Free Republic

On September 25, five American religious organizations plan to host a Ramadan dinner for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his upcoming visit to the United States. These include the Mennonite Central Committee, the Quakers, the World Council of Churches, and Religions for Peace. How is it that these Christian “peace” organizations are willing to break bread with a declared warmonger and Holocaust denier? An answer lies in the troubling history of these organizations – a history that includes a shameful alliance with Nazi Germany during World War II.

Biden quoted as saying that Israel will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed "opening a additional military and diplomatic front."

THE OBAMA-BIDEN TICKET IS THE FIRST TICKET OF EITHER MAJOR PARTY IN SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS IN WHICH NEITHER THE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT EVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY! At a time of war, the Democrats give us something the nation hasn't seen in more than two generations: a ticket where neither of the the running mates ever wore a uniform of any kind. Shouldn't Republicans make a big deal of this? Consider the history-- 2004 -- GOP -- Bush served in National Guard/ DEMS- Kerry served in the Navy 2000---GOP -- Bush served in National Guard/ Al Gore served in the Army...

State College’s pacifist community is offering an alternative to the warlike displays of fireworks, barbecues and beer-fueled fistfights that have become synonymous with Fourth of July festivities. The group, Peaceful State, has created Non-violent Resistance and Solidarity Fest, as a peaceful way to celebrate the mid-summer holiday. Since the group does not recognize the existence of the United States, Isreal, and the Aborigine Occupation Zone in Australia, there is no mention of Independence Day or revolution, except in the context of struggle against capitalism and Prince’s former band. Garrison Kegger, who created the concept, said the event gets underway with...

HAYWARD, Calif. -- A Quaker math instructor who was fired by Cal State East Bay after she refused on religious grounds to sign a state loyalty oath has been reinstated, university officials said Friday. Marianne Kearney-Brown, a pacifist, was concerned that signing the oath to "support and defend" the California and U.S. constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic" could commit her to take up arms. She was fired Feb. 28 after she inserted the word "nonviolently" before "support and defend" and signed that version.

Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday in a case to decide the legal rights of terrorism suspects held in the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following are quotes about the case taken from legal briefs and interviews. U.S. GOVERNMENT (in brief): "Congress has authorized a war against an international terrorist organization with no uniformed soldiers, and the detention of its members and supporters is a critical component of any such war."

War— humanity's great curse— seems to have developed hand-in-hand with the better angels of our nature, new research suggests. The strange combination of sharing with our neighbors while we engage in organized group killing of outsiders— two relatively unusual and puzzling human traits— could in fact go together, according to new research by a New Mexico scientist. Groups of brutish warriors— fierce toward neighbors while nobly sharing among themselves— could have swept aside groups that otherwise would have prospered in peace, Santa Fe Institute researcher Samuel Bowles has found. Bowles said in an interview this week that he finds the...

The attacks of September 11 and the resulting war against terrorism have brought to the front once again the question of the Christian view of war. The question is particularly complex because it is hard to see how war can be consistent with the biblical emphasis upon forgiveness and forebearance and love. This emphasis is perhaps most pointed in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says: You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you...

History will record with severity the huge social, human and political cost of the activism of the erroneously named "pacifists" The so-called "pacifist" movements, articulated by leftists, and their silent accomplice, have decisively contributed to the protection of the most fierce tyrants of the XX and XXI Centuries, since Adolph Hitler and Stalin, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot and Kim Jong Il, to Saddam Hussein. With their harmful political formula of "giving in so as not to loose", they paved the way for several of those dictators to increment warmonger attitudes against countries and continents, in addition to enslaving their own...

A fawning mainstream media Where Eagles dare, pacifists doctor and dupe By Judi McLeod Sunday, March 25, 2007 My friend Jackie Gordon, who exposes anti-war ANSWER for their lies on the Internet, wants to know about pictures posted on their website that appear to be doctored.As we all know by now, the ragtag, loose knit and lovable vets called The Gathering of Eagles changed history in Washington D.C. on March 17. Traveling in great numbers from far distances, they outnumbered ANSWER three to one--but a fawning mainstream media failed to report the facts, as usual taking the side of ANSWER....

The Democrats’ capture of Congress gives unprecedented power to the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC)—the organized left wing of the party. Among its expected 70 members in the 110th Congress, at least seven are slated to chair powerful congressional committees and a dozen or more will head subcommittees. In 2005 the Caucus created a fundraising arm, the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation (APCPF), whose capacity to inflict long-term damage on American liberty should not be underestimated. The CPC is not a tiny faction of lawmakers representing radical university towns and well-heeled chardonnay sippers on the Left Coast. With the control of...

Shock and AweI visited the 9/11 memorial in Wesley Bolin Plaza Tuesday and I was stunned by what I saw.  Here's how the Governor describes the memorial.According to governor spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell , Napolitano described the memorial as being " unique, bold, educational and unforgettable," she said. " The memorial uses the sun to articulate words and thoughts."The memorial is an elevated flat ring with phrases cut through the metal.  Throughout the day, the sun shines through the ring and phrases become visible on the side walk.                        What kind of phrases?  Politically correct phrases that bash America.  That's what...

Editorial: At the 9/11 crossroads A Cap Times editorial, Sept. 11, 2006 Five years ago today, America found itself at a crossroads. The country could respond to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in an opportunistic manner defined by ignorance, raw emotion and political cowardice. Or the country could respond with the seriousness that the incidents of Sept. 11, 2001, demanded. George Bush chose the cavalier course. His refusal to stretch beyond his own weakness has cost the United States and the world dearly. Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants remain at large. The...

Peace activist murdered by PalestinianAngelo Frammartino, a 24 year-old student from Italy who arrived in Israel as a human rights organization activist, was stabbed to death Thursday by an Arab knifeman. "He believed in what he did and was always ready to help others," a friend described him. The website of Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported that Frammartino was working for the setting up of a children's supper camp for Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, and was supposed to return to Italy on Friday. The youth was stabbed in the back while walking with four friends in the Sultan...

PACIFISTS VERSUS PEACE (and Buddha versus the Christian Pacifists) God bless Thomas Sowell for his regular confirmations that there do still exist a few professors willing to reason and educate rather than to preach and pontificate. I can't remember a time he has been wrong. His current article (Pacifists Versus Peace) contains a well reasoned analysis of why most peace movements should be considered strategic failures. He did not use (or need) any irrational patriotism or moral interpretations to reach his conclusion. But I do get a kick out of some of the morality-based comments I have found here and...

The activist group and mouthpiece of Al Queda, Eyes Wide Open, has linked up with the socialists in my Catholic Church in the name of "social justice". EWO will have a display in the church school gym next weekend. Please click the link above, and you will understand why I am so upset that they're using Church property to spead Al Queda's message. Any ideas as to what I could do with regard to this crap? My first thought is to leave this parish but I hate to abandon it to the lefties.

JERUSALEM – With national elections here just one week away and public rhetoric noticeably heating up between politicians, some candidates and parties have been bringing the family of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – running for top office – into campaign ads. In a television commercial last week, the opposition Likud party pointed out Olmert's son deserted Israeli army service and his children, including a declared pacifist, live abroad. Some ads attacked Olmert's wife, who has been active in organizations that promote the division of Jerusalem for a Palestinian state. Olmert, running as head of the newly formed Kadima party,...

We are the valiant Knights of Peace Who prattle for the Right: Our banner is of snowy fleece, Inscrib'd: "TOO PROUD TO FIGHT!" By sweet Chautauqua's flow'ry banks We love to sing and play, But should we spy a foeman's ranks! We'd proudly run away! When Prussian fury sweeps the main Our freedom to deny; Of tyrant laws we ne'er complain; But gladsomely comply! We do not fear the submarines That plough the troubled foam; We scorn the ugly old machines- And safely stay at home! They say our country's close to war And soon must man the guns; But...

Best-selling author and Muslim dissident Ibn Warraq argues that freedom of expression is our western heritage and we must defend it against attacks from totalitarian societies. If the west does not stand in solidarity with the Danish, he argues, then the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty, "Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Tens of thousands of angry Muslims marched through Palestinian cities, burning the Danish flag and calling for vengeance Friday against European countries where caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were published. In Washington, the State Department criticized the drawings, calling them "offensive to the beliefs of Muslims." While recognizing the importance of freedom of the press and expression, State Department press officer Janelle Hironimus said these rights must be coupled with press responsibility. "Inciting religious or ethnic hatred in this manner is not acceptable," Hironimus said. "We call for tolerance and respect for all communities and...

The Iraq War is an unconstitutional, unjustifiable conflict devouring innocent lives and abetting the growth of an increasingly lawless leviathan state. It must be ended -- now. Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Holley, born in Idaho and raised in Chula Vista, California, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on November 15. A three-time AAU Karate champion and accomplished artist, Holley followed in his father's footsteps by enlisting in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne. "It made me very proud that he actually wanted to be like his dad," recalled Holley's father, John, at the young soldier's December 2 funeral. Matthew got...

Boxer criticizes Iraq war in SF speech 'Our troops deserve more,' senator says Bay City News Wednesday, July 6, 2005 Sen. Barbara Boxer offered a major foreign policy speech on the war in Iraq before hundreds of her constituents in San Francisco today. The situation in Iraq is spiraling out of control, she said, and the pool of people willing to fight in the insurgency against American troop presence there seems bottomless. She described herself as "distressed, angry and frustrated'' over the continuing unrest in Iraq and the mounting death toll with no apparent end in sight. "Iraq was a...

RUSH: It is time now to get started with the analysis of the president's speech ( text | video ) last night because it's exactly what I said it was going to be. It's uncanny. It is uncanny. Let's refresh your memory. Yesterday this is what I had to say. RUSH ARCHIVE: It's fun to see the media just so excited. They think Bush is going to finally go out and do a mea culpa tonight. They think Bush is finally going to respond to their criticisms tonight. They think Bush is finally going to admit mistakes tonight. They think...

In the midst of European rhetoric and anti US sentiment, I found this awesome wallpaper which just systematically belittles their whole ridiculous platform about the Iraq War. A must read. http://www.deviantart.com/view/17495613

Action Alert! Oppose the President's Funds For More Nuclear Weapons. Tell your representative. On Monday, President Bush submitted his 2006 budget request to Congress. The request eliminates dozens of domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection, and grants to local police, firefighters and emergency rescue services. Not surprisingly, the administration proposes significant spending increases for the military—an indication that average Americans will suffer the costs of unilateral military policies and new nuclear weapons programs for years to come—unless we act now. Write your member of congress Encourage your representative to challenge President Bush’s 2006 budget request. If concerned citizens...

Marine's Mom Eva Savage's Message "Son Did Not Die In Vain."/ "Moore Does Not Speak For Them"

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice." Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday. According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and...

TO SHOOT OR NOT TO SHOOT: On the show this week I spent quite a considerable amount of time on a topic I never had intended to...but that is sometime's the nature of talk radio - listeners have as much as a mind as the host does and if they so move the entirety of the ship can be set sail in a completely different direction. The topic was video games. A couple of weeks ago I had on Lloyd Melnick of Merscom Games. He is the creator of  TERRORIST TAKEDOWN  which looks like a fairly fun game to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A small group of war protesters paid tribute to the troops who died in Iraq by setting up more than 1,100 flag-draped cardboard coffins in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. The coffins stretched halfway down each side of the reflecting pool. At 1 p.m., members of the Iraq War Memorial Coalition read the names of the people who were killed and then played taps. Pat Elder, who helped organize the event, said the 75-member coalition was formed two weeks ago by people who belonged to the Quaker faith, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak...

Putin's Talking Tough Wednesday, September 15, 2004 By John Gibson Just for laughs I clicked on a story in the Financial Times of London about a member of the European Parliament saying the Euros have to develop some mettle to stand up to not Usama, or Saddam... but to the United States and Russia. I am telling you this because every so often you need to be reminded how far out in the ozone our so-called friends in Europe really are. So get this, after the Beslan (search) school terror in Russia, Vladimir Putin (search) said Russia will go anywhere...

I love Washington D.C. I've only been there about five times - three of which were in the dead of winter - but I have always enjoyed myself. I like that every building is steeped in historical significance; I'm from San Diego, and we only have one Historical Building in the whole city. Of course, here in Europe, everywhere you turn there is a building founded by monks of the eleventh century, built upon ruins of Roman settlements from 200 BC, restored for use by some prestigious emperor, military hero, or worldly archbishop of the eighteenth century. This puts even...

A Pacifist Dictionary By Kate Maloy Someone recently said to me: My pacifism stops when someone declares war on me. She is apparently a pacifist only until the condition that actually calls for pacifism arises. She wants to know how we can protect ourselves if we don’t return violence for violence. She wants to know what we should do. No wonder she is at a loss. The human race has almost no experience with lasting peace or its strategies. Our default has always been war. When at risk, we want to destroy the enemy that has put us there. ...

ROME (Reuters) - Hooded pacifists said Tuesday they plan to disrupt President Bush (news - web sites)'s visit to Italy next week by blocking roads and attempting to break through barriers erected to protect his entourage. Bush is set to attend ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of Rome's liberation by the Allies on June 4 but many see his visit as a opportunity to express their opposition to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq (news - web sites), which the Italian government has supported. "Starting in the morning we will attempt to penetrate the security zone," said the two...

Thank God that Pearl Harbor was not an isolated declaration of war against the U.S. At 7:53 a.m. on December 7, 1941, the first wave of Japanese assault planes attacked Hawaii. On that same day, the Japanese simultaneously attacked the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai, and Midway. By the time they rested their pampered little heads on soft down pillows that night...even liberals understood that America was at war. Will it take a few more 9-11’s to convince the “Whine and Cheese” crowd that America, and the rest of the free world, is at war? Notice to all...

ROME - A top Vatican (news - web sites) official sought Wednesday to downplay the Vatican's opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq (news - web sites), saying it only objected to the means of disarming Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), not the ends.   French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican foreign minister during the war, stressed the Vatican did indeed oppose the conflict and thought U.N. weapons inspections should have been allowed to continue. But he said Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II shared Washington's ultimate aims in Iraq. "The Holy See is not pacifist," he...

Curmudgeon Emeritus -- Francis W. Porretto March 18, 2004 "Those who have not swords may still die upon them." -- Eowyn of Rohan, in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings. They can do more, much more. And some of them do. Now and then, your Curmudgeon frets over his contribution to the security of the nation. A 52-year-old man isn't normally expected to take up arms and cross the seas to do battle with evil, regardless of the Left's repeated cries of "chickenhawk!" at those of us who have counseled all-out war but would not have to...

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?...

The Democrats are slated to hold their convention in Beantown July 26-29 of this year. I believe the date for the "handover" to the Iraqis is currently slated at June 30...though Coalition troops may stay in the country. My question: how likely is it that Saddam's trial may start within 30 days of the new government taking shape? The Gallup poll just released some info that said Americans were extremely interested in watching the Saddam trial. Wouldn't it be a wonderful turn of events if Saddam's trial took away the bulk of media and public attention from the 'rats Coronation...

OKYO (Reuters) - When Japan's U.S.-drafted, pacifist constitution came into effect two years after its defeat in World War II, a Japanese brass band marked the occasion by playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" near the Imperial Palace. That same day -- May 3, 1947 -- a former senior Japanese official committed suicide in shame over the document, which renounced war and placed sovereignty in the hands of citizens rather than an emperor who before the war had been worshiped as a living god. Fifty-seven years later, as Japan's military heads for Iraq (news - web sites) at the nudging...

Tonight at 9:30 p.m., C-SPAN2 presents a press conference by some military families who went on a tour of Iraq last week that was orchestrated by Medea Benjamin.I attended the press conference today. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl. I did.

URL: http://www.ird-renew.org/News/News.cfm?ID=757&c=4 New Clergy Group to Push Liberal Causes Mark Tooley November 21, 2003 Frustrated that they continue to be overshadowed by conservative religious leaders, a new association of politically liberal clergy was announced in Washington, D.C. on November 21. Mostly comprised of old National Council of Churches (NCC) types, the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN) will focus on opposing U.S. military action and fighting for a larger federal welfare state, while criticizing religious conservatives. Several of CLN’s leaders were also formerly leaders in the Interfaith Alliance, another liberal religious group founded ten years ago with the nearly identical purpose of...

Veterans deserve our respect The student council at the University of Guelph banned any recognition of Remembrance Day You probably didn't know Pte. John Smith Berry of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. I didn't either. But no doubt, like all of us, he had family and friends who knew and loved him. But most of those are likely gone now. So too were the hopes and dreams that Berry, like all young people, must have harboured, dreams which died with him on that battlefield in Italy on October 5, 1944. There is a brass plaque in his honour, and several...

Today is Veterans' Day in the United States, and Remembrance Day in much of the Commonwealth. In Britain, it's now marked on the preceding Sunday, though with the traditional solemn Royal observances ("Is Charles bisexual?" – the News Of The World). I bought my poppy in Montreal. "Do you know what this means?" asked the aged member of the Royal Canadian Legion as he pinned a poppy on my little girl's coat. "Oh, yes," she replied. "A lot of fellows your father's age have no idea," he said, grumpily. I'd be grumpy, too, if I were him. The Montreal branch...

Foreign Pacifists Shield Arafat Against Israeli Reprisal "Killing Arafat would be a disaster for Israel, the entire region and the world," Avnery said RAMALLAH, West Bank, October 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Fearing Israel might exploit Haifa bombing to "remove" Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, thirty Israeli and foreign pacifists formed a human shield abound the Ramallah headquarters of the veteran Palestinian leader. "We came here because we realized the suicide bombing in Haifa with its many casualties would provide an ideal pretext for (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon to do what he wants to do for a long time...

By way of introduction, Snowflake has often joined mid-Missouri Freepers in countering the peace coalition’s “peace vigils” in front of the Columbia Post Office. Several times over the years members of the peace groups have accosted military families as they enter or leave the post office on business. The Freepers try to make a presence there each week in order to show the military families, armed forces members, and veterans that they have support in Columbia. Several of us are dedicated to this presence and we post short articles about our experiences each week. Sometimes discussions, arguments, or confrontations occur....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Susan Schuman's son writes home from Iraq complaining of poor living conditions, skimpy water rations and dozens of daily attacks on U.S. troops that go unreported. The mother of a Massachusetts National Guardsman stationed in Iraq since March, Schuman has joined others - longtime pacifists, military veterans and parents with children on extended deployments - in a campaign to bring them home. "Our soldiers are demoralized. They are fighting an illegal and unjustified war," Schuman said at a news conference Wednesday introducing the campaign, Bring Them Home Now. They want the U.S. occupation in Iraq to end,...

Jul 26, 6:16 PM EDT Hundreds Continue Nuns' War Protest By JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press Writer MISSILE SITE M-11, Colo. (AP) -- Hundreds of demonstrators Saturday fanned out across parts of Colorado and Nebraska to carry on the work of pacifist nuns sentenced to prison for their anti-war protest at a missile silo. Religious and political activists targeted the Minuteman III site, known as M-11, about 140 miles northeast of Denver - one of 49 silo sites in Colorado - to pray, sing, dance, beat drums and hang an eviction notice. Officials said protesters also gathered at three missile sites...

The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA July 25 — Priscilla Adams says she doesn't mind paying taxes. She just doesn't want her money going to the military. The Quaker peace and justice organizer now finds herself in a second court battle with the Internal Revenue Service. Adams, 50, has refused to pay at least some of her federal taxes since 1974 and owes the government more than $42,000 in back taxes, interest and fines. "They can do things like the checkoff for the presidential election campaign; they could easily do an accommodation for a peace-tax fund," Adams said Wednesday from her Willingboro,...

Symposium: Did the Left Go Too Far on Iraq? By Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com | April 25, 2003 During the American liberation of Iraq, the anti-war protests on both sides of the Atlantic included verbalized pronunciations of support for the enemy – which was headed by a despotic regime indebted to fascist traditions. How could the Left have been so disastrously wrong on this conflict? And so the question must be asked: did the Left go to far? To discuss this issue with us today, Frontpage Symposium has invited Jeffrey Herf, a professor of Modern European History at the University of...

Once upon a time, there was a people called the Moriori. Of Polynesian descent, they are believed to be the first inhabitants of the Chatham Islands, a group of four main islands about 540 miles east of New Zealand. Based on study of their language, skeletal remains, and artifacts, scholars have concluded that the Moriori shared a common ancestry with Maori tribes who first settled in New Zealand. The Moriori probably migrated from New Zealand to the Chatham Islands around the 13th or 14th centuries. The Moriori brought with them a culture of violence and cannibalism. But their revered chieftain,...