Free Republic

THERE is widespread global concern that the US cannot be trusted to act responsibly in the world, according to a multinational poll released today. But while there is broad international frustration with how the United States conducts its foreign policy, few people around the world wanted the US to completely back off its role as a global policeman, the poll found. "There's clearly a trend in terms of deepening negative attitudes to the US in how it executes foreign policy,'' said Christopher Whitney, executive director for studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs which helped co-ordinate the 18-country study....

Amid continued signs of deterioration in the nation’s mortgage market, a Congressional panel Wednesday forecast a sharp rise in housing foreclosures, and several Democratic lawmakers called for a federal bailout for borrowers who are at risk of losing their home

Biblical Liberation from Liberalism By Michael Medved Wednesday, April 11, 2007 With the arrival of the eight day Passover Festival on Monday night, I was preparing some material for our family-reunion Seder meal (Diane and I will be together with all three of our children, plus my visiting father from Jerusalem) when I stumbled across one of the most important of all verses in the Hebrew Scriptures. Leviticus 19:15 declares: "You shall not commit a perversion of justice: you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the great, with righteousness shall you judge your fellow." About fifteen...

Muslims must take responsibility Telegraph.co.uk, UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/06/nplot406.xml Muslims must take responsibility By Zia Haider Rahman Last Updated: 1:22am BST 06/04/2007 Yesterday saw three men charged with the July 7 bombings. Chillingly, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, said "I firmly believe that there are other people who have knowledge of what lay behind the attack in July 2005 - knowledge that they have not shared with us, in fact I don't only believe it, I know it for a fact." What he is referring to is the rotten truth that sections of Britain's Muslim...

As we settle into the nighttime of despair, fret not for the sun will rise again!

Is the American Experiment Dead? by Helen E. Krieble Posted 03/16/2007 King George III would be so proud. He and his aristocratic friends laughed at America’s quaint “experiment” with self-government. To them it was unthinkable that common people were enlightened enough to rule themselves. Today that experiment is the envy of a world where people in fewer than 100 countries live under democratic governments. Yet here in the United States, old King George may yet be right. Astonishingly, today’s Americans expect government to care for us from cradle to grave, the way commoners once expected a benevolent king to care...

This past weekend, a friend of mine attended his 13-year-old son's baseball game. What he saw encapsulates a major reason many of us fear for the future of America and the West. His son's team was winning 24-7 as the game entered the last inning. When he looked up at the scoreboard, he noticed that the score read 0-0. Naturally, he inquired as to what happened -- was the scoreboard perhaps broken? -- and was told that the winning team's coach asked the scoreboard keeper to change the score. He and some of the parents were concerned that the boys...

Along with a Sunday night Oscar win and accompanying praise for his work on the issue of global warming, Al Gore received a heaping serving of criticism this week for his personal energy consumption. Gore’s defense to the criticism could eventually require some peculiar political posturing. This week the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=367) made public the energy consumption figures for one of Gore’s several homes, revealing consumption more than twenty times that of the average American home. Others have criticized Gore’s frequent use of private jets. Gore’s response to criticism of his energy lifestyle choices, and of the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, Feb. 25, 2007 – U.S. paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division assumed responsibility for five provinces in Afghanistan last week from U.S. soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division. During a Feb. 21 ceremony, the 10th Mountain’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, operating as Task Force Spartan, transferred authority for Paktika, Paktya, Logar, Ghazni and Khost provinces to the 82nd Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, operating as Task Force Fury. The Task Force Spartan soldiers were extended four months beyond their scheduled redeployment and retain responsibility of the northeastern provinces of Regional Command - East. Along...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Feb. 2, 2007 – The 82nd Airborne Division accepted responsibility for Combined Joint Task Force 76 from the 10th Mountain Division in a transfer-of-authority ceremony here today. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley (left), commander of the 10th Mountain Division, furls the division’s colors with the help of outgoing Combined Joint Task Force 76 command sergeant major Army Command Sgt. Maj. Ralph Borja during a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, Feb. 2. Photo by Sgt. Jim Wilt, USA  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The task force supports NATO operations in eastern Afghanistan. The...

WARNING Nature is unpredictable and unsafe. Mountains are dangerous. Many books have been written about these dangers, and there's no way we can list them all here. Read the books. Nelson Rocks Preserve is covered in steep terrain with loose, slippery and unstable footing. The weather can make matters worse. Sheer drops are everywhere. You may fall, be injured or die. There are hidden holes. You could break your leg. There are wild animals, which may be vicious, poisonous or carriers of dread diseases. These include poisonous snakes and insects. Plants can be poisonous as well. We don't do anything...

As we settle into the nighttime of despair, fret not, for the Sun will rise again!!Good Morning! Please join us in discussing the day's events, large and small...

Americans tend to deflect personal responsibility rather than assume it. That proclivity has weakened the national character but enriched trial attorneys. The most recent example is the lawsuit filed last Friday against MySpace.com. The families of five girls are claiming millions in damages from MySpace because, as one article describes, “Each of the girls was lured into meetings with men who had chatted them up on MySpace then plied them with drugs or alcohol and sexually abused them, according to the suits.” So, despite that the parents obviously did not monitor their kids’ internet usage, obviously did not communicate the...

It's been years since federal agencies have screamed this loudly about fiscal discipline being imposed on them. GOP Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina have decided to take a stand against overspending by objecting to the nearly 10,000 earmarks, or member-sponsored pork projects, larded throughout the spending bills Congress is currently considering. Their obstinacy has convinced the leadership of the departing Republican Congress that they probably won't be able to pass spending bills in next month's short lame-duck session. Instead, they are likely to pass a stopgap "continuing resolution," which will continue funding all programs...

SANTIAGO DE CHILE - Gen. Augusto Pinochet took full responsibility for the first time Saturday for the actions of his 1973-90 dictatorship, which carried out thousands of political killings and is blamed for widespread torture and illegal imprisonment. At a celebration of his 91st birthday, Pinochet also defended the bloody military coup that toppled freely elected Marxist President Salvador Allende, in a statement read aloud by his wife as he sat by her side. "Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbor no rancor against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and...

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is eager to take more responsibility for his country’s security, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, said today. Currently, two Iraqi Army divisions are completely under Iraqi control, though Iraq controls its police forces. “He wants to have appropriate capability and command and control of forces,” Khalilzad told Wolf Blitzer, host of CNN’s “Late Edition.” “We welcome his desire to have more forces, to have more capable and credible forces, and for him to have command and control of Iraqi Forces that are currently under coalition control.” A plan already existed to transfer...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2006 – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is anxious to take more responsibility for his country’s security, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said today. Currently just two Iraqi army divisions are completely under Iraqi control, and they still require coalition support for some operations, Zalmay Khalilzad said. Though Iraq controls its police forces, the coalition remains in control of all other Iraqi forces. “He wants to have appropriate capability and command and control of forces,” Khalilzad told Wolf Blitzer, host of CNN’s “Late Edition.” “We welcome his desire to have more forces, to have more capable and...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2006 – Coalition forces are increasingly shifting from a lead role to a supporting role in Iraq as Iraqi forces take responsibility for more territory and security operations throughout the country, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said today. In a news conference from Iraq, Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said that although Iraqis are taking more responsibility, the coalition and Iraqi shared goal remains the same: a free and strong country with a representative government that respects and protects the rights of all its citizens and can be a valued ally in...

Let's all stop beating Basil's car Ask people why they support the death penalty or prolonged incarceration for serious crimes, and the reasons they give will usually involve retribution. There may be passing mention of deterrence or rehabilitation, but the surrounding rhetoric gives the game away. People want to kill a criminal as payback for the horrible things he did. Or they want to give "satisfaction' to the victims of the crime or their relatives. An especially warped and disgusting application of the flawed concept of retribution is Christian crucifixion as "atonement' for "sin'. Retribution as a moral principle is...

WASHINGTON — The reconciliation plan announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Oct. 2 enables Iraqi citizens from all political groups to hold their security forces responsible and to take responsibility for creating peace and tolerance within their own neighborhoods, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Oct. 4. U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, Multi-National Force – Iraq spokesman, said in a news conference that the plan calling for the creation of joint committees throughout Baghdad, made up of clerics, tribal sheiks, representatives from all political blocs, and the armed forces, is aimed at ending internal battles that were...