Free Republic

Thomas Jefferson's birthday in mid-April is currently recognized as a city holiday in Charlottesville, VA. But if it was up to Mayor Nikuyah Walker, she'd change it to “Liberation and Freedom Day.” The alternative holiday, which she proposed at a city council meeting last month, would instead celebrate the emancipation of slaves in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Walker is one of several people advocating for the change because it's well known that Jefferson, the third president of the United States and drafter of the Constitution, was also a slave owner. Some citizens are up in arms over her suggestion, accusing...

White House Says It Wasn't Responsible for Picking Rowdy Basketball Arena for Arizona Memorial Service Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Fred Lucas Washington (CNSNews.com) – White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the White Houes was not responsible for choosing a basketball arena, as opposed to a church or a smaller auditorium that might be more conducive to a solemn event, for Wednesday's night's memorial service in Tucson, Ariz. The McKale Memorial Center, an athletics facility at the University of Arizona, was packed with a reported 14,000 people, who repeatedly broke out in cheers and screams of a...

Leaders are instructing Democratic lawmakers to blitz their states with anti-Bush messages as the Senate gears up for an all-night debate on Iraq withdrawal, according to an internal memo provided to The Politico by a Democratic official. “We need every Senator’s help throughout the next two days to amplify our message and highlight Republican obstructionism,” says the memo from the Senate Democratic Communications Center, part of the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.). “This is a caucus-wide effort and your help is needed.” A companion memo for Senate Republicans accuses Democrats of pulling a “stunt” – a word...

My wife and I are South Park fans and we watch a good bit of Comedy Central in general. Recently Comedy Central began airing a show called “Drawn Together” after South Park. We’ve watched it a couple of times and it’s pretty raunchy – lesbian and queer sex images/jokes, a cartoon pig that gets erections and urinates on furniture, a lot of sex jokes … pretty raunchy and not really the kind of show I have an interest in. The premise is that it’s a reality “Big Brother” type show except it’s cartoon characters. But I’ve seen pieces of it...

Susan E on Fox news says that she just talked to the democrats and their internal polls are saying that Kerry WILL take Florida, she says she will bet that it's a Kerry win. She said that almost every poll is showing a trend down for Bush from the democrats internals....

In the early 1990s, Kerry headed a Senate committee that was supposed to determine whatever became of American troops in the Vietnam War whose whereabouts were not recorded. Under his leadership, the panel concluded there was “no evidence” that any Americans left behind in Vietnam were still alive. Shortly after Kerry declared to the world, “President Bush should reward Vietnam within a month for its increased cooperation in accounting for American MIAs.” Hanoi then announced that it had awarded a fat contract to Boston real estate firm Colliers International, then headed by the senator’s cousin Stuart Forbes. Colliers International was...

October 15, 2004 -- It hardly seems possible, but the Demo crats stooped even lower yesterday in their contemptible abuse of Vice Pres ident Dick Cheney's daughter. Both the veep and his wife, Lynne, reacted angrily to John Kerry's having pointedly noted in Wednesday's debate that their daughter Mary — who works for the campaign but keeps a low profile — is gay. The suspicion is that Kerry meant to damage the Republican ticket in the eyes of any voters who have a problem with Mary Cheney's sexuality — that is, in the eyes of people that Kerry considers to...

Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack underscored the lengths to which he would go to destroy opponents The following are excerpts from the book ''A Modern History of the Kurds'' by David McDowall (reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press, New York, N.Y.). The excerpts cover the 1988 gassing and purge of Iraqi Kurds, who were aiding Iranian forces pushing into Iraq. The architect of the attacks was Ali Hassan al Majid, a cousin of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. It is believed Majid might be behind the suicide attack that killed four U.S. soldiers in Iraq a week ago and the recent...