Free Republic

We hadn’t gone to see Santa yet, at least in his official capacity. We’d seen him at the Holidazzle, but Gnat hadn’t told him what she wants. Usually I take her to Southdale, which has the same Santa year after year, a retired Honeywell guy who has the beard and the belly 24/7/365. For some reason, he’s Santa to me; I don’t trust department store impostors. Where did they come from? Who died and made them Claus? But. It’s a tradition in these parts to go to Dayton’s and see the big Holiday display on the eighth floor of the...

Hello my fellow FReepers. I am posting this message to let you all know that I REALLY need some new friends. I live in Tempe, AZ. I'm in my early 30's and tonight I was sitting here wondering what to do. So, I decided to post to see if I could find someone to talk to who lives in the valley here. I am a single male, going to school and I feel like i'm going F'ing crazy. I work 4-5 days a week. Are there any single women out there??? I know this isn't a dating service but who...

Hey y'all, where can i get some fallujah war footage??

My anti-anti-Specter position continues to kick up dust around the blogopshere. The estimable Peter Mulhern thinks my position is inane. Andrew Sullivan is relieved that it is sane. I like to think of it as prudent. Let's be very specific. If Chief Justice Rehnquist retires, and President Bush nominates Judge J. Michael Luttig, Judge Michael W. McConnell or Judge John Roberts --my personal favorites for that post and future vacancies-- do conservatives really believe that Chairman Specter would do other than get those nominations to the floor quickly? But if Senator Specter is punished and humbled by the surging conservative...

At a time when Iraq and the war on terrorism tend to dominate the debate on international affairs, the possibility of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has not been a major topic of discussion in the United States. There are reports, however, that the Bush administration has seriously considered this option but opted to put it on the back burner for the time being.[1] Further, on May 6, 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 398 in a 376-3 vote, calling on the U.S. government "to use all appropriate means to deter, dissuade, and prevent Iran from acquiring...

After a late-night flight from the west coast, and a day spent interviewing would-be law professors, I have had a chance to catch up on the news, and I see that there is a blog swarm forming around the expected assumption of the chairmanship of the Senate's Committee on the Judiciary by Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter. The opposition to Specter seems headquartered at The Corner. Many friends post at The Corner, so I paused, considered their arguments, and thought it through. On reflection, it seems to me a very bad idea to try and topple Senator Specter from what in the...

Any info???

Although John Kerry made a gracious concession speech, I am doubly-relieved this morning that George Bush won reelection. With the imminent death of Arafat (assuming it hasn't happened already), the confrontation in Fallujah and the extraordinary murder in Holland all at once, it is no time for nuance or reconsideration. Although there are undoubtedly more to come, the War on Terror may be reaching a crunch point. The Dutch situation is in some ways the most unexpected. A different atmosphere may be developing in Europe, which could gain Bush needed cooperation. I already noted the Expatica report below that an...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces pounded parts of Fallujah from the air and ground Thursday, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive. Three British soldiers were killed in central Iraq. Al-Jazeera television broadcast a threat by an unspecified armed group to strike oil installations and government buildings if Americans launch an all-out assault on Fallujah. The report was accompanied by a videotape showing about 20 armed men brandishing various weapons, including a truck-mounted machine gun. The three British soldiers were in the Black Watch regiment, the forces moved...

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (AP) - Ivory Coast warplanes bombed the largest city of the rebel-held north Thursday in waves of attacks, breaking a more than year-old cease-fire in the civil war that split West Africa's one-time economic powerhouse. The government's Russian-made Sukhoi jets launched attacks at dawn and swept back in for at least two more raids by nightfall, targeting rebel military and civilian headquarters and television in surprise attacks that left civilians cowering in their homes. "We are going to reconquer our territory and reunify Ivory Coast," Col. Philippe Mangou, a government military chief for operations, told The Associated...

IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN. Here at home, a great many people who fashion themselves his moral and intellectual superiors turn out once more--as he might put it--to have misunderestimated George W. Bush. And it has happened abroad, as well, where the president's opponents and enemies--which is to say America's opponents and enemies--must now be pulling their hair and gnashing their teeth with frustration and resentment. The exit polls said Kerry would win. The New Yorker had endorsed him. And still those idiot Americans reelected Bush! How sweet it is to contemplate the misery of people who think like this. And...

We’re in the car after voting. “If John Kerry wins he won’t be our president,” Gnat said. Ah, a teachable moment. No, honey. He will be our president. He will be the new president, and we will respect him. “What does respek mean?” Man, that is a good question. It means we treat him like a teacher or the pastor or a doctor. Someone we should listen to when they talk and someone who is important to everyone. Because he’s the president, and we have to respect the job of president. “Why?” Because it’s hard and very important. She looked...

It begins . . . no mercy! I think the Battle of Fallujah has started. Note: if this is the case, it is as I type exactly 18 minutes since the polls closed in Hawaii and the West Coast. My prediction was accurate. I'll continue looking for signs that the fight has begun. Until then, I'd like to address the concerns of an alert reader,who posted in the comments section his belief that if Allawi is calling the shots, he may not aim for a decisive battle, but may instead seek to negotiate with the insurgents, as he did with...

Thanks to the Belmont Club for referencing my page. I appreciate the patronage of my new readers! I'll be continuing to offer one to two Fallujah updates a day for as long as the battle lasts. Beyond that, I will begin a series of posts on the possible shape of US military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, so please continue tuning in. Planning for the battle First off, after doing some thinking on the nature of the upcoming battle, I've decided to reduce my estimate of its length from up to two weeks to around one week. I...

The Battleground Poll --along with Gallup, the best over many election cycles-- has Bush up by 5, with his approval rating at 53%. Very, very encouraging for the Bush-Cheney troops. Like heavy rain on a flood for the Kerry-Edwards' bedraggled. Keep checking RealClearPolitics throughout the day for the latest druid chants of politics. (And Hedgehog has the Badger Poll giving Bush a lead of 3 in Wisconsin. It has the best name for a poll.) A soldier's question. "Sir, eight out of ten soldiers support the president. Why is it so hard for the civilians to get it?" I was...

NBC reporters embedded with the 101st Airborne are questioning the New York Times report which suggests that US custodial incompetence was responsible for the loss of RDX explosive. NBC News: Miklaszewski: “April 10, 2003, only three weeks into the war, NBC News was embedded with troops from the Army's 101st Airborne as they temporarily take over the Al Qakaa weapons installation south of Baghdad. But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons,...

The idea that a disappeared store of munitions in Iraq could somehow help Kerry in this last week is one of the more remarkable miscalculations of recent political history, but one that inevitably flowed from the left's attachment to Kerry. They really believe Kerry would make a better Commander-in-Chief than George W. Bush. Because they believe in Kerry's vision of an American-French entente and a pervasive "global testing" of American foreign policy initiatives, and in Kyoto and the ICC, , they assume that a majority of Americans can be made to believe it. They seem not to care at all...

The Americans get a lot of unsolicited advice from abroad. They also provide unsolicited help, in troubled places around the world; it hardly started with the administration of George W. Bush. They are the hyperpower (note definite article stipulating the singular); we, the inhabitants of the Rest of the World, would hardly dream of telling adults in the other democracies how to vote. They're not important enough. The only people in the whole world who showed an interest in our recent Canadian election were the rock star, Bono, and the Hollywood filmmaker, Michael Moore. But they are twits (harmless, and...

In retrospect Saddam's plan to defend Iraq may bear a resemblance to War Plan Orange's retreat into Bataan. Since reinforcements could not come to the aid of US divisions in the Philippine Islands in time to repel an anticipated Japanese invasion, the plan called for the abandonment of the capital and a concentration of forces and supplies into the Bataan peninsula, where MacArthur's forces could hope to hold out until relief eventually arrived. MacArthur attempted to change the plan at the last moment, attempting to fight near the beaches and was belatedly forced readopt the strategy of withdrawing into Bataan,...

...that a major newspaper will break a front-page story Monday morning that could create a serious problem for the Kerry campaign. We don't yet have any details, but it relates to a foreign policy issue, and it will call into question--amazingly enough--John Kerry's truthfulness. We'll watch for the story Sunday night and post it as soon as it becomes available.