to Eric Holder (Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters) "in things racial we [Americans] have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." I find myself quite unexpectedly agreeing with him, but I couldn't help but see the profound irony of that remark, especially coming from someone in his position. He claims the title of Attorney General of the United States by appointment from a man whose victory in the last election was mainly due to that kind of cowardice; a man whose constitutional eligibility for the office of...

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea appeared to be gearing up Wednesday for another long-range missile test, the latest in a series of provocative acts seemingly aimed at stoking tensions with South Korea and winning the attention of the new U.S. president. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has declared it will scrap peace agreements with Seoul and warned of war on the Korean peninsula. Reports that it could be preparing to test a missile capable of reaching the western United States have added to the anxiety. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday that a vehicle carrying radar equipment was seen...

President Barack Obama will send his Vice President Joseph Biden and a top-level delegation to the Munich Security Conference this weekend to hear what US allies have to say before his new foreign policies go into effect. Biden's speech at the conference Saturday was billed by an Obama official who requested anonimity as "the first major foreign policy of this White House." While Obama focuses on the economic crisis back home, Biden in Europe "will outline the sort of vision of foreign policy and national security policy that this administration brings to the world stage now that it's in power,"...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to prohibit the use of waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques by ordering the CIA to follow military rules for questioning prisoners, according to two U.S. officials familiar with drafts of the plans. The proposal Obama is considering would require all CIA interrogators to follow conduct outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, the officials said. The plans would also have the effect of shutting down secret "black site" prisons around the world where the CIA has questioned terror suspects — with all future interrogations taking place inside American military facilities. However, Obama's changes...

Last week, the United Nations Security Council adopted a British resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Resolution 1860 was a slap at Israel's self-defense, but, unusually, the United States abstained on the vote. That's no way to lead. If Washington concluded that a harsh resolution on Gaza was warranted, the proper course was to vote for it. And that is, apparently, what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had hoped to do. Speaking to the Security Council, Ms. Rice endorsed the basic content of the British draft, saying "this resolution is a step toward our goals." She also...

Exclusive: TVNewser has learned veteran Fox News Channel anchor E.D. Hill will not be renewed when her current contract expires. Hill, who has been with Fox News for more than 10 years, will continue with the network for the next few months until her current deal expires. SVP of Programming Bill Shine tells TVNewser that he "chose not to renew E.D.'s latest contract" but noted that "Hill has been a valued contributor to the success of FNC over the years, and we wish her all the best." Hill has been without a regular Fox News program since June 16,...

Clinton blindsided by scheduled event with Palin By DEVLIN BARRETT – 19 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at a New York rally next week after organizers blindsided her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday. Several American Jewish groups plan a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads....

Censorship is when the government prevents you from publishing something. When the subject is Islam, the government does not have to do anything to block publication. Our publishers decide on their own that it would be best for them not to publish anything that could possibly offend Muslims. Random House is leading the way. Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence Publisher Random House has pulled a novel about the Prophet Mohammed's child bride, fearing it could "incite acts of violence." "The Jewel of Medina," a debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, 46, was due to be published on...

According to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Random House has reneged on an agreement to publish a novel about Aisha, Muhammad’s young wife. The Jewel of Medina, written by Sherry Jones, allegedly has some racy material, enough to provoke one of the writers who vetted the book, Denise Spellberg, to warn the publisher that it could inspire violence. Random House decided not to publish the book for “fear of a possible terrorist threat from extremist Muslims” and concern for “the safety and security of the Random House building and employees.” Addressing this today is Catholic League president Bill...

Boris Johnson urged people to walk away if they see a crime committed rather than risk their own lives. The London mayor admitted he would tell his own children to "look after themselves" rather than play Good Samaritan to a victim. "Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people, and we must all work as hard as we can to reverse this dreadful trend."

Hold your horses their cowboy! It's not that type of fence ya'll (Yes, I said it. I'm from Texas sue me). Demos are not in support of a fence that'll keep illegal immigrants out of the country, but they are in support of a fence that'll keep undesirables OUT of their convention. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the DNC regarding the fence they have decided to set up outside their Convention arena. The ACLU is claiming that the demos attempts to keep other democrat protesters out is a violation of their 1st amendment right to peacefully gather. This...

AS Hezbollah's terror army dismantles Lebanon, the world whistles "Ain't That a Shame." With its heavily funded proxies marching through an Arab democracy's ruins, Iran has arrived on the Mediterranean, outflanking Israel. Syria's surrogates punish Beirut. Lebanon's crippled government cringes at the whims of Hassan Nasrullah, Hezbollah's strongman. Terror rules. And not one civilized country lifts a finger. This doesn't mean that war will be avoided at the "negligible" cost of Lebanese lives and freedom. It just means that the inevitable showdown with Hezbollah will be a bloodier mess when it finally comes. When will we face reality? Hezbollah can't...

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Sweden's foreign minister said Saturday that the United Nations will have to stay in Kosovo to act as a buffer between nations that recognize Kosovo's statehood and those that do not. Carl Bildt said the U.N., European Union and NATO would need to adjust their plans in Kosovo after the U.N. was sidelined last month when Kosovo declared independence, due to a deadlock caused by Russia's opposition and U.S. and key European countries' backing for the new country. "We are operating in a somewhat different situation from the one that we were planning for," Bildt told...

History has been a harsh critic of Neville Chamberlain's decision in 1938 to allow Adolf Hitler to trash the WWI Versailles peace treaty to seize control of and change the borders Europe, first France in the Rhineland, then Czechoslovakia and Poland. President George W. Bush's quick acceptance of the efforts of the Albanians in Kosovo to change the borders of Serbia will also be viewed in history as an appeasement that did not work. World War II actually began when Adolf Hitler marched a mere 14,500 troops into the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, in violation of the Treaty of...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A U.S. Army medic jailed for desertion after refusing to return to Iraq is on a mission to tell young Americans about the grim realities of war before they join the military. Mexican-born combat medic Agustin Aguayo, in Germany to receive a peace award, told Reuters that U.S. Army recruitment methods were unfair as young people got a one-sided, positive picture of combat. "I want to bring young people awareness. We ask them to sacrifice so much yet we don't educate them about the realities of war," said Aguayo, who describes himself as a conscientious objector, in...

Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether...Intelligence officials...say nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family...Army officials confirmed that five Iraqi military personnel whom the Army had been training disappeared between 2005 and 2007. They did not know how many other Iraqis sponsored by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy may have done the same. "Nothing that this command is aware...

A Simple Way to End the War on Terror by Yacka Jah Yacka Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 09:03:20 PM PDT While it appears from more than one point of view that the War in Iraq and the War on Terror are situations from which we may never be able to extricate ourselves, from the mountains of Pakistan comes a very simple solution: convert to Islam. Before we reject this out of hand, lets seriously consider it for a moment: Osama Bin Laden promised the wars would be over if Americans convert to Islam. This may sound like a lot...

“...there must be a wonderful soothing power in mere words…I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace..” (our emphasis) ---Under Western Eyes, Joseph Conrad When Horsefeathers served as a Navy psychiatrist during the Vietnam war, one of his weekly duties was interviewing and assessing potential draftees who were seeking to avoid service by claiming mental illness. Many of these were recent Ivy League graduates, students of the humanities, who were active protesters of what they insisted was an immoral war.

More Republicans have defected to the withdraw-from-Iraq Democrats. They have read the polls that show falling support among the American people for the war in Iraq, and have concluded that continuing to support the war will cost them their Senate or House seat. Is it possible that some of these Republicans have simply consulted their consciences and decided to abandon positions they have held since the beginning of the war? It is possible. But consider this: If the American people continued to support the war, does one reader of this column believe that one Republican defector would have in fact...

As of this minute, I want you to ignore reality. "PM Brown: Don't Say Terrorists Are Muslims" By Macer Hall, Political Editor, Daily Express Tuesday July 3,2007: "Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word Muslim in connection with the terrorism crisis. The Prime Minister has also instructed his team including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that the phrase war on terror is to be dropped. The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more 'consensual tone' than existed under Tony Now that we can no longer name the...

The most succinct observation I've come across about the failure of comprehensive immigration reform is that of pollster Scott Rasmussen. The American public simply didn't want the bill. Rasmussen's polling indicated the immigration legislation being pushed had the support of just 22 percent of the American public. Rasmussen goes on further to point out just how far detached from the sentiment of the voting public those pushing the bill were. Not only didn't the American public want the bill, but the focus of the immigration debate in the Senate was the opposite of the public's highest concern. According to Rasmussen,...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES - The Republican Party must temper its emphasis on moral issues like abortion and same-sex "marriage" if the party is to regain seats lost during the 2006 congressional elections, a new poll says. Fifty-three percent of Republicans say the party "has spent too much time focusing on moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage and should instead be spending time focusing on economic issues such as taxes and government spending." "The results of this poll confirm what we have long believed — that what holds the GOP together is a belief in core economic principles," said...

The Cruelty of Cowards By Ralph Kinney Bennett 17 May 2007 Cowardice is the mother of cruelty. - Montaigne "The beheadings are still happening, but we have an order not to broadcast them. Everything is videotaped but we can't broadcast them. We do seek to capture and imprison American soldiers, but you have to understand that it is very difficult to do so because they patrol in groups, at least 15 soldiers at a time. We hope and pray to capture them." -- Al-Qaida fighter Abu Adam al-Maqdisi, interviewed on a radical Islamic website, April 27, 2007. Even as we...

Mark Levin says criticizing Alberto Gonzales is like clubbing a baby seal, calling him a weak man, incapable of defending himself, much less being able to advance a conservative agenda. The general acceptance among Republicans that Gonzales should go is disturbing to me. Not that I’m a great fan of the AG. It’s just that there are some legitimate questions that Gonzales could shed some light on and perhaps, in the process, turn the momentum from a defensive posture. In other words, if Gonzales is already roadkill, shouldn’t someone suggest making some stew? Here’s my recipe: 1) Mr. Gonzales, why...

<p>Video of coward Don Anus groveling, snivelling and stuttering towards race baiter, anti-semite and race profiteer Al Sharpton for repeating what black rappers profit on and Al Sharpton ignores.</p>

As long as the administration and Republicans allow Democrats a monopoly on righteous indignation, it's doubtful they'll make headway in convincing the electorate they hold the moral high ground on the important issues of the day. If this were merely a game of political one-upmanship, it would be one thing, but national security consequences are involved. From the war on Iraq, to Gitmo, to the NSA surveillance program, to the Wilson-Plame fiasco, to global warming, to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, deceitful Democrats engage in relentless warfare against Republicans, and Republicans -- way too often -- roll over without...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has apologized to U.S. attorneys under him and appointed an interim chief of staff as pressure builds for him to resign. Gonzales apologized to all 93 U.S. attorneys in a conference call Friday as morale in U.S. attorneys' offices across the country deteriorated, McClatchy Newspapers reported. Gonzales has been at the center of a controversy over the way in which eight U.S. attorneys were fired in recent months

Nine families have declined Habitat for Humanity's offer for a house in St. Petersburg's Bartlett Park over concerns about crime and the neighborhood. ST. PETERSBURG — The house is neat and new, with three bedrooms, white concrete walls and a pretty lawn. And no family searching for a deal could ask for a more generous seller: Habitat for Humanity. But it seems Habitat can’t find a buyer willing to live in Bartlett Park, even in a brand new house that comes with a zero percent interest loan. Since last July, Habitat officials have offered the house at 701 15th Ave....

Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins wonders "whether the clock has already run out." To U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton the new strategy is "a dead end." For the Bush troop request, presidential candidate Joe Biden predicted "overwhelming rejection." (His committee resolution to that effect yesterday passed by three votes.) Presidential candidate Chuck Hagel: "We have anarchy in Iraq. It's getting worse." And not least, Sen. John Warner this week heaved his tenured eminence against the war effort, proposing another "non-binding" resolution against more troops.

Today, Boneless Wonders sit on the benches of both parties in Congress. More are to be found on the Democratic side of the aisle than the Republican... Say you're an average congressman. How do you react to President Bush's Iraq speech? You suspect, deep down, that he's probably doing more or less what he needs to do. We can't just click our heels and get out of Iraq--the consequences would be disastrous. And the current strategy isn't working. You have said so yourself. Last fall you called for replacing Rumsfeld. You've complained that there weren't enough troops. What's more, you've...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 -- Two senior Iranian operatives who were detained by U.S. forces in Iraq and were strongly suspected of planning attacks against American military forces and Iraqi targets were expelled to Iran on Friday, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. The decision to free the men was made by the Iraqi government and has angered U.S. military officials who say the operatives were seeking to foment instability here. Special Report Washington Post stories and multimedia reports about Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror and more. • Faces of the Fallen • Veterans: In Their Own Words • Afghan...

Board refuses to consider requiring illegal immigrants to register, pay $200 fee PAHRUMP -- One radical ordinance was killed outright and the other was threatened with repeal on Tuesday, as Nye County's largest town inched back from its controversial entry into the national debate over illegal immigration. Before a large and mostly appreciative crowd, Pahrump Town Board members refused to even entertain a proposal that would have required illegal immigrants to register at the town office, pay a $200 fee and supply the names of their family members and The decision was greeted by thunderous applause from the audience of...

Just announced on the FNC.

I would not have expected that I could still be utterly shaken by a book about the Holocaust. I have been to the museums, read the books, seen the films, visited the camps, and listened to lectures and first- person testimonies. But a new book called The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million by a 45-year-old American, Daniel Mendelsohn, managed to take all I thought I knew about the Holocaust and render it obsolete. I don't mean obsolete in the sense of "wrong" but rather "old." Mendelsohn took what I thought I knew and made it outdated....

Wiretap Bill Sets Up Election-Year Issue By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 29, 3:20 AM WASHINGTON - The House approved a bill Thursday that would grant legal status to President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program with new restrictions. Republicans called it a test before the election of whether Democrats want to fight or coddle terrorists. "The Democrats' irrational opposition to strong national security policies that help keep our nation secure should be of great concern to the American people," Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement after the bill passed 232-191. "To always have reasons why you...

Iran has shrugged off the threat of sanctions, saying such a move would push already high oil prices higher still, hurting economies in industrialized countries more than Iran. International crude prices remain in sight of record highs partly because of market fears that supply from Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, could be disrupted if the nuclear dispute escalates.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - France faced criticism in the European press for not offering more troops for southern Lebanon, which was seen as jeopardizing the UN force's difficult task of imposing peace. "France has relaxed the pressure at a vital moment," The Times of London said, accusing Paris in an editorial of backing down from earlier indications that it was ready to play the leading role in the enlarged UN force. "For France to have retreated from a key role to the realm of 'symbolic' gestures 'symbolises' only one thing: a French loss of nerve," it said Friday after having previously...