Free Republic

A Quiz on World Affairs With the end of the Cold War, a Communist country, which had been organized along federal lines into constituent republics, dissolves into those republics, with each becoming a sovereign nation. In one of those republics, there is a province in which (partly due to population shifts during and just before the Communist era) the majority of the population is ethnically distinct from the now-independent republic. In that province there is a strong separatist movement engaged in an armed insurrection that has taken effective control of much of the province. As a result, the province has...

Dear Senator Thompson: I've been a 'FredHead' ever since your elegant 38 second dismissal of Michael Moore. For today, and tomorrow, if South Carolina law allows it, I'm hoping you will continue to regard SC as a must-win, and campaign accordingly. But come Saturday night, when the polls close, should things not go the way we both hope, I'm appealing to you to ignore the pundits, and your own 'must win' statements, and stay in the race, for the long run. In view of the fact that you are seeking the Presidency of the United States not from personal ambition,...

Sixth Presidential Candidate Files for Kansas GOP Caucus Fred Thompson becomes 6th candidate to participate in KS Caucus Topeka, KS—Today, Fred Thompson became the sixth candidate to file for the Kansas GOP Presidential Caucus. Thompson’s campaign filed the official paperwork and paid the filing fee this morning. Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kris Kobach stated, “I’m delighted to see that the Thompson Campaign has decided to devote its resources and attention to the Kansas Republican Caucus. “With the filing of Senator Thompson for the Kansas Republican Caucus, we nearly have a full field. The candidates all recognize that if there is...

In considering what to write on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I found I was unable to improve on what I had written last year, save by updating it and making it more concise: "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to whomever I please." Last year in an online political discussion forum, another Orthodox Christian poster raised the question of why Islam is the fastest growing religion on earth. The answer I proposed makes the words of the Evil One to...

OGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopia sent fighter jets into Somalia and bombed several towns Sunday in a dramatic attack on Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, and Ethiopia's prime minister said his country had been "forced to enter a war." It was the first time Ethiopia acknowledged its troops were fighting in support of Somalia's U.N.-backed interim government even though witnesses had been reporting their presence for weeks in an escalating battle that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa region. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi went on television to announce that his country was at war with the Islamic movement . ....

On the Probity of Reading Other People's Messages At the outset, let me say I am gratified by the resignation of Mark Foley from his seat in Congress. The Clinton-Lewinsky matter had made me suspect that the ethical standards of government are really so much below those that prevail in academe that the abuse of power present in a sexual liaison with a subordinate over whose career the superior has tremendous leverage is of no consequence in Washington. It is not the primary purpose of this article to consider the moral and legal issues of ex-Congressman Foley’s behavior. On the...

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new. . . "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." --Basileus and Autokrator Manuel II Paleologos Reason and ObservationIt is with an odd mixture of grim delight, sorrow and wistfulness that we Orthodox Christians hear the words of the antepenultimate Orthodox Emperor of New Rome, spoken by the Pope of Old Rome, and behold them used as an excuse for the persecution of Christians, Latin, Orthodox, and...

There has been a lot of bluster in the world of American politics since the bureaucratic approval of the sale of British-owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation to Dubai Ports World, which suddenly became the only bidder for the British port management firm when a Singapore based firm dropped out of contention. Suddenly, the Democrats, the party of multicultural tolerance, have discovered the value of racial profiling, the party of the 9/10/2001 balance between civil liberties and national security, have discovered an issue on which to get tough with the Islamic world. And, not so suddenly, President Bush has again...

Muslims are hypocrites! NOT! It seems fitting to start a blog that will most likely deal a lot with religion and politics with a topic that spans both. One comment one reads and hears a lot in right-wing commentary on 'the Cartoon Wars' are 'Muslims are such hypocrites!' I'd like to take exception. Devout Muslims, like devout Jews or devout Christians of any confession, take seriously their belief that their religion is true, a reflection of the one, existing God and grounded in His decisive self-revelation, the Qu'ran. I, too, believe that my religion--Orthodox Christianity--is true and grounded in...

Listening to the Hurricane Rita coverage, and considering the problems multiple strong hurricanes in the Gulf present to our energy infrastructure due to our refinery capacity being concentrated in the Gulf set me to thinking. Consider We can make structures with moving parts that don't come apart when air passes over them at supersonic speeds (pick your favorite supersonic military jet). The problems for refineries are mostly due to wind damage and wind-blown rain damage, rather than flooding. Wind turbines remove some 35 to 40% of the energy from wind passing through them. Having only 60 to 65% of hurricane...

Theresa Marie Schindler: Memory eternal! Memory eternal! Memory eternal! That's what we say in the Christian East, asking God that the departed not be forgotten in Sheol. We say it of those soon to be glorified as saints, of poor sinners, of priests, of laymen. Memory eternal. As we mourn for Terri, let us not be too downcast by the poll results which suggest a majority of our countrymen approve this travesty of justice. The poll questions and the false impressions given by the MSM made this appear to be a right-to-die case. And yes, most Americans, answering for themselves...

A BILL   To restore equal protection under the law   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,   SECTION 1. NO DEPRIVATION OF LIFE WITHOUT A TRIAL BY JURY   (a)   No court of the United States or of any state or jurisdiction thereof shall order or command actions that would result in the death of a United States citizen or other person present in the United States without the agreement of a jury composed of twelve citizens.   (b)  In all cases involving the provision...

§ 241. Conspiracy against rights If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured— They shall be fined under this...

I've noticed that some perceptive posters have succeeded in providing links which circumvent login pages at some news websites by giving a link to the 'printer-friendly' version of the news story. For the good of the forum, if we are posting from a subscription website, could we all test the link to the printer-friendly version and see whether it gets around the login page? If so could we post it, rather than the link to the main story? Thanks. Also a suggestion to the Jim Robinson: the topics list should include something like to better cover posts like this one...

Just a thought: sure the loathsome Michael Moore used Neil Young's Rockin' the Free World in the sound-track of FarLeftHype 911, but Neil Young also gave us a theme song, his tribute to the phyrric victory of the Passengers of Flight 93, "Let's Roll". If you agree, particularly those of you in PA, NY and NJ where getting people back in the mindset of the immediate 9/11 moment might have a beneficial effect on voter sentiment, if you have a rock station that plays recent rock (as opposed to classic rock), a few requests for Neil Young's "Let's Roll" might...

I'd like to get some discussion going in advance of the Iraq Survey Group's final report. The topic: the finds of large numbers of drums of substances that field tested as nerve agents, but were later pronounced to be pesticides, at several Iraqi munitions dumps. There is a Frontpage article which was posted here back in April when it was new. I added a post to it's thread, but knowing that many FReepers probably do what I usually do and read the threads index to the Forum rather than the messages index, I though a new thread would be in...

The title says it. When and where did "anti-racism" transform into "multiculturalism"?

Late News Item: Palestinian Altar Server Killed in Bethlethm The Washington Post reports that on 20 October 2001, in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, 17-year-old Orthodox altar server Johnny Thalgieh was shot from afar by Israeli army sinpers. Struck in the chest by a large-caliber bullet, he was hoisted skyward, cried out, fell, rolled three times, and died on the spot. Johnny, who had hoped to become an Orthodox priest, was visiting with his cousins in Manger Square, after attending Vespers in the church. A Greek Orthodox priest, Fr. Theophanis, said, "He was loving toward every ...

In the two days following the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon and the Phyrric victory of the heroic passengers of Flt. 93, I made posts to several threads (principally ones with folk advocating turing Afghanistan into "a glass parking lot") posts suggesting that the nuclear destruction of the capitals of nations supporting with the terror attack would probably suffice. One of my fellow Orthodox Christian Freepers rebuked me privately (as well he should) and asked me to retract my call. Moved by this, and by two sermons by my bishop, I do so now. However, I do so with ...

WASHINGTON-Police investigating the missing person case of 24 year old intern Chandra Ann Levy carried out two searches: in her neighborhood and in a heavy patch of woods near a popular jogging trail in the neighborhood where Rep. Gary Condit lives.Levy from Modesto, disappeared April 30 from Washington D.C., where she had recently completed an internship with the Bureau of Prisions.She was due in Los Angeles May 11 for graduation from a University of Southern California master's degree program.