Free Republic

There has been plenty of speculation about which Republicans will enter the race to challenge President Obama in the 2012 presidential elections. But on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" yesterday, Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell threw a curveball into the discussion when he suggested that Mr. Obama could face a challenge from within his own party if he were to escalate U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. While the governor didn't point to any specific potential primary challengers, he implied that Mr. Obama would need to keep his word on beginning to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in July 2011 to avoid a challenge from...

When 15,000 vibrant and politically engaged people gather in one spot for five days and organize themselves into more than 1000 workshops, dozens of major plenaries and late night parties across five major cultural hot spots, no one article can claim to give a full account and get away with it. But an event on that scale livened up Detroit, Michigan during the week of June 22-26 at the U.S. Social Forum (USSF), when Cobo Hall and several nearby universities were buzzing with thousands of people trying to shape a new world. I won't even try to capture it all....

J Street, the pro-peace process political action committee and lobby, already had a lot on the line in Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Senate race, where it has bet heavily on Democratic nominee Rep. Joe Sestak. But the ante was raised this week with the creation of a new group including Republican heavy hitters William Kristol and Gary Bauer that launched with hard-hitting television ads accusing Sestak of being hostile to Israel. Sestak, who beat Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary in May, is “a perfect example of an elected official running for higher office who uses these rote, throwaway phrases...

Pat Buchanan’s attempt to defend Republican National Committee Chairman (RNC) Michael Steele fails. Miserably. Steele, of course, recently insisted that Afghanistan is “Obama’s war,” which cannot be won and should never have been waged. Pat defends Steele on free-speech grounds. “A majority of Americans oppose the Afghan war,” Pat cries. And the point made by Steele about the futility of fighting in Afghanistan has been made by columnists George Will and Tony Blankley, ex-Rep. Joe Scarborough, Ron Paul and antiwar conservatives and moderates. When exactly did supporting Obama’s war policy become a litmus test for loyal Republicans? Pat misstates the...

“Today is a Great Day to Smash Imperialism” It was an old poster – “Today is a Great Day to Smash Imperialism” – in 1989 when I saw it on the refrigerator in a doctor friend’s kitchen. It made me incredibly nostalgic because it captures so perfectly the boundless optimism, exuberance and irreverence of a movement led primarily by people under 35. To me that was the magic of the sixties – young people were at the forefront of the revolution that was drawing the masses into the streets throughout the western world. The magic of being in your twenties...

President Obama's ties to far left progressives have been a secret. As he expressed his views in favor not only a larger federal rule in the lives of Americans long before he took office. For example, in this 2001 Chicago public radio station WBEZ interview where he was quoted by the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily. True democracies were "People's Democracies" and "People's Republics" where the economy was controlled by the government in the name of the people and for their benefit - and redistributive justice ("social justice") assured that each received what they rightly deserved. It is...

Stanley McChrystal is no Douglas MacArthur or George McClellan. But President Barack Obama has treated him like one. Harry Truman sacked Gen. MacArthur, commander of American forces in the Korean War, for publicly attacking his acceptance of a divided peninsula. Abraham Lincoln fired Gen. McClellan, commander of the Union Army, for a lack of aggression against the Confederate forces. McClellan didn't help his case by avoiding the president, refusing to disclose his campaign plans, and privately referring to Lincoln as "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon," a "gorilla," and "ever unworthy" of the presidency. By all accounts, Gen. McChrystal, who...

General Stanley McChrystal’s interview in Rolling Stone Magazine will do a lot to damage further President Obama’s standing among liberals and Democrats and will undermine his chances of keeping control of Congress in 2010. To conservative voters and commentators, his comments underscore doubts about Obama’s competence. To the Administration’s spokespeople, the interview shows a lack of proper subordination in the chain of command. But to the voters of the left, the key import of his comments is that the general in charge of the war in Afghanistan basically said the war is not being won, and perhaps cannot be won....

At noon, people gathered at the San Francisco Israeli Consulate and marched to Powell and Market where they joined a larger protest at 1 pm. A few people held a counter-protest across the street. Five activists from the Bay Area were on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Already, there are more protests scheduled on Tuesday, June 1st at the Israeli Consulate, and Friday and Saturday at City Hall.

Former Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, helped organize the Free Gaza Movement, which launched the six-ship flotilla from Turkey to Israel that ended in a violent clash with Israeli Defense Forces, BigGovernment.com reported. In January, the trio were spotted in Egypt attempting to stir up crowds on the streets with 1,400 other left-wing activists after the Egyptian government refused to allow Free Gaza Movement members to enter the Gaza Strip. About 100 marchers were eventually allowed to cross the border, where they were met by former Hamas prime minister...

HAIFA, Israel - Israeli Navy commandos attacked at least one of the six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for blockaded Gaza, killing 10 and wounding several dozen on board, according to an Israeli TV network and a lawyer for the activists' group. Channel 10 said the final death toll could be higher as Navy commandos who boarded the convoy were still conducting searches and encountering often violent resistance from pro-Palestinian activists. Responding to accusations that Israeli commandos assaulted the ships guns blazing, Israel's Army Radio later said that passengers had tried to grab weapons away from soldiers boarding the...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided on Wednesday to reward all the activists on board the flotilla aid ships by giving them Palestinian citizenship. Abbas announced the decision during a speech before the Palestine Investment Conference, which was launched in Bethlehem. He also announced that the name of the conference has been changed to the Conference of Freedom after the Free Gaza flotilla. Abbas accused Israel of waging “state terrorism” and called on the UN Security Council, the Quartet and other international bodies to provide protection for the Palestinians and to work toward lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip....

On Monday, Gaza flotilla “activists” used brutal violence masquerading as peace. Nonetheless, a disturbingly massive portion of the world has dubbed the events a “massacre” and an IDF atrocity. Yet the facts are simple and straightforward: The IDF warned those aboard the Marmara that their presence in the area was not welcomed, in line with international law. The army encouraged the flotilla to sail safely, along with all of its humanitarian aid, to a different port. Yet the flotilla sailed on, and the IDF boarded the ship, as would any naval force contending with this situation. Navy soldiers were greeted...

Israel has been maintaining a blockade of arms and support material to Hamas due to the terrorist organizations continued rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. “Hamas forces violated the laws of war both by firing rockets deliberately or indiscriminately at Israeli cities and by launching them from populated areas and endangering Gazan civilians,” according to Iain Levine, program director at Human Rights Watch. Under the laws of war, those who willfully authorize or execute deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes. Hamas has an official policy which states that Israel has no right to exist and does not...

Recent accounts attacking Israel for action taken toward “humanitarian activists,” as they like to call them, have been all but factual. Israel has been victimized by anti-Semitic activists sent to “break” the barrier for the passage of weapons (likely originating from Iran) to the Gaza strip. With outside help, these terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have been able to launch attacks on innocent Israeli citizens and IDF troops including over 12,000 small rockets. One accurate report said it best: “Under international law, Israel has the right to protect the lives of its civilians from Hamas attacks, and, consequently, has...

Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a bogus celebration of the environment and the green movement. Of course the liberal mainstream news media has been touting Earth Day for weeks. Cable networks such as Nickelodeon and MSNBC have been busy promoting Earth Day television specials and constantly airing commercials with celebrities preaching environmental messages. One of the central messages is that Americans use too much energy and have too much of a carbon footprint. Corporate giants like Entergy have tried to capitalize on the environmental hysteria by offering programs to match and even double the carbon credits purchased...

SARAH Palin may be a darling of the political Right, but another outspoken critic of big government has emerged as the favourite of many mainstream US conservatives for the Republican Party's presidential candidate in 2012. Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas known for his strong libertarian views, won the annual straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington yesterday with 31 per cent of the 2400 votes cast. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has topped the poll three times previously, finished second with 22 per cent. Ms Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate in 2008, came...

Ron Paul Wins CPAC 2012 Presidential Straw Poll

Ron Paul 31% Mitt Romney 22% Sarah Palin 7% Tim Pawlenty 6%