Free Republic

Sacramento peace protesters were targeted by a widespread domestic spying operation in which the Pentagon monitored anti-war groups across the country, newly released government documents show. The documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and made public Tuesday, detail entries made into the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice database dating back to November 2004, when two local groups protested at the Military Entrance Processing Station on Rosin Court in North Sacramento. The revelation adds more fuel to the ongoing debate over governmental spying on citizens critical of the war in Iraq. It is the latest in a series...

Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule. As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats — in her fondest wish — win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history. Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation." Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist...

Anaheim, Calif. -- A powerful Republican Party operative who earlier this week accused a Muslim City Council candidate of supporting Islamic extremists on Thursday challenged the Syrian-born man to a debate on his views of Hezbollah and the Middle East. The challenge from former state GOP chairman Shawn Steel came the same day that more than a half-dozen elected officials and civic and religious leaders rallied behind the candidate, Belal "Bill" Dalati, on the steps of City Hall. A letter Steel wrote accusing Dalati of helping sponsor an anti-Israel rally and associating with "zany left wing groups" has circulated on...

A Democratic congresswoman on Wednesday cited the case of an Iraqi Associated Press photographer imprisoned by the U.S. military during debate on a prisoner treatment bill that she considers too harsh. In a House speech, Rep. Louise Slaughter referred to Bilal Hussein, who has been detained in Iraq for more than five months. "He was accused of aiding and abetting the insurgency, but he has yet to be charged with any crime," said Slaughter, D-N.Y. She noted that the AP has demanded that Hussein either be released or charged so that he can be turned over to the Iraqi court...

The U.S. government has rejected a prominent Muslim scholar's application to enter the country on the grounds that he donated several hundred dollars to French and Swiss groups that provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians, a civil rights group announced Monday. Tariq Ramadan learned that his visa application was rejected last week, three months after a judge ordered the government to decide whether he can enter the country to speak before groups that had invited him, the American Civil Liberties Union said. The Bush administration contends the French and Swiss groups, which the ACLU said are legitimate charities, gave funds to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- About 40 peace activists, many of them dressed in pink and flashing peace signs, slowed traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge this morning and got into minor clashes with police. No one was arrested during the hour-and-a-half protest -- organized by the anti-war group Code Pink as part of International Peace Day -- but bridge authorities did confiscate signs and banners they said would distract drivers and slow traffic even more. There were also two minor collisions on the northbound side of the highway during the protest, which began at 8 a.m., according to Golden Gate...

Even on the very day of 9/11, this is what you get from DU moonbats: Dangerman (837 posts) Mon Sep-11-06 11:44 AM Original message I'm going to have a hellish night tonight. I am working at a local sports arena tonight and there will be a pre-game speech about "We are going to win the war on terror." and some patriotic songs and that song "God Bless America" in the bottom of the 7th. The last two 9/11s when I work there, I started shouting "bull!" and felt like I am going to tantrum. Why they are still going some...

From the Orange County Register online: [Congressman Dana] Rohrabacher has supported the Bush administration on the war in Iraq. Then, the protesters started shouting: "Bring them home! Now!" As the pitch rose, the congressman ran out of his grey stucco home. He was barefoot. "You just woke my babies!" Rohrabacher said. He and his wife, Rhonda, have 2-year-old triplets. Rohrabacher said he was on his back porch when he heard crying over a baby monitor. "I am going to get all of you arrested if you don't leave right now." "My son is in Iraq!" responded Tim Kahlor, 48, whose...

A FEDERAL judge Thursday reaffirmed one of the Constitution's most cherished principles: No one, even the president of the United States, is above the law. In striking down the National Security Agency's warrantless-surveillance program, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor suggested it not only violated the rights of free speech and privacy -- it intruded on the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution. "The public interest is clear in this matter," she wrote in her 43-page opinion. "It is the upholding of the Constitution." Our government has the ability to pursue terrorists with all due aggressiveness without shredding the...

An article in a leading Norwegian newspaper last weekend lambasted Israel and Judaism and said Israel has lost its right to exist in its present form. Entitled "God's chosen people," the article by author Jostein Gaarder in Aftenposten is raising a storm in Norway. Gaarder, author of the book "Sophie's World," links the Israel Defense Forces' acts in Lebanon to Jewish history and foresees the coming dismantling of the state as it exists today, with the Jews becoming refugees. In an interview with Haaretz Gaarder said Thursday that he was misunderstood. "As John Kennedy declared in Germany 'I am a...

A left-wing activist was hit by a rubber bullet at an anti-separation fence protest in Bil'in on Friday, sustaining moderate-to-serious head wounds. He was evacuated to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer for treatment. A number of activists threw rocks at security forces during the demonstration. In response, Israel Defense Forces troops and Border Policemen threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets . . .

One left-wing protestor identified with the Anarchists Against the Barrier organization sustained moderate-to-serious injuries in a confrontation with police. The incident occurred during an anti-barrier protest with Palestinian Authority (PA) residents in Bilin, an Arab village in the Modi’in area. Protestors are accusing border police of using unwarranted force and using live fire without justification.

Anti-war liberals blast Cantwell But her supporters say senator is no Lieberman By NEIL MODIE P-I REPORTER While anti-war liberals were high-fiving Sen. Joseph Lieberman's defeat in Connecticut's Democratic primary, mainstream Democrats here were busy explaining Wednesday why Washington's Sen. Maria Cantwell is no Joe Lieberman. Yes, she is, insisted Cantwell's two anti-war election opponents, at least when it comes to support of the Bush administration's Iraq war policy. The reality, however, is that Lieberman's loss to Ned Lamont, a wealthy, anti-war businessman who won the primary Tuesday by spending $4 million of his own money, bears little resemblance to...

There are two misconceptions held by many Americans. The first is that communism ceased to be a threat when the Soviet Union imploded. The second is that the New Left of the Sixties collapsed and disappeared as well. “The Sixties are dead,” wrote columnist George Will (Slamming the Doors, Newsweek, Mar. 25, 1991) Because the New Left lacked cohesion it fell apart as a political movement. However, its revolutionaries reorganized themselves into a multitude of single issue groups. Thus we now have for example, radical feminists, black extremists, anti-war ‘peace’ activists, animal rights groups, radical environmentalists, and ‘gay’ rights groups....

Here's an extremely revealing story showing the ultimate fallacy of the leftist and Islamist claim about the 'hijacking' of Islam by extremists. A moderate Muslim leader, who has been calling for bringing Islam in line with the Western humanist values and who opposed homophobia, the introduction of Sharee'ah and the invitation of an Islamofascist cleric has been forced to step down due to threats against his family, and the 'moderate majority' seems to exhibit little concern about his fate. We are routinely being led to believe, by the Islamic apologists and their allies at the Mainstream Media, that Islam is...

The weekend disaster in Qana, Lebanon, where an Israeli air strike killed dozens of men, women and children, illustrates in a most tragic way a basic tenet of 21st century warfare, military experts say: You can't attain victory with bombs alone. "There's so many examples where it hasn't worked recently, even for the world's best air forces," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Israel's campaign against Hezbollah has so far relied primarily on air power. Government leaders and military officials claim the attacks have killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and have severely degraded the militant group's...

San Francisco -- Dozens of protesters carrying banners and Lebanese flags rallied at City Hall on Saturday, condemning Israel's attacks on targets in Lebanon as barbaric and illegal. "We're trying to raise some awareness with the American public about what's going on," said Mohamad Charafeddine, a Stanford University doctoral student who organized the protest. "It's unacceptable." About 50 people, mostly members of the Bay Area's Lebanese community, took part in the demonstration. The protest came as Israel intensified its air assault on Lebanon, striking Hezbollah strongholds and bombing central Beirut for the first time.

"Anti-war activists pray before last meal in front of the White House in Washington July 3, 2006. Cindy Sheehan and 'CODEPINK' launched 'Troops Home Fast,' a hunger strike to protest the war in Iraq" "Former Deputy Ambassador to Mongolia, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, Ann Wright; seated left to right, peace activist Cindy Sheehan; Iraq War veteran, former Army Sgt. Geoffrey Millard; and Franciscan Friar Louis Vitale, eat their last meal before beginning the fast at midnight to end the Iraq War, in front of the White House, Monday, July 3, 2006, in Washington."

Shouting matches broke out in the Knesset on Monday afternoon during a charged debate on three no-confidence motions filed by Arab parties regarding Israel's military response to the kidnapping of a soldier by Palestinian militants. The no-confidence motions were defeated by a large majority after all opposition parties - with the exception of Arab parties - supported the coalition. The no-confidence motion brought forth by Hadash said the Israel Defense Forces operations in Gaza and the arrests of Palestinian parliamentarians were planned in advance and added that the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit cannot be seen as a catalyst...

The European Union plans to transfer 100 million euros to the Palestinian Authority while bypassing the PA's terrorist-led government. According to a decision reached by EU leaders on Friday in Brussels, the funds will be earmarked for healthcare, electricity supplies and support for poor families in the PA. A mechanism to transfer the money directly to the targets of the largesse, bypassing the official Hamas-led PA government, is to be in place by early July, according to EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin. The EU has included Hamas on its list of terrorist groups and has frozen funds to the PA since...