Not so ‘Free Republic’: The Shot Heard Around the Net

The Conservative Voice ^ | Feb 11, 2005 | by William Gheen, President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC

[Jim Robinson]

The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President’s ‘guest worker’ amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.

The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management’s answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.

Members and readers of Free Republic would be surprised to know that many members of their community have fallen silent on the discussions about illegal immigration lately because free speech is an illusion on FR.com. They are silent because they have been banned from the Web site without warning, cause, or explanation in most cases. For weeks the moderators have been suspending and banning new members that chimed in quickly on the immigration debates.

Now this trend has broadened as the first groups of long-term users were suspended or banned this past week. Although Robinson and his staff removed many members of the Free Republic community in the first few days of the purge, those that religiously support President Bush’s immigration plan, open borders and approve of public benefits for illegal aliens remain on the forum. Those that were banned were the members that wanted more done to control illegal immigration and a strict observance to the President’s Oath of Office.

[Howlin]

Village of the Banned.

[Right Winged American]

<To prevent the border crossers from Texas and New Mexico alone would require a standing Army of 3 Million>

No, all that is need is the Government to stop welfare and enforce our current laws.

No fences, no Army, none of that. Take away the welfare and the free jobs and enact a viable guest worker program and illegal immigration will drop to a very manageable situation.

Thanks ... That's pretty much what I was trying to say.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"The challenged" should be cause for banishment?

I suppose you support the guy complaining about the lack of freedom of speech too.

[stand watie]

all too many of the "complainers" are just that: complainers.

they'd gripe if you were to hang them with a new rope.

free dixie NOW,sw

[Howlin]

As if I need to join a group to protest FR.

You mean that's what that email is suggesting?

[MeekOneGOP]

And just to clarify .....

When I posted "I give up", that is just another way of saying "I don't know".

Sorry if it wasn't clear. :^)

[Spiff]

I don't know anything about you William or your site, but I do recall "American Patrol" and the disgusting hate filled garbage that used to be emailed to us from that site and others like it, and the attacks on my candidate that eventually extended to his religious faith--- despite the fact that my candidate opposed illegal immigration and had disagreements with the President over things like amnesty.

Um, I doubt it. What, specifically, did you get emailed to you from American Patrol that was disgusting hate-filled garbage? And who is your candidate?

[cake_crumb]

Joining you in hoping Sabretooth's only on time out status.

[Howlin]

Lots of people disagree with you, but thanks.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Gee, does that include Looey's lunatic rant about how "Charles Lindberg was a Nazi" that he gets from some tinfoil leftwing gay-activist conspiracy theory site that also asserts that the Lindberg Kidnapping was a hoax???"

And I suppose this got past you?

[Euro-American Scum]

I wish we'd build a fence from California to the other side of Texas to keep the illegals out. Put up a mine field and a few warning signs. HOw's that?

Clearly, you're a bigot, racist, sexist, and one-world globalist fascist, not to mention a hate-filled homophobic Bush basher who refuses to support the president's visionary policy of bringing an unending supply of cheap labor to the U.S. for employment by multinational corporations.

You're gone, a-hole!

/massive sarcasm

[MeekOneGOP]

Me too. If someone hadn't Freep mailed me with the info,
I wouldn't have known either.

[mnehring]

Come on yall, aren't there more important things to fight over than who made what protest sight and when and who is a troll?

[Deetes]

Sounds like someone feels if they are disagreed with they are being oppressed-repressed or some other pressed.

Hopefully they will get compressed ;-)

[Right Winged American]

I ask this question for the hundredth time: if it's okay to break immigration law, what laws should any of us respect? Otherwise forget the hypocritical lie that this is a nation of laws, not men.

Exactly ... Thanks; I wish I'd put it that way. Well said (I haven't been monitoring these threads before...).

[BJClinton]

Ooops, I spelled saber instead of sabre, coffee is wearing off.

[Pointblank]

After having served with many people who did not have outright US citizenship, who came to the US for the "American Dream" and then decided to defend that dream. I am extremely partial to the Mexican-Americans that bring work ethics and family values, not to mention a forgotten trait, called Duty... to a country where their citizenship has not yet been defined!
I am all for sealing the borders, North and South, but I am not for prohibiting hard working immigrants from realizing their dream.
If we had the boarder patrol start a line of potential Mexican citizens and accepted while expelling the scumbag-welfaremoochers on a 1 for 1 basis, this country's deficit would be a thing of the past.
We should cast blame in directions that rate blame and not become so politically correct that we are afraid to cast blame for the deficiencies of this country.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

Well, I don't know why Sabertooth was banned. You could ask him...he's trashing FR here:

Trashing? That's a pantload. He's being completely reasonable is in assessment of FR and immigration.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Here's Willie trying to incite a flame war.

He's doing it by introducing a totally unrelated subject, and following it up with personal insults.

I think Willie's post is a far better example of "one sied punishments" than mine was.

Don't you agree?

[processing please hold]

I agree with your post #685

Some appear untouchable.