Free Republic

The NFL is considering moving the game to Monday or Tuesday in case of bad weather. Well slather me in butter and call me a biscuit. Didn't they KNOW the possibility of bad winter weather would increase during WINTER? Personally, they need to play the game in whatever Mother Nature throws at it. They wanted this up there, they got it. Now deal with it. Your opinion may differ.

If ever you needed further proof of the "person of color" America really needs in charge right now, I urge you to watch this fabulous YouTube footage of the magnificent Condoleezza Rice being ambushed by left-liberal students at Stanford University with a series of "difficult" questions about torture, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and US foreign policy under George W Bush. (Hat tip: Andrew Hamilton.) Her coolness under fire is magnificent, but more impressive still is her refusal to duck the issues. "Sorry we have to leave", an official can be heard saying off camera, but Condi isn't going to take...

A bitter dispute over forced assignments to Iraq has erupted inside the State Department with diplomats taking decidedly undiplomatic potshots at one another. The latest public salvo came Tuesday with a harshly critical post on the department's official blog in which a foreign service officer in Iraq skewered those who spoke out against the prospect of ordered tours of duty at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and outlying provinces. The message, titled "A Letter From Iraq to My Overwrought Colleagues," accused opponents of being spoiled elitists whose revolt against so-called "directed assignments" is embarrassing. "To my vexed and overwrought colleagues,...

Schools close as week-long Arctic storm takes hold By Auslan Cramb Scottish Correspondent (Filed: 01/03/2006) More than 150 schools were closed yesterday and dozens of roads were blocked by snow as Arctic weather hit parts of Britain. Walkers brave the elements at Scarborough, North Yorks, where a severe weather warning had been issued While many central areas enjoyed uninterrupted winter sunshine, the north of Scotland and the East Coast experienced some of the heaviest snowfall of the winter. The northerly air stream, which is expected to last for most of the week, hit Orkney and Shetland, where all schools were...

Leaders drop hotly debated ANWR drilling plan from omnibus budget billWASHINGTON - House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday. They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium.

SEOUL President Roh Moo Hyun declared Thursday that under no circumstances would South Korea allow the United States to resort to a military attack against North Korea. President George W. Bush insists that he wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but he has not officially ruled out a military option, which he has called a "last choice."

Red vs. Blue: The Aftermath Seattle Weekly readers sound off on the election. I feel like someone has died, and I guess that someone is my country and its shining ideals. The people have voted, cowering in fear and ignorance, and now retreat to their caves with the same mentality . . . playing right into the hands of this despicable bunch that will control our country for another four years. I'm shocked and appalled, fearful, and more than a little ashamed of my countrymen, and I'm worried about what the next four years will bring. Because it's "open season"...

... The average Frenchman listening to state-run France Inter radio or Antenne 2 television during the first week of the war in Iraq saw the United States spiraling toward a humiliating defeat, and Bush, the "cowboy" president, headed for ignominy if not impeachment. In tones that mixed elation and awe, newsmen and pundits began speculating on how the Middle East would look the day after the United States lost the war against Saddam. Wouldn't this dramatic display of U.S. vulnerability encourage other nations and terrorist groups to challenge overrated U.S. military might?...