Free Republic

[ed. note - found in a remodeling dumpster at 48th and FDR Drive: first draft of Kofi Annan's valediction] Nearly 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh from Africa, I had much to learn. For example, the concept of “connecting flights,” because I was actually supposed to be going to California. My cab had already plowed through several miles of Minneapolis snowdrifts before I realized my horrible mistake, but I decided to make the best of it. Over the next few years I adapted to the quaint arctic customs of the indigenous Minnesotans -- wearing...

Sen. John Kerry’s mangled anti-Bush joke has metastasized into a week of negative news for liberals hoping to regain control of the Congress. Even his reluctant apology has done little to quash the fires he lit. Significantly, these fires rage because liberals have yet to expunge the scarlet “D” that has adorned them since the Vietnam War -- “D” for disdain of our military. Let’s review the tape. Kerry advised students at a campaign rally in California that they would “do well” if they studied hard and made “an effort to be smart.” If not: “You get stuck in Iraq.”...

MIDI - END OF THE WORLD I tune in daily and listen...I don't think I've missed a show Sean, don't you know it's the end of the world Insulting friends will make them go Why had it been necessary...had news on that day been slow Sean, don't you know it's the end of the world Insulting friends will make them go The FReepers buy your books and we defend you We thought you were a good friend indeed You launched an attack...now you must take it back You made us angry with that screed I'm sure you know how...

According to the funhouse logic of the Kerry campaign, I have no choice but to question Kerry's patriotism. As Mort Kondracke of Roll Call has been dutifully chronicling, ever since Kerry became the unofficial nominee, Kerry has claimed that criticism of his record equals criticism of his patriotism. In February, when Ed Gillespie, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, listed the number of defense programs Kerry opposed — the MX missile, the B-1 bomber, the Tomahawk missile, the Apache helicopter, the Patriot missile, the Harrier jet, and the F-15 fighter aircraft -Kerry's campaign manager immediately replied, "Today, RNC chair...