Free Republic

Another newly-released secret memo has forced Democrats to continue to filibuster the confirmation of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador, according to Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, who will hold unofficial hearings about the memo. Just days after The Sunday Times of London published the so-called 'Downing Street Memo' which reveals the opinions of a source known as 'C' (reportedly Richard Dearlove, the head of British intelligence), the Washington Post said it will print a document it called the 'Sesame Street Memo' which is "brought to you by the letter 'B' and by the number '9'." Post reporter Bob Woodward broke the...

The time has come to face the ugly truth: Dick Durban is right; the things our military is doing in Guantanemo Bay to prisoners is tantamount to torture. Here is the side of Guantanemo you won't hear from the mainstream media. Only those of us who have a friend whose neighbor's son's ex-girlfriend's brother is actually there hear the stomach-churning stories of questioning tactics that are routinely visited on the detainees at Gitmo. Read ahead if you dare, but I warn you, it's not for the weak-hearted. My contacts inside tell me that the prisoners are forced to sit on...

When veteran newsman Bob Schieffer questioned President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry about immigration and border security during the third presidential debate last year, he was responding to an overwhelming number of e-mail from citizens demanding answers to this most pressing issue. In fact, according to Schieffer, he received more e-mail on this subject than anyother issue. Yet Americans got few answers during the heated debate. What many heard were abstractions about tightening border security with no mention of how either candidate would achieve it. As Americans remember the horror of the terrorist attacks in New York...

The Russian police's cybercrime division has warned that Russian hackers are the best in the world. "Everyone knows that Russians are good at maths," said Lieutenant General Boris Miroshnikov of the division known as Department K. "Our software writers are the best in the world, that's why our hackers are the best in the world." Speaking at the e-Crime Congress in London on Tuesday, Miroshnikov said that the casual teenage hackers of the past developed their techniques as they grew older. "It used to be naughty boys (doing this)," he said. "But now they've grown up. They realize if you...

For decades, Boeing looked over its shoulder disdainfully at Airbus. In recent years, Boeing has been in the wake turbulence of Airbus. Today, Boeing better be looking over its shoulder again, this time at Canada's Bombardier. With the announcement on March 16 that Bombardier will produce a 110-130-seat jetliner, the Canadian aircraft manufacturer is moving into the big leagues. Bombardier has long been a successful manufacturer of turboprops and regional jets, all but inventing the latter market. The 110-130-seat market puts Bombardier at the lower end of the big-jet marketplace dominated by Boeing and Airbus. Bombardier plans to seek government...

We got off the Titanic first. We can scare male bosses with mysterious gynecological disorder excuses. We've never lusted after a cartoon character or the central figure in a computer game. Taxis stop for us. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing. No fashion faux pas we make could ever rival The Speedo. We don't have to fart to amuse ourselves. If we forget to shave, no one has to know. We can congratulate our teammate without ever touching her butt. We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are...

BUZZARD'S GIZZARD, WYOMING--The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is in a quandary of--ahem--"monumental" proportions after the authorities of this hamlet unveiled, on public property, a carving of the Ten Commandments--on a giant penis. "Here's the problem," the local ACLU chapter head, Seamus Von Blucher, said, "unless the monument comes down this instant, it will mean we are living in an unconstitutional Christian theocracy, just like we did prior to 1973. However, since the Commandments are inscribed on a giant penis we can't remove them without implying that we are living in an unconstitutional Christian theocracy, just like...

STATE GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik is exhorting the party faithful to open their wallets so that Republicans can "soundly defeat" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton next year, with the result that "her hopes of running for president will wither on the vine." Meanwhile, an adviser to Gov. Pataki, angered by a top Clinton strategist's dismissal of the governor as "an object of ridicule," responds: "It's obvious that Hillary's people have decided who they don't want to run against." That's two "What color is the sky in your world?" moments. Hillary Clinton is in great political shape — and has been ever...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is keeping odd company these days. The son of the late Attorney General of the United States is the featured speaker at the controversial Ramtha School of Enlightenment. The school has been called a cult and is led by J.Z. Knight, a former housewife who claims that she channels Ramtha, a 35,000-year-old spirit from the lost continent of Atlantis. .

Michael Moore and his mockumentary "Fahrenheit 9-11" get snubbed by the Academy Awards!   This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

Property owned by The New Republic senior editor and well-known political pundit and Internet blogger Andrew Sullivan is now on the town of Provincetown's tax title list. (Scanned article. Click link for more info).

Disclaimer: this is for the purposes of humour only - apparently the far left thinks about as highly of Sideshow Bill as we do. Ivan MY LIFE is an extraordinary book that should be read and reread by every socialist. Of course, we mean My Life by the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. My Life by Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is pompous piece of junk--lies and distortions served up with Clinton’s teary-eyed smile, rather than trademark snarl that we’re used to from George Bush. Since starting the whirlwind publicity tour to promote his autobiography, Clinton has done his best...

Shays suffers assessment shock Urges leaner Bridgeport budget after major property increases By BILL CUMMINGS bcummings@ctpost.com BRIDGEPORT - U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays' jaw dropped last week when his new property revaluation arrived in the mail. Now, the seven-term congressman is wondering if he can afford his Black Rock home. "I had a shock the other day when I got my new assessment. I don't know what it says about my ability to live in this house," Shays, R-4, said Tuesday during an editorial board meeting with the Connecticut Post. "This is a huge issue," he added. Like most Bridgeport residents,...

The Republican Party has a problem this election year. It's the governing party, but it lacks a governing philosophy. The G.O.P. used to have a governing philosophy: reducing the size of the state. This was a useful goal because it was the one thing all Republican factions could agree upon. The business community wanted to reduce the public sector because it stifled growth. Social conservatives wanted to shrink the nanny state because it produced dependency. Libertarians and populists wanted to reduce government because it gave too much power to bureaucratic elites. But reducing the size of government can no longer...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ten lawmakers whose trip to North Korea was canceled by the White House have sent a scathing letter to President Bush, complaining of the "arrogant and disrespectful" treatment from his national security advisers. The five Republicans and five Democrats said they were offended "and believe you are being ill-served by your National Security Council staff." A copy of the 5 1/2-page letter, dated Thursday, was obtained by The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from the White House. The letter adds to growing tensions between lawmakers and the White House on foreign policy issues. Republicans and...

In the constitution it says we have freedom to worship whatever we want, that doesn't hold true in Alabama. I support Judge Moore who shoudn't take the monument down. I want your oppinion

For most people, Moscow's underworld conjures up images of high-rolling gangsters driving around in expensive cars. For Vadim Mikhailov, Moscow's underworld is a tangible place of wonder and awe, a site of endless tunnels and labyrinths, clandestine streams and strange, unexplainable phenomena. "Moscow has the largest, deepest and most complicated network of underground channels of any city in the world," Mikhailov said. In 1990, Mikhailov founded Diggers of the Underground Planet, a loose confederacy of subterranean explorers. The group first formed in Moscow, but now it has members in major cities all over the world. Mikhailov's love affair with the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Rocky Oldaker bought a wood box for $2 at a thrift store because it looked interesting. When he opened it, what he found inside was priceless to Linda Bigford: her mother's ashes. "I don't think that is what someone's life should boil down to ... $2 at a thrift store," said Oldaker, who bought the box along with a stuffed animal and a picture frame. When he unscrewed the box bottom at home, Oldaker discovered a plastic bag of ashes and a note identifying them as those of June Peltier of Marion, Mich. Peltier, 77, died...

Israel Snatches Palestinian Gunmen From Hospital Beds in Dawn RaidBy Mohammed Daraghmeh Associated Press WriterPublished: Aug 26, 2003 NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Israeli undercover forces snatched two wounded Palestinian gunmen from their West Bank hospital beds in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday, the latest Israeli military operation in the wake of a deadly bus bombing a week ago. Also Tuesday, Muslim-Jewish friction intensified at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem. Police arrested three Islamic officials after Muslim worshippers scuffled with police officers escorting Jewish visitors. In September 2000, deadly riots erupted at the shrine following a visit by then-opposition leader...

IBM dismisses OpenOffice as child's play By Ashlee Vance in Chicago Posted: Ashlee Vance at 02:26 GMT IBM claims to have put more than $1 billion behind open source software, but the company is failing to pay even a modest amount of lip service to one of free software's most needed products. Karen Smith, vice president of Linux strategy and market development at IBM, has been telling a number of publications that no open source equivalent of Microsoft Office exists. Lest you think Smith has been living in a cave, rest easy. She does appear to be acquainted with OpenOffice...