Free Republic

Most Americans probably agree that we have elected a highly articulate, talented president in Barack Obama. He has also given us a potentially great Secretary of State in Hillary Clinton. It makes me proud to witness these two recent political rivals working together to strengthen and enrich America at home and abroad. Recognizing the major economic crisis our new leader has inherited, we must hope his proposed economic plan will be helpful. I think it will. But as someone on the sidelines, may I suggest a few other steps? First, why not order all U.S. troops out of Iraq and...

“Pacifists are like sheep who believe that wolves are vegetarians.” Yves Montand In every age, there are those that believe barbarism can be defeated with civility. Occasionally, those with such views rise to power and not only express those views but act on their views. Too often, if not most often, their civility is less than requited. In recent days, Obama has resumed the role of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton with regard to those that would do us harm. No greater example of that is Obama’s decision to release only the more difficult portions of the previously classified interrogation...

WASHINGTON – While Barack Obama is basking in praise for his "decisive" handling of the Somali pirate attack on a merchant ship in the India Ocean, reliable military sources close to the scene are painting a much different picture of the incident – accusing the president of employing restrictive rules of engagement that actually hampered the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips and extended the drama at sea for days. Multiple opportunities to free the captain of the Maersk Alabama from three young pirates were missed, these sources say – all because a Navy SEAL team was not immediately ordered to...

Why did the 60's Generation get it so wrong in so many areas of life?

.... And so it was sadly that I listened to the Dalai Lama pronounce last week that if the violence didn't cease he would have no option but to quit being Tibet's spiritual leader in exile. Whoa! I'll bet that really gave those Chinese generals a couple of sleepless nights! To all those out there with the "Free Tibet!" stickers, here are a few facts that will help the world make sense: 1. There will always be bad people. 2. Bad people don't care about hurting good people. Appeals to shame, empathy and guilt don't work on them. That's why...

Iran hostage crisis, in U.S. history, events following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979. The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government earlier in the year had led to a steady deterioration in Iran-U.S. relations. In response to the exiled shah's admission (Sept., 1979) to the United States for medical treatment, a crowd of about 500 seized the embassy. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis.

Why is there a difference in the military between Japan (pacifist) and Germany (full capability) all stemming from WWII? I understand the arrangement with Japan (unconditional surrender.. so on so forth)... but why is Germany different?

“Speak Out in Public On Memorial Day, get your friends, kids, co-workers, neighbors, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, and anyone and everyone you know together to show your support for the troops and end the war. Bring “Support the Troops! End the War!” signs. Invite any local speakers who you think share our message of patriotic responsibility. Be sure to check with your local authority for any permits you need for public gatherings. Contact local media to publicize your event. Make sure you conduct yourself respectfully-both for those serving in Iraq and the memory of the brave servicemen and women that...

The main problem with pacifism is that it doesn’t work in all situations. The main problem with pacifists is that they’re convinced it does. Gandhi persevered for years and ultimately gained independence for India, but that was because, for all its faults, England was basically a civilized, Christian nation. It was possible to arouse the sympathy and good will of the British people. Had he tried it with Nazi Germany, he would have died in an oven. There’s no getting around the fact that being a pacifist has a nicer ring to it than being, say, a warmonger. But when...

For much of America, the 70’s finally ended at Lake Placid, with the US Hockey Team beating the Russians. It ended a way of thinking, geared towards our inevitable decline. People had gotten royally sick of thinking of America as a failed state, the way it was portrayed to us nightly during the entire Presidency of James Earl Carter. Carter left Washington, the Soviets folded and history marched us forward, even if not all of us wanted to go. However, the nostalgia for the 70’s still seems to color how many of our venerable statesmen in the US Senate view...

TIBERIAS, Israel, 30 August 2006 — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied yesterday that Israel had aimed to destroy the Hezbollah Shiite militant group during the monthlong Lebanon war. “The government made a decision on the 12th of July. They never said the goal was to destroy Hezbollah. It was to implement UN Resolution 1559, to have the Lebanese Army in the south and that was achieved,” he said here. UN Resolution 1559, adopted by the UN Security Council in September 2004, called for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon and for all militias there to disband. Olmert spoke a day...

A thank you site dedicated to Hero worship and praise for left leaning non-comedian Stephen Colbert. I FReeped it and put in a few sarcastic "Thank you's" of my own and thought others might like to do the same. At the very least it is entertaining to see what the linguini spined Liberals consider a Hero. Is it a Soldier who defends all of our freedoms?...NO Could it be a life saving doctor?...OF course not! How about a geek using his fifteen minutes to act liking an idiot and read Democratic talking points?? BINGO!!

Desmond T. Doss Sr., 87, an Army medic on Okinawa during World War II who saved more than 75 wounded soldiers at great personal peril and became the first conscientious objector to the receive the Medal of Honor, died March 23...Mr. Doss was one of only two conscientious objectors to receive the Medal of Honor. ...Mr. Doss grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose tenets forbid bearing arms. However, when he was called to the draft, the lanky native Virginian declined a religious exemption that would have allowed him to continue working in a shipyard. He served in the...

Fort Collins, Colorado. The local Center For Peace and Justice members marched to downtown Fort Collins carrying empty boxes to rally against the war. Marching in front of them were a bunch of FReepers........

The list of feel-good bumper stickers such as "Think globally, act locally" and "You can't hug your kids with nuclear arms" should now be countered with "Nobody can afford 'peace at any cost.'"Late last year, four people who were billed as "Christian peace activists" were abducted in Iraq by a group calling itself the "Swords of Righteousness Brigade." Around that time, Al-Jazeera, the Middle Eastern TV network best known for their "two-fer Tuesday" back-to-back airings of classic hits from al-Qaeda and any other unhinged spiral-eyed crazy with access to video equipment and a FedEx guy, broadcast a video. On that...

Some student groups around the East Coast are planning actions to coordinate with this NYC event. ---------------------------------------------- Please resend this email to everyone you can. If you have a website please put a prominent link to this website. http://www.nynotinourname.org (A website for the Oct 7 action, this week only). PDF flyers and posters are available on the site. Information will be udated as it is available. Posters and flyers can be picked up at DSA, 180 Varick 12th fl, WRL 339 Lafayette, AFSC, 15 Rutherford Place (E. 15 th st and 2nd Ave.) More locations to come. New York: Not ...

Having read some of the threads on the "peaceniks" gearing up on college campi, and in liberal loony towns, I have come to some conclusions - aided by cogent comments from other FReepers. 1) We made a mistake during the Vietnam War, by ignoring and laughing at the "protest" movement until it became too big too ignore. 2) If you've read David Horowitz you know that the "anti-war" movement was really a "save my own sorry a** from combat" movement. Once the personal threat was removed, the so-called "anti-war" movement completely died out. 3) Peter Collier has likewise pointed out ...

Just as America must fight a "new kind of war," so it must deal with a new kind of peace movement, one that blames American foreign policy for the recent terrorist attack. Blame the hateful mass murderers seeking martyrdom in their radical holy war against America? Not the new peace movement -- it's a part of a global war against America. Those who opposed U.S. military action in the past questioned the right of America to protect its interests in other countries. That questioning centered on two issues: the definition of American interests and our right to impose our interests ...

<p>MOST Americans seem to understand the gravity of the situation that terrorism has put us in - and the need for some serious military response, even if that means dangers to the lives of us all. But some still insist on posturing while on the edge of a volcano.</p>

The headline said, "Students, others urge restrained justice." The story told of rallies being planned at more than a hundred campuses in what was being described as a national "day of action" in opposition to America's becoming involved in a war. "Nerds Against War" read one of the student-made signs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wake up, campus nerds. The United States of America is already at war, having been attacked by terrorists waging war against this country. Campus protests might much more logically and fairly be directed not against fellow Americans who are willing to reply to force ...

I noticed that the hymn proposals for the "new primary resource" are available online at the Renewing Worship web site. Just in time for them to say that they have been made widely available before the Churchwide Assembly. www.renewingworship.org/about/proposal/pdf/Hymns.pdf In a quick look at the proposal, there are some suggested changes in tune and text that I like. For the most part it preserves what has been known in LBW and WOV. The changes are predictable: -- Those nasty words like "Lord" have been purged when possible (For example, see "For the Beauty of the Earth.") -- That nasty "F"...

Washington, DC, May. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has approved nine of 19 applications for "conscientious objector" status since the war in Iraq began, a Navy document shows.

More than 9 million people across the country are expected to watch Minneapolis resident Mina Leierwood make her television debut tonight on ABC's reality hit "Wife Swap." It's a strange move for a 39-year-old Quaker art teacher who doesn't watch TV. "I just figured that somebody had to step up and say how they felt," said Leierwood during an interview Tuesday morning at the MayDay Cafe in South Minneapolis. "I wanted to see a pacifist on TV." The producers of "Wife Swap," a show where two women from different mindsets trade families for two weeks, sought out Leierwood two days...

Bill Press you're an unmitigated a$$wipe for comparing the general to Hannibal Lecter. That general is a true patriot. You're best luck is that Sean gave you time tonight to show the world that you're a butthead. Oh yeah you're book is crap too.

The coming economic crisis. Unemployment. Health care for the poor. The almost 1,500 dead soldiers. The almost 100,000 dead Iraqis. Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. The Christian Conservative takeover of our nation. The missing 9 billion. The missing weapons of mass destruction. The impending invasion of Iran, and Syria. The total failure to protect us on 9-11.

YOO-HOO! SECURITY MOMS: THE TERRORISTS ARE TARGETING OUR KIDS! GEORGE BUSH WILL ACT PREEMPTIVELY TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN AS HIS 34-YEAR RECORD PROVES. . . JOHN KERRY WILL NOT Posted on Sat, Oct. 30, 2004 Bush will protect and defend Carol A. Taber is president of FamilySecurityMatters.com, a Web site devoted to informing women on issues of national security In the 2000 election, 7.7 million more women than men voted. Having fought for the right to vote - and in that struggle, many courageous suffragettes were beaten, jailed and tortured - women have become conscientious citizens. Indeed, after 9/11,...

Look Inside Kerry's Mind and You Find a "False Personality" Written by Joan Swirsky Wednesday, October 20, 2004 There's a term to explain why the clearly haughty and self-important John Kerry repeatedly calls George Bush "arrogant." In psychology, it’s called projection: attributing to others what, in fact, perfectly describes the person hurling the insult. Similarly, there’s a term to explain why Kerry, a lifelong pacifist after his four-month foray in Vietnam, is now trying to convince the public that he would fight the war against terrorism more effectively than President Bush. It’s called self-delusion. Another term explains why Kerry has...

Kerry: I Wouldn't Respond to Nuclear Attack John Kerry told Democrats gathered in Boston two weeks ago that he defended his country as a young soldier in Vietnam and he would defend it again as president. But as Michael Dukakis' lieutenant governor, Kerry authored an executive order that said the state of Massachussetts would refuse to take part in any civil defense efforts in response to a nuclear attack on America. The presidential candidate was an ardent proponent of the nuclear freeze at the time, and viewed Cold War civil defense preparations as an attempt to delude the American people...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)--Peace activist David Dellinger, one of the Chicago Seven arrested and tried for their part in the violent anti-war protests outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, has died at 88. Dellinger died Tuesday, said Peggy Rocque, administrator of Heaton Woods, the Montpelier retirement home where the activist had been living. Dellinger was a pacifist who devoted much of his life to protesting. A member of the Old Left whose first arrest came in the 1930s during a union-organizing protest at Yale, he was a generation older than his Yippie co-defendants in the Chicago Seven case. ``Mainly I think...

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot his whole life, which created an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him frail. With his odd diet, he suffered from very bad breath. This made him .... Wait for it... ... A super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis!

Augustine's "just war" theory continues to guide the West.The fall of Rome in 410 was a calamity of staggering proportions to the citizens of the Roman Empire. Civilization itself had been shaken to its foundations. So it was viewed by Augustine, from his vantage point on the North African coast. But he worried not so much about the empire as about the threat of a backlash to Christianity. Hadn't critics warned for years that Christians' pacifism would weaken the empire? Didn't this confirm the fears that Christianity was too other-worldly for its followers to be responsible citizens of the state?...

Clark for President P.O. Box 2959 Little Rock, AR 72203 Phone: (501) 537-2004 Fax: (501) 244-2203

In his interview with the Monitor, Howard Dean repeated his contention that Saddam Hussein's recent capture had made America no safer. "My opponents spent the week criticizing me for that, which I think was to their detriment" since the federal government had just increased the terror alert level to orange, indicating an elevated risk of an attack. But he said two other recent events had benefited national security: the capture of a ship loaded with drugs in the Persian Gulf - "which is almost certainly how al-Qaida is partly financing their operations," Dean said - and Libya's decision to declare...

Candidate: Howard Dean Category: Foreign Policy Grade: D Howard Dean's new ad in Iowa is a lot like the candidate himself: blunt. The ad shows a picture of Congressman Richard Gephardt, Dean's chief rival, standing with President Bush at the White House on October 2--the day Bush and his supporters announced that they had secured congressional support for waging war with Iraq. Says the voice-over, "October 2002. Dick Gephardt agrees to co-author the Iraq war resolution, giving George Bush the authority to go to war. A week later, with Gephardt's support, it passes Congress." Next the narrator mentions that Gephardt...

Support for the Palestinian cause  -- which usually means all Palestinian demands for an independent state and the right of return of Palestinians to Israel -- has become a major item on the political agenda of the Left in most Western countries. In demonstrations against globalism or the war in Iraq, there are pro-Palestinian contingents; on American college campuses pro-Palestinian organizations (often allied with Islamic ones) thrive. "Solidarity groups" visit the West Bank and Gaza and often interpose themselves between rioting or demonstrating Palestinians and Israeli troops. Sometimes they join the demonstrators. They are also deployed around the headquarters of...

... The average Frenchman listening to state-run France Inter radio or Antenne 2 television during the first week of the war in Iraq saw the United States spiraling toward a humiliating defeat, and Bush, the "cowboy" president, headed for ignominy if not impeachment. In tones that mixed elation and awe, newsmen and pundits began speculating on how the Middle East would look the day after the United States lost the war against Saddam. Wouldn't this dramatic display of U.S. vulnerability encourage other nations and terrorist groups to challenge overrated U.S. military might?...

JESUS is not a Pacifist. By Darren Morrison The Jesus of the Bible, the one that the four gospels are about, the very one the Bible testifies about, was not a pacifist. The ultra liberal churches like the Unitarians and Quakers tout Jesus as being some feminine pacifist. The ultra liberal so-called churches make Jesus in the image they want regardless of what the bible teaches. To them Jesus was just a happy go lucky hippie, hardly anything holy in that. How can we tell how Jesus is and was? By careful examination of his perfect word. The very same...

Since the three female American soldiers initially fell into enemy hands in Iraq, the media have worked hard to quell any backlash against women being deployed in combat. Consequently, a full exploration of the implications involved has been scrupulously avoided.

In the weeks leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, American college campuses were plastered with posters asking “What Would Gandhi Do?” The implication, of course, was that the U.S. should emulate the tactics of the celebrated Hindu pacifist who successfully led the movement for Indian independence from Britain. The analogy, it should go without saying, overlooks major differences between the two cases. Whereas the 20th-century British were far too benign an imperial power to choose to slaughter peaceful resisters to their rule, there’s no evidence that Saddam Hussein, already responsible for the massacre and torture of hundreds of thousands of...

Neo-Communism By David Horowitz FrontPageMagazine.com | April 22, 2003 Wars are a test of citizens’ loyalty, commitment and political understanding; in providing this test the end of a war can be as illuminating as its beginning. It was a striking fact of the “anti-war” demonstrations against Operation Iraqi Freedom that the left was able to mobilize more protesters in three months – from the UN deadline of November 7 to the launch of the war in March – than the new left was able to mobilize in the first six years of the war in Vietnam. (The first of these...

A 34-year-old West Australian woman acting as a human shield in Baghdad says she will stay in the Iraqi capital even if bombs start dropping. Michelle Pule, from Perth, said she arrived in Iraq last week and would stay because she wanted to help the thousands of innocent Iraqis who would perish in any war. "I'm planning on staying and I think I will try and help in whatever way I can and whatever happens, happens," Ms Pule told ABC Radio. She has basic medical training but cannot speak Arabic. She said two other human shields left Iraq last week,...

I. Democracy, as every other historic ideal and institution, contains both ephemeral and more permanently valid elements. Democracy is on the one hand the characteristic fruit of a bourgeois civilization; on the other hand it is a perennially valuable form of social organization in which freedom and order are made to support, and not to contradict, each other. ...............The inadequacy of the presuppositions upon which the democratic experiment rests does not consist merely in the excessive individualism and libertarianism of the bourgeois world view; though it must be noted that this excessive individualism prompted a civil war in the whole...

With the ever increasing likelihood of war with Iraq, it's interesting, and kind of sad, to watch the so-called "peace" protesters reveal more and more of their true colors. For months now, the peaceniks have been claiming this was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was building "weapons of mass destruction." They also claimed that there was no proof that Iraq was tied to September 11 terrorist Osama bin Laden. Over and over they told us that we should let the U.N. Inspectors keep working. Then, along comes Secretary of State Colin Powell who, on February 5, makes a masterful speech...

I caught this as part of an article from the February 14 issue of Comic Buyer's Guide: The 411 mini-series will focus on non-violence as a solution to problems. Scheduled to be in stores on April 11 (4/11) for $3.50, the title is an anthology focused on that theme. (Marvel President and COO Bill) Jemas said, " 411 will be the most serious of books that we produce in the next year or so. The word '411' is a buzzword that kids use for 'information now,' and the information we want to convey is about people like Martin Luther King,...

No War Against Iraq George W. Bush has declared his intention to wage a so-called ‘preemptive’ war against Iraq and is now seeking to strong-arm the international community and the U.N. into support and submission. Congress rushed to rubber-stamp the war against the will of the people. A war of aggression violates the United States Constitution, the United Nations Charter, and the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It violates the collective law of humanity that recognizes the immeasurable harm and unconscionable human suffering when a country engages in wars of aggression to advance its government’s perceived national interests. No Congressional...

Point Reyes Light - January 2, 2003Nude women protest war again; men also demonstrate By Ivan Gale Seeking to "reinvigorate the buzz across the country" from its first photo of women spelling "Peace" with their naked bodies, organizer Donna Sheehan and her group, Unreasonable Women Baring Witness, staged a second, much larger nude peace protest and photo shoot near Point Reyes Station on Sunday. The sandy shore of Drake’s Beach, rather than a rain-sogged Love Field in Point Reyes Station, was the venue for some 94 women along with more than two dozen men who created two new and...

NAKED MEN, MEN OF PEACE, December 21, 2002, FloridaContacts:Diane Cardin-Kamleiter, 727-822-1543Mark S. Kamleiter, 727-323-2555 (day) 727-822-1543 (eve)Linda Pollini, 352-246-4545 (cell) On December 21,2002, near Gainesville, Florida, 22 men posed naked to send a stunning Peace message to the American people and the war administration.  Braving the cold, these men from Fort Myers to Gainesville, gathered together on a hillside to do the unthinkable: To Bare it all for Peace.Deeply troubled by the looming war against Iraq, these serious peace advocates determined to express their heartfelt desire for peace, by crafting the word "PEACE" and the Peace Sign with their nude...

BALTIMORE -- Philip Berrigan, the former priest whose fight against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons helped ignite a generation of anti-war dissent, has died of cancer. He was 79. Berrigan's family said he was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and decided to stop chemotherapy last month. He died Friday night at Jonah House, the communal residence for pacifists that he founded. His brother, the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, officiated over last rites ceremonies Nov. 30, attended by friends and peace activists, family members said. Berrigan led the "Catonsville 9," a group that staged one of the most dramatic protests...

Summary: As history teaches that negotiating with dictators and terrorists only emboldens them to launch further, greater aggression against these alleged peacemakers, we must ask pacifists: "Do you want your child to die sitting home passively in America?" "Do you want your child to die fighting in Iraq?" This type of question is one of the subtle, insidious ways by which pacifists try to undercut the war against Islamic terrorists. To understand how this is done, we must first take an honest look at our enemies. Islamic fundamentalists have been threatening death on, terrorizing, and murdering Americans for over 20...

A bunch of left-wing celebrities, including Ed Asner, Ossie Davis, Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, Casey Kasum, Susan Sarandon, Oliver Stone and Marisa Tomei, helped pay for a full page ad in last Thursday's New York Times denouncing President Bush's war on terrorism. Also adding their name to the ad: Time magazine contributor Barbara Ehrenreich and Steve Earle, singer of John Walker's Blues. Across the top of the page the ad screamed: "PRESIDENT BUSH has declared: 'you're either with us or against us.' Here is our answer:" The ad, paid for by a group calling itself "Not in Our Name," screeched...