Free Republic

Under dappled sunlight filtering through the trees of Observatory Hill Friday morning, workers using a crane removed a large boulder from the UW-Madison campus that had become for many a painful symbol of the university’s racist past. Chamberlin Rock, named for former university president and geologist Thomas Crowder Chamberlin, was at least once referred to as a “n——-head” rock in a 1925 Wisconsin State Journal story. University historians have not found any other time that the slur was used. But the Ku Klux Klan was active on campus during that time. And the recent rediscovery of that long-ago news article...

PINSON, Tenn. - Officials with the Chester County Sheriff’s Office have asked for volunteers to help search for a missing 2-year-old boy. The boy, identified as Noah Israel Chamberlin, went missing in Chester County Thursday, and authorities said multiple agencies, including the Chester County Sheriff's Office, had been investigating. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans. Authorities said he was reported missing around 1:30 p.m. Thursday after he was last seen going into the woods behind his home on Short Road in Pinson

What did Chamberlain do? What is appeasement? And what happened to John McCain's arms? One of the little election year mini-dramas making the Internet rounds is of MSNBC's Chris Matthews' insistent questioning of talk show host Kevin James over the issue of appeasement. "What did Chamberlain do?" Matthews asks his Hardball guest repeatedly. Mr. James was unable to answer with historical specifics. As it happens, I've met Mr. Matthews, spending an afternoon with him several years ago at his MSNBC office in the company of a friend who was interviewing him for a profile in the Financial Times. The article...

Another “think tank,” this one called the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), has come out for total civilian disarmament and repeal of the Second Amendment. What’s new about that? ISPU is openly pro-Muslim, and the ISPU writer is a criminal defense attorney who argues for repealing parts of the Bill of Rights. You can read the whole article, entitled “In the Fight Against Terrorism, Some Rights Must Be Repealed,” by Junaid Afeef, on the ISPU website: http://www.ispu.us/pages/articles/2914/articleDetailPB.html A JPFO supporter sent us the link, and we did read the article, looking for: a. Inaccurate “facts” b. Missing data...

So, how are things going elsewhere in Iraq? Despite the fact that it's clearly uncool these days for people to ask "tough questions," even when they're asked to, some news is still leaking out. For example, according to the London Times, the US Army is "plagued by desertion and plunging morale" - apparently more than 5,000 soldiers have deserted since the war began, and "For the first time in a decade, the Army National Guard missed its recruitment target this year." The Times article goes on, "Experts are divided over how stretched America’s military really is. But they agree that...

If you've run into two men asking questions about the Chamberlain plant in Scranton you're not alone. The plant makes shells for the military. Scranton police and the F.B.I. have information that two men were asking questions about the plant on Cedar Avenue and investigators want to know why. The Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation makes ammunition shells. Last year the plant was working on a $22 million contract for the government, making 25,000 shells a month. News that two men were in the city asking questions has police and the F.B.I on alert. "(We've) been more vigilant since 911 regarding any...

You know it is the political season when your children start to rate you and discuss your family poll numbers. Yesterday my darling children got up early and produced a five page manuscript covering my family tracking numbers for 2003 and the year to date. You will be pleased to hear that my job approval rating is up. However, this follows a trip to Toys R Us, which proves that you can indeed buy votes. The data was not all good news. As my six year old put it, “I was really down on you over the whole clean-your-room thing.”...