Free Republic

A Government Employee’s Pledge of Allegiance by Ken Self I pledge allegiance to the Citizens of these United States of America, to serve and defend their inalienable Personal Rights, granted by their Creator, which duties these individuals have Constitutionally delegated to the Republic of these United States, and to acknowledge that the Republic exists for the Citizen and not the Citizen for the Republic. With all of the recent turmoil resulting from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, I have had occasion to contemplate the relationship between the State and the citizen, and whether...

In a column soon after 9/11 titled "Equal Time for Hitler?," I noted that our taxpayer-supported, government-sponsored Voice of America was "balancing" reports of the terrorist outrage by broadcasting interviews with Muslim supporters of terror. The anti-U.S. propagandist given air time by V.O.A. that especially stirred my ire was Yasir al Serri of the Gama'a Islamiyya, warning that Americans must make no accusations against Islamists "before knowing the full truth." V.O.A. failed to identify the group of which al Serri was spokesman as one that had in 1997 killed 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians. The same V.O.A. news department...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Monday it had dealt a major blow to the militant group Hamas by killing a master bomb-maker and promised to keep up such attacks.Palestinians condemned Sunday's killing of Muhanad al-Taher and one of his lieutenants in the West Bank city of Nablus as state-sponsored assassination. Hamas promised to avenge his death, raising fears of a new surge in Middle East violence.Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer hailed the killing in a commando raid as an "impressive achievement," saying Taher was "a murderer, a planner and an engineer" responsible for the deaths of at least 117...

<p>WASHINGTON If information has been published, does the government have a right, months later when it surfaces again, to contend that the information is still a secret vital to national security?</p> <p>That's what seems to be occurring in the case of recent reports that the National Security Agency had intercepted a coded conversation between al-Qaida operatives the day before Sept. 11. The conversation that clearly pointed to a terrorist operation scheduled for the next day wasn't examined until Sept. 12.</p>

July 1, 2002, 9:00 a.m. We’re All Marxists Now The crisis of capitalism. By James Bowman It's easy to dismiss Marxism as a "failed theory" because of its economic failures, but Marx lives on in a way that makes him arguably more influential than he was when his discredited economic ideas served as an excuse for the immiseration of a quarter of mankind. For he and his followers have provided us with a lot of the political language that we still use and therefore the terms in which we still think about politics. In a sense, we are all Marxists...

Finally, a sporting event in which everything happens as it should. Saudi Arabia. Ha! Just a few weeks ago, Saudi squad coach Nasser Johar known to his countrymen as "Mr. Salvation" justified the $2 million seaside villa and three luxury cars the royal family had given him as "just a reward for what I'm doing with the lads." But just what was he doing? In their first match-up, against Germany, the team that was supposedly "the best in Asia" went down in defeat, zero to eight. OK, fair enough; Germany is a powerhouse. But that doesn't explain subsequent losses to...

WORKS OF ARMINIUS - NINTH CHAPTER OF ROMANS ANALYSIS OF THE NINTH CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS This Analysis was prepared by ARMINIUS in 1593, and was sent to Gellius SNECANUS, a Minister in West Friesland, who entertained views of Christian doctrine similar to those of Arminius. It was published in the Latin editions of the works of Arminius, as an appendix to the foregoing treatise, as illustrative of many points therein discussed. TO THE DISTINGUISHED MAN OF GOD, GELLIUS SNECANUS, MY FELLOW MINISTER, MOST BELOVED IN CHRIST, JAMES ARMINIUS WISHES HEALTH AND SUCCESS THROUGH CHRIST I can...

Six Good Servants By Oswald Sobrino, Esq. As John Paul II heroically ages-- he just passed 82 (Deo gratias)--the journalists are engaged in predicting his successor and embarking on new books and book tours to bandy about their sometimes flawed and biased insights, and network commentators are already signed up to cover the next papal election. Many of these professional papal analysts view the process as a political election, replete with political parties, candidates, and a list of political issues. Some even campaign for certain candidates and inexplicably exclude others from their list of contenders. This essay is an...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed a bill yesterday that will raise the city's cigarette tax to $1.50 a pack beginning today. City officials and opponents of smoking say the increase will give New York the highest cigarette tax in the nation and push the price of some brands to more than $7 a pack. "This may be the most important measure my administration takes to save people's lives," Mr. Bloomberg said before signing the bill during an unusual Sunday morning public hearing in City Hall. The timing was necessary for the law to take effect today. Under the new law,...

The National Organization for Women reports that America's family courts are "incompetent and corrupt." Family law is rife with conflicts-of-interest and routinely denies due process of law, says NOW. No one familiar with family court would argue that they are not corrupt. Yet NOW's objection seems to be that family court is not corrupt enough. NOW claims family courts are biased against mothers, but their only evidence is that the courts do not throw enough fathers out of their families. NOW's assessment is based not on facts but on surveys of its supporters: angry women who have learned they...

Kansans to pay more for gasoline, cigarettes; officials await voter response. Beto Junction — Kirk Williams is anticipating a hectic Monday. His business faces a triple whammy of bad news. His company operates the Beto Junction Travel Plaza at the junction of Interstate 35 and U.S. 75 in Coffey County, a place where truckers and travelers stop for meals, snacks, supplies, gasoline and diesel fuel. Increases in the state's taxes on sales, cigarettes and gasoline are taking effect today. Williams already faced a 30 percent increase in health insurance costs for his 100 employees. "It's just that all the little...

There is a formula for a certain type of novel: a little sex, a little violence, and some kind of inheritance, along with, of course, a handsome protagonist and beautiful heroine. There seems to be a certain formula for a Capitol Hill melodrama these days: take an issue involving money, add a little abortion debate, throw in election fever, and voila! You get bankruptcy reform. Or, to be literal about it, you don't get bankruptcy reform. The nation needs it. But the fanatical malice of pro-abortion ideologues is keeping the nation from getting bankruptcy reform. But first, a foreword...

After several days of intense negotiation over the future of Amtrak, Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and Amtrak's chairman, Meridian, Mississippi Mayor Bob Smith announced on June 26 the broad outline of a tentative, plan to keep the rail system afloat for a few more months until next year's appropriation comes through on October 1. Under the terms announced that evening, Mineta promised to give Amtrak $270 million to cover recently discovered losses, and Amtrak pledged to stop lying to the public and to government officials.Aside from whatever this deal will or will not do for Amtrak's prospects, it does...

No understanding of haredi society is possible without an appreciation of the preeminent place of Torah learning in the pantheon of Jewish values. We begin our morning prayers with the affirmation that "the study of Torah is equal to all [the mitzvot]." All mankind is commanded to subjugate the world (kivshuha); the Jewish people alone were given the task of studying Torah. Though we recite a blessing over a great gentile scientist, we would not do so over even the greatest Jewish scientist, such as Einstein, for his principle purpose in life is the attainment of Torah, not secular, knowledge....

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem contributed more than $20,000 to a Gaza Strip kindergarten belonging to an organization affiliated with Hamas, and which operated pre-school activities supporting terror attacks against Israelis. The British contribution, part of the education projects and development assistance given to the Palestinians over the 2001-2 fiscal year, was geared for renovations in a Nuseirat refugee camp kindergarten run by the Islamic Society, the British Mail on Sunday reported yesterday. The paper emphasized that the Islamic Society is connected to Hamas, and its offices were closed repeatedly in the past on orders of Palestinian Authority...

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is reported to have said when asked if he had ever told a lie, "If I can kill for the cause, why can’t I tell lies for the same cause?" His relations with other Arab leaders have been complicated because of the ease with which he has lied for his cause, as those who have been dealing with him for a long time know very well. An Arab leader told me once that he never talked with Arafat except in the presence of a second man. The Arab leader took this precaution so that Arafat might...

<p>Now that the decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to ban "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance has been protested all over the landscape, perhaps we might step back and consider the broader implications of the fact that such a decision could have been made in the first place.</p>

<p>Editor's note: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th president of the United States, made part of his reputation by issuing challenges to the American character and preaching what he called "the doctrine of the strenuous life." The following is adapted from a collection called "The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses," published in 1900, before he was elected vice president. At the age of 42, Roosevelt assumed the presidency upon the assassination of William McKinley.</p>

RIYADH, 1 July — Saudi businessmen and traders have expressed their anguish and shock over the new measures proposed by the US Justice Department targeting Saudis and warned that they would harm Saudi-American relations. They were commenting on a new immigration law announced by the US Justice Department which requires of foreign visitors to register their names with the government if they intended to stay 30 days or more. The new law also allows US authorities to take fingerprints of foreigners, who do not possess permanent resident permits, soon after their arrival in the country. Abdullah Zainal Alireza, chairman of...