Free Republic

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in California, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes. A number of separate fires were converging on the California woodland that is home to the huge trees, highlighting the terrifying power of wildfires to consume everything in their path.... ...Further north, the KNP Complex fire continued to threaten the renowned Giant Forest, home to General Sherman, the world's biggest tree by volume, and standing at 275 feet. General Sherman, which is estimated by the National Parks Service to be 2,200 years old, was wrapped...

We've all heard the story of the "40 acres and a mule" promise to former slaves. It's a staple of black history lessons, and it's the name of Spike Lee's film company. The promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations to newly freed slaves, and it was astonishingly radical for its time, proto-socialist in its implications. In fact, such a policy would be radical in any country today: the federal government's massive confiscation of private property -- some 400,000 acres -- formerly owned by Confederate land owners, and its methodical redistribution to former black slaves....

As Governor Sarah Palin prepares to launch her campaign for the Presidency, and the waves of disinformation about her intentions begin to subside, the next predictable narrative, as night follows day, is: “She’s a quitter.” How will she handle this charge? In a sense, she already has, with the statement at the time of her resignation, which provided cogent reasons for anyone fair minded enough to consider them. But in our popular culture of sound bite journalism, a pithier response is no doubt appropriate, a reply that can be employed within the context of a thirty second answer in a...

From The History of the State of Georgia, by I. W. Avery On January 16, 1865, Union general William T. Sherman issued his Special Field Order No. 15, which confiscated as Federal property a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John's River in Florida, including Georgia's Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast. The order redistributed the roughly 400,000 acres of land to newly freed black families in forty-acre segments.... Although Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15 had no tangible benefit for blacks after President Johnson's revocation, the present-day movement supporting...

I first wrote about the Gitmo prison, four years ago. I laid out facts the MSM have yet to discover. Here’s another dose: 1. If Gitmo is closed, the prisoners, AND the complaints, will go elsewhere. (Is Senator Mel Martinez really that clueless?) 2. The Geneva Conventions do NOT apply to anyone captured in plain clothes, behind the lines, hiding among civilians (and also killing civilians). Anyone can read the Geneva Conventions for themselves. Fighters/soldiers must meet four conditions to be covered. Terrorists fail to meet at least three of those. These are not “insurgents.” Insurgents are people who disagree...

The FReeper Foxhole: As the federal government grows bigger, stronger, and more corrupt with each passing year, maybe it’s time to dream about how life would be today if the South had won the Civil War. Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dateline: July 4th, 1863, Gettysburg, PA: PICKETTS’ CHARGE SMASHES NORTHERN CENTER – YANKS FLEE IN DISARRAY! WEARY LINCOLN SUES FOR PEACE! CONFEDERACY VICTORIOUS! Am I the only one who dares to speculate about how life would be today if the South had actually won the Civil War? I know, I know….“How dare he bring this up! Arrest this raving racist at once!...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Do you support the use of terror? I ask you because terror is a weapon of war. Terror was a weapon used in World War II, in the firebombing of Dresden; terror was a weapon described in the Iliad, when Achilleus dragged his slain enemy Hektor around the walls of the city of Troy. For as long as men have known how to make war, terror has been a weapon of war. Our current administration is preparing to make war upon the nation of Iraq. We may assume that this administration makes its preparations with the full knowledge and understanding...