Free Republic

Republicans have been called “mad dogs” and “night riders” who want to “drag us behind a pickup,” referring to the horrible murder of a black man. Republicans are accused of wanting to “starve” children and “take away medicine” from the elderly. Justice Clarence Thomas has been called a “serial murderer,” while commentator Bill O’Reilly has been compared to “Bin Laden.” Rudy Giuliani has been compared to “Mussolini,” an insult both untrue and racist. One may disagree with these persons, but where does one get the idea that they want to murder those who disagree with them? Projection is a psychological...

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz., April 6, 2010 – For some military members, the call to duty is surpassed only by the call to help others. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Corey Hellmann discusses the best way to load a critical care patient onboard an Air Force transport aircraft for medical evacuation from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 9, 2010. U.S. Air Force photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For Air Force Tech. Sgt. Corey Hellmann, a reservist who serves with the 920th Rescue Wing, helping others is his mission in life. When he isn't providing respiratory therapy at his civilian...

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2010 – Army Lt. Col. Marc Hoffmeister has endured some of the most grueling conditions on the planet. In the past 15 years, Hoffmeister has tackled extreme challenges with adventure and expedition races through the Rocky Mountains, treks through the Alaskan wilderness and an Eco Challenge in Fiji, not to mention combat tours in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. Adventuring is very much a part of who he is. But in the blink of an eye, a roadside bomb in Iraq all but crushed Hoffmeister’s spirit. He nearly lost his life, and was left with little...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Sept. 4, 2009 – Before she joined the Army, Staff Sgt. Katherine Fults felt her career options were limited to three things, none of which indicate an obvious path to the military. Army Staff Sgt. Katherine Fults, a flutist with the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Infantry Division Band, rehearses at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Aug. 25, 2009. Fults teaches third grade at Ascension School in Minneapolis. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Frank Vaughn  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “To me, there were three things in life: teacher, nurse or nun,” said Fults, who is...

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2009 – A wounded airman and his wife plan to use the lessons they’ve learned about marriage and friendship through military service and adversity to help servicemembers who might be struggling after deployment or injury. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew Slaydon – an explosive ordinance disposal technician who was severely wounded in Iraq – and his wife, Annette, hope to use their experience to help servicemembers and their families cope with deployment and injuries. U.S. Air Force photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew Slaydon was wounded Oct. 24, 2007, while inspecting...

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009 – A Marine who returned home from his second deployment from Iraq knew that “something was definitely wrong” with him. Marine Corps Sgt. Josh Hopper was wounded in Iraq, and later sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder. He now encourages other servicemembers to do the same. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It really didn’t start setting in on me until I was back three or four months,” said Marine Corps Sgt. Josh Hopper, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station, N.C. “It probably took me about...

It has become talking head fodder to speculate on what should happen to the Gitmo terrs. I've got an idea. Since the dims don't want to deal with these retromingent subhumans as they are, and would rather treat them as common criminals, it would be fitting to re-introduce them into society through the dims own portal. Throw up a 20ft razor wire fence around Washington D.C., dump them all into the mix, and forbid any contact with the outside world for 2 generations. It would be interesting to see if Barney or Chris survive.

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, April 16, 2008 – Throughout his life, Army Staff Sgt. Steven Atlas has tried to live by one philosophy: “Pay it forward.” The basic principle of this creed is simple; if someone helps you, then in return, you should try to help someone else. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Atlas, a computer systems maintainer in Company C, 412th Aviation Support Battalion, poses for a picture in front of a satellite he helps to maintain. Atlas, a Chicago native, tries to live by a philosophy named after a movie titled “Pay It Forward.” Photo by Army Sgt. Brandon...

Have you ever had a distinct and unexpected impression?When I was a young boy scout---and I was very young for my age---I went to a weeklong scout camp. I left home with a fresh face and a full pack. Early in our week in the mountains, a frightening impression settled in on me. I had the feeling that my baby sister had been bitten by a rattlesnake. Since our family lived in Emigration Canyon and since we often saw rattlesnakes around our home, the idea was entirely plausible. Because I loved (and continue to love) my baby sister, the...

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2007 – A former 82nd Airborne Division soldier who has been living with traumatic brain injury for the past seven years is reaching out to recently wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to help them learn to live with the disease. Retired Army Pfc. Chris Lynch uses his own experience with traumatic brain injury to help inspire others. The former 82nd Airborne Division soldier is pursuing his education, runs marathons and competed in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in April. Photo by Donna Miles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Pfc. Chris Lynch was...

FORT HUACHUCA — The Thunderbirds were treated to more than a turkey dinner Wednesday as part of a Thanksgiving event. The Thunderbird Dining Facility was deck out with the sounds, smells and sights of the holiday. Solider cooks of the 11th Signal Brigade, the unit usually referred to as the Thunderbirds, went all out in preparing food for the feast. The rations noncommissioned-officer-in-charge of the military eatery listed the amount of meat, fowl and seafood the cooks prepared for the meal. The list from Sgt. Brisher McGrath included 330 pounds of prime rib, 150 pounds of turkey, 108 pounds of...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Sept. 14, 2006 -- A disease has robbed 23-year-old Jenni Craig of her hair, her health and, possibly, her future. But the one thing Jenni and her husband, Army Spc. William Craig, refuse to let go of is hope. Jenni Craig and her husband, Army Spc. William Craig, check for updates on the Jenni Renee Foundation Web site. Despite Jenni’s own health struggles, the couple started the foundation to educate people about Gardner’s Syndrome and to raise money for sufferers unable to afford health care. Photo by Elaine Wilson  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

7/12/2006 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- With a knock on his door late one evening, 1st Lt. Kevin Lombardo's entire life changed. "One of my sergeants stood outside my trailer door clutching a note. My heart skipped a beat. He said I needed to call home now, something was wrong," the lieutenant said. "When I heard the sound of my wife Billie's voice, I knew it was serious." While deployed to Iraq, Lieutenant Lombardo, an operations officer for the 21st Security Forces Squadron, learned his 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, were being rushed to the...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2006 – President Bush kept his promise to a wounded soldier yesterday, jogging around the White House running track alongside Army Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, who ran with his new prosthetic running legs. Army Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, who lost both legs in Iraq last year when an improvised explosive device hit his Humvee, runs with President Bush on the South Lawn of the White House, June 27. Photo by William D. Moss  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The president and Bagge, who sported his PT uniform with "Army" emblazoned across his chest, hit the...

BOSTON - The Democratic National Committee requested public records from state agencies on their dealings with Gov. Mitt Romney, who may run for president in 2008. His spokesman called it the work of a "dirty tricks attack squad." The DNC is seeking similar records on at least 10 other potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, spokesman Luis Miranda said. The letters dated Dec. 7 ask for "any and all records of communication" and are signed by Shauna Daly, who provided a post office box in Washington as her address. Miranda confirmed to The Boston Globe that Daly...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 11, 2005) -- After serving nearly 13 years in the Marine Corps respectively, two brothers with 8th Communication Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (FWD), have found themselves side-by-side in the same unit serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom here. Gunnery Sgt. Frank Ashworth and Staff Sgt. Nick Ashworth are brothers separated in age by 14 months, but seem more like best friends catching up on old times. Raised in Grants Pass, Ore., the brothers were raised by their mother. Their father, a Marine veteran who served three tours of duty in...

Bush Pardons Coal Mine Bomber, 13 Others 11 minutes ago President Bush smiles as Vice President Dick Cheney, left, arrives using a cane as Bush was preparing to make a statement on the war on terror, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005, in the Rose Garden at the White House. Cheney move gingerly with a cane Wednesday as he returned to work at the White House after weekend surgery to repair aneurysms behind both knees. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) WASHINGTON - President Bush granted pardons Wednesday to 14 people, including a member of the mineworkers union who was convicted for his role in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An internal CIA report reportedly criticizes ex-CIA chief George Tenet and several other former and current CIA officials for not dealing effectively with Al-Qaeda before the September 11 attacks. Tenet, who resigned in July 2004 after seven years at the top, was censured for failing to develop and carry out a strategic plan to take on Al-Qaeda in the years before the attacks, two people familiar with the report told The New York Times. The highly classified report, put together by Central Intelligence Agency inspector general John Helgerson, described systemic problems at the CIA before the 2001...

Iraqi Army soldiers conduct a cordon and search mission, searching houses for insurgents in the cordon area in Baghdad, Iraq, June 9, 2005. The U.S. Army A/3-156th Infantry, 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and the Iraqi Army A/4-1 conducted a cordon and search mission to capture insurgents and weapons caches in Baghdad. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jorge A. Rodriguez

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Kenneth Anthony, left, platoon leader, and Staff Sgt. Michael Jones, center, team leader, Scout Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 155th Brigade Combat Team, Mississippi National Guard, discuss mission objectives with the platoon’s interpreter during a patrol in Babil Province, Iraq, May 20, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Matthew Clifton

Iraqi soldiers ride in the back of open trucks from Operation Spear in Karabilah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad to their base in nearby Qaim, Iraq, Monday, June 20, 2005. About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers finished Operation Spear Monday, near the Iraqi-Syrian border. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

Workers lay feeder cable to the Hamdan electric substation project in Basrah, Iraq, June 7, 2005. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South is providing quality assurance and design work on the project. U.S. Army photo by B.J. Weiner

U.S. Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, patrol through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, June 14, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert R. Attebury

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, vehicle commander, 617th Military Police Company, Richmond, Ky., stands at attention before receiving the Silver Star at an awards ceremony at Camp Liberty, Iraq, June 16. Hester is the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star. Photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp, USA

Eddie Salazar and his mother Sheila, search for their sailor, U.S. Navy Interior Communications Electrician 2nd Class Julio Salazar during the deployment homecoming of the USNS Mercy, June 8, 2005. USNS Mercy rapidly deployed 11 days after the Dec. 26 tsunami for five months from the Naval Station San Diego, Calif, to help provide disaster relief to Southeast Asia. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Taylor

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld joins Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston and the youngest and oldest Soldiers in the Military District of Washington in cutting the Army's birthday cake outside the Pentagon June 14. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Carmen Burgess.

Iraqi troops exit a U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for a reconnaissance mission in Momadia. Photo by Ronald Shaw Jr.

The battalion colors of 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored Regiment and 2nd Brigade, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, are cased during a transition of authority ceremony in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib on June 9. Full command and control of the base was handed over to the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division. Photo by Spc. Brian Schroeder, USA

A mortar team from 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, dig fighting positions while on patrol in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Photo by Joseph Collins Jr.

Pfc. Brendon Piper, from the 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion, 304th Civil Affairs Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, keeps his eye on the vehicles to the rear of his convoy as they roll through Baghdad, Iraq. Photo by Ferdinand Thomas.

Families and friends wait and cheer loudly as the USS Bonhomme Richard moors to the pier at Naval Station San Diego, Calif., June 6, 2005. The USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group returned from a six-month deployment in support of the war on terror. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Prince A. Hughes III

The newly upgraded electrical substation in the Al Ameen district of east Baghdad is more durable and reliable. The old electrical grid in Baghdad, built in the 1950s and 60s, was in desperate need of modernization and repair. U.S. Army photo

From left, Capt. Vince Maykovich, Capt. Keith Walters and Sgt. Daniel Stuckey take in a brief breakfast at the home of Hamed Rejab Nega, at center. The meal came during the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s long-distance scouting mission this week for an elusive smuggler in the sands of western Iraq. PETER HALEY/The News Tribune

U.S. Army soldiers make radio contact after arriving by helicopter at night at an undisclosed location south of Baghdad, Iraq where they believed a top leader of the insurgency and close associated of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was hiding, Sunday, June 5, 2005. Although the insurgent leader was not found, Americans and soldiers from the Iraqi Intervention Force detained 15 people. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia, government team chief, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade, tosses a t-shirt to an Iraqi child at a village outside Baghdad, May 16, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp

Iraqi soldiers from the al-Karar battalion of the Interior Ministry's elite Wolf Brigade prepare to raid a house in the al-Azamiyah area of Baghdad, Iraq Monday, May 30, 2005 on the second day of Operation Lightning, a massive Iraqi-led anti-insurgent offensive in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2005 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America On Memorial Day, we honor the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our Nation. When the stakes were highest, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen answered the call of duty and made the ultimate sacrifice for the security of our country and the peace of the world. Throughout our Nation's history, members of the Armed Forces have taken great risks to keep America strong and free. These proud patriots have defended the innocent, freed...

An Iraqi police officers holds up a rocket propelled grenade launcher discovered on a farm to the south of Dora along with a large cache of other weapons, at Dora police station in southern Baghdad in Iraq Saturday, May 28, 2005. Iraqi authorities are preparing to launch a massive security crackdown, involving more than 40,000 soldiers and policemen, in Baghdad to try root out insurgents responsible for a wave of violence. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Coalition soldiers of the Combined Joint Task Force 76 search a village near Kandahar City in Afghanistan, May 21, 2005. The soldiers were in the area to participate in a Coalition Medical Assistance Program but it was cancelled when their convoy came under attack by small arms fire. U.S. Army soldiers and the Afghan National Army participated in the search for weapons that could be used against Coalition forces. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jerry T. Combes

U.S. Marine Sgt. Hector Martinez Jr. of 5th Civil Affairs Group tosses soccer balls to children around the hospital. Martinez is with the Marines of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment who are delivering supplies to a hospital in the city of Ramadi, Iraq, on May 17, 2005. The Marines of 1st Marine Division conduct security and stabilization operations (SASO) in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Kenneth Lane)

U.S. forces secure the area after a bomb rigged to a parked car exploded next to an American convoy by the al-Dora bridge in Baghdad Tuesday, May 24, 2005 killing three of the soldiers, according to a U.S. military spokesman. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment conduct a search for insurgents around the western side of the Diyala River in Baquba, Iraq, on April 20, 2005. DoD photo by Spc. Gul A. Alisan, U.S. Army. (Released)

Airborne artillerymen fire an M198 155mm Medium Towed Howitzer May 13 on Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan. The paratroopers are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's Battery C, 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Laura Griffin

U.S. Army soldiers from the Florida Army National Guard's C Company, 2nd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery, take a defensive position while their commander speaks to a local "sheik" during an exercise at the Camp Shelby, Miss., Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) site. The soldiers are part of the more than 1,200 Florida Guard personnel training at the site to deploy to Afghanistan in 2005. In addition to Florida, Guard personnel from Iowa, Tennessee, Vermont, Nebraska and Pennslyvania are deploying to Afghanistan as part of Task Force Phoenix. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stephen Hudson

U.S. Marines with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, provide security while fellow Marines leave a CH-46 Chinook helicopter while conducting security and ambush patrols in the Sarkani Valley, Afghanistan, May 7, 2005. The 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is conducting security and stabilization operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. James L. Yarboro

In this photo provided by the USO, country music star Toby Keith, right, plays with Scotty Emerick, left, during a United Service Organizations (USO) performance at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq for U.S. troops, Tuesday, May 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Mike Theiler, USO)

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Special advisor to the Iraqi Police Tlaloc Cutroneo, age 32, takes up a defensive position on the airport road in Baghdad, Iraq on May 9, 2005. Cutroneo, an officer in Boston's elite MOPP police unit, has been training Iraq's special Police commandos as an Army reservist for the past 7 months.

Tennessee National Guardsman Sgt. 1st Class Joel Gibbons, a cavalry scout platoon sergeant from 1st Squadron, 278th Regimental Combat Team, 42nd Infantry Division, Task Force Liberty, stands guard while an Iraqi child passes along information of an enemy weapons cache found near the Iranian border to the commander of the squadron. by Sgt. Matthew Acosta This photo appeared on www.army.mil.

.S. President George W. Bush greets folk dancers after they performed as he visits old town Tbilisi, Georgia Monday, May 9, 2005. Bush arrived in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia on a visit that Georgians hope will notch up the pressure on Russia to respect this young democracy on its doorstep. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)