Free Republic

Update: You can read an excerpt of the book at Town Hall.Update: Audio of the chat is archived here.

In recent times, the killing of those who are "in a coma" and a "persistent vegetative state" begins with the 1976 case of Karen Ann Quinlan, who stopped breathing after a drug overdose. Her family wanted to kill her by removing a respirator and the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed. It was thought that removing the "life support" would result in her death. As it turned out she lived nine more years until she died of pneumonia in 1985. The one voice in the mainstream media of the day that didn't want the respirator taken off was wondering how much...

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation...is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks...

The US Justice Department filed a motion Friday to quash testimony by wife of bioweaponeer William Patrick III in the lawsuit: Steven J. Hatfill, M.D. v. Attorney General John Ashcroft, The Department of Justice; The Federal Bureau of Investigation (et al). Headed by former federal prosecutor Tom Connelly, pro bono attorney's for Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, the former person of interest in the anthrax letters case, have been quietly doing battle behind the scenes with attorney's for the US Justice Department, in the United States District Court for The District of Columbia. Dr. Steven Hatfill's life was publically dismantled, rendering...

Back in July, the Justice Department held a bells-‘n-whistles press conference to announce a major case: a 42-count indictment, charging seven men and an ostensible charity with underwriting Hamas to the tune of nearly $60 million. Hamas, a ruthless terrorist organization dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and responsible for numerous gruesome attacks that have claimed the lives of hundreds of victims — including Americans — has been formally designated as a terrorist organization under various U.S. laws for many years. In announcing the indictment, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft could not have been more straightforward: “To those who exploit good...

January 30, 2005 Kofi Annan’s son admits oil dealing Robert Winnett and Jonathon Carr-Brown THE son of the United Nations secretary-general has admitted he was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein. Kojo Annan has told a close friend he became involved in negotiations to sell 2m barrels of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company in 2001. He is understood to be co-operating with UN investigators probing the discredited oil for food programme. The alleged admission will increase pressure on Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, who is already facing...

Stepping Down Tuesday, January 25, 2005 By John Gibson On Monday, John Ashcroft (search) retired and all around the world legions of horrified Ashcroft-phobes breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this was the guy who not only wanted the Patriot Act (search), he wanted it beefed up. "What?" the world squawked. "Doesn't this Ashcroft know about human rights, individual rights, the rights of minorities, the rights of Arabs who happened to be in America, the rights of Muslims who happen to be passing through America? Ashcroft trampled all these rights!" At least that's what they like to say in...

Links not updated yet, this was just announced on 97.1 Talk FM. The Chief of Police and his assistant/deputy are in FBI Custody. There is to be a press confrence at 2:30 to announce the details. All indications is that this is in regard to an investigation into Voter Fraud that began immediately after the November presidential election.

WASHINGTON — An Iraqi-born American citizen pleaded guilty Tuesday to several charges as part of the federal investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, becoming the first person to be convicted in the growing scandal. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the agreement with Samir Vincent, accused of being an unregistered Iraqi agent between the first and second Persian Gulf wars. [SNIP] The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. The criminal indictment and plea deal were filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. [SNIP] The Justice Department said that from 1992 to...

What Real Torture Is While questioning Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales, Republican-of-the-Year Arlen Specter (PA) asked the hard-hitting question: “Do you approve of torture?” It almost reminded me of the time Specter asked Bill Clinton during his impeachment if he believed in sexually harassing women at the workplace. Oh wait, that didn’t happen. Specter and his friends (Democrats) were quite upset at Gonzales’s involvement in presidential initiatives allowing aggressive “tools of persuasion” against Al-Qaida terrorists. They feared another reign of terror, as seen under John Ashcroft, whereby murdering lunatics weren’t given five-star hotel accommodations, massages, and discounted tennis lessons. And...

John Ashcroft has resigned as Attorney General, under fire in the media for supposedly violating the human rights of terror suspects. But perhaps he didn't crack down hard enough and fast enough. Consider the case of a "well-respected" leader of the Muslim community, a scholar who befriended Jews, a peacemaker who worked for years towards inter-faith understanding and a better community. On January 13, 2003, however, Cleveland cleric Fawaz Damra was arrested by the FBI at his Cleveland area home and charged with lying on his citizenship application by not disclosing a previous arrest and ties to terrorist groups. Damra...

Summing Up Let's sum up, OK? In 2000, the Republicans intimidated black voters in Florida and refused to count their ballots so Bush was elected Dictator for Life. Bush appointed John Ashcroft to head up the KGB and threw all dissenters into prison. No, that's not quite right. The Republicans won in 2000 because they conspired with the Supreme Court which selected the fascist illiterate moron George W. Bush in preference to Albert Gore, Jr., an erudite Alpha male who dressed in earth tones. No, that couldn't be right, either. The Supremes would have had no role in the election...

It might seem odd to compare and contrast two news stories from last week – the resignation announcement of Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Paris death of Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat. But an examination of the two demonstrates the degree to which the "news" media’s compass of objectivity is so terribly misaligned. To read the coverage, you’d think Ashcroft was the tyrant, and Arafat the liberator. On November 10, the New York Times front page put the two stories side by side in the top left-hand corner. Reporter Elisabeth Bumiller told readers the "polarizing" Ashcroft was resigning after a...

The ruins of the World Trade Center were still burning when federal agents arrested two men at Kennedy Airport who were found with more than $140,000 hidden in cardboard boxes with honey jars bound for Yemen. For the agents, aware that terrorists were said to use honey shipments to hide money, that slender lead could not be ignored. If the world was suddenly different for everybody back then, in October 2001, with federal agents and prosecutors both properly alarmed and also under sudden pressure to make terrorism cases, they still relied on old techniques developed in generations of Mafia and...

There's good news and bad news. The bad news is that Attorney General John Ashcroft has resigned. The good news is that this is the last time I'll have to offer this annoying full disclosure thingamajig: My wife works for John Ashcroft. These clunky full disclosures are frustrating, but they're nothing compared to what my wife had to endure as chief speechwriter to the most unfairly vilified public official in modern memory. Jessica's a brilliant and gifted writer, but she could be Shakespeare and the media would focus on the stodginess of Ashcroft's iambic pentameter. Conversely, the AG could read...

Yes, the coverage of Arafat's death has been sickening — but so was the coverage of him in life. So this is of a piece. As you may have read, a BBC reporter started to cry when speaking of Arafat. They loved him so, as much as they loved Guevara, and probably a little more than they love Castro — for Arafat's primary enemy was Israel, the nation they just may hate most. A reader e-mailed me, "Jay, I was watching CBS News, and the anchor described Arafat as 'a dedicated thorn in the side of the Israelis.'" Yes, that's...

have had the privilege of meeting with and speaking with many of you on numerous occasions over the past four years. Today, with gratitude toward my fellow Americans, I address you near the close of my time as the Attorney General of the United States. On November 2nd, I submitted to the President my resignation from the office of Attorney General. The noble work of justice preceded my appointment to this office, and it will continue after I am gone. But my official service to this great cause is drawing to a close. We have accomplished what we set out...

Late breaking news has it that John Ashcroft has tendered his resignation. Only their joy at his departure could stimulate the liberal media into using the words "Ashcroft" and "tender" in a single sentence. If you think that sculpting Moses with a horn is funny, then the depiction of Ashcroft with two horns and a tail is hilarious. And four out of five liberal dentists recommend painting Ashcroft holding a trident. Not to put too fine a point on it, he has been mythologized into everyone's favorite monster. How did this happen? This is a mild-mannered Missourian whose Senate office...

President Bush met with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in the Oval Office, and nominated Alberto Gonzales, currently the White House counsel, to succeed John Ashcroft as US Attorney General. President's Veterans' Day Proclamation [Veterans' Day is tomorrow] Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island!

Nothing follows yet .. look for official announcement soon.