Free Republic

Great creative talent with conservative political taste is hard to find. But we're looking.

It's October, but it's no surprise. Remember last week, when I highlighted a quote by Newsweek editor Evan Thomas that the media's desire to see John Kerry elected may be worth five-to-twenty million votes, and urged you to be on the look-out for evidence of that desire in articles and news programs? Well, yesterday the front page of New York Times featured a flawed article asserting, "The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives -- used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons --...

He said a notorious incident in which he was involved where naked Iraqi prisoners were photographed piled up into a pyramid occurred after a female U.S. soldier was struck in the face with a stone by a prisoner. "First we searched them, got them stripped naked and then pushed them into this pyramid -- and then everything got out of control," he said. "One of the methods was to humiliate them so that they would break down and talk." ... "I want to apologize to the victims and their families. And in the trial, I will accept responsibility for my...

MONTERREY, Mexico - Governments throughout Mexico and Central America are on alert as evidence grows that al-Qaida members are traveling in the region and looking for recruits to carry out attacks in Latin America — the potential last frontier for international terrorism.

Even Howard Dean's heart had to skip a beat when the Iraqi athletes walked in to Santiago Calatrava's magnificent stadium at the Olympics opening ceremony. Boy, did they look happy. Genuinely happy. Compare their elation--reaching toward he crowd, tapping their hearts--with the athletes from Iran or Saudi Arabia, who had that smile-or-disappear look Olympic athletes forlornly wore when they represented the Soviet Union or the "Eastern bloc" nations. In a word, the Iraqis looked free. These Olympians have one thing in common: They come from the nations the U.S. has liberated since the end of World War II. Across the...

this truly makes me want to puke.... "My problems are not with the American people. They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything...The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the (national) stadium and there are shootings on the road?" -- Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad told SI.com.

The long tradition of saying grace before meals at the state-supported Virginia Military Institute is unconstitutional, even though the prayers are voluntary, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Monday. "In establishing its supper prayer, VMI has done precisely what the First Amendment forbids," the three-judge panel said in its ruling, which upheld a lower-court decision. "Put simply, VMI's supper prayer exacts an unconstitutional toll on the consciences of religious objectors," wrote Judge Robert B. King. The federal appeals court panel said the nondenominational prayer, said before supper, is not really voluntary, given the strict obedience demanded of VMI cadets....

A British Military cemetery in France has been vandalised and slogans sprayed supporting Saddam Hussein. "Saddam will win and he will make you bleed," said one of the slogans sprayed across the base of a large cross marking the entrance of the cemetery in Etaples. "Dig up your rubbish, it is contaminating our soil," another said. Of the 11,000 graves at Etaples, most are British but there are other nationalities including Canadian and Australian. France's relations with Britain have been soured by its opposition to coalition war in Iraq, but French officials said this was no excuse for venting hatred....

The Campaign for California Families is warning religious bookstores and Boy Scout Councils that they could face fines of $150,000 for refusing to hire transsexuals or cross-dressing job applicants. The bill, introduced in January by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), passed by a 6-1 margin in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee last week. It would give transgender individuals the same protections California afforded to homosexuals in 1999, said Randy Thomasson, executive director of the Campaign for California Families.

Rangel Opposes the Troops Remember back in December, when Rep. Charles Rangel of New York proposed reinstating the draft? His stated rationale, as we noted, was egalitarian: "A disproportionate number of the poor and members of minority groups make up the enlisted ranks of the military," he told CNN. Forcing the affluent to serve would establish a principle of "shared sacrifice." It turns out Rangel doesn't think very much of those who actually are making the sacrifice of serving in our volunteer military. This morning Rangel was one of only 11 House members to vote "no" on a nonbinding resolution...

Proud to be an American.... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/871286/posts