Free Republic

We're in the midst of the Great Election Year Pile On. George W. Bush can't even pray without an officious old biddie looking over his shoulder to make sure he asks God for the right things. Willie Nelson's Chinese pothead flavor of the week, apparently inspired by a fortune cookie, led him to write a thrilling bong-Bush ditty. Madonna, the aging Material Girl who gave up her pornographic schtick when motherhood struck and travels now with her own private rabbi, interrupted her act in Los Angeles to lash out at George W. and then climbed on a faux cross to...

The 1994 Agreed Framework between North Korea and the United States contained two profound flaws that enabled Pyongyang to continue developing a nuclear arsenal and led to the current nuclear crisis, former International Atomic Energy Agency Deputy Director General Pierre Goldschmidt said this week (see GSN, Jan. 12).

SEOUL North Korea said it would reject any settlement of the nuclear weapons dispute as long as the United States was led by President George W. Bush, whom a North Korean official called a "cowboy." Meanwhile, the United States reportedly warned allies that North Korea might be ready to carry out an underground nuclear test as early as June. "Bush is a hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country," a spokesman of the North Korean Foreign Ministry told the country's official news agency, KCNA, on Saturday. The official...

Description: Clayton Swisher talks about the 2000 Camp David summit between Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat, and Bill Clinton and argues that the popular understanding of what happened there is inaccurate. Mr. Swisher says that while Mr. Arafat is largely blamed for spoiling the negotiations, the U.S. and Israeli teams were just as, if not more, responsible for the talks falling apart. He also challenges reports that claim that Mr. Arafat was offered upwards of 98 percent of the occupied territories in exchange for peace. This event was held at American University in Washington, DC. Includes Q&A. Author Bio: Clayton Swisher,...

There is a bloc of voters that may easily decide the forthcoming election. A little over a million Serbian-Americans—their exact number is uncertain but this is a conservative estimate—are likely to vote this year in greater numbers than ever before. The significance of this group becomes obvious if we look at its geographic distribution. After Chicago, the main Serbian-American centers are Pittsburgh, PA; Cleveland, OH; and Milwaukee, WI. There are thousands of retirees in Florida and sizeable pockets in St. Louis (MO) and suburban New Jersey. In each of those states the size of the community exceeds the likely margin...

As citizens of the Euro-Atlantic community of democracies, we wish to express our sympathy and solidarity with the people of the Russian Federation in their struggle against terrorism. The mass murderers who seized School No. 1 in Beslan committed a heinous act of terrorism for which there can be no rationale or excuse. While other mass murderers have killed children and unarmed civilians, the calculated targeting of so many innocent children at school is an unprecedented act of barbarism that violates the values and norms of our community and which all civilized nations must condemn.At the same time, we are...

"My family is more important to me than my party," declared  Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, as he spoke from the podium of the Republican National Convention on September 1. "There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush." [1] Many Democrats howled in outrage at Miller's "betrayal" - former President Jimmy Carter in particular. In an angry personal letter to the Georgia senator, Carter accused Miller of "unprecedented disloyalty" and declared, "You have betrayed our trust. [I]t's quite possible that your rabid speech damaged our party..." [2] But...

John Kerry gave a fire-breathing speech at Temple University in Philadelphia on Friday. In it he announced what will be his themes for the balance of the campaign, subject of course to 180-degree changes at any time. There was one problem with the speech. It was largely “fact-free,” as Dave Barry is wont to say. Here are the claims, and the relevant facts to each claim: “The invasion of Iraq was a profound diversion from the battle against our greatest enemy -- Al Qaeda -- ...” Kerry may not have noticed, but your average college student ought to know that...

ISSUE 3"We have to find a way not to have the politics that looks for the lowest common denominator, but one that reaches for the highest common denominator …"  Sen. John Kerry, Speech To The American Legion National Convention, Nashville, TN, 9/1/04KERRY'S COMMON DENOMINATOR___________________________________________________________________HIGHEST OR LOWEST?    Sen. John Kerry (D-MA):   "'This president has talked about compassion, but he's walked right by. He's seen people in need but crossed right by,' Kerry said. … 'We are not going to allow them to put a "do not enter" sign on the White House door,' Kerry said at the Washington Convention Center."  (Jim...

Is there no shame? Jabba in pearls was just interviewed post-Edwards speech by Greta Van Sustern and Albright claimed that Kerry/Edwards would be so much better on North Korea because "Over the past 3 years George Bush has allowed the North Koreans to build nuclear weapons....."

A little more perspective.... Where Bush Got His Marching Orders "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation...

In just 12 weeks the world will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. That somber thought was on my mind as my friend, the distinguished African-American journalist Peter Noel, took me the other night for a tour of Harlem. We passed by Bill Clinton's office, and Peter told me how significant crowds, nearly all African-Americans, await the arrival most mornings of the man dubbed "America's first black president." That description – coined in 1998 by African-American Nobel laureate Toni Morrison – as well as the African-American rapture for Bill Clinton, is nothing short of astonishing. Calling Clinton...

ASPEN - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took the Bush administration to task Monday night for its unilateral approach to Iraq, from the run-up to war to the current reconstruction effort, saying the United States needs to maintain its foreign allegiances to successfully fight the war on terror. "We have to make sure that we work with our allies and that we treat them with respect, and that we understand the importance of the United Nations and that we want to work through NATO and that we think diplomacy is a useful tool,' she said, suggesting that such steps...

WASHINGTON -- On Oct. 12, 2000, the day of the devastating terrorist attack on the USS Cole, President Clinton's highest-level national security team met to determine what to do. Counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke wanted to hit Afghanistan, aiming at Osama bin Laden's complex and the terrorist leader himself. But Clarke was all alone. There was no support for a retaliatory strike that, if successful, might have prevented the 9/11 carnage. This startling story is told for the first time in a book by Brussels-based investigative reporter Richard Miniter to be published this week. "Losing bin Laden" relates that Secretary of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) Aug 04, 2003 - Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright chides the Bush administration in a new book for wasting a "diplomatic opening" with North Korea left by her ex-boss Bill Clinton, branding a current nuclear crisis "a dangerous mess." Albright argues a "serious" North Korea policy would feature a willingness to talk one-on-one with the Stalinist state -- a step the current White House has fiercely opposed. In excerpts from the book "Madam Secretary," to be carried in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Albright also relates the inside story of her eye-popping visit...

Hidden biological weapons in Iraq. Nukes in North Korea. Terror from al Qaeda. These challenges combined would be overwhelming for any US president. But then add France, South Korea, Russia, the EU, and the UN to the mix and things get really dicey. "Our friends" continue to berate US foreign policy, as they remain eager to trust the pledges of dictators. The "world community" tells us to slow down in Iraq when Iraq is still lying. We are lectured endlessly about the dangers of acting unilaterally. Yet this constant critique of US foreign policy should give way to a more...

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, the only US Secretary of State to have visited Pyongyang, has criticised the Bush Administration’s handling of North Korea’s nuclear brinksmanship. Her Republican successors had squandered their inheritance from the Clinton Administration and unwisely depicted North Korea as a member of an “axis of evil” with Iran and Iraq, she told The Times. Dr Albright did welcome the recent shift towards talks. Having spent six hours in the North Korean leader’s presence, she described Kim Jong Il as isolated, but not uninformed. “I don’t think he’s a nut,” she said. “But if you live in an isolated cult...

Bush administration faces wide choices, none guaranteed to offset nuclear threat By BARRY SCHWEIDThe Associated Press12/25/02 1:28 AM WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea's decision to abandon its policy of nuclear restraint leaves the Bush administration with a range of options, none of which is guaranteed to stem the threat from Pyongyang. Distracted by its fixation on Iraq and that country's suspected caches of biological and chemical weapons, the administration is trying to regroup and sort out its choices on the escalating North Korea crisis. They range from a U.S. military attack to full-fledged unconditional negotiations. Top administration officials are signaling...

I have a picture I would like to post, could someone provide me with their e-mail address and post the pic for me. Trust me, its really really good.