Free Republic

I can't help but notice how the lefties are so silent on the Georgia/Russia activity. But when they do spout an opinion it is that somehow this has to be AMERICA's FAULT this happened.

3">Roman Catholic apologists are going about the land presenting seminars and talks in parish halls and church buildings, all designed to 1) confirm the faithful in their allegiance to Rome and the Papacy, and 2) invite the "separated brethren home to Mother Church." While the number of RC apologists has grown exponentially over the past decade, the one gentleman who has been out-front, or maybe better, in light of the article we will be reviewing, "up-front," the longest, is Karl Keating, president of Catholic Answers. In a recent article in the December, 1996 edition of This Rock magazine, Keating introduces...

Chris Whittle, who edits Sunday Morning Shootout ... has a fascinating, wide ranging post on his site Eject! Eject! Eject!, which hits many of my political-entertainment industry buttons. The amn knows whereof he speaks, and has a lot of worthwhile thoughts. >>There are only eight conservative actors in the history of Hollywood, and five of them have been elected to high office. (The sixth was elected president of the National Rifle Association, the seventh was elected Mayor of Carmel, California on a pro-business platform, and John Wayne had the class to never run for – or from – anything.) If,...

During the absolute sham that happened on the floor of the United States House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon, Rep. Maxine Waters of California finally admitted for the official record what many of us have known for a long time - Michael Moore runs the Democratic Party. Waters took to the well of the House near the end of what can very loosely be called a debate on the question of objecting to the certification of the Ohio electoral votes of the 2004 presidential election. In a quivering voice that betrayed either an oncoming eruption of tears or outright fury,...

PARIS -- U.S. diplomats here respond to Jacques Chirac's continued Yankee-bashing following George W. Bush's re-election by saying the French president is out of step with his people, who are not nearly that anti-American. But thoughtful Frenchmen believe President Chirac is mining a deep vein of sentiment among fellow citizens that transcends President Bush. During a week in Paris, I encountered none of the rudeness I had been warned to expect because of my nationality. However, the question goes beyond amenities to visitors. One French intellectual described anti-Americanism to me as ''a cancer that is sweeping across the country.'' It...

FRANCE PROCLAIMS B.O. A NATIONAL TREASURE By JACQUES BARDOT It's offical: The French government has officially declared Gallic body odor a "national treasure." "We're as excited as skunks in an outhouse," says French historian Jean- Pierre Lefevre. "We are proud of our offensive odor. It's way overdue that along with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral French body aroma is taking its rightful place as one of our country's most important assets." Luc Beauchamp, 59, has lived in Paris all his life. "France is the most beautiful country in the world," he says. "I stroll along the Champs Elysees...

THE French Government will make public classified documents relating to the 1965 disappearance of the Moroccan opposition leader, Mehdi Ben Barka, which caused a major political scandal. Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had agreed to follow the recommendations of a national defence committee and release the 73 documents on the case which had not yet been made public, defence ministry officials said today. The committee's decision came after a magistrate investigating Mr Ben Barka's disappearance asked to see the documents. Previous secret documents on the affair, which caused political uproar, were made public in 2001. Mr Ben Barka, an outspoken opponent...

Scientists have taken action to save France's feathered national emblem, le coq gaulois, by cryogenically preserving the endangered cockerel's sperm. Panic set in when it was disclosed that only 200 individuals remained, mostly owned by amateur breeders. The brightly coloured cockerel, one of France's oldest native animal species, is synonymous with French fighting spirit – at times arrogance – and is famously unleashed on to the football pitch before games involving the national side. Due to a semantic crossover, the Latin word gallus means both cockerel and Gaul and it has come to stand as a symbol of France's distant...

Jacques Chirac, the French president, yesterday threatened to reopen transatlantic rifts between the EU and the US over the war in Iraq by ignoring Tony Blair's plea for Europeans to "face up to the reality" of George Bush's resounding re-election as American president. Mr Chirac compounded his opposition to appeals for closer cooperation between the US and Europe in Mr Bush's second term by snubbing an EU summit lunch for Ayad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister, and urging Europe to act as a counterweight to American hegemony "in a world that's more multi-polar than ever".

We have been reminded that France is not to be trusted at any time, on any issue. The British have learned this over 1,000 years of acrimonious history, but it still comes as a shock to see how badly the French can behave, with their unique mixture of shortsighted selfishness, long-term irresponsibility, impudent humbug and sheer malice. Americans are still finding out--the hard way--that loyalty, gratitude, comradeship and respect for treaty obligations are qualities never exhibited by French governments. All they recognize are interests, real or imaginary. French support always has to be bought. What the Americans and British now...