Free Republic

The PLAN is readying the former Russian carrier Varyag for something. These pictures show the exterior painting now being completed in the standard PLAN surface combatant colors, with the superstructure preparing to be painted. They have been working on the project in their naval shipyards for over two year now.

Under the guise of "warning" visitors about a change in Florida law, a gun-control group is needlessly and fraudulently scaring tourists. The leafleting by the national (James) Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is nothing more than a political ploy. The group doesn't like Florida's so-called "stand your ground" law, which allows people to use force in self-defense without first attempting to retreat from a threatening situation. The Brady Campaign calls it the "Shoot First" law in its leaflets. The group is entitled to its opinion. But it is dirty politics to imply that visitors' safety is at risk because...

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin is not mincing words about the proposed Vatican statement on homosexual seminarians. In plain, simple language, he told The Tablet: "You don't write off a candidate for the priesthood simply because he is a gay man." You might think that Archbishop Martin is desperate. After all, he ordained zero new priests this year-- the first year in the history of the Dublin diocese that no priests were ordained. But No. The instructors who train candidates for the Dublin priesthood are rigorous enough on some issues. The Irish seminary at Maynooth (which is, these days, the...

Analysis: Polish right triumphs By Adam Easton BBC correspondent in Warsaw Poland's presidential election has confirmed a swing to the right. Whoever wins in the second round in two weeks' time, Poland will have a right-wing president and prime minister for the first time in 12 years. In both the presidential and recent parliamentary elections voters punished the former communists for failing to reduce high unemployment and curb corruption. With more than 90% of the votes counted, Donald Tusk of the liberal Civic Platform party led with 35.82% and Lech Kaczynski of the conservative Law and Justice Party trailed slightly...

Rice Favors Diplomatic Isolation Over Attacking Syria 17:25 Oct 10, '05 / 7 Tishrei 5766 By Scott Shiloh U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice succeeded in thwarting a United States attack on Syria at an October 1st meeting of senior American officials. According to Newseek magazine, Rice said she favored isolating Syria diplomatically over launching a military strike. She cited a pending UN report that may blame Syria for assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. The United States has accused Syria of harboring Iraqi insurgents who have been escalating the war against American forces in Iraq. U.S. forces have...

Editor's note: These are responses to "Miers Finds Few Buyers" in Friday's Best of the Web Today.• The display of lugubrious thuggery on the right over the past week is the political disaster. "Yes, dearie, you'll get a fair trial and then we'll hang you in the morning." Decency alone tells an honest conservative to give the nominee her opportunity at the Senate hearings before making a judgment about her. We're demanding up or down votes on the Senate floor from obstructionist Democrats, but trying to slaughter our own president's nominee before she's had a chance to speak for herself....

WASHINGTON -- One of Russia's leading geopolitical thinkers, Aleksandr Dugin, outlined his vision of a "multipolar" world in a speech in Washington, D.C. on October 5. Dugin advocates the creation of a multipolar world as a means of resisting what he sees as American "unipolarism" as well as American-sponsored globalization. Understanding Dugin's ideas is important because they have gained an important following not just in Russia, but in the Kremlin itself. But while Russians are increasingly attracted to these ideas, they are deeply flawed. Speaking at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Dugin outlined his multipolar vision....

The suggestion that the [Yale] alumni magazine's editors are insensitive to women is...delusional...In [a recent] issue.., the renowned-alumnus slot goes to Debbie Stoller, the editor of Bust magazine ("For Women With Something to Get Off Their Chests") and author of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, which inspired an international network of women's knitting groups.

- H.E. Most. Rev. George Cosmas Zumaire LUNGU, Bishop of Chipata (ZAMBIA) I am speaking on behalf of the Zambia Episcopal Conference. I must admit that in spite of today's advanced means of technology, our Episcopal Conference did not receive the Instrumentum Laboris with sufficient time to be able to respond a as conference. Therefore, I was given the freedom to make a personal intervention, keeping in mind the pastoral situation in Zambia. My intervention is based on numbers 42, 44, 61 and 62 of Instrumentum Laboris. In number 42 it states that in liturgy, a person looks not at...

BEND — Sunday was, to say the least, a rather unusual day. Due to Saturday commitments I began my Sunday trip from Bend to Hermiston at 3 a.m. The trip to Hermiston was peaceful and blessedly uneventful. I arrived in ample time for the 8 a.m. Mass. The Gospel of the tenants in the vineyard provided an opportunity to talk about Stewardship and to extend that to a stewardship of life and Catholic faith. As the Lord asked what the owner of the vineyard would do when he came back to his vineyard to find it ill-kept and unfruitful, so...

NEW DELHI - Pakistan said Monday it will accept relief aid for earthquake victims from its longtime rival India, a move that carries immense political implications for the neighbors who have fought three wars. India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said his country would send tents, food, blankets and medicine to the hard-hit Pakistani portion of Kashmir. The announcement came after Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telephoned Pakistan's high commissioner in New Delhi and "reiterated his offer to send relief aid to us for earthquake victims." High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan met Singh and then contacted the...

The nomination of White House lawyer Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has raised questions about her qualifications and political ideology. Conservatives and liberals alike fear that Ms. Miers will not represent their views, and will rule on issues in ways that harm our nation. But clearly we are not asking the right questions about Supreme Court nominees. The issue is not how candidates intend to wield judicial power, but rather whether they understand that the Constitution imposes limits on that power in the first place. We are guilty of permitting our federal courts to become politicized, when the proper...

Srinagar, October 10: In the wake of the killer quake, the Jehad Council, an amalgam of 14 militant outfits based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, has announced temporary suspension of its operations in the ravaged areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The decision to suspend temporarily the operations in the state was taken at a meeting convened by the chairman of Council and supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin at Muzaffarabad on Sunday, a local news agency quoting a fax from the organisation said on Monday. Salahuddin asked all the constituents of the council to direct the militant cadres across the...

VATICAN CITY -- A Roman Catholic bishop taking part in the Vatican synod criticized Muslim countries on Saturday for not allowing Christians to practice their faith. Archbishop Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia cited the example of Ethiopian and Eritrean guest workers in Arab countries who he claimed were unable to practice their Christian faith. He named Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Gulf States in a speech to more than 240 bishops gathered at the Vatican to discuss the problems facing the Catholic Church worldwide. "Before going to these Muslim countries, they are forced to change their Christian name...

Governments in the United States take approximately 40 percent of the country's total income in taxes. In other words, nearly half of all the income generated each year is sent to governments to spend. The good news is that a growing number of people pay no federal taxes at all. According to a recent Tax Foundation report, 29 million people had no federal income tax liability in 2000, and the number was expected to reach 44 million in 2004. The bad news is that people who do pay taxes much pay more to make up for those who pay nothing....

I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce terrorism, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, abort every Muslim extremist in this world, and your terrorism rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your terror rate would go down. So these far-out, far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky. Couldn't resist....

By the time this column is printed, Justice for All's cultish tribute to the fetus will have left the grass of our campus. While the right wing whack-jobs are now gone from our fading campus lawns, the ghosts of their messaging haunt me. What we saw when Justice for All came to Auraria was complete and utter disrespect. Not only were we visually assaulted by an enormous display of gory images with questionable validity and undeniable shock value; the women who make up our student body, faculties and staff had the essence of their freedom questioned. This is not something...

George Hislop, a pioneer in the battle to win survivor benefits for widowed same-sex partners, has died at the age of 78. When Hislop's longtime partner died after years of contributing to the Canada pension plan, Hislop applied for a pension but was turned down. He fought the decision and spent the last 19 years trying to get the rules changed. Earlier this year, Hislop declared victory and in August he said he received his first cheque from the government. "George was a leader in the lesbian and gay community in fighting discrimination and demanding equal respect," said Douglas Elliott,...

Kindness is a very personalized issue; each and every person has his or her own way of expressing this Divine attribute. Some go all out for hospitality, while others volunteer to visit the infirm. Some are involved with the elderly, some with community service. Chesed, kindness, is the inverse reciprocal of a person's deepest sense of self.

JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL Miers Remorse Conservatives are right to be skeptical. The scantiness of her philosophical record has led reporters to focus on the two years of her career where she had to take stands: her one term as a member of the Dallas City Council during 1990 and 1991. There she established a record as an advocate of good government, increased funding for the arts, and building a light-rail system. Her one moment of high drama came when she quieted an angry crowd alleging police brutality. She apologized to the protesters on behalf of the city and...