Free Republic

A former Austin woman convicted of threatening to shoot local officials pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to making bomb threats against eight U.S. post offices in southern Minnesota.

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the May 1997 issue of the U.S. Naval Institute's monthly journal Proceedings. Cmdr. Shanower was among the 189 people killed at the Pentagon Sept. 11.) In a era of downsizing and tight budgets, it's easy to let the issues of the day and our different cultures and traditions distance us from our peers in the other military services. Memorial Day is one day of the year when those differences seem insignificant, when all service members reflect on the one defining experience many of us have felt that sets us apart from the rest...

Here’s what we did not hear the president say in his campaign-style stem-winder on Wednesday night: “The United States believes that access to safe, legal, and voluntary abortion is a fundamental right of all women. We proclaimed this at Cairo in 1995 and I affirm this right today. Last November, the American people chose a different course; they sent to Washington a president and a congressional majority strongly committed to the right to choose. We can respect differences and we can differ while maintaining our civility, but the people have spoken on this question—and I will honor their voice.”In his...

In a section innocuously titled “School-Based Health Clinics,” the House bill, H.R. 3200, seems to set up Democrats to invite groups like Planned Parenthood into our schools to serve as a school “health clinic.” (‘Sec. 399Z-1. School-Based Health Clinics.) And even more insidiously the bill provides for these “clinics” to be initiated immediately -- effective date to be July 1, 2010 -- whereas much of the rest of H.R. 3200 does not take effect until 2013. Why the rush? If one were cynical, one might think that the fast tracking of these “clinics” was meant to catch critics off guard....

Mystery needle attacks appeared to spread in China's far western region as authorities arrested nine new suspects in three cities, officials said Friday. The suspects were recently detained in the Xinjiang region cities of Hotan, Altay, and Kashgar in connection with alleged attacks involving hypodermic needles, a press officer at the Xinjiang government press center in the provincial capital Urumqi said Friday. He declined to give his name as is customary or provide more details. Since last week, more than 500 people in Urumqi have reported attacks, though only about 100 showed evidence of being pricked. The bizarre stabbings led...

As the president and Congress considers passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in which the “card check” feature is still a major provision, a federal agency is trying to prevent its own employees from using the card check practice to organize. The Legal Services Corp., a congressionally chartered, taxpayer-funded entity has hired legal counsel to try and prevent its employees in its oversight office from using the card check procedure to become unionized... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

In the future, everyone will have their own Jeopardy-style video walls. Or at least that's the future AMD envisions.In addition to new notebook chipsets, AMD today introduced Eyefinity, a new technology that allows for up to six displays to be driven off of one video card.Eyefinity will make its way into upcoming DirectX 11-based ATI Radeon graphics cards, the company has announced. With Eyefinity, you'll be able to arrange up to six displays per graphics card in any configuration, using either landscape or portrait mode.How insane can this get, you ask? At a media event aboard the USS Hornet...

It is not often that a president opens his mind and allows us to see its inner workings, to view the philosophy that animates his actions and drives him to achieve a vision formed from personal experience and thoughtful contemplation. I believe Barack Obama is indeed a thoughtful man. Not a scholar or intellectual, but someone who has an interest in living what the philosophers refer to as “an examined life.” Perhaps no modern president has spent as much time nor traveled so far in an effort to discover meaning and place as far as the threads of his life...

Just curious whether there will be a Freeper meeting place for the rally in DC on Saturday.

Recently in America we have seen some Churches step up and speak out against Islam. In Europe though, we are seeing the opposite. Major Church leaders in the UK actually supported the opening of the Sharia Courts there. This time Swiss Bishops are taking a stand for Islamic minarets. Which if built will be a sign of Islamic dominance. Apparently they are ready to bow down to Islam.

The Associated Press must have thought that it had quite a story on its hands when it published "Protest brews over Cheney center at Univ. of Wyo." After all, it had Dearth Cheney, protesters, a university and a petition drive to keep the evil VP at bay. It was all the makings of a good story of "controversy" of the Bush/Cheney years. Apreantly the era of hope-n-change has not quite depleted the APs desire to rehash the Bush years. As it happens, the Cheney family is donating $3.2 million to the University of Wyoming for the new Cheney International Center...

This video is all the proof you need that global warming is destroying the planet. In particular, this video sheds light on the oft-rumored but little known phenomenon of MSGW, or, in layman's terms: Micro Scale Global Warming Phenomenon. This phenomenon was first reported in the Indian science journal "Janwar Chodu" - but ignored by George Bush (of course). The details of the theory are something like how on any end of a given scale you'll have a "high" and a "low". On the low end, you'd see freezing - like our recent string of like eight so-called cold spells...

Both Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and his Democratic challenger have raised some serious cash since the congressman shouted "You lie!" during the president's address on Wednesday night. Wilson's outburst has netted his campaign about $200,000 in the past two days, CNN reported on Friday. The lawmaker has also embarked on a media blitz of sorts, taking to YouTube and Twitter to raise additional money while making his case against the president's health care plan.... But Wilson's spoils hardly compare to what his Democratic opponent, Rob Miller, has raised in recent days: more than $750,000. Miller has even turned Wilson's gaffe...

House Plans to Admonish Rep. Wilson Over Insult By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: September 11, 2009 WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Democratic leaders are planning a House vote early next week on whether to admonish Republican Rep. Joe Wilson if he does not apologize on the House floor for yelling ''You lie!'' during President Barack Obama's health care address. Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Friday that party leaders decided they will likely move forward with a resolution of disapproval against Wilson if he doesn't apologize to Congress. Wilson told Obama he was sorry shortly after...

More than two dozen Ukrainian intellectuals are appealing to U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders, warning of a greater Kremlin threat. Specifically, the group of influential Ukrainians is calling for stronger security guarantees to protect Ukraine from Russia, whose leaders they accuse of meddling in Ukrainian affairs.....In an open letter made public on Sept. 10, the authors expressed fears that Russia could use military force against Ukraine. They called on Western leaders to hold an international conference to provide guarantees for Ukraine’s security.

Enjoy it while it lasts, champ, because no one — including liberal Democrats — thinks it will. Last week it was 40/47, today it’s 52/38 with 85 percent of Dems approving of how he’s handled health care. And yet, even in an otherwise upbeat poll, only 22 percent think O-Care will end up helping them. 27 percent think it’ll do more harm than good and 42 percent think it’ll have no effect. Such is the state of excitement about solving the great “crisis” of our time. CBS sampled 648 adults randomly. What do you get when you sample likely voters,...

We encourage our readers, along with administrators Kathy Owens of Bucknell University and Barbara Grossman (and the Committee on Student Life) at Tufts University to watch this video called "Blood of Heroes." Owens is the Bucknell administrator who called students on the carpet for using the phrase "hunting terrorists," while Grossman and the CSL conducted a show trial of the Primary Source, a student newspaper that vilified militant "Islam." Another CSL member said it was unacceptable to label Islam as violent under any circumstances; we wonder how he defines the following image.

Last week when gold started flirting with $1000, the gold stocks caught a serious bid. On an impressive 3.8% 2-day gold rally, the flagship HUI unhedged gold-stock index rocketed 15.7% higher! And the volume in this index's elite gold stocks was staggering those 2 days, 2.8x the 3-month average. This blisteringly-fast surge easily drove the HUI up to new 2009 highs, eclipsing the 398 witnessed in early June. To see any stock index blast nearly 16% higher in a couple days is exceedingly rare, so naturally all this excitement captivated traders. But it also led to growing fears that this...

Stephan's Quintet Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team Explanation: The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan's Quintet is featured in this stunning image from the newly upgraded Hubble Space Telescope. About 300 million light-years away, only four galaxies of the group are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. The odd man out is easy to spot, though. The four interacting galaxies (NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317) have an overall yellowish cast and tend to have distorted loops and tails, grown under the influence of disruptive gravitational tides. But the bluish galaxy...

I wrote this, and posted it on Free Republic six years ago today to express my thoughts about the effect of September 11, 2001, two years later. How different our nation and the world are today from six years ago. This quickly, some people have chosen to revisit, revise and regard that infamous day as something other than what is was...horror, murder and terror. I'm afraid too many are forgetting or ignoring the truth and the impact that day has had; it will be to our most terrible detriment if we do. Perhaps it's time to pull it out of...