Free Republic

LONDONDERRY – If there's one thing state Rep. Al Baldasaro wants you to know, it's this: He did not "crash" a recent news conference organized by a fellow Marine denouncing the President's decision to send more troops to Iraq. ►Lawmaker has sharp words for group criticizing buildup Baldasaro said he simply used some lag time between testifying at House committees to pepper the Massachusetts resident with some pointed questions. The unapologetically outspoken freshman Republican lawmaker made headlines after he accused Marine Cpl. Brian VanRiper of being a "pawn" for a group called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. In a one-on-one...

President Bush has not been shy about asserting robust powers for the presidency in waging war, but lately he has seemed to concede that Congress has a role to play as well. Lawmakers, he has indicated, are within their rights to try to cap total deployments or limit where troops can go in Iraq. "They have the right to try to use the power of the purse to determine policy," the president told editors of the Wall Street Journal recently, in an interview that took some of his strongest conservative supporters by surprise. For a president who has asserted broad...

A Canadian tour bus was attacked Saturday as sightseers in East Jerusalem became the target of protests over a disputed holy site. Palestinian youths hurled stones at the vehicle carrying vacationers during the second day of protests against excavation work at the religious compound. This bus came under attack on the second day of Palestinian protests against excavation at a religious site. (CBC) Muslims know the site as the Noble Sanctuary, which houses the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest mosque outside Mecca. It's known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is connected to the Western Wall, described as the holiest...

US military chiefs eye confrontation with Iran By Philip Sherwell in Washington, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:51am GMT 04/02/2007 America's military chiefs are at loggerheads with the country's diplomats and spies over tactics for confronting Iranian agents in Iraq over their role in lethal attacks on US forces. American drones are flying over Iran in search of intelligence about its nuclear facilities The rift has spilled over into a dispute about how and when to publish alleged evidence of Iranian backing for Iraqi militias and Iran's provision of supplies and technology for roadside bombs, the biggest killer of American soldiers...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday any measures taken against its nuclear programme by the U.N. Security Council would push Tehran towards confrontation with the West rather than cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. "Involving the U.N. Security Council and adopting incorrect decisions will change the direction of work from cooperation to confrontation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference. "It is clear any measure by the Security Council will have negative effects on the trend of our cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy) Agency," he said.

Stakes Rise in Japan-S. Korea Island Flap By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 55 minutes ago Japan defied South Korean protests Wednesday and dispatched two ships to begin a maritime survey near disputed islets between the two nations, raising the stakes in the territorial standoff. South Korea earlier had dispatched a flotilla of patrol boats to guard the territory, held by Seoul but claimed by Tokyo. Two Japanese survey vessels left Sakaiminato on Wednesday, headed for the islands, said Yuzuru Kubota, a coast guard official in the port city on Japan's west coast. But he said the ships...

Almost any discussion of immigration elicits deeply felt emotions. Still, most Americans seem to feel that immigrants will continue to play an important role in our country’s growth and that America should continue to be a beacon to the disadvantaged and oppressed peoples of the world seeking a better life. That there are many more of these than the United States can possibly accommodate does not seem to deter most Americans in favoring a liberal immigration policy. Ours certainly fits that description. For one thing, young, working immigrants replenish our aging workforce and provide additional payroll taxes to help keep...

I have been wracking my brain for a while now for a good reason for Republicans in the Senate not to get rid of the filibuster in the case of judicial nominees. You know, something about the higher need for comity, respect for the traditions of the "world's greatest deliberative body," the need for majorities to act with restraint so that minorities do not feel oppressed, etc. I give up. There are no principles at stake here. The prerequisite for a Senate rule that requires 60 votes for cloture is sufficient institutional comity to ensure that the filibuster is not...

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg demonstrates the twisted logic of the left in her article, “Dying in Iraq Is Not a Job Opportunity.” The double standard of the left is evidenced as she describes events at the City College of New York’s (CCNY) Job Fair last week, at which a group of about twenty students stood in front of the National Guard table and began chanting anti-war slogans. She writes, "The situation became aggressive when the security officers came in. They looked like they were ready for action." Weill-Greenberg continues, “Witnesses say Justino Rodriguez and other students were shoved out of the...

The co-founder and chairman of the American Basketball Association said Monday he planned to fine the Nashville Rhythm and donate the money to inner-city youth programs. Joe Newman was reacting to Saturday night's game between the ABA's Nashville Rhythm and Kansas City Knights in which Rhythm co-owner Sally Anthony confronted Nashville coach Ashley McElhiney on the bench during the game and then fired her after McElhiney refused to bench one of her players. Afterward, Anthony went into the locker room and told the team that if players wanted to support their coach, she would fold the team. Newman said that...

I got to see a bit of the presidential spiel yesterday and I noticed that Chavez has lost composure; his normal coherent-self wasn’t there; the rhythm and pitch of his voice have abandoned him; he's absolutely convinced that the hour of his rendezvous with history has finally arrived in the form of an open conflict; be it with Colombia or the USA.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) may keep a wary eye on China during his second term in office as the Asian giant musters greater political and economic influence across the globe. AFP/File Photo But US reliance on Beijing to keep nuclear-armed North Korea (news - web sites) on a leash and Washington's preoccupation with insurgency-wracked Iraq (news - web sites) may limit any pressure Bush may want to exert on China, especially on human rights and trade issues. Growing at a rapid pace, China is using its economic clout to expand its political...

Mexican soldiers, left, in green argue with a group of U.S. Marines, two of whom were carrying non-working ceremonial rifles during the funeral of 22-year-old Juan Lopez in his hometown of San Luis de la Paz in central Mexico, Sunday, July 4, 2004. The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, July 6, 2004 sent a diplomatic note to Mexico's government demanding to know why Mexican troops interrupted the funeral of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq (news - web sites) and was being buried in his hometown in central Guanajuato state. Mexican soldiers with automatic weapons disrupted the graveside burial of...

Commentary: Madrid and the devil's comeback By Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI Religious Affairs Editor BORDEAUX, France, March 12 (UPI) -- The devil as a person has staged a comeback in Madrid, European and American theologians ruminated Friday, the day after terrorist attacks on trains killed at least 198 and injured more than 1,400 in the Spanish capital. For decades, the Evil One as "an active force, a living, spiritual being that is perverted and perverts others" -- to use the words of the late Pope Paul IV -- was rarely the topic of sermons. "To talk about him was not considered...

The Supreme Court, in a decision Monday, Crawford V. Washington, has re-affirmed the accused rights in a criminal trial to be confronted by his accuser. The court had, in recent years, after the Ohio V. Roberts decision, held that in certain circumstances, hearsay evidence could be deemed credible enough to be noticed by the court and used against the defendent. In a blistering rebuttal to this philosophy by Scalia the court held Monday that this does not conform to the original intent of the founders, and the right to be confronted in court by ALL the witnesses against a defendent...

Hamas activists in Gaza City attacked cars belonging to the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service Friday night after Minister of Security Muhammed Dahlan's bodyguards shot and wounded a Hamas member. Palestinian sources said the bodyguards opened fire at Muhmamed Sumari, a Hamas activist, after suspecting him of planning to assassinate Dahlan. Sumari was wounded in the leg and was in critical condition, the sources added. The incident occurred just after midnight Thursday, as Dahlan was on his way back to Gaza City from a meeting with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz at the Erez checkpoint. A statement issued by Hamas Saturday...

<p>CHINA READIES FOR FUTURE U.S. FIGHT March 26, 2003 CNN reports: "The Iraqi war has convinced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership that some form of confrontation with the U.S. could come earlier than expected. Beijing has also begun to fine-tune its domestic and security policies to counter the perceived threat of U.S. 'neo-imperialism.' As more emphasis is being put on boosting national strength and cohesiveness, a big blow could be dealt to both economic and political reform. That the new leadership has concluded China is coming up against formidable challenges in the short to medium term is evident from recent statements by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Hu indicated earlier this year Beijing must pay more attention to global developments so that 'China make good preparations before the rainstorm ... and be in a position to seize the initiative.' Wen also pointed out in the first meeting of the State Council, or cabinet, last Saturday the leadership 'must keep a cool head.' 'We must boost our consciousness about disasters and downturns -- and think about dangers in the midst of [apparent] safety,' he said…"</p>

Confrontation with Priest on Tape by Andrew Tighman One morning last spring, behind closed doors at the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese headquarters, a 40-year-old man confronted the priest who had abused him repeatedly three decades before. As Bishop Howard Hubbard looked on, the man, now a married father of two, demanded an apology. "Nobody's protecting you now. Beg for my forgiveness," he screamed. "Down on your knees, down on your knees and beg. Beg!" The Rev. David Bentley, now 60, spoke quietly. "I'll get down on my knees -- don't touch me," he stammered. "I am asking you again, OK,...

SEOUL: North Korea warned on Sunday that confrontation with the United States was inevitable as tensions escalated over its decision to expel United Nations monitors from a controversial nuclear site. "Inevitable is the confrontation with the imperialists as long as they do not abandon the aggressive and predatory nature," said a commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling communist party. "The imperialist reactionaries are seriously mistaken if they think they would bring the Korean people, who regard independence as their life and soul, to their knees with pressure," it added. The latest salvo in the war...

Britain could be expelled from the European Union if it refuses to accept a fully-fledged European government with powers to launch military or police actions on British soil, according to a draft constitution unveiled by Brussels yesterday.Any government which accepted this would be immediately disposed of by the electorate - Ivan The new proposals, secretly drawn up by Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, call for the total abolition of the national veto to prevent policy paralysis after the arrival of 10 new states in 2004. Utter confusion reigned in Brussels yesterday after Mr Prodi astounded his own top lieutenants...