Free Republic

On June 28, 2012, many in our nation celebrated our newest federal holiday: Dependence Day. With the declaration that the ironically named Affordable Healthcare Act is constitutional and, therefore, above further legal review on the same day, our nation has changed course away from the direction set forth by our founding fathers. Two hundred and thirty-six years earlier, these great men proclaimed that the American Colonies deserved freedom from oppression by the distant English king and his domestic supporters. Their words formed the bedrock of our nation and culture, providing the inspiration for our people to rise up and unite...

Last Monday, I watched the 24 Day 6 season final episode and felt completely let down by the creative team behind the show. At the end of six seasons, Jack Bauer is sadly gazing out over the ocean, tail between his legs and apparently defeated for the first time in his life. Does the 24 team really expect us to believe that one conversation with Audrey’s father could undermine his drive more than confronting six seasons of terrorists, bureaucratic infighting and countless scrapes with death? There has to be a better way to end a program and keep the fans...

Afghanistan's government has pledged to give $100,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, The United States embassy said on Sunday. President Hamid Karzai made the pledge in a letter sent to US Ambassador Ronald Neumann. 'On behalf of the US embassy, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the people of Afghanistan,' Neumann said in a statement. 'Their compassion and generosity bears testimony to the strength of the ties between our two peoples.' Afghanistan's cash-strapped government relies heavily on financial aid from the United States and elsewhere. Most of the country is impoverished and there is little infrastructure...

First anti-Jordanian Protest: Iraqis protest against Jordan over bomber Thousands of Iraqi Shias protested on Monday after hearing reports that relatives of a Jordanian suicide bomber suspected of killing 125 people in the town of Hilla celebrated him as a martyr. After breaking into the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad and tearing down the flag, protesters called on all foreign Arabs to leave the country and denounced King Abdullah. Anti-Jordanian sentiment has been spreading since Iraqis read newspaper reports that Jordan’s Raid al-Banna blew himself up beside people lining up for jobs in the Shia town of Hilla last month in...

Outside of FNC, the MSM has been quite silent on the fact that the Armanious family in NJ was the first entire family killed by muslim extremists on the continential US - before or during 911. Those murdered on 911 left spouses and children but in this case, an entire family was wiped out in cold blood. Considering the MSM morbid curiosity for these kinds of things, months of OJ and Scott Peterson being prime examples, you would think that the MSM would jump on the chance to report on something this grisly right in their own back yard but...

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money." The above quote is attributed to Sen. Everet Dirkson; however, the UN has taken the concept to the absurd extreme. Since the inception of the UN Oil for Food (OFF) in 1995(1), it has collected 100B USD (2) of Iraqi petrodollars for redistribution directly to the Iraqi people. At least that's how it was supposed to work on paper. To put that number in perspective, that's approximately 11.1B USB per year. The OFF program generated more money than the annual GDP of all but 87 nations....

Amazing Race Freepers! In little less than twelve hours, the Amazing Race #6 (TAR6) will start. For those wondering, this is a television show like no other and has a growing cult-like following here on FR. In a nutshell, TAR6 will be a whirlwind, non-stop race around the world for one million dollars [/Dr. Evil voice] that one wrong turn can eliminate you from the race. Choose your path wisely and win a weeklong cruise on some segments. Choose poorly and your team could wind up in a Moroccan jail like Andre / Damon on TAR3 or possibly shaving...

His Polling Secret: Forget People A Denver pollster spots trends by taking the pulse of the media. Charles McLean is a pollster, but he doesn't poll people. People, after all, are expensive to call, and you never know whether you're talking to the right ones, and sometimes they lie to you. That's why McLean, who runs Denver Research Group Inc. in Aspen, takes the pulse of a more reliable, trustworthy group: the media. Say what? One of the more interesting developments of this political season has been the rise of alternative polling, especially polls that analyze "conversational mass." The basic...

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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat - too weak to stand, unable to hold down food and spending most of Thursday sleeping - agreed to leave his battered compound for the first time in more than two years and fly to Paris for urgent medical treatment. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader's planned departure Friday, a decade after he arrived on the West Bank of the Jordan River with the promise of statehood, could mark the end of an era. Arafat, who hoarded power and declined to groom a successor, leaves behind a people in disarray. Blood tests...

The quoted text was originally posted on the New Questions On Bush Guard Duty [CBS USES FORGERIES TO SMEAR THE PRESIDENT!!!!!] thread by bondjamesbond. In light of current events, I felt the post warrants a seperate BREAKING thread and has been reposted with the consent of the author: "Holy Moly! I decided to take your (FReeper aft_lizard's) suggestion and looked back at John Kerry's DD214s, also from 1972. Not only were multiple machines used, but proportional fonts as well. Check it out (in .PDF & from johnkerry.com) Lines 1-10 are in standard evenly spaced fonts Lines 11 and 12 are...

Even labor unions are outsourcing. For nearly two weeks, the Southeastern Carpenters Regional Council has been picketing in front of the State Bar of Georgia's downtown Atlanta headquarters. But about half the picketers aren't carpenters — or union members. Instead, they answered an ad the union placed with the state Labor Department offering $8 an hour to wear a sandwich board and march back and forth in front of the Marietta Street building. "I'm just helping out," said Shilo Henry as he and two dozen other picketers walked the line. The union has hired 500 or so picketers in the...

FT. Wayne Airport is closed after luggage containing white powder comes in contact with airport airport worker who immediately ill. Bag was on American Eagle flight originated from Chicago and supposed to be in the custody of a Lebonese doctor who was not on the flight. Apologies if this is a duplicate thread

For those who don't think that things are settling down in Iraq, the Peachtree Roadrace sponsored a 10k in Baghdad today - an activity you don't normally schedule for an uncontrolled war zone. The men's winner was a Air Force LT from Wright-Patterson and the women's winner was a Austrilan Army Capt. Unfortunately, I was not able to get the names of either in this segment shown during coverage of the Atlanta Peachtree race. Perhaps someone else can verify / contribute additional details. Happy Independence Day!

Freepers Everywhere, Welcome to the Second Annual Free Republic Lightning Storm (VKLS 2.0) – an online display of natural and man-made fireworks and patriotic images – in anticipation of the Fourth of July and the safe return of all of our Servicemen and women on tours of duty around the world. Most every community in America celebrates the Fourth of July with Fireworks in some fashion. Free Republic is an on-line community and this tradition should be no different. That’s why we decided that the Free Republic needed it’s own on-line Fireworks display to honor America, Freedom and those...

The third new stealth corvette for the South African Navy arrived at the Simon’s Town naval base from Germany yesterday (Sunday, 30 May 2004). SAS Spioenkop is the third in a series of four Meko A200-SAN class corvette/frigates ordered from the German frigate consortium, and follows SAS Amatola and SAS Isandlwana, which arrived in November and March respectively (see reports in this column dated 15 March 2004, 25 February 2004 and 11 November 2003). A fourth corvette, SAS Mendi is expected in Simon’s Town later this year.

Fahrenheit 911 taking in an estimated $8M on its first day of wide release ( link ), I thought it would be best to compare this movie against another "controversial" movie released earlier this year. The contrast could not be more stark. The Passion of Christ was directed and produced by Academy Award winning Mel Gibson. Fahrenheit 911 was directed and produced by Academy Award winning Michael Moore. The Passion of Christ was criticised as being anti-semetic and divisive. Fahrenheit 911 was criticised for "not going far enough to the tell the truth". The Passion of Christ had difficulty establishing...