Free Republic

Perhaps George W Bush's most significant failure as president was not convincing enough Americans that the war on terror was a real war. From the vantage point of most Americans it had -- and still does have -- the look and feel of a police action, something far less. A bit like the "phony war" for Brits in 1939-1940, right up until the Battle of Britain and for Americans until Pearl Harbor. Without most Americans convinced that it is a real war, the ruthless tactics necessary to wage a real war will never be fully accepted either morally or even...

There was a time when the Left reflexively sided with criminal defendants. Rapists like Huey Newton, terrorists like the Weathermen, and bank robbers like Angela Davis were "political prisoners." The System was used to crush dissent. The Left deemed police and prosecutors as the enemy. The rest of us saw prosecutors as our allies. The lust for power which is Leftism, however, has no fixed principles. It is a relentless insinuation into every aspect of life, a constant perversion of every institution of society, a toxin which keeps poisoning public life. Whole institutions have been swallowed in the maw of...

Could a gene be partly responsible for the behaviour of some of the worlds most infamous dictators? Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak — from national dictators down to 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over. Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game'. The exercise allows players...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...