Free Republic

"Find the problem. Fix it. Fly again." During the past few weeks since that terrible February morning, we have all heard of this noble tradition among those who work to help man slip the surly bonds of earth. When one of their number perishes in the endeavor, the rest do all they can to see to it their comrade did not die in vain. NASA is now following that noble tradition, diligently searching for the root cause of the catastrophe that took the Columbia's crew from us. And one of the questions they are asking is: Was Columbia's left wing...

Why don't the leaders of the radical moslem culture publicy state their terms for peace? It would be interesting to see whether they have terms for peace.

A deadly, systemic irresponsibility has developed within the US military, resulting not only in the deaths of many innocent persons throughout the world, but also in the death of honor within the US military. Three incidents occurring within the last 39 months are exemplary of this lethal unaccountability. In February 1998 a Marine pilot "accidently" sliced the cables of an Italian cable car with his EA-6B jet, sending 20 skiers to their deaths. In May 1999 the US military "accidently" bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade killing 3 and wounding more than 20 Chinese citizens. In February 2001 the American ...

In case it has slipped your mind, two years ago the U.S. government mad and aggressive and violent military attack against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During that terror bombardment of civilian targets the U.S. attacked the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing and wounding several Chinese citizens. This aggressive and violent projection of U.S. military force was only one of several during the last two years -- the U.S. bombed Sudan and Afghanistan, too. And to this day the U.S. continues to bomb Iraq with regularity. I recall these events to your attention because I have heard precious little reflection ...

What is a right? A right is an act (or a set of acts -- that is, a general behavior) to fulfill a natural human need (imperative), and which does not unnecessarily and intolerably injure social harmony. This essay is an argument in support of that definition. The concept of rights is a political idea. It bubbled up out of a spring that was contaminated by several muddled ideas -- Social Contract Theory and State of Nature Theory -- and quickly became contaminated, too. The concept was developed as a means of expanding the freedom to engage in specific human ...

Every now and then an idea we’ve long accepted as true or right or good or okay turns out to be false or wrong or no good or not okay. Sometimes we discover that the long accepted idea was false or wrong or no good or not okay all along. For a long time humankind accepted the idea that the earth was the center of the universe. Then Nicolas Copernicus came along and demonstrated to us that the long accepted idea was just plain false and always had been. Sometimes, too, we discover that an idea which was okay for ...