Free Republic

For 62 years, Akira Makino spoke not a word of what he’d done, but to those who knew him well it must have been obvious that he was a man with a tortured conscience. Why else would he have returned so often to the obscure, mosquito-blown town in the southern Philippines where he had experience such misery during the Second World War? He set up war memorials, gave clothes to poor children, and bought an entire set of uniforms for a local baseball team. Last year, at the age of 83, he embarked on a gruelling pilgrimage to 88 Buddhist...

Cruellest cut in the name of Islam The Australian, Australia In Somalia, like many countries across Africa and the Middle East, little girls are made "pure" by having their genitals cut out. ...

If today’s Catholic bishops lived during the Nuremberg trials, they would have condemned the execution of nine of the defendants – including Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Hans Frank. Kaltenbrunner was responsible for mass executions of civilians and prisoners of war as Heinrich Himmler’s chief SS lieutenant; Frank oversaw the Nazis’ numerous atrocities as the governor of occupied Poland. Such a presumptuous proposition seems plausible given two Vatican officials’ opposition to Saddam Hussein’s death sentence – and the Catholic Church’s moral revisionism concerning capital punishment. Iraq’s High Tribunal convicted Saddam of committing crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death on Nov....

A bear struggles to retain its balance while gripping the two metal hoops, which look more like shackles than acrobatics equipment, as a wildlife park worker looks on and laughs. This is just the latest shocking picture to emerge from the Animal Olympic Games which is being held in China, a country with a shameful animal rights record. Chimpanzees are forced to play basketball and apparently lift huge weights, while a docile brown bear is dressed in a tutu while navigating a makeshift obstacle course in one of the strangest events ever to be staged. The photographs are published for...

Good VS Evil, summary of last days... - Arab-Muslim-Jihadists ('Palestinians' & Iranian- Hezbullah) bomb civilians directly -- in the comfort of their homes -- and Israel sends out fliers for civilians to evacuate the Hezbullah area before they are going to react. - Arab-Muslim-Jihadists attack BUSY residential-houses in broad day light & Israel attacks EMPTY Hamas-buildings on 1:20 AM 'just to send a message'. - Arab Muslim Jihadists ('Palestinians') are caught with explosives about to carry out 'another genocide bombing on a: school/restaurant/bus, etc.' and Israel bombs Hamas officials EMPTY building. - Arab Muslim Jihadists attack residents MURDERING BY FULL...

A MELBOURNE man has been jailed for three months for bashing his partner's dog. Ibrahim Moussa, 25, of Widford Street, Glenroy, was sentenced in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court last week to a total of three years' jail over a range of offences including burglary, theft and breach of an intervention order. The three years included two three-month sentences for beating a dog and causing unnecessary pain to the animal, to be served concurrently. The animal cruelty charges relate to incidents in July and August last year involving Zarah, a pit bull-cross puppy that was four months old when the RSPCA...

A group of elderly and disabled cigarette lovers say Washington's smoking ban has become extremely hazardous to their health. Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne found them dodging traffic in wheelchairs and walkers. Folks are starting to get used to seeing "no-smoking" signs at bars, restaurants and public buildings. But, what happens when a nursing home bans smoking without making any accommodations for residents? Crossing the street in front of the Bremerton Health and Rehabilitation Center is not for the faint of heart, but that's exactly where we found the faint of heart traveling. No matter their disability, if residents like...

News from Nine MSN, Australia's ABC Rural and Bernama reports that three abattoirs have been given the seal of approval by a Malaysian religious body to perform halal slaughter of beef, which can then be exported to Malaysia. The abattoirs are Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, based in Grantham, Queensland, and two from Victoria - Tasman Group Services, Brooklyn, and Victoria and Novic Food Processing, in Wodonga. On June 4 last year, Malaysia suspended its beef imports from Australia, as it was decided that normal humane methods of killing bovines did not conform to halal standards. Traditionally, halal meat has to...

It took 10 police officers to keep order last month when Brigitte Gabriel gave a speech at Memphis University. A passionate and powerful speaker who had witnessed Palestinian terrorism and experienced anti-Jewish and anti-Christian propaganda in her native Lebanon, Ms. Gabriel had been invited to speak at the Tennessee campus by religious studies professor David Patterson. But the day before Ms. Gabriel's speech, Mr. Patterson began receiving threatening e-mails. “Do you honestly think the scheduled lecture will serve any useful purpose other than inflaming the Muslims, insulting them and spilling poison in the community?” one message said. Another said that...

Members of Cuban exile groups gathered for a protest Saturday on Watson Island to flash signs and blare earsplitting trailer truck horns. They had unlikely targets: rows of cruise ships. They wanted passengers on Bahamas-bound cruise ships to know they say the island mistreats Cubans who land -- and are detained -- on the island chain.

Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a Republican-authored bill Friday that would have forced doctors to tell women seeking an abortion after their fifth month of pregnancy the fetus could suffer pain.When a fetus can feel pain is a matter of debate in the medical community. The bill's supporters say some research supports the theory that a fetus can feel pain at the 20th week of pregnancy. Opponents say none of those claims have been proved. Doyle, a Democrat, said no evidence conclusively proves when a fetus can feel pain. The Republican-controlled Legislature shouldn't be allowed to decide what is scientific fact,...

Cheaper than mink or sable - fur coats made from dogs that were skinned alive By Katy Duke and Elizabeth Day (Filed: 18/12/2005) It looks like the must-have item in every glamorous woman's winter wardrobe: a sleek, black fur coat dripping with opulence. But despite the seductive appearance, the coat is not mink or sable. Instead, it has been manufactured from dog fur - possibly from an animal that was drugged and skinned alive to preserve the fur's freshness. Heather Mills-McCartney with a rug made from cats' pelts Similar coats are selling rapidly in fashion boutiques across Europe. An undercover...

GODE, Ethiopia U.S. troops found two cheetah cubs _ one of them blinded _ being forced to fight each other for the amusement of jeering children in this dusty, forgotten village. The soldiers of the U.S. counterterrorism task force for the Horn of Africa were in the region carrying out humanitarian work when they came across the three-month-old cheetahs "performing" at a restaurant run by Mohamed Hudle. The Djibouti-based task force provides intelligence-gathering help to countries in the region, tries to bolster cooperation and border protection, and mounts humanitarian projects aimed at improving the U.S. military's image among Muslims. The...

CNSNews.com) - Americans are accustomed to the tactics of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but the group's in-your-face advocacy is increasingly calculated to offend, provoke and otherwise show contempt for America's religious faithful, according to a new report released by the Center for Consumer Freedom

Three military veterans in the Senate -- one a Vietnam POW, one a military lawyer, one a veteran of both World War II and Korea, and all Republicans in good standing -- want Congress to prohibit the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of all people detained by the U.S. military, no matter what their status. The Bush administration has threatened to veto their effort. Here are 10 reasons the bill Sens. John McCain, John Warner and Lindsay Graham are championing deserves support, and why the White House is wrong to oppose it: • It is ludicrous on its face to...

JOURDANTON, Texas -- Some city officials in Jourdanton, Texas, are outraged that a public works supervisor ordered employees to drown six stray dogs at the city sewer plant, rather than having the animals properly euthanized. For punishment, the supervisor was ordered to attend classes with animal control officers. City councilman Darrell Richter said the workers took the dogs from the pound to the sewer plant and dropped their cages into the water. A child saw the drownings and told his mother, who complained. Richter told the San Antonio Express-News that he's disgusted by the incident and upset with the supervisor...

The woman charged with abandoning her toddler on the side of the Capital Beltway is cooling her heels in the Fairfax County jail. Channoah Alece Green, 22, was scheduled to appear in court yesterday on charges of felony child neglect and hit and run, but officials said she was transferred too late from a regional jail in Hanover. Miss Green is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. today in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to be arraigned on the felony charges. Virginia State Police said Miss Green, of Newport News, Va., left her 4-year-old son on the...

From the ad: "No Eyed Red Eared Slider Hatchlings These little babies are true miracles of nature. They have the same parents as Stevie our no eyed mascot. They are truly unique in every way. They are smart and adapt quickly. They aren't shy either, when they hear your voice they become excited just like any seeing turtle does. The one thing they need help with until they are use to their surroundings is feeding and as smart as these little fellows are it won't take long for them to get adapted to your feeding schedule. So if you have...

Per Fox News: The Supreme Court has ruled Medical Marijuana as illegal.

"Nurse Nasty," "Wicked Doctor," "The Prison Matron" … not the usual way to introduce yourself, but in the leather-clad world of sadomasochism, naughty is nice. And pain is pleasure. "I need stimulation and get a terrific high from playing rough," said Allena Gabosch, 52, a Seattle-based "bottom," meaning she's the one on the receiving end of spanking. The buxom, tattooed, alternative sex activist finds pain play very seductive but, "I still ask for Novocain at the dentist's office." While most couples don't need whips, paddles or ropes to get in the mood, a minority find sadomasochism, or S&M, erotic. They...