Free Republic

December 11, 2009 As part of the new American counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, soldiers and Marines must work first to protect the Afghan population. Given the choice between killing the enemy or risking civilian lives, they have been willing to let the enemy go. NPR's Tom Bowman was in Afghanistan earlier this year and witnessed troops grappling with the dilemma of whether to shoot. Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Next, we have a story that underlines the difficulty of fighting a...

It’s official: no one learned anything from Fannie/Freddie collapse posted at 11:36 am on December 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey Here’s what should have been a familiar scenario. The federal government wants to pressure lenders into offering mortgages to marginally-qualified borrowers. They offer a method to make the loans risk-free by bundling them into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) with the imprimatur of the US Treasury as a guarantee. When the money began rolling into the lenders, the lenders started amplifying the process by issuing loans to anyone breathing on a fairly regular basis, falsifying documents in order to rake in the...

I grew up in a small city in the New York suburbs. My parents scrimped and saved to give us a saner life than in the Bronx. Unlike most other towns in the county, our area was diverse, with a wealthy population in opulent estates; a middle class group (mine); and a large, low income population, mostly comprised of black residents. In the 60's, liberal policy makers conceived of forced busing so that deprived kids could enjoy tonier surroundings. The utopians envisioned the dazzling spectacle of ethnic bonding. At my elementary school, the black kids arrived each day by bus...

Terrorist suspects under control orders have received more than £600,000 in taxpayers' money for items including household bills and telephone costs. Home Office figures published in Parliament show that since April 2007, the department has spent £611,470 on “living costs” for people put under effective house arrest on the advice of MI5. The money has been spent on accommodation, council tax, utility bills, telephone line rental, prepaid telephone cards, phone bills and “other subsistence," the Home Office said. As well as living expenses, the Government is also paying some of the terror suspects undisclosed sums in benefits. There are currently...

Naval Academy leaders are under fire after altering the composition of the military color guard at a World Series game last month so the group wouldn't be made up only of white men. The Navy Times and other media reported that two white midshipmen were removed from the performance in New York City and replaced with a Pakistani-American man and a white woman so the group would appear more diverse. Capt. Matthew Klunder, commandant of midshipmen, disputed that version of events. He said he considered replacing two members but

But enough with the blind contributions to the Republican Party, and with the blind voting for establishment-backed candidates. That the establishment attempts to save face every time it loses, at it is doing now by supporting Hoffman two days before the election, should not blind anyone from the fact that only hours ago, it was throwing money at a genuine leftist while trashing Hoffman, and that in the coming months, it will be supporting a decidedly non-conservative Charlie Crist over a perfectly conservative and perfectly electable Marco Rubio in the Florida Republican Senate primary. Thus, until the Republican establishment truly...

It's been a long, strange trip since Gavin Newsom became San Francisco's mayor. When he first ran for City Hall's top job, Newsom led with a campaign to do something about the city's homeless population. Well, the homeless are still here, but Newsom has moved on to a new target - he is running to be the next governor of California by picking on the personal habits of people who for the most part work hard and pay taxes. Example: Ask some out-of-towners to walk Market Street from the Ferry Building to City Hall. They'll tell you how beautiful San...

My Good Freepers, Please help me locate all Black History Month videos featuring children singing the praises of any noted conservative. Just one, please. I'll sit here and hold my breath.

*Sigh* Haven't been there in several months, thought I'd take a look. Top story: Meanwhile, over at the far right fever swamp called Free Republic, denizens are openly supporting the white supremacist British National Party: British National Party Forced To Admit Non-Whites. To: Steelfish You most certainly don’t have freedom of associaton in America. Well maybe if you’re non-white you do. 5 posted on September 3, 2009 8:18:55 PM PDT by American Silver Eagle [...] To: Steelfish Freedom of Association is supposed to be party of the Constitution but white people are currently not allowed to declare their neighborhoods “for...

Women in chadors are really feminist ninja warriors. Rather than allow themselves to be gawked at by male strangers, they choose to defeat the “male gaze” by hiding from it in plain view. But don’t you worry: Beneath that chador, abaya, burqa, or veil, there is a sexy courtesan wearing “Victoria Secret, elegant fashion, and skin care lotion,” just waiting for her husband to come home for a night of wild and sensuous marital lovemaking. Obviously, these are not my ideas. I am quoting from a piece by Naomi Wolf that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days...

Recently we were informed that female US Marines are wearing headscarves in Afghanistan, and that President Karzi wants to set the rules for our troops over there. Apparently though we have to bend over backwards even more as President Karzai has blown a fuse when questioned about possible voter fraud in the recent Afghan election. Excuse me, but Karzai is nothing without US blood and money. Aren't we supposed to be calling the shots there? Once again Obama and Co. get no respect.

On Wednesday's Hardball, MSNBC host Chris Matthews hosted a discussion with Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and Salon's Joan Walsh as the trio discussed Parker's latest column, "A Tip for the GOP: Look Away," in which she argues that the Republican party is hurt by being centered in the South with its history of racial politics. Matthews, who would later theorize that Sarah Palin will exploit white racism by visiting "cul de sacs of whitedom," set up the segment by reading a line from Parker's column which compares Palin to a white character in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking...

CLEMSON — The ACC has halted its plans to hold its conference baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach, citing failure to reach an agreement on the Confederate flag issue. In May, the ACC awarded the event to Myrtle Beach for 2011-13, expressing a willingness to look past the NCAA’s ban of predetermined championship events being contested in the state. On Monday, the league announced it had given the event to Durham, N.C. (for 2011, 2013) and Greensboro, N.C. (for 2012), confirming a report by The State that its plans had changed. Clemson coach Jack Leggett - Mary Ann Chastain /AP Do...

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned an audience of 800 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park that "business as usual" would lead to a dramatically changed world in the coming decades...he described a world with more severe storms and droughts, far more hot summer days exceeding 90 degrees, rising sea levels and species extinctions if carbon emissions aren't markedly scaled back. Chu focused on a chart from a report released this month from the NOAA [that] tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over an 800,000-year period, measured from an Antarctic ice core. In it, a red line ranged between...

In the two weeks since Newsweek has redesigned, the magazine’s editors have sent out a statement that they intend to sever any and all connection to the turgid, dusty newsweekly of yore. And Jon Meacham, the magazine’s editor, is trying to recapture that age-old magazine editor’s trick for his newly conceived book: buzz. For the next issue that hits newsstands on June 8, Comedy Central funnyman Stephen Colbert will be Newsweek’s guest editor, The Observer has learned.

The November election was less than a month away when Sen. Joe Biden told an audience in Seattle that the world would soon test Barack Obama. "Watch, we're going to have a crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," Biden predicted. Within hours, the nation's cabal of political analysts cried out in unison: gaffe, gaffe, gaffe! As a political matter of that time, Biden's remarks were certainly unwise. But if you look at the state of the world today, he was absolutely right. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama," he...

Many conservatives are absolutely perplexed by the question of what motivates liberals to take the patently wrong political positions they do. It’s difficult to explain it without believing such obviously wrong ideas like liberals are just stupid, or they want to destroy our country, but sometimes we resort to those explanations out of pure frustration. But what is the explanation? Why do seemingly good, intelligent people take positions that cause so much harm in the face of all the facts? I’ve finally stumbled upon the answer, and it’s so stunningly simple, yet profound in its implications, that it’s absolutely mind-boggling....

In these times of dire economic trouble, we're all watching President Barack Obama. Six hundred thousand jobs disappeared last month alone. Decisive action is needed — but this president does not act alone. He made that clear in his campaign. Obama is a community organizer, and we're his community; we have our part to play. How does an ordinary citizen affect anything as massive as an economic meltdown? Last Sunday, 10 of us met in the College Park home of John Allen in response to a request from our president. All across the country, people were congregating at economic recovery...

People don't seem to like fish. They're slithery and slimy, and they have eyes on either side of their pointy little heads—which is weird, to say the least. Plus, the small ones nibble at your feet when you're swimming, and the big ones—well, the big ones will bite your face off if Jaws is anything to go by. ------------ Snip

Cooper Arms owner Dan Cooper backs Obama. Can't post the article due to copy write infringement, But I thought you might want to know that a gun manufacturer is supporting a gun grabber. He said he was he was dazzled by Obama's speech at that year's Democratic National Convention.

A council is urging allotment holders not to lock their sheds in case thieves damage the structures while breaking in.Tenants have been warned that padlocks can lead to thieves forcing their way through doors and windows of the council-owned sheds to steal garden equipment. Bristol City Council claims its 'Don't Use a Padlock' initiative will save taxpayers' money because fewer sheds will have to be repaired or replaced. Its guide reads: "Don't padlock your shed; it can save the shed being damaged if someone does try to get into it.....

Teachers have sparked fury by banning pupils from playing in the playground before school - for health and safety reasons. Children have been ordered not to play in the 15 minutes before lessons start - in case parents or their young children get injured at Ashburton Junior School in Croydon, south London. Adam Bates, 31, whose 10-year-old son Shane had a tennis ball confiscated last week, said today: "It's ridiculous, the kids are deprived of valuable play time in the morning. "Everyone's always going on about exercise but this school is clamping down on it. "My kids really look forward...

A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan's ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the 'humanity of the Taliban'. Lyse Doucet, a presenter and correspondent on BBC World News, was speaking at a discussion of TV reporting of the war in the country. Doucet, who has been at the BBC since 1983, also spoke out against the nature of the reports on Prince Harry's deployment in Afghanistan. The veteran correspondent and presenter, who played a key role in the BBC's coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, told the Edinburgh International Television Conference: 'What's lacking in the...

When I saw this headline, I wondered what it could possibly mean: "Drugs like LSD and Ecstasy 'could help terminally ill'." Turns out (drat!) that it doesn't mean that those hits of acid you may have swallowed when you were young and irresponsible will help you live longer. The first clinical trial involving LSD since the 1970s began in Switzerland in June with the aim of using "psychedelic psychotherapy" to help terminally ill patients come to terms with imminent death to improve the quality of their remaining life. Eight subjects will receive 200 micrograms of LSD - enough to induce...

California state Sen. Jack Scott says he didn't intend to "be a party pooper." It's just that helium-filled foil balloons -- like those found at hospital gift shops and office parties -- are dangerous. They float into electric lines and cause power outages, more than 800 in California last year, utilities say. He drafted a bill to ban foil balloons; it sailed through the state Senate and now awaits a vote in the Assembly. ***** The pro-balloon people are hoping that even if the bill does pass, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto it. At a recent news conference, the governor...

The other day, reading the New York Post's popular Page Six gossip page, I was surprised to find a picture of me, followed by the lines: "ABC'S John Stossel wants the government to stop interfering with your right to get high. The crowd went silent at his call to legalize hard drugs". I had attended a Marijuana Policy Project event celebrating the New York State Assembly's passage of a medical-marijuana bill. (The bill hasn't passed the Senate.) I told the audience I thought it pathetic that the mere half passage of a bill to allow sick people to try a...

The [Connecticut] state Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill aimed at reducing the pollution that causes global warming. Senators voted 35-0 in favor of the legislation and sent it to Gov. M. Jodi Rell. The House of Representatives approved it earlier. If she signs it into law, Connecticut will be the fifth state to adopt mandatory limits on global warming pollution. The state passed legislation back in 2004. But that law, which established benchmarks for air pollution reduction, was voluntary. The new bill would require total emissions to be capped at 10 percent below 1990 levels by...

(CNSNews.com) - As part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Green the Capitol" initiative, the House of Representatives bought $89,000 worth of carbon credits in November. House Republicans, however, want more oversight for what they see as a program subject to "deception, waste and fraud." In announcing the initiative in June 2007, Pelosi said buying carbon offsets would balance out about 24,000 tons of carbon emissions from House operations. "Offsets are credits that are purchased -- in this case, from the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) -- to offset carbon emissions through investment in other U.S.-based environmentally friendly projects," the California Democrat...

The US military is funding the construction of Islamic schools, or madrassas, in the east of Afghanistan in an attempt to stem the tide of young people going to radical religious schools in Pakistan. Such schools spawned the Taliban movement, which harboured Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader behind the September 11 terror attacks on the US, before it was swept from power in 2001. -snip- “We’re talking separate schools for boys and girls to develop the curriculum that’s within their governmental parameters of how they want [to develop] their people and their country, their vision and their way of...

Rasmussen Reports is looking at the impact of Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul as potential third party or independent candidates in the 2008 elections. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that roughly 15% of voters would currently vote for one of these two candidates in general election match-ups. When the two candidates are mentioned as independent options in match-ups between Mitt Romney and the two Democratic frontrunners, Paul and Bloomberg attract roughly the same level of support. When John McCain is mentioned as the Republican candidate in a match-up with Barack Obama, Ron Paul earns 11% of the...

NBC correspondent Lawrence O'Donnell has been losing it for the last four years, but he usually restricts his extreme bombast for Republicans. He wouldn't allow John O'Neill (actually a Democrat) speak in a 2004 television appearance, screaming "Creepy liar" over him whenever O'Neill tried to respond. Just recently he let loose a barrage of anti-Mormon bigotry when discussing Mitt Romney. Now, however, O'Donnell aims his strange ire at John Edwards, whom he accuses of racism for staying in the primaries: John Edwards is a loser. He has won exactly two elections in his life and lost 31. Only one of...

In Khartoum today, a crowd described by some as numbering in the hundreds and by others in the thousands, marched in support of a death sentence for Gillian Gibbons, the British schoolteacher who was convicted of insulting Islam after her class of seven-year-olds named a teddy bear "Muhammad": The protesters, some carrying swords, screamed, “Shame, shame on the U.K.!” and, “Kill her, kill her by firing squad.” The demonstration followed Friday evening services in which imams denounced Ms. Gibbons, but some observers said that the marchers included "government employees ordered to demonstrate." Others said that the protest didn't seem especially...

Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy. But the very thought makes her shudder with horror. Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.

The newish police chief Ronald Ricucci has been concerned about the city’s 1985 “sanctuary law.” That ordinance, enacted to aid refugees of civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, forbids the city police to bust or assist in busting people for being “illegal”. The police are to ignore immigration status of arrestees and citizens, and they are not to cooperate with the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The INS agency, since renamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now part of the Department of Homeland Security. It now maintains a data base of wanted persons that includes “deported felons.”...

(AP) WASHINGTON Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday the Jena Six case shows the government needs to do more to combat racism far beyond a small Louisiana town where charges filed after a school fight garnered national attention. "Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is not unique to any one place, but is found in cities and towns north and south throughout our nation," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said as he opened a hearing into the Jena case. In Jena, six black teenagers were charged with the beating of a white student. The incident happened after nooses were hung...

Regardless of why the US government has been prevaricating on the sale of 66 F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan, it is increasingly apparent that the road ahead for weapons procurement from the US is going to be bumpy. As China's military threat is not becoming any less severe, Taipei must find a way to pull itself out from this quandary. The solution is fairly simple -- shop elsewhere. Luckily, there is no shortage of companies and states eager to sell weaponry to countries in need. When it comes to advanced fighter aircraft, two alternatives to the F-16 come to mind:...

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said if he isn’t elected president, the population of African-American males is likely to either wind up in prison or dead. At an MTV/MySpace.com forum Thursday, Edwards responded to a question about inner-city kids partaking in violence by saying there was no “silver bullet” to fight the problem. “We start with the president of the United States saying to America, ‘we cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America....

WASHINGTON - President Bush called on the world's worst polluters Friday to come together to set a goal for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the climate to heat up. He didn't exempt his own country from the list. "By setting this goal, we acknowledge there is a problem, and by setting this goal, we commit ourselves to doing something about it," Bush said in a speech that capped two days of talks at a White House-sponsored climate change conference. "We share a common responsibility: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping our economies growing." He said each...

THE Conservatives will propose banning plasma screens and other energy-guzzling electrical goods in a report to be unveiled next week. The proposals target white goods like fridges and freezers, as well as TVs, personal computers and DVD players that use too much energy or operate on stand-by. The ideas come from a Conservative group set up by David Cameron to develop policies to protect the environment and although the measures to make household electrical appliances more energy efficient are not binding on Mr Cameron, they are thought likely to be warmly received by the Tory leader. The group will also...

No longer content to offer consumers Swedish meatballs and self-assembly shelves, Ikea in Norway is now offering weary shoppers the chance to sleep over in one of its Oslo showrooms free of charge. From July 23 to July 27, the public will be able to spend the night in special rooms set up in the store, with a choice of bridal suite, complete with hanging chandelier and a round bed, or a luxury suite that includes breakfast in bed. Others can share a bunk in the dormitory, while parents and children can join in the fun in one of Ikea's...

ANSWER THE CALL! Take 3 minutes to get your Live Impact score and create your ECP account! Be part of the solution to the climate crisis. Show the world your impact ON SCREEN AT LIVE EARTH!

An editorial in the New York Times says Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff members have been "belligerent," "ideological" and "shadowy." Also "extralegal" and "dastardly." And his position, writer Maureen Dowd says, is "bordering on lunacy." But the attack will get no response from the White House, according to spokeswoman Dana Perino. She was answering a question from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, who asked: "Yesterday New York Times published a column which contended that Vice President Cheney is – and this is a quote – 'bordering on lunacy' and referring to him as 'crazy Dick.'...

Carbon Tax Inevitable, Analysts Say By Nathan Burchfiel CNSNews.com Staff Writer June 06, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - A tax-based approach to reducing carbon emissions "is going to happen," a panel of economists and tax analysts agreed Tuesday, differing only on whether a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system would be the best approach. "This is going to happen anyway so we might as well enjoy it," Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said during a discussion at the organization's Washington, D.C., headquarters. "And maybe something good will come of it." Toder and three other panelists discussed the costs...

The more and more I delve into the world of political correctness the more and more I see two kinds of people -- right-wing adults and left-wing children. The right-wing adults are a more pragmatic, conservative people as opposed to the rebellious, left-wing children. The adults on the one hand decipher information through rational thought whereas the children decipher information through sensitive, touchy-feel-good emotion. Even though the left-wing children, or liberals for a better word, are in fact adults they still behave like children. And every so often these children get into power, voted in by other sensitive, touchy-feel-good children....

Climate Change: Some in Congress think global warming is so important it should be an issue of national defense, not science. It's a wrongheaded and dangerous idea, one that shows how crazy the debate has become. Unfortunately, the proposal to make global warming a matter of national security is bipartisan, with Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, joining Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, as co-sponsors. If nothing else, this proves neither party has a monopoly on wisdom. According to the Boston Globe, their plan calls for the U.S. intelligence chief to produce a "national intelligence estimate" on global warming....

Seven-year-old Alvin Mitchell worked intently yesterday on what looked to be a blue balloon wrapped around a tennis ball. It was a fake version of a cluster bomb, and the real thing, he pronounced, can "blow you up and kill you."The fake bombs Alvin and a dozen other children were making at a peace workshop will be put to use Monday in Lafayette Square. As hundreds attend the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn, a smaller group will gather at the park on the north side for what is being billed as a "family-friendly Easter cluster-bomb hunt."*"Obviously,...

Hostage drill at NJ school features mock 'Christian terrorists' Jim Brown OneNewsNow.com April 2, 2007 The head of a national, Texas-based pro-family group says a recent hostage drill at a New Jersey high school, which portrayed conservative Christians as terrorists, is reflective of a dangerous philosophy that has become prevalent in many parts of America, where it is having negative effects on education. Hear This Report advertisement A local paper reports that a drill at Burlington Township High School in New Jersey involved police portraying mock gunmen, described as "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who...

Last July, in response to Bush the Evil's enabling of Israel's gratuitous slaughter of thousands of Lebanese civilians and destruction of the country's infrastructure, I wrote about "the shame of being an American." With the ongoing slaughter of our troops and Iraqi civilians in Bush's war in Iraq, it is time to revisit that theme. As the Iraqi civil war (euphemistically termed "sectarian violence") intensifies, both U.S. and Iraqi casualties have sharply increased. Thirty-five U.S. troops have been killed in the first week of December. Iraqis are dying at each other's hands at about 100 per day, with many more...

Below is a link to a great article from The NY Times titled “Beyond Fossil Fuels” by Robert B. Semple Jr. The piece acknowledges that while stopping global warming is an overwhelming and daunting task, everyone has the power to make a difference by making simple, conscious decisions in their every day lives. The Streisand Foundation supports the non-profit group Earth Day Network, and they have compiled a list of a few easy ways you can conserve energy and help protect the environment from further deterioration: 1) Change old, incandescent lights to newer energy-saving models (compact fluorescent lights), turn off...

An American woman who lost eight relatives in the 9/11 attacks has embraced Islam. Elizabeth, now Safia Al Kasaby, 43, lives in Tampa, Florida. She is a former sergeant first class of the US Air Force National Guard. According to a report on the Florida based St. Petersburg Times, she lost one uncle and seven cousins in the attacks on the World Trade Center. She found Islam in 2005 on the third day of a Moroccan vacation.