Free Republic

Friends and Fellow Citizens: Tarry here for a moment. My words shall be few and simple. The solemn rites of this hour and place call for no lengthened speech. There is in the very air of this resting ground of the unknown dead a silent, subtle, and an all-pervading eloquence, far more touching, impressive, and thrilling, than living lips have ever uttered. Into the measureless depths of every loyal soul it is now whispering lessons of all that is precious, priceless, holiest, and most enduring in human existence. Dark and sad will be the hour to this nation when it...

This Marine understands. (Click here to see the video.)Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where...

A former NAACP executive was charged in Fulton County, Ga., with embezzling $275,000 from the U.S. civil rights organization, NAACP officials say. The Rev. Amos Brown, administrator for the NAACP's Atlanta chapter, said former NAACP official Judith W. Hanson and Hanson's former assistant, Saundra Douglass, are accused of embezzling funds during their time with the Baltimore-based organization, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Tuesday. Authorities allege Hanson, who served as the executive director of the NAACP's Atlanta chapter, and Douglass used NAACP funds for personal expenses during a six-year period. The alleged embezzlement was uncovered by an internal investigation of the chapter's...

ORATION, DELIVERED IN CORINTHIAN HALL, ROCHESTER, BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JULY 5TH, 1852. Published by Request ROCHESTER: PRINTED BY LEE, MANN & CO., AMERICAN BUILDING. 1852. FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESQ.: Dear Sir-The Ladies of the "Rochester Anti Slavery Sewing Society," desire me to return you their most sincere thanks for the eloquent and able address delivered in Corinthian Hall, on the 5th of July. Anticipating its speedy publication in Pamphlet form, they request that you will furnish them with one hundred copies for distribution: In behalf of the Society, SUSAN F. PORTER, President. ORATION. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens : HE...

At the northwest corner of Central Park, construction is under way on Frederick Douglass Circle, a $15.5 million project honoring the escaped slave who became a world-renowned orator and abolitionist. Beneath an eight-foot-tall sculpture of Douglass, the plans call for a huge quilt in granite, an array of squares, a symbol in each, supposedly part of a secret code sewn into family quilts and used along the Underground Railroad to aid slaves. Two plaques would explain this. The only problem: According to many prominent historians, the secret code — the subject of a popular book that has been featured on...

"...The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us. Gen. Banks was distressed with solicitude as to what he should do with the Negro. Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, "What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core,...

The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a by word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it...

Student Sues to Pose With Gun in YearbookCONCORD, N.H. — Where other students might pose for their senior yearbook photo with tennis rackets or favorite cars, Blake Douglass (search) wants to be seen with his shotgun.The 17-year-old senior filed a federal lawsuit to force Londonderry High School (search) to allow the photo and give up the policy school officials used to reject it."What they’re doing is basically discriminating based on content or message," said Penny Dean (search), Douglass’ lawyer and a specialist in gun cases. "You can’t do that. You might want to but you can’t — and especially you can’t with...

The True Origins of Terrorism: Interview with Dr. Joseph Douglass By: Ryan Mauro tdcanalyst@optonline.net RM: What countries were the most involved in the creation of the current terrorist threat we face? JD: The most important nation, the granddaddy of terrorism, is Russia. Russia adopted international terrorism as a strategic intelligence operation in 1955. It organized schools for terrorists, terrorist training camps, coordination conferences and much more. Next to Russia is China. Although not so prominent, nevertheless China was one of the major actors on this stage. There is hardly a communist or former communist nation that was not involved. North...

The Case of the Missing POWs: Interview with Dr. Joseph Douglass By: Ryan Mauro tdcanalyst@optonline.net Joseph Douglass Jr., PhD (Cornell University, 1962), has 35 years experience in national security matters as a researcher, author, and frequent speaker. He is a recognized authority on U.S. and Soviet nuclear strategy, chemical and biological warfare, Communist decision-making, and Soviet strategic intelligence operations. Over the past twenty years his work has focused on the international narcotics trafficking and the war on drugs, the leading role of Russian intelligence in international terrorism and organized crime, chemical and biological warfare agents for use in political and...

...a county councilman in Talbot County, (Thomas G.) Duncan has a problem with a statue of Talbot County's most famous resident...Frederick Douglass, being placed on the courthouse lawn in Easton. That honor, Duncan feels, should only be for those who served in the armed forces, even "The Talbot Boys," who fought for the Confederacy..It's at this point that Duncan needs to run it by me again. A statue paying tribute to "The Talbot Boys" stands on the courthouse lawn. They most assuredly did not "serve their country." The country they served was the Confederate States of America - Maryland was...

...Frederick Douglass is still a controversial figure in his native Talbot County. Plans to erect a statue of him in Easton, the county seat, have been stymied...the County Council oppose putting a Douglass memorial on the courthouse green. Because they believe the site should be reserved to honor war dead. A Vietnam War memorial and a tribute to the county's Confederate Army veterans. The existence of that second statue alone gives reason enough for a Douglass tribute. What are Talbot County visitors to think -- that the county more closely sympathizes with the goals of the Confederacy than with the...

Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read Posted Nov 14, 2003 HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 21 distinguished scholars to help us develop a list of Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read. We asked them first to nominate biographies or autobiographies of anyone who had been a native-born or naturalized American citizen since 1776. Then they listed their top ten choices from the entire roster of nominated titles. A book received 10 points for each No. 1 vote it received, 9 points for each No. 2 vote, and so on. The title with the highest aggregate score was rated the...

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too ‹ great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and...