Free Republic

The French Government tried to blame the 1985 sinking of the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior on MI6, according to official documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The campaign of “misinformation and smears” — suggesting that MI6 bombed the ship in New Zealand and framed French secret agents, or that MI6 knew in advance of the French mission — infuriated Margaret Thatcher’s Government. Malcolm Rifkind, then a Foreign Office minister, told British diplomats in Paris to demand an end to the stories in the media, but they continued to appear. Sir John Fretwell, the British Ambassador in Paris,...

A French MP has publicly accused rappers of fuelling the country's recent riots with their songs. It comes a day after 200 politicians backed his petition calling for legal action against seven rap musicians and bands it alleges have incited racism. MP Francois Grosdidier told France-Info radio it was no surprise youths "saw red" after listening to violent lyrics. Rapper Monsieur R, one of those singled out in the petition, rejected the idea, saying rap "is not a call to violence". French authorities said the situation had returned to normal last week, following three weeks of unrest that affected dozens...

The following was heard on a Youngstown, Ohio (Big GM Lordstown Plant location) radio station 570 WKBN, Monday, when GM announced the closing of 9 plants and the firing of 30,000 workers. The statement that Republicans should be blamed for GM's troubles was made by no less than Rick Wagoner, President of General Motors, North American Division. Fax was sent in CAPS. DEAR RICK WAGONER, PRESIDENT OF GENERAL MOTORS NORTH AMERICA; I HEARD YOU THIS MORNING ON A TALK RADIO PROGRAM BLAMING REPUBLICANS FOR THE MASSIVE FIRINGS AND PLANT SHUTDOWNS THAT GM IS PLANNING. YOU SAID, "THE REPUBLICANS WANT TO...

PARIS (Reuters) - French Muslim leaders denounced on Thursday efforts to blame Muslims and Islam for recent riots in the country's rundown suburbs and said they saw worrying signs of growing prejudice against their faith here. ADVERTISEMENT Many young rioters may have been from Muslim backgrounds, but their violent outburst was a protest against unemployment, poor housing and other bias they faced because of their foreign origins, they told journalists. Urban violence, which some politicians in France and some media abroad portrayed as a kind of Muslim uprising, fell back to normal levels on Thursday after three weeks in which...

Executives at Wal-Mart are worried that Robert Greenwald’s new documentary film about the company—Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price—could become a cult hit on the order of Michael Moore’s anti-GM rant, Roger & Me. So my first piece of advice to CEO Lee Scott and his team is: Stop worrying about the movie. It’s a jeremiad—a ham-handed snore with none of the humor, craft, or story sense that made Moore’s film so engaging. The people who already hate you will love it, but nobody else will be able to sit through it. My second piece of advice is to...

Even while the letters from Al Zaqhawri,(sp?) the self-proclaimed mastermind and creator of the deadly massacre in Jordan are being read on the air, the CNN news show on television has their announcers saying something like; "It is going to be extremely hard for Jordan to find and punish the insurgents who did this because during recent times there have been hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing the violence of the war in their own country...." While on another station, Fox News, it is reported that nearly 75% population of people living in Jordan are Palestinians... So by their account...

SACRAMENTO - Two days after suffering a stinging election defeat, a conciliatory Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took responsibility for the failure of his initiatives and said he learned that he needs more patience in seeking government reform. "The buck stops with me," he told reporters Thursday during a Capitol news conference, referring to the clean sweep against his proposals in Tuesday's special election. "I take full responsibility for this election. I take full responsibility for its failure." Voters rejected each of the initiatives Schwarzenegger was pushing on the ballot. He sought to implement a state spending cap and give the governor...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - France's riots have set off a round of troubled debate across the Arab world: Most here blame a failure to offer opportunity to immigrants, but others see a more ominous clash of cultures over Islam. Across the Middle East, the images of burning cars and stone-throwing young people have dominated newspapers and television. Analysts have hotly debated the riots' meaning, their cause and whether they might spread. "The anger displayed, and the intensity with which it has spread, is alarming," said one Persian Gulf political analyst, Abdul Khaleq Abdulla. Most attribute the flare-ups to social...

A boy of 10 was blinded in one eye as he watched the recent partial eclipse of the sun from his school playground. The parents of Conor Howard expressed their concern yesterday about playground supervision after learning that the damage is permanent. Conor, who wanted to be a pilot when he left school, is having specialist treatment. He had perfect 20/20 vision but now has severely restricted sight. Conor was at morning break in the playground of St Nicholas School in Cranleigh, Surrey, last month when a friend shouted for him to look at the eclipse. Closing one eye, he...

Urban violences in France: the fault with the CIA, according to Jirinovski MOSCOW (AFP) - the leader Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Jirinovski, usual of shocking declarations, delivered his interpretation of violences in the Parisian suburbs: it is about a plot of the American special services. With the origin of the events which shake France one finds "a mixture explosive", composed of the "desire of the American special services to weaken Europe" and "favorable conditions offered to the immigrants", has it says on the radio operator Echo of Moscow Monday. "I estimate that it is about an operation planned with the participation...

Bush Responsible for French RiotsWritten by Jeremy RobbMonday, November 07, 2005 PARIS, France --- French officials have finally determined the reason for the terrible riots taking place there: George Bush.  "We have determined that George Bush is responsible for the riots here," said Pepe Le Pants of the French government.  "People are very upset that he did not appoint a Hispanic lesbian Communist to the Supreme Court and instead appointed yet another white male.  We also think he sent some Katrina refugees here who are continuing their looting and violence thanks to American racism.  Bush will stop at nothing to destroy...

PARIS, France --- French officials have finally determined the reason for the terrible riots taking place there: George Bush. "We have determined that George Bush is responsible for the riots here," said Pepe Le Pants of the French government. "People are very upset that he did not appoint a Hispanic lesbian Communist to the Supreme Court and instead appointed yet another white male. We also think he sent some Katrina refugees here who are continuing their looting and violence thanks to American racism. Bush will stop at nothing to destroy the world. We suspect Bush is also responsible for our...

WHAT IS behind the Paris riots? Organised gangs of criminals or even Islamic radicals out to undermine the state - or failure by successive governments to give millions of immigrants a chance in life? Rampages that have gripped the poorer immigrant-populated outskirts of Paris since October 27, spreading for the first time on Thursday night to other parts of the country, have left most struggling for an explanation. The rioters are young, overwhelmingly Muslim men, second-generation immigrants from France's former Arab and African colonies, who claim they are protesting against economic misery, racial discrimination and provocative policing. This argument has...

Muslims 'scorn' Europe's ways,'conspire to take it over' As rioting that began in a poor, mostly Muslim, neighborhood near Paris a week ago continues to spread to other suburbs and cities across France and parts of Europe, U.S. experts and at least one American lawmaker believe radical Islam is most likely responsible for the chaos. And, they say, despite the characterization by several media outlets that those perpetuating the violence are primarily disaffected youth upset with French economic and social policies, the fact the unrest spread so quickly and is virtually limited to Muslim neighborhoods signifies a deeper, ideologically driven...

MIAMI Oct 26, 2005 — Gov. Jeb Bush took the blame Wednesday for frustrating delays at centers distributing supplies to victims of Hurricane Wilma, saying criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was misdirected. "Don't blame FEMA. This is our responsibility," Bush said at a news conference in Tallahassee with federal Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees the agency.

Dear Greg, Thank you for contacting my office about Hurricane Katrina and the situation along the Gulf Coast. I appreciate hearing from you. Katrina was the most devastating natural disaster to befall this country in generations. As with any catastrophic event, a certain amount of discombobulation was inevitable at the outset. But the leadership failures and chaos that ensued after the levees gave way in New Orleans were inexcusable. Katrina exposed a shocking lack of preparedness in our emergency-response systems at the local, state and, most importantly, federal level. It almost defies belief, for example, that help was delayed for...

A shadowy group has accused orthodox Jews of responsibility for aviary flu, which experts believe may become a pandemic threatening millions. A representative of a shadowy group calling itself the Chicken Liberation Organization has accused orthodox Jews of responsibility for the aviary flu, which experts believe may become a global pandemic threatening the lives of millions. The CLO representative, C. Little, has warned that any outbreak of the disease will be the direct result of what he called Jewish responsibility for "atmospheric lowering," a little-understood phenomenon by which the sky appears to be falling, causing migratory birds to descend precipitously...

Date: 9/27/2005 Contact: Denise Bottcher or Roderick Hawkins at 225-342-9037 Statement of Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Regarding Congressional Testimony of former FEMA Director Mike Brown September 27, 2005 "Mike Brown testified today, under oath, that I did not include Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes in my original disaster declaration request sent to the President on August 28. In fact, that request did include 14 parishes in southeast Louisiana, including Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines. "Mr. Brown further suggested that I did not order an evacuation of New Orleans until Sunday, Aug. 28. In fact, the evacuation was ordered on the morning...

Blame throwing There's plenty wrong with America, since you asked. (Everybody's asking.) I'm tempted to say, the only difference from Canada, is that they have a few things right. That would be unfair, of course -- I am often pleased to discover things we still get right. But one of them would not be disaster preparation. If something happened up here, on the scale of Katrina, we wouldn't even have the resources to arrive late. We would be waiting for the Americans to come save us, the same way the government in Louisiana just waved and pointed at Washington, D.C....

Why I Now Feel Happier as a Democrat On Tuesday, September 20th, 2005, I stopped supporting George W. Bush and became a Democrat, but not for any reasons you might pluasibly guess. Years ago, someone called me a "Conservative" (whispered under their breath as if letting me in on a special secret) and I've since felt a certain duty, or even a moral obligation to vote for a Republican in every subsequent election so as not to let others down, in the realization of their expectations. The fact that I was doing so only out of habit, and not because...