Free Republic

The Berlin Wall was a world away from the apartheid wall built by Israel around Palestinian population centers, the U.S./South Korean military wall that separates family members from North Korea, or the expanded U.S. wall against immigrants on the border with Mexico. What is the difference? Those walls are aimed at repressing the workers and oppressed. The Berlin Wall, by contrast, was built in defense of the workers and oppressed.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a benchmark that made an impression on me, as it did on millions of people around the world. The sight of thousands of East Germans pouring into West Berlin, particularly the youths who had never experienced freedom before, was a surreal scene not only for the people of Europe, but also for those of us born in the Middle East. Central Europeans stared with awe at the countries who never surrendered their liberties to Communism. Soviet propaganda told Western Europe for many years that the comrades on the other side of...

It has been 20 long years since the fall of the Berlin wall. Millions of people who were trapped in their oppressive, government-planned states suffered as a result of collectivism. Over 100 million people died at the hands of sycophantic, megalomaniac leaders that claimed they could bring us a better world than so-called capitalism and individual liberty has brought us. I say "so-called" because nowhere in the world does capitalism truly exist. In the countries where it is allowed to exist in even small proportions, wealth and prosperity reign. However, the collectivists hate even this small proportion of capitalism that...

Twenty years ago, on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, as protestors on both sides began chipping away with sledgehammers, picks and hands. But the first crack in the wall appeared two years before that — on June 12, 1987 — when President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and gave his ultimatum to the Soviet leader: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”In his new book, “Tear Down This Wall” (Simon & Schuster), Romesh Ratnesar, deputy managing editor at Time magazine, traces the origin of Reagan’s remarks, noting how administration officials disagreed over whether the president should be...

Cold War: The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. The Berlin Wall has been a famous backdrop for American presidents sounding the battle cry of liberty in the struggle against tyranny. It was there that John F. Kennedy expressed our solidarity with the encircled residents of that outpost of freedom with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner." And it was there that Ronald Reagan, with a defiant "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," voiced our...

Listened to Bush Sr. Gave lots of credit to others, but there was a stark omission of Reagan. No Credit for Reagan???

A section of Dublin's 900-year-old Viking city wall has been put on public view for the first time at the city council's civic offices on the Southside. When the Viking settlement site -- built in the 10th century AD near Christchurch Cathedral -- was first excavated over 30 years ago it caused huge controversy. The city wall at the time was earmarked for demolition and storage at another site but thousands of people demanded that the historically important area be preserved from a development that was designed to house the Dublin City civic offices. Measuring just under 20 metres in...

And why should he? After all, 1989 was a very bad year for Obama and his comrades. A bankrupt, enslaving and murderous ideology was shattered to pieces by the freedom loving people of Eastern Europe. Millions and millions of people who lived in fear, poverty and repression regained their freedom and dignity. That's not something a communist like Obama would like to celebrate.

A record number of people - 1.5 million visitors - came to the Western Wall during the Hebrew month of Tishrei, according to figures from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and the Israel Police. The rabbi of the Kotel (Western Wall), Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz, commented that "these figures are evidence that the Western Wall is the spiritual home for Jews from all around the world, regardless of their background."

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say. The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it. Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists. "To build straight walls up 8 meters ... I don't know how to do it today without mechanical equipment," said the excavation's director, Ronny Reich. "I don't think that any engineer today without electrical power [could] do it."...

In 1989, more than 100,000 East Germans took to Leipzig's streets protesting against their hardline communist rulers and demanding an end to repression. The pro-democracy surge spread rapidly, forcing East Germany's leaders to open the Berlin Wall to the West, before it was finally destroyed. It was a seismic moment that sent shockwaves around the world. Now PETER HITCHENS, who was there at the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and Russia, imagines how it could all have gone terribly wrong, and contemplates the repercussions that would have followed...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. Moussaoui's testimony on his own behalf stunned the courtroom as he disclosed details he had never revealed before. It was in stark contrast to Moussaoui's previous statements in which he said the White House attack was to come later if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned on earlier terrorist convictions. Moussaoui testified Monday he lied to investigators when arrested...

9/11, Info Sharing, and “The Wall” The rise of “the wall” between intelligence and law enforcement personnel that impeded the sharing of information within the U.S. government prior to September 11, 2001 was critically examined in a detailed monograph (pdf) that was prepared in 2004 for the 9/11 Commission. It is the only one of four staff monographs that had not previously been released. It was finally declassified and disclosed earlier this month [http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/wall.pdf --searchable HTML transcript at http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:KyzY5fDka0AJ:www.fas.org/irp/eprint/wall.pdf+%22legal+barriers+to+information+sharing:+the+erection+of+a+wall+between+intelligence+and+law+enforcement+investigations%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]. In April 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified (pdf) that the failure to properly share threat information in the summer of...

The Washington Times has partnered with the Internet company Footnote.com on a new project that transforms Washington's Vietnam war memorial wall into an interactive, personal journey on the Web. The Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial allows you to search the names on the wall and to drill down into the government's official war records to learn details about each of the 58,000-plus heroes enshrined on the wall. You can also add your own personal stories, remembrances and photographs. (edit) Start by clicking on the "Search the Wall" box, where you can select "Search" or "View." Once you find the name...

SEARCH DIGITAL IMAGE OF THE WALL More photos at The Wall-USA The Washington Times has partnered with Footnote to create a searchable digital image of the 58,000+ names on the Vietnam War Memorial. When you find the name, you can read details from the government war records on each of these fallen heroes... as well as add your own personal stories and photos. But utilizing the new info age technology, this gives an even more personal touch to the Memorial, and to the memory of those who have given their all for our country. (Excerpt) Read more at Flopping Aces...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem Thursday night that the Israeli flag will continue to fly over the Western Wall (Kotel). The first prime minister in years to appear at the venerable yeshiva on Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), he ignored U.S. President Barack Obama’s apparent trial balloon that he wants to see the United Nations flag fly over the Old City holy sites.

Pope says Bethlehem wall "can be taken down"Reuters - Thursday, May 14 By Philip Pullella and Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Pope Benedict on Wednesday said the fortified Israeli wall dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem could be taken down, if Israel and the Palestinians could remove the walls around their hearts. On a visit to the town where Christians believe the son of God was born, he said he had seen "overshadowing much of Bethlehem, the wall that intrudes into your territories, separating neighbours and dividing families." "Although walls can be easily built, we all know that they do...

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Pope Benedict XVI in Bethlehem in Wednesday morning, where his gift to the Catholic leader was a part of the cement separation-security barrier that Israel built to stop suicide bombers from blowing up soldiers and civilians.

WASHINGTON – Wall Street is not going to play as dominant a role in the economy as regulations reduce "some of the massive leveraging and the massive risk-taking that had become so common," President Barack Obama says.

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - It could turn out to be the world's longest graffiti space -- the massive concrete barrier separating Israel from the Palestinians. Over the Internet, a group of Palestinian graffiti artists is offering to spray-paint your personal message on Israel's towering security wall in the occupied West Bank. It costs 30 euros ($40) per message and they can be as solemn or wacky as you want. Everything goes, except for obscene, offensive or extremist hate speech. Clients get three digital pictures of the finished product. .... Organizers stress that revenue does not go to buy weapons...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

For five years, classical liberal columnist and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Amity Shlaes delved deeply into the history of the Great Depression. She had been an op-ed editor at the Wall Street Journal, a WSJ columnist reuniting Germany, and a columnist for the Financial Times. She wrote two books, on German national identity and on America’s tax policy, critiqued from the right. Both sold well, but neither one foreshadowed the success she’d have with her research on the New Deal. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, published in 2007, has become one of the most...

SNIPPET: “The ceasefire announced by Hamas on January 18, never a sterling example of the genre, further deteriorated on Sunday as over 15 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza. That night, when Israeli planes struck back at Hamas targets, many Palestinians reported that Israel had telephoned them warnings to evacuate. There were no casualties in the strike. During Operation Cast Lead, Israel reduced Palestinian casualties with such measures as disseminating warnings in leaflets or SMS messages and dropping small, harmless bombs on rooftops before attacks. It prompted former British colonel Richard Kemp to say that “I...

Three times during his tenure as Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder was made fully aware that intelligence sharing with the Criminal Division was not taking place. As the officer in charge of day-to-day operations at the Department of Justice, his lack of due diligence ensured that the 'Wall' between the intelligence and criminal divisions of the FBI that Jamie Gorelick had built would remain in place for the foreseeable future. The 'Wall' stood as the Clinton administration and intelligence community saw the rising threat of al Qaeda, Ramzi Yousef was prosecuted for making the bomb used in the 1993 attack...

Removing All Doubt Obama Would Cede Southwest to Mexico American Patrol Report -- December 19 "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not" Anyone who still doubts that Barack Obama is determined to grant de-facto amnesty to millions of illegal aliens should explain to the rest of us why he picked Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor. A long-time supporter of la Reconquista, the Mexican takeover of the American Southwest, Solis is also a leader in the movement to silence Americans who speaks out against the invasion, specifically Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. At a...

Link only due to copyright complaint.

President-elect Barack Obama and his former general election rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), have come to an agreement on immigration, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid told the Detroit Free Press in a recent interview. Reid said the two standard-bearers have agreed to move forward on immigration legislation during Obama's White House tenure. "On immigration, there's been an agreement between Obama and McCain to move forward on that," Reidsaid when how Congress would handle immigration and healthcare with expanded Democratic majorities and Obama in the White House. Early on in their general election campaign, both McCain and Obama pledged to enact...

It was just an ordinary Wednesday evening for me. Run to the bank, grab some groceries, and head home. As I approached a busy intersection, I watched as a pick-up truck made a crazy, unexpected left turn directly into the path of an oncoming car. The crash sent pieces of metal flying in all directions. Smoke poured from the front of the sedan occupied by a young woman. The pick-up driver backed up a few feet -- and then, unbelievably, he sped off. It took my brain a few seconds to comprehend what was happening: in broad daylight, during rush...

Transition: Jamie Gorelick may be back, this time as attorney general. It was her "wall of separation" that that left us blind pre-9/11. And let's not forget her admirable service at Fannie Mae.Not many people can claim to have been at the center of arguably the greatest financial disaster and greatest national security disaster in American history. But Gorelick, said to be on the short list for attorney general by the New York Times, can. Surely that qualifies her for further government service. Gorelick earned an estimated $26 million serving as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003....

President-elect Barack Obama has 11 weeks to build a new administration and he's wasting no time, offering the job of White House chief of staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) on Wednesday. *snip* Who else is on the list? Attorney general Names include Eric Holder, a former D.C. federal judge and deputy attorney general; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano; Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general; James Comey, former deputy attorney general and Lockheed Martin general counsel; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Well, today, Veterans Day, as we do every year, we take that moment to embrace the gentle heroes of Vietnam and of all our wars. We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause

Now that the government-heavy bailout of the financial markets has been thumped by the House, Congress must explore a more market-based approach. Republicans and Democrats sent a strong message Monday in rejecting the U.S. Treasury's plan to put up, if need be, $700 billion to take bad debt off Wall Street's ledger.... But in political defeat and financial despair, there is opportunity: • Cut the growth-killing corporate tax rate, "zero out" the capital gains tax and return a prodigious amount of private capital to the market. • Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. The regulations designed to combat fraud only encumbered many thin-margin smaller...

WASHINGTON — A funny thing happened in the drafting of the largest-ever U.S. government intervention in the financial system. Lawmakers of all stripes mostly fell in line, but many of the nation's brightest economic minds are warning that the Wall Street bailout's a dangerous rush job. President Bush and his Treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs chief executive Henry Paulson, have warned of imminent economic collapse and another Great Depression if their rescue plan isn't passed immediately. Is that true? "It's more hype than real risk," said James K. Galbraith, a University of Texas economist and son of the late economic...

Progress in Talks Creates Optimistic Mood; Insurance Fund Gains Momentum WASHINGTON -- The idea of charging large financial firms fees to set up an industry-funded rescue insurance fund was gaining momentum as key House and Senate negotiators continued to meet Saturday evening to iron out the final details of a $700 billion rescue package for Wall Street. Lawmakers and staff reconvened their meeting around 7:30 p.m. EDT in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), hopeful they could broker a deal on the much anticipated but exceedingly difficult-to-negotiate legislation that would have the federal government buy up billions...

Barack Obama will stop at nothing to get elected president. The truth about his prayer at the Western Wall has finally been revealed. It was nothing more than a planned political stunt by his campaign. If his “private” prayer is to be “discovered,” should it not be about something other than “me, myself, and I“? The Israel Insider has the news story. http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13021.htm “What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel,...

The yeshiva student who pried Barack Obama's prayer note from the Western Wall has apologized. US Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama places a note in the Western Wall on Thursday. Photo: AP Slideshow: Obama in Israel Identified only by the first initial of his name, Aleph, and with his face obscured, the student went on Channel 2 television Sunday to confess that he took the presidential contender's note last week and passed it to the press. . . . "I'm sorry. It was a kind of prank," Aleph said, his hands shaking as he fingered the tightly wadded-up sheet...

The Berlin Wall had a 29-year history when it finally fell in November 1989 to scenes of unprecedented jubilation in the then divided city. Now, close to 19 years later, it seems not all Berliners are happy about the wall being consigned to the dustbin of history. Every ninth Berliner would prefer the barrier, which used to divide and encircle the city, was still in place, according to a survey carried out on behalf of Berlin's Free University (FU). Professor Oskar Niedermayer, 56, teaching political science at the FU, says that of the 2,000 citizens in Berlin and the surrounding...

Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn't been good for the market. Without giving him a chance to explain himself in detail on the campaign trail or at the Democratic National Convention, they are voting with their shares by tossing financial, health insurance, manufacturing and high-dividend stocks into the ash can, and are growing skeptical about energy companies as well. It's not that major institutional investors don't like the man -- far from it. He has many backers among the financial elite, including multibillionaires George Soros and Ron...

EDINBURG -- Hundreds of people chanting "No border wall" marched to the Hidalgo County Courthouse on Saturday evening seeking to persuade local politicians to abandon their support for the planned barrier. Protesters specifically targeted Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas and other county officials for linking the building of the wall to the repair of the county's deteriorating levee system. Salinas has consistently said he opposes the border wall. But when it began to seem the barrier's construction was inevitable, he and other officials started lobbying the federal government to combine the project with levee repairs to better leverage federal money...

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On June 12, the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall will arrive and be assembled in McDonough for our county and surrounding areas to come seek and find the names of loved ones lost during the Vietnam War. Even if you did not lose someone during that war, the memorial still stands as a silent tribute to the 58,256 men and women who gave their lives during the conflict. The actual Wall is located in Washington, D.C. and is made of two reflective black granite walls, each 246 feet, nine inches long. At the highest point, the wall is over ten...

This is why we keep close watch on Congress.  In a bipartisan effort accomplished quickly and virtually under the table, Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) -- in Senate Appropriations markup of the War Supplemental bill -- obtained approval of an amendment that would create an amnesty for illegal alien farm workers.  The measure, called the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act, was added to the War Supplemental bill in a 17-12 vote last Thursday. Known as the AgJob amendment, the Feinstein-Craig measure revived instantaneously the controversy that caused conservatives to lash out at the White House and Congress last summer. ...

Bank of America Corp , the second-largest U.S. bank, on Monday said quarterly profit fell 77 percent, hurt by more than $5 billion of write-downs and credit-related costs as more borrowers fell behind on payments. First-quarter net income fell to $1.21 billion, or 23 cents per share, from $5.26 billion, or $1.16, a year earlier. Excluding merger costs, profit was 26 cents per share, below the average analyst forecast of 45 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Results included a $776 million gain from credit card network Visa Inc's initial public offering last month. Net revenue dropped 6 percent to $17...

Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division - Baghdad, presents an impact Bronze Star Medal to Sgt. Shawn Griffith, a native of Richwood, W.Va. Griffith, who serves with 769th Engineer Battalion, 35th Engineer Brigade, was one of six of the battalion's Soldiers recognized for their hard work and dedication in installing approximately 130,000-square feet of rocket-propelled grenade fencing and sniper-screen material over a 1,200 foot distance, with heights measuring up to 40 feet, at Joint Security Station Ur in the Sadr City District of Baghdad to veil the aerostat and its docking...

Build the U.S. Border Fence Now! Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and the Bush administration are deservedly under assault for not keeping their promises. After a long public outcry over promises broken, the government says they have agreed to construct a border fence. But this is Washington, promises aren't meant to actually be honored. Chertoff and the Bush administration are creating needless public controversy about the fence over what must be done to and with the land, and they are exploiting a backdoor Democrat Party and Open Borders Lobby effort that provides a smoke screen for the feds to...

Egypt walls up Gaza border By ASHRAF SWEILAM ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER RAFAH, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas militants from breaching the border, an official said Thursday. The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity. On Jan. 23,...

El-ARISH, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 10-foot-high concrete wall along its border with Gaza to prevent any new breaches after Palestinian militants blasted through the barrier in January to escape a blockade of their territory, an official said. The new wall replaces a mixed barbed-wire, iron and concrete barrier which was breached in several places when militants blew it open with explosives, added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the open border unchecked for 12 days before Egypt managed to...