Free Republic

Obama: Constitution is 'Deeply Flawed' Monday, October 27, 2008 8:20 PM By: David A. Patten Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama described the U.S. Constitution as having “deep flaws” during a September 2001 Chicago public radio program, adding that the country’s Founding Fathers had “an enormous blind spot” when they wrote it. Obama also remarked that the Constitution “reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” Obama’s statements came during a panel discussion that aired on Chicago’s WBEZ-FM on Sept. 6, 2001, titled “Slavery and the Constitution.” ...

Jeremiah Wright returns to the campaign via an ad that questions the Illinois senator's judgment. The ad is brought to you by The National Republican Trust PAC that told reporters that it is putting $2.5 million behind this spot featuring Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida

LEE COUNTY: Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott is standing by some controversial comments he made at Governor Sarah Palin's rally on Monday - comments already gaining national attention. While speaking on stage, Scott referred to the Democratic presidential candidate by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama. Those comments didn't go over well with the McCain Campaign, but Scott says he meant no harm by his remarks.

Wikipedia: "The term Bradley effect... refers to a frequently observed discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in American political campaigns when a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. Named for Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in voter polls, the Bradley effect refers to a tendency on the part of white voters to tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a Black candidate, when, on election day, they vote for his/her white opponent. "One theory for the Bradley effect is that some...

Uganda's Asian elite face fresh hostility By Lucy Hooker Business reporter, BBC World Service, Kampala, Uganda Some Asian residents were targeted by the protesters On 12 April an environmental protest in Kampala turned racial. The crowds began chanting anti-Asian slogans. Some held placards with slogans praising Uganda's former dictator Idi Amin. "For one tree cut five Indians dead," said one poster. Violence targeting Asians led to the death of one young Indian man. Shops were ransacked and many Asians sought refuge in the Hindu temple or barricaded themselves in their shops. Pent up frustration over the inequality between Uganda's Asian...

Idi Amin's son jailed for London gang attack By Megan Levy and agencies Last Updated: 1:09pm BST 03/08/2007 The son of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has been jailed for five years for his part in a violent gang attack in North London. Wangita was living in London with his mother Faisal Wangita was part of a 40-strong gang that attacked Somalian Mahir Osman, 18, in Camden in January last year. Osman died within a minute of the brutal attack, in which he was stabbed 20 times, attacked with baseball bats, bottles and hammers, punched and kicked. Wangita had joined in...

A collection of 9/11 tributes I’ll add to the list below, and if you have any you’d like to add to this (or any other sort of tribute/remembrance), please do so here. Either leave a comment with the link, or link to this post and send a trackback. 9/11: The 5th Year Anniversary Tribute Blood of Heroes September 11th, Uncensored From Brain Terminal: Crystal Morning: September 11th, 2001 From William Teach: 9/11 Plus 5 From Crusader: WTC Tribute More from YouTube: 911 tribute September 11th - Five Years Later: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 September 11th - Flash...

Excerpt - TELLURIDE, Colo. (Hollywood Reporter) - Director Kevin MacDonald introduced the Telluride screening of "The Last King of Scotland" by saying, "It's my first feature. Please be gentle." But there's little need for gentleness. Much of "The Last King of Scotland" is an extraordinary piece about naivete caught up short in terrible events. Box office looks substantial in sophisticated urban venues in North America. ~ snip ~

Top 10 Reasons Islam Might Not Be a Religion of Peace Written by Don Feder Thursday, August 31, 2006 A passenger revolt occurred on a Malaga-Manchester flight.  Vacationing Brits refused to fly with two Arabic-speaking men.  This came in the wake of arrests of 21 British-born Muslims who were plotting to blow up as many as 11 trans-Atlantic flights. A spokesman for Britain’s opposition Tory party said the passengers panicked into “behaving irrationally.”  Fancy that, not wanting to fly with members of a faith whose adherents keep trying to blow things up.  Oh, how irrational! Within days of this incident, a Lebanese student...

Islamofascism the term (article by WSJ)Islamofascism's 1936What Is 'Islamofascism'?Yes, the problem is 'Islamic fascism'Islamic Fascism the Enemy, Not Terror, Says Santorum -- 07/21/2006Oriana Fallaci and the War Against IslamofascismThe Meaning of 'Islamofascism'Michael Ledeen on Fascism & War on TerrorIslamic Fascism The only proper response to Islamofascism is total warThe Devilfish of Islamofascism Neo-Nazi becomes fanatical Muslim (24/5/2006)Lebanon, Islamofascism and democracyRogmios on IslamofascismIslamo-Nazis, The Historical Collaboration of Nazis with Muslims/Arabs

Immediately after he pulled off his '72 coup against President Oboto in Uganda, strongman Idi Amin -- full title: His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular (and also, curiously, King of Scotland) --decreed Africa should be for Africans. One of his first decisions as lord of beasts and fishes was to eject all the Asians -- some 40,000 or so, who were third generation descendants...

Former president Richard Nixon considered Ugandan dictator Idi Amin an "ape" and mistrusted his own State Department as "always on the side of the blacks," according to documents made public this week. The once-classified documents show Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger in raw form in dealing with African crises in 1972, including Uganda's mass expulsion of Asians and genocide in Burundi. But for all of the rough language, the transcripts of phone conversations and other texts highlight the US reluctance to take a stand on atrocities committed by Amin's regime until US citizens were threatened. And...

ARAB RACISM & ISLAMIC JIHAD!!! Are Militant Muslims DECAPITATING Tourists in S. Philippines? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Sadistic Saddam attack Arab Kuwaiti 'brothers' tortured them horrifically? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Sadistic Saddam BUTCHER/GASSED/TORTURED HIS OWN PEOPLE? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Do Arab Muslim Militant Hamas/Islamic-Jihad/other 'Palestinian' Militants (& often Fatah - connected to the official 'Palestinian' authority) TARGET BABIES, (not as the West targets terrorists) Yes or no? IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM + JIHAD!!! Did Arab Islamists attack French subways? (1985) IT'S ARAB MUSLIM FANATICS' RACISM +...

Uganda's former President, Milton Obote, has died at the age of 81 in hospital in South Africa. Mr Obote led Uganda to independence as prime minister in 1962, going on to serve two terms as president - both of which ended in military coups. Overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, he returned to office in 1980, only to be ousted in 1985 by forces led by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's current president. Mr Obote had spent most of the last 20 years in exile in Zambia.

"The Fate of Africa"... is a heavy book, but it is light reading because it is so unfashionably straightforward. Martin Meredith has written a narrative history of modern Africa, devoid of pseudointellectual frills, gender discourse or postcolonial angst. He takes each of the larger African countries and tells you what happened there after independence.... Mr. Meredith's critics will accuse him of cultural insensitivity. By knocking down Africa's heroes, he is denying Africans the right to be proud of their own heritage. This is piffle. If Africa is to prosper, the first step is for Africans to understand what has gone...

The family of late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin threatened to sue the producers of the "The Last King of Scotland," the film version of the acclaimed novel about the notorious despot's rule. Amins eldest son, Taban Amin, said the family might sue for defamation but at least deserved millions in compensation for the depiction of his father in the movie which wrapped up on-location shooting in Uganda earlier this month. He said the family -- consisting of his prolific father's 42 children and several widows -- would seek four to five million dollars from Cowboy Films, which is producing 'Last...

South Africa is trying to avoid Zimbabwe becoming a "failed state", its deputy foreign minister has said. Aziz Pahad said South Africa did not want Zimbabwe's government and opposition to form a government of national unity to solve its problems. He said South Africa wanted Zimbabwe to change its economic policies, in return for a loan, which is being negotiated. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's government has again ruled out the idea of holding talks with the main opposition party. Zimbabwe is going through an economic crisis, with shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, and rampant unemployment and inflation. 'Fundamental changes' It...

Hollywood star Forest Whitaker who is playing Idi Amin in the screen version of the acclaimed novel The Last King of Scotland, says the late Ugandan dictator was no saint, but was not the monster that has been portrayed in the West. In a weekend interview, Whitaker said his research for the role in the film had changed his perception of Amin, whose brutal rule over Uganda between 1971 and 1979 was punctuated by bizarre and often psychopathic behaviour, and the deaths of up to half a million people. "I'm not trying to defend Amin, the Amin I found was...

Suspected dissidents disappear after midnight visits to their homes; chilling screams can again be heard from Idi Amin's infamous torture chambers, reopened after a quarter of a century of disuse. From the few that escape come tales of punishment beatings and even mass executions. Welcome to President Yoweri Museveni's Uganda. One of Britain's favourite African states in recent years has, almost unnoticed in the West, become a sinister land where a corrupt regime uses its secret police to rule through fear. The reasons for this transition are not hard to fathom. Mr Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, when his...

What was the Iraq war about?.... The anti-war position is still based on the same three claims as 2003. First, the war was illegal because it was not specifically sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council. This means that the 18 mandatory resolutions that the council had passed on Iraq were not even worth the paper they were printed on. Nor is the anti-war party concerned about the fact that legally speaking Iraq had been at war against the United Nations since August 1990. The fact that the British parliament, the U.S. Congress and parliaments in a dozen other democratic...