Free Republic

It was 55 ½ years ago in August that Edgie Russell and I set out in a wooden rowboat to bring some clams home to our families. Bear with me, because this is going to be like Mark Twain’s story of his father’s ram. Edgie, you say. That’s a funny nickname. No, it’s a real name. My childhood friend was Thomas Edgie Russell, III. His great-grandfather’s life had been saved by a sea captain named Edgie, so the name came into the family in the next generation. His parents were friends with mine, and they lived up the street. So...

I’ve been preparing for a series of appearances as Benjamin Franklin at several different Tea Party events in Dayton, Ohio, from April 10 - 13. Despite his long and varied public career, Franklin had very little to do with partisan politics; Most of his service was as a diplomat, first in England and later in France. There is one quality that all successful diplomats share. They know how to hold their tongues. Enemies now may become friends later, and vice versa. Therefore, effective diplomats make an absolute minimum of public, personal attacks on anyone in a position of power. It...

Last Saturday, we did something that was only a small step up from mindless, unskilled labor. I’m glad we did it. We recommend it to everyone else. An enthusiastic lady came to our Rotary meeting a week before. She was a teacher, acting as a volunteer for her church. She asked us to join with people from another half dozen other Rotary Clubs to pack 100,000 meals for starving people in Haiti. We decided it was a good cause, and we went. There were two shifts requested at the National Guard Armory in the County Seat of Franklin, North Carolina....

We are apparently at crunch point on the efforts of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi in the House, and Majority Leader Reid in the Senate to pass by whatever means necessary the “health reform” bill. In the national debate, however, no one has asked whether the Supreme Court has any role in this matter. It does, and it may be definitive. There is a question of what the bill is, since there are many versions, and several are under wraps. The opponents of the bill, whatever it is, includes Democrats and Republicans who believe that the bill is ill-thought takeover of...

Before we get rolling, a pet peeve. Entirely too many reporters are too lazy to check their quotes. Time and again, they will say in their lede that "some wag referred to lies, damned lies, and statistics." No, no, no. That was not "some wag;" that was the greatest of all American humorists, Mark Twain. Twain's Autobiography attributes the quote to the quick-witted British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disreali. But Disraeli's biographers can find no trace of it. Apparently, Twain attributed it to someone else who was conveniently dead, to fend off attacks for using that shameful word, "damned," I've modified...

I was at breakfast on Sunday morning at the Sheraton National, in Arlington, Virginia. I was attending a conference elsewhere, but could only find space in Virginia. Also at my hotel were the members of the Iwo Jima Association. That Association was for survivors of that battle, and for the families of those who did not survive. At the table next to me were two, older gentleman. The younger man was in his 60's. He mentioned at one point where his father was buried at Arlington Cemetery, just a few blocks away. Then the older man, somewhere in his 90's...

Last week, I wrote about 11 factually false statements in President Obama’s State of the Union address. Normally, one should not repeat the same subject next week. But, did you see the appearance of Obama before the Republicans meeting in Baltimore? I know that a few hundred of you are political junkies like me, and you saw that live. I’m going to ask you a question. Don’t think/ Don’t pause. Answer with the first thing that comes to mind. What occurred to you, when you heard Obama say, “I am not an ideologue.”? I thought of Richard Nixon, toe to...

I’m just a semi-retired lawyer, living on a gravel road in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But I am also an avid consumer of news in all forms. This is a test. I read none of today’s analyses of the State of the Union speech. Here are the obvious lies I saw, off the top of my head. Lie 1: “one in ten... cannot find work.” Government statistics show that unemployment is almost double that; 17% are out of work. But the “official” rate ignores the 7% who have given up looking for a job. Lie 2: “to get a government...

I have been to Haiti, once. It was in 1972. I remember it vividly. The sad thing is that Haiti has not changed materially since then. As a result of that continuing history of human failure, people are dying in the tens of thousands from easily avoidable consequences of the earthquake that centered on Port au Prince last week. Haiti’s successful revolution to gain its freedom from being a colony of France, was only a few years after our own Revolution against England. But since then, Haiti has had a constant series of governments composed of thieves, torturers, murderers. When...

It was a simple question, posed to us in the Highlands Writers Group. “What was the best Christmas gift you ever received?” That question made me think deeply. I discovered that gifts change as years pass. I don’t mean the obvious, that you get different gifts in different years. I mean that the gifts you did get, even long, long ago, change with time. I was six in 1949, when the first Christmas I clearly remember, came around. We lived at 205 W. College Avenue, in Salisbury, Maryland. On the Eastern Shore, Salisbury was, and mostly still is, a sleepy...

Ben Franklin: On Science by Ben Franklin As most of you know, the international recognition of me as a scientist began with the day that I captured lightning with a kite. Had I done that experiment the way the popular myth, I probably would have been electrocuted, an early end to an ordinary career. You probably recall that my formal education ended when I was 14. After that, I bought and read every worthwhile book I could find. I died in 1790, but one aspect of the Other Side that I can share with you is that we get to...

As an avid follower of and writer on political and legal subjects for almost fifty years, I’ve gotten on many mailing lists from all parts of the political spectrum. This week I received the “2009 Scorecard on Campaign Reform” from an outfit named North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections. Sounds like God, flag, and Mom’s apple pie, doesn’t it? I had never heard of this organization before. But there is a standard process I use to smoke out the bias, if any, in any new organization I hear about. My knowledge was new; the organization is, apparently, ten years old....

It has been almost a year that little Barry What’s-His-Name, the Kenyan- Indonesian-African-American lad has been going to school as President of the United States. This is an interim Report Card to his political parents, the voters of the United States. English Comprehension: Barry has the most extraordinary ability to speak in English than all but a small handful of students who have ever attended this school. However, this ability to speak in complete sentences, using words that seem appropriate to the subject at hand, is coupled with a near total lack of content in those speeches. A+ for delivery,...

Some of he facts for this article, and some of the legal conclusions, come from an article on 13 November, 2009, on Frontpage,com by David Horowitz, entitled “The Worst Decision by a US President in History.” The title alone makes clear that Mr. Horowitz sharply opposes President Obama’s decision to have alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad and his confederates tried in federal court in New York City rather than before a military tribunal. The ACLU, and its ally, the pro-Castro, Center for Constitutional Rights, have praised Obama’s decision as “presenting American justice to the world.” Since the ACLU is...

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has regularly accused the Republicans in the House of displaying “a culture of corruption.” Yet the critical vote to get the House version of the health bill out of the House, demonstrates that Speaker Pelosi not only likes corruption, she counts on it. Remember her middle name because it figures in the proof. On 7 November at 11:15 pm House bill 3962 passed by a vote of 220-215. Votes in favor of that bill included the following: Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Jane Harman (D-Cal), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Alan Mollohan (D-WVa). Jim Moran...

Until the mass murder at Fort Hood intervened, I’d intended to write about Thursday’s bingo night to benefit the Girl Scouts. It was a cold and stormy night. Almost all of the summer visitors are gone. We thought there’d be sparse attendance at the monthly charity bingo game put on by the Rotary Club. But the place was packed, wall to wall. Dozens of Brownies and Girl Scouts in uniform were scurrying about, serving the players. Final figures weren’t available on the spot. From prior experience, however, I’m sure more than $1,000 was raised for the Scouts. How ordinary is...

Late last week, in the dead of night. President Obama made an unannounced trip to Dover, Delaware, where he was photographed saluting some flag-covered coffins that were coming in from Afghanistan. There were 18 coffins on this day. And afterwards, Obama said that this experience “would influence his decision” on troop levels and future policies in the war in that Afghanistan. Well, first I fault the press. I’ve been saying for years that reporting on war casualties, in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, is defective. The national importance of casualties should be gauged by relative casualties in other, American wars. It’s...

Last week, on air, Keith Olbermann (a leading personality, if there is such a thing on his network), described columnist Michelle Malkin as “a mashed up bag of meat with lipstick.” Before I discuss all the things wrong with this comment, the “man” who made it, his network, and its corporate owners, here are my prejudices in the matter. First, I know and respect the journalistic abilities of Michelle Malkin. I was present in D.C. in February when she received an award for her work. On the other hand, I agree with the hundreds of millions of Americans who indicate...

Below are all the American Presidents and Vice Presidents who have received the Nobel Peace Prize, in order from first to most recent. It was an educational experience to review all the awards since the first was given in 1901. That bears on whether the Prize just awarded to President Obama is a positive or negative thing with respect to international war and peace. 1906 - (President) Theodore Roosevelt who “drew up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan.” This was an actual shooting war, which ended with the Treaty which Roosevelt negotiated. 1919 - (President) T. Woodrow Wilson...

Dubrovnik, Croatia, in the former Yugoslavia, is a relatively new city by European standards. It began in the 7th century AD, when sailors and traders in its area built the first fortifications to protect themselves from raids by various interests, all classified as "barbarians." We would not have gone to this town except that it was one of the ports of call of the Costa Fortuna, an Italian ship with fine crew and service, on a eastern Mediteranian tour. We are very glad that by accident, we got to Dubrovnik. It is one of the most successful of the city-states...