Free Republic

What is Radio Left? Answer Radio Left is an Internet Radio Station and a website that are intended to promote the liberal and progressive point of view. At Radio Left, we believe that those who do not hold liberal and progressive views simply are uninformed and need to be educated. We work to provide a meeting place for liberals and progressives to work together to create a better world. Updated: 01 January 2002 - 1219 hits

<p>Student protests are turning more heads on college campuses, but not because students have become more political. Organizers are using free food, costumes and music in hopes that passers-by will pick up the deeper message.</p> <p>A University of Iowa protest attracted crowds last month when a man balanced himself on a unicycle and juggled torches. The cheers resonated more than a block away. U of I students at one point last week spoofed cheerleaders, chanting: "One, two, three, four. Boring protests no more."</p>

<p>The senior instructor for the University of Iowa Reserve Officer Training Corps says that because of heightened emotions about the war in Iraq she will allow students to skip wearing their uniforms for some classes as a means of lowering their ‘‘profile.’’</p>

The Story behind the National Anthem By an unknown speaker As heard on Jan Mickelson’s show on WHO Radio There was a lawyer once. His name was Francis Scott Key. He penned a song that I'm sure you're aware of. You've seen it; it's in most hymnals throughout our churches. It's called the National Anthem. It is our song as an American. We go, however, to a ballgame; we stand in our church services and we sing the words to that song and they float over our minds and our lips and we don't even realize what we're singing. Most...

<p>If the United States invades Iraq, some Iowa peace activists are planning nonviolent acts of lawbreaking to show their strong opposition to such a war.</p> <p>"There will be a response and it will include civil disobedience in Des Moines as well as other places," said Brian Terrell, executive director of the Catholic Peace Ministry in Des Moines.</p>

The Four Horsemen Soon after the introduction of the Lockheed C-130, four U.S. Air Force pilots came up with a great way to demonstrate just how maneuverable and powerful the new transport was. by Sam McGowan In the spring of 1964, as a newly arrived aircraft maintenance technician at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, I was shown the film The Four Horsemen Story while attending a Lockheed C-130E familiarization course. Essentially a Lockheed sales tool designed to demonstrate to prospective customers just how maneuverable the Hercules really was, the film made a lasting impression on me--mostly because it focused...

Data processing went to war with IBM's bachelor computer experts. by Dan Feltham From 1965 to 1973, approximately 250 American technicians employed by International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation left the comfort of their Stateside jobs to accept two-year assignments in Vietnam and Thailand. They volunteered their services for various reasons--adventure, money, career advancement, or belief in America's presence in Southeast Asia--to help our U.S. military install, operate and maintain an amazing amount of data-processing equipment used to supply, monitor and manage the American war effort. These employees represented IBM's Data Processing Division, Field Engineering Division, Office Products Division and the...

<p>Americans United for Separation of Church and State said Wednesday it is launching a major legal challenge against a nationally recognized Iowa prison program in which 210 inmates immerse themselves in Christian-oriented values.</p> <p>The Newton Correctional Facility program, known as the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, is sponsored by Prison Fellowship. President Bush has called InnerChange a model for faith-based social services. Similar programs operate in Texas, Kansas and Minnesota.</p>

I support the veteran organizations as best I can but I received one from Help Hospitalized Veterans with a dollar in the envelope. They give arts and crafts kits to hospitalized vets. I have given a little money to them once in the past knowing there is nothing worse than sitting in a bed with nothing to do. Red flags went off when I saw the dollar bill. Are they a legit organization.......I ask the experts.

My Uncle was a Pioneer in the 5th Marine Division and I have yet to get a full understanding of what it meant to be a Pioneer. What was the difference between Pioneers and Engineers? Were Pioneers unique to the Marines? Were Pioneers only active during WWII? Also, I saw a reference to Pioneers in the German army in WWII. What can the experts tell me?

America's frontier ceased to exist as a changing geographic limit by 1890. After more than 100 years of expansion on the North American continent, could the American people be expected to curtail what had become a national pastime with other world powers, particularly those of western Europe most closely identified with America, racing to attain new colonies and retain the older possessions? The fledgling country was now more than 100 years old and bursting to demonstrate its readiness to participate fully in global politics. The American people generally supported the governmental policy of expansion. There was great satisfaction gained in...

The soul of the black community is dead Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; a fire still burns in those very few who have clung to the values of old, but our days as a people of character, unshakeable spirit, and respectability are, for all intents and purposes, dead. Though I had long been pained at what I perceived to be the gradual decline of the black community, it donned on me in recent months that the dismal and prolonged downturn of my people had greatly accelerated. Tonight I again take survey of my brethren; spiritually, we are no more....

Bloody Battle On Peace Day On November 11, 1918, World War I officially ended, but for American troops in the Russian town of Toulgas, the war was just beginning. By Vincent Cortright for Military History Magazine Stampeding over the bridge so that its timbers shook, American Sergeant Silver Keshick Parrish and the rest of his platoon made it across just in time. They shed field packs and personal possessions as they ran to take cover in a crude log blockhouse, in front of a small town nestled deep in the Russian wilderness. Three British Vickers machine guns were emplaced in...

Excerpt from Article......I don't have time to type the whole article and have not found it on the web yet. .........According to selective service statistics published in 1942, at least 99 percent of eligible Indians between the ages of 21 and 44 had registered for the draft. The war department pointed out that if all American males had enlisted in the armed services at the same ratio as Native Americans, there would have been no need for the selective service in the first place By the end of the war, a third of all healthy Indian males between the ages...

Higher and Higher: American Drug Use in Vietnam - Page 1 Was drug use in Vietnam the cause of morale problems, or was it a symptom? by Peter Brush for Vietnam Magazine ___________________________ In 1898 the United States took control of the Philippines. The following year it began a brutal fight to suppress a guerrilla uprising. It is basic to guerrilla war that combatants will be mingled with the civilian population. Under such circumstances, social behaviors flow from one to the other. Soon after their arrival in the Philippines, American soldiers learned to smoke opium. The practice became so common...

When Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, it opened a heated debate about the limits of freedom in a free society. -------------------- On July 4, 1798, the citizens of the capital city of Philadelphia turned out in large numbers to celebrate the nation's independence day. While militia companies marched through the streets, church bells rang, and artillery units fired salutes, members of the United States Senate were trying to conduct a debate on a critical bill. One senator noted "the military parade so attracted the attention of the majority that much the greater part of them stood...

In 1940, one man saw the gathering war clouds and decided to forgo his career and enlist in the United States Army. His name was Joe Palooka-and he was a comic strip character. ------------ It is November 1940 and boxer Joe Palooka is in Cuba. A local promoter offers him a lucrative opportunity in Havana. "Sorry-but I got other plans," the fighter says. Knobby Walsh, his manager, is astonished. "Are ya nuts?" he demands. "We kin have a wonderful time here for a month an' then git a load of jack!" "I got other plans," Palooka repeats. "I'm gonna enlist...

Taxes are the backbone of any politico-economic regime. Constraints on a government's power to tax are constraints on its power to act. Focusing on the legalization of mandatory federal income tax withholding through the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, this article examines forces that have eroded constraints on the U.S. government's power to tax. The central questions this article seeks to answer are how, why, and to what effect--despite preponderant public opposition to universal income tax withholding between 1914 and 1942--mandatory withholding was established in 1943, and sustained thereafter. It is an important question, for withholding is the paramount...

Would public release of company tax returns help ensure corporate honesty? Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, thinks it might. His suggestion recalls an earlier effort to combat corporate wrongdoing through tax publicity. For a few short years in the early twentieth century, corporate returns were public documents. The corporation excise tax (CET), enacted in 1909, included a publicity provision opening returns to public inspection. Supporters believed that publicity would encourage honesty - an important consideration in an era when business malfeasance made frequent headlines. Most business leaders, on the other hand, decried publicity as an intolerable infringement on corporate privacy....

Broadcast Archives Click on the program you'd like to listen to: 11/7/2002 - Thursday Is Your Parachute Packed, Pt 1 Captain Charlie Plum shares what he learned about life and faith as a prisoner of war.