Free Republic

I have a web site that I can create a get well card to Rush, but I would like to know if anyone would like to help me write it? It will be more like a petition where anybody can go to it, sign it and also leave a special message for Rush. I'm hoping that through FreeRepublic and Freepers sending it to friends we can collect several thousand signatures in the next 30 days. Hopefully a 24/7 subscriber to Rush's web site can notify him of this card of support. Once we can come up with a good one...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Clark’s Arrogance Will Be His Demise" By Frank SalvatoNot even a few weeks into his political life and fired-General and presidential wannabe Wesley Clark ratcheted up the rhetoric proving that he can make just as much nonsense as the rest of the politically seasoned presidential hopefuls of the Democratic Party. The only thing keeping him from being taken seriously is the fact that he didn’t know which political party was going to have room for his ego until recently. The statement he made about presidential advisor and political animal Karl Rove is really all the clarification that...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Hey, Big Spender" by A common misconception these days is that last week's addition of Gen. Wesley Clark brings the field of Democratic presidential contenders to a total of ten. This is wrong. There were already ten Democrats running for president, and their names were Howard Dean, John Edwards, John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Al Sharpton, Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Carol Moseley Braun, and George W. Bush. George W. Bush? That's right: George W. Bush, the best damn Democrat in office since Jack Kennedy some 40 years ago. Now, granted, Bush still bears the GOP label,...

AddictionApparently from ancient Greek, the Greek of Saul of Tarsus and the other writers of the New Testament: Addika, perhaps best translated into idiomatic American English as ‘wrongful use.’When Bill Wilson, the original author of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, outlying the suggested steps to recovery discovered by The Dayton Group in the 1930’s the modern concept of addiction, as a disease or otherwise, was nonexistent. There were no rehabilitation centers, and a diagnosis of alcoholism was a death sentence.Better poets and better minds have heaped praise on the founders of the Ohio fellowship that soon became known by the name...

10:18PM S.Korea stocks edge up as Roh political future in doubt by Allen Wan TOKYO (CBS.MW) -- South Korean stocks rebounded by late morning trade Monday, but trade was cautious amid worries over the political future of South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun. On Monday, the besieged president, whose popularity has been plunging amid an economic slowdown and bribery scandals involving close aides, called for a national referendum on his rule for Dec. 15. Roh reportedly said he would resign on Feb. 15 if he loses the referendum -- the first ever in South Korea. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Syria, the Next Front in the War on Terror" By Doug Patton“The world is watching, and on this, more than any other day, God is watching, too.” With those words, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations concluded his impassioned remarks to Sunday’s hastily called emergency meeting of the 15-member Security Council, which had convened to consider its response to Israel’s attack on suspected terrorist camps inside Syria. The ambassador recounted the bloody details of the latest suicide bombing against Israel, this one perpetrated by a 27-year-old Palestinian woman who detonated her payload in a popular restaurant jointly...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Does America have the Guts? The coming struggles..." by Tom AdkinsSo far, our war on terrorism has featured American forces chasing the Taliban into theAfghan hills, a messy unification of domestic defenses, a quick defeat of Saddam Hussein’s paper army, and a low-level terrorist underwar in Iraq that is slowly ebbing as we rebuild that nation. But the popular conception that we are battling Arabs is quite mistaken. Today, there are 1.2 billion Muslims living in almost every country in the world, only 15% Arab. In almost every country, worldwide maniacal Muslim terrorism is, shall we say,...

Defender of the Faith Why all Anglican eyes in London are nervously fixed on a powerful African archbishop by Philip Jenkins The most important figure today in the Anglican Communion, a worldwide federation of churches with some 75 million adherents, is probably a man few people in the West know anything about: Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola, of Nigeria. An uncompromising traditionalist, Akinola presides over the most vibrant and almost certainly the largest Anglican community in the world—at a time when the Anglican world's true center of gravity has shifted to Africa. It was no small matter, then, when Akinola went...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Against Reparations" By Ron MwangaguhungaOn September 13, 2003 throngs gathered at the United Nations to rally for slavery reparations from the United States government. International guests harking from such law-abiding and justice-seeking nations as Zimbabwe, Libya, Angola, Cuba, Namibia, and Nigeria were in attendance at the event. Speakers included Ron Walters, Louis Farrakhan, and NYC Councilman Charles Barron. Dozens of fringe groups like the Friends of Zimbabwe and The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) sponsored the rally. Thousands also attended last year’s Millions For Reparations Mass Rally, held on August 17, 2002, in...

Michigan News Kucinich to stop in Detroit on campaign tour The Associated Press 10/12/2003, 8:23 p.m. ET LANSING, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich planned to stop in Detroit Monday afternoon as part of a 12-city tour formally announcing his run for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Ohio congressman was to make a short presentation to supporters at 2:30 p.m. at the Wayne County Community College-Eastern Campus, then hold a news conference. Kucinich has the support of about 2 percent of Michigan voters likely to vote in next February's Democratic presidential caucuses, according to an EPIC/MRA poll released Friday....

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Up to eight protesters were reported killed on Sunday after Bolivia's government sent thousands of troops backed by tanks to quell increasingly violent protests against President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Witnesses told local radio eight protesters were killed during pitched battles with troops clearing roadblocks choking food and gasoline supplies to the capital in and around the poor industrial suburb of El Alto, outside La Paz. The government, which has played down death tolls in recent protests, said four civilians and one soldier were killed and that around 30 others were injured. Sunday's clashes raise...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Shutting down the Scouts " by Hans Zeiger"A Scout is trustworthy." But the City of Philadelphia isn't keeping a 75-year old promise to the Boy Scouts. In 1928, the Philadelphia City Council took note of the good turns that the Boy Scouts were doing throughout the city. The city council voted in favor of allowing the Cradle of Liberty Boy Scout Council to utilize a half-acre plot of public land at 22nd and Winter Streets "in perpetuity." By 1929, construction of the Boy Scout Resource Center was complete. Today, three quarters of a century later, Philadelphia's Cradle...

It's difficult to conceive that foreign trade is the biggest issue in the 2003 governor's race in Mississippi — since Mississippi governors can't do diddly-squat to change this nation's trade policies. But Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has chosen to spend a great deal of his time and campaign war chest in talking to the voters of this state about the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT). Musgrove's ads breathlessly tell us that his Republican opponent Haley Barbour supported NAFTA and GATT — and hence that he is personally responsible for the Mississippi job losses...

SAN DIEGO – Joan B. Kroc, the billionaire widow of McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc, died Sunday after a brief bout with brain cancer. She was 75. Kroc was known in recent years as a major donor to organizations working to promote world peace, including namesake think tanks at the University of Notre Dame and the University of San Diego. She inherited the San Diego Padres after her husband died in 1984 and sold the baseball club in 1990 to a group led by Los Angeles television producer Tom Werner. Kroc died at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, a...

The Schism of 2003 Will the global Anglican church split in two over gay bishops? A meeting this week may decide By DAVID VAN BIEMA At the opening of a spirited gathering in Dallas last week that often felt more like a tent revival than the rump caucus of a denomination sometimes known as "God's frozen people," Episcopal Bishop of Pittsburgh Robert Duncan wished Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, "the wisdom of Solomon." Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, will preside this week over a meeting in London that may decide the future of the denomination in...

Senate approves redistricting measure, sends to governor 07:00 PM CDT on Sunday, October 12, 2003 Associated Press AUSTIN - A six-month battle in the Texas Legislature ended Sunday when the Senate passed a congressional redistricting plan in a third special legislative session. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is expected to sign it into law. The new map, approved in the Senate by a 17-14, likely will give Republicans the majority in the Texas Congressional delegation that is now ruled 17-15 by Democrats. Democrats have opposed every attempt by Republicans to pass a new plan, saying...

New Jersey Right to Life Renewed push for NJ Clone & Kill Bill, A2840/S1909. Immediate Action Needed!!! Renewed Push for A2840/S1909 NJ Clone & Kill Bill Take Action! Immediate Action Needed!!   The article below confirms there is a renewed push to get A2840/S1909 through the Assembly when the legislature returns after the November 4 election. Trenton Times article Please contact your 2 Assembly members immediately before the election to find out where they stand on this issue. Urge them to vote No on this legislation and "No" on any amendments. You can email your legislators from this page by...

It looks like the GOP is finally going to succeed in Texas. Hopefully, Martin Frost is tossed out on his butt, and the GOP can make some gains. I won't celebrate until it's pushed through, but I like what I see so far. But the dems have threatened payback(New Mexico is rumored), and we all know they are going to try and get even. Thanks to redistricting, Dave Bonior and other dem stars are now toast. So what can we do? In most states, the state legislature and the governor handle redistricting. These races don't get a lot of hype...

Study: Most Americans Report Being In Pain Doctors Recommend More Research Into Pain Treatment POSTED: 4:16 p.m. EDT October 8, 2003 It's being called an epidemic that is cutting deep into the quality of life for adults across America -- millions of people dealing with recurrent or chronic pain every day. A poll done by a nonprofit medical and health advocacy organization shows that 57 percent of Americans reported having pain the past year, and 40 percent reported that they are in pain all the time. "It's daily, drop-to-your-knees intense pain," chronic-pain sufferer Beth Bunce said. "You cannot function." The...

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - At the height of the Internet boom, e-books were hailed as the shining new tomorrow for publishers and paper books were heading for the scrap heap. But the bubble has burst and electronic books are still the poor relation to the printed word with consumers preferring to turn the pages themselves when they curl up by the fire with a good book. "The limitless euphoria of the beginning belongs to the past," said Arnoud de Kemp, a leading electronic publisher with the science and business media firm Springer. Three years after the e-book frenzy reached its...