Free Republic

<p>Forget any assumptions you have about organized protests. The images that come to mind may be a little outdated: Daisy-bearing flower children urging everyone to "make love, not war" and, more recently pipe bomb-wielding anarchists immortalized by demonstrations in Seattle and Quebec.</p>

<p>TOWN OF OWEGO -- Eight local anti-war protesters dressed as weapons inspectors tried to enter Lockheed Martin Systems Integration facility Sunday, but didn't get far past the entrance.</p> <p>The group -- dressed in white hazardous materials uniforms with "citizens weapons inspector" printed in large black letters --were ticketed by Tioga County sheriff's deputies on trespassing charges. They are to appear in town court in mid-February.</p>

<p>Two weeks ago, Maura Stephens had no idea she'd soon be boarding a plane to Baghdad as part of a nationwide peace delegation.</p> <p>Stephens, senior editor of special projects in Ithaca College's Office of College Relations, is the only local woman out of the 15 U.S. women leaving Thursday for Iraq. Her husband, George Sapio, has also volunteered to join the delegation as its official photographer.</p>

As years go, they don't get much worse than 2002. The year's main saving grace - that we haven't yet invaded Iraq - suggests that, believe it or not, 2003 could be even worse. A year that came on the heels of 9/11 was probably doomed from the start. Yet the ongoing War on Terrorism that most characterizes our times has cast a muddy shadow on public life that hints of the paranoia and knee-jerk nationalism of the 1950s. Although we have experienced no acts of domestic terrorism in the months since the Sept. 11 attacks, our country is becoming...

This is a warning. The story you are about to read is full of Republicans talking about their right-wing views and their impressions on what it likes to be a member of the GOP in a very liberal community. This is a one-sided piece about the role the GOP plays in Tompkins County and about how conservative idealism manages to survive - and some would say thrive - in our politically charged region. If you are not sure you can read a piece that is devoid of left-wing commentary, you may wish to peruse through the rest of this paper....

<p>ITHACA -- If pacifists and human rights workers could agree on a national spokeswoman, Amy Goodman might be it.</p> <p>If Goodman wasn't too busy being a reporter.</p> <p>An anti-establishment hero and host of the national public radio show "Democracy Now!", Goodman will appear at Ithaca College tonight. She spoke to the Journal on Wednesday about the theme for the evening, the role of "independent" media during war.</p>

<p>Democrats need to stop blaming themselves for the Republican victories in the 2002 election and start understanding the religious right.</p> <p>Pat Robertson, founder of Christian Coalition wrote in his book "Millennium" in 1990, "with the apathy that exists today, a well organized minority can influence the selection of candidates to an astonishing degree." History has proven Robertson to be correct.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, struggling to demonstrate he can deal effectively with a sick economy, is shaking up his economic team and laying plans to present the new Congress a major stimulus package that will include sizable new tax cuts. Bush expects to quickly fill the vacancies created with the resignations Friday of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey, the director of his National Economic Council. Two senior White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Friday that the president has a candidate in mind to replace O'Neill. While they refused to disclose a name because...

<p>"The handful of organizations that supply most people with their news have major commercial interests that inevitably tempt them to slant their coverage, and more generally to be deferential to the ruling party."</p> <p>Add your comments as well.</p>

<p>Lou reports the results of these polls from time to time. Wanna bet he reports on this one if it declares the press is conservative?</p> <p>Right now it's 50 for Liberal and 47 for Conservative and the DU crowd is staging a push.</p>

If television were a state, it would be a red state. I watched Letterman three times last week, and he made a point each time of calling Sadaam Hussein "a stooge and a thug." On Sunday I watched the NFL on Fox (the one time I get to see the Redskins, so of course they get fustigated), and not only did the announcers thank our troops, but several of the commercials were reminders from the NFL to support our armed forces. On Sunday 60 Minutes ran a story portraying the mission of Hans Blix, the head U.N. weapons inspector in...

<p>Following media analysis of the elections, I suggest looking at fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and charismatic churches. I think you'll find their members voted en mass along a straight Republican ticket, providing as many as 25 million votes.</p> <p>Why do the churches active in the religious right vote exclusively Republican? Because the religious right controls the Republican Party.</p>

<p>ITHACA -- Local academics said President George W. Bush offered no new evidence in a speech Monday for going to war with Iraq, while GOP faithful called the speech convincing and clear.</p> <p>"President Bush systematically addresses the main criticisms of his rush to war with Iraq, but he does not provide any new arguments or evidence," said Matthew A. Evangelista, director of Cornell University's Peace Studies Program.</p>

On 1997's El Corazón, Steve Earle wished for the return of Woody Guthrie to a world sorely lacking voices of righteous dissent. Here, Earle stops pining for ghosts and gruffly makes his own claim to the agit-folk crown. The controversial "John Walker's Blues" drew attention to the album and the ire of many who misunderstood it, but it's only one of many topical tunes on a disc that issues a kind of call to arms: over the distorted guitars and garbage-pail drums of "Amerika v. 6.0" and in the spare and creepy satire "Conspiracy Theory," Earle rallies listeners to resist...

GENEVA NY- He is behind by more than 2,000 votes and there are only 132 left to be counted. Walrath will still be on the ballot Nov. 5, though, on the Conservative Party line. Incumbent Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New Hartford led Walrath on primary night, Sept. 10, by a vote of 18,726 to 17,238, and picked up another 1,313 votes this week as election officials in the 11 counties in the district opened absentee, military and affidavit ballots. Officials were required to wait one week after the primary to begin opening the ballots. All ballots in 10 of those...

Tuesday's primary in the 24th Congressional District, under normal circumstances, would be of interest only to Republicans because it is, after all, their ballot line that's in contention. Sherwood Boehlert of New Hartford, who represents the 23rd Congressional District now, had his lines re-drawn and is running in the new district against Dr. David Walrath of Sennett. Both are GOP members. But there is no Democrat running in the 24th. The Right-to-Life candidate in the race, Kathleen Peters, has already thrown her support to Walrath. The Green Party candidate, Mark Dunau, is an organic farmer from Delaware County, which isn't...

Cayuga County would benefit from having one of its own represent it in Congress. A member from this county could bring to Washington the concerns of a region melding Finger Lakes charm with agricultural backbone. The representative could argue for this county on matters of land-use, water quality, a flagging economy and a lingering land-claim lawsuit. Unfortunately, Dr. David Walrath isn't the person for the job. In the midst of a campaign that plays to the lowest-common denominator, Walrath asks voters in Tuesday's Republican primary to exercise gut instincts, meaning his own gut instincts, about racial matters. He runs not...

<p>The federal appeals court that refused to halt small-group discussions about the Quran at the University of North Carolina did more than strike a blow for freedom of speech.</p> <p>Its ruling was a ringing endorsement of the right to think for oneself.</p>

"Cast your Best of Ithaca ballot on-line! Be sure to include your name and address, and if you're one of the lucky 10 people chosen at random you'll win a gift certificate for dinner-for-2 at an Ithaca restaurant. Only one entry per person, and any attempts at ballot stuffing will be disqualified. Entries must be received by Friday, August 30."Okay, Freepers, last year we were able to FREEP this poll so that Cornell's only conservative professor (and Ann Coulter's mentor), Jeremy Rabkin, was voted best professor (funny how that catagory is gone this year...heh).We were also able to flood the...

<p>It is very easy to dislike the regime in Saudi Arabia. It has, after all, one of the most corrupt and dissolute royal houses in history. This kleptocracy of cousins has ruthlessly suppressed dissent within its borders at the same time it was bankrolling the most extreme fundamentalist movements in other nations of the Muslim world.</p>