A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....04-15-03...You Are Not Alone

Billie; FreeTheHostages | Profile written by FreeTheHostages

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest.....
......Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars who posted, and now there are over 60,000 who have registered for posting privileges. The forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

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 can no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I've been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that doesn't seem to be enough. 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 FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why, in addition to seeing FR's Finest Military Personnel every day, I thought it might be fun to feature a different FReeper (or FReepers) each day. If you would like to be pictured, or know someone who would, please FReepmail me and we'll turn the spotlight - on YOU - for the day!

And do let me know if you'd like your picture added to the groups of Veterans/Active Military below. I will keep this page updated, and continue to add them to the comment section of the original Veteran's Day thread as well.

<

TOP:  g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett.
MIDDLE:  fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17.
BOTTOM:  Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau.

TOP:  ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,
dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony
BOTTOM:  rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx
MIDDLE:  The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law
BOTTOM:  deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP:  spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68.
MIDDLE:  FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797
BOTTOM:  usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack

We now have eleven groups of veterans/active military; we will post each group of three or four twice a week, with thumbnail/links of the remaining seven or eight groups on each thread. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the group full-size.

         

GROUP 1A: TOP: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete MIDDLE:  T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub BOTTOM:  YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

GROUP 2A: TOP:  Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet MIDDLE:  4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga BOTTOM:  Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

GROUP 3A: TOP:  mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette MIDDLE:  Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid BOTTOM:  gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

GROUP 4A: TOP:  porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP MIDDLE:  RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian BOTTOM:  USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

      

GROUP 9A: TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog. MIDDLE:  Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son. BOTTOM:  JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

GROUP 10A: TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon. BOTTOM:  Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

GROUP 11A: TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son. BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset); WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.

                     

You Are Not Alone by FreeTheHostages


Hobsonphile Worcester, Massachusetts
FReeper since February 3, 2002

Hobsonphile, Stephanie Souders, is a 23-year old recent college graduate who joined Free Republic just over a year ago, after finding us at a CPAC conference. She’s always had Republican thoughts, but she became more of an activist after September 11, 2001. She’s an extraordinarily well-read Republican (a recent Phi Beta Kappa graduate of William & Mary), and is very poised and articulate. I met her when she began coming to our DC Chapter Patriots Rallies (she’s been to all but one of the five in our series!) and she attended this last weekend’s rally in DC by traveling all the way from Worcester, Mass. She has a lovely voice - classically trained - and sings at some of our rallies.

A conservative issue near and dear to her heart is liberalism in academia. She is the self-described Free Republic "coordinator/leader/pingmaster of the ‘Leftism on Campus’ ping list." Here’s a good example of her pinglist work. The list has lately been expanding to include not only reports of leftwing activism on college campuses, but also articles on the curriculum in public schools. "Much of today’s public school curriculum is influenced by left wing ideology. It has trickled down from the universities."

Stephanie and her brother holding "Liberate Academia" signs
at DC Chapter’s Patriot’s Rally II

Stephanie reports that William & Mary had a "healthy" student environment for young conservatives. The College Republicans was one of the largest student organizations on campus! William and Mary had several leftwing students groups on campus as well, including an active Green Party, but Stephanie describes these student leftists as "very polite and willing to allow the other side a say." Stephanie was alarmed to discover that other college students grew up in a less enlightened environment:

"It makes me sad that kids my age didn’t get the experience that I received [at William & Mary]. I want other conservative students who don’t have the same sort of support structure to know that they are not alone."

In much of her activism, you can see a theme of reaching out to other potential conservatives and assuring them that "You are not alone," an important phrase here at Free Republic for those who’ve seen those great red-and-white bumper stickers that read, "You are not alone" followed by "www.freerepublic.com." Stephanie’s got this great collection of political buttons, including ones that read "Not N.O.W." and "In 2000, Bush Won In Overtime - In 2004, It’ll Be Over in the First Quarter."

Hobsonphile wants her conservative values to reach more than just college students. She worries that people do not see conservatives as compassionate and that the left villifies us as racist, mean-spirited or immoral. She wants people to feel comfortable being conservative.

She chose her name on Free Republic because she used to be a fan of a character on the television drama Early Edition, Gary Hobson, who demonstrated a "love of humanity and a willingness to help people in need." It is the "cornerstone" of her compassionate conservatism to "help people when they need it." She notes an example on the TV show where Gary Hobson employed a troubled kid in his bar and trusted the boy to safely deliver the daily earnings to a bank deposit box after closing. "To give someone gainful work and responsibilities is much more powerful than giving them a welfare check." A good example of how, by grappling with reality and not utopian dreams, conservatism is more compassionate.

As you can see, her photograph, as well as those words above, indicate that she is something of a gentle soul. But we women can be as hardy as the next activist, and she wants me to tell all the people in the Free Republic Radio chatroom, who understandably assume that "Hobsonphile" is a male name, that she’s a young woman! All conservative women have grit, and Stephanie’s no exception. She lives near Boston and recently found time to attend a brave Freep with Little Bill and ElectricStrawberry- a counterdemonstration where approximately 10 of them faced up to ANSWER’s call for an "emergency rally" of 2000 or so shortly after the war began. They were outnumbered, but not out-thought.

At that rally, Stephanie says she met a woman who was so happy to see the pro-Bush protestors. The woman gave Stephanie a lovely red-white-and-blue friendship bracelet and told Stephanie that she had lost a loved one at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Stephanie was wearing the bracelet this weekend at the Support Our Troops rally. She didn’t say exactly, but I did sense that the bracelet, and 9/11 generally, have had a profound impact on how she wants to live her life.

Stephanie was also carrying a sign on Saturday honoring a young man - a neighbor - who is currently serving in Afghanistan: Anthony Carofaniello. She dedicated her performance at Saturday's DC Rally to this soldier, and states that she continues to pray for his well being.

She says that Reagan for her is really a matter of history. (Wow, I feel so old though.) She’s 23 now, and she points out that she was still sucking her thumb during much of Reagan’s presidency. (That’s OK, a lot of liberals much older than her were doing the same thing.) Hobsonphile really likes President Bush and calls him "my generation’s Reagan."

Hobsonphile has been to a lot of Freeps for a Freeper just finishing her one-year anniversary. Perhaps because she’s young and has a soft, articulate voice, the press always seems to find her out. At this weekend’s rally, I lost sight of her for just a second, only to find her being interviewed by Japanese television, fielding the questions deftly and speaking with gentle conviction. She emailed a conservative talk radio host, Jay Severin, before one of our DC Chapter’s Patriot’s Rallies, just to ask him to please let other conservatives in the Boston area know that they were not alone. Jay Severin sent an email back saying that her email was interesting and that he would like her to appear the next day as a scheduled guest on his show. After recovering from the shock, Stephanie did so, and she loyally plugged our rally. She has good press luck.

Hobsonphile’s brother is Freeper "Frustrated Citizen." Speaking as a big sister would, she says with her gentle steeliness that she "finally convinced him to sign on." (Hee hee, let’s hear from Frustrated Citizen to confirm it, but I suspect he didn’t have a choice.)

Stephanie and Frustrated Citizen at DC’s Patriots Rally III

Stephanie is nice, gentle and compassionate, but she’s also certain of what she knows is true. We were driving back from the rally Saturday when she decided to wave her American flag at some leftist protestors. It really did seem to annoy them too. LOL. Enough said. They don’t hate America, they’d say, just the flag and everything it represents.

She will be moving back to the DC area soon, which suits her just fine. She believes she’s "meant to be in the thick of things." Stephanie is hoping to integrate her interest in education with her politics, and is thinking about how she could really help at-risk kids at the elementary school level. But she loves to study and learn, and her undergraduate degree in biological psychology (with lots of extra hard courses) may not have been enough: the possibility of graduate school is tempting too.

What about Saturday’s big rally on the Mall here in Washington?

One of the reasons she enjoyed going to the rally is that she really hopes that a lot of people attending such rallies will get some of the more moderate anti-war people to rethink their position and come join her side, the compassionate conserative side.

"Today was a very exhilarating day. This whole week has been exhilarating. It was almost as emotional for me watching the Iraqis celebrate in Baghdad as it was for me watching the images of 9/11."

President Bush’s conduct of that war is further evidence to Stephanie that "he’s a great man, because he has a clear idea of what this nation is about and he’s willing to stand up for it." In the large rally in DC this weekend, she saw in the crowd "the heart of America that the leftist media tries to see in the anti-war crowd."

You Go, Girl!
You Are One of FR's Finest!

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 04-14-03 ViligantCitizen

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[Angelwood]

Another excellent presentation by FreeTheHostages and Billie. Thanks for such a moving profile of Hobsonphile.

Congratulations, Hobsonphile, you are one of FR's Finest. It was a great day when you and Frustrated Citizen joined the DC Chapter at the Patriots Rally for America. And you do have a beautiful voice -- thank you for singing at two of our rallies.

I'm happy to hear you'll be moving to DC shortly -- you'll be able to join us at more events. Take care and FReep On!

[Hobsonphile]

You know, we forgot to mention the "children and small animals" thing. ;)

To the others: Children and animals automatically trust me for some reason. I was flopping over at Free's house this past weekend, and both of her cats warmed up to me in a matter of hours.

A few other things we didn't have room to include:

I've lived in five different states and I've traveled across country in the car twice thanks to the orders of the United States Navy.

I once ran a GOP table at an Earth Day celebration on campus.

I also wrote for the independent conservative newspaper.

When I was very young, I represented Ross Perot in a mock presidential debate. (Okay, you all can stop laughing now. :P)

[ST.LOUIE1]

And they've been asking me, not the other way around, thank you very much.

ROFL. Very good, wolfie. It's just a relief to deal with such a charming rhetoritician after a long day of The Thin Man's innanities. ;) (I happen to know he scans my threads when I host for possible buried insults, and I'd hate to disappoint.)

Don't be comparing wolfie to the T Man, we're both 'unique' in our own charming way. : )
BTW, be careful what you say about him....he's a detective, he'll be snoopin' into your background.

Hey, T Man, snoop away...get the goods on Freezie! : )

[LadyX]

Thanks for the hugs, Pippin - I need them!

Glad to report my right arm is strengthening - now can give you

{{{{{ HUGS for PIPPIN )}}}}}

[Hobsonphile]

Congrats to Mr. Al Taee.

And I am completely serious about learning Arabic and taking Mr. Al Taee up on his offer once I have the capital.

[FreeTheHostages]

Ok, well, actually, the Ross Perot omission has to be chalked up to journalist's discretion. NO WAY! I just can picture that.

Wolfie, re "To the others: Children and animals automatically trust me for some reason. I was flopping over at Free's house this past weekend, and both of her cats warmed up to me in a matter of hours." This is TOTALLY true!! My very shy Japanese bobtail actually shared her bed with her the first night -- this is a cat that usually hides UNDER the bed when there's a stranger about. Usually only me and my boyfriend get to pat that cat!

Yes, Stephanie, I meant to add that point about animals and children.

Now, about the Earth day thing, hmmm, I suspect their motives. Do you think they gave you the table to try to make their issue seem more mainstream? Or were they just truly "liberal" in the small "l" sense? I would have loved to have gone to college in such a place.

[FreeTheHostages]

Angelwood!! Your FREEP of Tim Robbins was on MSNBC today!! (Sorry I didn't go -- had to work plus host the thread, decided not a good day to sneak out for over an hour.)

There was a nice close up of you on MSNBC at 6:45 p.m. with a sign that said something about Tim Robbins being anti-Iraq? I couldn't read the sign clearly.

[FreeTheHostages]

You know, you have me thinking that I'd like to learn Arabic too. It's so pretty -- the text. And spoken, it's so beautiful.

[Hobsonphile]

Regarding the Ross Perot thing- it was an extra credit assignment, and I was young and impressionable.

As for the Earth Day thing, I actually saw no ill intent in their offer. During the festivities, all of the students were very respectful- it was the folks who came in from off campus who stirred up a little trouble at the table, requiring me (with the help of my friends) to lay down the law in my "gentle yet steely" way. :)

[FreeTheHostages]

LOL. Hey, Bill had one of those long days at the office in the software saltmines. We're going for a walk. Sorry to do that just when things are um, taking flight, but he needs to go for a walk and tell me how stupid some of his co-workers are. I listen, and therefore he's not tempted to actually tell them at work, which is good.

[Billie]

Thank you Angelwood - I always enjoy so much working with Free's text. I think she'll agree that we make a good team. :)

Thanks, Stephanie, to you, and keep doing what you're doing!

Goodnight all - love you!

Thanks, TLL.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Wow, what a great idea! Thanks so much for the information....I'll check into the VA in our area..... I have no idea where it is.

Hope all is well in Texas - I've gone back to work and don't get here as often as I used to. Best of luck in this endeavor - it is such a wonderful, heartfelt effort!

[jwfiv]

"Patience, Empress - 'Genies at Work' sign is in place. (Warning: Just don't touch the magic lamp yet..right, jw??..:))"

Roger that. Goodnight, Ladies...)

[FreeTheHostages]

:) Thanks for saying that. Of course, I couldn't read it live right after you wrote it, nor could angelwood, because we were watching our co-leader being interviewed on MSNBC news!! Whoo-hoo -- he did a great job representing the DC Chapter of Free Republic too, re the chapter's protest against Tim Robbins today at the National Press Club. He even loyally put in a plug for the LA chapter's OSCAR Freep. Good work Kristinn!! You sounded GREAT!

[TexasCowboy]

"Hope all is well in Texas -"

Thank you, Texas Girl!

Everything is beautiful in Texas:

The Texas Freedom Truck!

One of these days you're going to have to come see for yourself!

[FreeTheHostages]

DC Chapter strikes again. Hobsonphile, come here and you WILL be in the thick of things! You remind me of the equally brilliant Ned13, who often honors us with our presence. Ned13 -- check out this thread and also the link in this post, for much edification.

[homeschool mama]

**Good afternoon, homeschool mama - it's nice to see you again. Hope you're having a great day! **

Life is busy these days. psychogirl is with a new track/field team that has chosen rob us of our lives. lol.

Calgon, take me away!!!

[FreeTheHostages]

{{homeschool mama}} hang in there. She's worth everything she's robbing you of, LOL, I do recall. What a remarkable person she is.

Good night.

[homeschool mama]

The great thing is that her energy is spent at the track and not running circles around me and her father. We feel quite old when she does that. Just call her the Energizer Bunny. Anyway...she's doing *great* in long jump and sprints...has chosen to back off from hurdles this year...but misses javelin (she'll have to keep that up on her off hours). And she sleeps great.

[FreeTheHostages]

"And she sleeps great."

LOL.