Forward from Declan McCullagh's Politech list:
Jim Robinson's Free Republic announcement in question is here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/558213/posts
Lots of grumbling lately about deleted posts. Well, my friends, the
simple truth is the game has changed. We are now at war. We have
been attacked by a vicious cold-blooded force of international
terrorists who want to destroy our nation, our freedom and our way
of life. There is no doubt about this. Knowing this, I am alarmed
to read some of the stuff that has been posted to FR in the last
few days. This is not the time to raise doubts about our leaders.
This is not the time to raise conspiracy theories. This is not the
time to second guess our intelligence agencies. This is war. This
is survival of our way of life. We must unite behind our
Commander-in-chief and do all we possibly can to support him and
our war efforts. We do not have a choice in this matter. [...]
Jim Robinson is the founder of Free Republic and an icon of the online conservative movement. What a difference two years makes -- here's an excerpt from an admittedly not-very-flattering article in Salon from 1999 that described how Robinson outraged fellow conservatives by writing "a windy jeremiad linking Texas Gov. Bush with alleged CIA-connected drug-running under his father, a former CIA director (1975-77), vice president (1981-89) and president of the United States (1989-93)." (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/07/13/free/)
-Declan
----- Forwarded message from bea anon <anarchocipher at yahoo.com> -----
From: bea anon <anarchocipher at yahoo.com> Subject: we must not question our leaders To: declan at well.com Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 16:08:22 -0800 (PST)
hi declan, this probably isn't publish-worthy, but i thought you might find it interesting, from the freerepublic.com website ... jim robinson is the person who runs the site.
http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/10/107742.php
The home of the "Freeper" movement is coming to terms with its own internal fascism. Remember when you didnt speak out for the Arabs? Now they are silencing you. The Free Republic website isn't very free at all, and Jim Robinson explains why here. "We don't need people questioning our leaders..." hahaha
And now a few words from Jim Robinson: Lots of grumbling lately about deleted posts. Well, my friends, the simple truth is the game has changed. We are now at war. We have been attacked by a vicious cold-blooded force of international terrorists who want to destroy our nation, our freedom and our way of life. There is no doubt about this. Knowing this, I am alarmed to read some of the stuff that has been posted to FR in the last few days. This is not the time to raise doubts about our leaders. This is not the time to raise conspiracy theories. This is not the time to second guess our intelligence agencies. This is war. This is survival of our way of life. We must unite behind our Commander-in-chief and do all we possibly can to support him and our war efforts. We do not have a choice in this matter. The terrorists who attack us do so without warning and without mercy. They do not want peace. They do not want to co-exist. They do not want appeasement or negotiation. They want to destroy us. They want to destroy our way of life. They want to destroy our freedom. They want to destroy our nation. They have no conscience, no respect for life, no compassion and will give no quarter. Death of the USA is what they seek.
Many of us on Free Republic are veterans or have family members who are veterans or who are currently serving in the military. We have each sworn a solemn oath to defend our Constitution and our nation. We will not waver in the face of adversity and we will not shirk our responsibility or fail to do our duty. Regardless of our political differences, we will join together to support our nation and to crush our common enemy.
All of us can help out. There will be opportunities coming for volunteers for all sorts of wartime activities. There will be opportunities to help our men and women in uniform, our civil defense efforts, our war production efforts, giving blood, buying war bonds, cooperating if there are shortages, supporting our leaders and generally supporting the war effort.
There will also be precautionary measures. First and foremost on this forum and elsewhere is to respect the fact that we deal in political information. Many of us may personally gain access to sensitive information that could harm our military or our war efforts if it falls into the wrong hands. If you live or work in an area where you may learn of troop movements or war plans or if you have family members or friends who may have access to this information, please do not spread it around. We will be on the lookout for any "Loose Lips" info and will delete it when spotted on this forum. Now, information that is already printed in the newspapers may or may not fall into this category. Usually, published information is fair game to post. But, please be careful in what discussions may follow.
Also, as I said above, it is essential for all of us to unite behind our President. Now is not the time to seek political advantage. Now is not the time to raise doubts about our government or our military, and now is not the time to post conspiracy theory or to engage in smear attacks. And, no, my finely feathered, tinfoil-hatted friends, we did not do this to ourselves. The U.S. government did not start this war. We were victims of an unprecedented, pre-meditated surprise attack, perpetrated by hostile, cowardly foreign parties. This attack may not have been in the military scale and scope of a Pearl Harbor, but in terms of lives lost and impact on the nation and the world it is every bit as severe.
Even so, we have confidence. We know that our nation is the strongest in the world and that our people are resolved to do whatever it takes to win. We've done it before and we will do it again. This is our heritage. Securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity in the tradition of our forefathers is our duty and obligation. And I have faith that with God's blessings, we will rid the world of this evil threat.
God bless you all and God bless America.
Regards, Jim Robinson
------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------