Free Republic

Nizar Rayan, who was assassinated on Thursday in Gaza by a bomb dropped from an Israeli warplane, was a man of the street, but also considered one of Hamas's top five decision-makers. Many considered the 49-year-old as more significant than the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and indeed other key leaders such as Mahmoud Zahar.

Craig's assertions that the transition team was unaware of Blagojevich's efforts to sell off Obama's old seat do not correspond to the transcripts of wiretapped conversations released by the FBI two weeks ago in which the governor repeatedly swears and expresses frustration in his attempts to strike a deal on the Senate seat.

The rise in carbon dioxide emissions is big news. It is prompting action to reverse global warming. But little or no attention is being paid to the long-term fall in oxygen concentrations and its knock-on effects. Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50%. (snip) In the 20th century, humanity has pumped increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning the carbon stored in coal, petroleum and natural gas. In the process, we've also been consuming oxygen...

From the time of our birth, God has graced us with a faithful companion, appointed guardian and guide: our dear guardian angel.  Angels are spiritual beings who are constantly in God’s Presence, singing praises to Our Creator.  Angels serve as Divine messengers, bringing God’s Will and Word to all humanity. Although we are unable to see them they are there ready to protect and watch over us at God’s command. The Doctors of the Church teach that the guardianship of the holy angels over men only terminates at the souls’ entrance into Heaven. Some mystics have asserted that it extends to...

The Kremlin's decision today to call a halt to its five-day assault on Georgia leaves Russia calling the shots in the energy-rich Black Sea littoral and Caspian basin. (Snip...) Nato and the EU The Russians see the Caucasus test as a zero-sum game and have won. That means lose-lose for the west. A key objective for Putin was to destabilise Georgia to invalidate its aim of joining Nato. He may have succeeded. The Americans suffered a rare defeat in April at a Nato summit when George Bush argued strongly for starting Georgia towards alliance membership and was defeated by Angela...

Your new timetable, kids: double maths, English and a spot of shooting · Surge in school gun ranges after minister backed sport · Lobby group rejects link to violent crime Polly Curtis, education editor Saturday January 26, 2008 The Guardian The number of schools introducing rifle ranges for pupils has surged since ministers backed shooting sports last year, say gun groups. One local authority is reportedly seeking to introduce shooting at 16 of its schools, and an academy due to open in September in a deprived area of south Bristol is believed to be the first of the government's flagship...

Guardian journalist expelled from Iran Guardian Unlimited January 4 2008 The Guardian's Tehran correspondent, Robert Tait, has been expelled from Iran without explanation after nearly three years of reporting from the country. Tait was forced to leave the country after the Iranian authorities declined to renew his visa and residence permit, despite an appeal on his behalf from the Guardian's editor, -excerpt- He is now back in the UK, along with his Iranian wife. The ministry gave no reason for its decision but said the newspaper was free to put forward another journalist as its correspondent in Iran. Tait, 43,...

This has been a hectic week for me. My husband fueled up his Tiger Grumman airplane with aviation gas and soared off into the skies for his first cross-country solo flight. He landed in Kitty Hawk, S.C., and spent a couple of days re-acquainting himself with the Wright Brothers and their dazzling accomplishment of first-ever flight and American can-do spirit. Simultaneously, my teenage son, his best friend and my niece left for Nicaragua on a mission by our church to help build a youth center in the mosquito-infested town of San Ramon. So I was minding my own business when...

In another sad example of self flagellation by western elitists, the Guardian Newspaper in England published a column on how we Americans (and our English cousins) should not celebrate the founding of Jamestown, the first Virginia colony, 400 years ago because of... you guessed it... slavery. Here we have another elitist congratulating himself that he is "informed" enough to know that slavery makes the founding of the USA a blight on humanity instead of the great event it truly is. Another leftist who cannot bring himself to be proud of anything the west has been responsible for because there were...

The Guardian's obsession in adopting "Palestinianism", big words on empty reality * "Apartheid" -, the Guardian was/is obsessed to use it at any opportunity Israel's survival war against racist terrorism by Arabs (http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Guardian_Promotes_Apartheid_Slur.asp Guardian Promotes Apartheid Slur), long before the bribing by the Arab lobby of former US president, the infamous Jimmy Carter to use the word "apartheid" as a title of his anti-Israel bigoted book. Facts of equal rights & equal treatment of Arabs in Israel, that even Carter has admitted (interview with former President Jimmy Carter. ... "I recognize Israel is a wonderful democracy with freedom of speech...

What's wrong with this picture? & Just How Islamized is 'The Guardian'? Muslim organization to address Jewish audience Associated Press of Pakistan, Pakistan - Mar 18, 2007 LONDON, March 18 (APP): Britain's leading Muslim organization will tomorrow signal a radical shift in its position when one of its senior members addresses ... MCB at JCC event Something Jewish British Muslims extend a friendly hand to Jews Guardian Unlimited Instead of the MINORITY Jewish organization having a clean foot a sane voice in the dirty hate empire of Islamofascistic 'mainstream Islam' that teaches that non Muslims are apes & pigs, What...

PS3: difficult stories emerge in run up to Euro launch http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2007/02/13/ps3_difficult_stories_emerge_in_run_up_to_euro_launch.html [...] More juicy perhaps, is the comment made on a blog named FreeRepublic.com, by EA employee Dr. Andrew Garrett: "My opinion - get the 360 and/or the Wii. Skip the PS3 unless there's a big change in the near future." You can read his full post here. Naturally, anti-Sony zealots are spinning this as 'EA says skip PS3', which means Dr Garrett is probably in a whole heap of trouble. That's the problem with the modern videogame industry and the web - the two are utterly incompatible... Blog culture...

As she sees it now, she spent her 20s working too hard, never saying no to anything and succumbing to "the bad side of American psychology". "I love the English way, which is not as capitalistic as it is in America. People don't talk about work and money; they talk about interesting things at dinner parties. I like living here because I don't tap into the bad side of American psychology..."

American "expatriate" Greg Palast published an article in the UK's left wing "Guardian" on Monday: "explaining" how the GOP "stole" the Mid-term elections ! (Talk about being stuck on "Stupid" !)

The Guardian's Sound of Silence Posted by Marc Landers on October 3, 2006 - 13:13. Remember when the AP ran the bogus story about the Crowd booing when President Bush annonunced that Bill Clinton was ill? There was no booing and the report created a firestorm in the blogsphere. Faced with an onslaught from bloggers, the AP was forced to retract the story. The Guardian's Jonathan Freeland was caught in the reverse when he claimed there was no applause in response to this statement by PM Blair at the Labor Party conference: "So when Blair said that a withdrawal from...

Meaningless apology 9/19/2006 3:28:00 PM GMT   (AFP Photo) Pope Benedict XVI greets pilgrims and faithful in the courtyard of his summer residence  Fury continues over radical remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI last Tuesday in a speech during a pilgrimage to his native Germany in which he linked the noble faith of Islam to violence and terrorism, quoting a 14th-century Christian emperor who said that Prophet Mohammed's command to spread Islam by the sword had produced "evil and inhumane" results.Earlier this week and following mass protests that broke out across the Muslim and the Arab world, the pope...

The US government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days. Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan. But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 27, 2006) – Volunteering to work in public affairs for Task Force Guardian is somewhat like plunging into Lake Pontchartrain. It immediately awakens all of ones senses, while providing instant meaning to priorities and issues of real importance. While the experience was meant to expand my media-relations knowledge, it’s also schooled me in the power of the human spirit. As a Department of Army public affairs intern, I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to deploy to an emergency operations center. When the chance was offered to work with the Corps of Engineers, I quickly...

MINNEAPOLIS - The founder of the New York-based Guardian Angels civilian patrol comes to Minneapolis today. Curtis Sliwa (SLEE'-wuh) will offer his services to interim police chief Tim Dolan. That follows the recent fatal shootings of a Minnetonka (minn-eh-TAHN'-kuh) man in downtown Minneapolis and of a Clemson University graduate student in the Uptown area. Sliwa's Guardian Angels last patrolled the streets of Minneapolis 20 years ago. By the early 1990's, they were gone. Sliwa hopes to have a group of Guardian Angels from Denver patrol trouble spots in Minneapolis this weekend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information from: Star Tribune/Minneapolis, http://www.startribune.com

May 7 2009 will surely go down in history alongside September 11 2001. "5/7", as it inevitably became known, saw massive suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, London and New York, as well as simultaneous attacks on the remaining western troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Total casualties were estimated at around 10,000 dead and many more wounded. The attacks, which included the explosion of a so-called dirty bomb in London, were orchestrated by a Tehran-based organisation for "martyrdom-seeking operations" established in 2004. "5/7" was the Islamic Republic of Iran's response to the bombing of its nuclear facilities, which President Hillary Clinton...