Free Republic

Just for the heck of it, I went to DU (I know, I know) and joined up. I tried to engage in a few discussions. I mean actual, real discussions. You know, like:DUmmie: Bush Lied!!!Me: About what, exactly?DUmmie: He lied!! He lied!! He said Saddam had WMD and he didn't.Me: He had chemical weapons. He used them on the Kurds.DUmmie: And WE'RE THE ONES WHO SOLD THEM TO HIM!! MURDERER!!! IDIOT!!! *ZOT*And all my posts were deleted lest anyone actually read them and be tempted to think. That's how it goes in La-La land.Actually, I went wondering if I'd spent...

Okay, probably not the best ever. But knowing how Freepers just love to shoot down a boaster, I figure this is bait they won't be able to resist. ;^)The Farewell Opus is a grand old tradition here at Free Republic, and there are certain rules one should follow, but I'm going to break some of them. FIRST... I'm supposed to moan about how Free Republic used to be so great, but now it's changed and become nothing but a feuding, controlling zionist forum, or Bush-lovers forum, or whatever.Not at all. I've been on FR since October 1999. I first appeared...

Reginald Jones, Music Producer & Promoter, is addressing the 25th Annual National Conservative Student Conference, apparently sponsored by Young Americans Foundation. He's doing great, talking about being harassed when he went to speak at Ithaca (City of Evil). He's at George Washington University, apparently.

Here you go, guys.

I've been thinking about what to say to those who insist that the War on Terrorism and the war with Iraq are separate, that we have no reason to attack Iraq, and that Saddam has nothing to do with 9/11. I am working on rebuttal remarks and I hope Freepers will offer whatever additional thoughts they think relevant. According to Peter Bergen's Holy War, Inc: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden , Osama bin Laden's hatred of the USA stems from three main sources.1) We have troops in Saudi Arabia.2) We have enacted sanctions against Iraq.3) We have...

       The question of invading Iraq is a tough one, but I have come to feel that it is urgent for various reasons. One is that it’s clear that Saddam has lethal weapons, and presumably either wants to or could use them for some purpose. Obviously he would not attack the U.S. directly, but there is no reason that he would not sell weapons to people intending to use them against us. The ties to al-Qaida that Powell’s speech made clear only underscore this point. Second, with Saddam’s regime out of the way, there would be less reason...

There’s something odd about the nature of the calls for Lott to step down as Senate Majority Leader. Let’s do a quick review of some of those calls. Roger Clegg on National Review Online: “Yesterday a reporter called and read to me a statement made by Secretary of Education Rod Paige, saying, in effect, that he knew Trent Lott, Senator Lott was a friend of his, and Trent Lott was no racist… I said, he may well be right (…) But it's mostly beside the point.” John McWhorter on WSJ’s own Opinion Journal: “Of course really, whether Mr. Lott is...

It was a strange sight. The day before the Berkeley, Calif., mayoral election, a gray, 60ish man grabbed stacks of the University of California at Berkeley Daily Californian and surreptitiously threw them in the garbage. A thousand newspapers straight into the dumpsters. Several students saw the man and did double takes. "Is he doing what it looks like he's doing?" they thought. "Would a politician like Tom Bates really do that?" Yes, he would. Tom Bates, the challenger and eventual winner in the Berkeley mayoral race, was trashing the Daily Californian because it endorsed his opponent, incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean....

WASHINGTON--On Sept. 12, President Bush went to the United Nations to make his case against Iraq. It has been more than a month now, and the U.N. has done nothing. The United States and Britain circulated a draft resolution demanding serious, coercive inspections and threatening the use of force if Saddam refuses. France, backed by Russia and China, has been blocking that resolution. It insists on weaker inspections and will not permit an automatic trigger. If Saddam does not comply, France wants the issue returned to the Security Council for further deliberations. For the United States, this is disastrous. It...

Shelters Seek to Oust Families Who Keep Rejecting Housing Sara Kelly, a lively, articulate mother of six, was explaining why she and her family have stayed in a homeless shelter for more than a year instead of moving to an apartment. It's hard to find a three-bedroom apartment she can afford. Landlords don't like single mothers, teenage boys and homeless people, and they lie about making repairs. She does not want a neighborhood that is "druggy." She must live near a hospital because two of her children have asthma. "I am choosy about where I live," said Ms. Kelly, who...

Let me say immediately that I am not talking about the war on terrorism. That, we can win. I’m talking about the war we have been fighting for the hearts and minds of the international community. It is un-winnable and I’ll tell you why. First we have to deal with the perception that the US is somehow economically exploiting third world countries. This perception exists because we are rich and they – for whatever reasons – are not. An author on a recent thread pointed out that the US carries a trade imbalance with 2/3rds of our trading partners. That...