Free Republic

Rewriting Germany's Nazi Past - A Society in Moral DeclineManfred Gerstenfeld The German postwar governments have made great efforts to reeducate the population. In recent years, however, there are increasing signs of shifts in German attitudes toward rewriting its past. Some of these involve the sanitizing of history, while others are reflected in an increasing lack of sensitivity among society's elites as well as the mainstream toward the use of concepts and semantics from the Hitler period. Franz Muentefering, chairman of the German Socialist party, compared certain foreign investors to damaging insects. The weekly Stern listed seven "locust firms";...

"The seven key GOP Senators are Collins, DeWine, Hagel, Murkowski, Roberts, Specter, and Warner. Frist can afford to lose only two, because McCain, Chafee, and Snowe have declined to end the judicial filibusters. Sununu is off the list, based on his Capital Gang appearance yesterday (e.g. he said “I think it’s likely that the votes are there”). Phone numbers are below the fold. Polite calls from constituents are best."

Johnnie Stevens is not one to shy away from a fight. As a young man, he fought with the 761st Tank Battalion to help cut the German supply lines that kept American troops pinned down during the Battle of the Bulge. For his heroism, he won the Bronze Star, and more recently, mention in the book "Brothers in Arms," by former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton. A movie based on the book is coming. But instead of reveling in the glory of his accomplishments, Stevens, now 84, finds himself fighting another battle -- one that could cost him...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20041014-084639-5209r.htm

Thursday, June 17, 2004 at 08:42 JST SAIPAN — Paul Tibbets, the American pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, on Wednesday returned to the small island from where he launched the attack 59 years ago. Tibbets, a retired Air Force brigadier general, is visiting the Northern Marianas to mark the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Saipan in which American forces liberated this U.S. territory from Japanese occupation forces in World War II. On Wednesday he visited Tinian Island where on Aug 16, 1945, he took off in a B29 bomber named Enola Gay and flew to Hiroshima...

Second Scientist Predicts Major Southland Quake A UCLA scientist has joined a University of Oregon geologist in predicting a major earthquake in Southern California in the near future. Vladimir Keilis-Borok believes there is a 50 percent chance that a quake of magnitude 6.4 or greater will strike in the Mojave Desert sometime in the next five months. Keilis-Borok has already successfully predicted two previous major temblors, including the magnitude 6.5 shaker that hit Paso Robles on December 22. The quake prediction covers a 12,440-square-mile area of Southern California that includes portions of the eastern Mojave Desert, Coachella Valley, Imperial...

A US geophysicist has set the scientific world ablaze by claming to have cracked the holy grail: accurate earthquake prediction, and warning that a big one will hit southern California by September 5.Russian born UCLA professor Vladimir Keilis-Borok says he can forsee major quakes by tracking minor tremblers and historical patterns in seismic hotspots that could indicate more violent shaking is on the way. And he has made the chilling prediction that a quake measuring at least 6.4 magintude on the Richter scale will hit a 32,000 square km area of southern California bt September 5. The team at the...

<p>Jeff Gardner is deep in the heart of a seismological amusement park and the only thing shaking is his 12-year-old Suburban.</p> <p>Gardner, 39, is an off-road tour guide whose typical route bounces directly on top of the San Andreas Fault north of Interstate 10 in the Coachella Valley.</p>

Has anyone noticed The beginning of the new movie Seabiscuit? The story of Seabiscuit took place during the big depression and the viewer is given a montage of depression era souplines, "okie" camps, stockmarket wipeouts, etc. Then the venue changes and we are treated to 1930's news shots of WPA construction projects, CCC rural improvement projects and a quick shot of FDR with the commentator saying "Things are better because of FDR and the help of the government". I was shocked by this propaganda display and feel that it had nothing to do with the story. Also, interjecting this material...

The world's future is being decided at this time. Such moments are extremely rare in history. And when they have occurred, they have between two, not three, competing ideologies. But there are now three ideologies competing to shape the future of mankind. They are militant Islam, Western European secularism and socialism, and American Judeo-Christianity and capitalism. The first is being spread both peacefully and violently, the second is being spread peacefully, and the third is not being spread. Though most people ignore the fact, almost all of the world's believing Muslims believe that all of mankind should be Muslim. This,...

Memo to: President Bush From: Saddam Hussein Dear Bush: Well, it's been a while since we last communicated. It's not easy getting tapes out from this basement in Tikrit, but I thought it was time we had a little chat. Heard your speech on Arab democracy on the BBC Arabic Service. I'll give you this, Bush, you and Blair do understand the stakes. It's your willpower I doubt. You see, Bush, this really is "The Mother of All Battles." You may not have meant to, but you have triggered a huge civilizational war — the war within Islam. Who wins...

For two years the terrorists have spoken openly and privately about a final, devastating attack that would “paralyze” the United States. In November 2001, the Taliban’s Mullah Omar spoke to a journalist about the final destruction of America. A man of simple words, Omar did not say how America would be destroyed. Last week Osama bin Laden re-issued his famous religious ruling (fatwa) on the mass killing of Americans: “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilian and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it...

Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon.  In 1982, following Operation Peace for Galilee, JINSA reported on the international terrorist haven that had arisen in Fatahland – the southern part of Lebanon controlled by Yasser Arafat.  Aside from the expected mélange of Middle Easterners, there were Japanese Red Army, German and Italian Red Brigades, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorans, Colombians and Peruvians.  There were Iranian Shi’ites, East Germans and Bulgarians.  Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon, again.  Religious Iran and secular, Ba’athist Syria made a deal to use Syrian-controlled Lebanon as a base for Hizballah to attack Israel.  Today, Israel...

The war liberated millions. But the post-war period proved difficult. Members of the former regime went underground and continued to fight, using terrorist tactics – even against their fellow countrymen. Those who had been freed lacked essential services, including food, clean water, jobs and housing. Opposition to the “occupation” persisted. The reconstruction progressed slowly. True democracy took years to establish. Nevertheless, most Americans today agree that President Lincoln was right to wage the Civil War. Eventually, a similar view will likely prevail regarding the U.S.-led war to liberate Iraq. The vast majority of Americans will understand that the war was...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Decisions we make change our lives and impact our histories. Robert Frost captured the magnitude of our choices in his poem, "The Road Less Traveled." He chose one way and realized, "knowing how way leads onto way, I doubted if I should ever come back" to the crossroads of the original choice. My question is: Will Western Christianity -- essentially Christians in the United States -- shape history, or miss an opportunity by our level of commitment to Jesus Christ? David Watson, an Anglican priest, wrote two sentences that have haunted me for 21 years: "It is widely...

America’s opponents know just what’s at stake in the postwar struggle for Iraq: Beat America’s ideas in Iraq and you beat them out of the whole region. In the wake of the bombing of the UN office in Baghdad, some “terrorism experts” (By the way, how do you get to be a terrorism expert? Can you get a B.A. in terrorism or do you just have to appear on Fox News?) have argued that the US invasion of Iraq is a failure because all it’s doing is attracting terrorists to Iraq and generating more hatred toward America. I have no...

In the wake of the bombing of the U.N. office in Baghdad, some "terrorism experts" (By the way, how do you get to be a terrorism expert? Can you get a B.A. in terrorism or do you just have to appear on Fox News?) have argued that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is a failure because all it's doing is attracting terrorists to Iraq and generating more hatred toward America. I have no doubt that the U.S. presence in Iraq is attracting all sorts of terrorists and Islamists to oppose the U.S. I also have no doubt that politicians and...

Azeri president collapses twice during speech BAKU: Azeri President Haydar Aliyev, who has ruled his nation with an iron grip for nearly a decade, collapsed twice before reviving to complete a televised speech yesterday. The 79-year-old president was addressing a military audience in the capital's Palace of the Republic when he suddenly gasped, clutched his heart and collapsed. Live transmission ended abruptly as bodyguards rushed to support the man who has established an unassailable hold on power since becoming president of the ex-Soviet Caspian state in 1993. Broadcasting resumed 12 minutes later as the frail-looking leader, whom many Azeris call...

The B-1B Lancer bomber that dropped what may be the decisive ordnance in the war against Saddam Hussein traces its lineage through the Antelope Valley, emerging from a factory complex at the periphery of U.S. Air Force Plant 42. A B-1B received a mission tasking Monday and within a dozen minutes or so dropped four massive "bunker buster" bombs on a building in a Baghdad suburb. The target: Pentagon officials referred to it as "a regime leadership meeting" believed to involve the Iraqi dictator and his two dreaded sons, Odai and Qusai Hussein. President George W. Bush, meeting in northern...

CIA says unknown whether Saddam survived strike WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - The CIA does not know whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons were killed or whether they survived a U.S. bombing earlier this week, a CIA official said on Wednesday. "It is not known whether Saddam and sons were present and whether they survived the attack," the CIA official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. A B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound (900-kg) bombs on a building in the Baghdad district of Mansur on Monday after the CIA received a tip that Saddam and his sons, Uday and...