Free Republic

Not Just Cos: Take back William Fulbright’s medal, too by Daniel Clark In the aftermath of the latest Bill Cosby revelations, it has been proposed that the fallen icon be stripped of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was awarded to him by George W. Bush in 2002. A petition, being championed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), says Cosby “does not deserve to be on the list of distinguished recipients.” Well, if we’re going to hold the honorees to that standard, we also need to take back the award from the late Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright. Imagine if Cosby...

There he was again, making a cameo appearance at another historical commemoration, grabbing a sliver of the limelight before it moves on. He's become the man who's always in the background but so clearly, achingly would rather be in the forefront: The Hon. William J. Clinton, former president, former governor, former everything but straight-shooter. He was still as slick as ever when he got to speak for a few minutes on the 50th anniversary of the great March on Washington. . . Age has not withered nor custom staled his fine clintonesque touch, which consists not just of knowing what...

MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS: COCKFIGHTING AND SAME-SEX PROMSMay 26, 2010 Watching TV this week, at first I thought Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul had flown a commercial jet into the World Trade Center. But then it turned out that he had only said there ought to be discussion about whether federal civil rights laws should be applied to private businesses. This allowed the mainstream media to accuse Paul of being a racist. Twisting a conservative's words in order to accuse him of racism was evidently more urgent news than the fact that the attorney general of the United States admitted last...

After the price of oil quadrupled in 1973, Syria and other Arab states put pressure on Saudi Arabia to use its new wealth against Israel. Part of the Saudi government's response was to lead a campaign against support for Israel in the U.S. On their own, however, the Saudis lacked the connections and savvy to affect American-Israeli ties. To make up for this, the Saudi state recruited help. In "The American House of Saud" (Franklin Watts, 448 pages, $18.95), Steven Emerson, a journalist and former staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chronicles anti-Israeli activities undertaken in recent years...

Around 50 retired US diplomats have written to US President George Bush to complain about America's policy towards the Middle East. The letter is similar to one written by 52 former British diplomats to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair last week. The former US diplomats complained that President Bush's approach is losing the US "credibility, prestige and friends". They criticised what they say is Washington's unabashed support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The American diplomats said they were deeply concerned by Mr Bush's endorsement last month of Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza. 'Great danger' They were...