Free Republic

Organize for Thursday, February 17! The National Executive Committee of the NLG calls on all Guild chapters to organize and to take part in local actions as part of a "National Day of Outrage" in response to yesterday's Lynne Stewart verdict, which we see as an attack not only on our cherished colleague and fellow NLG member but also on all members of the legal community who represent unpopular clients and causes. We are calling for this coordinated day of action to be held next Thursday, February 17 in your cities, towns, and, if you are a law student, at...

Read this passage slowly and carefully, especially the second sentence: "The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballet et al., don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history. It is the white race and it alone — its ideologies and inventions — which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself." It was not the fault of the...

Republicans have given up the pretense that their party is the party of small government. “One of the most misunderstood parts of Hoosier culture is that Hoosiers are reluctant of change of any kind,” State Rep. Luke Messer told Brian Howey, publisher of Indianapolis Eye News, in an article that identifies an undercurrent in Indiana to have a constitutional convention. “If we have a strong leader, Hoosiers are willing to step up and make big changes. Bob Knight and Larry Bird were pretty big figures in Hoosier culture and they have been willing to make big changes. What we want...

Six Navy SEALs filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press and one of its reporters yesterday, saying the news organization revealed their identities, compromised their security and invaded their privacy by publishing personal photographs in a Dec. 4 story.     The complaint says AP reporter Seth Hettena used about 40 images from the personal photo-storage Web site of a Navy SEAL wife. [snip] The images were picked up by the Arab press, including Al Jazeera, and have made their way onto a billboard outside U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees from the war on terror are being kept. The...

Humane Society of the United States to challenge hunting via courts U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance — Dec. 3, 2004 The nation's largest anti-hunting group has launched a new legal department to challenge sportsmen in the courts. An Animal Protection Litigation section was created in the wake of the recent merger of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Fund for Animals. Attorney Jonathan Lovvorn was selected to head the department. The organization intends to add four litigating attorneys by the end of the year. "The animal rights movement sees the courts as the easiest way to realize its...

The U.S. attorney for the northern district of Indiana is being asked to investigate an alleged incident of voter fraud. The name of a man who died more than three years ago has shown up on paperwork requesting a mailed absentee ballot.The man's name is Stanley Grygiel. He was a staunch democrat, a UAW member and somewhat politically active. Up until now, it appeared that activity ended when he died in June of 2001.Mail from the Democratic Party still occasionally shows up at the home of the late Grygiel, according to a son who still lives there. The son expressed...

New York - A cable pay-per-view company has decided not to show a three-hour election eve special with filmmaker Michael Moore that included a showing of his documentary ``Fahrenheit 9/11,'' which is sharply critical of President Bush. The company, iN DEMAND, said Friday that its decision is due to ``legitimate business and legal concerns.'' A spokesman would not elaborate. Moore has just released his movie on DVD and was seeking a TV outlet for the film. Earlier this week, trade publications said Moore was close to a deal with iN DEMAND for ``The Michael Moore Pre-Election Special,'' which also would...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

AL GORE AND THE DEMOCRATS--A JYB WEBAD The JYB has entered the political ad fray. Below is our first effort. It's an avi file and about 2.3 megs. Here are a few screenshots: Set your connection on its highest setting, and commence downloading: Al Gore and the Democrats Posted by B. Preston at 11:56 PM

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win....I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle...the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge, dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc: Judges know very well how to read the Constitution broadly when they are sympathetic to the right being asserted. We have held, without much ado, that "speech, or... the press" also means the Internet, see Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), and that "persons, houses, papers, and effects" also means public telephone booths, see Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967). When a particular right comports especially well with our notions of good social policy, we build magnificent legal edifices on elliptical constitutional phrases -- or even the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An old Arab proverb says tyranny is better than anarchy. A year after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, Iraqis have scarcely had a day free of bedlam. That point was driven home Wednesday with the devastating bombing of a hotel in central Baghdad that killed dozens of people just two days before the war's one-year anniversary. Perhaps the worst day of violence was March 2, when suicide bombers attacked Shiite shrines in the holy city of Karbala and in Baghdad, killing more than 180 people. That attack, more than any other, has raised...

<p>LANSING -- Four Ithaca teens were sentenced to spend four weekends in jail for their participation in an anti-war demonstration in December 2002 at a military recruiter's office.</p> <p>Marie Grady De Mott, 17, Oona Grady DeFlaun, 18, Ana Grady Flores, 17, and Anna Ritter, 17, were sentenced Tuesday by Lansing Town Court Justice William Burin. In September, the teenagers were convicted of third-degree criminal trespass, a class B misdemeanor. The charges were brought against them for trespassing on Dec. 21, 2002, at the military recruiter's office at the Cayuga Mall in Lansing.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Two local peace activists recently returned from Iraq with vivid memories of a country torn apart by war.</p> <p>Danny Burns and Peter DeMott went to Baghdad and other Iraqi towns as members of Christian Peacemaker Teams.</p> <p>After 10 days in the Iraqi capital, they said they are convinced the war was fought for oil, not necessarily to rid the country of Saddam Hussein. Of all the government buildings that were blown apart by bombs during the war, the Ministry of Oil is still standing, untouched, they said.</p>

Vote for Tasty Manatees, Don't Let Anti-War.com win! Please take ten seconds to click on this link to the 2003 Weblog Awards and vote for Tasty Manatees. Apparently, Tasty Manatees is listed in the "Crawly Amphibians" category for some reason. I would really feel discouraged if more people voted for Anti-war.com over Tasty Manatees! [2nd Update- Anti-war.com has more votes for best blog than Tasty Manatees. Currently, about 1 in 15 of you are actually hitting the link and voting. Understandable, but please take ten seconds to make a statement that you do not agree with the rants of the...

FBI has collected extensive information on 'tactics, training and organization' of antiwar demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, confidential bureau memorandum show... Developing...

CommonConservative.com 11/16/03 --> "WE CALLED THEM TRAITORS"...and everyone laughed... by Tom Adkins. For years, conservatives claimed liberals were bent on destroying the United States. We suspected they were willing to ruin lives, even actively ruin America to gain political power and turn America into a socialist state. We called them traitors. And everyone laughed. We said liberals were anti-American. We said they were traitors. And we watched the evidence mount. The Rosenbergs. Whitaker Chambers. The Church Commission. The counter culture. So-called “peace protesters.” Jane Fonda. Jimmy Carter’s arrogant socialist smile. The pro-Sandinista Congress. We called them traitors. And everyone laughed....

A college student charged with plotting to bomb Coast Guard and Army National Guard stations has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of trying to obtain explosives. Under a plea agreement disclosed Tuesday, Paul Douglas Revak, 20, hopes to be home by Christmas, said his attorney Thomas W. Hillier II. 'Expressing His Frustration' With Bush "I don't think Paul has a mean bone in his body. I think he was expressing his frustration with how the administration was dealing with the Iraq situation and got a little carried away," Hillier said. Revak was arrested in June after investigators said...

Cuban President Fidel Castro, right, talks with an American intellectual and linguist Noam Chomsky, left, before the start of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences conference in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday October 28, 2003. At center, between Castro and Chomsky Cuban writer Carlos Marti looks on. (AP Photo/Cristobal Herrera) HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky said on Wednesday that President Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win reelection in 2004 after U.S failure in occupying Iraq. Chomsky, attending a Latin American social sciences conference in Cuba, said that since the Sept....

ITHACA--"The bombing of Iraq was a wrong so great, I could no longer stay on the sidewalk," said Elizabeth Dissin '90, a war protester who was arrested on March 22. About 25 protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for disrupting the flow of traffic. The dozen protesters who pled not guilty to the violation argued their case in the Ithaca City Court on Monday and Tuesday, after which the Hon. Judith A. Rossiter reserved decision, giving her up to 60 days to render the verdict. The arrestees, along with about 600 other demonstrators, were participating in a symbolic...

JERUSALEM - A right-wing Knesset member Tuesday accused high-profile Israeli leftists who drafted an unofficial peace plan with the Palestinians of "treason" and demanded they be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. "Those who initiated the Geneva agreement have perpetrated a crime of treason necessitating a death sentence or life imprisonement," Shaul Yahalom, who heads the radical National Religious Party (NRP), wrote in a letter to Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, according to a copy obtained by AFP. The symbolic Geneva peace plan was drawn up last week between Israeli left-wingers, including former justice minister Yossi Beilin, and leading Palestinians such...

Since midsummer, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been attempting to solve the biggest mystery of the Iraq war: the disparity between the Bush Administration’s prewar assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and what has actually been discovered. The committee is concentrating on the last ten years’ worth of reports by the C.I.A. Preliminary findings, one intelligence official told me, are disquieting. “The intelligence community made all kinds of errors and handled things sloppily,” he said. The problems range from a lack of quality control to different agencies’ reporting contradictory assessments at the same time. One finding, the official went...

Stolen Computer Search October 14, 2003 — The search goes on for a stolen laptop computer, a computer that contains sensitive information about security at all the commercial airports in the U.S. It happened during an airport security training seminar at the Embassy Suites near Philadelphia International. Police and the FBI have not located that computer nor have they made any arrests. I am told it contains sensitive information about security at the nation's 429 airports. A source tells Action News they do not believe this was the job of a professional who knew what was on the computer, but...

A long-term undercover intelligence operation hangs in the balance as the District of Columbia appeals a circuit court judge's ruling ordering the Metro Police Department to reveal the identities of all undercover officers who have infiltrated and become active in a controversial anti-Bush group. As part of an ongoing intelligence operation, D.C. undercover officers had posed as activists and infiltrated the International Action Center, or IAC, and its affiliates. The officers attended the center's meetings, including those held in members' homes. Some of the officers have been on long-term assignment and continue to operate undercover and provide law-enforcement agencies with...

ITHACA -- The Office of the Provost at Ithaca College and the Peace Studies Program at Cornell University will hold the 2003 Annual Conference of the Regional Peace Studies Consortium from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18, at Ithaca College. The focus of the conference is "Dimensions of Human Security: Lessons from Africa and Beyond." Registration is required for the event. Registration and the opening session will be held at Textor Hall.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Coleen Rowley, the Minneapolis FBI agent who accused bureau headquarters of bungling chances to foil the Sept. 11 attacks, is criticizing the Bush administration for "whittling away our civil liberties." In an opinion piece published in today's Star Tribune, Rowley takes issue with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's assertion in a Twin Cities speech last month that America "is freer today than at any time in the history of human freedom." "Well, this American disagrees!" Rowley wrote.

<p>The American Muslim leader charged with smuggling $340,000 out of Libya was suspected of funneling cash from Osama bin Laden to blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in the failed 1993 attempt to blow up New York City landmarks, The Post has learned.</p>

It's the top story in the Washington Post this morning as well as in many other media outlets. Who leaked the fact that the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV worked for the CIA? What also might be worth asking: "Who didn't know?" I believe I was the first to publicly question the credibility of Mr. Wilson, a retired diplomat sent to Niger to look into reports that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium for his nuclear-weapons program. On July 6, Mr. Wilson wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he said: "I have little...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union asked the federal courts Tuesday to prevent the U.S. Secret Service from keeping anti-Bush protesters far away from presidential appearances while allowing supporters to display their messages up close.</p> <p>The civil liberties group filed the lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania on behalf of four advocacy organizations that claimed that the Secret Service forced them into protest zones or other areas where they could not be seen by President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney or be noticed by the media covering their visits.</p>

Yuri Gottesman spent his summer volunteering in Israel this year, but instead of picking oranges on a kibbutz, he slept in a terrorist’s house that was scheduled for demolition and cleared roadblocks that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had set up to hinder the passage of terrorists. "I decided that I really needed to be in Palestine in solidarity with the Palestinians," said the 24-year-old Jewish San Franciscan of his reasons for going to Israel. Gottesman is a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a motley group of activists from around the world that converge in the West Bank...

ITHACA--The University calls them the 'Superclass of 1956.' And for their 40th reunion in 2001, they offered a legacy to the University that would confirm their reputation as one of Cornell's most generous alumni classes. The Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professorship -- supported by an unprecedented $5 million endowment for a single chair -- was created to honor Cornell's ninth President and as a gift to undergraduates. But the president of the Class of '56, Ernie Stern, could not have predicted that a ribbon-wrapped present would result in the backlash against the 2003 appointments of former Congresswoman Cynthia...

For months, I have struggled with a hypothetical question, a thought experiment if you will: If the enemies of the United States, such as Al Qaeda, had a political wing in the US Congress, how would their votes differ from those cast by the most liberal group in the House, namely, the Congressional Black Caucus, who are all members of the Democrat party? After great reflection and research, I have reached a sobering conclusion: in matters of the military, there would not be any significant difference between the aggregate voting record of the CBC and that of the hypothetical political...

ITHACA--As the sun set on the Ithaca Commons yesterday, the strumming of author Rich Zubaty's guitar floated in front of See Spot Community Arts Space, accompanying lyrics such as "There was a president lying to me" and "We want our country back." While Zubaty was merely part of a three-person group singing his song "Impeach Bush Blues," over 30 individuals came to his organized teach-in and later echoed similar views supporting the removal of America's president. According to Zubaty, the teach-in was organized a couple of months in advance with friend and muralist Daniel Burgevin. Zubaty, who considers himself "nomadic,"...

ITHACA -- A live recording and videotaping of the song "Peace Song" will occur from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 at the Autumn Leaves Book Store on The Commons downtown. All are invited to come and sing along with with Amy Glicklich, Sim Redmond, Trevor McDonald, Art Godin, Out Loud Chorus, and many more area musicians. Musicians and poet Michelle Berry will be performing original work then coming together with the entire community at 7:30 p.m. for the recording of 'Peace Song' -- an original composition by Ithacan Robert Anthony Hubbell. Recorded songs from this event will be submitted to...

It is sad yet stirring to say. With a realist's melancholy sense of the human cost of things, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is saying it: Part of the good news out of Iraq -- good news obscured by recent bad news, and sometimes mistaken for unalloyed bad news -- is that the deaths, including of 62 Americans, caused by hostile action in Iraq since major combat operations ended include the deaths of almost 50 Iraqis. They died, Wolfowitz says, as exemplary pioneers of Iraq's progress up from tyranny, while working with coalition forces to secure public order and...

<p>ITHACA -- Ithaca may soon welcome a second Green Party presidential candidate into its midst.</p> <p>Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was ousted from her seat in Congress in 2002 and is known for her outspoken liberal views, accepted a Frank H.T. Rhodes visiting professor position at Cornell University earlier this summer.</p>

<p>Now that we know there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that the Bush administration fabricated a number of excuses for attacking and subsequently occupying that country, it might be interested to recall the Vietnam debacle.</p> <p>How did we wind up fighting a full-scale war in Vietnam? Because our elected representatives, with only two dissenting votes, passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 giving Lyndon Baines Johnson extended powers to fight a war without a formal declaration from Congress.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Four defendants were arraigned in Tompkins County Court Monday for using blood to destroy items as they refused to leave the military recruiter's office at the Cayuga Mall.</p> <p>Daniel Burns, Teresa B. Grady, Peter Demott, and Clare Grady represented themselves before Judge M. John Sherman as they were formally arraigned on charges of third-degree criminal mischief.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- The extent of the resulting damage and the use of blood at a protest will lead to four demonstrators being tried in Tompkins County Court.</p> <p>The grand jury handed up the indictment for Daniel Burns, 42, Peter DeMott, 56, Teresa Grady, 37, and Clare Grady, 44, on July 1 on the charge of second-degree criminal mischief.</p>

What seemed to be an odd assortment of people joined forces in Pretoria on Wednesday to express strong opposition to the United States President George Bush's visit to South Africa. About a thousand people gathered under the banner of the Anti-War Coalition to march on the US embassy around lunchtime. Hippies, men and women in traditional Muslim dress, militant toyi-toying youngsters and even some Americans turned up for the event. "Go away, we've got enough Bushes in Africa," read a poster held up by one middle-aged man. The group chanted "Who let the bombs drop - Bush, Blair, Sharon", to...

LAW OF THE LAND Justice: Can Constitution make it in global age? On TV, Breyer wonders whether it will 'fit into governing documents of other nations' Posted: July 7, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com In a rare appearance on a television news show, Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer questioned whether the U.S. Constitution, the oldest governing document in use in the world today, will continue to be relevant in an age of globalism. Speaking with ABC News' "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos and his colleague Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Breyer took issue with Justice Antonin Scalia, who,...

The BBC production the Cambridge Spies boils down to a piece neo-Stalinist agitprop that reveals the moral and ideological bankruptcy of the BBC, an institution that was once even respected by it totalitarian enemies for its integrity. Particularly telling, though not at all surprising, has been the praise heaped on it by the vast majority of reviewers. Tony Watson inadvertently summed up the political and historical illiteracy of his media colleagues when he asserted that this band of traitors were driven as much by "their fierce anti-fascist leanings, as they were by the romanticism of communism" (the Age television lift-out,...

If there’s one slogan that’s come to represent the anti-war movement in its current incarnation, it’s one that appeared on a banner in a March 15 demonstration in San Francisco. It bore the message,“We Support Our Troops, When They Shoot Their Officers.” This banner has been seen around the world and cited in more than 400 publications. You can see the creator of the banner in the photograph; he’s the one on the right wearing the black ski-mask (being assisted by activist Kevin Keating). He recently spoke with me about the mythology that’s grown up around it. As much...

<p>ITHACA -- Four juveniles who allegedly participated in a die-in at a military recruiters office are one step closer to a trial.</p> <p>Marie Grady, Oona Grady DeFlaun, Anna Grady Flores and Anna Ritter appeared in the Town of Lansing Court to argue motions related to the charges brought against them for allegedly trespassing on Dec. 21 at the Cayuga Mall in Lansing.</p>

<p>"How can you not support the troops?"</p> <p>"What do you stand for, anyway?"</p> <p>"Well, what exactly would you have the president do in light of the terrorist attacks?"</p> <p>"When are you people going to stop complaining about poverty and racism and war and meat eating and. . ."</p>

Dean is Toast; Russert skewered him on MTP Please post your impressions of this morning's Meet the Press. Here are some revelations about Dean that Russert dug up, thanks to his thorough research staff: 1. Dean actually wants to raise payroll taxes, and increase taxable income from the current 85,000 dollars to 100,000. 2. Got a Vietnam deferrment for a bad back, but spent the same year skiing in Aspen (1971). 3. Wants to recognize gay couples who get married in Canada. 4. Lied to NARAL by withholding critical, relevant information about parental consent during the abortion of a...

<p>ITHACA -- When she returns to Baghdad, Maura Stephens will be looking up friends.</p> <p>They're people she met just weeks before the start of the war in Iraq. Stephens, of Spencer, is afraid for them and their families.</p> <p>"I hope they're alive and I hope to see them," she said.</p>

<p>ITHACA-- Three anti-war demonstrators chose to spend six days in Tompkins County jail instead of paying a fine for trespassing during a die-in at a military recruitment station.</p> <p>Daniel Burns, Peter Demott and Clare Grady were sent to jail by Town of Lansing Judge John Howell Wednesday. At the court appearance, the three indicated they would not pay the imposed $100 fine.</p>

ABC News and Peter Jennings' favorite country, Cuba, was named by the CPJ as one of the world's worst countries to be a journalist. The Committee to Protect Journalists named Iraq (news - web sites), where nine journalists died in the first three weeks of the U.S.-led invasion, the "worst place in the world" to be a journalist. Afghanistan (news - web sites) was fourth on the list released Friday by the U.S.-based media watchdog, which said its list of "10 worst places to be a journalist" reflected the physical danger, government harassment, jailings and intimidation faced by journalists....

How to identify the political left? Current usage refers to everyone left of center as "liberal." Yet what are currently identified liberals liberal about except hard drugs and sex? In regard to everything else, they are determined to intervene, regulate and control your life, or redistribute your income. Obviously, when terror-hugging radicals like Ramsey Clark and Communist hacks like Angela Davis are referred to as "liberals" – as they routinely are – the obfuscation works to their advantage and against the interests of veracity and democracy. The term "liberal" should be reserved for those who occupy the center of the...