Free Republic

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

One would like to think of Spain's repulsive Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, as just an unpleasant byproduct of last March's terrible terrorist attacks on Madrid commuter trains. Zapatero's only there because Spain's traumatized voters temporarily lost their senses in an election held just days after huge terror attacks and unexpectedly voted him in. But he's rapidly shaping up as something more nefarious than merely Jacques Chirac's faithful poodle. Politics are taking some strange disorienting directions in Spain now as a result of Zapatero's radical leftist government. Thursday, Spain's Basque Parliament voted 39-35 to scale back ties to Madrid,...

There is only one reaction to this Bin Laden tape. It is not an endorsement of Kerry. It will not scare Americans into voting for Bush or Kerry. It is sign of weakness. The Media is going to try to trick us in these next few days. In the guise of trying to speculate about the impact of these tapes, they are going to try to imply that Bush is failing in the War on Terror and that this tape is proof. We cannot allow this. For months, many have predicted that Bin Laden wouldn't let Bush finish his term...

"Mr. President, today as we hear much rhetoric in the U.S. Senate about the spread of communism throughout the world and the need of the United States to make efforts to try to respond to that so-called threat." He said this in the context of supporting his resolution to pressure Marcos and the Phillipines for democratic reform. He may have been right on some aspects, but once again his rhetoric was naive and dangerous.

Paris, France, Sep. 17 (UPI) -- Editor's note: This second installment of the UPI book review series on the chasm between Islam and Christianity examines Islam's Achilles heel - its treatment of women. The recent massacre committed by Muslim terrorists in Beslan, Russia, has led to a massive turnaround in the public perception of Islam in Germany. Before that kidnapping of 1,200 schoolchildren, teachers and parents - and the slaughter of 350 of hem -- only 44 percent of Germans believed that a "clash of cultures" was underway between Christianity and Islam, to use Samuel P. Huntington's phrase. Since Beslan,...

Desperate times breed desperate measures, and the 1980 Iran hostage crisis was a desperate time for the United States, especially after one rescue mission in the Iranian desert met with disaster. It's now known that the U.S. planned a second rescue attempt. For it, the U.S. military made radical modifications to a transport plane to make it take off and land almost like a helicopter, Jane's Defense Weekly disclosed Monday. The military modified a huge C-130 Hercules, adding rockets so that it could take off and land in little more than its own length. At the time of the...

So where is Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army now? After taking serious losses against American and Iraqi forces and cynically hiding behind Shiite Islam’s most holy shrine in Najaf, these cowards have melted back into Iraqi society. Or have they? There are many questions to be answered regarding al-Sadr’s future, as he most certainly will oppose the growth of democracy in Iraq. Will al-Sadr and his thugs be held accountable for the violent crimes they committed in Najaf? During their reign of terror, they apparently held a kangaroo court. After Iraq’s top Shiite, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, pressured al-Sadr to...

PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - To the naked ear, Howard Stern is still our regent of raunch. Lately, he has groused to his loyal listeners about the zit on his nose and the cellulite on his butt, dished about his morning trysts with his model-girlfriend, and opined on the watchability of DVD porn. But Stern has also ushered in the era of shock-jock politics, so when he split for a long vacation at the start of July, he minced no words: "I'm not only anti-Bush, I support John Kerry. ... He's going to be the guy who gets us back on...

(IsraelNN.com) Minister Uzi Landau said last night that “all of our gestures to the Palestinians and the Hizbullah are interpreted as weakness by the other side; and weakness invites terrorism, murder and death. Therefore, we must cease all good-will gestures.” The Road Map, Landau said, will be a trap for us as long as the Palestinians are not carrying out their obligations. Regarding the conflict in the north, Landau said, “In Lebanon, we’ve got to put an end to sending messages, as they have just brought terror down on us. It is time to start striking Syrian and Lebanese targets....

The Rick Santorum controversy has illuminated a serious problem in the Republican Party: its leaders seem woefully ill-prepared to defend the pro-family position on homosexuality. As an attorney who trains pro-family activists how to debate this issue, I would like to offer my fellow Republicans the following advice. First, don't dodge the issue in fear of political correctness or pro-"gay" media bias. Stand confidently upon the essential pro-family presuppositions that resonate with people of common sense: 1) normality is that which functions according to its design, 2) the heterosexual design of the human body and the natural family is self-evident,...

Iraqi Ground Forces The defeat of 1991, the sanctions and the trade embargo continuing since 1990, have seriously impaired the Iraqi army, once considered one of the strongest Arab armies. Before Desert storm, the Iraqis had almost a million soldiers and officers (regular and reserve), some 6,000 - 6,700 tanks, from 5,000 to 8,000 IFVs and APCs of all types, up to 500 SP howitzers and from 3,000 to 5,000 towed artillery pieces and heavy mortars, some 1,500 ATGMs and a thousand ADA pieces. After Desert storm, all these numbers have reduced by two-three times. There are now 7 corps...

<p>RETHYMNO, Greece -- EU defence ministers are set to meet on the Greek island of Crete under pressure to narrow a major gap in military capabilities with the United States.</p> <p>The EU's foreign and security policy representative, Javier Solana, rammed home the message on the eve of Friday's meeting.</p>

FreeRepublic.com "A Conservative News Forum" [ Last | Latest Posts | Latest Articles | Self Search | Add Bookmark | Post | Abuse | Help! ] Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. Moderates—Who Needs Them? Politics/Elections Editorial Source: Laissez Faire City Times Published: June 18, 2001 Author: by Tibor R. Machan Posted on 06/18/2001 11:48:51 PDT by JeanS In ancient times the...