Free Republic

FOUR Asians who murdered another Asian and then ate his body were caught when one of their victim's finger was found in the stomach of one during treatment for acute food poisoning, the daily Al-Sharq newspaper said today. The Qatari newspaper said the four men had to seek emergency hospital treatment after eating part of the corpse, various bits of which, including a finger, showed up on hospital X-rays.

Three of most widely-covered recent news narratives revolve around the same fundamental issue: the failure of bureaucratic institutions to meet challenges involving their basic missions. The British Navy, a force that embodies the term "legendary", was taken by surprise and humiliated by a militia in speedboats. Virginia Tech proved itself, despite years of warnings, unable to provide the minimal level of security necessary for the safety of its faculty and student body. The war on terror, worst of all, is hobbled by bureaucratic strictures and habits of mind. What these problems have in common - apart from being disasters of...

Every member of the press will assure you that freedom of the press is the most fundamental of all liberties. The news media are the "fourth estate" (or is that a fifth column?), the sacred guardians of public access to information, all declaring that the citizenry has a "right to know" while wrapping themselves in the Constitution and taking credit for every informed citizen on Earth. But if the media really wishes to justify its excesses and self-important swagger by claiming that it provides people with the relevant information needed to make important decisions, then the modern media is a...

It is well-known that George Soros, the hedge-fund manager, major Democratic Party donor and anti-Israel crusader, has been a generous contributor to Barack Obama. But relatively few people realize that a loophole in McCain-Feingold allowed Soros his family members to be particularly generous in support of Obama's Senatorial campaign. Because Obama was running against Blair Hull in the primary and then Jack Ryan in the general (both multi-millionaires), Obama could, and did, receive especially large donations from individuals, to so-called "millionaires exception." Normally individuals are limited to giving $2300 to candidates in federal elections, but when candidates are running against...

BAGHDAD (AP) - Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed 183 people—the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop surge began nine weeks ago. Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the area around the Sadriyah market where at least 127 people died and 148 were wounded in the deadliest bombing of the day. It was the second massive blast at the market since Feb. 3. Nationwide, the number of people killed or found dead on...

According to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) tens of billions of dollars (one-third from US taxpayers, the rest mostly from Canada and European countries) have been spent over the last 50 years providing "Palestinian refugees" and their descendants. An estimated half million people 60 years ago, that number is now over four million and increasing daily. UNRWA's purpose: to insure the "Palestinian Right of Return" - the destruction of Israel. No Arab country except Jordan -- where they constitute more than two-thirds of the population - accepts them as citizens. Saudi Arabia, for example, recently passed a law...

Europe gets forty percent of its oil through the Persian Gulf. But by an accident of history (and civilized policy -- ours, that is) it is the United States that guards the Gulf from madmen like Ahmadinejad. Well, so be it. We gain from world peace and free trade, and it is better to keep the maniacs far away from our shores. But it is now way past time for Europe to step up to the plate again. They have the economic might, the population, the brains -- but not the guts -- to behave as a decent actor on...

Whenever I hear of rich people like Martha Stewart, Dennis Kozlowski or Leona Helmsley being convicted and sent to prison, I find myself wondering how these jet-setting sybarites withstand incarceration. In sympathetic identification, I project myself into their circumstances and embark on a mental sojourn of the accommodations and appointments found within the correctional facility. My quest for the perfect incarceration location was satisfied recently on a visit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which truly rates an entry in the Michelin Guide to Correctional Facilities. I've informed my lawyer, family, close friends and associates that if I'm ever convicted, send me...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A high school senior acknowledges he went too far when he mooned a teacher. But he thinks the decision of school officials to send him to a new school for the rest of the year was too harsh, so his family is suing. Tyler Tillung, 18, mooned a teacher "suddenly and without thinking about the consequences" in February, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. The teacher had declined to let him into a Feb. 21 school lip sync show that was full. He was suspended for six days and reassigned to a new school. But the teen...

WASHINGTON - The game inside the Beltway now focuses on John Kerry's pick of a running mate. The same game rages inside Kerry's campaign headquarters. If there is a consensus among Kerry aides about the boldest and most potent pick, it is Sen. John McCain of Arizona - a Republican. While Kerry has talked about his search with few people, many high-level staffers believe McCain will get serious consideration. The other name heard most frequently is that of Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who defended Kerry last week in a CNN interview. In the primaries, however, Kerry questioned Edwards's ability to...

A German judge who refused a Moroccan woman a fast-track divorce on the grounds that domestic violence was acceptable according to the Qur'an has been removed from the case following a nationwide outcry. The judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said the German woman of Moroccan descent would not be granted a divorce because she and her husband came from a "Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife," according to a statement she wrote that was issued by a Frankfurt court. "That's what the claimant had to reckon...

From the thunderous applause and ovation received by Al Gore at the Oscars, one would have thought he was an aging actor who had finally received a long-awaited award for best actor. He wasn't. Instead, what Gore provided for Hollywood and its members in the audience was validation. He made them feel good about themselves. So they applauded and cheered wildly. His award said that their attachment to the global-warming cause made them good people, enlightened, and ahead of the curve. Never before in history has there been a greater collection of self-indulgent, self-righteous, comfort-seeking hedonists than what is now...

February 26, 2007: A recent opinion poll of Arab countries (Egypt:, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), questioned a sample of 3,850 individuals, and was done under the direction of American firm Zogby International. Many of the responses will seem odd to Westerners, but not to historians. The responses explain a lot of what has been going on in the Islamic world, and why the most recent outbreak of Islamic terrorism is so deadly and predictable.

It only took PBS one hour to uncover the causes of anti-Semitism, now in an alarming heyday. In "Antisemitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence," narrated by Judy Woodruff, PBS offered the answer: The reason for Jew-hatred, now widely promulgated among Muslim populations, is, well... Jews! Israel! Even Christianity! Oh, brother. This wreck of a thesis emerged early in the documentary as fact and fiction collided, mangling cause and effect. According to the show, Jews basically caused anti-Semitism in the Arab-Muslim region around them by first building the tiny modern state of Israel (500 times smaller than that Arab Muslim...

his past year I came up with an idea that, strangely enough, bore fruit: I knew that there had to be lots of other old vets out there like me who had overcome their fear of computers and the Internet to discover that these are tools which can be used effectively to expand on the knowledge gained from our military experiences to provide unique insights and perspectives to the millions of web viewers who've not been there nor done that. I looked at it as a situation of old dogs learning new tricks, and out of that, through the dedication...

t has become an axiomatic belief that solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict is central to resolving numerous other problems in the Middle East. That claim may or may not be an exaggerated one. But there is no doubt that certain aspects of the Israeli Palestinian conflict have become rallying cries to Jihadis throughout the world who proclaim that their armed struggle against Israel and the West must continue until nothing less than the "liberation" of Jerusalem from the hands of the infidel. To be more precise however, Jerusalem per se is not the issue. The heart of the matter is...

Two Australian pastors who were convicted of "vilifying" Muslims when they quoted from the Quran during a seminar on jihad have had their appeals upheld by the Victorian Supreme Court. And while that means they will return to a lower court for another trial, that actually is a good result, according to a new report from Voice of the Martyrs. "In a sense we are happy with this decision… It means this case will be kept alive in the public consciousness," Pastor Danny Nalliah said in a VOM report. "There's a need to keep these vilification laws in sharp focus...

LONDON – A Christian airline stewardess is planning to challenge a ruling by a British airline that prohibits staff from traveling to Saudi Arabia with a Bible. Journalist Claire Bergen, writing for the Independent Catholic News website, said, "BMI, formerly British Midland Airways, confirmed that the matter is now subject to an industrial tribunal due to take place in the New Year." She went on to say, "The stewardess, a committed Christian, likes to take her Bible, which was once her mother's, with her when she travels. "But BMI says it has banned her from taking the Bible with her...

Who can forget the scenes of jubilant Iraqis in the streets of Baghdad in 2003? Who can forget the cheerful Iraqis around the falling statue of Saddam, symbolising the fall of the dictator’s regime? Indeed, the majority of Iraqis were supportive to the efforts of liberating Iraq from the tight grip of Iraq’s worst dictator. That includes the vast majority of Kurds (about 20% of the total population) and the Shia (about 60% of the total population) as well as many sunni Arabs (about 20% of the total population). All these groups had suffered badly and sadly at the hands...

Anyone who's traveled in Malaysia and Indonesia can testify to the friendly, open-minded character of most of the citizens. Every nation has a legend, and in Malaysia there's one an American traveler might encounter it. It goes something like this: "We have made it. We beat colonialism, we beat nationalism, we beat war, we beat poverty, we beat the Asian crisis ... let's show you around and make money together." In Indonesia, there's a less obvious directionality than one might notice among the Malaysians, and an American encounters more of a sort of national theme of delight and wonder: "You...