Free Republic

Sixty years following its first publication and twenty-five since the fateful year, George Orwell’s 1984 remains a mystery to the experts. They convene often in exotic places to agree that Orwell wrote a dystopia on the communist take-over of Britain and America. They concur how he reversed the final two digits of the year he wrote the book — 1948 — to arrive at the title 1984. They write that Orwell was not a prophet and few predictions fill his volume. These consensus beliefs on 1984 by the experts still shape the views of tens of millions of citizens who...

We are in fact entering a "Brave New World". The 'Battlefield of Ideas' has moved into Cyberspace, and is embroiled in Ideology and Rhetoric the way Talk Radio and Television were before us. The question is: Can Conservatives hold this ground, too? See the full article at the Liberty Tree Revolution

One world government marching along as scheduled.

“Thought crime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for awhile…but sooner or later they were bound to get you.” George Orwell, 1984 “The fact is we are witnessing an all-out drive to impose thought control that seeks to ban the ability—the right—to think or speak for one’s self. Thinking is becoming a crime.” (Globally Acceptable Truth and the Crime of Thinking, Tom DeWeese, Address to the 10th Annual Freedom 21 Conference, 10/16/09) In an article entitled “Dems Undermine Free Speech in Hate Crimes Ploy,” the Washington Examiner exposes the insidious machinations of House...

A new online "game" called Internet Eyes is about to be launched in the UK. The game allows the "players" to connect to CCTV cameras in the UK to monitor for criminal activity. If a resident witnesses a crime, they can then report it for a reward of up to £1000.

Anita Dunn: How We Created Obama's Cult of Personality By Candance Moore Created 2009-10-20 10:45 For months NewsBusters has been reporting [0] how the media aided and abetted the creation of Barack Obama's Cult of Personality leading to his eventual election as the 44th President of the United States. Eight days before his inauguration, Obama's Fox News-hating [0] communications director Anita Dunn and his digital strategist Ben Self, while at a conference in the Dominican Republic hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, confirmed the allegation in a tutorial they gave to President Leonel Fernandez and other government...

Discerning television viewers may notice a recurrent theme on their favorite shows this week. The doctors on ABC's "Private Practice" give homeless teenagers free check-ups. On NBC's "30 Rock," page Kenneth Parcell tries to adopt all the dogs at an animal shelter. And two characters on CBS' "Numb3rs" talk about joining Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The outpouring of volunteerism is no coincidence. The storylines were developed for iParticipate, an industry-wide initiative aimed at urging viewers to give back to their communities. Spearheaded by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, one of Hollywood's major charitable organizations and the force behind last year's Stand Up...

On September 10th of this year the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) posted a press release informing the world that “from October 19-25, more than 60 network TV shows [will] spotlight the power and personal benefits of service,” and that this “unprecedented block of TV programming is the first wave of a multi-year ‘I Participate’ campaign.”

New York - On the heels of breaking up an alleged bomb terror plot, New York is planning to place high-tech security cameras, license plate readers, and "weapons sensors" in midtown Manhattan. Office workers and tourists – and possible terrorists – will have cameras watching their every move as they visit Macy's, shop for diamonds at Tiffany & Co., or gawk in Times Square. The apparatus, paid for by some $24 million in Department of Homeland Security funding, will expand a similar effort already underway in lower Manhattan where cameras focus on the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange,...

If you didn't already have reason enough to avoid Keith Olbermann's left-wing screeching on Countdown, here's another one: Tonight (Wednesday), for the first time, he will devote his entire MSNBC hour, sans relief for commercials, to a “Special Comment” -- the kind of high-handed pontificating, laced with mean-spirited and cheap insults toward conservatives, so far confined to the last 8 to 11 minutes of the 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT program re-run at 10 PM EDT/7 PM PDT. “Special Comment Hour” topic: “Health Care Reform: The Fight Against Death.”

Researchers from Georgia Tech have devised methods to take real-time, real-world information and layer it onto Google Earth, adding dynamic information to the previously sterile Googlescape. They use live video feeds (sometimes from many angles) to find the position and motion of various objects, which they then combine with behavioral simulations to produce real-time animations for Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. They use motion capture data to help their animated humans move realistically, and were able to extrapolate cars' motion throughout an entire stretch of road from just a few spotty camera angles. From their video of an augmented...

‘HELP!’ by Victoria Jackson I remember three images from September 11, 2001: 1) People jumping from burning buildings. 2) Congress standing outside, humbly bowing their heads, and praying. This was a shocking sight. 3) The pews of my church completely full of people…and for several months after. congress praying[1] It’s human nature to remember God when we’re in big trouble. Even agnostics offered up a prayer that day. We needed super human help from a higher power to defeat the Enemy Without. God answered our prayers, and along with the excellent leadership of Bush, Cheney, our fantastic military, and superb...

Parents who give lifts to other children from sports and social clubs face prosecution if they fail to register with the Government’s new anti-paedophile database.

In May, I wrote:Yet another Obama speech. Sigh ... In "1984", the TVs were always on, and always tuned to Big Brother's latest speech. While no one today is forced to turn on the tube or listen, in some ways things are not so different: In most households, the TV is always on, and every program is about Obama.This is now more true than ever. The new motto for CNN should be "CNN: All Obama, All the Time". Indeed, the only story about American politics that I have seen on CNN lately that was not about Obama was a story...

<p>Though we live in an era when all undesirable facts are often blindly labeled "conspiracy theories" by political operatives with an agenda at risk, a very real conspiracy unfolds every now and then.</p> <p>While it is indeed true that not all theories are actual conspiracies, like when Hillary Clinton developed an imaginary "right-wing conspiracy" out to get her husband, when in fact, the semen stained dress provided all the necessary (but unfriendly) facts and a perfectly logical explanation for all of those nasty rumors - it is also true that some conspiracies are much more than just crackpot theory.</p>

Parents are talking about keeping their kids home from school this week. Some so-called leaders are expressing grave concern "for the children" in fear of an impending disaster. And the provocateurs who commandeer broadcast microphones on a daily basis continue to warn of a serious contagion that the nation must fight "by any means necessary." I could understand it if these folk were worried about the H1N1 ("swine flu") virus, but that’s not their concern. The infection they are afraid of is the president of the United States and his possible influence on America’s children. In an age when schools...

A 24-year-old arrested this morning on suspicion of smashing 11 windows at Colorado Democratic Party headquarters tried to conceal his identity while allegedly committing the crime, according to police descriptions. Maurice Schwenkler wore a shirt over his face, a hooded sweat shirt and latex gloves before he and another man fled the scene on bicycles, police said. Schwenkler was apprehended after a short chase. The other suspect remains at large. While Schwenkler does not appear in the state's voter registration database, a person by that name in November 2008 received $500 from a political 527 committee called Colorado Citizens Coalition...

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 160 (Thursday, August 20, 2009)] [Notices] = [Pages 42077-42079] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: E9-20021] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS. ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed information collection project: ``2010-2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component.'' In...

<p>A Florida teenager could face felony vandalism charges for allegedly gluing posters depicting President Obama as the Joker onto public property, FOXNews.com has learned.</p> <p>Clermont, Fla., Police Capt. Eric Jensen said the state attorney will review evidence to determine whether to charge the unidentified teenager with gluing "dozens" of the posters last week to the city's light poles, public and private buildings, bridge overpasses, road signs and a mailbox.</p>

PATERSON, N.J. — Curfews might not be just for kids anymore in one northern New Jersey city. Seeking to curb violence after a spate of deadly summer shootings, Paterson officials are considering an unusual ordinance that would prevent people of all ages from gathering outside in public late at night. The measure could be the nation's first citywide, non-emergency curfew to include adults, several experts said..... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOGJmr5Dp-redxBbiPI2iyEZ7ZpAD9A5IUEG0

Internet denizens and urban dwellers alike need to recognize that an era of anonymity is ending. The population of the world stands at about 7 billion. So it takes only 10 digits to label each human being on the planet uniquely. This simple arithmetic observation offers powerful insight into the limits of privacy. It dictates something we might call the 10-Digit Rule: just 10 digits or so of distinctive personal information are enough to identify you uniquely. They're enough to strip away your anonymity on the Internet or call out your name as you walk down the street. The 10-Digit...

After insisting no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed their story Monday night and blamed outside political groups for the unwanted messages from the tech-savvy operation. White House online director Macon Phillips said in a blog posting that independent groups — he didn't name them — had signed-up their members to receive regular updates about Obama's projects, priorities and speeches. The White House had consistently denied that anyone who hadn't sought the e-mails had received them. "It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our e-mail lists without their...

A little less than two weeks ago, the Obama administration announced a program asking American's to spy on their neighbors. The call for an army of spies was announced in a White House’s internet site blog: There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see...

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times this morning, Barack Obama makes the bold pronouncement that his vision of health care reform, “…is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. I don’t believe anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions but you and your doctor – not government bureaucrats; not insurance companies.” I think that’s a hard argument to make. The America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, HR 3200 sponsored by John Dingell, D-MI, which opencongress.org calls “the House Democrats' big health care reform bill” is comprised of 159,000 words of...

BACKSTORY At a Little Rock restaurant, after Mr. Clinton was elected president, Emanuel ticked off a list of disloyal Democrats and other political enemies, stabs the table with his knife screaming, ''Dead!'' ''Dead!'' ''Dead!'' after each name. Seven months after moving into the West Wing as Obama's COS, Emanuel is emerging as perhaps the most influential White House COS in a generation. But with his prominence in almost everything important going on comes a high degree of risk. As the principal author of Mr. Obama’s do-everything-at-once strategy, he stands to become a figure of consequence in his own right if...

Obama Administration’s Health Care Plan HR 3200 currently under consideration in the House of Representatives Reviewed, revised and adapted on July 29, 2009, by Liberty Counsel from the original authored by Peter Fleckenstein and posted on FreeRepublic.com and his blog, http://blog.flecksoflife.com. * Sec. 113, Pg. 21-22 of the Health Care (HC) Bill MANDATES a government audit of the books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self-insure in order to “ensure that the law does not provide incentives for small and mid-size employers to self-insure”! * Sec. 122, Pg. 29, Lines 4-16 - YOUR HEALTH CARE WILL BE RATIONED! * Sec. 123, Pg....

In George Orwell's allegorical novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four," the picture of "Big Brother" appears constantly in the adoring media. Perceived enemies are everywhere — supposedly plotting to undo the benevolent egalitarianism of Big Brother. Citizens assemble each morning to scream hatred for two minutes at pictures of the supposed public traitor Emmanuel Goldstein. The "Ministry of Truth" swears that the former official Goldstein is responsible for everything that goes wrong in Oceania. In Orwell's Oceania, there is a compliant media that offers "Newspeak" — recycled government bulletins from the Ministry of Truth. "Doublethink" means you can believe at the same time...

Mark Lloyd has recently been appointed “Chief Diversity Officer” at the Federal Communications Commission. Conservative groups believe his installation is merely another way to impose the dangerous principles contained in the Fairness Doctrine. Lloyd is a longtime Democrat activist who has strategized about ways to censor conservative media under the guise of “local accountability.” In 2007, he co-wrote a report that called for, among other things, the restoration of local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations and fines for commercial radio station owners if their stations didn’t air enough “progressive” content. Those fines would go directly...

Communications firms warn of unprecedented extension of state powers Wednesday, August 5, 2009 A group of over 300 internet service providers and telecommunications firms is fighting back against the British government’s plans to monitor all emails, phone calls and internet activity nationwide. The London Internet Exchange (LINX), which represents some 330 companies, including BT, Virgin and Carphone Warehouse, says that the government is misleading the public about the extent to which it plans to monitor their communications and internet activity. LINX has described the Government’s surveillance proposals as an “unwarranted” invasion of people’s privacy. A statement from the group to...

THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday. The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Communications firms are being asked to record all internet contacts between people as part of a modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics. The home secretary scrapped plans for a database but wants details to be held and organised for security services. The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites. The Tories said the Home Office had "buckled under Conservative pressure" in deciding against a giant database. Announcing a consultation on a new strategy for communications data and its use in law enforcement, Jacqui Smith said there would be no single...

You can be a spy for Obama August 4, 8:56 PM During the Holocaust, many people and organizations betrayed their fellow man. They helped the Nazi's identify Jews, and reported those who were part of the Resistance.Some, like IBM, did it for money.  Others, like the whores who literally slept with the enemy, tried to curry favor with the occupying forces.  Some were only children, indoctrinated by Hitler's Jugend, the Nazi youth movement, to betray their parents.  Some were probably just trying to stay alive.Regardless of their reasons, they were all collaborators who sent millions of innocent people to their...

I hadn’t watched any of progressive “watchdog” group Media Matters‘ “Two Minutes Hate” series of videos before tonight. At NewsReal we primarily keep an eye on the cable news shows rather than an ear on talk radio. Out of morbid curiosity, I decided to take a look and see what nuggets of “hate” Media Matters had supposedly unearthed. The clip above features excerpts from such conservative talkers as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Lou Dobbs. I’m never really been a regular listener to talk radio — it’s just not my style — but it was honestly quite shocking. Is that...

1. The Associated Press Says:Tue Aug 4, 9:29 am ET WASHINGTON – The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance. The three-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. -snip- In the video Douglas says the site is "taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they're...

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.  These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.  Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP. From the White House website: There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see...

WASHINGTON – The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance.

THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday. The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals. Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.

Two DeKalb County Officers are being investigated for allegedly performing a background check on President Barack Obama. They have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Officials would not release the names of the officers. The incident occurred on July 20, according to DeKalb County officials. The United States Secret Service notified county officials that DeKalb County computer equipment was utilized to do a query on the President. Such behavior, said William “Miz” Miller, DeKalb Public Safety director, is not to be tolerated. “As Public Safety Director for DeKalb County, I want everyone to know that...

PRESIDENT Obama's rhetoric last night summoned the memory of "1984," George Orwell's novel of a nightmarish future -- where the slogan of the rulers is "War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength." The president assures us that he will cut health-care spending . . . by adding $1 trillion to health-care spending. He says that "health-care decisions will not be made by government" . . . while he sets up a new Federal Health Board to tell doctors what treatments they can offer and to whom and under what circumstances. Obama told the media, "I will free doctors...

NEW YORK – A pirated e-book of "1984" led to an Orwellian moment for Kindle customers. Users of Amazon.com's e-reader device were surprised and unsettled over the past day to receive notice that George Orwell works they had purchased, including "1984" and "Animal Farm," had been removed from their Kindle and their money refunded.

So then, you’re a writer perhaps of childrens books. Or maybe a journalist or a rocket scientist and you volunteer to speak to children in assembly in school. Sometimes it could be one of those talks where adults tell kids about their job and what they do etc. Well, now in the interest of child safety people who talk to the kiddies from a stage where there are teachers and maybe parents, ppl who answer the question the children may have, now need to be vetted BEFORE they are allowed to talk to the kids. From a stage even. Got...

Governments will soon have, for the first time in history, the means to identify, monitor and track citizens anywhere in the world in real time      http://www.cbsnews.com/ Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car. It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker's gold. Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians'...

The furore around the Chinese government’s Green Dam software has raised the issue of the way modern technology is used to monitor our daily lives. Here, we list seven of the technologies that can be used to keep track of your movements. CCTV Closed-circuit television cameras were first used in Germany in 1942 to remotely monitor the launch of V2 rockets. Since then, CCTVs have become one of the most contentious pieces of technology in public use. The government and law enforcement agencies claim the use of video monitoring technology can help reduce crime and improve public safety; critics argue...

Sara was late for work. The alarm clock didn't alarm, the kids were unusually slow getting ready for school, and nothing went right. She finally got to her car -- a brand new 2020 Chevy Adventure. She touched the finger-print secured start button. Nothing. It wouldn't start. She touched it again. Nothing. Furious, she banged the steering wheel with her fist. Then she noticed the paper hanging from the receipt printer on the dash. "Your designated visa account rejected your Road Use Tax in the amount of $87.32 for the month of June, 2020. You must insert a valid account...

chrb writes "Two British men have become the first to be jailed for inciting racial hatred online. The men believed that material they published on web servers based in the United States did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law and was protected under the First Amendment. This argument was rejected by the British trial judge. After being found guilty, the men fled to Los Angeles, where they attempted to claim political asylum, again arguing that they were being persecuted by the British government for speech that was protected under the First Amendment. The asylum bid was rejected and...

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, opening line of 1984 Sixty years ago, Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell) published his final book, 1984, months before his death. Other writers pictured the future in utopian terms—a golden age of bliss and enlightenment. Not Orwell. His dystopian novel pictured a bleak world where government was out of control. As different from his earlier Animal Farm as Finding Nemo is from Moby Dick, Orwell’s 1984 conjured terms that are still in use today: doublethink, newspeak, thought police and Big Brother. Even Orwell's...

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR’’ opens with one of the most famous first lines in modern English literature - the vaguely unnerving “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’’ The line it ends with is even more famous, and considerably more sinister: “He loved Big Brother.’’ George Orwell’s brilliant, bitter novel turns 60 this month, but after all these years it has lost none of its nightmarish chill. Its hero is the decidedly unheroic Winston Smith, a weak and wistful man who lives in the totalitarian police state of Oceania, which is ruled by the Party...

The New American recently warned that Americans who oppose policies emanating from Washington are being tarred as right-wing extremists and even potential terrorists by the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security as well as by the New York Times and other liberal media organs. This push to demonize and even criminalize political dissent appears to be accelerating. Earlier this month, New York Times columnists Frank Rich and Paul Krugman wrote pieces laying the blame for the murder of an abortionist and a U.S. Holocaust Museum security guard at the foot of President Barack Obama's critics. Both have received figurative high-fives...

The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said. Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times Representative Rush Holt Readers' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (170) » The agency’s monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said. Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications...