Free Republic

Dr. Johnnetta Cole, a woman whose radical views forced the Clinton administration to withdraw her name from consideration for Education Secretary, will be one of three keynote speakers at the Girl Scouts USA national convention in Atlanta from October 7-10. Another speaker is Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, which, among other things, promotes abortion and feminism. The third speaker is Ann Curry, news anchor for NBC’s Today Show. The choice of the first two speakers indicates that the Girl Scouts show no sign of slowing their plunge into hard-core feminism and political advocacy, at...

I just caught an interview on CNN of Aaron Broussard, a Democrat who is the President of Jefferson Parish, Lousiana. The essence of his rant was that the federal government in general and FEMA in particular are "covering their butts" by concealing the number of dead. At one point Broussard said, verbatim, that FEMA was trying to hide the fact that they had "murdered" thousands of people through their bureaucratic incompetence. This is how the Democrats will try to exploit this tragedy. A couple sidenotes: given his claim that there was an astronomical number of dead, the CNN interviewer asked...

Left pounces THE controversial MP George Galloway, who is to tour America this month accompanied by Jane Fonda, the Hollywood star, will be sharpening his critique of the Iraq war in the light of President George W Bush’s difficulties in coping with the effects of hurricane Katrina. As Denise Bollinger, a tourist stranded in New Orleans said, “It’s downtown Baghdad.” The anti-war left has been quick to suggest that American troops, including members of the Louisiana National Guard — many of whom are deployed in Iraq — would prefer to be helping their own citizens rather than facing Islamic insurgents....

Under an "Impeach Bush" banner on a wall of the Minnesota State Capitol, anti-war speakers tried Saturday to link the Iraq war to a slow response to Hurricane Katrina. It was part of the "Bring Them Home Now" national bus tour initiated by Cindy Sheehan, the mother who camped near President Bush's Texas ranch to demand that he talk with her about the death of her soldier son. Sheehan was in the South on another bus Saturday, but about 350 people showed up in St. Paul to hear out-of-state speakers, along with local legislators, candidates and clergy members decry the...

  AIR AMERICA'S FINEST [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Ned Rice alerts: If anyone cares, at 3:46 PM p.s.t. this afternoon on Air America Radio Randi Rhodes repeatedly urged listeners in hurricane ravaged areas to go right out and loot, arguing that poor people should be allowed to do so at will. She even advised her listeners to avoid discount centers like Wal-Mart and concentrate their looting on some of the higher-end stores so as to have access to higher quality stuff. I'm not sure if Randi was joking or serious (although with her it's always hard to be sure), but...

The Left contributes nothing to the intellectual marketplace when it has but a single, paranoid notion -- that the United States can do nothing but evil. Sheehan, the Left's latest hero, expresses that view in multiple, delusional ways: "Since we first stepped on this continent," she barks, "we have been responsible for death and destruction" ... And my favorite: America's greatest talent is "killing people." All of which sum to the sentiment at the core of Left-thought everywhere: "This country is not worth dying for." But such single-minded hate and paranoia is worse than just thoughtless and anti-American. It pointedly...

(Man is accused of releasing mink in state) An animal rights activist accused of freeing thousands of mink around the Midwest and dodging authorities for years has struck a deal with federal and state prosecutors to serve two years in prison. Peter Daniel Young plans to plead guilty to two federal counts of animal enterprise terrorism on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Anderson said. Each count is punishable by up to a year in prison and Anderson said he'll ask a judge to sentence Young to the maximum two years. Young also faces three state felony counts in Virginia in...

Emotions ran high for an army soldier's funeral in Martinsville Sunday. Sgt. Jeremy Doyle's sacrifice, brought many out to honor him but also sparked a standoff on a city street. People arriving to say goodbye to a hometown hero, met an altogether different scene in Martinsville. Demonstrators dragging American flags on the ground and holding signs opposing U. S. troops. "The thing that got us here is that Sgt. Doyle died for us to give us our freedom and then you have people like this to come and it's ridiculous. It's absurd," one funeral attendee told News 8. Tension grew...

Portside Assault On The USS Iowa By Lisa Fabrizio August 30, 2005 For years, those on the far left have repeatedly maintained that they support the U.S. military while, in reality, they oppose nearly every incidence of its deployment. Now it seems their animosity is not just reserved for our most recent forays, but apparently the Iraq War has soured them retrospectively on earlier battles for freedom. No greater proof of this is there than the recent debacle involving the Board of Governors of liberal bastion San Francisco and its rejection (web site) of the retired WWII battleship, USS Iowa....

Democrats Should Regroup, Reach Out to Voters August 30th, 2005 John Baer Remember the Democratic Party? No? How about the 2004 presidential election, where their candidate met a decisive loss against the incumbent President Bush? Ring a bell? It’s no real surprise that their current run of bad luck seems to have caused this formerly-reputable party to all but fall off the map. After news networks and talking heads decided to streamline presidential election coverage down to color-coordination, the branding of “blue-state” (Virginia not being one of these, FYI) on those that turned their electoral votes to the democratic side...

A Georgia county is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union over its pre-meeting prayers. The suit claims one prayer at a recent Cobb County Commissioners' meeting ended "in the name of Jesus our Savior," which phrase, according to the ACLU, puts the invocation in violation of the Constitution of the United States. However, attorney Steve Crampton of the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, protests that the Cobb County officials' prayers are entirely legal, and the commission members have the right to open meetings with prayers acknowledging Jesus if they so choose. But unfortunately, the pro-family...

Here’s a touching scene, featuring Cindy Sheehan and the Reverend Al Sharpton, in front of crosses, looking solemn and sad.Now let’s zoom out and see the media swarming around this manufactured event: (Hat tip: Bill P.) UPDATE at 8/28/05 5:36:04 pm: More pictures of this moving tableau at Getty Images. Co-starring “Army Mom.”UPDATE at 8/28/05 5:42:51 pm: Several LGF readers point out the Jewish star at lower right of the second photograph. Somebody tell CODEPINK not to let the Nazis know.

Every time I turn around, another anti-war person is saying how much he or she "supports" the troops. No matter how vicious the attack on the policy in Iraq or the Afghanistan situation or the proactive strategy to confront worldwide terror, it always seems there's a "support the troops" caveat at the end of the blistering dissent. OK, fine, opposing the Iraq war doesn't mean disrespect for the military, that's true. But the benefit of the doubt only goes so far. Now there's a litmus test, a way to expose the folks who really don't support the troops no matter...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. - The image on the brown T-shirt is simple, a colorful outline of the Southwest's craggy hills. The message under the picture — "New Mexico, Cleaner than Regular Mexico" — has galvanized thousands of Latinos, who are taking their protests from the streets to cyberspace. "I was born in Mexico, so when people make comments about Mexico I take it personally," said Carime Hernandez, 24, of West Palm Beach, Fla. Hernandez took action. She logged on to BlueLatinos.org and fired off an e-mail message demanding the chairman of Urban Outfitters, the retail chain that sells the tops,...

One Clinton jets to Alaska and Iraq with Republicans, and enthusiastically sponsors legislation with GOP lawmakers who impeached her husband. The other plays golf with former President George Bush and accepts assignments from the current one. All of this bipartisan snuggling by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton has some Democrats and Republicans questioning their motives. Is this calculated politics designed to get the former first lady ready for a presidential bid in 2008?

LONDON (AFP) - The British army joined in a gay pride march for the first time, an army spokesman said. Troops in uniform joined the annual Gay Pride festival in Manchester, northern England, on the march through the city centre, with thousands of supporters watching from the sidelines. The army was out to attract homosexual recruits and show it can be gay-friendly. Soldiers gave out sweets as their float travelled along the two-mile (three-kilometre) course, following a float of muscular men in pink Lycra shorts dancing to music and blowing whistles. "We don't really care what sexual orientation you are...

To parents concerned about public education leftist bias: here is the exact content of an email I just sent to my kid's freshman History teacher. I welcome any comments in case I receive a backlash from the principal, to whom I cc'ed in on the message, and possibly the teacher himself:Hello Mr. ____: I am ____ ____'s mom. He shared some things from your class presentation today that concerned his father and me. He said you stated, upon displaying an image on the overhead projector of a person crying, that the man was reacting to the assasination of a Kennedy...

A front-page story concerning Iran in Tuesday’s Washington Post was clearly intended to thwart American efforts preventing that country from obtaining nuclear weapons, as well as to embarrass the Bush administration with more implications of faulty intelligence. In an article entitled “No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program”, Dafna Linzer states: Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and are not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, a group of U.S. government experts and other international scientists has determined. "The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for Lies" and "Enlist here and die for Halliburton." The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House. Among the props used by the protesters are...

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said the small intelligence unit, called "Able Danger," had identified Atta and three of the other future Sept. 11 hijackers as al-Qaida members by mid-2000. He said military lawyers stopped the unit from sharing the information with the FBI. The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks left the Able Danger claims out of its official report. In an interview with Fox News Channel and The New York Times, Shaffer said the panel was not given all the information his team had gathered. "I'm told confidently by the person who did move the material over that the...