Free Republic

TOKYO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern on Thursday about Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of an explicit call for Israel to exercise restraint. A surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence along the border of Gaza has raised fears of a full-scale conflict amid public pressure on Israeli President Ehud Olmert for tougher military action to deal with rocket attacks by Islamic group Hamas. A rocket launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed a man in Israel on Wednesday, the first such death in nine months, and Israeli...

PRAGUE -- Whenever Bill Buckley was profiled in the media, he was usually pinned firmly to words such as "impish" and "gadfly." It is easy to understand why. He was a wit - and a reckless wit at that. Asked what he would first do if elected mayor of New York in 1965, he replied: "Demand a recount." Bores cling to the consoling thought that such a sharp wit must also be frivolous and ineffectual, but Bill was one of the most effectual men of our time. He sailed several oceans. He played the harpsichord. He authored (annually on his...

Neil Clark says that he went to Havana in search of a left-wing Utopia and discovered instead an island fortress of poverty, corruption and currency apartheid It’s a country where the vast majority live in poverty, while a tiny, corrupt elite live in luxury. It’s a place where, 14 years after South Africa abolished apartheid, a form of it still operates. Welcome to Cuba, the ‘socialist’ paradise built by that great egalitarian Fidel Castro, who after 49 years at the helm has finally decided to hand over power — in the manner of a true democrat — to his brother...

Bush, new South Korean president think alike on NKorea, but nuclear deal might prove difficult By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in his seven years in office, President Bush will have a South Korean counterpart with similar views on North Korean nuclear disarmament when Lee Myung-bak is inaugurated Monday. It may already be too late for them to move forward on an agreement to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. Seoul's change in leadership comes with six-nation nuclear negotiations at an impasse. It will take time for Lee to set up a...

After 49 years of ruling Cuba with an iron fist, 81-year-old Fidel Castro has formally stepped down as president and head of Cuba's armed forces. But there will not be any election to determine his successor. Power in the tropical tyranny is a family matter and Raul Castro, Fidel's 76-year-old brother, will take permanent control of a country he has run for 19 months while Fidel has endured a lengthy illness. Little has changed during that time -- free speech is still suppressed, democracy is crushed, freedom of the press is forbidden, free enterprise is illegal, fair trails are the...

Subject: Devotional "Heritage" Date: Feb 12, 2008 11:21 AM Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Many things exist that we do not know nor do we understand. The human mind is very curious about the things that are unknown. Man has gone to the moon, explored distant lands, excavated through countless layers of dirt, and investigated numerous unknowns all for the sake of discovering that which no one knows. This same...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2008 – Since the birth of America, African-Americans have been fighting and dying alongside their countrymen as the United States has struggled for freedom and peace at home and abroad. African-American soldiers have fought in every war the United States has participated in, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the current war on terror. African-Americans, both free and slaves, participated in all the conflicts in the early days of America. About 5,000...

The man who American journalists are investigating as the possible illegitimate son of John F. Kennedy lives in British Columbia and bears a striking resemblance to the 35th president of the United States. So much so, that people will sometimes stop him on the street. "Not in a funny way, but in a scary way," the man named Jack said during a meeting Saturday morning. Jack, who has asked that his full identity not be revealed at this time, approached The Globe and Mail on Friday after the newspaper ran an article about the possible existence of a John F....

I worry about my country. I think the Constitution is hanging by a thin thread. I think by the time Congress and Bush and McCain get done, we will have totally open borders, no immigration laws being followed and tax burdens that will break us all. I believe that the National ID will put us under the thumb of the government to the point of us all becoming criminals in the eyes of the powers that be. I see guns available only for the criminals, but law abiding citizens will not be able to own them. I see colleges that...

~EXCERPT~LEGACY? What legacy?There was general amazement when (the now-muzzled) Bill Clinton did his red-faced, attack-dog, race-baiting performance in South Carolina.Friends, Democrats and longtime media sycophants were variously perplexed, repulsed, enraged, mystified and shocked that this beloved ex-President would so jeopardize his legacy by stooping so low.What they don't understand is that for Clinton, there is no legacy.What he was doing on the low road from Iowa to South Carolina was fighting for a legacy -- a legacy that he knows history has denied him and that he has but one chance to redeem.Clinton is a narcissist but also smart and...

Most of Washington is too shallow to recognize a substantive policy move if it hits them in the face strapped to the grill of a truck. So after telling the nation not to bother watching President Bush’s final State of the Union address, the Washington press corps was too busy telling us how unsuccessful it was to tell us much of what he actually said. You might want to go to WhiteHouse.gov and watch it yourself. Reading the post-speech analysis is a waste of your time. It wasn’t the greatest speech ever given by a long shot, but it did...

WASHINGTON - On Monday evening, President Bush will stand before a joint session of Congress and give a speech about the state of the Union – and perhaps about the state of his place in history, as well. This doesn't mean that Mr. Bush's final State of the Union address will be a nostalgia-fest of retrospection. Bush, like his father before him, famously is averse to dwelling on the past. But he's unlikely to unveil bold new initiatives, say experts, given his low approval ratings and the lack of time left in his term. At best Bush might push items...

January 12, 2008 Middle East indebted to Bush By SALIM MANSUR This week's journey of U.S. President George W. Bush to the Middle East -- the itinerary beginning with Israel includes visits to the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt -- is greatly significant and yet, in keeping with his temper, a low-keyed affair as the last remaining months of his presidency unfold. We likely can surmise there is one more visit to the region still to be made by Bush. This will be a visit to Baghdad with an address to Iraq's democratically...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush met with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank on Thursday, predicting that a Middle East peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office. Bush was holding talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other top government officials. "I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge," Bush said in a press conference Thursday with Abbas. In his first visit to the region as president, Bush has admitted he hopes his presence will push the Israeli and Palestinian leaders along on the stalled...

WHEN, in May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was killed by a suicide bomber, there was an international outpouring of grief. Recent days have seen the same with the death of Benazir Bhutto: another glamorous, Western-educated scion of a great South Asian political dynasty tragically assassinated at an election rally. There is, however, an important difference between the two deaths: while Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them, Ms. Bhutto was apparently the victim of Islamist militant groups that she allowed to flourish under her administrations in the...

Seventeenth-century couple left US cancer legacy 12:14 02 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service Reuters and New Scientist staff A married couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 may be the ancestors of thousands of people in the US at higher risk of a hereditary form of colon cancer who are alive today, researchers said on Wednesday. US scientists traced a so-called founder genetic mutation found among two large families currently living in Utah and New York to the couple. Cancer researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah say thousands of people across the country may have the...

President George HW Bush's legacy: A free Kuwait President George W Bush's legacy: A free Iraq President Bill Clinton's legacy: A stained blue dress, a funny smelling cigar, and a missed opportunity to have stopped 911 Senator Hillary Clinton's legacy: She couldn't do it on her own so she hitched herself to the Pillsbury doughboy

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2007 – An Illinois-based group is working to honor one soldier by supporting many other servicemembers. Nearly 100 patients recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, enjoy a tailgate party before the 2006 football game pitting Army against Texas A&M at the Alamodome, in San Antonio. The Captain Scott Corwin Foundation hosted the party. Courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The Captain Scott Corwin Foundation is dedicated to helping our men and women in uniform, concentrating on those wounded,” said Greg Corwin, one of the foundation’s executive members, and...

Optimism about North Korea is sadly misguidedBy Richard Halloran Sunday, Dec 16, 2007, Page 9 Once again, rosy optimism is billowing out of the Korean Peninsula. And once again, the rest of the world might remember that atop the regime in Pyongyang sit world-class thugs who have repeatedly refused to abide by their agreements. US President George W. Bush started off the latest surge of hope two weeks ago with a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, urging him in polite but firm terms to keep his pledge to abandon his nuclear weapons. Six years ago, Bush made...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2007 – Six members from three generations of Tabitha White’s family have served in the military, so her service in the Marine Corps is a point of pride she takes seriously. Marine 1st Lt. Tabitha White is one of 10 servicemembers selected to tell the military’s story to the American public at community and business events, veterans organizations and other gatherings as part of the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public outreach program. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I consider it a privilege to be an American, and I realize we have...