Free Republic

July 22, 2003, 11:00 a.m. Not So Keene The ACU chairman sells out. By James Justin Wilson avid Keene is a man of many hats. He's best known to conservatives as head of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which describes itself as the oldest conservative advocacy group in the nation. He's also a columnist for The Hill newspaper. Finally, he's a managing associate of the Carmen Group, a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm. Recently he's also been the target of a tough letter signed by 33 House Republicans, including Sue Myrick, chairman of the Republican Study Committee. "The individual actions of...

A Conclave of Intellectuals Schooled at Pravda's KneeBy David KeeneThe Hill | July 9, 2003 BRUSSELS More than 100 European intellectuals, political officials and bureaucrats gathered here last month to discuss how to deal with George W. Bush's America. They saw themselves as representatives of the civilized world meeting to determine how to best control, or at least counteract, the influence of the United States "before it is too late." In their view, almost all the evil in today's world today can be traced directly or indirectly to the United States, or to the system of nation states that make...

A conclave of intellectuals schooled at Pravda's knee BRUSSELS More than 100 European intellectuals, political officials and bureaucrats gathered here last month to discuss how to deal with George W. Bush's America. They saw themselves as representatives of the civilized world meeting to determine how to best control, or at least counteract, the influence of the United States "before it is too late." In their view, almost all the evil in today's world today can be traced directly or indirectly to the United States, or to the system of nation states that make the existence of the United States possible....

Labor Unions Fail "Enron Test": By David Keene The scandals at Enron and Global Crossing shook Washington as well as the markets and the investor community because, in each instance, corporate executives and their cohorts in the reporting and accounting world figured out how to either avoid reporting what they were up to or to hoodwink everybody by filing incomplete or misleading reports with regulators and those who follow their activities. The result was a demand for increased corporate transparency and, eventually, the passage of legislation requiring thorough and understandable disclosure. That meant that those most likely to be hurt...

When I first visited Taiwan back in the sixties,Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang ruled the island and openly dreamed of returning to mainland China to vanquish their Communist enemies and reunite the country. They were only on the island, after all, because they had been driven off the mainland temporarily by Mao. The Red Army would have followed and killed them if it could. In fact, 50,000 of Mao’s best troops died trying. They were slaughtered by Chiang’s forces on the beaches of the small island of Quemoy that stood between them and Taiwan and were forced to back off,...

Novak may be wrong, but he's a true patriot When a nation is at war, there's a tendency among those who support it to suspect that those who opposed it before the shooting started did so either because they were secretly biased in favor of the enemy or have somehow come to hate their own country. There is a corollary tendency among those who opposed war before it actually breaks out to rally round the troops, regardless of their real feelings about its wisdom. These tendencies are human and rational. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (S.D.), for example, who was...

Robert Novak: Wrong, But Still a PatriotBy David KeeneThe Hill | March 26, 2003 Novak may be wrong, but he’s a true patriotWhen a nation is at war, there’s a tendency among those who support it to suspect that those who opposed it before the shooting started did so either because they were secretly biased in favor of the enemy or have somehow come to hate their own country. There is a corollary tendency among those who opposed war before it actually breaks out to rally round the troops, regardless of their real feelings about its wisdom.These tendencies are human...

Muslim extremists seeking to foster one Islamic worldPresident Bush has come under some criticism recently for his outreach to the U.S. Muslim community because administration officials have apparently met with some groups that have ties -- direct or indirect -- with extremist groups here and in the Middle East.Still, and in spite of the criticism he continues to reach out.The president's position is understandable and even commendable. He doesn't want to do anything to make it appear that he's leading an anti-Muslim crusade because this would drive millions of Muslims into the extremist camp with Osama bin Laden and...

PressroomACU Launches Nationwide Program for Citizens to Report Voter Fraud October 31, 2002 ALEXANDRIA, VA – In an effort to ensure the integrity of our democratic election process, the American Conservative Union (ACU) has launched a “Voter Fraud Hotline” and online communications portal for voters to report potential cases of voter fraud and suspicious or illegal electioneering activities. ACU Chairman David A. Keene called the effort an attempt to deter those would-be election violators from even trying to illegally load the ballot boxes on Election Day. “Already in this election cycle, we’ve had reports of potential voter fraud in...

Georgia’s fiery Republican Rep. Bob Barr (Ga.) has never been particularly popular among his Democratic colleagues. He was, after all, the first member of Congress to call for former President Clinton’s impeachment and has never cut his opponents much slack on issues that concern him. What’s more, the man’s ubiquitous. He fights for his beliefs in committee, on the House floor and in the media. As a result, he’s been a target ever since his 1994 arrival in town and this time they believe they may be able to get him. Oh, they know he won’t be taken out in...

Two of America's most prominent conservative leaders and a former Democrat ambassador and Boston mayor have written a letter to President Bush opposing a Justice Department proposal that would permit state and local law enforcement agencies to track down illegal immigrants as a way to fight terrorism. David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, Grover Norquist president of Americans for Tax Reform - a top political analyst - and former Boston mayor and ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn who heads the Catholic Alliance took the side of police officials and immigrant rights activists in urging the president to...

Two leading conservatives have joined a chorus of police officials and immigrant rights advocates in opposing a Justice Department proposal to allow state and local law enforcement agencies to track down illegal immigrants as a way to fight terrorism. The two conservatives, David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, wrote President Bush on Friday to complain that the plan under review by Attorney General John Ashcroft would set a dangerous precedent by empowering local jurisdictions to enforce many federal laws. "If local police are to enforce our immigration laws, will...