Free Republic

<p>Gary Kamiya, executive editor of the left-leaning Internet journal Salon (www.salon.com), confirms what some Americans have only suspected: Liberals were cheering for the enemy in Iraq.</p> <p>"I have a confession: I have at times, as the war has unfolded, secretly wished for things to go wrong," Mr. Kamiya wrote last week. "Wished for the Iraqis to be more nationalistic, to resist longer. Wished for the Arab world to rise up in rage. Wished for all the things we feared would happen. I'm not alone: A number of serious, intelligent, morally sensitive people who oppose the war have told me they have had identical feelings."</p>

Anti-gun zealots who say owners are paranoid for opposing the federal firearms registry may think twice when they hear Brian Ward's story.On the evening of Dec. 18, 2002, four officers from the Oceanside RCMP detachment on Vancouver Island entered Ward's home executing a search warrant in an attempt to find a missing firearm. Keep in mind, this was not a gun that had been used in the commission of a crime. Ward was not under investigation for harming someone else, holding up a bank or for threatening anyone. This was a paperwork problem. The disputed firearm was one of three...

<p>Two hundred years after the American Founding came a defender of our Constitution's principles, Balint Vazsonyi, who toiled in the tents of revival and rededication until he passed away last Friday.</p> <p>With nothing but hope and determination, Balint, a budding concert pianist, walked out of Soviet-occupied Hungary with his mother and brother in 1956, crossing on foot through the mountains to Austria.</p>

John Fogle`I probably won't win." So said a gentleman standing in line to purchase a Powerball ticket in South Carolina recently. And, of course, he was right. Amateur psychologists out there will recognize that he wanted someone to assure him that he had some chance to win, but it's the word "probably" that caught my attention. First, a little background on determining odds. To learn how to figure odds, it is helpful to look at standard dice. If one rolls one half of a pair of dice, that is, one die, then there are six total possibilities, one through six,...

Monday, December 2, five days after the event, Al Qaeda took formal responsibility for the two attacks against Israeli targets at Kenya’s Indian Ocean resort of Mombasa last Thursday, November 28, in which 16 people died - 13 Kenyans and three Israelis. Several hours before al Qaeda posted its admission, three prominent Israeli security figures suddenly found their voices on the dangers posed by al Qaeda and the grave implications as regards Israel’s abilities to fight back. For many months, Israeli spokesmen kept quiet about the international fundamentalist terror network’s presence in Israel, first exposed by DEBKAfile last April, despite...

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Recently, we have come upon the writings of those in far away lands explaining the reason why “Jihadi” (holy war - as you refer) is to be waged upon the American people. As much as we appreciate the passion the author may have for the concerns of Islam, I believe many of the principles laid forth it their ‘manifesto’ show that when it comes to Real Americans, the author is misinformed, which...

Maybe it's just me, but Ramadan seems to come round earlier every year. Around the world, the holy month is being observed in the time-honoured fashion we've come to know so well. There has been the traditional annual call for a "bombing pause" during Ramadan -- this year not from the humanitarian nancy boys at Oxfam and Co. but from Saddam himself, who apparently feels it would be "culturally insensitive" toward Muslims to depose him during the holiest of Islamic festivals. In calling for a bombing pause when we are not, alas, bombing him, the wannabe Saladin has usefully reminded...

As of this writing the U.S. intelligence community has determined that the alleged bin Laden audiotape of last week is authentic. Bin Laden is alive, probably hiding in the remote mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. As recent terrorist actions in Bali, the Persian Gulf and Jordan demonstrate, the war against al Qaeda has not been won. The state of alert across the world is the highest it has been since Sept. 11, 2001. Police reinforcements have been brought into London, German officials have warned that biological and chemical attacks are being planned, and the head of Interpol says that al Qaeda...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals panel on Tuesday revived Gennifer Flowers' defamation suit accusing Hillary Rodham Clinton of masterminding a campaign to discredit her claim of an affair with Bill Clinton. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that Flowers could try to prove the former first lady, now a senator from New York, conspired against her with two presidential aides, George Stephanopoulos and James Carville. Still, the court said Flowers faces an "uphill battle" and must convince a Nevada judge there is evidence of a conspiracy before the case could proceed to a jury. The...

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - Now that it has cut taxes, the Bush administration's next goal will be to simplify taxes. Soon after the election, the Treasury Department will give President Bush its ideas for rewriting the tax code. Depending upon the political climate, the administration could push for sweeping changes that would leave the tax code almost unrecognizable. Any final decision on what to do will be up to the president and Congress, but "we're working on it," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told the National Association of Manufacturers on Wednesday.The result could be the end of all sorts of tax loopholes,...

What does it take to get fired from a federal job? Apparently, admitting terrorists into the country won't do it, even when they fly into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That's the unmistakable conclusion you draw after reading the current issue of National Review. Investigative reporter Joel Mowbray produces documentary evidence that State Department employees violated their own rules and procedures -- as well as the law -- by admitting 15 of the 19 hijackers who killed more than 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. Yet, to date, no one has been fired as a result of this...

If the acronym "CEDAW" doesn't mean anything to you, you need to read further. It is a dangerous international treaty disguised as a wonderful advancement in women's rights. CEDAW stands for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. So far, 169 nations are signatories. President Carter signed the treaty in 1980, but the Senate has yet to ratify it. Who could be opposed to such an innocuous pact? The answer is anyone who cares about United States sovereignty, states' rights, forced gender "re-education," motherhood, the free...

These past two weeks in Europe have been sort of an epiphany for me. The hopes and promises of the European Monetary Union (EMU) are now ringing hollow. Eleven cities later -- on the Continent and in the UK -- and there can be no mistaking the sense of despair that is gripping this region. Europe has lost its way. And with a deep sense of resignation, the Europeans know it. The summer of 2002 unmasked the fault lines in the "new" Europe. Three critical flaws emerged -- the first being Euroland’s lack of autonomous support from domestic demand and...

A nuke scandal is gathering steam Pyotr Simonenko, the leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party released a sensational statement on Wednesday. In his words, there were 2400 nuclear warheads in Ukraine, although the export of only 2200 of them was officially documented. Simonenko claimed that nobody knows where 200 Soviet-era nukes in Ukraine are. The official reaction followed the next day, but it was a rather weak one. Deputy chief of the Ukrainian Army Headquarters, Nikolay Goncharenko, declared that Simonenko’s statement regarding the disappearance of the nuclear weapons from the territory of Ukraine was absolutely groundless. The high-ranking military official...

I like to keep readers of this column apprised of the various acts of discrimination against Christians and Christian symbols in our society that come to my attention. I've got a new one for you. The Central Baptist Church in Sanford, Fla., organized a memorial service to honor the victims of last year's September 11 terrorist attacks. The church invited local school board members and other community leaders, as well as the public at large. The Church asked the Seminole High School Gospel Choir to perform at the event, to be held at the church. When school officials got wind...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the debate over the fate of Saddam Hussein moves from a simmer to a boil, perhaps you have noticed that the Scrupling Few are again employing the term "chicken hawk." The Scrupling Few are those who at once are negative toward war with Saddam and also positive -- at least vaguely positive. This is not to say they are positive for war exactly, but for good things to come from Washington, despite the evil Republicans. In describing the Scrupling Few, one cannot be much more concrete. They worry, they pontificate, they Scruple. That is about it....

WASHINGTON -- "We are stretched, really stretched," a senior U.S. Army combat commander told me. The 10 divisions that constitute the sole surviving superpower's fighting strength are scarcely able to handle today's responsibilities, much less a full-scale war in Iraq. What's more, a pre-emptive strike against Baghdad may only be the first of such military ventures. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, vice chairman and dominant Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, last week shined a light onto this nation's future pre-emptions. Questioned on CNN's "Crossfire" about military intervention in Iraq, Hunter said: "The president understands this is a new...

Flying has never been my favorite activity, and it's gotten a lot harder over the last year. I fly, on average, a couple of times a month. Barely a week after the September 11 attacks, I was back in an airplane flying across the country, and I haven't avoided taking a single flight since. But I'm always nervous the moment I step foot in the airport. For a while after the attacks, when airport security seemed intense, at least in the Washington, D.C., area, I felt a little better. All those fresh, young National Guardsmen and women with assault rifles...

History is loaded with dates that changed our country forever: The signing of our Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The start of our civil war on April 12, 1861. The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Add Sept. 11, 2001, to that list. A year has passed since that day when thousands died, mighty towers fell and part of the Pentagon became an inferno. We are just beginning to grasp how our lives have changed. I’ll never forget that day. I was conducting a discussion on free trade in one of our conference rooms when I...

<p>LONDON (Reuters) — Oil prices hit new highs Tuesday as a warning from the U.S. Navy of potential al-Qaeda attacks on oil tankers heightened worries about a U.S. military campaign against Iraq.</p> <p>The Navy's Bahrain-based Marine Liaison Office issued the warning to shipping in the Middle East but said it had no evidence that any imminent attack was planned.</p>