Free Republic

During the recent presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry assailed President Bush for alienating key U.S. allies, evidence he maintained of the incumbent's lack of foreign policy acumen and an arena in which the challenger insisted he could "do better." Implicit in this critique was the belief that such allies — notably, the French — were anxious to be our friends, if they were not mistreated by America's leader. In fact, it is increasingly clear the French government under President Jacques Chirac is bent on policies antithetical to U.S. interests. They are not simply anti-Bush, they are anti-American and anti-Atlaniticist. The...

...if the election were held today, Kerry would defeat Bush 51 to 29 percent in this state.

Republicans were handed the perfect opportunity to lead last week. They ran instead. Then they claimed victory. Is this a grand old party or what? Senate Democrats have spent the last four years thumbing their noses at the Constitution. Instead of offering its "advice and consent" on judicial nominees, the minority party has employed parliamentary tactics to deny floor votes and the certain will of the majority. But Senate Republicans are not without culpability. They repeatedly have shown deference to this band of political picaroons. Despite weak threats, the GOP has refused to use the simple majority it holds to...

And I'm talking about a crime committed by John Kerry. A serious crime. We haven't mentioned this before ... but there was a meeting of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in in Kansas City in November of 1971. At that meeting there was a plan discussed to assassinate members of Congress. Now ... let' emphasize this point. These anti-war Vietnam veterans were sitting there and discussing murder .. they were discussing the idea of murdering certain members of the Congress of the United States who were in favor of the Vietnam war. Well ... the idea was discussed, and...

The law denying your right to carry a handgun for self-defense in a vehicle will remain intact, thanks to a sweeping amendment to HB 1247. Originally, HB 1247 would have repealed the requirement to obtain a permit before carrying a handgun concealed in a vehicle for self-defense. But surprisingly, David Conway, lobbyist for NRA affiliated South Dakota Shooting Sports Association, opposed this pro-gun bill in committee, stating that he had a problem with repealing the permit requirement. “If you’re going to carry in an enclosed motor vehicle, you better have a permit,” Mr. Conway stated. He then brought an amendment,...

By J. Michael Waller © 2003 Insight/News World Communications Inc. It's one of the unsolved political mysteries of 2003: Exactly who drew up the plan for Democrats to abuse the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, or SCCI, as a stealth weapon to undermine and discredit President George W. Bush and the U.S. war effort in Iraq? The plot, authored by aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., vice chairman of the committee, has poisoned the working atmosphere of a crucial legislative panel in a time of war, Senate sources say. It centered on duping the panel's Republican chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts...

<p>Gov. James E. McGreevey cast himself as an unabashed champion of gun control last year. He made the topic one of the linchpins of his campaign against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler and pledged to enact a first-in-the-nation law to require "smart gun" technology on all handguns sold in New Jersey.</p>

IYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 18 — The last few American combat troops pulled out of the Prince Sultan Air Base here earlier this month, officially closing the Persian Gulf headquarters used by the Air Force during both Iraq wars and concluding a nearly 13-year run of extensive United States military operations in Saudi Arabia. The withdrawal signaled the end of a long strategic arrangement, mutually beneficial until it fell victim to tensions resulting from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens. Since then, the countries' fragile diplomatic relations have...

by Thom Hartmann   NEW YORK  - A political explosion happened this weekend in New York, and it may be the big one that gives Karl Rove nightmares. It could mean the end of George W. Bush's seemingly unending ability to tell overt lies to the American people and not get called on them by the American media. At a Saturday talk radio industry event put on by Talkers Magazine, Gabe Hobbs, Clear Channel Radio's vice president of News/Talk/Sports, announced that in the near future this corporate owner of over 1200 radio stations is considering programming some of their...

This is the bill that was signed by Clinton in 1995, then the moving of the embassy was waived. President Bush signed the bill to rescind the waiver in 2002, and then fear mongerers at State stuck it in a back drawer. Exccept for the embassy being moved, all other conditions have been LAW! The special conditions of the bill to add Israel after Jerusalem stand. Both birth AND death certificates should read Jerusalem, Israel. It's time to start registering our complaints to someone other than the Treasonous State Department. JERUSALEM H.R. 167 (108th) - Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital...

President George W. Bush declared back in March: "War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished. And it will be no defense to say, 'I was just following orders'." But the task of rounding up Saddam's key Ba'athist henchmen and trying them for executing coalition POWs and forcing women and children to act as human shields just got tougher. We are shocked -- SHOCKED -- to report that many senior Saddamites, who were able to elude advancing coalition forces thanks to intelligence provided by the French, escaped through Syria, possibly to the EU, using passports provided by the...

It seems that there is absolutely nothing in common between the aggression of the United States and Great Britain in Iraq and the Russian motor enterprise Perm Motors. However, if you pay attention to the fact that the Iraqi army has Mi-8 choppers equipped with TB-2-117 engines that were produced at Perm Motors, a connection becomes clear. The company manufactures gas turbine plants for the Russian gas giant Gazprom, as well as D-30F6 engines for MiG-31 pursuit planes. If the Iraqi army had several regiments of MiG-31 jets, it is not ruled out that there would be absolutely no war....

Nothing can be more disillusioning than finding out that the love of one's youth was a whore. Remember what we grew up knowing about France? Glorious France, cradle of Liberty Equality, Fraternity...of the Enlightenment and the Rights of Man... Beautiful France, home of the arts of living, of exquisite food and glamorous couture, to say nothing of its great painters and poets? Which of us did not wistfully hum "The last time I saw Paris," want to eat like the French, vacation on the Riviera, use expressions like voila and je ne sais quoi whenever possible, thrill to Edith Piaf...

I'm sick of France. I'm sick of the mouth-breathing, deodorant-abhorring, haughty French who can't defend themselves, haven't made a significant contribution to culture, science or civilization in over a hundred years, and who claim to love democracy but secretly worship dictators like Napoleon, Hitler and the latest African "president-for life." The French are a virus. Wherever French "culture" has spread civilization suffers. The French colonial legacy in Africa is an abomination. French Canadian separatists are currently trying to destroy Canada. And France's collaboration with the terror nations of the Muslim world makes it the enemy of the United States and...

Bastard just said it...if we attack Iraq they are out as a partner on the war on terror.

NEW!! WILLIAM GRIM!! ANTI-GERMAN BIAS IN AMERICA: THE SHOCKING STORY REVEALED!!!NEW!! WILLIAM GRIM!! by William Grim So, Bob from Bremen, here's the 411 about American attitudes concerning Germany. We tolerate Germany, but we?re getting sick and tired of your bellyaching, shiftlessness and duplicity. We no longer trust Germany and we feel that you?re a bunch of ingrates and backstabbers. And you wear leather shorts......

For the first time Tuesday, Interior Secretary Gale Norton publicly voiced her support of federal property buyouts for Everglades restoration. Norton said the current impasse over property in a controversial area in Miami-Dade County is posing a hurdle to the overall restoration. At issue is a plan to purchase about 100 homes on the western fringe of an area known as the 8 1/2 square-mile area to clear the way for increased water flows into Everglades National Park and, ultimately, into Florida Bay. The increased flows, known as the Modified Waters Delivery project, must occur before many projects in the...

Take the Poll Your opportunity to vote on who's the biggest dufus -- or loser -- in public life today....Al GoreBill Clinton in retirementJesse JacksonBarbara Streisand expressing her political points of viewAnne HecheJames CarvilleAl SharptonCanadian P.M Jean ChretienSenator Tom DaschleGeraldo Rivera