Free Republic

In addition to major telecommunications firms aiming to influence the public debate on net neutrality, there’s the Ford Foundation, the second-largest private foundation in the world. “If you are a foundation for justice in the world, and you don’t understand that the Internet is going to be a major battleground in this century, and you’re not engaged in that fight and supporting people who are concerned about access and security, you’re going to be left out of one of the most important justice issues of the day,” Foundation President Darren Walker told the Council on Foreign Relations this summer. “And...

A South African opposition lawmaker wanted to get a point across to the deputy president during a parliamentary debate. So he raised his middle finger in a gesture widely recognized as obscene. South Africa’s parliament is supposed to be an enclave of orderly debate, but these days it’s better known for ruckuses associated with the Economic Freedom Fighters, a new political party that wants to redistribute resources to the poor.Floyd Shivambu, a deputy leader of the party, on Wednesday lifted his middle finger toward Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa while accusing him of involvement in the police killings of several dozen...

A teenager was stabbed and seriously wounded in a fight Monday at the National Zoo as the zoo marked African American Family Day. A 16-year-old was arrested and charged in the incident, D.C. police said. D.C. police Cmdr. Michael E. Reese said the stabbing was connected to “some kind of ruckus” that apparently broke out within the zoo and might have resumed at or near the entrance on Connecticut Avenue NW. .....The teenager was stabbed at least twice, at least once in the zoo and once at or just outside the entrance, Reese said. Some of the same assailants might...

Carty Finkbeiner, the jerk mayor of Toledo,cursed on live radio when asked about his anti-Marines stance. He’s always got excuses. This time he says he was “tongue-tied.” More likely: Brain-tied. Radio host Maggie Thurber writes about how The Jerk’s stand could cost the city $57.7 million:

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...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050715/tc_cmp/165702500 UN Panel: No Single Nation Should Control Internet Addresses Aoife White Thu Jul 14, 9:38 PM ET BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--A U.N. panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate. The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet's principal traffic cops. In a report released Thursday, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a November "Information...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

A.N.S .W.E.R.'s response to Bush:Hit the Streets September 24!Recognizing that the people of the United States have turned dramat ically against the war and occupation of Iraq, Bush went on national televi sion tonight to defend his imperial foreign policy. He repea tedly invoked September 11 as a pretext for the criminal and illegal war ag ainst Iraq. Bush took to the airwaves tonight because the antiwar m ovement is growing in strength. Our power poses a major poli tical obstacle to the continuation of the war and occupation. Now Bush has taken on the additional role of Recruiter-in-Chi ef, urging young people to sign up for military...

WASHINGTON — Megan Watson, leader of Mainstream Moms, is so angry at military recruiters for invading schools to sign up unwary youth for combat in Iraq that she and her group launched an online movement, “LeaveMyChildAlone.org.” “They offer these trinkets to lure our children to enlist,” Watson said in a phone interview from her home in Bolinas, Calif. “This is very aggressive, demographic targeting to have conversations with our kids that should not be happening.” All branches of the military are falling short of recruiting goals as parents say, in effect, “Hell no! My kids won’t go!” Watson blasted the...

Dogs raise ruckus at zoo; police capture 1, kill 2 By DEBBIE MESSINA, The Virginian-Pilot © January 25, 2005 Last updated: 6:48 PM Zebras, bison, elephants, a white-tailed deer and an emu were threatened by three dogs roaming the zoo. VP file photo. HARASSED: Zebras, bison, elephants, a white-tailed deer and an emu were threatened by three dogs roaming the zoo.ATTACKED: A zoo keeper was bitten on the hand by a dog later captured by police. The bite required medical attention, but the keeper was not hospitalized.KILLED: One dog was killed by a shotgun blast fired by a police officer....

Ruckus at the Republican Convention By Lowell Ponte FrontPageMagazine.com | August 27, 2004 Leftist Web sites have worried the police in New York City whose job is to prevent radicals and terrorists from disrupting and endangering the 2004 Republican National Convention. These anti-President George W. Bush Internet sites have encouraged protestors to bring slingshots to attack police horses, and marbles that can be thrown beneath those horses’ hooves to make them slip and injure themselves and their police officer riders. These sites have provided “anarchist cookbook” recipes that tell protestors how to set off sensors used to detect terrorist explosives...

<p>Leftist Web sites have worried the police in New York City whose job is to prevent radicals and terrorists from disrupting and endangering the 2004 Republican National Convention. These anti-President George W. Bush Internet sites have encouraged protestors to bring slingshots to attack police horses, and marbles that can be thrown beneath those horses’ hooves to make them slip and injure themselves and their police officer riders.</p>

Last Sunday evening, Teresa Heinz Kerry admonished delegates to the Democratic National Convention to restore a more civil tone to American politics. Then, as soon as she was done, she hurried off the stage to scold Colin McNickle, the editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, telling him to "shove it" for quoting her correctly.(1) Marla Romash, Teresa Heinz Kerry's spokeswoman, told WTAE-TV's Scott Baker, "This was sheer frustration, aimed at a right-wing rag, that has consistently and purposely misrepresented the facts in reporting on Mrs. Kerry and her family." John Kerry has a butler follow behind him everywhere he...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation By Chris Shugart, 22 June, 04 Are you out of work? Do you lack professional ambition? Are your career options limited? Well, bunky, then the Ruckus Society may be for you. This summer you can go to camp. Protest camp. If you’re a young anarchist with the summertime blues, you needn’t have to stew in your own nihilistic bile.Founded in 1995, The Ruckus Society has been providing training programs for left-wing activists for several years, and now that we’re in a presidential election year they’re aiming their sights on the Republican primary...

SACRAMENTO -- "Have you written anything about the threat to hold up the budget over the drivers' license issue?" Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy asked me. He wanted me to contribute to a small flurry of news stories this week saying Latino lawmakers were thinking about threatening to block passage of the budget until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agrees to sign a bill making drivers' licenses available to illegal immigrants. No, I said. I didn't think it was a serious threat, I told him, even though Latinos may have enough seats in the Assembly and Senate to pull it off. But...

A Washington-based non-profit group called Americans for Gun Safety claims to take the middle ground on gun ownership. I question its neutrality. As a hunter, target-shooter and gun owner, I've been courted in the past by groups that claimed common-sense positions on firearms. These champions of "responsible use" recruit membership and money from both sides but typically lean hard to one side. At its Web site, AGS says it is "bringing a new voice to the debate over guns and gun safety, which for too long has been dominated by the far left and far right. Through legislative measures and...

<p>CHICAGO - Pittsburgh is home to a new liberal funding organization that lists its priorities as the local environment, land use and "sustainability." However, its affiliations raise questions about its real purpose. Known as the Tides Center for Pennsylvania, formerly the Tides Center for Western Pennsylvania, it is a creation of the Tides Foundation and Center, headquartered in San Francisco, and two Pennsylvania-based foundations -- the Vira Heinz Endowment and the Howard Heinz Endowment-- chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry, heir to the Heinz food company fortune and wife of Democrat presidential contender Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.</p>