Free Republic

I tried to stop Bush: Italian PM From correspondents in Brussels November 14, 2003 ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today he had tried to stop US President George W Bush from going to war against Iraq. "I didn't support every action of the United States. I tried to persuade them not to intervene militarily," Berlusconi said. "But when I saw there was no way (to prevent it), I stood by the United States." Berlusconi's statement came as a surprise because he has been a staunch ally of the US administration in the conflict and he is one of the...

Bush, Religion, and War April 22, 2003 The hawks got their war, but it came at a heavy cost to America’s image and reputation in the world. As they tell it, France, Germany, and Russia were the petulant spoilers who tried to ruin the party. But this ignores the war’s huge unpopularity nearly everywhere, not so much with governments (which can be bullied and bribed) as with ordinary people. It also ignores the real spoiler: Pope John Paul II, who, in his measured words, made his own opposition to the war very clear. Robert L. Bartley of the Wall Street...

Eradication of Islam by: Ali Sina Islam: The Religion of Poverty The greatest gift of Islam to its followers is poverty. All Islamic countries with the exception of those that have oil are poor. Amazingly even Iran that is oil rich and before the Islamic regime was a prosperous country, is now a poor third world country. With over 20 billion dollar revenue only from the Oil industry, the per capita income of the Iranians is $1200 annually. Just recently an 18-year-old girl burned herself. She died within a few days. When questioned why, she replied that without her there...

The Sneaky Greenies at it Again Memo To: Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff From: Jude Wanniski Re: Fire Christie Whitman One of the things you will learn if you remain at the White House long enough, Andy, is that the forces of darkness never sleep. While you are working overtime trying to keep the Arab terrorists from blowing something else up within our borders, the eco-wackoes who have infiltrated the Bush administration are planting political bombs inside your own walls. Surely you remember President Bush reading a speech in Palookaville during the 2000 presidential campaign, promising to limit...

The Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn has been shot dead. "Pim Fortuyn is no longer with us. This is a deeply tragic moment," Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok announced. Fortuyn, 54, was shot six times and suffered multiple wounds in the head, chest and neck. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards. He was attacked as he left a radio studio in the central Dutch city of Hilversum after giving an interview. The maverick politician, who had been campaigning on an anti-immigration ticket, was expected to do well in general elections in nine days' time, picking up at least 15%...

EU Leaders OK Economic Measures Sat Mar 16, 8:17 PM ET By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Eager to get economic reforms back on track, European Union (news - web sites) leaders signed off on a slew of pledges Saturday to cut red tape and boost Europe's floundering economies. Photos AP Photo Audio/Video E.U. Summit Highlights Mitchell, Tenet Plans (AP) The leaders, however, announced a deal that would only partially open energy markets to competition, one of the more contentious areas of reform at the two-day EU summit that ended Saturday. The opening up of national...

Let's be friends Jude Wanniski is a white, arch-conservative, US Republican. So why, asks Gary Younge, has he forged an alliance with Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, and pariah of the white establishment? Thursday March 14, 2002 The Guardian Jude Wanniski's name has appeared in an eclectic array of places. The former marxist, Democrat and adviser to president Ronald Reagan was credited with making a major intellectual contribution to supply-side economic policies that dominated America during the 80s. The man who started the 1996 presidential campaign backing Bob Dole, withdrew his support to encourage millionaire Steve Forbes...

The city of Kandahar is translated into Alexandria, founded, of course, by Alexander the Great. I find it highly appropriate, and justly ironic, that this final holdout is where the Taliban is about to be snuffed out in a city founded by one of the greatest individuals of Western civilization, a man who made the entire Middle East his personal playground. I apologize if anyone has mentioned this interesting tidbit before. However, I haven't seen anyone in the far-flung media mention it either.

Message of September 25, 2001: "Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer, especially today when Satan wants war and hatred. I call you anew, little children: pray and fast that God may give you peace. Witness peace to every heart and be carriers of peace in this world without peace. I am with you and intercede before God for each of you. And you do not be afraid because the one who prays is not afraid of evil and has no hatred in the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Taking America Back Natasha H., age 10 To restore Democracy to the United States, we need to plan for the next two elections now. With Bush in office, it will be easier for the Republicans to continue to defeat the rights of the voters unless everyone is vigilant and willing to work to preserve the country our founders envisioned. In furtherance of this effort, I have put together the following list of 8 areas that the future work needs to focus on. I. Monitor Congress Many times in the past, Democratic members of Congress have caved into pressure from the ...

An opinion poll conducted in all the 15 nations of the European Union has found that most Europeans either don't know or don't care about what their leaders call the union's historic challenges - the introduction of the euro notes and coins, and the expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. Some 78% say they are not well informed about the Union's eastward expansion, and a staggering 87% feel uninvolved in the political debate about its pros and cons. The Eurobarometer poll, conducted in March and April, also showed there is continuing confusion about which countries are candidates to join the ...

Introduction Zoroastrianism is a small religion with about 140,000 members. Yet its importance to humanity is much greater than its numbers might suggest, because: of the important impact their theology has had on Christianity and other later religions, in the beliefs surrounding God and Satan, the soul, heaven and hell, savior, resurrection, final judgment, etc. it is one of the oldest religions still in existence, it may have been the first monotheistic religion. The religion was founded by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster in Greek; Zarthosht in India and Persia). Conservative Zoroastrians assign a date of 6000 BCE to the founding of the ...

The first game of the 2001 NBA Finals was one of the best basketball games I have seen in a very long time. There is just nothing like great talent fused with great passion in a big game. It was not just that everyone, myself included, expected Goliath to coast to the title, and it was not just that David beat Goliath in Game 1, but it was the nature of the game, the pure ferocity with which David played, and in time the matching ferocity with which Goliath had to counter. Even if the Lakers had won, which in ...

Last week, the Supreme Court, for the second time, stopped the state of Texas from killing Johnny Paul Penry. Penry is a serial rapist and confessed murderer. He also has an IQ of between 53 and 60, well below the mental retardation threshold of 70. As a child, Penry's mother, mentally disturbed herself, repeatedly hit him over the head with a belt buckle, scalded him with hot water and forced him to consume his own urine and feces. He left school in first grade. Functionally illiterate, he spends his days in prison looking at comics, drawing pictures, and talking about ...

Eyes on the prize by Tom Friend I have seen the lump on Pat Croce's left leg, and it made me nauseous. It is a lump the size of a tangerine, and it is there because of the gruesome motorcycle accident he had a couple of years ago, and it is there because the only way he could keep his leg was if doctors grafted his shin back together. And so, once you get to know Pat Croce a little bit, he will ask you a question. He will say, "You wanna see it? You wanna see it?" And before ...