Free Republic

November 7 marks a century since the founding of one of the most murderous tyrannies in human history. Russia's communist empire was an appalling failure in every way, yet we often see the hammer and sickle, the symbol of the Soviet Union, carried on college campuses and at protests around the country. Communism still holds sway among a significant part of the U.S. population. In 1917, Russia was ruled by a powerful czar. But in the preceding decades, reformers had been chipping away the feudal system, which was all Russia had ever known. More democratic and free market ideas were...

The sticky subject of the Iraq war has prompted Country Joe McDonald and fellow organizers to pull the plug on Berkeley's annual Veterans Day observance -- at least for now. After much debate, organizers just couldn't agree on whether to allow a parent from the anti-war Gold Star Families for Peace to speak. "It's ironic, to say the least, that this has happened in Berkeley,'' said Country Joe, whose anti-Vietnam War anthem, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag,'' made famous the question: "One, two, three -- what are we fighting for?'' Now, one might think any veterans event would have a rough time getting...