Free Republic

Sept. 4, 2006 — He's tackled Wal-Mart and Fox News with his scathing documentaries. Now, filmmaker Robert Greenwald is releasing a documentary which argues that private companies helping to fight the war in Iraq don't have the nation's best interests in mind. "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" debuts in limited release this week, and presents an assault on companies that provide the kinds of services in Iraq that the military once handled itself, such as supplying food, water and mail delivery for the reconstruction. In the film, former KBR/Halliburton water purification specialist Ben Carter is interviewed and says when...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has changed the way it chooses nominees for best foreign-language film and eliminated a rule requiring entries to be in the official language of the submitting country. The academy’s governors approved a new process in judging foreign-language films, allowing New York-area academy members to participate in the selection for the first time, according to a statement issued last week. A shortlist of films from nine countries will be chosen by the same Los Angeles screening committee that has traditionally viewed the approximately 60 submissions. That shortlist will...

When is a loss really a win? It's a common practice, trying to spin a political defeat into a victory. But in the case of the race to fill Randy "Duke" Cunningham's seat in the House of Representatives, the silver lining might not be that hard to find. snip NOW PAC organizers worked on the Busby campaign, reaching out to voters across the county. The NOW PAC put Hays in San Diego prior to the April 11 Special Election, and sent her and another organizer Monely Soltani there again in late May to work on the run-off vote, held concurrently...

Just got home from work, and was listening to Joe Crummy on KFYI interview one of the dads of the kids that burned the Mexican flag: Apparently, his kid was arrested by AJ Police and was held in detention in Florence all day yesterday. CHarged with Arson. It took all of their savings to get a retainer for an atty. It gets better. The family is now getting death threats. They were informed by police that there are those trying to find out where the family lives, and are going after them. AJ police stated to the father, there is...

The poem by seven–year-old Autum Ashante ”White Nationalism Put U in Bondage,” has caused quite a stir in some circles but it shouldn’t have. It is the truth and Blacks who read their history know it is. The fact that the Pikesville, N.Y. school system has banned this young child from performing without doing its homework, is an indication of how little history our children are learning in our schools about what really happened in this country from slavery days to the present. Autum, the daughter of a Nation of Islam poet and activist, is no stranger to the Black...

His name was Gregory Boyington. Some called him "Pappy." He served as a combat pilot in World War II with the 1st Squadron, American Volunteer Group. This squadron was known as the Flying Tigers of China. Boyington later served as a combat pilot for the U.S. Marine Corps. He commanded Marine Fighting Squadron 214. Perhaps you've heard of this squadron. It was called the Black Sheep Squadron and was later featured in a TV series called "Baa Baa, Black Sheep." Boyington shot down 26 Japanese aircraft while serving in the Pacific. He was later shot down and spent 20 months...

The Demorats opposed supporting democracy in Vietnam and as a result the North Vietnamese made John Kerry one of their heroes, and then the Demorats elected this traitor as their standard bearer in 2004. Their mantra for Iraq is the same thing as it was for Vietnam, irrespective of the votes for the war that they now claim they would like to take back. Why do they want to take them back? Because Bush has no right to use their strong arguments against Saddam - of 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 - to...

George Galloway and Jane Fonda are to appear at Northwestern Law School on Monday, Sept. 19, 7pm. The Program is call "George Galloway's Stand Up and Be counted: No To War and Occupation 2005 Tour." The cost is $10-$100, sliding scale. It's sponsored by The New Press, National Council of Arab Americans, International Socialist Review, and the Center for Economic Research and Social change. There isn't a website, but you can call 773.551.5780 for info. Details to follow; email pwchicago@sbcglobal.net if you're in for a counter-demonstration.

Salt Lake City's Mayor Rocky Anderson used e-mail this week to call upon activists, Democrats and some of his top administrative staff for “the biggest demonstration this state has ever seen,” when President Bush appears before a national veterans convention Monday. “There should be a collaboration of health-care-provision advocates, seniors, the (gay, lesbian and bisexual and transsexual) community, anti-Patriot Act advocates and other civil libertarians, anti-war folks, pro-Social Security advocates, environmental advocates, anti-nuclear-testing advocates, and anti-nuclear-waste-shipment-and-storage advocates,” the mayor wrote in the e-mail sent Friday. The mayor, a Democrat who serves in an officially nonpartisan office plans to join the...

I'm hearing a variety of reports of layoffs at CNN in Atlanta. Here are the e-mails and anonymous tips: > "CNN is getting rid of a chunk of employees in Atlatna. Two old friends, who so far have survived, just called to say it's as bad as the 2001 layoffs, which were really, really awful. It went beyond depressing, it was so unprofessional how they handled it, spreading the layoffs over a 3-5 day period. Now they're doing it before a holiday weekend when they think people won't notice which is awful because it's SO pre-meditated. Jonathan Klein continues to...

<p>"Guys in my unit would drive by in their Humvee and shatter bottles over the heads of Iraqi civilians passing by. They'd keep a bunch of empty Coke bottles in the Humvee to break over people's heads."</p> <p>"...an Army sergeant lashed a group of children with a steel Humvee antenna, and a Marine corporal planted a vicious kick in the chest of a kid about 6 years old..."</p>

Three invited pro-military speakers were shocked last Friday when they arrived for a West Seattle High student assembly to confront a theater stage strewn with figures costumed as Iraqi men, women and children splashed with blood. It was a warm-up for the "Iraq Awareness Assembly" so no students except the actual actors saw the skit before the military guests complained to principal Susan Derse and she put a stop to it. And here comes the crucial part: no teachers or advisers were on hand or evidently even aware of the content although that part is one of several things still...

With freedom on the move across the Middle East and beyond, aggrieved anti-war protesters here in the United States have nothing better to do this weekend than what they have always done: stand in the way. The most unhinged of left-wing activists, from breast-exposing pacifists to the conspiracy-mongers of MoveOn.org, will descend on New York, Washington and other major media markets to "mark the two-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq." They will do so by clogging the streets, tying up police resources and leaving behind a trail of anti-Bush propaganda litter. Who says the left doesn't...

<p>A good friend called me a few hours ago terribly upset. Her two sons, both United States Marines, were in Washington DC last night (Saturday) with their dates. They went to the Hawk and Dove, which is a Capitol Hill watering hole.</p>

SEATTLE - About 500 protesters marched through downtown Seattle Saturday, venting their frustration over President Bush's re-election and calling for United States troops to be pulled out of Iraq. Protesters, organized by the anti-war group Not in Our Name, said they felt compelled to air their beliefs about Iraq and the leadership of a president they feel does not represent their interests. Another protest was planned for Jan. 20, the first day of the president's second term.

Once again, DU has been host to new low in American discourse. Just yesterday, a DU'er laments George Bush being President and makes their point of view and their stance very clear: "It took upwards of 30 years for them to get where they are, to snatch power in all 3 branches of gov't and to consolidate a media propaganda arm. They are dangerous and deadly, and they play dirty and for keeps. I DON'T HAVE 30 MORE YEARS. I likely won't live to see the change we so desperately need and seek. And like KoKo, I see Nazi Germany...

Here is an account of September 10, 2001, 12 hours before the first plane hit. I was at a rally to support the flying of the American Flag from the telephone poles down Main Street in Amhert Mass. What happened that night was quite profound!~

Hosts of ABC's "The View" Gang Up on Giuliani for Backing Bush Joy Behar ridiculed Giuliani for claiming that the first thing he said after the 9/11 attacks was "thank God" George W. Bush "was our President" and she insisted that "of course" Al Gore would have been just as "tough" on terrorism. Former CBS News correspondent Meredith Vieira, who participated Sunday in an anti-Bush march, seemed similarly ignorant, scolding Giuliani: "The implication is that if you disagree, I think, with the administration that somehow you are on the side of the terrorists. " Giuliani shot back: "That isn't who...

The heated argument consumed nearly eight minutes, so space permits only some limited excerpts as provided by the MRC's Jessica Anderson who caught the August 31 exchange: Joy Behar: "Did you really say that, 'Thank God he was our President'? That's the first thing you said? You didn't say 'Oh, expletive,' or something?" Rudy Giuliani: "No, no, that wasn't the first thing I said. That's one of the things that I said on September 11th to my police commissioner. It really came out because that was just a few months after that disputed election, and so I had called the...

Their goal is to disrupt the status quo, and they usually do it without an invitation. It takes mere minutes for the Infernal Noise Brigade to enliven a crowd on the steps of the Federal Building, in the streets of Prague, or surrounding a Starbucks in Pioneer Square. The brigade has gained a reputation for providing a soundtrack for dissent in Seattle, but many might not realize how far the music spreads. Unlike your average marching band, the Noise Brigade sets its sights higher than performing at, say, the Seafair Torchlight Parade. This week, the left-leaning group heads to...