Free Republic

Here's something for you to ponder over... http://distressedamerican.cf.huffingtonpost.com/ Any thoughts?

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

There are those who are already so entrenched in their hatred of Kerry, that no official Navy records, no verified eye-witness testimony, no facts will every cause them to re-evaluate their point of view. However, I am assured that there are many who, regardless of their political background, are interested the facts and see knowledge as an evolutionary process, and who take the time to research their opinions and speak from a foundation of fact. It clearly is not necessary to like John Kerry, or agree with his record as a Senator, but it seems to me that a vicious...

by Mark Finkelstein June 14, 2006 Talk radio show host Michael Smerconish appeared on tonight's Scarborough Country to tout his demand, set forth in this column, Cut Coulter Loose, that the GOP go out of its way to disavow Ann Coulter for the statements in her most recent book, 'Godless', about the 9/11 Jersey Girl widows . Smerconish told Scarborough that the Republican party needs to "make clear" that Coulter's comments are "appalling." Scarborough sympathized, saying that Coulter's Jersey Girl comments "need to be condemned." He complained that when you do criticize Coulter, "conservatives accuse people like us of being...

Wisconsin's a great place to live, and we love it. The idyllic summers and sparkling lakes, the dramatic pageant of the seasons between the spectacular geography and the varied weather, our state is a terrific place to grow food, raise a family and enjoy life outdoors. But all that's changing. We had a handful of unprecedented air-quality alerts last summer. And one day with 28 tornadoes. We've been seeing record-setting temperatures. And a growing infiltration of pests, from purple loosestrife to the gypsy moth and coming soon the emerald ash borer. These phenomena have two things in common: One, they...

That deafening noise we've been hearing is the sound of wheels falling off the most secretive and autocratic presidency in our history. The disintegration is long overdue. This nation of laws, separation of powers and equal justice has suffered enough. After five torturous years, we are finally getting a look inside a government led by a cadre of self-righteous demagogues, committed to opportunism, self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. Many, including one-time friends and associates of the Bush/Cheney power elite, have been preaching the horrors of what's going on behind closed doors, only to be shouted down, bullied, threatened or smeared. Even members...

Fellow Americans, there comes a time every mans life when we must give up ourselves before we are worthy to recieve. There comes a time in this war on terror when in order to protect liberty, we have to give it up in the mean time for safty. That's right folks. Today, Americans have forsaken the creator for the creation and have decided that they would value our "civil liberties" than protecting western civilization and rich white people from the tender mercies of radical Islamic terrorists. Selfish liberals insist and whine that Bush has no right to spy on Americans...

There's no helping you. This site is now just a diversion -- like a train wreck. This site is inherently for and about raving egomaniacs, and Jim's site policies -- which amount to excluding reality and actual dialogue in favor of political/militaristic pornography -- is conducive to cognitive dissonance, which at the times your worldview is threatened leads you into psychotic breaks (on the political cognitive plane, that is, and just maybe in other realms too). Not to mention that your baseline politics is based in mythology about American demographics, science, economics, ethics etc. You spoonfeed each other in the...

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases By Shankar Vedantam Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 30, 2006 ... "In my own family, for example, there are stark differences, not just of opinion but very profound differences in how we view the world," said Brenda Major, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, which had a conference last week that showcased several provocative psychological studies about the nature of political belief. ... Emory University psychologist Drew Westen put self-identified Democratic and Republican partisans in brain scanners...

"Former US vice-president AL gore urged Canadians to be vigilant over their new leader Stephen Harper in light of the newly elected prime minister's pro oil agenda. "The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta....And the financial interests behind the tar sands projects poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election...and to protect their interests."... Gore said he wasn't surprised to hear about the absence of any tar sands talk during the last campaign,or even the oil lobby was pushing Harper's cause in influential financial circles,and...

I hadn't realized until recently that Stephen Harper was using "God Bless Canada!" as a tagline for his speeches. Some may think this a harmless, or even beneficent, expression for a politician to use, but for those with knowledge of history, nothing could be a more frightening. I do believe we all know to whom Harper is tipping his hat with these words. George Bush, author of two wars which have killed more than a hundred thousand innocent people and the champion of an ugly set of repressive laws in the United States, says "God Bless America!" every chance he...

MISSOULA - The national popularity of Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the upsurge of Democrats in office in Montana may give the state a serious political role in the next presidential election, Montana Democratic Party Chairman Dennis McDonald said Thursday in Missoula. "The whole country is watching what's going on here in Montana," he told an audience brought together by the Missoula Organization of Realtors. "We've become a blue state." People watched with "fascination and wonderment" as Democrats won back the governor's office - for the first time since 1988 - and control of the state Senate last fall. "Brian's obviously...

It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just the most significant speech of his political career but one of the most important challenges to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush. In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former vice president is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a "constitutional crisis" by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties. Aides who are familiar with the address say Gore will frame his remarks in constitutional...

After reading all of the crap that people have been saying regarding Adult Private Social Clubs, I felt that I had to post an article and give my opinion. I am sick and tired of all the religous groups that are saying that there are drugs, prostitution, minors, non-consenting people, and just immoral people at these clubs! First of all, who do these people think they are to decide what is morally right or wrong for me? I believe that I have a good set of morals. I am a law abiding, tax paying citizen, I work full time and...

When a man's masculinity is threatened, watch him turn into Macho Man. In a Cornell University study, men who perceived their masculinity to be maligned displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle. In other words, men overcompensate when they feel their masculinity is threatened. The results: When the men who felt threatened were questioned about their political attitudes, including how they felt about a same-sex marriage ban and their support for President Bush's handling of the Iraq war, they displayed strong macho...

Dear MoveOn member, Hurricane Katrina exposed the deep poverty and racism that remains in our country. It showed that the President failed to deliver on his central promise—to keep us safe. But more broadly, Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that a right-wing "sink or swim" ideology is a disaster for America. Yesterday, USA Today released a new poll showing that a record 58% of Americans disapprove of President Bush. In the same poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans said they believe it's time for troops to start leaving Iraq. It's clear we're at a turning point. We have an opportunity, together, to help...

Big Easy's tough advocate; The Louisiana senator has been a scathing critic of the federal response to Katrina, and now her political skills will be put to the test in lobbying for the cash to rebuild By William Neikirk, Tribune senior correspondent. 16 September 2005 Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON As the water began to rise in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina's roaring arrival, Sen. Mary Landrieu said it didn't take her long to realize the city's levees had been breached and a disaster was at hand. "As a person who had worked on the levee system for 25 years, I knew...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast. As New Orleans descended into anarchy, top Bush administration officials congratulated each other for jobs well done and spoke of water, food and troops pouring into the ravaged city. Television pictures told a different story. "What it reminded me of the other day is 'Baghdad Bob' saying there are no Americans at the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, just one day after praising Sacramento politicians for trying to negotiate a deal on his reform agenda, took a combative tone Friday and insisted that the Nov. 8 special election "is not a referendum on me'' but on the state's lawmakers "who created the problems in California.'' The California governor, at an appearance at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, vowed to pass his self-styled reform agenda of shortened teacher tenure, a budget cap and a new political redistricting plan "no matter how many unions or special interests get in my way.'' But the governor's critics have a different...

Read article at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/opinions/columns/articles/0807valdez071.html

NEW YORK -- A doctor who once cared for sick children at Don Imus' New Mexico ranch has sued the tart-tongued radio personality for slander, claiming he made false derogatory comments about him on his "Imus in the Morning" show. Dr. Howard Allen Pearson says in court papers that on at least four days last year, Imus said Pearson "was one of the worst doctors in the world and did not care if children suffered." Pearson's lawsuit says Imus apparently misunderstood the physician's response to a morning call to treat a child for pain in July 2004. Pearson left the...

We have created — this is a terrible thing that the president's done for the country and to the defense of a country. He's created a problem that we didn't have before. He's essentially pinned our troops in Iraq. Now Zarqawi is in Iraq. Now there are foreign terrorists in Iraq. Now there really is a danger, the president said last night, that the Iraq — an Iraq that's weak because we're not there could become the next Afghanistan.

I was in Germany a few weeks ago, channel surfing in a hotel room, recovering from a tiring travel day. I froze on a German language news program showing video that seemed to depict Tom Cruise suffering an emotional meltdown on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." I'm not one to follow celebrity news, but this scene had me curious. I couldn't help wondering if Tom's outburst was somehow related to his high-profile membership in the cult/religion of Scientology. The possibility that a religion (of sorts) was involved seemed to heighten my curiosity. I had just recently experienced an emotional and deeply...

ISTANBUL - The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), a grouping of NGOs and intellectuals opposed to the war in Iraq, on Friday accused the United States of causing more deaths in Iraq than ousted president Saddam Hussein. “With two wars and 13 years of criminal sanctions, the United States have been responsible for more deaths in Iraq than Saddam Hussein,” Larry Everest, a journalist, told hundreds of anti-war activists gathered in Istanbul. Founded in 2003, the WTI is modelled on the 1960s Russell Tribunal, created by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell to denounce the war in Vietnam. It has held...

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" asked Joseph Welch in his famous confrontation with the pathologically cruel Joe McCarthy. "Have you left no sense of decency?" More than a half-century later, I would ask the same question of Florida's governor, Jeb Bush. In an abuse of power that has been widely denounced, and has even appalled many of his own supporters in the Republican Party, Governor Bush has tried to keep the Terri Schiavo circus alive by sending state prosecutors on a witch hunt against her husband, Michael. The state attorney who has been pushed by...

The Smearing of BustamanteThe Far Right and Anti-Mexican RacismBy JORGE MARISCAL09/01/03 It would be tempting to dismiss the recent media flap around the candidacy of Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and his membership in the student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) as much to do about nothing. But for those of us who have been following over the last decade the political propaganda of anti-Mexican hate groups, the controversy indicates just how far the rhetoric and tactics of the extreme right have entered the media mainstream. As Bustamante's poll numbers began to rise, his affiliation with MEChA over twenty-five...

If recent polls are any indication, the administration is losing ground on virtually every front, from an outright rejection of Bush’s Social Security plan to a growing ennui with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American people seem to have had it with the swaggering braggadocio of Bush, Cheney and their coterie of propagandists, Bible-thumpers and cover-up specialists. Slowly but surely the Bush presidency, heavy with secrecy, fraud and deceit, is beginning to fray at the edges, gradually unraveling toward the historical infamy it so well deserves. For those who have criticized this administration from the outset, it’s tough...

Based on what you'll read in this report, we can clearly establish that not only Havel was privileged to receive certain favors from the communists [his frequent visits of the capitalist West Germany, Austria and so forth - ordinary people would not be allowed to travel there during the openly communist era], but also Havel was glad to co-operate with these communist criminals...

Why are Charlotte's black students suspended more often than whites? It's a hard-to-answer question, say Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials. But they want to look deeper, they say. An Observer investigation found black students were nearly four times more likely to be suspended than whites in the 2003-04 school year. Overall, CMS suspended 8 percent of white students, and 30 percent of black students. Such disparities also exist nationally and suggest a culture clash in schools, experts say. "It's a very difficult issue, and it's uncomfortable for folks," says assistant superintendent Susan Agruso. "Part of it may be related to culture. Part...

TEHRAN, June 1 (MNA) - Al-Qaeda terrorist leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has received treatment at a hospital in the Jordanian capital Amman amid tight security by Jordanian intelligence forces and under the supervision of the Jordanian King Abdullah II, the U.S.-based daily Arab Times reported on Wednesday. There are reliable news in Jordan that al-Zarqawi was transferred to the Al-Hussein clinic in Oman where he received treatment in a section guarded by security forces, the Arabic-language daily claimed. The news that al-Zarqawi has taken shelter in Jordan is quite likely since the Jordanian intelligence agency has a precedent...

A FORMER British military official has backed a sensational claim that the Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, was torpedoed by US forces in August 2000. An official inquest concluded that the disaster – in which all 118 crew drowned in the Barents Sea, 135km off the Russian coast – was caused by an accidental explosion of an onboard torpedo. But Maurice Stradling, a former torpedo engineer and a key figure in the original investigation, believes a new French documentary, The Kursk: A Submarine in Troubled Waters, should change world opinion on the sinking. "On the balance of probabilities, the Kursk...

Pelosi: 'Democrats Will Not Be Silenced; We Will Not Be Intimidated by the Republicans' Arrogant Power Plays' 5/18/2005 4:57:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both of the House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, May 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and nearly 100 House and Senate Democrats today at a unity event on the steps of the United States Senate to protest Republicans' abuse of power. Below are Pelosi's remarks: "Thank you very much, Leader Reid. I know that I speak for all of my...

WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/11/05)- A report released today by a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group indicates that anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States increased by more than 50 percent in the past year, from 93 cases in 2003 to 141 in 2004. The Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) report - the only annual study of its kind - outlines 1522 incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2004, the highest number of Muslim civil rights cases ever recorded in the Washington-based group's annual report. (Hundreds of anti-Muslim incidents reported immediately following the 9/11 attack...

I agree with having a dress code or uniforms in schools...I was chuckling at the end of this video.... Clisk Here To Watch "Dress Code".

President Bush made it clear last week that he sees no quick fixes to the nation's energy woes. The problem has been long in coming, the argument goes, and so will the solutions. But if history is any guide, there is one thing he could do immediately: bring back the 55 miles-per-hour speed limit. It has been done before. Along with record oil and gasoline prices, improvements in fuel efficiency and a lasting economic recession, speed limits helped curb fuel consumption for the first time in American postwar history between 1974 and 1984. Of course, energy eventually became cheap again,...

My biggest problem with nominating John Bolton as U.N. ambassador boils down to one simple fact: he's not the best person for the job - not even close. If President George W. Bush wants a die-hard Republican at the U.N., one who has a conservative pedigree he can trust, who is close to the president, who can really build coalitions, who knows the U.N. building and bureaucracy inside out, who can work well with the State Department and who has the respect of America's friends and foes alike, the choice is obvious, and it's not John Bolton. It's George H....

Setting the Record Straight The Pope Has No Vestments April 4, 2005 The public is being treated to fawning eulogies, blow-by-blow descriptions of Catholic rites and rituals, and uncritical propaganda following the April 2 death of the pope. Has there ever been anything like this media adulation? Whole front news sections were devoted yesterday to "His Holiness," as if the whole world were Catholic. It is hard to imagine the death of any world leader summoning the same kind of uncritical coverage, with the possible exception of an assassinated U.S. President. Former Pres. Reagan's death last summer certainly rated nothing...

TEHRAN (MNA) – About 304 recalcitrant U.S. soldiers have been killed by the Pentagon’s special team, intelligence sources in Iraq have revealed. The sources quoted high-ranking U.S. officers as saying that since the U.S. occupation of Iraq in March 2003 more than 304 U.S. military forces have been executed in spurious clashes at the behest of army commanders and with the knowledge of the Pentagon. The bodies of these soldiers have been sent to their families and announced as forces who have been killed in the fight against terrorists, the Mehr News Agency correspondent in southern Iran has learnt. The...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

The papacy is not, in theory, a man-made office at all. Its holder is chosen for life, by God himself, to hold the keys of Peter and to be the vicar of Christ on earth. This is yet another of the self-imposed tortures that faith inflicts upon itself. It means that you have to believe that the pope before last, who held on to the job for a matter of weeks before dying (or, according to some, before being murdered) was either unchosen by God in some fit of celestial pique, or left unprotected by heaven against his assassins. And...

Dehydration death seen as peaceful "This is the way many, many people died over all of the millenniums," a doctor from Penn said. By Stacey Burling and Michael Vitez Inquirer Staff Writers Terri Schiavo is dying now as many aged and sick people have for eons. Though some people see letting her die of dehydration as inhumane, doctors say it is a surprisingly gentle process. [snip] "It's a very painless and very compassionate way of dying," he said. [snip] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shameful! There's really no other word to describe what is now both the Terri Schiavo ``case'' and the Terri Schiavo ``law.'' Before there was a ``case'' or a ``law,'' Terri Schiavo was just a 26-year-old woman, wife to Michael Schiavo, daughter of Bob and Mary Schindler. Then in 1990 a heart attack, likely resulting from an eating disorder, cut the oxygen to her brain, putting her in what doctors describe as ``a persistent vegetative state.'' Since then Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers have played dysfunctional family - neither willing to relent on who should have the last word on Terri...

Bush officials have always been eager to pose as the tough guys willing to make the tough decisions. On Iraq and Afghanistan, they did. But when it comes to China, the Bush administration is engaged in one of the greatest acts of unilateral disarmament ever seen in U.S. foreign policy. National security is about so much more than just military deployments. It is also about our tax, energy and competitiveness policies. And if you look at all these areas, the Bush team has not only been steadily eroding America's leverage and room for maneuver vis-à-vis its biggest long-term competitor -...

A German who persuaded doctors to give him a second penis has lost his wife after he showed her the result. Biker Michael Gruber, 40, lost his original penis in a motorbike accident and doctors built him a second one using a mixture of skin, bone and other tissues from his own body. The penis worked so well that he was even able to father a child with his wife Bianca, 25, and their son Etienne was born last year. But Gruber was still not happy and asked doctors to repeat the operation and build him a better organ, to...

CHICAGO (AP) A bus driver for the Dave Matthews Band pleaded guilty Wednesday to dumping 800 pounds of human waste from the vehicle's septic tank onto a sightseeing boat on the Chicago River last summer. The driver, Stefan Wohl, was sentenced to 18 months probation, 150 hours of community service and the maximum $10,000 fine, which will be paid to Friends of the Chicago River, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Wohl, 42, of Selma, Texas, pleaded guilty to the original charges filed against him in January, reckless conduct and discharging contaminates to cause...

If it's true that the Democratic Party is about to get religion, then Hillary Clinton is first at the altar. Much has been made of Clinton's newly softened image—the way she tore down her old liberal icon and got spiritual over abortion, for instance. She told an Albany crowd on January 24 that abortion represents "a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women," and singled out "religious and moral values" as an antidote to teenage sex. Never mind the New York junior senator's continued advice that pro-choice activists find "common ground" with their anti-abortion counterparts. Pundits chalked up the...

The Syrian Minister of Expatriates has hit back at claims her country was behind the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. When the blast hit, locals looked up into the sky for Israeli warplanes, Bouthaina Shaaban was quoted as saying by UPI. Shaaben said Israeli planes violate Lebanese airspace almost daily. She said Arabs were horrified watching the scenes of smoke and fire, burnt bodies, and damaged buildings in what she described as the most beautiful of Arab capitals. 'We have become quite accustomed to watching such scenes every day in Iraqi cities under American occupation, in...

Valentine's Gold Jewelry Sales Generate 34 Million Tons of Mine Waste 11 February, 2005 "No Dirty Gold" campaign targets $16 billion dollar US gold jewelry market For more information, contact: Helen DaSilva, Press Officer 617-728-2409 617-331-2984 (mobile) hdasilva@oxfamamerica.org WASHINGTON, DC—Valentine's sales of gold jewelry in the US will leave in their wake more than 34 million metric tons of waste worldwide, according to estimates from EARTHWORKS and Oxfam America, leaders of a major consumer campaign aimed at changing the way gold is produced and sold. (The estimates are based on gold sales in the first two weeks of February.) The...

By Laurie David, Laurie David is a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and co-founder of the Detroit Project, a not-for-profit campaign that pressures automakers to produce fuel-efficient cars. Next Wednesday, in the enormous glass-paneled European Union Parliament building in Brussels, hundreds of men and women will gather to mark the start of a new era. A similar celebration will be held in Toronto, another in Casablanca and others in Tokyo, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Auckland and Mexico City, among other places. In each of these cities, people will be celebrating an unprecedented international treaty that's going...

'The United States needs to lose this war in Iraq as soon as possible. Even more urgently, the whole world needs the United States to lose the war in Iraq.'Author Gwynne Dyer explains how we havent grasped that the world has changed, that we aren't living in our old superpower world anymore, one in which we are the leader of the forces of light against the evil dark powers of communism.Nor are we, in fact, even a military superpower in the way we like to think we are; in reality, our military machine can only be used by weak countries....