Free Republic

Teach-In, Turn On, Walk Out The ins and outs of the antiwar movement. n the spring of 1968, antiwar activists protesting American military action in Indochina besieged Columbia University's historic Low Library, the massive, Romanesque space designed by McKim, Mead, and White which houses the offices of university administrators. Thirty-five years later, Low Library still contains the offices of university administrators. But today, antiwar activists are welcomed inside. Such was the case on Wednesday night, when hundreds of Columbia students braved long lines and rain for a chance to witness a faculty-led "teach-in" on the Iraq crisis. I was one...

I just got a ping from The Federalist,"Operation Iraqi Freedom" is now underway. The Department of Defense offers an official website to say "Thank You" to our troops. Please take one minute to visit the DoD Web page below and add your name to a brief message thanking the men and women of the U.S. armed services for defending our freedom, then forward this message to your friends or associates and ask them to do the same. The compiled list of names will be sent out to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines on active duty.

I have a question for Freepers. My sister was pulled over today and given a speeding ticket in Scott County, Missouri. The officer gave her a ticket along with a slip of paper that states that if she wants to fight this in court it will cost her $47.50. (The ticket is $60). I have never had a traffic ticket. Is this normal? Is this legal?? I thought the defendant in a court action is not the one who pays court costs. If she challenges the ticket and wins, does she still have to pay the court costs? Can anyone...

On the heels of Mr. Roed-Larsen's now-infamous remark that Israel "ceded all moral ground" in Jenin, comes word from his home country of Norway that some supermarket chains have decided to place special identification stickers on products from Israel. Other Scandinavian countries may follow suit. The Norwegians say the stickers do not constitute a "boycott" of Israel; they just want their customers, who are overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian, to pay attention to where these products are produced. Maybe the rest of us should run down to our local supermarkets with a pad of yellow "post-it" notes so that consumers of Norwegian salmon...

I am arguing with a socialist who, every time I comment on the genocidal results of most collectivist regimes, keeps referring me to the blazing success of Sweden and the Netherlands. Frankly put, I need statistical dirt on Sweden and the Netherlands. I've already found a nice Forbes 1993 article on Sweden's 25% absenteeism in the workplace, but I need more and Google's not helping. I need ammo, I know that Sweden and the Netherlands cannot be the utopias he claims, and I can see already that they aren't world powers. Can anyone help?

Why Are Deep Thinkers Shallow About Tyranny? November 10, 2001 Mark Lilla, a professor at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, recently published "The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics," about how writers and intellectuals have ended up justifying communism, fascism and other tyrannies. Eric Alterman spoke with him. Is there a special gene among intellectuals that lends itself to the embrace of tyranny? Are they less sensible than the general populace? If by "intellectuals" we mean those devoted to the life of the mind, we can see why they face more intensely a problem all ...

The following is an excerpt from Kurtz's most recent column in National Review. These are the Pashtun, the tribe that makes up the Taliban: Charles Lindholm, an anthropologist at Boston University, has written an important but little-known account of Pashtun life in Northern Pakistan (which is all but indistinguishable from Pashtun life in Afghanistan). In Generosity and Jealousy, Lindholm describes the rearing of Pashtun boys and girls — particularly boys — and the picture Lindholm paints will surprise, puzzle, and distress most Americans. The Pashtun unhesitatingly beat their children — slapping them hard across the face simply for stumbling or ...

...In June 1991, Siraj Wahaj, a black convert to Islam and the recipient of some of the American Muslim community's highest honors, had the privilege of becoming the first Muslim to deliver the daily prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives. On that occasion he recited from the Qur'an and appealed to the Almighty to guide American leaders "and grant them righteousness and wisdom." A little over a year later, addressing an audience of New Jersey Muslims, the same Wahaj articulated a rather different vision from his mild and moderate invocation in the House. If only Muslims were more clever ...

Advance the Story October 22, 2001 By WILLIAM SAFIRE WASHINGTON -- Veteran reporters and creaking commentators have a single goal in writing about great events: advance the story. Unearth facts that policy makers do not know, do not want to know, or do not want the public to know they know. For years, U.S. officials kept mum about the duplicity of Saudi Arabia in financing anti-U.S. incitement while professing to be a U.S. ally. But because The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, the oldest investigative reporter alive, held his ear trumpet to our ultra-secret Big Ear, we now have telephone ...

Dear Americans, When I opened my e-mail this morning I had about twenty forwards of the article written by Gordon Sinclair, the Canadian who so eloquently praised the United States. What most of you do not realize is that this commentary was written many years ago. Those of us in the Military Service have known about it for a long time. Now, Americans are flooding the net with it as if it were new. It is not. When it was written most Americans didn't read it, because most Americans did not care. The tragedy that befell all of us ...

We've all seen them. BS-laden garbage full of blame-America-first spew, socialist whines about how we funded terrorism, lies and half-truths about our foreign policy, Monday Morning Quarterbackism critiquing everything our CIA did during the Cold War, etc. There is only one way to handle these threads, and that is to NOT RESPOND! All these losers want to do is draw us into BS debates about how many Iraqi children have died, how mean Israel is to those poor suicide-bombers, how Islam is REALLY peaceful and good (once you submit to it and do as you're told.)Folks, let's try giving these ...

Judging from the foreign press, the most popular world reaction to the terrorist attacks on America has not been outright condemnation, but rather: "Yes, but . . ." Yes, this was terrible, but somehow America deserved it or is responsible for the anger behind it. One can only be amazed at the ease with which some people abroad and at campus teach-ins now tell us what motivated the terrorists. Guess what? The terrorists didn't leave an explanatory note. Because their deed was their note: We want to destroy America, starting with its military and financial centers. Which part of that ...

Holy Warriors: Killing for the Glory of God, in a Land Far From Home By JUDITH MILLER ANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan - Muhammad Khaled Mihraban, a polite, soft-spoken 26- year-old Pakistani, thinks he has already killed at least 100 people. Maybe more; he isn't really sure. "My goal was not to kill," he said. "But I had a line to follow, an Islamic ideal. I knew that Muslims needed their own country, a real Islamic country." Mr. Mihraban found that country when he came to Afghanistan in 1992. Having decided "to consecrate my life to jihad" while studying Islamic law at ...

Folks, pardon this vanity post, but I was reading the Koran last night, trying to figure out if these maniacs really think they are doing what they are "supposed" to do. I have to come to the conclusion that they are. The Koran (that's the muslim bible, as you probably know) says clearly that if they are at war with an enemy, they should kill-kill-kill. Of course, then it's a matter of whether or not they consider themselves to be "at war." Obviously, some do. I've also read a lot about their attitude toward Jews and Christians, and their ...

This is a third thread, continuing the "The Real Murderers, Atheists or Christianity."

My discussions with folks on various threads have led me to feel that certain topics, usually kept apart, should be addressed together in order to see the trend they represent, thus this vanity post. I have some questions for those who oppose stem-cell research on moral grounds:Do you oppose it because you feel it is wrong to kill a human? If so, do you also oppose capital punishment? If not, then humanity is not your real criteria. Do you oppose it because the fetus has unique DNA and therefore should be considered a separate person from conception? Would you support ...

SPRINGFIELD- Mothers now can leave their unwanted newborn babies at hospitals or fire departments anonymously and without fear of civil or criminal prosecution under legislation signed into law Friday by Gov. George H. Ryan. The law is designed to give an option to mothers who might otherwise abandon their babies to die. Mothers who give birth outside a hospital will not face child endangerment charges if they leave their infants with personnel at approved facilities within three days of birth. The children would be cared for by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and put up for adoption.A ...

I finally saw "The Matrix" and I wonder if any freepers are interested in discussing the implications of this fascinating movie. I am offering my own interpretation and reaction in hopes of stimulating some exchange. If my views are offensive or abhorrent to some, I apologize. I can only say that these are my views and I cannot hold any others, but I can listen to others calmly and with tolerance, and I would ask that you try to do the same for me. My essay is organized rather backwardly and I am sorry for that, but I had to ...