Free Republic

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. As we remember the man once described as the moral compass of the nation, one speech in particular continues to inspire us, its poetic refrain imprinted on the memory of America. I have a dream that one day … The soaring oration was delivered against the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 250,000 gathered for the March on Washington. Since that historic moment on Aug. 28, 1963, "I Have a Dream" has become a bellwether for America's progress on race. Themes of justice, opportunity, unity, desegregation...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. companies flooded the government with visa applications for highly skilled foreign workers on Tuesday in what has become an annual lottery for just 65,000 visas. The government did not release any figures, but experts said they expected about 200,000 applications, more than three times the number available, on the first day the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting the petitions for the fiscal year starting October 1. The U.S. government was overwhelmed last year with about 120,000 applications on the first day that applications were accepted for H-1B visas, leaving many candidates out of...

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Seven women who are members of a Russian cult that has been holed up in a cave for months awaiting the end of the world have emerged and are being treated by emergency workers, regional officials said Friday. More than two dozen members who remain inside the cave could come out as early as Saturday, said the official in the governor's office of the Penza region, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Moscow. He said four children, who were reportedly under the age of two, were among those remaining inside the cave. Penza Vice Governor...

Exactly two years ago, the Afghan government and its many international backers met in London to plot a plan for the future, but the progress reports do not make for pretty reading. The relief agency, Oxfam International, has sent an open letter to the leaders of supporting nations calling for "a major change in direction in order to reduce suffering and avert humanitarian disaster." The influential US-based Afghanistan Study Group has meanwhile warned that the progress made in the six years since the end of the Taleban regime "is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, and a...

Only one thing will be discussed here in Davos today: the alleged fraud by a trader at SocGen which has cost the French bank €4.9bn, or £3.7bn. I feel slightly sick thinking about it, as I sit surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The sheer scale of the loss is overpowering. It takes the crisis in the global banking markets into a whole new area. So here are the questions: 1) Did it take place in London, where SocGen has a big presence? 2) Is the loss related to mis-valuation of structured finance products, abuse of what is known as the "mark-to-model"...

The Lincoln Review, a Washington-based black think tank, published an article titled "What Does the Future Hold for Historically Black Colleges?" in its September/October 2007 edition. It recalled the experiences of Bill Maxwell, a St. Petersburg Times columnist and editorial board member, when in 2004 he took a huge pay cut to teach journalism at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He wanted to fulfill a promise he made to professors who taught him during the 1960s at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, two historically black colleges. He was in for surprise and disappointment. Professor...

In Europe, there is a lot of debate about which entity's interest should be stronger within a country, business or government. Given the nature of the average woman and average man, I tend to think men are best in business and women are best in government. I’d love to know what fellow FRiends think!

From 1866 to 1965, less than 6,000 black Americans were lynched in America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States In currently times, the approximate number of blacks and whites killed by “black on black” and “white on white” crimes is equal to about the same number. Blacks = 6,000 per year; Whites = 6,000 per year http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm Therefore, about 5,000 black Americans are killed each year due to failures in black America. The questions becomes, “who’s responsible???”.

Hello Freepers! Just a simple rant to get opinions about tomorrow’s Mideast summit. I tend to think that there are two pre-Western Civilization forces at play, the “Aristocratic European 9th Century” Sunni states vs. the “Evils of Communism with Religious Enforcement” Shiite states with “21st Century Democratic balance of Forces” Israel as “the infidels who will not submit…..”. Therefore, I tend to think success is like stuffing a 100-lb sausage into a 2-lb skin (Granny x’s 10).

NEW ORLEANS - The city and the state of Louisiana will pay the bulk of a $3.4 million racial discrimination judgment against the New Orleans District Attorney's Office, officials announced Tuesday. The judgment was awarded to 36 employees, 35 white and one Hispanic, who were fired and replaced by black employees shortly after Eddie Jordan took over as the city's first black district attorney in 2003. Under the agreement outlined at a conference, the city will pay about one third of the judgment, or more than $1.1 million. The state will pay about $1.6 million, subject to approval by a...

The economic outlook for Africa is improving after a decade of growth of 5.4% for the continent that matches global rates, the World Bank has said. The trend indicates that a fundamental change is occurring in Africa, a World Bank official told the BBC. But the bank's latest report, Africa Development Indicators 2007 (ADI), says ongoing investment is needed to sustain long-term development on the continent. Otherwise, a split may grow between affluent nations and stagnant ones. The report looked at more than 1,000 indicators covering economic, human and private-sector development, governance, the environment and aid. It concludes that growth...

VATICAN CITY, 7 November 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held a historic meeting yesterday with Pope Benedict XVI and called for dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews in order to promote peace, justice and moral values. The warmth exuded by the two leaders on a chilly morning set the tone for the day. Greeting the king with a smile, the pope was effusive and eloquent in his actions as he warmly welcomed the Saudi monarch. The two leaders clasped hands on meeting and smiled before embarking on their historic talks. The king and the pope...

<p>Dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe spent three weeks at sea off West Africa's coast and threw nearly 50 bodies overboard after their vessel lost power and supplies dwindled, officials said Tuesday.</p> <p>The boat, which set out from Senegal with as many as 150 people and apparently traveled hundreds of miles, was found Tuesday by a Mauritanian patrol boat, a Spanish Civil Guard official said.</p>

<p>Civil rights leaders called Tuesday for a march on the Justice Department and an economic boycott next month because they believe the federal government has been sluggish in dealing with hate crimes.</p>

A panel recommended to the State Department that the U.S. create a "central command center" to improve coordination among agencies using private security contractors in war zones, senior State Department officials and others familiar with the review told CNN Monday. The panel also recommended a thorough examination of the rules of engagement, especially when using deadly force, the sources said. Led by Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy, the panel briefed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday on its recommendations. Other members include retired Gen. George Joulwan, Ambassador Stapleton Roy and Ambassador Eric Boswell. Rice said the recommendations "point a...

Nobel laureate biologist Jim Watson apologized "unreservedly" Thursday for stating that black people were not as intelligent as whites, saying he was "mortified" by the comments attributed to him. "I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said," Watson said during an appearance at the Royal Society in London. "I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways that they have." "To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not...

Many, many thanks to all of the FRiends who objectively posted comments about an American far, far worst then David Duke to the future of America. However, just as many Americans who happened to be born into the KKK found it hard to leave, the challenge is far greater for many black Americans due to the lack of alternatives being born on the Liberal plantation.

Sunnis = American White liberal elitist Shiites = American Hispanic Mexican nationalist Kurds = American black racist elitist (Jesse and Al) With predictable problems occurring because the Sunnis will always view the Shiites and Kurds as inferiors that need to be managed, the Shiites loyalty will probably always be to Iran and the Kurds are happy as long as they get what they want for Kurdistan, which seems good for now but what about the future and Democracy. Add Mark Twain’s “a lie can travel half way around the world before the truth gets a chance to put its shoes...

OUJDA, Morocco — Antonio, 29, left Ghana eight months ago after his mother died and his father begged him to help support his three siblings. Armstrong, 31, couldn't make ends meet as a carpenter in his native Cameroon, so he set off a year and a half ago after promising his young daughter he'd return with new toys. Omar, 25, lost track of his family after rebels raided his village in the tumultuous Central African Republic. He fled his country last year with a handful of cash and the clothes on his back. Lured by tales of opportunity, all three...

I had the extreme pleasure of visiting Baton Rouge, Louisiana and chatting with a very well connected black female from New Orleans. Below is a summary of her analysis. Until the mid-1970s, New Orleans was ruled by an all white political and business elite. However, starting in the mid-1960s, well-educated blacks were accepted in “ supporting positions” of power and earned the respect of the mostly white professional class. From 1978 through 1986, Ernest Dutch Morial served as the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans. He quickly replaced the mostly white supporting positions within city government to just about all black...