Free Republic

The invasion of Georgia by Russia, at the behest of Vladimir Putin, has raised a firestorm of commentary and actions. Charles Krauthammer has suggested kicking Russia out of G8; Barack Obama went surfing in Hawaii; Poland has signed an agreement with the United States on missile defense. Along with all of the commentary, there has been a plethora of voices suggesting what Russia gains from the affair. First, it sends a message that siding with the United States is not a guaranteed win; it is a shot across the bow of other places, such as the Ukraine; it is a...

"We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" Dozens of lesbian activists at Smith College climbed in through windows and stormed the podium in a riot scene shortly after Ryan Sorba began a speech on his upcoming book, The Born Gay Hoax. The melee forced an end to the speech before a packed hall in the library on the Northhampton campus. Uniformed police officers and a plainclothes security guard were in the room but mostly just stood and watched. Rather than take action against the rioters, the officers and a university official walked to the podium and ordered Sorba to...

When is a gang not a gang? When it's based in the District. D.C. officials insist on describing groups of young males as "crews," rather than gangs, even when they are held responsible for violent acts such as the wave of killings in the city last weekend. But police officials in other cities say the distinction is counterproductive. "The very first step in dealing with gangs is denial," said Capt. Charles Bloom of the Philadelphia Police Department. "Then you get to the point that you can't deny it any more." D.C. police, lawmakers and community activists say the groups are...

man heckling First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna outside the 92nd Street Y was arrested after he punched a wheelchair-bound girl whose parents had told him to shut up, authorities said Wednesday. German Talis, 22, was shouting obscenities at the Bushes, who were leaving the building Tuesday, when he crossed paths with Wendy and John Lovetro and their daughter Maureen, 18, who has cerebral palsy.

PRISTINA, Serbia (AFP) — A group of Kosovo Albanians [muslims] appealed Tuesday for donations after they ran out of money to build a statue of former US president Bill Clinton. "With this act we will express sympathy, love and respect to president Clinton," Agim Rexhepi, head of the Friends of America association, told reporters. The three-metre (10-foot) tall monument is still under construction in a studio in the city of Podujevo, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the Kosovan capital Pristina. "The main work that remained unfinished is casting the statue in bronze. It can only be done outside of...

The following letter was printed in the Virginian Pilot by a reader sympathetic to their editorial position. Listening to and reading the hateful vitriol against undocumented immigrants, a person unfamiliar with U.S. history might conclude that we find ourselves innocent of any wrongdoing in this regard. No mention is made about how we took this land by force from the indigenous population, took half of Mexico in a war we precipitated, used slaves to build our economy and sucked the life's blood (resources, labor, environment and right to self-determination) out of Latin America and elsewhere via free trade, economic restructuring...

BERKELEY, Calif. — University of California officials have won the legal right to oust a band of tree-sitters who've taken up residence in an oak grove standing in the way of a planned sports center. But how do you uproot a tree-sitter in Berkeley, one of America's most politically correct cities? "Extremely difficult," acknowledges campus spokesman Dan Mogulof. As the protest nears its one-year anniversary, plenty of people have suggestions: Fire hoses, skunk spray and tranquilizer darts are among the thorny ideas Internet posters have planted. So far, the university has moved cautiously. The university wants to remove dozens of...

Writing about that recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll on the number of books Americans read in the previous year, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Sauders pounced on how AP reported the findings – specifically, that "liberals read more books than conservatives": The poll found that among people polled who read at least one book in the last year, liberals read nine books and conservatives read eight.When I called Michael Gross, associate vice president of Ipsos public affairs, to find out more about the Ipsos poll, he told me the one-book difference "is within the margin of error, it's not a...

It doesn't take long for provocateurs to crawl out of the woodwork to attack candidates, especially in stealth attacks. With Fred Thompson, they've apparently started before he officially enters the race -- and in one case, race is the operative word. Apparently hoping to confuse web surfers looking for Fred's website at www.imwithfred.com, a new site has appeared at www.imwithfred2008.com -- only this site welcomes people to the Ku Klux Klan, "Bringing a Message of Hope and Deliverance to White Christian America!" It includes links to a variety of disgusting racist sites. Who would post something like this as a...

A fawning mainstream media Where Eagles dare, pacifists doctor and dupe By Judi McLeod Sunday, March 25, 2007 My friend Jackie Gordon, who exposes anti-war ANSWER for their lies on the Internet, wants to know about pictures posted on their website that appear to be doctored.As we all know by now, the ragtag, loose knit and lovable vets called The Gathering of Eagles changed history in Washington D.C. on March 17. Traveling in great numbers from far distances, they outnumbered ANSWER three to one--but a fawning mainstream media failed to report the facts, as usual taking the side of ANSWER....

Does this photo appear to be doctored to you?

Liberals furious at Harper's Taliban accusation Last Updated: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 | 7:12 PM ET CBC News Prime Minister Stephen Harper went into attack mode in the House of Commons on Wednesday, accusing the Liberals of caring more about Taliban prisoners than Canadian troops. Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaped to the defence of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor during question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday.(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press) The attack came during Question Period, as the Liberals called for the resignation of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor over the erroneous information he provided to the government two weeks ago....

Monday, March 19, 2007 Leftists Supporting the Troops Discovered by a reader at Indymedia, this was the scene yesterday in Portland, Oregon, as “anti-war” demonstrators burned not only a US flag, but a US soldier in effigy. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24853_Leftists_Supporting_the_Troops&only

Editor and Publisher seems hardly able to hold back their excitement over the possibility that someone has found proof of the existence of the mysterious "Captain Jamil Hussein" who the Associated Press claimed as a source for the supposed burning of 6 Sunni Iraqis in retaliation for the depredations of that sect on their Shi'ite neighbors. In a Sunday posting on their site, E&P is crowing about "Conservative Bloggers in the U.S." eating crow. Though far from definitive proof, it was strong enough to cause at least one conservative blogger to wonder if those who had mocked the AP might...

The House yesterday passed a resolution "condemning the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murder [sic] of Philadelphia Police Office Danny Faulkner." The vote was 368-31, with 8 members voting "present." Here's a list of what one might call the Cop-Killer's Caucus, the congressmen who voted against the resolution, all Democrats. [Snip] The most disturbing name on the "no" list is that of John Conyers. Granted, this is only a symbolic vote, but is it really a good idea to entrust the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee to a man...

WHO? All Men and Women, you and everyone you know. WHERE? Everywhere in the world, but especially in countries with weapons of mass destruction. WHEN? Winter Solstice Day - Friday, December 22nd, at the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you choose. WHY? To effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy ( a Synchronized Global Orgasm. There are two more US fleets heading for the Persian Gulf with anti-submarine equipment that can only be for use against...

A caricature of a four-armed President Bush in the well-known tandava pose of Lord Shiva has roiled many Hindus and triggered an online signature campaign to protest its publication in a daily newspaper. "It's a deeply insulting cartoon," Rajesh Gooty, the U.S.-based founder of Indiacause.com, a Web-based portal whose stated purpose it is to safeguard the interests of India, told India-West by telephone. "It is totally offensive to draw a parallel between Bush and Shiva." The cartoon, which ran in the March 3 edition of The International Herald Tribune, a daily owned by the New York Times, depicts the U.S....