Free Republic

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that a newspaper cannot be sued for printing a letter that suggested Americans respond to attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq by going to the nearest mosque and killing the first five Muslims they see. The high court unanimously held that the letter to the editor was political speech protected by the First Amendment. It threw out a lawsuit accusing the Tucson Citizen of intentionally inflicting emotional distress on residents. Two Tucson men had sued the Gannett Co. newspaper for unspecified damages after it ran the letter in 2003. The letter frightened...

THE ISSUE: Karl Rove's recent comments on how liberals responded to 9/11. Sen. Dick Durbin calls the U.S. military no better than Nazis, Stalinists and the Cambodian mass murderer Pol Pot. Response from the Democratic leadership: near silence. Rove says the Democratic response to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. was wimpy. Democratic leadership response: apoplexy. I think Rove understated the case. Gerard Browne Jersey City, N.J. **** Rove spoke the truth at the Conservative's annual dinner the other night. Thank God for people like Rove, who tell it like it is. Stewart Lara Manhattan **** To the differences between...

Maybe Mark Felt is a hero to the left, the way Benedict Arnold was a hero to the English ("Deep Throat Coughs It Up," June 1). But a selfish spiteful snitch is no American hero. They should pull his pension and benefits. He did not serve honorably in his office. He leaked confidential information for purely selfish reasons. He didn't just hurt President Nixon, he hurt the nation as a whole. Patrick Grant Brooklyn **** Poor Felt. He was second in command of the FBI, and he didn't get the promotion to the post he thought he deserved. So he...

Re "13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did" (May 22): As one of those people to whom The New York Times has become a daily ritual - even in Afghanistan - I say thank you. As should always happen when somebody takes up a new, ill-defined job, you molded it into something valuable and even groundbreaking. And in the end, you signed off with style, class and wisdom. We should all hope to have as much effect on our place of work as you did on yours - and on thousands of loyal readers. (Capt.) JONATHAN J....

A liberal advocacy group wants Democrats to write letters to the editor - using some handy "talking points" -- to stop the "radical Republicans" who may invoke the nuclear option next week. Democrats strongly oppose the "nuclear option," which describes a scenario in which the Senate would change its rules to prevent the filibusters of judicial nominees. Democrats are now filibustering seven of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees because there's no other way they can stop their confirmation by the full Senate. This is the first time in history that judicial nominees have been filibustered, and Republicans call it an...

The Stakes in the Vote on Bolton (5 Letters) To the Editor: Re "The Best Man for the Job" (Op-Ed, May 11): James A. Baker III and Edwin Meese III, in their effort to bolster the Bush administration's case for appointing John R. Bolton as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, don't make a convincing argument. That he is said to be "the best man for the job" is not enough. Mr. Bolton would not be encountering so much opposition if he had been less strident in his criticism of the United Nations or if he exhibited a...

To the Editor: Re "Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases" (front page, May 2): The job of the press is to scrutinize government, not praise it. The administration gives its story in the best possible light using taxpayer money. That must be countered by a vigorously critical free press. When have administrations, either Democratic or Republican, presented evenhanded pictures of what they do? The question isn't whether "Now" (formerly "Now With Bill Moyers") is critical of the Bush administration but whether it behaved differently during the Clinton administration. If anything, our press has failed to be critical enough. Charles...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) - A Republican activist has acknowledged sending hundreds of bogus letters to the editorial pages of San Francisco Bay area newspapers over the past decade, many of which were published. Editors at the newspapers involved said Monday that they would intensify efforts to verify that letters to the editor are actually sent by the people who write them. However, technological advances have made bogus letters increasingly difficult to screen out, they said. "It's important to verify the authenticity of the letters we receive," San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Page Editor John Diaz told The Associated Press. "It's...

NEW YORK Every now and then, letters to the editor at the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times don't get posted to the paper's Web site with the rest of the day's paper, after midnight. When Dan Hatfield, the paper's editorial-page editor, arrived at the office at his usual 5:30 or 6 a.m. on those mornings, he'd find out right away that some letters hadn't made it up, because there would an angry e-mail waiting in his inbox from Kyle Vallone. Hatfield could never understand why Vallone cared so much. Times reporter Sarah Krupp solved that riddle in a story published Sunday....

To the Editor: I disagree with former Senator Bill Bradley's hypothesis regarding the central cause of the Democratic Party's "inversion" ("A Party Inverted," Op-Ed, March 30). The failures of the Democratic Party are not attributable to our longing for another J.F.K.-type figure to lead the way. Rather, we are weakened by the fundamental premises of our own ideology. We place a very high value on the heterogeneity and diversity of our party. But by promoting heterogeneity and diversity, we are dispersing our power instead of consolidating it. If we want to make progress, we need to focus on constructing a...

From Democracy to Kleptocracy It seems that many of our elected officials in Raleigh are living off the backs of the citizens of North Carolina. To say that they are “champions of the people” is a bunch of hot air. The rule of thumb seems to be the granting of personal payouts to “friends” coupled with backdoor politics. From our esteemed Governor, who professes to care about the people of North Carolina, to certain legislators, on down to hired hands who speak out of both sides of their mouths- something doesn’t add up. In Union County, for the past 15...

The Democrats have lost the White House, the Congress, most governorships and most state houses because of their liberal views, which are miles away from those of most Americans ("Top N.Y. Dem Keen on Dean," Feb. 3). Now, along comes Howard Dean as the new head of the Democratic National Committee. So long, Democratic Party. No supporter of the Republican Party could have dreamed up a better scenario. Jon Pally Staten Island ***** For whatever reason, the Democratic Party continues to shoot itself in the foot. It's bad enough that we have Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry...

To the Editor: Re "Democrats Weigh De-emphasizing Abortion as an Issue" (news article, Dec. 24): Gloria Feldt, the president of Planned Parenthood, correctly identified the best course for Democrats when she said, "We have the high ground here if we focus our policy and our discussion on the prevention of unintended pregnancies." There are significant numbers of Democrats who subscribe to a consistent pro-life view. They oppose abortion as well as capital punishment. They also tend to favor gun control and believe that we all have a responsibility to assist the poor and preserve our environment. A common theme for...

Belief and Unbelief, Side by Side (6 Letters) Published: December 19, 2004 To the Editor: Re "Keeping the Faith in My Doubt," by John Horgan (Op-Ed, Dec. 12): Like Mr. Horgan, I am concerned about the extreme power of conservatism rooted in religion. It offers a clear, emotional ideology to go about living in a complex world by believing it is simple. According to Mr. Horgan, the United Universists, of which I am director, should give up our effort at organization out of principle because all organizations are flawed. But he offers no viable alternative, which speaks for itself. I...

To the Editor: Re "Some Democrats Believe the Party Should Get Religion" (news article, Nov. 17): There is only one lesson Democrats need to take away from the recent election: voters admire candidates who are unwavering in their convictions. Democrats should not be trying to figure out how to change their stance on core issues like abortion rights or gay rights. This will only give the Republicans another chance to point out that Democrats merely blow with the prevailing political winds. Rather, Democrats should recommit themselves to their core values. They should stand firm for a woman's right to choose...

If the Boy Scouts had as an integral part of their oath, "There is no God, and a true Scout works to persuade superstitious people to accept that morality does not depend on belief in the supernatural," would Collin Levey be blase about public money going to their support and public schools being used as their meeting places ("Damning the Scouts," Opinion, Nov. 18)? Not likely. Compelled atheism is the flip side of compelled religiosity. *** .....I just don't understand whose civil liberties the Boy Scouts are violating. The Boy Scouts do so much good for so many young boys....

Democrats Have Faith, in the Issues (6 Letters) Published: November 21, 2004 To the Editor: Re "Some Democrats Believe the Party Should Get Religion" (news article, Nov. 17): There is only one lesson Democrats need to take away from the recent election: voters admire candidates who are unwavering in their convictions. Democrats should not be trying to figure out how to change their stance on core issues like abortion rights or gay rights. This will only give the Republicans another chance to point out that Democrats merely blow with the prevailing political winds. Rather, Democrats should recommit themselves to their...

Fifty-nine years ago my father set foot upon the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima and became part of the bloodiest campaign in Marine Corps history. The enemy was particularly vicious, capable of suicide attacks and dispatching its captives by beheading. Sound familiar? In combat, my father was shot, his wounds were sutured, and he was sent back to join his buddies for more action. There was no time for fanfare or self-promotion. They knew they would soon be island hopping the remaining 660 miles to Tokyo, where it was predicted that millions would die to bring the war to its...

Yesterday this paper had a weak endorsement for Kerry- posted here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1255448/posts Today, ALL responses from the public questioned their editorial judgement: We will prevail Re "Kerry for president" (Editorial, Oct. 24): Sunday, October 24, 2004 - The Daily News staff offers a litany of reasons for its support for John Kerry's run for the presidency. The "botched invasion" of Iraq was prominent among these reasons. The Daily News is wrong. Problems, botched operations and a long recovery and rebuilding period were all part of World Wars I and II. Chaos, tactical errors, and unforeseen difficulties have plagued the winners...

"In the first presidential debate, I was hoping to hear a good debate. "I wanted to hear John Kerry lay out his plans for Iraq and for winning the war on terror. I wasn't disappointed. Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world. "President Bush avoided the questions and issues presented him. He is a terrible speaker and a worse debater. His snide grin doesn't work on me. He's led us into danger, not toward safety. "This debate made it clear: Kerry is a leader we...