Free Republic

The famous writer Roger Kimball has issued a challenge: Name the silliest argument to be offered by a serious academic in the last 25 years and to be taken up and be gravely masticated by the larger world of intellectual debate. A leading contender is Global Warming. Kimball's own entry is Francis Fukuyama's "end of history" thesis. Kimball's rules of the contest: "I'll collect proposals for the next week or two and then announce the winner. (The decision, from which there is no appeal, will be determined by a committee staffed, overseen, and operated entirely by me.)" This tournament reminds...

An outstanding speech by the reincarnate Thomas Paine.

BATON ROUGE -- Some call it a blood sport. Others call it a way of life. But whatever the view, as of Friday cockfighting will be illegal in Louisiana, the last state in the nation to outlaw it. Those on both sides of the battle to end the spectacle that pits roosters with razor-sharp gaffs on their feet in a fight to the death, concede that the law will not eliminate the practice, but only send it deeper into the shadows. "You will have people saying they are going to keep fighting their roosters, " despite the law, said Chris...

----snip Villanueva was reportedly shooting dice with friends in Henri Bourassa Park in the ethnically-diverse borough when police attempted to make a routine arrest. Montreal police say about 20 youths then surrounded them -- several of them reportedly rushing at police. ----snip Villanueva's death triggered an angry and violent response Sunday night. Vehicles were set on fire and there was widespread looting and violence targeting police and emergency service workers. One police officer was shot in the leg, while another officer and an ambulance technician received minor injuries. The technician was struck in the head with a bottle, said CTV...

One third of whites claim they are victims of racism Last updated at 10:16am on 12.08.08  A growing number of white people believe they are the victims of racial prejudice in Britain, official research has found. Almost one in three - 29 per cent - said they now expected to be treated worse than other races by key public services.  And the number of whites claiming to have been refused a job or discriminated against at work for reasons of race has doubled in the last five years, according to the Government study.   Flashback: Riots in Burnley, Lancs, 2001 when...

The UN Deforms Education by: Deborah Lambert, August 11, 2008 “It’s not easy being three years old,” said Mike McNally, writing on Pajamas Media, adding that with potty training, play dates, and learning to feed yourself, life can be a constant challenge. A case in point is the fact that British tots will soon be subjected to “lessons on human rights and multiculturalism, in between finger-painting sessions and nap time.” It’s all part of the “United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” a plan to develop “Rights Respecting Schools” not only in elementary schools, but at the nursery...

FORT WALTON BEACH - It's happened again. A Fort Walton Beach police officer found a sixth decapitated pygmy goat early Wednesday at the intersection of Holmes Boulevard and Memorial Drive. "This animal had been killed very close to the time it was put on the ground," said Dee Thompson, director of animal services for the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society. Thompson said feces were found at the scene, which is common when an animal dies. She also said the preservation of the crime scene leads her to believe the officer happened up on the black and white goat relatively soon after...

Well, can it? Before you answer, take a look at the short VIDEO, available on YouTube by Dale Hurd. Hurd begins with the by-now-familiar news that Britain's top judge and the Archbishop of Canterbury have both publicly declared themselves in favor of instituting some elements of sharia law in Britain. Hurd also notes that British authorities have been bending over backwards to cater to Muslim sensitivities. In Scotland, over a police advertisement which portrayed a cuddly puppy called Rebel, Islamic authorities declared the advertisement "offensive" and police officials fell over themselves apologizing for their insensitivity. He also notes how unevenly...

Deadly diversity in Afghanistan Posted: July 16, 2008 1:00 am Eastern By Matt Sanchez © 2008 If you haven't noticed, there is another war going on, in Afghanistan, and it's heating up. According to the 2008 Pentagon Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, "The Taliban regrouped after its fall from power and have coalesced into a resilient insurgency."

By now, many conservatives have heard of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions thanks to the decision by three CHRCs to investigate hate crimes complaints against Maclean’s magazine for printing -- among other things -- excerpts from conservative writer Mark Steyn’s book, America Alone. While two of the complaints against Maclean’s have been dismissed, the CHRCs continue their jihad against their fellow citizens who dare to offend certain protected minorities. One of their ongoing cases is the investigation of a newspaper for publishing a cartoon of a Muslim woman dressed in a burqa even though the woman does, in fact, wear...

The anthropologist Margaret Mead once observed that in the 1930s, when she was busy remaking the idea of culture, the notion of cultural diversity was to be found only in the 'vocabulary of a small and technical group of professional anthropologists'. Today, everyone and everything seems to have its own culture. From anorexia to zydeco, the American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah has observed, there is little that we don't talk about as the product of some group's culture. In this age of globalisation many people fret about Western culture taking over the world. But the greatest Western export is not...

Police fury as bosses tell them to 'celebrate' gipsies By Stephen Wright Last updated at 9:19 AM on 12th July 2008 Denise Milani: The Metropolitan Police director urges officers to observe 'Gipsy Roma Traveller History Month'Their arrival in the capital is said to have led to a huge rise in thieving and prompted the creation of a specialist police squad to tackle their sinister activities. Yet in a move which has caused disbelief amongst rank and file officers, Scotland Yard has asked staff to 'celebrate' the contribution of Roma gipsies to 'London's culture and diversity.' In a notice posted on...

Writing in Human Events, Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer observes that, “[t]hree years after the July 7, 2005, jihad terror attacks in London, the jihad in Britain is stronger than ever. It is not proceeding by means of more terrorism, but by stealth and by the preemptive surrender of all too many British officials.” He explains: The stealth jihad is a deeply-rooted, well-funded and wide-ranging effort to impose Islamic law, Sharia, upon the non-Muslim populations of Western countries. In England, and in America, it sometimes takes the form of an effort to win acceptance for Sharia law by portraying it as...

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon. County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office. Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole." That prompted Judge Thomas Jones,...

Customers ask Wal-Mart stores to remove book Beloved by Mexicans for his dim wits, street smarts and playful disposition, long-running comic book character Memín Pinguín — a little black boy whose face resembles a monkey — is at it again. His zany adventures chronicled in a hugely popular book series for decades are up for sale at your neighborhood Wal-Mart store in the Libros en Español section, right next to the store's cadre of African-American books. The latest issue: Memín para presidente. By Shawnedria McGinty's American standards, the image was shocking. The African-American woman who was shopping at the store...

Last week in Denver, almost all the values of the post-1960s Left were exhibited in one act. It happened on the Denver mayor's most important day -- the one in which he was to deliver his annual State of the City Address. The day was to begin with the singing of the National Anthem by the black jazz singer Rene Marie. But Ms. Marie had, by her own admission, long had other plans. Instead of the National Anthem, she sang "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," a song written in 1899 and often referred to today as the Black National Anthem....

A Georgia man appeared in court Monday on charges he killed his own daughter for disgracing his family. Chaudhry Rashid, wearing a red jumpsuit and shackles around his ankles, went before Chief Judge Daphne Walker at the Clayton County Magistrate Court where he was arraigned on a murder charge. The 54-year-old, who is of Pakistani descent, kept his head down as charges were read, and appeared to have difficulty understanding instructions from the judge, possibly the result of a language barrier. His two sons were also in attendance, watching their father from seats in the rear of the courtroom, joined...

‘Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, childhood was a phase, adolescence did not exist and adulthood was the fulfillment of youth’s promise. No more,” Diana West writes in her book, The Death of the Grown-up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization. West is worried that “eternal youth” is “fatal” and recently took questions from National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez. Kathryn Jean Lopez: You note that more adults watch the Cartoon Network than CNN. Surely, you’ve seen Jack Cafferty. Is this really a problem? Diana West: Not if that were the only statistic...

Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency. The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food. The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age. It alerts playgroup leaders...

WASHINGTON -- Just in time for Independence Day, a conservative think tank has delivered a controversial report questioning whether America's national identity is eroding under the pressure of population diversity and educational slackness. The threat outlined by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in its report, "E Pluribus Unum" strikes me as a bit exaggerated. But at a time when Barack Obama and John McCain find themselves debating the "patriotism issue," having a coherent discussion of this matter -- and this short pamphlet is admirably written and well-researched -- is a useful contribution. The takeoff point for the argument is...

Wha-h-h-h? This has to go down as one of the stranger non sequiturs from a pundit of national standing. Responding to a study that concludes that burgeoning multiculturalism threatens national unity, David Broder takes solace in the fact that 34 years ago, the American body politic booted Richard Nixon from office. In his column of today, One Nation No More?, Broder comments on the study, E Pluribus Unum, recently released by the The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

White children are much more likely to be bullied than any other ethnic group—reversing racial stereotypes surrounding playground abuse, Government research indicates. Two thirds of children from white families say they had been bullied in the last three years but less than half of children of Indian origin make the same assertion. Anti-bullying campaigners say white children are now in the minority in some areas raising their chances of being bullied.

Multiculturalism Gone Berserk by: Deborah Lambert, June 27, 2008 What has happened to New Hampshire, the Granite State, proud supporter of the American revolutionary spirit over two hundred years ago? Why are school children forced to “bow to the altar of multiculturalism” as they did at the Amherst Middle School when kids had to celebrate something called “Open Tent Day” by parading around the school dressed as Saudi Arabians, according to pcblogspot.com.? The local newspaper, the Milford Cabinet, reported that this exercise was designed to “encourage participants to reach out and learn from people around the world, and to promote...

Rape by gangs of immigrants is an assertion of dominance, and in that sense it is a political act. It says, “We are in charge here, and we do as we please with non-Muslims. No one may stop us; we operate with impunity.” There’s been a lot of talk here recently about the increased incidence of rapes, many of them committed by Muslim immigrants, in both Europe and Australia. We’ve highlighted the situation in Sweden, Norway, and Britain. Now it’s time to look at Belgium as well. If the Belgium government fails to prove such assertions wrong, then immigrant-dominated areas...

It's one of those crazy paradoxes which so characterize liberal, politically correct, anti-White ideology: the idea that ours is a country marked by 'White privilege', a country in which blacks and other non-Whites are excluded, marginalized, deprived, and mistreated by arrogant, bullying Whites. Does such a country exist anywhere? Has such a country ever existed? Not to my knowledge, although I do remember a country in which the majority set the tone, set the standards. I remember a country in which the descendants of those who founded the country were confident and self-assured, and were sensibly protective of their way...

CHRISTIANS from all over the country were gathering in Birmingham today following claims that two ministers were ejected by police for preaching the word of Jesus. Followers from Christian Voice have accused West Midlands Police for turning the predominately Muslim area of Alum Rock into a no-go zone for non-Muslims. The Carmarthen-based group was heading into Alum Rock today to distribute Christian leaflets and share the Gospel with passers-by. Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “We are coming to preach the Gospel and to show West Midlands Police that they cannot create a Muslim ghetto for the Gospel....

The history of Islam in Germany goes back as far as the 8th century. From the reign of Charlemagne, to Goethe's literature, to the Turkish guest workers who arrived in the 1950s and 60s and made a home here, the Muslim religion has been a part of German culture for hundreds of years. The history of Islam in Germany is believed to date back to the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In the fabled tales of "1001 Nights," al-Rashid is said to have wandered the streets of Baghdad at night dressed as a merchant in order to learn about the needs of...

Firefighters in Malmö in southern Sweden are demanding police escorts on calls. The firefighters have had enough of threats and violence in some of the city's rougher areas. After being attacked by stones on a recent call, they are threatening not to take calls to Rosengård without a police escort. They are also demanding shatterproof windows and surveillance cameras on their vehicles. Bertil Ahlgren, a spokesman at Jägersros fire station where two of the men worked, told TT that their work situation was "completely unacceptable". The firemen were attacked twice last week during calls in the city's Rosengård suburb. In...

Suspected Al Qaeda leader Abu Qatada is celebrating his release from prison with the release of a book in which he urges Muslims to commit terrorist attacks in the West. In the 71-page tract, published in English translation on the internet, he repeatedly claims that fighting jihad, holy war, is obligatory for all Muslims and urges them to 'terrorise' non-believers. Security sources say his clear incitement to violence makes a mockery of the decision to set him free. The preacher of hate, who has been described as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, was released on bail from Long...

This should serve as a warning to all freedom loving Americans. Before pulling the lever this coming November, remember: both Hillary and Obama support draconian gun laws aimed not at criminals (because criminals don't obey the laws anyway), but at law abiding citizens. Click on Source URL to play. It's 9 minutes, but worth it.

Police were appealing for witnesses today following the attempted murder of a man who was doused in petrol and set on fire in east London. The 20-year-old, who is fighting for his life in hospital, was torched as he sat in his car in Forest Gate. It is believed the Hindi victim, who suffered 65 per cent burns in the attack, was targeted because he was dating a Muslim girlfriend. He had just parked his car, a green Honda Prelude, in St George’s Road when he was approached by the suspect or suspects and had petrol poured over him before...

Boy, 14, fights for life after being stabbed in football game row by sword wielding youths wearing niqabs   By Charlotte Gill Last updated at 4:34 PM on 18th June 2008  Two youths were seen wearing niqab-style face masks and wielding a sword after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed, locals have claimed.One was heard to say 'I'm going to kill him' as the pair walked calmly down a residential street chatting at about midday yesterday.The schoolboy was knifed in the chest just yards away at 5pm on Tuesday.He collapsed in a pool of blood in front of drinkers outside...

Multicultural Censorship by: Emily Miller, June 13, 2008 Historian and author Victor Davis Hanson argued in a lecture addressed to the Heritage Foundation that there is a new narrative defining the debate between security and liberty that is more characteristic of a post-9/11-plus-hindsight world. Hanson suggested that the government is not infringing upon American individual rights, as was generally feared in the past, but rather Americans themselves pose the greatest threat to their freedom of speech by practicing self-censorship. This consequently stifles thought and discourages freedom of expression. “Right now at this time, there is a collective mood in the...

A complaint has been made to police about comments made by a Northern Ireland DUP MP about gay people. Iris Robinson, the chair of the Stormont health committee, called homosexuality an "abomination" and urged gay people to seek counseling. John O'Doherty, a member of the South Belfast District Policing Partnership, said he has complained to police. "People like Mrs. Robinson need to learn that their comments have consequences," he said. This is the second complaint in relation to the Strangford MP's remarks. Mrs Robinson made her comments on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Friday. She said she would defend...

Gay people in Holland have been shocked by a public attack on a gay man in Amsterdam. Model Mike Du Pree was taking part in a fashion show to promote tolerance towards gay people when a gang of ten Muslim youths dragged him from the catwalk and beat him. A right wing Dutch MP has called for the youths to be deported. Mr Du Pree's nose was broken in the attack, which was motivated by homophobia. The fashion event was held on a public holiday marking the birth of Holland's late Queen Julianna. Newspaper Gay Krant reports that a bystander...

This week, disordered thoughts. I’m not sure what other kind might be applicable in today’s world. I just got back from Washington, where I addressed the American Renaissance conference. I hate airplanes. They have the charm of Greyhound buses without the comfort. AmRen, as we say, had invited me to talk about Mexico as it appears from the inside. The organization was alleged to be a vicious racist organization. The more easily frightened of my associates in the crime of journalism tried to warn me off. They told me that my mere presence at the conference would destroy my reputation....

Announcer From the Maritimes to the Yukon, the Great White North was once a lawless land where cruel and offensive opinions roamed free - until one man stood up and brought them to justice. One mighty masked man, clad in the scarlet breechcoat of the Royal Canadian Mounted Human Rights Police, astride a golden disabled lesbian steed, with his faithful transgender Indian scout at his side. Together they rode from Yellowknife to St. John's, keeping Canadians safe from the spectre of multicultural insensitivity. The Canadian Broadcast Corporation invites you to return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...

Six Somali women claim they were ordered by the manager of a suburban Twin Cities food-processing plant to wear pants and shirts to work instead of their traditional Islamic clothing of loose-fitting skirts and scarves, says the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group representing the women. The women have filed a religious discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "For these women, wearing tight-fitting pants is like being naked," said Valerie Shirley, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota chapter of CAIR. "It's simply not an option." CAIR issued a press release calling on Mission Foods to...

Steyn, as usual, has some moments of brilliance in this hour of TV. From explaining his changed view of the world as a result of 9/11 to Palestinians using nationalism as a means to terrorism (rather than the other way around), this hour makes for some great viewing. I know a spare hour is hard to come by, but watch the whole thing when you get a chance...

Acting recently as an expert witness in a murder trial, I became aware of a small legal problem caused by the increasingly multicultural nature of our society. According to English law, a man is guilty of murder if he kills someone with the intention either to kill or to injure seriously. But he is guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter if he has been sufficiently provoked or if his state of mind at the time was abnormal enough to reduce his responsibility. The legal test here is a comparison with the supposedly ordinary man—the man on the Clapham omnibus,...

Ethnic food may be removed from government schools in the Italian capital, Rome, in the latest gesture by the city's new centre-right government to target multiculturalism. Laura Marsilio, city councillor for schools in Rome, said the local government would re-evaluate the ethnic menus of public schools, and replace it with what she called "Italian regional dishes as well as typical mediterranean cuisine." Marsilio spoke to the media on Monday and said that the 'ethnic menus', introduced by the previous centre-left government of Romano Prodi "gave insufficient results." Marsilio reportedly also plans to look at centres where parents of immigrant children...

  We all know John McCain is terrible on immigration. For years he held America’s sovereignty and security hostage to amnesty and increased immigration, and his newfound support for “enforcement first” is so insubstantial and transparently insincere that it insults our intelligence. He’s so bad that Americans for Better Immigration ranks his performance in office as the worst of all the presidential candidates — including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (See the GOP grid here and the Democratic one here.) And as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has pointed out, passage of McCain’s bill “would represent the largest expansion...

Denmark, long the liberal, open society that welcomed immigrants, has done an about face. After being the symbolic envy of Universalists, of Socialists, of cultural liberalism, Denmark today has the strictest immigration policy in Europe. The Muslim population in Denmark, constituting a mere 4% of the total, refuses to integrate, consumes 40% of the welfare, and constitutes a majority of the country’s convicted rapists. The Danes now acknowledge that their core values of personal liberty, free speech, equality for women and tolerance of other ethnic groups are incompatible with Islam as they know it. Muslim leaders openly advocate introducing Islamic...

Four white students at Central York Middle School were charged with harrassing and using racial slurs against a black student on a school bus Friday. The 13 year-old boys were charged Wednesday with harrassment, ethnic intimidation and disorderly conduct by Springettsbury Township Police. One of the boys was also charged with terroristic threats and open lewdness, police said. The boy simulated an inappropriate gesture involving his genitals and made vulgar comments, Lt. Scott Laird said. The boys "verbally and physically harrassed and intimidated" the 13 year-old victim on the ride home, police said. Laird declined to discuss specifics because the...

Four white teenagers from Central York Middle School allegedly used racial slurs while verbally and physcially harrassing a black student Friday. Springettsbury Township police officers were called at about 9 a.m. Monday to the 1950 North Hills Road middle school to receive a report of the incident, according to a department news release. School officials said the incident happened while the students were riding home from school on a bus Friday, according to police. The four white 13-year old male students who verbally and physically harrassed and intimidated the 13-year old black male student will soon be facing charges, police...

Public concern about the impact of new immigration on America has reached a pitch not seen since the early 20th century. Americans have experienced an immigration surge unprecedented in their lifetimes. This is an unsurprising coincidence in light of the fact that our immigrant population of 37 million is, in absolute numbers, greater than it has been at any time in our history. It’s nearly as large a percentage, 12.5%, of the population as it was at its historic peak at 14.5% in 1890. Today, there are more immigrants from Mexico than there were foreign-born residents from all countries in...

To return to the central truth of Christianity, Christians believe that God experienced the totality of the human condition by becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ. That is, God did not need to become incarnate in each one of us in order to understand every one of us. Each one of us can experience a personal relationship with Jesus because Jesus was completely one of us. If cultural relativism is true, then Christianity is doomed, because God became incarnate in a very specific person at a particular time and place. From the perspective of multiculturalism, God could not have understood what...

Motivated by fear and multiculturalism, too many Westerners are acquiescing to creeping sharia.

Wright says criticism is attack on black church Apr 28 09:25 AM US/Eastern By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright says criticism surrounding his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church. Barack Obama's longtime pastor says he hopes the controversy will have a positive outcome and spark an honest dialogue about race in America. Wright says black church traditions are still "invisible" to many Americans, as they have been throughout the country's history. Wright spoke at the National Press Club Monday morning before the Washington press corps and a supportive audience of...

Britain is becoming a 'why bother country' By Paul Stokes Last Updated: 3:06am BST 21/04/2008 Britain is suffering from a "why bother" economy because its benefits culture, high taxes and poor education system leave many people lacking the motivation or capability to succeed, according to a report. The cost to the economy of low social mobility is £32 billion a year, or £1,300 to the average family, claims Reform, the independent think tank. This comes despite higher spending on benefits and public services that have served only to reinforce privilege, it says. Child poverty has risen, with the number of...