Free Republic

Okay you'll have to excuse the lateness in following up on what I heard. I (temporarily) live and work in a different time zone than most of you (US CST + 9) and I wasn't able to log on yesterday. Anyway we're listening to AFN radio after the night shift Friday morning, which equated to approximately 5:24pm EST. On the second of the two stations available, we were treated to an audio broadcast the CBS Evening News w/ Kat-ie Couric. After the final human interest segment she signs off to the contributing reporter with, "Enjoy your first post-election weekend, I...

Please support Mr. McCain. He belongs to our party. He is better than the opposition. That must be our singular focus at the moment and for the next 10 days. If you cannot bring yourself to support him, please hold your breath until after the election. That's the least you can do for our party. God bless USA and McCain

I just saw Senator Kyle on Foxnews. He would not respond to Democrat attacks. What in the hell is wrong with Republicans?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are no longer underdogs in the race for the White House. To pull that off, John McCain has attracted disgruntled GOP voters, independents and even some moderate Democrats who shunned his party last fall. Partly thanks to an increasingly likable image, the Republican presidential candidate has pulled even with the two Democrats still brawling for their party's nomination, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo news poll released Thursday. Just five months ago - before either party had winnowed its field - the survey showed people preferred sending an unnamed Democrat over a Republican to the White House...

Winning hearts and minds -- the Bush administration, foreign policy wonks, even the U.S. military agree that this is the key to any victory over global terrorism. Yet our public diplomacy program has made little progress on improving America's image. Few seem to recognize that American ignorance of Islam and Muslims has been the fatal flaw. How much do Americans know about the views and beliefs of Muslims around the world? According to polls, not much. Perhaps not surprising, the majority of Americans (66%) admit to having at least some prejudice against Muslims; one in five say they have "a...

Republicans like Sen. Barack Obama nearly as much as they like their own likely presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, according to a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll. The survey determined that a quarter of self-identified Republicans rated Mr. McCain most likable, but nearly as many — 23 percent — chose Mr. Obama as most likable. And among all adults surveyed, Mr. Obama was rated likable by more people than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. McCain combined, underscoring the Illinois senator's appeal to voters across the political spectrum. "There is something about Barack Obama that is hard to...

It's brilliant actually.

The winter vomiting bug norovirus has struck 2.8million people, with health professionals braced for another rise as people return to schools and offices. The virus - which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fevers and headaches - is striking down more than 200,000 a week, according to official estimates. Three hospitals have been placed on red alert, while hundreds of wards up and down the country have been closed to new patients as the number of beds being taken up by bug victims reaches critical levels.

APOPKA, Fla. -- A Central Florida man is accused of pouring hot cooking oil on a 17-month-old and using a hair dryer to burn his skin off because the toddler apparently would not stop crying and whining. Police said Darlanne Toussaint was charged with felony attempted murder on suspicion he abused his girlfriend's son in an Apopka apartment building Thursday. The mother of the child, Marlita S. Stokes, 23, was arrested on Friday and faces charges of child neglect and providing false information to police.

WASHINGTON - In returning $850,000 to donors associated with a disgraced fundraiser, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sets a significant new standard for how campaigns should respond in the face of potential scandal. Clinton's decision also underscores the price — financial and political — that her campaign is paying for failing to spot trouble with the fundraiser, Norman Hsu, even after receiving a warning. The campaign announced it would now conduct background checks on its fundraisers, an extraordinary and potentially time consuming step. By returning the money, Clinton also puts pressure on presidential rivals and other politicians with rainmakers who have...

Fresno, CALIFORNIA (CNN) -- We already knew we had broken borders. And when Congress chickened out on immigration reform and showed that it's not equipped to tackle anything more challenging than pork or pay raises, we knew we had a broken branch. Now it's clear that we have a broken dialogue. We like to think of ourselves, and our communities, as innocent victims of sinister forces that are beyond our control. Concerned that there are too many illegal immigrants in the United States, that our culture is getting too spicy, and that the country is becoming too Hispanic, we blame...

Negotiations on long-term ceasefire with Hamas should be considered Dror Zeevi Published: 07.05.07, 00:15 / Israel Opinion Hamas is evidently in distress and its leaders are signaling that they would be prepared for a compromise in exchange for opening crossings and transferring supplies. Sources close to Hamas insist that there is a willingness among Hamas leaders to advance a long-term ceasefire. Israel is currently enjoying clear tactical superiority and it appears that it is holding the entire deck of cards. The easy solution is to lead the area to almost total collapse, or alternately, as army officers and Knesset members...

Four members of the anti-war group Code Pink were arrested outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday afternoon, following an announcement that they would seek to take over the office. The group’s members had planned to hold a symbolic “Pin the war on the Donkey” demonstration at Pelosi’s office to show their frustration with the Democratic leadership’s inaction on ending the war in Iraq. However, Capitol Police prevented the taping of a drawn donkey to the wall. Code Pink members were crying outside Pelosi’s office. When asked why, Rae Abileah, 24, said she was crying out of...

A 50-year-old principal was found naked in his school office while watching gay pornography on Tuesday, according to sources. Sex toys were found nearby, the sources added. Police said John Acerra was a longtime teacher and principal in the Bethlehem Area School District, but was also allegedly selling crystal meth out of his school office. Acerra, of Allentown, was the principal of Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem, and was arrested minutes after he arranged to sell the notoriously addictive drug to a police informant, according to investigators. Police arrived and found meth and drug paraphernalia on his desk, according to...

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up in “red” states. That's the compelling conclusion of author Michael R. Petit, whose new book, “Homeland Insecurity,” makes a strong case that children in red states are more likely to suffer from poor prenatal care, early death, child abuse and teen incarceration than children in “blue” states. Petit's argument is that states with anti-tax, anti-government ideology are significantly harming their children's health. His book should be required reading for parents and lawmakers -- especially so in California, which is considering legislation that would significantly improve the health of its children. Petit, president of...

I am going to puke...

Elder statesman can bring peace and stability, avoid war It isn't easy to come here and propose that an 83-year-old man should be elected to the post of prime minister, but that's exactly what I intend to do: Shimon Peres for prime minister. Considering the current state of the country – the terrible disappointment over the leading Olmert-Peretz team and the big fear of the Netanyahu-Lieberman alternative – choosing the perennial Peres is the lesser of evils. If Kadima wishes to remain vital, its grand mission now is to replace the prime minister. Olmert won't be delivering. He may take...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants to devote his last year as Britain's leader to advancing an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. This is not the first time Blair has made clear his view that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a major destabilizing influence in a region the UK has always considered vital to its interests. Blair is known to have strong feelings of affection for Israel. He is also committed to the creation of a Palestinian state he believes essential to restoring some semblance of calm in the Mideast. So his pledge to work on the issue is not especially surprising. For...

I can’t fight the terrorists; I am not really a freedom fighter Published: 09.16.06, 18:27 One man’s Bury-orrist is another man’s Freedom sighter. Oh, I have it right. I didn’t misspell anything. The world in which we live is divided between two kinds of people. There are “Bury-orrists” and there are “Freedom sighters” in the world waging a war as surely as Palestinians and Israelis are constantly at each other’s throats, even when there is no need to be. Which are you? Well, it’s relative, I guess. I am not alone. There is a war going on between the two...

In his highly anticipated memoir, former Gov. James E. McGreevey writes of his deep love for the man who ended his political career, the destruction of his second marriage and the events that forced him into his stunning admission on national television that he is gay. In "The Confession," the former governor also touches on New Jersey's sometimes seamy political landscape, where cash, cronyism and a handful of powerful men intersect. But the 384-page book focuses mostly on McGreevey's secret life, from his frequent sexual encounters with men at highway rest stops to his infatuation with Golan Cipel, the Israeli...

HAVANA -- Iran, Syria, North Korea and more than 100 other nations are pushing to broaden the world's definition of "terrorism" to include the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Converging on Fidel Castro's communist Cuba for a summit this week, members of the Nonaligned Movement complain of a double standard: powerful nations like the United States and Israel decide for the world who the terrorists are, but face no punishment for their own acts of aggression. A draft of the group's joint declaration condemns "terrorism in all its forms," especially violence that targets civilians. Terrorism...

Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blasted the Bush administration for war and homeland security policies that he said leave Americans more vulnerable to attack. Kerry’s remarks came in a Faneuil Hall speech on the eve of tomorrow’s five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In his fourth speech this year at the venue, Kerry accused the administration of using the tragedy that killed about 3,000 Americans to justify the war in Iraq. “It is immoral to treat 9/11 as a political pawn (to) excuse the invasion of Iraq,” Kerry said. “They were attacked and killed not by Saddam...

Here’s what we know. The Bush administration was framed by Valerie Plame, the upper CIA, and the mainstream media, with the active connivance of Richard Armitage, who is well known as Colin Powell’s best friend. Armitage has now been outed, after three years of Wilson-Plame smears against the administration going without an effective answer, and the VP’s chief of staff under indictment. We also know that Colin Powell’s “right hand man,” Col. Larry Wilkerson (ret.) went on a public rampage against the Bush administration, following other foreign policy retreads from Clinton I, such as Richard Clarke, the egregious Joe Wilson...

American support for Israel's unwinnable aim of destroying Hizbullah only boosts its support in Lebanon and beyond Noam Chomsky Friday September 1, 2006 The Guardian In Lebanon, a little-honoured truce remains in effect - yet another in a decades-long series of ceasefires between Israel and its adversaries in a cycle that, as if inevitably, returns to warfare, carnage and human misery. Let's describe the current crisis for what it is: a US-Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with only a cynical pretence to legitimacy. Amid all the charges and counter-charges, the most immediate factor behind the assault is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After being postponed due to war in Lebanon, World Pride parade will take place one day before eve of Rosh Hashana. 'This year, parade has great significance in light of wave of incitement that Jerusalem community suffered from,' Open House says The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance organization announced on Monday that the World Pride parade will take place on September 21 in Jerusalem. The pride parade was previously set to take place in August, but it was postponed due to the war in Lebanon. The Open House views the parade, which will take place a day before...

THERE were community meetings in Seattle on Wednesday. Some of the couples who had sued to overturn Washington’s ban on same-sex marriage, a case they lost before the state’s Supreme Court earlier that day, were going to appear. Gay and straight elected officials who support “marriage equality” were going to make speeches. I probably should have been there too. But I had a previous engagement. The Seattle Mariners were playing the Toronto Blue Jays at Safeco Field. My 8-year-old son — adopted at birth by my boyfriend and me — loves the M’s almost as much as he hates the...

World-renowned intellectuals publish open letter to make it clear that world is not ignoring what is happening in the Middle East. Surprisingly, it's us they blame When the war began in northern Israel and the Gaza operation was expanded, Palestinian director and actor Juilano Mar Hamis sent out an e-mail asking who would paint the “Guernica” of Lebanon. Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which shows the results of the Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain, is still considered a symbol of the destruction and devastation that war leaves in its wake. According to Mar Hamis, his e-mail was intended to awaken the...

Every neighborhood has one, a loudmouth bully who shouldn't be provoked into anger. He's insulted? He'll pull out a knife. Spat in the face? He'll draw a gun. Hit? He'll pull out a machine gun. Not that the bully's not right - someone did harm him. But the reaction, what a reaction! It's not that he's not feared, but nobody really appreciates him. The real appreciation is for the strong who don't immediately use their strength. Regrettably, the Israel Defense Forces once again looks like the neighborhood bully. A soldier was abducted in Gaza? All of Gaza will pay. Eight...

GAZA, Palestine -- As Americans commemorated their annual celebration of independence from colonial occupation, rejoicing in their democratic institutions, we Palestinians were yet again besieged by our occupiers, who destroy our roads and buildings, our power stations and water plants, and who attack our very means of civil administration. Our homes and government offices are shelled, our parliamentarians taken prisoner and threatened with prosecution. The current Gaza invasion is only the latest effort to destroy the results of fair and free elections held early this year. It is the explosive follow-up to a five-month campaign of economic and diplomatic warfare...

Jul. 10, 2006 | There's nothing like a judicial ruling -- in this case, the extremely tortured one written last week by Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals against gay marriage -- to make me feel simultaneously all-powerful and helpless. On Friday, my family read the news over breakfast. I was on my way to volunteer at my church food pantry; my wife was finishing the endless paperwork for our 17-year-old daughter's college loan, and Katie -- one of the "children" in whose interest the court said it ruled -- was on her way out...

With Rudy Giuliani crisscrossing the country in support of Republican candidates and raising money for his new political action committee, it is beginning to look inevitable that he will seek the presidency in 2008. Despite his lead in many early polls, skeptics still dismiss his chances of winning the Republican nomination given his personal background and liberal views on social issues. There is no doubt that these will be obstacles for Giuliani, but compared to the forces that will propel him into the White House, they are small potatoes. "History is in motion, and those moving with it are so...

June 10, 2006 was the date for the World Naked Bike Ride, which -- as its name suggests -- is an international political event at which protesters take off all their clothes and ride bicycles through various cities around the globe. The focus of the protest is theoretically to encourage people to give up their "dependence on fossil fuel" -- but in practice the messages (which the organizers tell participants to paint directly on their bodies) are more scattered, ranging from "free speech" to presidential politics. I attended the San Francisco version of the event, which started at noon in...

One of the world's most notorious spammers has settled lawsuits with the state of Texas and Microsoft Corp that cost him at least $1 million, took away most of his assets and forced him to stop sending the nuisance e-mails. Ryan Pitylak, 24, who graduated from the University of Texas last month, has admitted sending 25 million e-mails every day at the height of his spamming operation in 2004. At one time, Pitylak was listed as the fourth-worst spammer in the world by the Spamhaus Project, a London-based international clearinghouse that tracks spammers and works closely with law enforcement officials....

Following are excerpts from an interview with the American linguist Noam Chomsky, which aired on LBC TV on May 23, 2006. Interviewer: Do you consider Hizbullah to be a terrorist organization? Chomsky: The United States considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization, but the term terrorism is used by the great powers simply to refer to forms of violence of which they disapprove. So the U.S. was of course supporting the Israeli invasions and occupation of southern Lebanon. Hizbullah was instrumental in driving them out, so for that reason they are a terrorist organization. [...] It's an interesting dilemma. Personally I'm very...

Monday, May 15 marks the 58th anniversary of the creation of the apartheid state of Israel. Why preface it with the ugly “A” word? Because I believe that the state of Israel, with its racist policies against the Palestinians and illegal occupation of their land, is an apartheid state. Since 1906, when the Zionist congress decided to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, Zionist forces, first underground terrorist militias like the Haganah and Igron and then Israel’s Occupational Forces, have attempted to systematically annihilate Palestinians, and drive them out of their land by oppression, torture and humiliation. The Palestinians have...

Palestinian Authority marks 'Disaster Day' for State of Israel's establishment. Gaza residents seem worn out, not eager to demonstrate; 'how could people be expected to go out and protest with no salaries?' Fatah activist explains Gaza residents on Monday marked the 58th Nakba Day – the "disaster" that struck the Palestinian people following the establishment of the State of Israel, which caused millions of Palestinians to become refugees all over the Arab world. This year, however, the day was different than before and stood in the shadow of what Gazans refer to as "the current Nakba" – the economic and...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s message to our president ought to give all the leaders of our country as well as the rest of us pause. He is absolutely right to suggest that President Bush, and the rest of our nation, “do some soul-searching and atone for past U.S. transgressions.” While many proclaim that we are a “Christian nation,” we are not. We are not even a moral nation. If we were, our economic policies, both domestic and foreign, would reflect a deep, abiding care and compassion for our brothers and sisters around the globe. We would care for the Earth....

Our older son recently got married, an occasion that puts me in mind of family matters. Nick's American cousins were all at the wedding but none of the Israelis, not when the wedding was just a few days before Pessah. The Israeli cousins (there are about a dozen) are very religious and there is no way they would have travelled to the States right before the holiday. The Israeli cousins and American cousins all know and like each other, more than is common among young people whose primary connection is that they share a set of great-grandparents. But all the...

Machsom Watch women struggle to show what's happening on stolen land There once was a nation in whose name the country's hallowed army and security forces, both secret and less secret, committed the most barbaric of crimes. The country claimed "we didn't know," even as the army looted homes and attacked foreign lands. Government PR/ propaganda was very helpful for people who didn't know. "Our actions are an existential need," they claimed. "The enemy is dangerous," "Our army is the most moral in the world," "Our country needs us, and we are patriots. Therefore, we must be understanding of everything,...

Radio station sale forces Air America to seek new home Laura Newpoff The Business Journal From the January 20, 2006 print edition One of the first things Bob Christy did when he found out his liberal talk radio station's format was changing to religious broadcasting was to offer his worried staff an exit strategy. "I told them I'd give two-weeks pay to anyone who wanted to leave that day," Christy said. "But nobody did." Christy is general manager of KXXT 1010-AM in Phoenix, home of the Air America Radio format since September 2004. The station was acquired in October, part...

Gay channel Logo looking for gay life in America Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:19 AM ET By Kimberly Speight LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Logo -- the channel that targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers -- is looking for gay life in small-town America. The MTV Networks outlet has ordered six episodes of a series tentatively titled "U.S. of ANT," in which comedian Ant travels across the United States investigating how members of the gay community are getting along. The show is set to premiere in the summer. As to how the towns will be chosen, Ant said he's...

If I could choose between living with an Iran that had nuclear weapons and an Iran that didn't, I would choose the latter. And seeing as how Iran is going about the development of nuclear weapons, if there seemed a good chance that Israel could knock out its nascent capability as safely, or nearly as safely, as the Israel Air Force did with Iraq's in 1981, I'd be in favor of trying this route. A nuclear Iran is nothing to take lightly. But it doesn't have to drive Israel and Israelis crazy with fear and dread, which is what's happening...

John Edwards, the former Democratic nominee for vice president, has made a courageous admission: "I was wrong," he said, and made "a mistake" in voting for the war in Iraq when he was a senator from North Carolina. Edwards wrote his mea culpa in an op-ed article for The Washington Post on Nov. 13. Now, let's hear it from those other Democrats and, possibly, brave Republicans who are willing to admit that they, too, had been misled into war. That may be asking too much of members of the Democratic Leadership Council, who often toss in their political lot with...

The president showed class and passion in a far-reaching lecture. Saturday evening’s Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series speech by former President Bill Clinton was a breath of fresh air for many of the attendees, most of whom were left-thinking. Clinton outlined five points relating to his goal of creating more integrated communities in a world where, in his opinion, “interdependence” rather than the more common term “globalization,” prevails. The lecture had a broad focus with a “how to fix the world as told by Bill Clinton” feel, but it was clear the president is still as passionate as ever about the...

Like campus queens before her, 20-year-old Anisah Rasheed has puts lots of work into finding the right evening gown and even staying in step for tonight's coronation, when amid all the glitz and pageantry of the day she is officially announced Miss A&T. The difference this year is that this Miss A&T will wear her jeweled tiara above her hajib, a headcovering worn by Muslim women. "Once I was elected Miss Freshman I knew I was at a university where they acknowledged everyone is different and it's OK to be different," said Rasheed, a marketing major from Roanoke, Va....

The effort to get Ariel Sharon together with Mahmoud Abbas makes more evident than anything which side lost the five-year war. Even when they finally do meet, the situation will be reminiscent of a driver encountering a beggar at the red light, more than a working discussion between two leaders of equal stature. [...] Prisoners, towns, checkpoints, wanted men. Give me, give me, the Palestinian Authority chairman pleads, and in Israel they're "checking" the matter, promising "measures" mostly to please the Americans. After months of examination, this week the defense establishment agreed that Egypt would provide some boxes of ammunition...

I asked three Arab Canadians for their reactions to the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Khaled Mouammar, Richmond Hill. A Palestinian Christian from Nazareth, his family became refugees in 1948. He is a former president of the Canadian Arab Federation. "Where were these 900 international journalists in the last five years while the entire physical infrastructure of Gaza was being destroyed? "We see weeping settler girls and women being interviewed. But there were rarely any interviews with the thousands of Palestinian women and girls who've had their houses bulldozed, their family members killed or imprisoned. "The settlers...

PRWEB) August 22, 2005 -- IKEA's new Edmonton branch contacted TheHijabShop.com to design and produce a 'hijab' – a Muslim headscarf - that would fit in with their current uniform. When IKEA first approached TheHijabShop.com, their excited team was impressed that an internationally-acclaimed company like IKEA was making so much effort to accommodate Muslims in its workforce. The challenge for the team was to create a hijab that had the IKEA branding; that was easy to put on without the need for pins - so avoiding any health and safety hazards; and that was something employees would feel comfortable wearing...