Free Republic

ELEVEN YEARS AGO, on May 1, 2003, President Bush stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, with a big banner behind him saying “Mission Accomplished,” and declared victory in Iraq. About 96 percent of the American casualties in that misbegotten war occurred after that declaration of victory. Iraqis are still dying because of that war. The way the West has traditionally defined a “just war” can be summarized thus: The cause and the means should be just, there must be reasonable chance of success, and it should only be undertaken after all other means of resolving...

Dear FRiends and fellow AI fans. Kanye West is scheduled to {cough*gag} perform on AI this Wednesday. This is disgusting and revolting and goes against everything that AI is about, which is clean, fun, enjoyable, entertainment. This man, IMO, is a hater, a racist, and a female beater enabling anti-American. This is a man who says “ my greatest pain in life is not being able to watch myself perform because I am God’s vessel”.

George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Thursday. Highlights: * Said "a deep recession is now inevitable and the possibility of a depression cannot be ruled out." * Said hedge funds were an integral part of the financial market bubble which now has burst. * Said hedge funds will be "decimated" by the current financial crisis and forced to shrink their portfolios by 50-75 percent.

A REVOLUTION TO TAKE BACK THE US CONGRESS by tenurecorrupts.com I am proposing that we create a popular, bloodless, political revolution in our country. I believe that it is very necessary, very possible, and very doable. The object of this revolution is the destruction of the professional political class which currently dominates and corrupts the US Congress. I am convinced, as are many, many voters, that the bulk of our country's political problems arises out of this 'permanent' Congressional political class, and their devotion to party power and to the financial special interests keeping them in power. There is a...

After being called on the carpet for her misleading description of a trial lawyer as a “staunch Republican” — despite the fact that he had donated to Democrats over Republicans by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 — Jennifer Hunter first doubled down . . . and now doubles down again. Namely, she says today that it was a “truthful statement” that trial lawyer Jim Ronca is a “staunch Republican” who “was so fed up by the Bush White House that he was going to support and give money to Democrats.” Those who disagreed, based on his overwhelming pattern...

Here is a letter I received from Jim Ronca, the man I described as a staunch Republican in a news story I wrote about five Democratic presidential candidates last week. The Democrats spoke at a convention of the American Association for Justice (a group of trial lawyers). He told me he was a Republican but was so fed up by the Bush White House that he was going to support and give money to Democrats. This truthful statement caused a huge reaction from demagogic Republicans who seemingly couldn't bear one of their own turning to the Dems. He and I...

Cindy Sheehan to Visit Lynchburg WSLS NewsChannel 10 Jul 12, 2007 Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan - best known for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas - will be in Lynchburg next Thursday. The Hill City is one of 18 stops on Sheehan's planned Journey for Humanity, which began Tuesday in Crawford and will end with a rally in Central Park on July 27-28. Just last month, the 50-year-old Californian - drawn into opposition to the Iraq war after her soldier son Casey died in it - had declared that she was retiring from public activism. She...

By Associated Press Monday, May 7, 2007 Greensburg, Kan.— Paramedic Annette Gasten and her German shepherd, Greta, had a grim weekend searching amid the piles of wreckage left by one of the strongest tornadoes to rake across the Plains. Every business on Greensburg’s main street was demolished and officials estimate as much as 95 percent of the town was destroyed. Tree trunks stood bare, stripped of most of their branches. All the churches were destroyed. At least eight people in this community of 1,500 were dead, putting the state’s total death toll at 10. No one was found Sunday in...

Maybe the Donald was right about the strife between Rosie and Babwa. On today's installment of "The View," moderator Ro put Barbara Walters -- her boss, mind you -- firmly in her place. Gabbing about the State of the Union address, O'Donnell called for a member of Congress to put the President up for impeachment, and compared Bush's failures unfavorably to Bill Clinton's. Mama Walters, not wanting to get into a prolonged debate over Wild Bill's behavior, suggested that they move on to the next topic. Not so fast, said Rosie. "Where do you want me to move on to?"...

Among my many guilty pleasures — bad reality television, solitary nose excavation, the Fox News Channel — hating Hillary Clinton was once near the top of the list. The senator from New York somehow managed to arouse every one of my love-to-hate zones. She was a self-righteous feminist (boo) who married her way to power (double-plus-boo). She wanted to turn American medicine into the National Health Service (grrr) and all her friends were wealthy lawyers (triple eye-roll). She was Lady Macbeth when she wasn’t some goo-goo liberal ideologue. There were as many ways to despise her as she had hairstyles....

Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck have crafted an insightful and heartfelt look at the experiences of the Dixie Chicks over the last three years, chronicling the often bizarre consequences of singer Natalie Maines' anti-Bush wisecrack on a London stage. Maines' statement is captured in "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing," as are the meetings where they plot how to circumvent the core country audience and, eventually, how to reroute a tour and cancel shows due to poor ticket sales. It's the rare thorough documentary on a musical act whose dilemmas are faced in the here and now, one that should...

Seth Brigham holds a copy of the Daily Camera at the Boulder County Justice Center Friday, Aug. 18, 2006, in Boulder, Colo. Hours after John Mark Karr told reporters in Thailand he was with JonBenet when she died, questions arose about his claims _ including whether he sexually assaulted the 6-year-old beauty queen or was even in Colorado at the time of the slaying. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Neil Young has played on some of the peace movement’s greatest songs but last night at the Tweeter Center, he alienated more folks than he has in perhaps his whole career. Unabashedly unleashing the scathingly unpopular “Let’s Impeach the President,” the Canadian guitar icon turned the packed venue on its ear, splitting the liberals and conservatives right down the middle with his take-no-prisoners lyrics. The same folks who moments earlier were cheering him on CSN classics such as “Deja Vu” and the engaging drug dealer tale “Tree Top Flyer” turned like a top when Young unveiled his in-your-face, anti-Bush mantra....

Woman on diverted flight 'barely lucid' By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer 50 minutes ago A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday. Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday. She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt,...

Reid: We Need a New Direction to Protect Americans 8/17/2006 2:40:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Jim Manley or Jon Steinberg, 202-224-2939, both of the Office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on today's ruling that President Bush's domestic spying program is unconstitutional: "Today's ruling is the latest example of how the Bush Administration has jeopardized our efforts in the war on terror. The Administration's decision to ignore the Constitution and the Congress has come at the expense of the security of the American people....

Some acts cite legit reasons for leaving, but members of NOFX, Thursday talk of tension between bands. For most bands, landing a coveted slot on the Warped Tour is like finding a golden ticket. But this year, bands have been dropping off the annual summer tour's 11th installment like flies. From First to Last bolted just three weeks into the festival so frontman Sonny Moore could undergo surgery to remove a nodule on his vocal cords. Then, Gatsby's American Dream dropped out. "There's no juicy gossip to report, we just need a break to be with our families at this...

Peace prize winner 'could kill' Bush Annabelle McDonald 25jul06 NOBEL peace laureate Betty Williams displayed a flash of her feisty Irish spirit yesterday, lashing out at US President George W.Bush during a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren. Campaigning on the rights of young people at the Earth Dialogues forum, being held in Brisbane, Ms Williams spoke passionately about the deaths of innocent children during wartime, particularly in the Middle East, and lambasted Mr Bush. "I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent," said Ms Williams, 64. "Right now, I would...

The poster's handle is CheChe. The text captures everything you need to know about the Angry Left: I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the President would be going to Iraq when so many things are wrong in this country. "Doesn’t Mr. Bush care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully. I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the President seems to be abandoning...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is warning Americans not to get too excited over the death of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, saying in a statement issued by her office Thursday that it really won't do much to improve the situation in Iraq. After briefly noting that she was "proud of our troops for their tireless work," the top House Democrat wasted no time in throwing cold water on the good news. "[Zarqawi's] death does not alter the fact that our brave men and women in uniform are fighting a war of choice in which the President sent our troops into...