Free Republic

Aaron Katz, who for more than 50 years relentlessly and publicly sought the exoneration of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the central figures in the nation’s most controversial spying case, died on Sept. 28 in Venice, Fla. He was 92 and lived in North Port, Fla. The death was confirmed by his wife, Cynthia. Mr. Katz was director of the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case for 42 years, repeatedly leading demonstrations outside the federal courthouse on Foley Square in Manhattan on the anniversary of the couple’s execution in Sing Sing’s electric chair on June 19, 1953. They had been...

The father of John Walker Lindh, who has spent nearly seven years in federal prison for serving in an Afghan army, told a room full of law students at University of San Francisco on Wednesday his son has been used as a scapegoat for the faults of the U.S. government. Frank Lindh of Marin County spoke for the fourth consecutive year about how he believes U.S. troops in northern Afghanistan in 2001 illegitimately captured his son, known as an "American Taliban," for fighting as a Taliban soldier just after the Sept. 11 attacks. Frank Lindh said he believes his son...

Mordecai Specktor says his 19-year-old son, Max, "has never been in a fight" and is "not a violent person." "He's an anarchist," said Specktor, the publisher and editor of Minnesota's Jewish newspaper, the American Jewish World. He's also "a University of Minnesota student, Jewishly educated." His son, he said, is "a wonderful guy." Max Specktor is also now branded a terrorist after his arrest earlier this month, along with seven others, on charges of planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's been charged with conspiring to riot "in furtherance of terrorism" and could face up to...

Paul Reiser used to make a million dollars an episode, now he’s writing for free at Huffpo and probably refreshing the comments every 8-seconds to take the pulse of his self-worth. Four times now, Barack Obama Who’s Not A Muslim has accused McCain of racism with his “I don’t look like…” race baiting, but Reiser calls foul on McCain: "So everyone’s talking about the nasty spike of nastiness in the presidential race — a spike brilliantly orchestrated by the Republican machinery — and Republican John McCain takes a moment to point out that even this is Barack Obama’s fault. Y’see,...

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- New York native Lori Berenson, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Peru for collaborating with leftist guerrillas in the 1990s, is four weeks pregnant, her father says. "It's a euphoric feeling for us," Mark Berenson, a former college professor, told the AP on Tuesday. Lori Berenson, 38, is married to Anibal Apari, a paroled member of the Cuban-inspired Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, whom she met in jail. Her father said the prison allows conjugal visits, but he has not had the chance to speak with Apari since news of the pregnancy. A former Massachussets Institute...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Singer-actress Barbra Streisand, who performs for Barack Obama at a Hollywood fundraiser next week, will herself be feted in the U.S. capital later this year for her contributions to American culture and the arts. Streisand joins actor Morgan Freeman, dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp, country music singer George Jones and rockers Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the Who as the 2008 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, organizers said on Tuesday. honourees for the 31st annual awards will be saluted on December 7 during a gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington,...

The latest celebrity to join in the group slamming of Sarah Palin is none other than Matt Damon as you can see in this Associated Press video which reeks of condescension. Damon, who has yet to attain public office condescendingly mocks Palin's credentials (emphasis mine): I think there is a really good chance that Sarah Palin could president. And I think that's a really scary thing because I don't know anything about her. I don't think in eight weeks I'm going to know anything about her. I know that she was a mayor of a really, really small town. And...

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. -- Sen. Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the Constitution and the rights of terrorism suspects tonight, striking back at one of the biggest applause lines in Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech to the GOP convention. It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: "Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights." Obama had a few problems with that. "First of all, you don't even get to read them their rights...

John McCain announced that he was running for president to confront the "transcendent challenge" of the 21st century, "radical Islamic extremism," contrasting it with "stability, tolerance and democracy." But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick. [READ MORE BELOW]

The troop surge in Iraq has been more successful than anyone could have imagined, Barack Obama conceded Thursday in his first-ever interview on FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” As recently as July, the Democratic presidential candidate declined to rate the surge a success, but said it had helped reduce violence in the country. On Thursday, Obama acknowledged the 2007 increase in U.S. troops has benefited the Iraqi people. “I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,” Obama said while refusing to retract his initial opposition to the surge. “I’ve already said it’s succeeded beyond our wildest...

"White House reporter Helen Thomas (L) poses with documentary film maker Rory Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C. in this undated publicity photograph released to Reuters August 14, 2008. Next week on cable network HBO, Thomas, 88, makes a rare appearance as an interview subject in a documentary "Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House," produced and directed by Kennedy, whose uncle "Jack" was the first Oval Office occupant Thomas followed as a reporter."

(CNN) – Eager VP-watchers waiting for the text message announcement of Barack Obama’s choice of running mate have gotten their answer: It’s Hillary Clinton. And Tim Kaine. And Kathleen Sebelius. Since declaring the Democratic vice presidential pick would first be announced over e-mail and text message, several hoax announcements of the Illinois senator's choice have circulated, purporting to be from the Obama campaign. The latest came in e-mail Friday morning that hit the inboxes of many White House reporters, carrying the subject, "My Vice President."

An American lawyer has offered to represent Iran in an international lawsuit against Israel and his own government in an effort to stop Washington and Tel Aviv from initiating further sanctions against Tehran. Francis A. Boyle says following Washington's latest ultimatum to Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment within two weeks or face further isolation, Iran needs to act quickly. At weekend talks in Geneva, the United States delivered what it describes as a "clear and simple message" that Iran must choose between cooperation and confrontation. In an e-mail interview with Press TV, Boyle urged Iran to begin drafting lawsuits for...

I wonder if the CPUSA gets a little tingle running up their legs, too. They’re endorsing the Obamamessiah for President — shocker — even though he isn’t quite the perfect little Communist: Barack Obama is not a left candidate. This fact has seemingly surprised a number of progressive people who are bemoaning Obama’s “shift to the center.” (Right-wingers are happy to join them, suggesting Obama is a “flip-flopper.”) It’s sad that some who seek progressive change are missing the forest for the trees. But they will not dampen the wide and deep enthusiasm for blocking a third Bush term represented...

BEIJING – On his way out of the game, Yao Ming thrust his fist through the air, and soon made that long, wobbly walk to the Chinese bench. The end of a brilliant and historic night for basketball, the end of responsibility for Yao. His work is done. Let him rest. “The game was a treasure,” Yao said, “and it will be a treasure for the rest of my life.” Here was a surreal sight on Sunday night in these Olympic Games. Here was the embodiment of Yao Ming’s legacy: His heart, his determination, his immensity. He made possible a...

"...During a question-and-answer session following the mostly lighthearted talk, he added that reaching out to other religions is the best way to combat violent religious extremism. "Sometimes in the West, [there is] some impression that Islam is something militant. Totally wrong," he said. "Since [the] Sept. 11 event, I try to reach out to Muslim brothers and sisters. ...They are wonderful -- Islamic people. Very warm-hearted. Very sensible," he said, adding that some Christians, Buddhists and Hindus are also extremists. "These few mischievous people cannot represent whole traditions," said the Dalai Lama, who will continue lecturing at Lehigh through Tuesday...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Retired US General Wesley Clark on Sunday said Republican White House hopeful John McCain lacked executive experience to be president, in rare criticism of the Vietnam veteran's military service. Clark told CBS television that McCain was a hero for enduring years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam "but he hasn't held executive responsibility. "That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded -- that wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall." Clark, former NATO supreme allied commander, said McCain's combat experience as a fighter pilot did not make him...

Olympia, Washington: Dee Williams wanted a simpler, greener life -- so she built her dream house, an 84-square-foot cottage on wheels, which is currently parked in a friend's backyard. Not only did she save money using salvaged materials (the front door came from a dumpster, for instance), but the entire house is small enough to fit into a standard parking spot. Says Williams, 'Right now, there's nowhere else I want to be.' Williams’ trailer cottage is surprisingly roomy inside, largely thanks to its clever use of height. For example, Williams’ bed is in a loft above her kitchen. Williams is...

“While the natural instincts of democracy lead the people to banish distinguished men from power,” Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America, “an instinct no less powerful leads distinguished men to shun careers in politics, in which it is so very difficult to remain entirely true to oneself or to advance without self-abasement.” Some 170 years and 36 presidents later, the choice presented to the American people at this year’s presidential election does not merely confirm the correctness of the Frenchman’s assessment; it amplifies his verdict in an absurd, almost surreal manner. Among America’s presidents—many of them impressive and some great,...

The idea came up on a thread today that perhaps it would be a good idea to write to the various conservative websites/publications that currently pay/publish Patrick Buchanan, and let them know that we would like them to stop publishing him. The thought is that PJB is basically a useful idiot for the left, allowing them to paint conservatives as racists, and tying the right wing to Nazism. He makes us look like irrational haters when we really aren't. He is used by MSNBC and others to make fools of us. It's not an effort to silence him. He can...

Controversial actor Rupert Everett has accused British soldiers risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan of being "whining wimps", it emerged today. --snip-- And comparing troops from now and then he said: “In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray. “Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now! "The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit....

Supporting Barack Obama: “I don’t feel there’s any lip service with [Obama]. I don’t feel like he’s one of those jaded politicos who say one thing and are talking out of both sides of their mouth. I also feel we’ve done such damage to our reputation – and as someone who lives outside America for half the year, I overhear things that I wish I didn’t overhear. A lot of people in the West think that we’re not very sensitive to the rest of the world, and I think that having a president called Barack Hussein Obama in 2008 says...

What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are? Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required. Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph...

NEW YORK Sgt. Jason Dene, the nephew of actress and activist Mia Farrow, died in Iraq last week and his uncle blames George W. Bush for the loss. , "To date all the family has heard from the Army is that Jason variously died 'in his sleep' ...' in other words, natural causes." Whatever the cause, Patrick Farrow feels he knows what really killed his nephew: "Because of the arrogant, corrupt lies of George W. Bush and his neo-con handlers my nephew is dead, and I am mad as hell...Jason Dene was not killed by enemy fire nor friendly fire...

<p>All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper.... [Shepard Fairey] wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that implies). More Mao, more right now.... The kind of poster that might sell on eBay, as a signed Fairey Obama recently did, for $5,900....</p>

Obama preached to his flock yesterday and what he said would surprise many people with a little knowledge of history (a class Obama clearly flunked). He said that the Soviet Union collapsed because we negotiated with them.....stop laughing, let me finish.....and that Iran really isn't that big of a threat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew5qP2oPdtQOk, history lesson. The USSR collapsed because their economy collapsed. That collapsed because they tried to keep up with Reagan and the defense build up along with the "star wars" program. Then he goes on to say Iran and the US have common interests? Is he freakin insane? We neither...

Senator McCain gave a speech in Portland, Oregon Monday reiterating and explaining his longstanding support for a “cap-and-trade” approach to global warming. He proposes that the government require reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions but allow companies to trade emissions credits, supposedly creating an efficient, market-based distribution of the regulatory burden. Support for this policy is the biggest mistake his campaign has made so far. Early in this speech, Sen. McCain ran through a litany of woes that we can expect from global warming: “reduced water supplies, more forest fires than in previous decades, changes in crop production, more heat waves afflicting...

The saga of horror novelist Stephen King's disgraceful comments about America's military took an interesting turn Monday when shortly after instructing visitors to his website to send me a message stating "Hi, Noel—Stephen King says to shut up and I agree," his own message boards were shut down.This followed the creation of a number of threads by members that wanted to comment about King's remarks.The cover-story for shutting down the boards came from the Moderator in a thread entitled "Stephen King Insults Soldiers":

Writer Stephen King: If You Can't Read, You'll End Up in the Army or Iraq Photo of Noel Sheppard. By Noel Sheppard | May 5, 2008 - 09:54 ET Remember shortly before Election Day 2006 when Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) suggested that if you don't get a good education, "you get stuck in Iraq" (video available here)? Well, last month, famed horror auther Stephen King was speaking in front of a group of high school students at the Library of Congress, and he virtually made the exact same statement. For those that can bear it, what follows is another in...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Even as he came on stage to give the keynote address at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, it was obvious that Tim Robbins' remarks had caused controversy backstage. The Academy Award-winning actor and critically acclaimed screenwriter, director and producer first indicated to the audience that he would not be giving his speech. Then, floor agents of the NAB organizers ordered journalists' video cameras turned off. An NAB spokesman later said Mr. Robbins contract had a "no filming" clause. Ultimately, Mr. Robbins changed his mind and started talking. Listen to the six best...

AIRPORT CITY, Israel - Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday he hoped to help open talks between Hamas and U.S. leaders, saying Washington's policy of not meeting with people it labeled terrorists was counterproductive. Carter angered Israelis with his plans to meet in Syria this week with the leader of the Islamist group, which rules Gaza and is largely responsible for rocket fire against Israeli towns. Hamas has killed some 250 Israelis in suicide bombings and has been blacklisted by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization. Speaking at an event organized by an Israeli financial newspaper, Carter said...

[Obama friend and associate, William/Bill Ayers, from his own red-communist-star-headed website, calls out Hannity and 'others' to debate communism vs capitalism] April 6, 2008: Imperialism. I’m against it, and if Sean Hannity and others were honest, this is the ground they would fight me on. Capitalism played its role historically and is exhausted as a force for progress: built on exploitation, theft, conquest, war, and racism, capitalism and imperialism must be defeated and a world revolution—a revolution against war and racism and materialism, a revolution based on human solidarity and love, cooperation and the common good —must win. We begin...

Spengler points out that Obama's women reveal his secret "Cherchez la femme," advised Alexander Dumas in: "When you want to uncover an unspecified secret, look for the woman." In the case of Barack Obama, we have two: his late mother, the went-native anthropologist Ann Dunham, and his rancorous wife Michelle. Obama's women reveal his secret: he hates America. Apparently Michelle Obama has been known to put down Obama or "bitch-slap" him as Spengler suggests but she has high praise for his now deceased mother whom, she says, was possessed of "naivete". "Naivete" is a euphemism for Ann Dunham's motivation. Friends...

ATHENS, Greece - American director Jules Dassin, whose Greek wife Melina Mercouri starred in his hit movie "Never on Sunday" and six more of his films, died late Monday at an Athens hospital, officials said. He was 96. The cause of death was not made public. A spokeswoman for Hygeia hospital said only that he had been treated there the past two weeks. Dassin, a leftist activist whose more than 20 films also included "Topkapi," abandoned Hollywood in 1950 during the Communist blacklisting era. Five years later, he won wide acclaim for "Rififi," famous for its long heist sequence that...

(March 25, 2008) -- Given the current tragedy in Iraq--hell, given the past five years--you would think the many pundits who agitated for an attack on that country, largely on false pretenses, would have take the opportunity of the arrival of the fifth anniversary of the war (or the 4000 dead milestone) to drop to their knees, at least in print, and beg the American public for forgiveness. With more than 60 percent of their fellow Americans now calling the war a "mistake" and agitating for troop withdrawals--and the president's approval rating still heading south, thanks to their war--it would...

Was Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King on the mark last week when he asserted Islamic terrorists would rejoice if Sen. Barack Obama becomes the next U.S. president? As a journalist and author who has conducted dozens of on-the-record interviews with Muslim terrorists, including with some of the most notorious Palestinian terror leaders, and who has documented many of those interviews in a recently released, 210-page book, "Schmoozing with Terrorists," I can answer the above question with a resounding "yes." Terrorists worldwide would indeed be emboldened by an Obama election victory not so much because of the senator's middle name –...

(last paragraph) When that consensus assumes, for example, that World War II was "good," or that the United States arms build-up "won" the Cold War, it protects the militarized economy, the status of the military-industrial elite, the iron lock of incumbents on office. Any reinterpretation of this salvation history, it is feared, would undermine the economy, disempower the elite, unsettle politics - and deprive the citizenry of meaning in an otherwise meaningless world. Voters may want change, but not change at this level. Yet "national security" is bogus - part ghost story with which the nation scares itself at bedtime,...

Nader is running. So says MSNBC LIVE

Our fearless leader and beloved president's last State of the Union address aired on Monday night, for all of America to witness. Expecting another boring strain of mission statements and self-proclaimed heroism, I instead found myself riveted by his confidence, even pride (some say audacity) as he spewed his seventh and final series of lies, warps of truth and propagandist refuse that would put Stalin's PR guy to shame. In the spirit of this annual political tradition, I would like to dedicate this column to our fallen angel's final speech to his people, and subsequently recap his success as our...

Fred Thompson the subject of a new book to be released in Aug/Sept tying his entrance into the 2008 Presidential race to the defeat of the Republican Party in 2008. Book will claim Thompson's entrance and later withdrawal, reminiscent of Ross Perot with delegates diverted from more electable candidates.

Editor - From reading The Chronicle's banner-line propaganda, which teases the "star envy" piece within ("A modest proposal for celebs on the skids," Thursday), I could only hope this great city was more clever than its increasingly lame-brain paper. In its unequivocal naming of Chavez as dictator on A1, either "Pop Culture" man Peter Hartlaub or his equally biased Chronicle editor, doesn't quite understand that Venezuela's President Chavez was democratically elected, and that dictators don't lose constitutional referendums. The Chronicle should take comfort that the New York Times generally does no better than them here. Yet, in the paper's attack...

Just in case you thought there was a limit to the vulgarity of Paul Begala . . . Bill Clinton's former adviser was a guest on the Situation Room this aftern0on on CNN. Talk turned to the strategy Republicans should adopt in upcoming special elections. WOLF BLITZER: How much of a lightning rod -- you're an expert on this subject -- will Hillary Clinton be for Republicans out there, cause they're already, in some of these special elections that are coming up, they're already pointed to her to try to help Republican candidates? View video here.

Tehran Times Political Desk TEHRAN – British MP George Galloway says there is no indication that the U.S. is willing to enter talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Iran and the U.S. have held three rounds of talks in Baghdad to improve the security situation in Iraq. A fourth round of talks between the arch foes is also imminent. However, the U.S. has said Iran should first stop its uranium enrichment program as a precondition for direct nuclear talks, although, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for civilian applications. “There...

<p>From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Sean Penn will endorse Kucinich this afternoon at a press conference in San Francisco, a source close to the Hollywood actor said. He will also be speaking on "the Constitution, the media and Dennis Kucinich," the source said. Expect a political speech.</p>

Seven days prior to events which would set the world on-edge, newly-hired Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria "Torie" Clarke offered an equally startling admission to Agency France Presse wire service, but which received scant attention within U.S. media. On September 5, Ms. Clarke--lured back into government service by pal Mary Matalin on Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, from a high-paying post as Manhattan office director for the venerable public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton--the former PR chief to Senator John McCain and one-time George Bush (the elder) staffer would divulge to foreign media that the United States, via the Pentagon and...

BOGOTA, Colombia — The army stumbled on the handwritten diary during a raid on a guerrilla camp. It lay near the embers of a communal kitchen where fleeing rebels left their breakfast untouched. "I'm tired, tired of the FARC, tired of the people, tired of communal living. Tired of never having anything for myself," wrote the author, a 29-year-old Dutch woman. Colombia's government couldn't have hoped for better propaganda against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. It leaked excerpts from the diary found last June to the media, even making available an English translation of the Dutch entries....

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 11/16/2007 Pelosi: Once Again, Republicans Refuse to Hold the President Accountable for His Failed Iraq Policy Washington, D.C. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today after Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a Democratic bill that would change the direction of the President’s failed Iraq policy by requiring the orderly redeployment of our troops while providing them with the resources they need: "Once again, the Republican minority in the Senate has blocked the will of the majority of the American people and the Congress. "Congressional Republicans' stubborn refusal to...

The United States has entered a recession, according to highly-regarded investor Jim Rogers, who told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday he was switching out of the dollar and into yen, the yuan and the Swiss franc. (snip) Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire investor George Soros in the 1970s, said it made sense to desert the dollar.