Free Republic

There are 456 “official” federal agencies, and many of these have bureaucracies within them. According to The Center for Small Government, just the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has 47 separate bureaucracies! Let’s say the average, for the sake of time, is 40. That’s 18,240 bureaucracies, and 700,000 (give or take) federal employees. There are 535 federal legislators in Congress who are elected to oversee, fund, and pass laws to regulate this morass. If we divided it up equally, that’s 42 bureaucracies per Congressman/woman, and 182 bureaucracies per Senator. Congress has roughly 200 committees to discuss all of these, and...

For Democrats Obamacare is the train wreck that keeps getting worse. For Republicans, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Obamacare premiums are expected to nearly double later this year. Keep in mind premiums already rose 50-400% compared to the old “junk” policies people had and liked before Obamacare. A massive price increase latter this year will more or less collapse Obamacare. We might know more about Obamacare enrollment in the next few weeks, though while the administration claims 5 million have signed up they claim not to know how many have paid. If you haven’t paid, you aren’t covered....

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President Obama has issued sanctions against Russia for its de facto annexation of Crimea via a laughable referendum vote. The President’s sanctions amount to punishment for seven Russians, largely from Putin’s inner circle. The Russians literally laughed at the sanctions. The Russians actually expected a serious move from Obama. Instead they got an embarrassing half effort. Obama shouldn’t have even bothered. At least not bothering would have represented a legitimate policy decision on behalf of the United States. Let Russia govern Russians in Crimea, that’s at least a policy. Instead we got a half effort that suggests Obama has no...

CBS recently picked up nearly all of its current programming for the 2014-2015 season, with no mention for its freshman series The Crazy Ones. personally have found the show to be the best new comedy series on TV this season and believe it deserves a spot on next year’s roster for the following reasons, so listen up CBS executives!

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“Saamer’s initial prognosis was very bad, but he fought for more than a month,”

The White House quietly unilaterally repealed the Obamacare individual mandate for two years. That the President doesn’t have the authority to repeal provisions of a law passed by Congress doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The Republicans tried to pass an Obamacare delay as part of the budget impasse back in October. The President refused. One wonders what the point of negotiating with Obama is at this point. He seems to believe he is free to do anything he wants without negotiating with Congress. Obama wouldn’t give the House Republicans a crumb back in October, now he’s unilaterally done just what...

“Make Jobs, Not Propaganda” President Obama’s income inequality campaign – the centerpiece of his effort to save vulnerable Democrats from the Obamacare disaster – is fast losing steam in the face of raw facts and political reality. The President wandered up to Connecticut the other day to sing the praises of a minimum wage increase with friendly Democratic governors who have moved to raise the minimum wage in their states. His refrain was familiar. “It’s time to give America a raise,” Obama said. “It’s not bad business to do right by your workers; it’s good business.” As usual, the president...

Fourteen year old Leonard Robinson, III, a GOP precinct canvass leader, recently surprised a Democratic Party door knocker in Prince George’s County. Leonard tells the story:

Gwinnett County State Senator and chairman of the Health and Human Service Committee Renee Unterman openly admitted to holding 'Haleigh's Hope', HB 885 sponsored by Representative Allen Peake, hostage until the State House will consider bills that she has authored. WSB reporter Lori Geary asked Unterman point blank if this were the case, and to Unterman's credit, she did not deny it and was very candid in saying that she was. But then she went on to state that the parents of the kids who can benefit from the legalization of medicinal cannabis didn't understand how it works in the...

Students and parents rejecting costly college loan burdens Higher education accompanied by student debt is losing its appeal for many college-age Americans and their parents. The result could be a move by many colleges and universities to find ways to cut costs and even offer tuition discounts.

Q1: I’m Catholic and my fiancé is from a devout Lutheran family. They weren’t too pleased when I told them our wedding has to take place in a Catholic church…. Is it permissible for us under canon law to have a wedding ceremony in my parish church, and have his Lutheran minister “co-marry” us there, alongside the Catholic priest? I asked my pastor and he said no, but I couldn’t tell if he refused because that’s actually the law, or if he just didn’t like the idea. –Christina Q2: My Jewish girlfriend and I want to get married, and both...

...This result nullifies the Democrats’ one-seat gain in the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 2013 general election...

The cultural chasm between religious individuals and American society is swelling. On a personal level, I feel distant from the current trends in politics, television, movies, and music. It’s becoming harder for individuals with Catholic sensibilities, for instance, to tune into the Grammys or scan across Yahoo’s headlines without feeling lost. Amidst the vast difference between my own beliefs and the accepted principles of secular culture, I have been contemplating how we can dialogue with people on the other side. How do we avoid hiding in our own little clique of likeminded individuals? How do we cut through all the...

Q: What does canon law say about Catholics eloping? I understand the issue from the perspective of the sacramental theology of the Church, but was wondering if canon law had anything to say about it. –David A: When we speak of “elopement” today, we usually envision a young couple running away in the middle of the night to be married in secret, and without the consent of their parents—usually by a justice of the peace in a civil wedding ceremony. Is it ever possible for a Catholic couple (or a couple including only one Catholic) to marry under such circumstances?...

A sermon on Ecclesiastes by St Gregory of Nyssa We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. Saint Paul himself and all who have reached the same heights of sanctity had their eyes fixed on Christ, and so have all who live and move and have their being in him. As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ....

Americans wondering if assaults, breaking and entering and robberies are happening in their neighborhood do not have to wait for the local news sources to keep them up to date. Real time information is available at no cost to them with a map showing exact locations of where and what crimes have taken place.

If you like your radio talk show don’t be surprised if you can’t keep it. Obama’s Federal Communication Commission wants to place monitors in news rooms to decide which stories are selected, station priorities, content production, population served, perceived station bias and perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the “critical information” needs of a community.

The commentary on Proverbs by Procopius of Gaza Wisdom has built herself a house. God the Father’s Power, himself a person, has fashioned as his dwelling-place the whole world, in which he lives by his activity; and has fashioned man also, who was created to resemble God’s own image and likeness and has a nature which is partly seen and partly hidden from our eyes. And she has set up seven pillars. To man, who was made in the image of Christ when the rest of creation was completed, Wisdom gave the seven gifts of the Spirit to enable him...