Free Republic

Thank you also, Mr. President, for this honorary degree. It was only a couple of years ago that I stopped paying my student loans in law school. Had I known it was this easy, I would have ran for the United States Senate earlier. You know, it has been about six months now since you sent me to Washington as your United States Senator. I recognize that not all of you voted for me, so for those of you muttering under your breath "I didn't send you anywhere," that's ok too. Maybe we'll hold—what do you call it—a little Pumphandle...

Ukraine's Pursuit of Genocide Designation Upsets Russians Who Say Others Died, Too MOSCOW -- Relations between Russia and Ukraine, bedeviled by disputes over natural gas supplies and NATO expansion, have lately been roiled by one of the great tragedies of Soviet history: the famine of 1932-33, which left millions dead from starvation and related diseases. Ukraine is seeking international recognition of the famine, which Ukrainians call Holodomor -- or death by hunger -- as an act of genocide. When Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin forced peasants off their homesteads and into collective farms, special military units requisitioned grain and other food...

Striding onto a Seattle-area work site with a white hard hat, Jimmy Matta converses in Spanish with Latino laborers who carry paintbrushes, power drills or spackling tools. How much are you getting paid? How many hours are you working? Matta gives them his business card, promises his help and drives off to the next site. A decade of organizing Latino construction workers is paying off for Matta, 32, who recently became the first Latino organizing director of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. Born in Idaho to illegal migrant farmworkers, Matta spent much of his early childhood in the...

South Africa may force more white farmers to sell in order to speed up the transfer of land into nonwhite hands, the agriculture minister said Thursday. Lulu Xingwana also said the government was considering new regulations for foreign land ownership. She said that black South Africans, who make up nearly 80 percent of the population, currently own just 4.7 percent of the land — even though land reform has been a key part of government policy since 1994 to right the wrongs of apartheid. Xingwana and other officials have repeatedly ruled out Zimbabwe-style land grabs, but the public's patience is...

Impasse has Hick in another jam on worker wages. Contract negotiations between Denver sheriff's deputies and the city are deadlocked, putting Mayor John Hickenlooper in another pickle over employee salaries in recent weeks. "Having been all over the country and having seen these things in different places, if this is the way they're doing this in Denver, it's askew," said sheriff's Capt. Frank Gale, who is negotiating on behalf of 740 sheriff's employees, from deputies to captains... The council is scheduled to discuss the sheriff's collective-bargaining negotiations behind closed doors on Monday. What's next? *Now that contract negotiations between the...

Gov. Bill Ritter has signed an executive order giving state government's 49,000 workers the right to join unions or other employee associations but said strikes remain illegal under state law. Ritter said his order authorizes "partnership agreements" that will make better use of workers' abilities and allow them to meet with management to discuss concerns. Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said "partnership" is another word for collective bargaining that would hurt state government. "This is indeed collective bargaining," Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, reacted strongly against the executive order. "Like reactions in the...

A homeless man was arrested this week at the downtown Central Library after allegedly masturbating in a back aisle and then pulling a knife on a librarian who was trying to escort him out of the building. A security guard used a Taser on the man, who was arrested by police and charged with multiple offenses, from lascivious conduct to aggravated battery. No one, luckily, was injured or killed in the incident. But it's an ugly reminder of a community problem hidden in plain sight. On any given day, you'll find a group of homeless regulars at the Central Library,...

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has been preparing a military-led collective leadership to rule the communist country after his death, a news report said. Kim, 65, who inherited power from his father, had given up the dynastic succession for various reasons, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted unnamed diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying. "Chairman Kim, who had picked his eldest son Jong-Nam to succeed to him, changed his mind a few years ago... and is preparing to allow in a collective leadership system," one of the sources said. Some leaders in the North oppose another father-to-son...

Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist, has stumbled on a discovery of earth-shattering importance. It is the arrival of "singularity," and according to him it will happen in 2045. "Gradually," he writes at the beginning of "The Singularity Is Near," "I've become aware of a transforming event looming in the first half of the 21st century … the impending Singularity in our future is increasingly transforming every institution and aspect of human life, from sexuality to spirituality." Singularity, Kurzweil says, is a development "representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability" and a "radical upgrading of our bodies' physical...

Freeper Investigation: Cindy Sheehan "Vigil" and "Anti-War Protests" Fake, all bought and paid for by George Soros. I have been reading the stories on Cindy Sheehan and her "Valiant Vigil" at "Camp Casey" as the "Peace Mom" on AP, CBS, AFP, Reuters, etc... and now the "I Shall Return" announcements and speeches being reported about in the wires. I noticed a similarity in each and every story I read. Each referenced one or another "Spokesperson" named Michelle Mulkey, Mike Smith, Steve Smith, Ryan Fletcher. Well, I did a quick investigation and I found that with the exception of Ryan Fletcher,...

Liberals drop public Sheehan role By Bill Sammon THE WASHINGTON TIMES August 31, 2005 Powerful liberal advocacy groups such as MoveOn.org are taking a less active role in Cindy Sheehan's anti-war activities in the wake of criticism that they may have muddied her message. The groups, which played a major role in Mrs. Sheehan's monthlong vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, are scaling back their involvement as Mrs. Sheehan prepares to leave Texas today on a bus tour to Washington.

It is time that we take the word liberal away from the left. The word that is identified with liberty and freedom has been hijacked by those who loath the very concepts that liberty implies. Words such as liberal, socialist and communist have become archaic, and have lost their true meanings. We should choose a new fitting and more descriptive word that better illustrates what leftists are really all about. Liberal theory will always fail because it denies the very nature of human beings. We are individuals and will always live and act in our own self interests. To the...

The ugly truth is that Democrats habitually treat voters like children. It's the basis of their philosophy. Who could possibly be against cutting voter fraud on election day? You'd have to be some sort of fruitcake. But when Georgia's Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue recently signed a bill to reduce voter fraud, under which voters must show a photo ID before casting their ballots, many of Georgia's black legislators stormed out in protest. .................. For legislators to announce that getting a photo ID is too tricky for their constituents is downright amazing. Wouldn't you expect those constituents to say, "Drop dead!...

NEW YORK - Andray Blatche of South Kent Prep in Connecticut believes it would be a good idea for the NBA to raise the minimum age to 20. He just doesn't think it's a good idea for him. Blatche will be entering this June's NBA draft, and his performance - 26 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks - in Saturday night's Jordan Classic high school All-Star game likely left a positive impression on the numerous NBA scouts in attendance. But prep stars Blatche, Louis Williams, Martell Webster, Gerald Green, Monta Ellis and others could become the last group of high...

Should a serious research university consider hiring a fascist? This question doesn't have an easy answer. After all, prior to World War II Europe produced several brilliant political theorists and philosophers who could be characterized as fascists, or proto-fascists, including Joseph de Maistre, Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger. Whether, post-Auschwitz, it's possible even in theory to advocate similar views in intellectually plausible ways is an interesting question. It is not, however, a question that has any relevance to the case of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, despite the obvious fascistic streak in Churchill's writings and public performances. As a...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he signed an order to immediately expropriate the assets of Venepal, a bankrupt paper company that halted operations last month. Chavez met with former Venepal employees to sign the expropriation order. The workers vowed to rebuild the company with the help of the government and manufacture books and notebooks the government could use in public schools and other education-related social projects. Chavez, a self-described "revolutionary" and critic of unbridled capitalism, said Venepal's expropriation is a step in Venezuela's new economic self-development model. "We're at war against poverty and against misery in Venezuela," he...

There have been many contests for the soul of America, some predating the founding of the country but forming the bedrock America was built upon. Fortunately for us, ours is a legacy of builders, not adventurers. The treasures of the Aztecs and the Incas were not to be found on the North American continent, which I believe was one of the greatest fortunes of history for what would become the United States. The English colonies by and large attracted people intent on building a life, not personal fortunes. Our heritage is that of Puritans and Catholics escaping religious persecution. Our...

Burning Man, infamous for its drug-fueled debauchery in the wind- whipped Nevada desert, may seem like the last place to haul the kids for a family vacation. But the annual experiment in radical self-expression, communal living and massive interactive art is becoming something of a counterculture Disneyland as increasing numbers of Burners from the Bay Area and beyond are bringing their young ones to Black Rock City. To the uninitiated, a dry lakebed in the middle of nowhere -- plagued by dust storms and extreme temperatures and inhabited by no small number of naked people -- sounds like no place...

I saw a piece in this week's Newsweek about these. A nice, happy, safe zone for you to get snuggly huggies from strangers who will validate your inner child and needs for intimacy. Thirty bucks a pop.

Thank you, everybody, for being here today. I'm very grateful you came out today to listen to me and hear my thoughts. We just spent a weekend in this country thinking about fatherhood. I couldn't be with my son this weekend, but he sent me the most beautiful picture. It's a picture of him in a James Bond costume. He's got an oversized tuxedo on, and he's got a hat that is way too big, and kind of askew. He's got this look on his face, and I think he's trying to be cunning, but he looks a little bit...