Free Republic

These columns now appear in print in the Canyon News, 20,000 copies weekly in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu and 12 other L.A. communities. A high proportion of those folks could readily turn "The No Bullsh*t News" into reality. Consider the Sunday news programs. Reporters pretend to ask relevant questions; politicians pretend to answer them. The reporters throw softballs to guests they agree with, or goad political opponents into making unfortunate statements. A minor slip of the tongue gets play if it fits a headline. Who takes these frauds seriously? Guests try to avoid "committing news in a public place." The...

This is an open letter (read open wound) to those business people not engaged in the business of serving me and my fellow consumers - we who are as vital to their continued survival as tax dodges, buyable politicians and oxygen: Please stop offending me with that fatuous flatulence about how momentous an event it is when I place a call to you. Although time has dimmed the light of my memory, I clearly recall the kinder, gentler and more considerate days when I picked up the telephone and almost instantly spoke to a fellow humanoid to whom I could...

To: Congressman Jeff Miller Member, House Armed Services Committee Key thought: As Violence Deepens, So Does Pessimism By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, May 18, 2004; Page A01 BAGHDAD, May 17 -- With stunning brazenness, pinpoint timing and devastating force, the suicide car bomber who killed the head of Iraq's Governing Council on Monday gave shape to a feeling among Iraqi and U.S. officials and common citizens that the country is almost unmanageable. Dear Congressman Miller: By now, I hope those with power in Congress are disabused of any fantasy that the Iraqis are “just like us,” but...

The images of the American guards at Abu Ghraib Prison posing for the camera all the while grinning at the plight of their charges was a disgusting display of ignorance, perversion and inhumanity. One photo shows a young female soldier while sporting a wide grin, pointing in the direction of the genitals of a naked male prisoner; another photo shows the same grinning female displaying a big thumbs up in front of a human pyramid of naked men. Judging from her appearance and facial expression, one might conclude that she is some kind of sexual pervert who had never seen...

There is a business in my hometown that spends literally millions of dollars each year on advertising and promoting future sales. If they would spend a few dollars to improving customer support they would increase there their bottom line revenue by a factor greater than they could ever realize. I am talking about my area cable services provider. This company spends massive amounts of money getting new customers and then they feel that a 5+ minute hold while waiting for a representative to answer the telephone in completely acceptable. If you hold long enough you will eventually get a representative...

I remember quite well the very last time I saw General Vann. He was home from the war and I had dropped by to visit Pete. He told me not to go downstairs and to just stay in the living room. This was rather new to me. General Vann came out to see us a few times and to talk to the family. He liked to have his tea in the living room at the coffee table. I didn’t see who was there and knew I didn’t want to look either. A day or two later Pete and I were...

I moved away from Columbine Knolls many years ago and seldom return since everyone else did the same thing. I get in touch with Pete once in a while and it won’t surprise some of you but he certainly isn’t a liberal. He grew up the day of the funeral in many ways. Many years after moving away from Colorado I picked my wife up from work at the ammo plant nearby and she asked me a strange question. “Who was that guy you used to know who was the top guy in Vietnam?” “Why?” “The guy I work for...

The years and the war drifted by as I attempted to grow up. Over those years I met General Vann numerous times. I was always over there it seemed. He always greeted me warmly with a handshake and a ‘how are you doing, Rick?’ He already knew how I was doing. My parents liked Pete quite a bit but as they said, the two of us were great kids as long as we weren’t together. When the two of us got together it was usually a bad thing. I’m pretty certain that was what he thought. I didn’t get to...

Last week my article received some rather heated emails. So here is a quick response to those. Yes Eisenhower put advisors in Vietnam (1954) before Kennedy ever came along. The first American death in Vietnam, however, was one Lt. Col Dewey OSS in 1945. That was during WWII under Roosevelt as we assisted Ho Chi Minh oust the Japanese from Vietnam. Several people told me I would find a way to blame the Democrats for the whole mess and as you can see I did. Truman also kept up the same game, but assisting the French against Ho Chi Minh...

The primary reason the liberals are attempting to use the image of Vietnam is that it is an image that conjures war without end. Kerry recently got together with twelve disgruntled Veterans in a diner for a photo-op regarding the veteran’s benefits and how atrocious they are. Before I mention that Kerry was there as Judas Iscariot I need to mention one very important thing. Kerry is in favor of universal healthcare. Current veteran’s benefits are exactly what that program would look like, too. Veteran’s benefits are government anything: A mess! I was going to mention that Judas Iscariot thing...

Why I’m Not Running in 2004 Mark Twain frequently used the title quote to introduce himself to civic associations where he spoke. It seemed the proper beginning to an article about Congress in general, and about why I am not running for the House – in 2004. The “trade” that Twain referred to was extracting ill-gotten gains from the unsuspecting public. Eight years after the first Americans established our new government under the Constitution, we divided into two major political parties: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Both they and their allied newspaper editors then turned the denigration of their congressional...

The release of the photos of Iraqi prisoners being “tortured” by American service personnel has set off the predicted media feeding frenzy, to which no end is in sight. This incident has provided the “smoking gun” that was all the media and their friends on the Left needed to “prove” how duplicitous and dishonest America is. In Australia, writer Andrew Bolt reported on outrageous remarks made by various media types. The head of ABC’s 7.30 report, Kerry O’Brien, said, “This is exactly the type of brutality you would say the coalition liberated Iraq from.” ABC presenter George Negus reported that...

It seems that all the pundits and politicos are in an outrage over the abuse of the prisoners of war in Iraq and rightly so. The treatment of anyone, enemy combatant or not, should never drop to that of the lowest common denominator. To its credit, the United States military has brought charges against those responsible, have been conducting investigations and making arrests with regard to reports of abuse for well over a year. They are doing things by the book, by standard operating procedure, as it should be. But through all of this one thing has been blatantly obvious,...

My wife made the mistake of watching an awards ceremony for one of her former favorite actors. That would be Richard Gere. She watched in mild amusement as he did his little bow and hand thing displaying reverence, I assume, to the gathered elite. The whole show was done in a rather light-hearted manner until the end. Richard Gere talked about how it is wrong to have a President who thinks the Lord is only on his side. He also said they all need to work together to fix that ‘problem’. Who does he think he is kidding? I have...

I read numerous online news sources on a daily basis, and I check many of them more than once throughout the day. And so it was that I heard the news of Pat Tillman's death sooner, perhaps, than many. As I read the sketchy details and looked at the photo of Tillman in his proud Ranger uniform, tears came to my eyes. In just a few words and with a single photo, I felt his loss. Oh, certainly it was the merest shadow of the loss his family must feel, but it was a loss none-the-less. Within hours, more details...

Should the worse case scenario happen if John Kerry is elected President of the United States, his wife Theresa Heinz Kerry will be representing our country as the First Lady. Since she will be in the public eye, it is prudent to understand the woman who would be residing in the White House for the next four years. Here are some of the ways she views her world. She has been quoted, "Another thing that drives me crazy, and I hope I don't offend anyone here, is WAL-MART," "They destroy communities."1 Although Mrs. Kerry holds one million dollars of Wal...

In their unholy war for power, liberals and Democrats along with their comrades in the media have begun the propaganda drumbeat to convince voters that Iraq is becoming this generations twenty-first century Vietnam. If Iraq becomes another Vietnam, it won’t be for reasons proffered from the left. Vietnam may have been a low point in American history but it wasn’t a military failure, our troops won every major battle. The war was lost when the left successfully convinced the American public it wasn’t worth fighting, the cost was too high, and more importantly, our military was corrupt and could not...

I am having a little bit of a problem with the elite media today, the elite media and the liberal left. I know, when don't I have a problem with them, right? But today I believe even the most pro-media/pro-liberal among us would have to agree that there is a massive contradiction playing out in the headlines. I am talking about the retreat of a few of the more pusillanimous countries that have made up the coalition of the willing to date and the response to it. With the Dominican Republic's announced withdrawal of their contribution to the coalition forces...

"There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism." --Alexander Hamilton I wonder how many people in the United States have visited the gravesites of soldiers who fought in wars representing our country. It is a very sobering experience to actually read the epitaphs written in memorial to the men who would willingly put their own lives in harms way in order to extend or preserve the freedom of others. These men - sometimes women and, in some cases, children serving as drummers during revolutionary and civil war eras...

"There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism." --Alexander Hamilton I wonder how many people in the United States have visited the gravesites of soldiers who fought in wars representing our country. It is a very sobering experience to actually read the epitaphs written in memorial to the men who would willingly put their own lives in harms way in order to extend or preserve the freedom of others. These men - sometimes women and, in some cases, children serving as drummers during revolutionary and civil war eras...