Free Republic

Every generation needs heroes. Young people especially need role models. How blessed we are that the role model of these Summer Olympics is Michael Phelps. Here is a young man who embodies self-discipline, hard work and goal orientation. It is not so much the world records he shattered. It is not only the number of medals he won. His whole outlook is to be celebrated. He has a commanding presence yet he is the boy next door. True, his endorsements will make him millions. Yet I dare say that is the furthest thing from his mind right now. As I...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2008 – More than 100 runners are expected to participate in a 99-mile run Aug. 23-24 hosted by a Greenville, N.C.-based care package group in honor of the 117 North Carolinians who have lost their lives serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barbara Whitehead, director of the North Carolina branch of Give2theTroops, said the group’s run is scheduled to coincide with the last two days of the national “Run for the Fallen.” The national event will cover more than 4,000 miles, one mile for each servicemember killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, by the time it ends at...

The Military Salute Project is pleased to announce our main project for next year, the 2009 Remember The Fallen Tribute. Shortly after we returned from the 2008 Honor & Remember Ride To Washington, we posted hundreds of photographs taken during the trip. One of the albums displayed pictures of the gravesites of Minnesotans buried at Arlington National Cemetery who died while supporting the Global War On Terror. Within days, we began receiving e-mails of appreciation from family members and friends of the six Servicemembers. We have also received "thank you" notes from other families throughout the United States. Some of...

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the latest names to pay their respect to late singer Isaac Hayes, after he sadly passed away earlier on in the week from a stroke. Hayes voiced the character of Chef in the popular cartoon for eight years (between 1998-2006), but quit the series when South Park mocked Scientology in an episode. Stone and Parker have put their differences aside and have now posted a picture of Chef on their official site, which reads "In Memoriam Isaac Hayes - 1942-2008."

Solzhenitsyn's Warning The faculty of Harvard University admired Alexandr Solzhenitsyn for his literary achievements, so they were thrilled that he agreed to deliver the university’s 1978 commencement address. But almost as soon as he began to speak, the professors changed their minds: too late. As I wrote this month in Christianity Today, they realized that Solzhenitsyn was charging them with complicity in the West’s surrender to liberal secularism, the abandonment of its Christian heritage, and of all the moral horrors that followed. For example, describing the Western worldview as “rationalistic humanism,” Solzhenitsyn decried the loss of “our concept of...

Great Lives: News of the death of Russian literary genius Alexander Solzhenitsyn recalls a life that proved truth triumphs over totalitarianism. And it renews focus on why extreme ideology and personality cults fail.Unlike the Parisian cafe intellectuals of postwar Europe endlessly mulling repression of the mind and questioning whether truth existed, the great Russian writer knew there was a such thing as truth and that it was worth fighting for. It's what enabled this survivor of eight years in the USSR's Gulag to destroy the moral force of communism as an idea, as the writer Tom Wolfe noted. "Marxism was...

Like many in his generation, Bob Kenyon buried the memories of his World War II experience for years. The Menlo Park man shared only the basics with his wife and son: that he was among the first soldiers to storm Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion and that he nearly lost his life in the fighting. It wasn't until the decorated war veteran and his wife, Ruth, returned to Normandy for the 40th anniversary of D-Day that Kenyon began to open up about his wartime experience. --snip-- Kenyon received the French Legion of Honor during an emotional ceremony July 9...

There is a statue in Hanoi where McCain was shot down. I am amazed this exists: taken from http://www.everywheremag.com/places/4940/ The inscription apparently says " on October 26, 1967, John McCain was shot down here. Thirty-one other U.S. aircraft were also downed on this day, according to the inscription. " very strange. I guess they want tourism.

In 1949 a publication of the Soviet Academy of Sciences carried an item about a bizarre incident that occurred during excavations near the Kolyma River in the gold-mining region of northeastern Siberia. A subterranean stream was discovered, frozen long ago, containing fish and salamanders tens of thousands of years old. They were so well preserved that the men who discovered the stream broke open the ice and ate them. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who died on Sunday at the age of 89, managed somehow to read that piece.

"They need our support and they need to know that we care about them."

The story of Rush Limbaugh reminds me of a movie you wouldn’t believe could ever happen in real life. Forging his own path against all odds and under constant attack, in the end, the hero triumphs! I knew about the prominent Limbaugh family before I ever heard of Rush. I clerked for a federal appeals court judge in Kansas City after law school, and every lawyer in the Midwest has heard of the Limbaughs–the Limbaugh judges, the Limbaugh lawyers, the Limbaugh courthouse. But Rush spurned the law, spurned college and went on radio. He wanted to be on radio, so...

Few men have had such a profound impact on the world’s economy as Milton Friedman. Though he passed away on November 16, 2006, he left behind an unparalleled legacy of freedom. Today, July 31, 2008 would have been his 96th birthday. Despite this legacy, students today know little of Friedman’s accomplishments. His profound influence on economic policy is edged aside by politically correct curriculums that emphasize fringe groups and outmoded Marxist ideologies over common sense and sound economic theory. Last year I attended a conference sponsored by Young America’s Foundation on Milton Friedman, organized in an attempt to balance this...

Four of nature’s most powerful forces to reckon with are a sow grizzly with cubs, a coiled rattlesnake at close range, Ted Nugent driving a rental car, and Rush Limbaugh seated in his command module ensconced behind the golden “EIB” microphone. Surely one of life’s greatest rewards is driving idiots and intellectual cotton balls of all political stripes berserk by simply being who you are. As C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Enemy occupied territory -- that is what the world is.” In other words, we live in a target rich environment. No human alive has caused more angst and frustration to...

Lets show appreciation to Rush for his 20 years leading the fight against liberalism.

I distinctly remember when my phone at my Washington hotel room rang at 1 AM during the spring of 1996. A distraught President Clinton was calling. “We’re getting killed on radio,” he blurted into the phone as soon as I picked it up. “What do you mean?” I answered blearily trying to get a grip on what he was talking about. “Hillary’s mothe r just drove here from Pennsylvania and all during the trip she heard them saying the most awful things about me on radio,” the president explained. “On whose show?” I probed. “Rush Limbaugh,” Clinton replied. “He’s been...

Polish authorities have erected a monument to US president Ronald Reagan, feted for his crusade against communism and seen by some as having hastened the collapse of the Soviet bloc, reports said Tuesday. Officials in the south-west city of Wroclaw unveiled the monument to the Hollywood actor-turned-president, apparently the first of its kind in Europe, Poland's centrist Dziennik daily reported Tuesday. "To Ronald Reagan for his struggle against totalitarianism -- from the residents of Wroclaw," reads the caption on the relief plaque erected at an intersection in the city bearing Reagan's name. During his two terms as president between 1981-1989,...

In 2007, Matt [Vandegrift] left for Iraq as an infantry officer. In April of this year, he gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf when he was killed in action...In a fitting act, the Leander School district in Texas voted unanimously to name their new high school, opening in 2010, to honor him. They have chosen to honor what most parents hope to see in the children they send out into the world: loyalty, honor, bravery and determination.

Some people ask me, usually vehement liberal Americans, how I could count amongst my few real friends, an arch-Republican spokesman for the Bush administration. Well, Tony and I disagreed on most things political and came to robust verbal blows on the subject of climate change but that’s the charm of friendship. Life would indeed be a bore if all of your buddies agreed with everything you said and tap-danced to the same tired riff. I like to think that Tony was a professional journalist and political commentator first and White House spokesman second. He could, I rather think, have filled...

I have always loved the words of the chorus of Steve Green’s classic song Find Us Faithful. The chorus says, Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe. And the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful. Tony Snow left faithful footprints and a fire of devotion that obviously lit the way for many of his colleagues. I didn’t get word of Tony’s passing until almost 9:30am on Saturday...

SAS signaller Sean McCarthy lived in many places in his 25 years; yesterday, to the sound of military bagpipes, he was buried in his final resting place. Nearly 1000 people attended the funeral, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Crystal Waters on the Gold Coast, of Signaller McCarthy, who was killed last week by a roadside bomb while he was on patrol in southern Afghanistan. Earlier, there had been a private family service for Signaller McCarthy, the sixth Australian soldier to be killed while on active duty in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson attended...

Tony Snow: The President's DefenderBy Dr. Paul KengorFrontPageMagazine.com | 7/17/2008 The first time I encountered Tony Snow was through his columns for the Detroit News in the 1980s, when I was an undergraduate subscribing to a forgotten but quite good publication called Conservative Chronicle. His articles were like his later work for Fox News: a combination of reliable research and lively commentary, with the latter grounded in the former, making his arguments cogent and convincing. When you read Tony Snow’s op-ed pieces, you were engaged and learned something; you came away with the assurance that the case you just...

He was dedicated to the domestic church of his family, loved the Lord and His Church and was committed to pursuing excellence in his chosen profession. To him, there was no conflict. All of this he saw as a part of his Baptismal vocation. A convert to the Catholic Christian faith, Tony Snow came into the full communion of the Catholic Church during his years in College. Among those who influenced him was the now well know “Evangelizer” of so many leaders at the intersection of faith and culture, my friend Fr. C. J. McCloskey III. His evangelistic and pastoral...

Tony Snow and I traveled parallel paths through Washington. We are a year apart in age –Tony is a year younger at 53 –and both loved politics and debate. Our love of debate may have been due to the fact that we both studied philosophy in college (Tony went to Davidson, I went to Haverford). And before joining FOX News we both spent time as editorial writers. ..... We got together when he came to Washington to be the editorial page editor of The Washington Times. I was working as a White House correspondent, editorial writer and columnist for The...

Two Men of Character Cal Thomas Two longtime friends of mine died last week. One was the renowned cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Michael DeBakey. I first met him as a young reporter in Houston in the late '60s and we kept up over the years. He lobbied me to write about health issues and the importance of research. I occasionally asked him for medical advice, which he was always happy to give. A brilliant man with fingers so long he might have been a concert pianist, Dr. DeBakey invented many of the instruments now used in operating rooms and pioneered procedures...

The first time I encountered Tony Snow was through his columns for the Detroit News in the 1980s, when I was an undergraduate subscribing to a forgotten but quite good publication called Conservative Chronicle. His articles were like his later work for Fox News: a combination of reliable research and lively commentary, with the latter grounded in the former, making his arguments cogent and convincing. When you read Tony Snow’s op-ed pieces, you were engaged and learned something; you came away with the assurance that the case you just heard was rational and reasoned. He advanced his particular point and,...

Tony Snow Dead at 53, A Tribute to a Catholic Journalist By Deacon Keith Fournier7/12/2008 Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)"It’s trendy to reject religious reflection as a grave offense against decency. That’s not only cowardly. That’s false. Faith and reason are knitted together in the human soul. So don’t leave home without either one." President George W. Bush (L) and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow return from an event at the Quantico Marine Base to the White House in Washington, September 14, 2007. Snow, who battled colon cancer, has died. CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) – Tony Snow, whose Catholic faith, superb...

Vets Tribute to Tony Snow [Pete Hegseth] I never had the good fortune of meeting Tony Snow. Our organization—Vets for Freedom—however, was fortunate enough to cross paths with Mr. Snow during our early days. In December of 2005, while hosting his daily Fox News Radio program, Mr. Snow read an op-ed live on the air that was written from a returning soldier. The soldier, David Bellavia—now the VFF Vice Chairman—felt that his leadership in Washington was failing our efforts to win the war in Iraq. Mr. Snow would later write a follow up piece on this topic. Wade Zirkle, the...

The Tony Snow International Appreciation Society [Mark Steyn] I was about to tell my own Tony Snow story when I realized it was the same as so many others - that of meeting the guy when you're an obscure peripheral fellow of no consequence and being amazed that he's familiar with your work and is gracious and affable and collegial and full of generous advice. So I thought instead, as an illustration of the range of his generosity, I'd pen a PS to this Corner post from six months ago about the great Australian wag Tim Blair being stricken by...

I can't pinpoint the precise date I met Tony Snow, but I remember it was over the telephone. We talked about one of his passions: radio. And we became fast friends. From that point on, we talked every few months, until about three or four months ago when I could only get his voice mail. I knew something was up because he was always good about returning calls. Still, I probably would have chalked it up to his busy schedule, except that I read news reports that he was forced to cancel a number of speeches because of illness. I...

Obituary: Former White House spokesman and longtime journalist Tony Snow died Saturday, taking with him a measure of decency that Washington and American politics in general could use more of.Snow fought the fatal colon cancer with the same grace and dignity that he brought to the blood sport of politics. At 53, the man with the eternally sunny disposition and notably deep faith left far too early for both his family and for a political system that could use a little more civility and lot less of the derangement that drives the hatred we've seen the past eight years. No...

Tony Snow's death packed a particularly hard punch to my gut this week. Because during the past year, Tony had been warmly and graciously corresponding with my precious wife Denise, who had also been battling cancer. When Tony found out about her diagnosis, he asked for her email address so they could exchange words of inspiration and advice. They did. And she relished every word. Here was my wife, a frustratingly liberal-leaning woman and wife of a conservative radio host, sharing a bond with a fellow cancer fighter, one of the giants of conservatism. It was proof that a life-threatening...

The late Tony Snow — how odd it is to write “late” before Tony’s name, and how sad — was an editorial writer and columnist, the host of “Fox News Sunday” for seven years and of a radio talk show for three, and a speechwriter in the White House of the first president Bush and press secretary for the second. We were twice colleagues (at the first Bush White House and at Fox), and throughout our two decades together in Washington compatriots and friends. I could easily dilate on Tony’s impressive achievements in journalism and government, and on the remarkable...

All of the many tributes to Tony Snow are true: good man, great husband and father, kind, self-effacing, always concerned more about others before himself, without guile (of how many in the news business could that be said?). I had the privilege of knowing Tony on another and far deeper level. When he was at FOX in Washington, I would often visit with him in his office. You can tell a lot about a man who brags on his wife and children without prompting. Tony loved Jill, completely and unconditionally. I have rarely seen such love in a man for...

The profession of journalism has lost another great. Tony Snow, the affable anchor of Fox News Sunday, host of his own radio talk show and Press Secretary under President Bush, lost his valiant battle with colon cancer on Saturday at the age of 53. Snow left a legacy of true professionalism and fair play in a business that can often be brutal and harsh when covering the political landscape. To a person, he had the respect and admiration of those he encountered; from the high and powerful in Washington, to the press corps he had to deal with as the...

Two political icons that cast considerable shadows led the headlines this week. One for his desire to return to the lynchings of the slavery era - through literal castration, the other for his enormous generosity, sense of fair play, and kindness. On Father's Day 2008, when Barack Obama claimed that any "fool" could have child he could have easily addressed those comments directly to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. When Obama also claimed it took a "man" to raise a child, he would have been hard pressed to find a more brilliant example than former press secretary Tony Snow. One had...

Seems like we've lost a lot of conservatives this year: Tony Snow, Charlton Heston, Frank O'Connell, Jesse Helms, E. Victor Milione, Robert Jastrow, and, of course, William F. Buckley, Jr.

I'm very saddened to learn of my friend, Tony Snow's passing from cancer, this morning. I've known Tony for more than two decades--since I was literally in junior high school, and he was an editorial writer for The Detroit News before it transformed into the Detroit Newsistan. At that time, the newspaper was actually worth reading, and under then-Editorial Page Editor Thomas Bray, Tony was a rising star as his deputy. Tony was not afraid to write very pro-Israel editorials in the face of rising Muslim and Arab whining in town. My dad introduced me to Tony's writing in the...

Former Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow, who died Saturday morning, was a 1977 graduate of Davidson College who remained engaged with the college throughout his professional career. Davidson presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002 when he attended his class’s 25th reunion. Davidson College President Thomas W. Ross offered condolences to Mr. Snow’s wife, Jill, and the couple’s three children. “Tony was one of our most outstanding alumni and we are proud of all he accomplished and contributed as a journalist and government servant during his much too brief time with us,” President Ross said. “Even after his...

It's a sad Saturday morning for Washington's extended family. Fox News reported this morning that Tony Snow, who valiantly battled a merciless colon cancer in the public eye, passed early this morning. He was 53. Snow brought humor and vigor to the podium as President Bush's press secretary after a career at Fox News that had made Tony one of the nation's most famous conservatives. On White House trips, he was a red-state rock star, with throngs of admirers lining up for a handshake or an autograph. Fox said he died at Georgetown University Hospital at about 2 a.m. He...

Nobody dislikes Tony Snow. By acclamation, people who know him say the White House press secretary is the most decent, kind and encouraging human being they have ever met. Speaking from personal experience, I can testify not only to his inner warmth and outer kindness, but also to the goodness of his wife, Jill, and their three children. The return of Snow’s colon cancer comes only days after Elizabeth Ed­wards announced the return of her breast cancer. Snow was quick in his warm comments about the wife of the presidential candidate, which came just days before the discovery that cancer...

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT “Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jill, and their children, Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character. “Tony was one of our Nation’s finest writers and commentators. He earned a loyal following with incisive radio and television broadcasts. He was a gifted speechwriter who served in my father’s Administration. And I was thrilled when he agreed to return to...

THE Australian commando killed by a bomb in Afghanistan overnight has been remembered for his humour, integrity and dedication as a soldier. Signaller Sean McCarthy, 25, a member of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment, was killed yesterday when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Kunar province, on the border with Pakistan. Two other commandos were injured in the attack. Signaller McCarthy is the sixth Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002, and the second this year. Kevin Rudd, who is attending the G8 summit in Japan, described the death as a “terrible loss to his family, the...

If Ronald Reagan was the sunny and optimistic face of modern conservatism, the uncompromisingly defiant exemplar of it was Jesse Helms, who died yesterday at age 86. While Reagan has undergone a revisionist makeover by many historians who now recognize his accomplishments, Helms is still the conservative liberals most love to hate. But while they still disdain his views, many liberal groups are now using their own forms of the rhetorical and campaign techniques that Helms honed to perfection. Jesse Helms was an influential television commentator in North Carolina when he decided to leave the Democratic Party, winning a U.S....

A little-known tribute some Navy SEALs gave to a fallen comrade is gaining notice. Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor was killed in battle in Iraq in September 2006, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in April. During the service, as Monsoor's coffin was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, Navy SEALs lined up in two columns. As the coffin passed, video shows each SEAL, having removed the gold Trident from his own uniform, slapping it down and deeply embedding it in Monsoor's wooden coffin. The slaps were reportedly heard across the cemetery.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001 So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I could no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I have been including them here as I receive enough to make another collage. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT...

President George W. Bush shakes hands with General Peter Pace after presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Thursday, June 19, 2008, during the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in the East Room at the White House. White House photo by David Bohrer One of my great privileges as the President has been to meet so many outstanding Americans who volunteer to serve our nation in uniform. I've been inspired by their valor, selflessness, and complete integrity. I found all those qualities in abundance in General Peter Pace. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pete Pace...

"Bellona is remembering his friend Mike Cleary — and all American soldiers killed in Iraq — with a coast-to-coast memorial relay run that began Saturday in Fort Irwin, Calif., and is to end at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia." "The race also will help raise funds for those left behind. Donations will be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, 1st Lt. Michael J. Cleary Memorial Fund and Helping Unite Gold Star Survivors."

'POP star Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees has boosted the Sunday Express Honour The Bomber Boys crusade by organising a fund-raising concert next month. Thousands of readers have already backed our demands for a memorial to the forgotten heroes of RAF Bomber Command. Now Robin, who strongly believes the Second World War veterans have been poorly treated by successive governments, has stepped in with plans for a concert that will help fund the mem­orial in London – the first to commem­orate the 55,000 who died. Robin has never performed solo in Britain before, and his decision to do so...

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – Tomorrow the United States observes National Flag Day, an annual tribute to the American flag, the ideals it stands for and the sacrifices made to preserve them. President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. President Woodrow Wilson recognized during his first Flag Day address in 1915 that the freedoms the U.S. flag stands for weren’t and never would...

Okay, I know the rule about vanities and I'm doing my best here... but I feel I need to share this. Taylor and his tank crew were killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq on March 10th. Today, Leslie was presented with a painting that was painted by a relative of one of her co-workers. It represents the five that were killed that day. God bless these men.