Free Republic

His name was Geert Adriaans Boomgaard. Born in 1788, he was a grumpy gentleman. And no one, in 1896, could blame him — at 108, Mr. Boomgaard had buried two wives, twelve children and more grandchildren than he could count. He had seen too much death, buried too many loved ones. Born in 1788 in Groningen, Boomgaard was the son of a sea captain. And in 1812, at age 24, he enlisted in Napoleon’s Grande Armée. He wanted to see adventure, wanted to see the world. He stood with his comrades before the emperor. A sea of men, young men,...

OVERSCHILD, Netherlands, March 15 (Reuters) - Images of bombed-out hospitals and apartment buildings across Ukraine reminded Jannie and Bert Schrage of their home country during World War Two. Then the retired couple, who live in the north of the Netherlands, realised they had a resource to help slow President Vladimir Putin's campaign – natural gas. The Schrages live above the Groningen gas field, Europe's largest. They have been opposing gas production since earthquakes started to force them out of their homes a decade ago. Now, like a majority of those polled in their province, they say that if it would...

A set of ancient medical books rests on a redwood shelf in a corner: they belonged to my Grandfather, at the turn of the last century. Upon opening them, one finds the hopes and dreams of human beings committed to ending the suffering of the sick and disabled - not by killing them, but by healing them. Through all the books, like a golden thread, is the unbreakable, unshakeable ideal that Life is to be chosen over Death... Now, lay down the books, and pick up the newspaper. Read the new order, the new way of doing Medicine - the...

Shortly after our first son was born, our attention shifted with friend's, to the arrival of their new baby boy. The day brought both joy and tragedy. Their son was alive, but had been born with a severe birth defect that threatened both his immediate survival and hope for a normal life beyond. I cannot imagine the strength that it took for them to endure the first few seconds of birth, through the perserverence of the weeks, months, and even years of care, pain and surgery. An easier decision might have been made elsewhere in the world for them, despite...

After a brief respite from external reality attending to personal matters, nothing jolts one back to blogosphere like the knowledge that Western Civilization is crumbling around us. Some physical traits are genetically recessive. So to, it seems that both stupidity and insanity are recessive among generations of humanity. Little more than 70 years ago, one of the most progressive nations on the planet pursued a ‘just’ system of genetic filtration in league with an alliance for world domination. What evolved was the greatest nightmare the world has yet known, as millions of men, woman, and children were terminated in line...