I arrived here at Free Republic (then also known as "White Water") via a direct link from a DRUDGE headline on the morning that Jackie Judd broke the "intern scandal" on ABC (1-21-98), and I've been here virtually every day since. From the "impeachment summer" of 1998 through every election since that historic time, Free Republic was and remains the only place to be. THANK YOU, Jim Robinson!
(And a shout out to John Robinson as well, for his incredible work on this website.)

0311
U.S. Marine Corps Infantry
1979 - 1985

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The following link (an original Free Republic column by Lancey Howard!) contains a fine collection of posts and responses by many thoughtful freepers. If you want to know how John McCain blew the 2008 election and who helped him blow it, this thread contains most of the answers:

The "October Surprise" - a little early

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The first sixteen words of the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."
(The atheist Democrats of the ACLU like to pretend that those last six words aren't there. But there they are.)

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(*** SPOILER ALERT ***)
(From the end of the movie, 'The Cincinnati Kid':
Lancey Howard has just beaten 'The Kid' by showing a jack of diamonds for an inside straight flush:)

Lancey Howard: "Gets down to what it's all about, doesn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time."
Cincinnati Kid: "Is that what it's all about?"
Lancey Howard: "Like life, I guess. You're good, kid, but as long as I'm around you're second best. You might as well learn to live with it."

Edward G. Robinson as Lancey Howard
Watch the final hand HERE. (About 7 minutes.)
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Haditha

There were no "innocent" civilians in those houses at Haditha. The occupants were either insurgents or collaborators. They were either "with us or against us". Clearly, they were against us:

A 12-year old survivor of the alleged massacre of innocent civilians by U.S. Marines patrolling Haditha has admitted she had prior knowledge of the plot to detonate an IED as their convoy was passing by her house on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

In a CNN interview broadcast Wednesday, Safa Younis - who says eight members of her family were killed by U.S. troops - recalled that she was getting ready for school as the Marine Humvee approached.

"I was planning to go to school. I was about to go out of bed. I knew the bomb would explode so I covered my ears," the youngster said, according to a CNN translator. "The bomb [then] exploded," she explained. "The bomb struck an armored vehicle. I don't know if it was a Humvee or an armored vehicle. When the bomb exploded, they came straight to my house."

The "innocent" occupants of those houses knew about the impending deadly ambush and watched it happen. They chose to collaborate with terrorist insurgents, and those insurgents used them as human shields. Now look at them.... Que sera sera.

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The Bush Justice Department

Many conservatives burrowed within the Department of Justice have long complained that Gonzales (and therefore, Bush) has permitted career government employees and hold-overs from Democratic Administrations to remain in perches of power and thereby water down conservative directives from the top. As one conservative and Federalist Society member in the Justice Department told me: “This is definitely not Ronald Reagan’s Justice Department, I assure you. You have holdovers from Clinton calling the shots in a lot of places here.”

- - John Gizzi from: Should Gonzales Go?
Human Events | March 20, 2007 |

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A California Democrat Speaks the Truth! (May 30, 2009)

Nearly all of the billions of dollars in cuts the administration has proposed would affect programs for poor Californians...

“Government doesn’t provide services to rich people,” Mike Genest, the state’s finance director, said on a conference call with reporters on Friday. “It doesn’t even really provide services to the middle class.” He added: “You have to cut where the money is.”

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Hate Crime Hoaxes

Claremont Hate Crime Called Hoax
LA Times (FR thread) | March 17. 2004 | Joy Buchanan, Kristina Sauerwein and Stuart Silverstein

A week after a reported campus hate crime drew national attention, sparked protests and shut down the prestigious Claremont Colleges, police on Wednesday called the incident a hoax staged by a professor who slashed tires, shattered windows and spray-painted racist graffiti on her own car.

Claremont McKenna College psychology professor Kerri Dunn, who had told police that her car was vandalized as she spoke at a March 9 forum on racism, was identified by two eyewitnesses as the person who damaged the auto, authorities said Wednesday.

Professor Kerri Dunn vandalized her own car and then led "Stop The Hate" rallies on campus.

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Other Recent "Hate Crime" Hoaxes:

Cops Say Gay Activist Scammed NJ College Into Pro-Homo Frenzy

Black Woman Admits Carving 'KKK' On Her Own Chest

FR Thread about miscellaneous other "hate crime" hoaxes

Black Firefighter Admits Placing Noose, Note

Cops: Student made up campus attack

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My Immigration Reform Proposal

1. BUILD long, strong, effective border fences.
2. INCREASE border patrols and assure that agents have real enforcment power. (No “catch and release”, etc.)
3. DENY illegal aliens access to any and all government services, including schools, welfare, food stamps, etc. REQUIRE mandatory, automatic deportation of any illegal alien who ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS any government service, whether such service is federal, state, or local. (Note: The only exception would be dire-emergency medical treatment, followed immediately [after the minimum amount of sufficient recovery time] by mandatory, automatic deportation.)
4. REQUIRE A MANDATORY jail sentence for any illegal alien found to be holding fraudulent identification, followed by mandatory, automatic deportation. (Note: Lengthier jail sentences would be MANDATORY for the “identity theft” of living American citizens.)
5. REQUIRE fines and criminal proceedings against any employer (including company officers and responsible hiring personnel) who knowingly (or negligently) hires and employs illegal aliens. JAIL repeat offenders.
6. “Anchor babies” (babies born to illegal alien parents) are to be DENIED citizenship, and are to be immediately deported along with their parents. (Note: This provision should be made retroactive, if possible, for existing “anchor babies”, up to an age to be debated.) In any event, under no circumstances would being the parent or guardian of an "anchor baby" confer any special consideration regarding illegal status.
7. All law enforcement officers (federal, state, or local) who IN THE COURSE OF THEIR NORMAL LAW ENFORCEMENT DUTIES become aware of an illegal alien’s status are REQUIRED to notify the appropriate federal authorities immediately and hold that alien in custody for up to two days (or sufficient time, to be debated, for federal authorities to take custody and deport). (Naturally, if an illegal alien is apprehended and charged with a crime, then notification and automatic deportation would occur following satisfactory disposition of the criminal case.)
8. MAKE ENGLISH THE “OFFICIAL” NATIONAL LANGUAGE and require that everyone who applies for residency status or citizenship (and their school-age minor dependents) demonstrate some level of proficiency in the national language. No United States municipality could be legally required to accomodate speakers of any foreign language.

(Note: Jail sentences required in the above provisions MUST be MANDATORY MINIMUM sentences [to be debated] in order to avoid “end runs” by liberal activist Democrat judges.)
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The above provisions, if passed, would largely solve the illegal alien problem. Illegal aliens would disappear BY ATTRITION since they would be: a) unemployable without proper authorization, b) unable to access government welfare and other services, c) unable to enroll their illegal alien children in government schools, and d) unable to use the despicable “anchor baby” ploy to get special consideration and remain in the country.

Many, if not most, illegal aliens will return to their countries of origin voluntarily once it becomes clear to them that there is little reason for them to remain in the US. (Note: There is evidence that this phenomenon is already happening due to an increase in enforcement efforts, as of December, 2007.)

**** Note: No logistically burdensome and expensive “roundup” of 12 million-plus illegal aliens is required, recommended, or even necessary. Illegal aliens would disappear by ATTRITION. Therefore, the “red herring” argument that it would be “impossible to deport 12 million illegal aliens” becomes moot. ****

Meanwhile, reasonable LEGAL immigration laws (including a “guest worker” program) should be streamlined, strictly controlled, and RELENTLESSLY ENFORCED in order to address the legitimate needs of U.S. employers.

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Free Money For Everybody! (click on graphic)

Matthew Lesko's 'Free Money for Everybody' Shows You “How to Get Government Grants for the Whole Family”

Matthew Lesko Shows You How To Tap Into Over 12,000 Government Programs, Over 30 Million people every year get government grants… And You Can Too!

No Books, No Paper, No Bureaucrats,

Just Fun and Lots of Money and Over $1 Trillion Every Year and Growing

Government Money Is Set Aside For You and Your Whole Family Including:
Entrepreneurs
Home Buyers
Community Activists
Moms & Dads
Investors
Students
Teens
Travelers
Teachers
Seniors
Average Americans with a stack of bills

Who Qualifies? Everyone Who Lives In America..
Rich, Poor, Good Credit, Bad Credit

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Hospital Hell (Dan Aykroyd on Socialized Medicine)
New York Post (FR Thread) 11-19-2003 | Richard Johnson

Posted on 11/20/2003 3:15:45 AM EST by Lancey Howard

November 19, 2003 -- DAN Aykroyd is no fan of the bureaucratic bungling and cut-rate care of socialized medicine. "One place you don't want to get sick is Quebec," the Canadian actor advised us after a screening of Denys Arcand's 'The Barbarian Invasions.' "It's all socialized. Believe me, you don't want to go to a hospital there."

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'Being There'

Following is an excerpt from the movie, 'Being There', starring Peter Sellers as Chance, a simple gardener who later becomes known as "Chance Gardner" through no fault of his own. The movie has become a cult classic.

"Adapted by Jerzy Kozinsky from his own novel, the movie's about a simple-minded, middle-aged gardener who, after a lifetime of seclusion and safety in a Washington, D.C. townhouse, gets his first exposure to reality beyond the walls of his sheltered existence. His only reference to the world is through his childlike addiction to television, and when a chance encounter brings him into the inner fold of a dying billionaire (Melvyn Douglas), he suddenly finds himself the toast of Washington's political elite. His simple phrases about gardening are misinterpreted as anything from economic predictions to sage political advice..." - - Jeff Shannon (Amazon.com)

(For some reason, the rise of Barack Hussein Obama reminded me of this old movie....)

President "Bobby": "Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?"
[Long pause]
Chance the Gardener: "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden."
President "Bobby": "In the garden."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."
President "Bobby": "Spring and summer."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes."
President "Bobby": "Then fall and winter."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes."
Benjamin Rand: "I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we're upset by the seasons of our economy."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes! There will be growth in the spring!"
Benjamin Rand: "Hmm!"
Chance the Gardener: "Hmm!"
President "Bobby": "Hm. Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time."
[Benjamin Rand applauds]
President "Bobby": "I admire your good, solid sense. That's precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill."

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The "Global Warming" Scam

"Global warming" has nothing to do with science. In fact, "global warming" has nothing to do with global warming. It's all about socialism and wealth redistribution. Here is what REAL scientists and meteorologists say:

U.N. Blackballs International Scientists from Climate Change Conference

As the debate on man-made global warming has been heating up, the UN has tried to freeze out the scientists and new evidence, summarily dismissing them with the claim "the science is settled."

James M. Taylor, senior fellow for The Heartland Institute explained, "It is not surprising the UN has completely rejected dissenting voices. They have been doing this for years. The censorship of scientists is necessary to promote their political agenda. After the science reversed on the alarmist crowd, they claimed 'the debate is over' to serve their wealth redistribution agenda."

Taylor continued, "For example, ICSC scientist Dr. Vincent Gray recently published Unsound Science by the IPCC, which proves the main claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are scientifically unsound. Dr. Gray is an expert reviewer for the IPCC and has submitted more than 1,800 comments on IPCC reports. He is an expert on the IPCC methodology and published Spinning the Climate.

"Dr. Gray is the last person the politicized UN wants speaking," Taylor noted. "He single-handedly debunks the entire alarmist theory. And there are more than 600 Dr. Grays trying to be the voice of reason and science. All are being censored."

Over 100 Prominent Scientists Warn UN Against 'Futile' Climate Control Efforts

"Climate Scientists" Move to Censor Film That Exposes "Global Warming" Fraud

Comments About Global Warming (by John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel)

UN Climate Panel in 'Panic Mode' as Earth Fails to Warm, Scientist says

MIT scientists baffled by global warming theory, contradicts scientific data

UN Blowback: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims

Deroy Murdock: Baby, it's cold outside, no matter what Al Gore says

James Hansen’s Former NASA Supervisor a Skeptic (Says Hansen ‘Embarrassed NASA’ )

EPA's own research expert 'shut up' on climate change

NIPCC report states there is no anthropogenic global warming

The above links expose the "tip of the iceberg" (pun intended) regarding the "global warming" scam.

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Some Favorite Famous Quotes

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis
"A short pencil beats a long memory every time." - Dad
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." - Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787.
"I don't trust chowder." - John Madden

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Personal Ping List

This is my personal, informal ping list of freepers I have encountered on this forum and grown to respect; for occasional pings of (usually) military items that strike me as interesting:

RedRover; jazusamo; Girlene; 4woodenboats; grimmy; xzins; smoothsailing; lilycicero; bigheadfred; Dick Vomer; brityank; Semper Fi Mom; Chickenhawk Warmonger; Defend Our Marine; LS

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Here is a photo of deploying Marines taken at Bangor Airport (Maine) in July, 2008.
Courtesy of the Freeport Flag Ladies: