Free Republic

Machiavelli could offer President Bush what he needs most at this pivotal juncture: a philosophical blueprint for confronting the Iranian nuclear threat and successfully prosecuting the broader war against radical Islam. A leading figure of the Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli served as a diplomat and militia commander for the short-lived Florentine Republic of the early sixteenth century. His seminal experiences in office, coupled with a remarkably deep reading of history, led Machiavelli to the pioneering political philosophy which he would outline in The Prince and elaborate upon in Discourses on Livy. Like all great books, The Prince transcends the time for...

Logan Darrow Clements will be on Central Jersey 1450 AMs Loud & Clear to discuss eminent domain Saturday afternoon at 4:15 PM Eastern time. The broadcast will stream live at www.wctcam.com . When Mr. Clements last visited Piscataway, NJ, he attended a street fair. His purpose: To ask Mayor Brian C. Wahler why he is using eminent domain to take away a family farm from its rightful owners - the Halpers. "We found Mayor Wahler and started questioning him. He walked away. We followed him and kept questioning him. Within a few moments police officers confronted us. The mayor kept...

The Halper Family's farm in NJ since 1921 is being taken through eminent domain today. Mrs. Halpert says dems and reps make money by having arrangements with developers.

We need YOU to drive your RV, pitch your tents, and take a stand against eminent domain abuse by camping out at the Halper Farm until the moment of eviction. We hope it will be like Valley Forge without the frostbite and Woodstock without the mud. We have received word that the government plans to send over a large number of well armed police officers to evict this family from what is rightfully theirs. We must draw a line in the sand and say: NO MORE! We must defend our constitutional right to own property. If this event isn't worthy...

Piscataway gets OK to condemn farmland December 3, 2002 By Patrick Jenkins, Star-Ledger Staff pjenkins@starledger.com 732-634-3607 To submit a Letter to the Editor: eletters@starledger.com The future of the Cornell Dairy Farm was decided yesterday when a state judge granted Piscataway the power to condemn property that has been at the center of a bitter, three-year legal battle between the Halper family and township officials. Superior Court Assignment Judge Robert Longhi rejected arguments by Halper attorney John J. Reilly to dismiss the condemnation proceeding. Longhi restated his ruling from June 2000 that Piscataway had a legitimate purpose in taking the 75-acre...

FBI agents yesterday raided an office shared by former state Sen. John Lynch and a politically active developer, bringing into the open a longstanding corruption probe involving one of the state's most powerful political figures. Agents executed a search warrant at the Tinton Falls office that Lynch, a Democrat and political mentor to former Gov. James E. McGreevey, shares with developer Jack Westlake, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the raid.

From Thursday, August 11th: So finally, I had a meal today.. And I'm not within yards of any "famous site". NYer's advice to avoid eating near any famous sites had me chuckling yesterday. It's all relative. You can't walk a few meters in this city without hitting an historic ruin or a major work of art? ,P. I've heard it said before that Europe is America's museum. Of course, this was intended as a bit of an insult to the "Euro-weenies" (not saying they are all weenies, just explaining the quote's context)-- but there is some truth to this. Rome...

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the interior ministry to conduct preventive strikes against terrorists. "[The Interior Ministry's] measures in this area must have a preventive nature," the president said at a meeting Wednesday with high-ranking interior ministry officials in the Kremlin. "We realize how serious the tasks facing security-related agencies in Russia are, especially the law enforcement bodies and interior ministry troops," Putin said. He also said the latest events in the world confirm that terrorism remains a major global threat. "The recent blasts in London; the terrorist acts in Iraq, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt; and the assaults on government...

NEWARK - New Jersey political fund raiser David D'Amiano was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for soliciting and accepting $40,000 in cash and political contributions from a Piscataway farm owner to influence state and county officials to offer a favorable price to preserve the farmland, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. U.S. District Judge William H. Walls also ordered D'Amiano, 45, of Edison, to pay a $15,000 fine to the federal government and to make $1,000 in restitution to the Democratic State Committee. D'Amiano already has paid another $20,000 to the government - money which he took from...

WAS MACHIAVELLI EVIL by Greg Nyquist To this day, the controversy still has not been settled to everyone’s satisfaction. Machiavelli is still regarded with horror by certain intellectuals, especially by those of an idealistic or self-righteous complexion. He is regarded as a man destitute of conscience, morals, and religion; an apologist for cruelty and tyranny; a glorifier of mendacity and deception. The adjective Machiavellian is widely used as a synonym for amoral cunning and ruthless power hunger. Woodrow Wilson, speaking of Machiavelli’s most notorious work, The Prince, wrote: “It recognizes no morality but a sham morality meant for deceit, no...

Neoconservatives’ endeavors to create a market economy version of Islam – bereft of its basic tenets - got a boost recently when Reverend James Schall, Professor of government at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest, vigorously defended their efforts. In an article entitled “When War Must Be the Answer” published in the December/January issue of Policy Review, Schall writes about “making Islam over into politically acceptable forms.” This is the main neoconservative project and Schall argues that this program can be defended because no one, including the churches, is willing to examine in a serious way the truth claims of...

Inferno Maurice Joly (John S. Waggoner, ed. and trans.) The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu:Humanitarian Despotism and the Conditions of Modern Tyranny Lexington Books, 2002, 392 pages. Reviewed by Daniel A. Doneson  Few books are more famous for what subsequent forgers do with them than for their original contents. Maurice Joly’s The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, first published in Brussels in 1864, is indeed a very strange book. And its strangeness is multiple. The history of its genesis and multiple fates is bizarre-and its content no less so.Who was Maurice Joly? By best guess he...

In his new book, Intellectual Morons, Daniel Flynn exposes the dangers of blindly following intellectual elites who support and promote idiotic ideas and theories. Chris Banescu, who recently wrote the review of the book, interviewed Flynn about the origins of the material and the impact its revelations will have on our culture. Chris Banescu: What inspired you to write this book? Daniel Flynn: My goal in writing Intellectual Morons is to get more people to think with their brain rather than their ideology. By exposing ideologically-inspired hoaxes and frauds, the book not only rebuts falsehood but helps immunize readers against...

TRENTON — A fund-raiser for New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he solicited $40,000 in cash and campaign donations as part of a shakedown scheme in which the governor has been implicated. David D'Amiano, 44, entered his plea to two fraud charges 10 weeks after being charged with extortion, bribery and other offenses in an indictment that also said an unidentified state official used the code word "Machiavelli" to show that political officials were helping. McGreevey acknowledged he is the state official referred to. But he insisted he did nothing wrong, and said the mention of...

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A fund-raiser for Gov. James E. McGreevey pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he solicited $40,000 in cash and campaign donations as part of a shake-down scheme in which the governor has also been implicated. David D'Amiano, 44, entered his plea to two fraud counts 10 weeks after being charged with extortion, bribery and other offenses. The indictment also said an unidentified state official used the code word "Machiavelli" to show that officials were helping with the scheme. McGreevey acknowledged he is the state official referred to. But he insisted he did nothing wrong, and said the...

Official: Kushner To Plead Guilty Charles Kushner Is Gov. McGreevey's Top Donor Aug 17, 2004 4:14 pm US/EasternTRENTON (AP) A top gubernatorial donor who is accused of having a prostitute seduce a government witness is to plead guilty Wednesday, a federal official said. The plea by Charles Kushner is to be taken at 11 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark, an aide to the judge said Tuesday. The court calendar did not specify what charge or charges were involved, the aide said. A federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the hearing would be for...

Medici Project Turns Up Mystery Bodies By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery NewsGrand Duke Cosimo I July 21, 2004 — The project to exhume the remains of several members of the Medicis, the family that dominated the Florentine Renaissance, has taken a new turn this month as researchers discovered a secret crypt containing the mysterious bodies of seven children and an adult. The vaulted chamber was found under a stone floor behind the main altar of the Medici Chapels at Michelangelo's church of San Lorenzo in Florence. The researchers stumbled across it while searching for the final resting place of the last...

TRENTON, N.J. -- A Democratic fund-raiser linked to Gov. James E. McGreevey extorted $40,000 in campaign donations by promising a farmer that public officials would help him get more money for development rights to his land, federal authorities said Tuesday. David D'Amiano is charged with extortion, mail fraud and bribery. According to an indictment released Tuesday, D'Amiano told the owner of a Piscataway farm he would not get premium value for his property unless he made donations to the Democratic Party. Middlesex County officials had offered Mark Halper $3 million for development rights to his 74-acre family farm. After D'Amiano...

Democratic fund-raiser indicted on extortion chargesBy JOHN P. McALPIN The Associated Press 7/6/2004, 6:02 p.m. ET TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A Democratic fund-raiser linked to Gov. James E. McGreevey extorted $40,000 in campaign donations by promising a farmer that public officials would help him get top dollar for his land, federal authorities said Tuesday. Carteret businessman David D'Amiano is charged with extortion, mail fraud and bribery. According to an indictment released Tuesday, D'Amiano told the owner of a Piscataway farm he would not get premium value for his property unless he made donations to the Democratic Party. Middlesex County officials...

Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and children, as is said above, when...