Free Republic

As many as 100 FBI agents, federal prosecutors and other department employees are likely to be asked—possibly as early as the next few weeks—to sign broadly worded statements waiving any confidentiality agreements they had with journalists about the anthrax case, Justice officials tell NEWSWEEK. The waiver statement was recently ordered by a federal judge at the urging of lawyers for bioterrorism expert Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who has filed a lawsuit alleging that government officials leaked damaging personal information about him in an effort to connect him with the anthrax attacks.

Oliver Stone had a really rotten week. His huge-budget epic drama “Alexander,” starring Colin Farrell, Angeline Jolie, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Hopkins, premiered to critical raspberries and popular apathy. “Alexander” reportedly cost over $150 million to make, and over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, it garnered a mere $21,837,517, finishing sixth at the box office. In all likelihood, Warner Bros., which produced the film, will still recoup its costs, despite the probability that “Alexander” won’t come close to $100 million in domestic grosses. Europeans are expected to turn out in high numbers to see the Macedonian wunderkind; they turned out en...

DNA left overs, new mechanism for evolution Friday, 16-Jul-2004, by News-Medical   A team of researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered that transposons, small DNA sequences that travel through the genomes, can silence the genes adjacent to them by inducing a molecule called antisense RNA. This is a new mechanism for evolution that has been unknown until now. Transposons are repeated DNA sequences that move through the genomes. For a long time they have been considered as a useless part of genetic material, DNA left overs. However, it is more and more clear that transposons...

please see the link for a lengthy and thoughtful essay on terrorism and the regional Middle East Conflict

Ben Shapiro has cracked one more almost unscalable wall. The DRUDGE REPORT has on its front page the brand new Associated Press, interview piece with Shaprio. (Linked here) It is particularly funny how the reporter says the book "Spikes" after Ben appears on different radio shows. It is partly true...after Ben appeared on The Kevin McCullough Show he jumped 25 spots on the Amazon.com list. Big Congrats to Ben for sticking his ground, hanging tough and writing such a funny and worthy read...

BrainwashedBy Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | May 13, 2004 Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Ben Shapiro, the author of the new book Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth.FP: Mr. Shapiro, welcome to Frontpage Interview.Shapiro:  It’s an honor and a pleasure.   FP: Tell us about the ingredients of your own life that motivated you to write this book. Shapiro:  I’ve spent some time in public school, and having seen the liberal propaganda put out by lower public education, I thought I knew what I would get when I set foot on UCLA’s campus.  But I was totally unprepared for the level of radical leftism...

Guess Who is Speaking at the PSM Conference at OSU? By Andrew L. Jaffee, October 30, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms The Palestinian/Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) movement has lined up a list of very questionable speakers (list; schedule) for their planned conference at the Ohio State University (OSU) on November 7th - 9th. This is not surprising, given the PSM's and parent International Solidarity Movement's (ISM) known support for terrorism, illegal activities, and sometime enabling of terrorism. Adam Shapiro, an ISM co-founder, will be speaking on Sunday, November 9th. Here are some quotes Shapiro has made in the past: This is no...

Barney's Frank is cooked July 23, 2003 | Print | Send "I wouldn't know him if I saw him," says Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) of Boston radio talk-show host Chuck Morse. But Morse definitely recognizes the ultra-leftist Frank -- Frank is in Morse's political crosshairs. The talk-radio host is challenging Frank for the Massachusetts 4th District seat in 2004. "Barney Frank's policies are hurting America," Morse told me on Monday. "Barney Frank has voted for appeasement," says Morse. "He's voted against every defense budget going all the way back to Ronald Reagan." Morse points out that Frank is the author...

I pledge allegiance Marine Lance Cpl. O.J. Santa Maria stood up from his bed, where he was receiving an intravenous blood transfusion. The native Filipino machine-gunner had been wounded in Iraq, his humerus bone shattered by shrapnel. Now, back in the United States, the Purple Heart-winner was becoming an American citizen. When doctors told him to sit down, Santa Maria refused. "It's for the respect," he said. "I'm taking an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America." Halfway through the ceremony, Santa Maria broke down and began to cry. To the flag of the United States of...

The gloves are coming off. Since the war began, the United States military and the Bush administration have focused on saving Iraqi civilians, even at the cost of American lives. That strategy has worked brilliantly; photos of cheering Iraqis greeting their American liberators continue to flow into newspapers. But now that the war has finally gotten down to the nitty-gritty, we're pulling no punches. Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda and much of the Arab world thought that the war in Iraq would turn into one large-scale Mogadishu. They had good reason to believe it. For a decade, the U.S. leadership had...

You've seen pictures of Jews from the Holocaust: starving, living skeletons, dead men walking, bloated stomachs protruding over shrunken genitals. Or disease-ridden bodies, two to a bunk, no teeth, shaved bald. Or piles and piles of bodies in a heap, Nazis standing nearby, smiling. Now think of a cow. Or a chicken. Or a pig. You eat those animals, don't you? You enjoy chicken marsala, or a nice juicy steak, or pork rinds. Then, you're a Nazi, too. You might as well have shoved Jews into gas chambers and then burned their bodies to ashes in ovens. That's what People...

Music Legend Arrested In Connection With Fatal Shooting Spector To Be Represented By Robert Shapiro UPDATED: 4:53 p.m. PST February 3, 2003 LOS ANGELES -- Phil Spector, the legendary record producer whose "Wall of Sound" helped change the sound of pop music in the 1960s, was booked for investigation of murder Monday in the fatal shooting of a woman at his hilltop mansion, deputies said. A weapon was seized. Spector, 62, was arrested around 5 a.m. at the castlelike estate in a suburb about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles, county sheriff's Sgt. Joe Efflandt said. Shortly after 5 a.m....

What is the most common factually incorrect statement used by the mainstream media? It crosses ideological lines. Both CBS and Fox News state it. So do Reuters and the Washington Times. It has so pervaded popular culture that the vast majority of people have no idea that this "fact" is a canard. It is a falsehood with global implications. What is this lie? That the Western Wall in Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism. The holiest site in Judaism is not the Western Wall but the area behind it: the Temple Mount, the site of the now-destroyed Holy Temple....

Staff Sgt. Noam Apter was a handsome 23-year-old officer in the Israeli Defense Force. A scholar and warrior, Apter studied for his rabbinic degree at the yeshiva in Otniel, a Jewish settlement in the south hills of Hebron. On Dec. 27, 2002, Apter was learning at the yeshiva with his friends and comrades while on unpaid leave from the IDF. That night, as the Jewish Sabbath began, the entire yeshiva sat down to the traditional Friday night meal, a joyous meal of song and dancing. Apter was on kitchen duty and brought out the food to over a hundred assembled...

<p>WASHINGTON — For those who enjoy witnessing the formation of political cliches nothing matches being in Washington right after an election. Partisan theorists lay down their interpretations like wet cement and hope that they harden into the conventional wisdom.</p> <p>The Incumbent Protection Racket: The economy may be in the doldrums, but Congress has become virtually a layoff-free zone. Only eight of the 389 House incumbents who sought re-election were defeated, and half of those ran against other incumbents because of redistricting. Politicians crave job security, but a system built around safe seats deprives most voters of a meaningful choice.</p>

With the latest attack on Israelis by Palestinian terrorists, it is time to re-evaluate Israel's current strategy with regard to the intifada. And it is time for America to re-evaluate its plan for peace in the Middle East. Israel's strategy under Ariel Sharon has been one of defensive retaliation. Mass movement of Israeli troops into Palestinian controlled areas has occurred only after Palestinian suicide attacks against Israelis. It has not been completely unsuccessful. With each incursion, Israeli troops have been able to target and either arrest or kill Palestinian terrorists and scatter others from their comfortable nests. Still, it hasn't...

The Internet and talk radio have brought with their rise a new kind of media democracy, where privilege and education do not make kings. For the past decade, a growing number of citizens have tuned in to Rush Limbaugh or logged on to the Drudge Report for their news. And the left doesn't like it one bit. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the information superhighway can help shape global values. That is why China now bars minors from Internet cafes and forces cafes to close by midnight, as well as prohibiting their location within 124 feet of schools. China's...

I don't normally look for deep messages in movies, aside from "The Godfather," which contains most of the lessons anyone needs in life. But the contrast between "Darkman," starring Liam Neeson, and "Marathon Man," starring Dustin Hoffman, is interesting, especially in light of the current debate on Iraq. In "Marathon Man," Dustin Hoffman plays a university student studying for his Ph.D. His brother, a U.S. undercover agent played by Roy Scheider, is killed by Lawrence Olivier, a former Nazi looking to reclaim jewels stashed in a New York bank. To make a long story short, the last scene opens with...

The Islamic terrorists who attacked us on Sept. 11 thought that America was a weak country, fat and complacent. Maybe they were right. People say everything changed on Sept. 11. It isn't true. Things just came sharply into focus. For a brief moment, Americans came together against a common enemy. We weren't afraid to call evil by its name or to confront it. We united under God. And then, we spent the past year trying to forget our righteous anger and return to our former complacency. When President Bush urged us to go on with our lives, he didn't mean...

townhall.com Ben Shapiro (back to story) September 4, 2002 An attack on Iraq is imminent, and the foreign-policy wonks are arguing over whether President Bush needs congressional approval. Some feel that Bush should use last year's Sept. 14 congressional resolution, which authorized military action against whatever President Bush deems a legitimate terrorist target. Others say the president should use the 1991 resolution allowing use of force against Saddam Hussein. Some liberal pundits even suggest that President Bush must get a congressional declaration of war. President Bush does not need congressional approval, nor should he seek it. President Bush should place...