Free Republic

I went through OCS and TBS with the first pilot recovered. He was a fantastic man and a stellar Marine. He will be sorely missed.

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As for the war against Iraq for example, I believe it was for oil and nothing else and you know what? I don't hate the US "government" as much as I hate the disgusting Arab governments who facilitated this occupation!

The war was over oil? Have you not seen the price of gasoline lately? We are subsidizing the cost of gasoline in Iraq so that they can re-establish their infrastructure. No, the war was not over oil.

Your hatred of Pres. Bush is rather apparent and entirely misplaced. His vision and courage has freed the Iraqi people from one of the worst rulers in history. Saddam was a despot of the most vile calibre.

As for your view on the culture of the middle east, the religion is inextricably linked to their culture. It defines their lives, as you well know, presuming your lineage. I have lived in Iran and have seen the uniformity in actions=beliefs=culture. Muhammed started and propagated a most hideous religion and it thrives to this day under the threat of torture and death.

"He has a way with words, but he doesn't have a way with people. How could this guy just lay there listening to his wife get beaten? Amazing. I wish he could be charged as an accessory some how for not coming to her aid. Davis must have had both of them in fear for their lives."

Did you watch O'Reilly last night? There was a guy from NJ that was beat up by a huge black man at a pizza place while the rest of the people in line watched. The attitude of "as long as it ain't me getting beat on" is prevalant in these United States.

Oh the senselessness of it all. When will Congress ban all of these assault swords? They need to close the loophole at sword shows. Who really needs a sword anyway? Of course, the Congress should still allow swords for hunting...

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The parent, however, says the school's responsibility to provide positive role models to children supersedes the right to free speech

Since when?

One nit to pick, if I may. "WWII Marines whos secondary MOS was Navajo Code Talkers, on Bouganville"

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What they don't say is nearly all those are, as you said, gangbangers and other youthful criminals. The actual number for children under age 14 is very low. I don't have the figures at hand but I know accidental gun deaths are way down the list.

An excellent source for references is on this web site: http://www.guncite.com/ The author has compiled some of the best sources to refute the anti-gun lobby claims.

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The Rumanian belief in vampires has nothing to do with Vlad Tepes, and although Stoker took the name and a small amount of backstory from Vlad Tepes, There is no reason to believe that Vlad was the inspiration for Dracula.

The legend of the Little Dragon was indeed the inspiration for the book, outlined as such:

The fictional Dracula and the historical Dracula share the same name. There can be no doubt that Bram Stoker based his character upon some reference to Vlad Dracula.

Stoker researched various sources prior to writing the novel, including the Library at Whitby and literature from the British Museum. It is entirely possible that his readings on Balkan history would have included information about Vlad Tepes.

Stoker was the friend of a Hungarian professor from Budapest, named Arminius Vambery, who he met personally on several occasions and who may have given him information about the historical Dracula.

Some of the text of Stoker’s novel provides direct correlations between the fictional Dracula and Vlad Tepes (e.g., the fighting off of the Turks--also, the physical description of Dracula in the novel is very similar to the traditional image of Vlad Tepes.).

Other references in the novel may also be related to the historical Dracula. For example, the driving of a stake through the vampire’s heart may be related to Vlad’s use of impalement; Renfield’s fixation with insects and small animals may have found inspiration in Vlad’s penchant for torturing small animals during his period of imprisonment; and Dracula’s loathing of holy objects may relate to Vlad’s renunciation of the Orthodox Church.

Though it did not start with him, the vampyre mythos was accelerated by Vlad Dracul called Tepes (impaler). His treatment of the Turks was the stuff of legend, it even led to the death of his wife when Vlad was eventually forced to flee to Transylvania. His treatment of the peoples of Wallachia are also as infamous.

"Germany is increasingly getting a lower class,..."

With Schroeder, Deutchland ALREADY has a lower class.

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I've always been curious to know if all of the yogi-isms are really attributable to Yogi Berra or if his name has been co-opted for the class of statements that includes "deja vu all over again." If it is the latter, that not all Yogi-isms come from Yogi, then he will have problems with the law suit (public figure, didn't sue everyone else, etc.) Is Yogi Berra the idiot-savant that is the common caricature or is he Yogi Berra, Super Genius?

Even Yogi has said: "I didn't say all the things that I've said."

"By having sex in the Oval Office, I was revolting against the status quo, which is not my fault, because I’m a Leo and that’s what Leo’s do."

Once again playing the martyr/victim card. It's never anyone's fault, I'm a victim! I'm a victim!

The only victim is the dignity of the Office of the President of the United States.

Kunkle's wife, Christa Haber, said "Shame to Texas" ... I agree - it was a damned shame that this pig lived for so long after his brutal murders of innocent people.

The story had said that at the time of the shooting, his girlfriend was in the car, the one that tossed out the body. Is she in prison as an accessory to murder? Who is the bimbo that married this guy?

the Navy Cross is the US naval service's third-highest award and is awarded for both combat heroism and for other distinguished service.

The Navy Cross is the Navy's highest award, not the third-highest. It is second in presedence to the Congressional Medal of Honor.

This man has done more to marginalize himself recently than even Jesse Jackson.

His twisted mentality that povert creates unrest is as logically sound as hospitals causing illness. Dissent causes unrest and a cowed, uninformed populace. We have poverty in the U.S. but I don't see homicide bombers running rampant.

When it reaches a "point of no return" does that mean they will quit talking about it and using it to raise money and grants from the government?

Not until the cash cow dies.

Kyoto protocols, if everything went as expected, would reduce global temperature 0.1 degree celcius by 2100.

These "experts" claim that global warming will cause crop failure? I know this is a rhetorical question, but do they really think people are this stupid? By definition, global warming is the retention of heat due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Just what, precisely, do these "experts" think plant live off of?

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Just a curiousity question, why is that? I always assumed that concientious objectors could be objecting to that specific war.

It is due to the thought of the primal effect of war, that of maliciously killing another human. Since that is the by-product of ALL wars, you cannot claim that you object to a specific war.

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I just looked at a dollar bill, all I see over the eagle is the 13 stars representing the original colonies. I do not see the "star of david" anywhere.

Look at the shape the stars make. Although it is a bit of a stretch, they form the star of David.

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it's the flux capacitor - it must not be generating 1.1 gigowatts of electricity

That would be 1.21 gigawatts.