Free Republic

Here’s how: The bills require a federal declaration of a “climate emergency” if world greenhouse gas levels reach 450 parts per million. Guess what? The Pacific Northwest National Lab says it is a virtual certainty that level will be reached within a few months. The bill then requires the president to “direct all Federal agencies to use existing statutory authority to take appropriate actions...to address shortfalls" in achieving needed greenhouse gas reductions. The Examiner's David Freddoso reports that Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, is holding a news conference later today concerning this provision. Vitter wonders if companies that support cap-and-trade in...

Sorry for the intrusive vanity. Several weeks ago, Rush mentioned a woman from Nigeria who wrote an article comparing Obammie the Commie to an African-style communist/Marxist dictator. Can someone please point me either to the article or the author's name? Thanks in advance.

After 19 years on the run, German police arrest members of RZ group, which was involved in hijacking Air France plane with dozens of Israelis on board in 1976 Two suspected members of a German left-wing terror group which took part in some of the most notorious hostage dramas of the 1970s have surrendered to authorities after 19 years on the run. Federal state prosecutors in Karlsruhe said on Sunday that the two suspected members of the "Revolutionaere Zellen" (RZ), or Revolutionary Cells, had given themselves up in December. RZ members helped Carlos the Jackal take ministers hostage at an...

The Gallup Poll on Saturday released the first job-approval rating for President Obama, based on interviews during his first three full days in office: 68 percent. Now that he’s in office, Obama’s approval ratings are starting to normalize, as partisan back-and-forth picks up. Just a week ago, Gallup found an astonishing 83 percent approval of how he has handled his transition, showing he had even won over most Republicans. The new job-approval figure puts him at the upper end of opening poll numbers for presidents, but doesn’t set a record

We’re utterly fascinated by this. In 2004, we don’t remember hearing about anyone scared Kerry was going to take their guns away - and we worked Pennsylvania for Kerry (Pittsburgh area). There were a lot of gun shops and firing ranges there, and we never heard anything about people stocking up on guns because they were scared Kerry was going to try to take them away. Obama is perceived as more liberal than Kerry, and in fact the most liberal Democrat that’s run for president in as long as anyone can remember. Biden as VP makes this the most liberal...

Obama: Constitution is 'Deeply Flawed' Monday, October 27, 2008 8:20 PM By: David A. Patten Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama described the U.S. Constitution as having “deep flaws” during a September 2001 Chicago public radio program, adding that the country’s Founding Fathers had “an enormous blind spot” when they wrote it. Obama also remarked that the Constitution “reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” Obama’s statements came during a panel discussion that aired on Chicago’s WBEZ-FM on Sept. 6, 2001, titled “Slavery and the Constitution.” ...

Jeremiah Wright returns to the campaign via an ad that questions the Illinois senator's judgment. The ad is brought to you by The National Republican Trust PAC that told reporters that it is putting $2.5 million behind this spot featuring Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida

LEE COUNTY: Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott is standing by some controversial comments he made at Governor Sarah Palin's rally on Monday - comments already gaining national attention. While speaking on stage, Scott referred to the Democratic presidential candidate by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama. Those comments didn't go over well with the McCain Campaign, but Scott says he meant no harm by his remarks.

Wikipedia: "The term Bradley effect... refers to a frequently observed discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in American political campaigns when a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. Named for Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in voter polls, the Bradley effect refers to a tendency on the part of white voters to tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a Black candidate, when, on election day, they vote for his/her white opponent. "One theory for the Bradley effect is that some...

Uganda's Asian elite face fresh hostility By Lucy Hooker Business reporter, BBC World Service, Kampala, Uganda Some Asian residents were targeted by the protesters On 12 April an environmental protest in Kampala turned racial. The crowds began chanting anti-Asian slogans. Some held placards with slogans praising Uganda's former dictator Idi Amin. "For one tree cut five Indians dead," said one poster. Violence targeting Asians led to the death of one young Indian man. Shops were ransacked and many Asians sought refuge in the Hindu temple or barricaded themselves in their shops. Pent up frustration over the inequality between Uganda's Asian...

Idi Amin's son jailed for London gang attack By Megan Levy and agencies Last Updated: 1:09pm BST 03/08/2007 The son of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has been jailed for five years for his part in a violent gang attack in North London. Wangita was living in London with his mother Faisal Wangita was part of a 40-strong gang that attacked Somalian Mahir Osman, 18, in Camden in January last year. Osman died within a minute of the brutal attack, in which he was stabbed 20 times, attacked with baseball bats, bottles and hammers, punched and kicked. Wangita had joined in...

A collection of 9/11 tributes I’ll add to the list below, and if you have any you’d like to add to this (or any other sort of tribute/remembrance), please do so here. Either leave a comment with the link, or link to this post and send a trackback. 9/11: The 5th Year Anniversary Tribute Blood of Heroes September 11th, Uncensored From Brain Terminal: Crystal Morning: September 11th, 2001 From William Teach: 9/11 Plus 5 From Crusader: WTC Tribute More from YouTube: 911 tribute September 11th - Five Years Later: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 September 11th - Flash...

Excerpt - TELLURIDE, Colo. (Hollywood Reporter) - Director Kevin MacDonald introduced the Telluride screening of "The Last King of Scotland" by saying, "It's my first feature. Please be gentle." But there's little need for gentleness. Much of "The Last King of Scotland" is an extraordinary piece about naivete caught up short in terrible events. Box office looks substantial in sophisticated urban venues in North America. ~ snip ~

Top 10 Reasons Islam Might Not Be a Religion of Peace Written by Don Feder Thursday, August 31, 2006 A passenger revolt occurred on a Malaga-Manchester flight.  Vacationing Brits refused to fly with two Arabic-speaking men.  This came in the wake of arrests of 21 British-born Muslims who were plotting to blow up as many as 11 trans-Atlantic flights. A spokesman for Britain’s opposition Tory party said the passengers panicked into “behaving irrationally.”  Fancy that, not wanting to fly with members of a faith whose adherents keep trying to blow things up.  Oh, how irrational! Within days of this incident, a Lebanese student...

Islamofascism the term (article by WSJ)Islamofascism's 1936What Is 'Islamofascism'?Yes, the problem is 'Islamic fascism'Islamic Fascism the Enemy, Not Terror, Says Santorum -- 07/21/2006Oriana Fallaci and the War Against IslamofascismThe Meaning of 'Islamofascism'Michael Ledeen on Fascism & War on TerrorIslamic Fascism The only proper response to Islamofascism is total warThe Devilfish of Islamofascism Neo-Nazi becomes fanatical Muslim (24/5/2006)Lebanon, Islamofascism and democracyRogmios on IslamofascismIslamo-Nazis, The Historical Collaboration of Nazis with Muslims/Arabs

Immediately after he pulled off his '72 coup against President Oboto in Uganda, strongman Idi Amin -- full title: His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular (and also, curiously, King of Scotland) --decreed Africa should be for Africans. One of his first decisions as lord of beasts and fishes was to eject all the Asians -- some 40,000 or so, who were third generation descendants...

Former president Richard Nixon considered Ugandan dictator Idi Amin an "ape" and mistrusted his own State Department as "always on the side of the blacks," according to documents made public this week. The once-classified documents show Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger in raw form in dealing with African crises in 1972, including Uganda's mass expulsion of Asians and genocide in Burundi. But for all of the rough language, the transcripts of phone conversations and other texts highlight the US reluctance to take a stand on atrocities committed by Amin's regime until US citizens were threatened. And...

ARAB RACISM & ISLAMIC JIHAD!!! Are Militant Muslims DECAPITATING Tourists in S. Philippines? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Sadistic Saddam attack Arab Kuwaiti 'brothers' tortured them horrifically? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Sadistic Saddam BUTCHER/GASSED/TORTURED HIS OWN PEOPLE? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Do Arab Muslim Militant Hamas/Islamic-Jihad/other 'Palestinian' Militants (& often Fatah - connected to the official 'Palestinian' authority) TARGET BABIES, (not as the West targets terrorists) Yes or no? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Arab Islamists attack French subways? (1985) IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM +...

Uganda's former President, Milton Obote, has died at the age of 81 in hospital in South Africa. Mr Obote led Uganda to independence as prime minister in 1962, going on to serve two terms as president - both of which ended in military coups. Overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, he returned to office in 1980, only to be ousted in 1985 by forces led by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's current president. Mr Obote had spent most of the last 20 years in exile in Zambia.

"The Fate of Africa"... is a heavy book, but it is light reading because it is so unfashionably straightforward. Martin Meredith has written a narrative history of modern Africa, devoid of pseudointellectual frills, gender discourse or postcolonial angst. He takes each of the larger African countries and tells you what happened there after independence.... Mr. Meredith's critics will accuse him of cultural insensitivity. By knocking down Africa's heroes, he is denying Africans the right to be proud of their own heritage. This is piffle. If Africa is to prosper, the first step is for Africans to understand what has gone...

The family of late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin threatened to sue the producers of the "The Last King of Scotland," the film version of the acclaimed novel about the notorious despot's rule. Amins eldest son, Taban Amin, said the family might sue for defamation but at least deserved millions in compensation for the depiction of his father in the movie which wrapped up on-location shooting in Uganda earlier this month. He said the family -- consisting of his prolific father's 42 children and several widows -- would seek four to five million dollars from Cowboy Films, which is producing 'Last...

South Africa is trying to avoid Zimbabwe becoming a "failed state", its deputy foreign minister has said. Aziz Pahad said South Africa did not want Zimbabwe's government and opposition to form a government of national unity to solve its problems. He said South Africa wanted Zimbabwe to change its economic policies, in return for a loan, which is being negotiated. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's government has again ruled out the idea of holding talks with the main opposition party. Zimbabwe is going through an economic crisis, with shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, and rampant unemployment and inflation. 'Fundamental changes' It...

Hollywood star Forest Whitaker who is playing Idi Amin in the screen version of the acclaimed novel The Last King of Scotland, says the late Ugandan dictator was no saint, but was not the monster that has been portrayed in the West. In a weekend interview, Whitaker said his research for the role in the film had changed his perception of Amin, whose brutal rule over Uganda between 1971 and 1979 was punctuated by bizarre and often psychopathic behaviour, and the deaths of up to half a million people. "I'm not trying to defend Amin, the Amin I found was...

Suspected dissidents disappear after midnight visits to their homes; chilling screams can again be heard from Idi Amin's infamous torture chambers, reopened after a quarter of a century of disuse. From the few that escape come tales of punishment beatings and even mass executions. Welcome to President Yoweri Museveni's Uganda. One of Britain's favourite African states in recent years has, almost unnoticed in the West, become a sinister land where a corrupt regime uses its secret police to rule through fear. The reasons for this transition are not hard to fathom. Mr Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, when his...

What was the Iraq war about?.... The anti-war position is still based on the same three claims as 2003. First, the war was illegal because it was not specifically sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council. This means that the 18 mandatory resolutions that the council had passed on Iraq were not even worth the paper they were printed on. Nor is the anti-war party concerned about the fact that legally speaking Iraq had been at war against the United Nations since August 1990. The fact that the British parliament, the U.S. Congress and parliaments in a dozen other democratic...

Osama the crocodile, the terror of Lake Victoria and reputedly the world's most prolific man-eater, is staring blankly at the concrete wall of his new home, his expression suggestive of deep depression. Only two weeks ago he was feasting on the remains of a 12-year-old boy, the 83rd victim from Luganga village he had dragged to his lair on the papyrus banks of Africa's largest lake. Osama the killer crocodile is loaded onto a truck Last Monday, however, a beast once thought to be charmed, if not immortal, was finally captured by 50 local men and wildlife officials after a...

The Late and Unlamented Idi Amin, former self-styled Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes (sic) of the Sea, is dead. Anyone who received that news without a touch of sadness is morally deficient. Not sadness over Amin's death, but that he died peacefully in his bed in Saudi Arabia. Estimates of the numbers of Ugandans killed by Amin during his eight-year reign of terror in the '70s range from 300,000 to 500,000. I feel the same way about anyone who did not rejoice at the news that Uday and Qusai Hussein were on the receiving end...

<p>He's dead. That's good. He died cheating the hangman, in exile bankrolled by autocrats with petrodollars. That's very bad.</p> <p>Idi Amin, the sadist and mass murderer who ran Uganda from 1971 to 1979, died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, shortly after his son made a global plea for a kidney transplant to save the old thug. What the elder Amin deserved was a transplant to a jail cell.</p>

The sole interview granted to a journalist by dictator Idi Amin after the daring Israeli commando raid to rescue the hostages being held in Entebbe, Uganda, was given to this writer on the night of July 3-4, 1976. I recalled the occasion when Amin died this week in exile in Saudi Arabia. In the light of the Saudis' involvement in financing terrorist organizations under the illusion of buying insurance for the preservation of their corrupt royal house it was hardly surprising that they gave asylum for over 25 years to one of the cruelest dictators post-colonialist Africa has known. During...

Dead CannibalBy Michael RaduFrontPageMagazine.com | August 19, 2003 According to the news agencies, Idi Amin, a.k.a.  "Big Daddy" or, more formally "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadj Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular" has died on August 15. Amin's name was synonymous with tyranny during his presidency of Uganda, from 1971-79. Amin's career took him from illiterate national boxing champion to chief of staff, "doctor" to military dictator, mass...

According to the news agencies, Idi Amin, a.k.a. "Big Daddy" or, more formally "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadj Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular" has died on August 15. Amin's name was synonymous with tyranny during his presidency of Uganda, from 1971-79. Amin's career took him from illiterate national boxing champion to chief of staff, "doctor" to military dictator, mass murderer to chairman of the Organization of African...

Amin’s Neighbors Remember the Man They Knew Salah Fareed • Special to Arab News JEDDAH, 19 August 2003 — While reactions to the death of Uganda’s former dictator Idi Amin were mixed in Uganda, residents of the Al-Safa district here responded with sadness to the passing of a popular neighbor whom they remember as a good man. Amin, who died in Jeddah where he sought exile after his government was ousted in 1979, was perhaps the most famous resident of the neighborhood. Saad Al-Harthy had been living next door to the former strongman for the last five years. “He was...

Sunni-Shia Cooperation It's still too bloody hot, but there will be no whining allowed. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have it much hotter, and there is much they have to deal with, and to defeat. Guerrilla-style attacks on the oil pipeline running to Turkey and a water treatment plant are evidence of growing strength among those fighting to thwart the evolution of a stable Iraqi government. Funding for the Sunni and Shia imams who preach hatred of the Coalition is mounting, and coordinated from somewhere. One of the most dangerous elements -- led by a young Shia imam named...

Revealed: How Israel helped Amin to take power 17 August 2003 When Radio Uganda announced at dawn on 25 January 1971 that Idi Amin was Uganda's new ruler, many people suspected that Britain had a hand in the coup. However, Foreign Office papers released last year point to a different conspirator: Israel. The first telegrams to London from the British High Commissioner in Kampala, Richard Slater, show a man shocked and bewildered by the coup. But he quickly turned to the man who he thought might know what was going on; Colonel Bar-Lev, the Israeli defence attaché. He found the...

Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda and self-styled “Conqueror of the British Empire” who died on Friday aged around 78, was one of the most reviled individuals in recent history.Six foot four and, at his peak, 20 stone, the former heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda appeared to relish his monstrous reputation. Subject to “visitations from God”, and reputedly boasting a collection of human heads extensive enough to require its own deep-freeze, Amin was popularly considered to be deranged.This impression was reinforced by claims from one of his surviving physicians that he had at various times administered treatment for hypomania,...

   Ugandans pray for Amin17/08/2003 17:12  - (SA)   1975 file picture of Idi Amin Related Articles Amin who? Assassinating Amin considered Idi Amin buried Few tears for Amin Death of 'Big Daddy'    Kampala - Hundreds of Muslims on Sunday gathered at Uganda's main mosque to pray to God to judge leniently former president Idi Amin, who has died in exile in Saudi Arabia. The mosque at Old Kampala Hill, where British explorer Captain Lugard erected the first building of the city, overlooking the current city centre, was filled to capacity, with more people praying from outlying grounds. "To say that Amin...

The UK's former foreign secretary Lord Owen has revealed he suggested assassinating Idi Amin when he was in government. The former Ugandan dictator died of multiple organ failure in hospital in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Lord Owen, speaking on Radio 4's PM programme, said his proposal was seen as an outrageous suggestion. "I'm not ashamed of considering it, because his regime goes down in the scale of Pol Pot as one of the worst of all African regimes," Lord Owen said. Amin, who was variously described as 78 or 80 years old, had been in a coma at King Faisal...

Former president Mr Idi Ami Dada is dead. Amin, 78, passed away at exactly 7 a.m. Ugandan time on Saturday. Sources said that Amin's latest wife, whom he married a few months ago, was at his bedside when he died. Her name was not disclosed. Amin's family members in Kampala declined to comment on the death of the former leader. They said one of his sons, Mr Jaffer Amin working with DHL courier company, is the only one authorised to talk about his father's death. Amin had been in a coma at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Red...

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was buried on Saturday in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where he had earlier died in hospital after being critically ill for weeks. "He is buried. The family decided and we have buried him in Jeddah," Ali Amin told Reuters by telephone from his home in Jinja, 50 miles east of the Ugandan capital Kampala. An official at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah where Amin died told Reuters his body had been taken out for burial in the Red Sea city. One of Africa's bloodiest despots, Amin had...

Fox is quoting AP as saying that Idi Amin has died.

Ex-leader's body has rejected two kidneys Former President Idi Amin Dada's life is hanging onto a haemo-dialysis machine, which acts as an external kidney, family sources have said. Amin needs a new kidney to stay alive, the sources added. Medical sources told The Monitor that a dialyser is a piece of medical equipment through which blood is passed for purification, and then back into the body. It is normally used with patients whose kidneys have failed. The dialyser removes impurities like urea, excess salts and uric acid. If the urea is not removed, it affects the brain among others...

'Big Daddy' living out his final act Idi Amin denied any atrocities and said he wanted to be remembered only as an athlete As the former dictator lies in a coma, Riccardo Orizio recalls an interview with the man who left Uganda awash with blood. Idi Amin once humiliated four Britons by making them carry his sedan chair. The African master of cruel farce and bloodstain parody has done it again. Apparently hours from death in a Saudi hospital, Idi Amin has emerged from a coma to defy the world once more with his unique form of black theatre....

JEDDAH, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Former dictator Idi Amin, blamed for the murder of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, has received death threats at a Saudi hospital where he has been critically ill for weeks, a medical source said on Sunday. Staff at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah got the threats by telephone on Saturday, prompting mangers to post a permanent guard in Amin's room and another at the entrance to intensive care, the source said. "Security measures were dramatically increased in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital...

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin remained in stable condition on Tuesday at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of King Faisal Specialist Hospital in this Saudi Red Sea city, a hospital source said. "He is still in the intensive care unit, but he is in a stable condition," the source said. Amin, a Muslim now in his eighties, was admitted to hospital on July 18 and went into coma. Hospital sources said he came out of the coma six days later, but remained in critical condition under close watch by doctors. Hospital officials refused to specify...

DOCTORS have finally given ailing former President Idi Amin the status of “do not resuscitate”. This is the first time that Amin’s hitherto tight-lipped doctors have come out explicitly about his failing health. Medical sources at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, a top Saudi medical centre in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, told Reuters and Sky News yesterday that “should he encounter further life threatening problems, resuscitation will not be attempted.” Amin, in his late 70s and liable for the murders of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, has now been declared by doctors at the posh...

Amin sickness divides family Deep misunderstandings have developed among family members of former President Idi Amin Dada, currently in a coma in Saudi Arabia. Sources in the Amin family told Sunday Monitor that the issue of Amin’s failing health had been kept secret for three months. Sunday Monitor on July 20 exclusively broke news of Amin’s sickness to the chagrin of some family members. “When the news broke out some family members wrongly accused Madina Amin [one of the former president’s wives] of having issued a press statement about mzee’s sickness to media organisations in Uganda,” said a family...

JEDDAH, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, blamed for the murders of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, is in "near-death condition" at a hospital in Saudi Arabia, a medical source said on Saturday. "He is alive but remains in a near-death condition in a coma," the source at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah told Reuters, adding that Amin was on a ventilator. Amin came out of a coma last week and was said then to be in serious condition.

Madina stays to nurse Amin Ms Madina Amin did not return home yesterday as expected. She chose to remain in Saudi Arabia to continue attending her husband, former President Idi Amin. Amin's daughter, Hajira, arrived alone yesterday aboard the British Airways flight BA 063. It is the same flight that should have brought back Madina. Said a family source: "The condition in which Mzee is could not permit her to leave him. She is still in Saudi Arabia." Madina Amin flew to Saudi Arabia on July 21. Also initially expected to return with her yesterday were Amin's sons, Mr...

Idi Amin Dada is causing as much controversy on his deathbed as he did while he was president of Uganda. At issue is whether or not the dictator should be allowed to come and die in Uganda or, in case he dies in Jeddah, whether his body should be allowed back for burial. There is renewed interest in Amin because people who suffered under him in one way or another - and that means most Ugandans - feel that, by his death, justice will finally have been done. We all seem to take it for granted that Amin's only crime...

Coming across the wires now...