80,000 Freepers and Growing

When Jim Robinson started Free Republic in September, 1996 to expose the corruption in government and particularly the Clinton Whitehouse, he was alone. Now six years later, Free Republic has 80,000 registered members and who knows how many visit this site often, just to keep up on the latest conservative thinking.

Folks, you all know where this is going, Free Republic is a user supported website and it is time to support it. Four times a year we have this freepathon to donate a few dollars to pay for the bandwidth and expenses necessary to keep Free Republic online, and we do so with gratitude and cheer because of what is offered and accomplished by the existence of Free Republic.

Free Republic does not charge a membership fee or get supported by a government grant. No, people from across the World make donations large and small because they see the value of Free Republic. So if you're one that appreciates this site and want to see it continue, please send in a few dollars to help keep it alive.

Thanks to all Freepers that defend our rights, support FreeRpublic, and work tirelessly to keep the lights on. I apologize in advance for the long post. I didn't have the heart to break this speech up:

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied peoples joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- at the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine-guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting only ninety could still bear arms.
Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your 'lives fought for life...and left the vivid air signed with your honor'...
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
Ronald Reagan, "Speech at Pointe de Hoc", 6 Jun 1984.

Our soldiers have the privledge of wearing the uniform of their country, but not every patriot has that chance. I thank God for everyone that has defended our country and her freedoms. Regardless of your religion or color of your skin, your occupation or age - you defend our country and our founder's dreams, the hopes of our children. For that and more, thank you.

Through 1,300 replies(unaudited)--(I didn't update the number of registered FReepers from the 'old list')

Only the top 5 are sorted, and I'll leave it to the 'color' and editing experts to neaten it up. BREAK TIME!!!

CALIFORNIA (679) ---$1,753.10
FREEP STATE (NeverNeverLand) ---$1,667.23
TEXAS (749) ---$680
VIRGINIA (290) ---$529
MONTANA (10) ---$500

Florida (350) ---$475
New Jersey (144) ---$200
Arizona (145) ---$199
New York (244) ---$440
Ohio (182) ---$175
Minnesota (96) ---$265
Washington State (198) ---$280
Alaska (34) ---
Illinois (185) ---$340
Pennsylvania (240) ---$470
Kentucky (63) ---$50
Missouri (138) ---$95
Alabama (78) ---$165
Tennessee (136) ---
New Hampshire (38) ---$50
Michigan (166) ---$350
Georgia (170) ---$275
Wisconsin (112) ---$290
Maryland (179) ---$125
Indiana (114) ---$150
North Carolina (182) ---$125
Oklahoma (95) ---
Hawaii (19) ---
Oregon (97) ---$100
Kansas (73) ---$20
Vermont (8) ---$40
Massachusetts (91) ---$225
Connecticut (83) ---$280
Mississippi (49) ---$100
Arkansas (39) ---
Colorado (108) ---$25
Iowa (47) ---
Maine (29) ---$25
North Dakota (8) ---
Nebraska (34) ---$50
South Carolina (82) ---
New Mexico (53) ---
Louisiana (76) ---$95
England (21) ---$50
Nevada (44) ---$50
South Dakota (18) ---
West (by God) Virginia (17) ---
Republic of Ireland (8) --$30
Sweden ---$10
Utah (35) ---
Delaware (14) ---$75
Idaho (49) ---
Rhode Island (10) ---
Wyoming (10) ---$25
Washington, D.C. (3) ---

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