Free Republic

There’s No Business Like Troll Business ! If you post on any “message boards” , you’re probably well aware of Internet Trolls. These are people with a “MESSAGE “ – usually a hateful one - and they insist on plastering it all over the message boards – regardless of what topic is being discussed. One of the message boards I read has become clogged with Neo-Nazi/ Aryan Identity / New Klux Klan posters : all of whom flood the board with “ The Jews Are Out To Get You “ crap. They express solidarity with their Arab counterparts ,and distress...

When historians in the future look back at the year 2005, they will describe it as the year in which the United States lost much of its once almighty influence in Latin America, and former outsiders -- such as China -- began to play a modest but rapidly growing role in hemispheric affairs.Some researchers are likely to say the loss of U.S. clout in the region was due to the the rise of hostile regional subpowers such as oil-rich Venezuela, which won growing influence thanks to a combination of checkbook diplomacy and populist demagoguery. Others will say it was a...

CHICAGO, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The largest annual Kwanzaa celebration of African-American culture in the United States began Monday at Malcolm X College in Chicago. Ayoka Samuels, a consultant for the college's Kwanzaa committee said a major misconception is that about the seven-day festival is that it's meant to be "the black Christmas," the Chicago Sun-Times said. Samuels said many who celebrate it do substitute it for Christmas, and if gifts are exchanged, they must be either educational or a symbol of African heritage. Maulana Ron Karenga, now a professor of black studies at California State University, Long Beach, created...

Bitter Debate Over 'Bithright Citizenship' By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer 16 minutes ago A proposal to change long-standing federal policy and deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface — kindling bitter debate even if it fails to become law. At issue is "birthright citizenship" — provided for since the Constitution's 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Section 1 of that amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,...

Blacks should be outraged by attempts to stamp out Christianity from Christmas celebrations while accepting Kwanzaa as mainstream, says a black minister. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND, Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, and author of WND Books' "Scam," notes that while public school administrators and city officials attempt to ban nativity scenes, Christmas carols, candy canes and even Christmas trees from public places, Kwanzaa has been accepted as mainstream. While commonly viewed as an "African" holiday, observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, Kwanzaa actually was created in the U.S. in 1966 by Dr. Maulana...

Heard from a reliable source that Bush is going to shake up his Staff after New Year. As a minimum Andy Card is going to be replaced by Bush's best friend and former Commerce Secetary, Don Evans. More later.

THE Prince of Wales has discussed rejecting the title Charles III when he becomes King to avoid unhappy associations with some of the bloodiest periods in the monarchy’s history. The Prince’s favourite alternative name is George VII, in honour of his grandfather — one of the best-loved monarchs of the past century. The Times has spoken to two trusted friends of the Prince, who both said that the change to George has been considered seriously. One said: “There have been many conversations with the Prince about this. It is an assumption among us all that it will happen. “The name...

Today Show's Misleading ANWR MountainsPosted by Mark Finkelstein on December 23, 2005 - 07:31. In reporting what it called a "big win" for Senate Democrats in killing off drilling in ANWR, this morning's Today show aired footage of gorgeous snow-capped mountains, similar to the file photo to the right.There's only one little problem.  The drilling in ANWR won't take place anywhere near those mountains.  It will occur on barren coastal plains far away.  A few years ago, attempting to break through the ice-jam of blather over the issue, the National Review's Jonah Goldberg took a trip up there himself.  Here's one of...

WASHINGTON - Republican leaders huddled into the morning hours today trying to ensure passage of a bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska to oil and gas exploration. House GOP leaders worked to quell a rebellion by moderate Republicans unhappy with the strategy to attach the drilling language to a Defense Department spending bill. The battle could become even more intense later this week in the Senate, where Democrats have vowed to try to strip the drilling language from the legislation. The wildlife refuge is believed to hold some 10 billion barrels of recoverable crude...

Dear Family and Friends, I think if you could ask any Zimbabwean what three things they most wanted for Christmas in 2005, the answers would be the same in almost all households. Firstly we want food security in all areas: we want food growing on our farms, food stacked in silos and warehouses and food in our pantries and on our tables. After seventy months of turmoil, food security would be a blessed gift for every Zimbabwean. Secondly this Christmas we want our families. I don't think I know a single family which does not have some or most of...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A "King Tut is back and he's still black" placard drew the gaze of visitors making their way to view the acclaimed exhibit at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale Saturday. Across from the entrance, about 25 demonstrators donning T-shirts marked with various pro-black slogans held up the placards. Waving the red, black and green African flag, at times moving to the beat of djembe drums on the sidewalk, they asked drivers in passing cars to honk in support of their goal: reminding people not to take the lighter-skinned portrait of King Tutankhamun on display...

The House Judiciary Committee chairman yesterday backed off his provision to make illegal aliens felons and instead proposed a misdemeanor charge for unlawful presence, angering some Republicans who wanted the higher penalty. The House is expected to vote today on a border enforcement and employee work verification bill, which calls for more U.S. Border Patrol agents, mandatory database checks of employees' eligibility to work, expanding expedited removal of illegal aliens and allowing sheriffs along the border to help enforce immigration law. Some Republicans already were threatening to try to block the bill if they didn't get a chance to vote...

Population control advocates blamed DDT for increasing third world population. In the 1960s, World Health Organization authorities believed there was no alternative to the overpopulation problem but to assure than up to 40 percent of the children in poor nations would die of malaria. As an official of the Agency for International Development stated, "Rather dead than alive and riotously reproducing." [Desowitz, RS. 1992. Malaria Capers, W.W. Norton & Company]

SYDNEY erupted in a second night of racial violence last night as Middle Eastern mobs fired shots into the air, attacked women and smashed shops around Cronulla, while up to 600 young men - armed with guns and crowbars - prepared for a battle. In a terrifying escalation of the conflict, up to 70 cars from Hurstville and possibly Lakemba invaded Cronulla and Brighton-le-Sands to launch revenge attacks, following the vicious attacks by Cronulla locals on people of Middle Eastern appearance on Sunday. Twenty carloads of men arrived at Cronulla by about 10.30pm, smashing shops, and cars in Elouera Road,...

Fires continue to rage in Britain’s fifth largest oil depot at Buncefield near near London after three or four unexplained explosions which sent shocks across SE England. Some 43 people were injured in the blasts which sent a huge fireball shooting 200ft in the air early Sunday. Half the depot and refinery installations were destroyed and the neighboring industrial estate badly damaged. Windows were blown out miles away. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in surrounding towns and suburbs of Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans and Leverstock Green as a cloud of black smoke drifts east. The Hertfordshire...

LOS ANGELES - Tsunami waves generated by a large offshore earthquake would threaten at least 1 million coastal residents in California and inundate the nation's largest port complex, according to a new report. The bleak study being released Monday found gaps in the state's readiness to handle a tsunami, including flaws in the existing warning system, lack of evacuation plans by coastal communities, and building codes that don't take into account tsunami-strength surges. In addition, many residents are unaware of the potential danger of tsunami waves and wouldn't know how to respond, the report said. "I don't think we're ready...

POLICE moved quickly to prevent violence at potential new flashpoints in Sydney tonight following some of the worst race-based clashes ever seen in Australia. Police guarding against any repeat of yesterday's race riot at Cronulla tonight blocked off streets around the Lakemba Mosque, in Sydney's south-west, after about 500 mostly Muslim men gathered, apparently after rumours of an imminent attack on the building. Rocks and flares were thrown at police as the crowd dispersed, police said, and although no one was injured, tensions tonight remained high among Australians of Middle Eastern background, who were targeted in yesterday's race riot at...

CRONULLA ERUPTS AGAIN Violence has again erupted in Cronulla, in Sydney's south, with reports that many car loads of Middle Eastern youths have descend on the suburb wielding baseball bats. Despite an increase in police presence, the youths have managed to get through and are causing what is being described as extensive damage. Police are warning people to avoid the area. It has not been confirmed whether the groups came from the demonstrations staged at Lakemba Mosque, in the city's south west, earlier this evening. A group, which at one stage numbered in the thousands, gathered outside the Mosque chanting...

Marco Benz Descendant of First Gas Automobile Inventor Karl Benz of Mercedes-Benz Joins the U.S. Army Marco Allen Benz a descendant of Karl Benz (inventor of automobile Mercedes Benz) joins the United States Army to defend the United States against terrorism and to assist in a democratic Iraq and Afghanistan for the people of their nation. (PRWEB) December 11, 2005 -- Marco Allen Benz is a descendant of Karl Benz, the German automobile engineer that is regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile. Marco Allen Benz was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 20th 1986, to Douglas Benz...

Is Anna Benson right-wing America's next great political commentator? The wife of Mets pitcher Kris Benson opines on the important issues of our times on her Web site, AnnaBenson.net, sounding an awful lot like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh - that is, if Hannity or Limbaugh were former strippers turned lad-mag models. Anna B. takes no prisoners, for example, in an open letter to anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore: "You are a selfish, pathetic excuse for an American, and you can take your big fat ass over to Iraq and get your pig head cut off and stuck on a pig...

You know, I'm looking at those black eyes and very minor bruise on the arm of Professor Morecki. He's the professor who let loose a torrent of hatred against Christians as he cackled about teaching Intelligent Design as mythology. Well, he lost his job, and says he got beat up, and everyone is blaming the Christians, even though his story makes no sense. And I'm thinking about this: Ever see the MASH episode where Frank Burns brings a court-martial against Hawkeye and Trapper John? Burns presents his case of how Hawkeye and Trapper mutineed against him. Amazingly, even though...

This vanity will contain small words and short sentences so any Dems reading this will be able to follow along. After reading about the rebellion against the word "Christmas" being banned by more than too many companies for fear of "offending" someone, the backlash that has occured this year is nothing short of amazing. The national tree in Washington, D.C. is now, again, a Christmas Tree. Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia, has corrected an e-mail to declare Georgia will have a Christmas Tree, not a politically correct "Holiday Tree", and the list goes on. Lowe's has backed down as has...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "No wonder they call us the Stupid Party," said a disgusted Republican operative in Washington. "You've got to wonder what these guys were thinking." At issue was the publication of a report by David Barrett, an independent counsel who has spent the better part of a decade looking into some of the most hair-raising allegations of presidential malfeasance in American history. Like most independent counsels, Barrett didn't set out on such a mission. He was assigned the duty of looking into whether former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros committed tax fraud in trying to cover...

A shipment of hairy crabs imported from China, some of which have already been sold and eaten, was found to contain residues of the pesticide DDT, the Department of Health said on Wednesday. This was discovered during a random DOH inspection of aquatic products sold in markets throughout the island. The department began the inspections in September in an effort to determine whether residues of drugs or pesticides were retained in such products, and also to assess the level of metals they might contain. According to the DOH, the hairy crabs sold in three supermarkets -- Carrefour, Hsi-Mei and Hsing-Loong,...

WASHINGTON -- A single sentence in the mountain of e-mails released last week by Gov. Kathleen Blanco sparked media interest Wednesday in the Louisiana governor's sleeping habits just before Hurricane Katrina hit. An e-mail exchange on the afternoon of Aug. 28, the day before Katrina slammed into the state, indicated that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was trying to reach Blanco by telephone. Chertoff's agency led the federal response to the impending storm and an aide was trying to patch through a call. "Your assistance would be much appreciated," Homeland Security senior intelligence analyst Mark Fischer wrote in a 12:30...

Science Reporter Sophisticated new tests confirm that Ludwig van Beethoven suffered severe lead poisoning, which could explain his cranky personality. But lead poisoning probably is not the reason why the great composer lost his hearing, researchers announced Tuesday. In 2000, tests of Beethoven's hair at southwest suburban Argonne National Laboratory showed he had lead concentrations roughly 100 times higher than levels found in healthy adults today. But hair analysis is not scientifically conclusive. Moreover, skeptics said, hair samples used in the test could have been contaminated by, for example, hair powder, dirt or grease. But a new test at Argonne,...

“It's not easy being green,” Kermit the Frog once warbled. Wasabi, a golden retriever puppy who was born green, is still thinking it over. Wasabi was born in the Alhambra home of Peter Tseng on Nov 3. The puppy is the daughter of AKC (American Kennel Club) registered golden retrievers Goldie (mom) and Coco (dad) but, unlike her shiny blond siblings, her fur has an pale olive green sheen.

BATON ROUGE -- Two days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, thousands of people were trapped in the city without food, water and medical care and growing increasingly desperate for rescue. But a top aide to Gov. Kathleen Blanco sent out an e-mail informing his colleagues that his staff had stopped calling for the buses needed to evacuate people from the Superdome and other places of refuge. "NO MORE CALLS FOR BUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ty Bromell wrote Wednesday morning, Aug. 31. "My people are not calling for buses now." Bromell, who heads Blanco's Office of Rural Development, said he had gotten word...

Last update - 14:43 06/12/2005 At least 111 dead as aircraft crashes into Tehran buildings By Reuters TEHRAN - An Iranian military transport plane crashed into a 10-story apartment building in the suburbs of the capital Tehran on Tuesday, killing at least 111 people, according to state media and the city's mayor. All 94 passengers and crew of the plane were killed, the mayor of Tehran said. Tehran state radio said that of the building's residents, 25 people were killed and 15 were injured. The ISNA students' news agency said the aircraft burst into flames and that the fire was...

Throughout the world, antiwar activists are encouraging their followers to intensify their efforts to end the war in Iraq and the overall war on terrorism. Some activists have even traveled to Iraq just to say, "I was there," in order to give their rhetoric more credibility. Unfortunately for four Western peaceniks, their journey brought them face-to-face with the enemy Americans face in this war -- the Islamofascists. These four activists were abducted by a group of terrorists who apparently mean business: they say they will execute their hostages if their demands are not met. < SNIP > Unfortunately, these peacemakers...

We all watched President Bush's speech in Tucson last Monday with high hopes. Much of his rhetoric was on target. But when he says border security must go hand in hand with comprehensive immigration reform, he has it exactly backward. His proposal includes an amnesty for the 10 million to 15 million illegal aliens already in our country, and that step will render any new border security effort useless and laughable. In 1986, Congress passed a general amnesty for more than 2 million illegal aliens on the promise that border security would be achieved and laws against employment of illegal...

The role of Vice President Dick Cheney as the administration's point man in security policy appears over, according to administration sources. Over the last two months Mr. Cheney has been granted decreasing access to the Oval Office, the sources said on the condition of anonymity. The two men still meet, but the close staff work between the president and vice president has ended. "Cheney's influence has waned not only because of bad chemistry, but because the White House no longer formulates policy," another source said. "There's nothing to input into. Cheney is smart and knowledgeable, but he as well as...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two Swiss women who spent a week at a Manhattan hotel have filed a lawsuit saying they had a lousy time trying to sleep there because they were bitten by bedbugs. Ksenija Knezevic, of Zurich, and Marlies Barisic, of Kreuzlingen, both in their early 30s, say the bloodsucking insects began attacking the night they checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania in September. The women's lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, says they suffered bedbug bites over their torsos, arms and legs. Their lawyer, Alberto Ebanks, said bugs also bit their cheeks and necks and caused possibly...

With hysteria mounting about the political shift leftward in Latin America and 11 presidential races in the region over the next 13 months, the World Bank's "Doing Business in 2006" survey merits a read. We mentioned it two weeks ago but a fuller airing is in order. ... This year's results demonstrate clearly that despite persistent claims that the region has tried the "free-market" model and found it wanting, Latin America is stubbornly stuck in a statist time warp. When it comes to burdensome government and weak property rights, Latins don't fare as badly as Africans but their freedoms lag...

As part of its ongoing investigation into the nation’s response to Hurricane Katrina, a Senate investigatory committee has delivered a massive records request to the Orleans Levee Board that covers everything from transcripts of meetings dating back to 1989 to all e-mails and written communications sent in the days before and after the storm struck on Aug. 29. The committee included a request to see all agreements between the Levee Board and the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees levee design and construction in the New Orleans area. The Corps is under heavy criticism for its design...

Gambling doesn't destroy people. People destroy people. The gentleman or gentlewoman who decides to gamble makes that decision of his own free will. It's a free market industry, and that appeals to conservatives. --Michael Scanlon AT ABOUT 8 p.m. on the night of September 26, a homicide detective with the Ft. Lauderdale police department entered the home of Anthony Moscatiello in the Howard Beach section of Queens, New York. Once inside, he placed the 67-year-old "caterer," aka "Big Tony," under arrest. Around 11 p.m., a thousand miles away in North Miami Beach, police stormed the condominium where Anthony Ferrari lived...

They say better late than never but......

President Bush is trying to build support for a comprehensive immigration strategy even though Congress has shelved the issue for now. Republican congressional leaders postponed work on immigration proposals until early next year, partly because lawmakers are divided over the scope of such changes and whether foreigners illegally working in the United States should be allowed to stay. Trying to keep the heat on lawmakers, the president was scheduled to leave his Crawford, Texas, ranch after spending nearly a week there for Thanksgiving, to pitch his plan in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. Bush's plan...

FOR A GRIM GLIMPSE of the future of California's correctional system, you need go no further than the California Medical Facility, a few blocks off Interstate 80 in Vacaville. That's what we did a few weeks ago when we visited the prison, the only one in California dedicated to providing medical care to inmates. What we saw pointed to the outcome of a "get tough on crime" policy that began decades ago, and has resulted in the continuing incarceration of thousands of ailing and aging inmates, most of whom present little or no threat to public safety. In mid-September, the...

WASHINGTON - Dwight D. Eisenhower had been dead for more than a decade before scholars began calling him one of the greatest presidents in American history. Now planners have chosen one of Washington's most prominent sites for a grand memorial to the humble man from Abilene, Kan. The plaza-style memorial across the street from the National Mall would honor Eisenhower's legacy of public service, joining the collection of nearby monuments to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "It was his total approach to domestic and international politics that set him apart," said Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Carl Reddel,...

NEW ORLEANS — An Algiers man hailed by some as a hero for commandeering a school bus the day after Hurricane Katrina to take 60 stranded residents to safety in Houston has been arrested on drug charges where his bus journey began: the Fischer public housing complex. Jabar Gibson, 20, who garnered a movie deal and national attention as the renegade bus driver, was booked Friday with possession with intent to distribute heroin after police stopped his rental car for allegedly driving erratically, New Orleans police said. Gibson and another man, Gary Burnett, were traveling near the public housing complex...

EXPERT: BIRD-FLU DEATHS IN CHINA ACTUALLY 300 November 25, 2005 WorldNetDaily.com reports: “A respected Japanese virologist shocked colleagues at a meeting in Germany last week when he passed on a confidential disclosure from Chinese scientists that 300 people have died from H5N1 bird flu in China – not two, as Beijing has reported to the world. Masato Tashiro, head of virology at Tokyo's National Institute of Infectious Disease – a center for avian flu research collaborating with the World Health Organization – said his Chinese sources, who, if discovered, face arrest for disclosing the extent of the outbreak, told him...

November 26, 2005 -- Did Hillary Clinton just announce her candidacy for president? Sure, she'd deny it. And it certainly there's been no formal campaign kickoff. But what do you call it when a leading Democrat — from New York — calls for tax relief in . . . Puerto Rico? True, pandering is par for the course among pols — particularly Democrats. But this one seems to have an unmistakable purpose: to shore up political support among Puerto Ricans in New York for her Senate bid next year and maybe also nationally for a possible run for the White...

Regarding Congressman Jim Kolbe's decision not to run for reelection, in a word, "Hallelujah." When someone retires or passes away, we try to say something nice about that person, we downplay his negatives and point out his positives. I would like to do the same for Congressman Jim Kolbe, but I really don't have the time to do that much research, other then to say, I wholeheartedly approve of his decision to leave Congress. I'm sure Kolbe will be missed by Mexican President Vincente Fox, he is one of the best members of Congress Mexico has ever had in the...

A respected Japanese scientist, who works with the World Health Organization, says 300 people have died of H5N1 bird flu in China, including seven cases caused by human-to-human transmission. He says he was given the information in confidence by Chinese colleagues who have been threatened with arrest if they disclosed the extent of the problem. The allegations, which he revealed at a meeting in Germany, contrast sharply with China’s official position. It reports three confirmed cases of H5N1 in people: a boy in Hunan province who recovered, and two women who died in Anhui province, the latest of which was...

SAN FRANCISCO, California --- After San Francisco voters banned guns in the most recent election, city officials say they are struggling to keep up with the massive amount of guns being voluntarily turned over by gang members and other criminals. "When I proposed this ballot initiative, I knew we'd rid the city of guns," said Supervisor Chris Daly. "I guess I wasn't prepared for the massive turnout by local gang members so eager to give us their guns. We're having to take away from resources in our pot farming initiative that passed in the last election in order to handle...

Nov. 24, 2005 17:56 | Updated Nov. 24, 2005 18:22US Congress works to ban Hamas By NATHAN GUTTMANM Washington Hamas members were arrested from three separate cells in the Hebron area. Photo: AP [file] While the US administration has agreed to accept the participation of Hamas activists in the Palestinian elections, Congress is working on a resolution that will ban Hamas from taking part in the election process and that threatens that the relations between the Palestinian Authority and the US would be damaged if the PA does not disarm Hamas. House Resolution 575 was introduced last Friday by a...

When I opened the turkey there was no instruction book

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE NOV 22, 2005 08:25:48 ET XXXXX **Exclusive** CNN SENIOR MANAGEMENT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION OF CHENEY 'X'; CONTROL ROOM STAFFER 'LAUGHED' WHEN X FLASHED CNN management has launched an internal investigation into how a giant black 'X' mark appeared over Vice President Dick Cheney's face -- as he delivered a speech from Washington on Monday! "We are taking this matter very, very seriously, and I can assure you no one at this network would ever deliberately place an 'X' over the vice president's face," a top CNN source, who asked not to be named at this time,...

X Marks the Vice President by Mary Katharine Ham November 21, 2005 06:35 PM PST Scroll for updates...Well, this is quite a story on Drudge right now: At 11:04:45 AM ET Monday CNN was airing Vice President Dick Cheney's speech live from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington -- when a large black 'X' repeatedly flashed over the vice president's face! I just got an e-mail from someone who says Drudge will be on Fox News at 9:45 p.m. to talk about it. I'm guessing CNN won't cover the story tonight.UPDATE 9:50 p.m.: Drudge is on now (without a...