Free Republic

What is it about worn-out socialist "worker paradises" like the old Soviet Union and Cuba that bring out the romantic in American radical politicians? After Vermont senator Bernie Sanders announced his run for president, Britain’s Guardian newspaper pawed through old archives in his home town of Burlington, Vermont where he served as mayor in the 1980s. They discovered that Sanders really did practice the socialist solidarity he preached about rhetorically. During Bernie's mayoral tenure, Burlington formed an alliance with the Soviet city of Yaroslavl, 160 miles northeast of Moscow. When in 1988 he married his wife, Jane, the mayor decided...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — The classical definition of a hero is a person who puts himself at risk for the benefit of others. That certainly describes Adolfo Calero, who died June 2 at the age of 80. The obituaries of this remarkable man hardly do justice to his courage, perseverance, faithfulness and humility. Here is the Adolfo Calero I knew, admired and called a friend for nearly three decades: A graduate of Holy Cross High School in New Orleans and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., he was a devout Roman Catholic and educated to be a...

A historian and former Sandinista leader who helped overthrow Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza is no longer scheduled to teach classes at Harvard Divinity School this spring after she said she was denied a visa because of her role in alleged "terrorist activity." Since 1998, Tellez has been president of the Sandinista Renewal Movement, a political party allied with the Sandinistas. At Harvard Divinity School, Tellez was scheduled to teach a class on Nicaragua and the Sandinista aftermath, as well as a seminar on Caribbean identity, race, and ethnicity.

Rep. Barbara Lee's Republican challenger this year is an online CEO, an energetic campaigner -- and also the daughter of the Nicaraguan Contras' late military commander, a heritage that has some East Bay liberals and human rights activists howling. Claudia Bermudez, 50, of Oakland, said she'll confront Lee on issues from homeland security to education. "I'm a businesswoman, I live here in the district -- I don't come as a Contra leader to come and overtake Berkeley." But she touts her father's legacy on her campaign Web site, saying she's "proud to carry on a tradition of political activism that...