Free Republic

When Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who has studied and advised most of the leaders in the former Soviet Union, visited Kiev in late 2004, at the height of the Orange Revolution, he returned to his office in Washington, D.C., with a surprising observation. Most reports depicted the Orange Revolutionaries, with their determined, subzero encampment of the capital city's central square, either as western Ukrainians rebelling against the government's pro-Russian stance, or as idealistic students who were unwilling to stomach political repression. Both characterizations were true, but Aslund saw a third dynamic at play. The Orange Revolution, he told me,...

'National Democratic Party Germany' politician from Regensburg, W.W. [known to the editor of Kreuz.net, who's revealed himself Willi Wiener and authored a clarification for kreuz.net which follows further below, where he challenges the SSPX for using his conversion to support the CDU] has decided to leave the "far right" NDP Party which some consider fascist, because he feels it conflicts with his Catholic\Faith. This story underlines a certain tension going on within the Society regarding ways and means about how much to participate in politics. Mr. Wiener hasn't said the Church has no role to play in politics, but he's...

The Kulturkampf Against Germany Catholics Continues We'd already talked about this a few months ago and as we predicted it then, the School (Realschule) owned by the Don Bosco Schulverein and the German Province of the SSPX will not be able to continue operating thanks to the flimsy pretexts of the German authorities. The Society of Pius X is going to lose a dormitory to a harmless error in filing out a form. Anti-clerical hate for the Church from judges who have an opportunity to grab hold by the tuft. [kreuz.net, Saarbrücken] The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X must...

Swastika Christmas tree ornaments, "Germanic" cookies and made-up traditions: A new exhibition highlights how the Nazis tried to take Christ out of Christmas. But their attempts to hijack a festival that began with the birth of a Jewish child weren't entirely successful.

Not long ago I wrote: [E]ven elements of the [Democratic] party's hard core left are flirting with a centrist style candidate, Mark Warner. Indeed, [that element's] attack on Clinton seems to have more to do with the fact that it can't claim credit for her rise than on any principled desire to uphold the party's ideological purity. As it turns out, there may be a related but more basic explanation for the Kos crowd's flirtation with Warner -- the fact that Warner has hired Kos' partner Jerome Armstrong as a campaign consultant. Moreover, as The New Republic's Plank (via Chris...

Teacher suspended for anti-gay letters Evangelical Christian expressed views in local newspaper, not in classroom By ROD MICKLEBURGH Wednesday, April 23, 2003 VANCOUVER -- As an evangelical Christian lay preacher, Chris Kempling believes that homosexual acts are immoral. While many might disagree with this view, most would also defend Mr. Kempling's right to his opinion. Except that he is also a public high-school teacher and counsellor, and he expressed his strong beliefs about homosexuality in letters to his local paper. Yesterday, the B.C. College of Teachers suspended him from teaching for one month after finding him guilty of conduct unbecoming...