Free Republic

(Feb. 14) - It's no surprise to see Abraham Lincoln, the man who held the nation together when it was on the brink of collapse, atop the list of greatest American presidents. But many other presidents are judged far differently by experts than by the general public. Bill Clinton left office with a high approval rating, but a panel of writers who focus on US politics and foreign affairs at the Times, a British publication, considered him mediocre. The president who passed progressive legislation but who saddled himself with the Monica Lewinsky scandal landed at number 23. As panelist Ben...

Wrangling over detainees eclipses soldiers' work: PM CBC News: Friday, May 11, 2007 Canadian soldiers' heroism in Afghanistan is not getting the attention it deserves as members of Parliament spar over the handling of detainees, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says. Harper made the comment Friday morning while speaking to a crowd of about 1,000 soldiers and military families at a Wear Red Rally to show support for the troops at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, north of Ottawa. The prime minister noted that nine soldiers from the base have been awarded military honours in the past month for their work...

A myth is being propagated by liberals and leftists, a myth that is telic, mainly due to the behaviors, policies and actions of liberals and leftists in America. This being of course racism. Something that is not a problem except for the liberals and leftists who use it as a political tool. There was actually a time when racism was real in America, slavery for example, like compulsory taxation slavery was rooted in the use of force to sanction labor. Had it not been for the little capitalism there was in America, and the need to compete wage v. wage...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, probably even longer. The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the "recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia." The National Academy scientists concluded that the Mann-Bradley-Hughes research from the late 1990s was "likely" to be true, said John "Mike" Wallace, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Washington and a panel member. The conclusions from the '90s research "are...

America may still think of itself as the land of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a lot lower than elsewhere in the world, according to a new study published on Wednesday. The likelihood that a child born into a poor family will make it into the top five percent is just one percent, according to "Understanding Mobility in America," a study by economist Tom Hertz from American University. By contrast, a child born rich had a 22 percent chance of being rich as an adult, he said. "In other words, the chances of getting rich...

Incidents similar to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are occurring every day in the United States and around the world, but few people are doing anything about it. This was the overarching message presented by leading feminist Catharine MacKinnon during a provocative lecture yesterday that underscored the parallels between the ongoing war on terror and what she sees as a war on women. “A kind of war is being fought, but there is no name for this war in which men are the aggressors and women the victims,” she said. MacKinnon, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School,...

A new study by the Dove Foundation demonstrated that Hollywood may not love money as much as it loves its "adult" themes of sexual perversion, violent death and ear-bending profanity. The foundation's founder and chairman, Dick Rolfe, reported: "While the movie industry produced nearly 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated films from 1989 to 2003, the average G-rated film produced 11 times greater profit than its R-rated counterpart." Wow. Defenders of Tinseltown's antics might argue that there's a lot more R-rated movies around to flop and ruin the averages. The Dove Foundation does note that R-rated films are declining...

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." --President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." --President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 "Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear,...

I’m going to Question The Patriotism™ of Democrat politicians. Let’s suppose you’re Nancy Pelosi or John Murtha. You believe, in your heart of hearts, that America, the world, and your constituents, would be better off if the United States were to - in Murtha’s euphemism - “immediately redeploy” from Iraq. Do you not then have an obligation to act upon your convictions? If you believe that immediately withdrawing from Iraq is the best, the most prudent, the most principled course of action, is it not your patriotic duty to do everything you can to enable that course of action? Yet,...

PITTSBURGH -- A remarkable story unfolded in this community this month, with implications far deeper than even the brave principals in the event realized. It was the successful "girlcott" of offensive Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts mounted by a group of young women who showed more character, more intelligence and ultimately more ingenuity than the apparel manufacturer. These protesters, part of the Women's & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, took their indignation to the public, and before a week was out they took it nationally. It's important to remember that this is not your father's Abercrombie, which created the sort of...

President Commemorates Veterans Day, Discusses War on Terror Tobyhanna Army Depot Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania Fact Sheet: Honoring America's Veterans In Focus: Honoring Our Veterans 11:45 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thank you all for coming, please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm glad to be back in Pennsylvania and I'm proud to be the first sitting President to visit Monroe County. (Applause.) I'm especially pleased to see so many military veterans with us today. Those who have risked their lives for our freedom have the respect and gratitude of our nation on Veterans Day...

By 1 hour, 10 minutes ago OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - As U.S. gays and lesbians prepare to battle a raft of state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage that will likely be on the ballot next fall, activists are recasting the issue as one that needs to be fought on moral rather than political grounds. That is the message Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the oldest and leading U.S. grass-roots gay and lesbian coalition, has taken to more than 2,500 gay rights organizers at its annual conference held in Oakland this week. "What I...

Hofstra's 11th Presidential Conference, William Jefferson Clinton: The "New Democrat" From Hope wraps up Saturday. Among those scheduled to attend are former U.S. Ambassador Richard Gardner, former presidential counsel Mickey Kantor and Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Panel topics include Clinton's impeachment, foreign policy and humor and the presidency. If you missed the first two days of the conference, webcasts of Clinton's address and the opening keynotes for each day are available online, along with photographs and text recaps. For information on Saturday's sessions, please visit our online schedule. Check out our conference information page to see the...

Powerline notes the outlandish claims being made by Michael Scheuer, formerly of the CIA: The pathetic Michael Scheuer claims that, “in the war against al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein was one of our best allies.” And the selectively pathetic Chris Matthews gives Scheuer a free pass on his big lie. Thomas Joscelyn has the details. JOHN adds: That’s an interesting change of heart on Scheuer’s part. Scheuer was the head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit in 1998, when Clinton’s Justice Department indicted bin Laden. Here is a paragraph from Count 4 of the indictment: Al Qaeda also forged alliances with...

RUSH: Okay, gotta hear this. We got a lot more sound bites of this, but this is the money sound bite. Brian Ross today talking to Mary Mapes of CBS says, "After 12 years of defending him, CBS and Dan Rather later admitted they couldn't vouch for the authenticity of the documents, Bill Burkett's documents, and that they should not have been used and the story should not have aired. Do you," Mary Mapes, "still think the story was true?" MAPES: The story? Absolutely. ROSS: This seems remarkable to me that you would sit here now and say you still...

The NY Times lied and dishonored a fallen soldier in order to make their political statement about the war. Imagine if the Bush Administration had doctored and edited Casey’s last letter to Cindy Sheehan. Just another example of the utter dishonesty of the left. It seems as though journalists just view themselves as propagandists first and reporters second. Truth is really the first casualty of war, except today those who purport to report the facts can't be trusted to do so honestly. This is what the Times excerpted from Corporal Jeffrey Starr's letter home before he died: Another member of...

WASHINGTON - For more than a year, former Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey has been telling anybody who would listen about the atrocities that he and other Marines committed in Iraq. In scores of newspaper, magazine and broadcast stories, at a Canadian immigration hearing and in numerous speeches across the country, Massey told how he and other Marines recklessly, sometimes intentionally killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians. Among his claims: Marines fired on and killed peaceful Iraqi protesters. Americans shot a 4-year-old Iraqi girl in the head. Tractor-trailers were filled with the bodies of civilian men, women and children killed...

In yesterday’s (Saturday) Washington Post is a brief article in its Metro section, responding to well-attended press conference the previous day in front of the newspaper’s offices. The press conference accused the Post of violating the privacy rights of certain individuals on the website FreeRepublic.com This exchange, printed by the Post, explains the charge, and the newspaper’s response to it, so far: "How in good faith could The Washington Post access a private Internet account without the express permission of the account holder?" Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for the conservative FreeRepublic.com, asked in a morning news conference in front of...

President Bush lied us into war and the revelations produced by the Scooter Libby indictment only confirm this terrible scandal. That’s the essence of the vicious slur Democrats are hurling at the GOP these days, with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) shutting down the U.S. Senate to dramatize the charge. The White House, as the Democrats would now have it, had virtually no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, but the President, Dick Cheney and their gang were so intent on removing Saddam from power they invented facts. And when critics such as Joe Wilson...

The main objective of the World Summit on the Information Society to be held this month in Tunisia is to ensure that poor countries get the full benefits that new information and communication technologies -- including the Internet -- can bring to economic and social development. But as the meeting draws nearer, there is a growing chorus of misinformation about it. One mistaken notion is that the United Nations wants to "take over," police or otherwise control the Internet. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The United Nations wants only to ensure the Internet's global reach, and that effort...

No sooner had Hurricane Katrina moved inland to spawn tornadoes, flooding, misery, and tragedy than global warming alarmists and some in the media began spawning junk science. Blaming Warming for Everything "The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming," opined long-time alarmist Ross Gelbspan's August 30 op-ed in the Boston Globe. Gelbspan also blamed global warming for snow in Los Angeles, high winds in Scandinavia, drought in the Midwest, a heat wave in Arizona, heavy rainfall in India, and an ice storm in New England. Gelbspan offered no...

SACRAMENTO — While focusing on a conservative audience Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an assault against unions and Democrats by accusing them of "dirty" campaigning and lying about the initiatives he supports on next week's ballot. The governor's complaints came as the California Nurses Assn., one of Schwarzenegger's chief critics, unveiled a new 60-second radio advertisement featuring actor Warren Beatty encouraging a vote against the governor Nov. 8. "Don't give him more power," Beatty says in the ad, which is running in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. In an interview, Beatty, a longtime Democratic activist, said the governor's plans...

The Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Sign the call now!Your government, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights. Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it. Your government puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night. Your government is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.Your government suppresses the science that doesn't fit its...

An editorial in the Tuesday edition of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal ssems to call into question the content and character behind the color of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' skin. The newspaper - openly liberal by value of this opinion piece - is chock full of buzzwords straight out of the Democrat Party talking-points used to dsecribe the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Saying the Alito nomination "lessens the nation's rich diversity," the editors argue that Alito's mere presence as a man should disqualify him from the opportunity to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the High Court....

The new president of CBS News wants to revive the network's news operation, but according to some analysts, he must first overcome two major obstacles: boredom and bias. Shawn McManus, head of CBS Sports since 1996, was named president of CBS News on Oct. 28 by Les Moonves, the head of parent company Viacom, and instructed to "break the mold in news."

Oct 27, 2005 — HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro denied on Thursday that his Communist government had accepted U.S. aid for the first time in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. The U.S. State Department said earlier its longtime foe Cuba, whose own offer of help was snubbed by Washington after Hurricane Katrina, had for the first time "in memory" accepted U.S. disaster aid. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said a three-person U.S. assessment team was on stand-by to go to Cuba to see what was needed after Wilma flooded Havana and western shore areas this week. U.S. aid...

Yesterday I finally received a portion of King County's voter database transaction log. It was weeks late, incomplete and issued only after I sued the county. These records confirm more elements of my recent article in The Stranger -- that elections officials knowingly and unlawfully counted ballots from ineligible voters last November and then modified computer records to cover it

October 26, 2005 MSM Makeover: Condi Rice Filed Under: Humor, Media This morning, Michelle Malkin points out the following circumstances regarding a recent photo in USA Today.“Notice anything peculiar about her eyes?,� asks Malkin.“No, Condi isn’t possessed; the photo was manipulated.�This news comes courtesy of From The Pen, which found a pre-doctored version of the Associated Press photo on Yahoo! España:What they didn’t find is the latest photo “revealing� who’s sitting behind Condi in the photo. By using propriety photographic algorithms, we were able to focus in on the background. (If only Dick Morris knew how to use photoshop)That might...

Includes many updates by Michelle Malkin DEMONIZING CONDI By Michelle Malkin   ·   October 26, 2005 06:41 AM ***scroll down for updates...345pm EDT flash: THE PHOTO HAS BEEN REMOVED from USA Today's site with an editor's note...I'll be talking about more unhinged examples of Condi hatred next week. More details here.*** Check out the photo of Condoleezza Rice that was published by USA Today last week: Notice anything peculiar about her eyes? No, Condi isn't possessed; the photo was manipulated. This news comes courtesy of From The Pen, which found a pre-doctored version of the Associated Press photo on Yahoo! España:...

A federal law to protect journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources is necessary no matter what, Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press said Tuesday. "It's nuts to see reporters going to jail for upholding professional standards," he said at the National Press Club. "We're not asking for an exception just for us. We're asking for an exception that already exists."

DEMONIZING CONDI By Michelle Malkin   ·   October 26, 2005 06:41 AM Check out the photo of Condoleezza Rice that was published by USA Today last week: Notice anything peculiar about her eyes? (Click on the Extended Entry for an explanation.)No, Condi isn't possessed; the photo was manipulated. This news comes courtesy of From The Pen, which found a pre-doctored version of the Associated Press photo on Yahoo! España: Ask USA Today's Graphics and Photos Managing Editor, Richard Curtis (rcurtis@usatoday.com), what the ^$%#@+! is going on. *** Related: Katherine Harris vs. the Photo DoctorsTime's photo distortions

October 26, 2005 -- PISTOL-packing Joe Mantegna is blasting a chink in the politically correct armor of some Hollywood heavyweights — he says they love to own and shoot guns. The "Joan of Arcadia" star says that such left-leaning showbiz types as Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and playwright David Mamet are all avid shooters. "Lots of guys in Hollywood love to shoot," Mantegna, a longtime gun sportsman, tells Fade In magazine. "But they ain't gonna talk to you."

Michael Bellesiles Resigns from Emory Faculty October 25, 2002 Robert A. Paul, Interim Dean of Emory College I have accepted the resignation of Michael Bellesiles from his position as Professor of History at Emory University, effective December 31, 2002. Although we would not normally release any of the materials connected with a case involving the investigation of faculty misconduct in research, in light of the intense scholarly interest in the matter I have decided, with the assent of Professor Bellesiles as well as of the members of the Investigative Committee, to make public the report of the Investigative Committee appointed...

Cindy Sheehan, anti-war movement icon, has deep ties to the Code Pink organization. Will she be going on their, "Friendship Delegation" to Cuba in January? Or on their communist pilgrimage to Venezuala to attend the World Social[ist] Forum in February? Code Pink is yet another anti-war organization, socialist in orientation and leadership, that is dishonest about their goals and aims, tirelessly calling the United States an oppressive terrorist power. Let's go to Cuba? Feel like Bush is trying to crush your dissent? Tired of chanting death to America at anti-war rallies only to find that the American people won't join...

Guns are dangerous. But myths are dangerous, too. Myths about guns are very dangerous, because they lead to bad laws. And bad laws kill people. "Don't tell me this bill will not make a difference," said President Clinton, who signed the Brady Bill into law. Sorry. Even the federal government can't say it has made a difference. The Centers for Disease Control did an extensive review of various types of gun control: waiting periods, registration and licensing, and bans on certain firearms. It found that the idea that gun control laws have reduced violent crime is simply a myth. I...

Propaganda pieces normally contain an indisputable kernel of truth, which is then artfully embellished with innuendo, distortions, and half-truths. By that standard, the upcoming PBS program, Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories, doesn’t even qualify as good fiction. The program is so larded with Leftist fantasies and sweeping stereotypes you begin to wonder if producers Dominique Lasseur and Catherine Tatge thought they were doing a special for Sesame Street. A nice bedtime story wouldn’t be so bad, except this tale targets fathers and families. Breaking the Silence leads off with this whopper: “One-third of mothers lose custody to abusive husbands.” That...

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said Friday that since leaving the mainstream networks behind to join Fox he's noticed an "astonishing" amount of biased reporting on the part of his former colleagues. "I came from the mainstream media and I didn't used to feel this way," Wallace told WRKO Boston radio host Howie Carr. In radio interviews he does to promote his Sunday broadcast, Wallace said, the questions he gets are almost always slanted against the Bush administration.

CBS News' ethical standards are being challenged after veteran reporter Mike Wallace's appearance at an anti-gun Brady Center fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., last month. At the event, held at the French Embassy, Wallace played a clip of his "60 Minutes" interview with then-NRA president Charlton Heston, whom he described as the "self-righteous enemy of the Jim and Sarah Brady Bunch," reported blogger and radio host Cam Edwards at NRANews.com. Edwards said that afterwards, Wallace mocked Heston by holding up his hands, as if holding a rifle, and saying, "in my dead hands ... remember when he used to hold up...

If Michelle Kosinski's canoe had sprung a leak on NBC's "Today" show Friday, she didn't have much to worry about. In one of television's inadvertently funny moments, the NBC News correspondent was paddling in a canoe during a live report about flooding in Wayne, N.J. While she talked, two men walked between her and the camera _ making it apparent that the water where she was floating was barely ankle-deep. Matt Lauer struggled to keep a straight face, joking about the "holy men" who were walking on water. "Have you run aground yet?" Katie Couric asked. "Why walk when you...

by Mark Finkelstein October 14, 2005 - 07:10. In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show was caught in staging . . . a video stunt. In the Bush/Iraq segment, Today screened footage indicating that prior to engaging in a video conversation with President Bush, soldiers on the ground in Iraq were given tips by a Department of Defense official. But the only advice that the official was shown as giving...

During the bleak days of the Depression, Matthew Josephson -- at that time a self-proclaimed Marxist - published a biased and mistake-packed economic history of the Gilded Age. Josephson's The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists, 1861 - 1901 hit bookstores in 1934. At the time -- in the midst of massive unemployment, historically-high industrial malaise, and all the human suffering attendant to those realities -- critics and pundits seemed eager to praise a book that damned Wall Street magnates, bankers, and millionaires generally. Thus Josephson's treatise became an influential bestseller. Thus also did men such as Jay Gould, Andrew...

"Can the News REALLY be Fair, Accurate and Objective?" asked the title of the first lecture in the 2005-2006 George E. McCammon Memorial Distinguished Speaker Series. "Yes," said Marcy McGinnis, senior vice president, news coverage CBS News, speaking at McKendree College in Lebanon on Tuesday night. Her answer was not surprising because she is in charge of news coverage for CBS, a television network that prides itself on those values despite a couple of recent problems. "My job is to pay really close attention to the news, to watch closely and care about it," McGinnis said. She said fair, accurate...

After initially putting the first chapter of fired CBS producer Mary Mapes's book, Truth and Duty, on its web site, Amazon.com has apparently pulled the plug on the enterprise. Visitors to the online book retailer can no longer read the excerpt as it no longer shows up in listings for the print or audio versions of the book.Was the excerpt yanked because of the several objectively incorrect assertions it contained, and the subsequent blog firestorm their exposition caused? Only Amazon or Mapes's publisher, St. Martin’s Press knows for sure.

Legal documents: http://www.vvlf.org/documents/Sherwood_and_VVLF_v_Kerry.pdf

"A look at the powerful National Rifle Association, locked into battle for gun rights against anti-gun advocates. Probes such questions as: Who are the NRA's three million members? Is the NRA a radical right-wing group, or the last defenders of the Constitution's Second Amendment? Will Americans ever willingly give up their guns?" Not probed are such questions as "Can A&E air an unbiased episode about guns and gun owners?", and "Is Bill Kurtis full of himself, or what?"

'COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF' SUTHERLAND: BUSH WILL DESTROY OUR LIVES Choking back tears, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF star Donald Sutherland warned this week: President Bush "will destroy our lives!" The star of the new ABC drama, which follows the first woman President of the United States, lashed out at the real White House during a dramatic sit down interview with the BBC. Sutherland ripped Bush and his administration for the war and Hurricane Katrina fallout. "They were inept. The were inadequate to the task, and they lied," Sutherland charged. "And they were insulting, and they were vindictive. And they were heartless. They did not care. They...

Wikipedia is an online, user-editable encyclopedia located at en.wikipedia.org/wiki . It has untold thousands of articles, and, unlike paper encyclopedias, it can immediately cover current events. Alexa says it's the 49th most popular web site, so it has a good deal of influence. In reading through some entries, I'm struck by a certain "liberal" bias. Examples can be found in the entries for Bill Bennett, Mike Malloy and other Air America hosts, Media Matters for America, the Minuteman Project, U.S. Immigration, and many others. Thankfully, there's something you can do about this. WP entries can be written and edited by...

<p>What you see on TV is often staged and biased. This video (17 mins) will help you get an idea of what lies beneath.</p> <p>Hope you guys will feedback...</p>

WASHINGTON — Former Education Secretary William Bennett (search), harshly criticized by Democrats and repudiated by the White House for a comment he made suggesting that, in theory, crime would go down if more black babies were aborted, fired back at his critics Friday.

I just love John Gibson of FOX NEWS, he gets right to the issue. He just got through cutting off some IDIOT ACLU Lawyer and saying their Lawsuit about ABU GARAB is going to kill more Americans. He exposes the ACLU for what they are, the Pure Anti Americans that they are.