Free Republic

For the Boys of Pointe du Hoc Wide white cliffs arose before us In the smoke and bleak of dawn, Steel shells raining death down on The beaches where we died. Into the fast and foreign swells We swept our souls and kept Our faith with those left far behind The day our worlds fled time. While they who ventured on and climbed And beat against the shores Would carry forth our names as if They'd always been their own. The sand, once soiled by life exposed The sea, its secrets bared Now rest the same in soft repose As...

If Barack Obama had delivered the Gettysburg Address:Four score and seven years ago, a group of exclusively white, privileged, Native-American-killing and often slave-owning land-owners brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in antiquated notions of liberty but what we now know ought to have been the Common Good, and dedicated to the proposition that all men, women, transgendered and hermaphroditic persons are entitled to equal things. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, actually deserves to endure. We are met on a great battlefield...

“We will keep this promise to the American people… if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period,”   - Barack Hussein Obama, June 23, 2009. “What we said was you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed,” - Barack Hussein Obama, November 4, 2013 "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is,"...

FReeper jehardy has passed away. Just a note to let you know that we've lost another member. Judy was a friend of mine for the past 12 years and a former co-worker. She did not post a great deal, but always appreciated being part of this community, to which I introduced her back around 2006. Judy was a warm and funny person, with a ready smile and a great laugh. Like her husband Herb, she was a true patriot and defender of the Constitution, notably the 2nd Amendment, which led us to share and compare our firearms purchases and also...

“What we have today is chaos…We all wish we didn’t have this problem but leaving it the way it is is amnesty.’’ -    Sen. Marco Rubio on immigration reform Dear Friend, This morning, the U.S. Chamber launched the next phase of its immigration campaign with TV and radio running ads across the country. With final votes on S. 744 expected this week, it is critical that we get the word out on the importance of passing conservative immigration reform that will make our economy more competitive and address the broken system once and for all. Watch the ad below...

President Obama’s new campaign pitch is that Americans should have his back. He’s released posters via his campaign for African Americans for Obama; campaign email after campaign email has asked Americans to get Obama’s back. The implication in all of this: Obama has your back, so you should have his.

A Fistful of Rebates It’s halftime. Both teams are in their locker rooms discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half. Diagramming plays. Texting their agents and German supermodel wives. Reviewing Belichick's aerial spy photos. It’s halftime in America, too. People are hurting, and it isn't because of towel snapping and the ol' Kramergesic-in-the-jockstrap prank. They’re beat up and bruised, and wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback. We’re all scared, because this isn’t a game. And because we're up against the Dragons and their all-Asia linebacker Hong Kong Chong with his...

Republican lawmakers and conservative activists are expressing outrage after the Obama administration announced its objection to adding President Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. The objection was noted during a congressional hearing on Rep. Bill Johnson’s (R-OH) bill – the “World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011.”

Many corporations today are merely extensions of government. They devote much of their time and capital not to innovation or maximizing shareholder value or to efficiency, but to serving government mandates. It's a relationship far less symbiotic than parasitic, but in time the hosts seem to get used to it... Instead of finding and rewarding the best available talent - American companies hire the perfectly calibrated, Human Relations (does that name creep you out, too?) Department-approved number of Accredited Victims... ignoring experienced, older white males in favor of inexperienced non-white females. After all: white, traditional heterosexual men are surely guilty...

I have thought about it for days now. I knew it was coming, the same as all of you. In the span of our lives there are few events that serve as markers; birthdays and wedding anniversaries and dates of death. But far fewer in number are those that serve as common cultural mileposts, markers that forever freeze in place a singular moment and each of us, in it. On September 11, 2001, our lives changed. It is by now a commonplace to say so, but the fact remains: all of us, every American, one way or the other was...

Fox has learned that Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) are crafting a letter to share with the House Democratic Caucus that would try to prevent the Speaker from bringing the tax bill to the floor. They hope to get 60 signatures on their letter (which is still being drafted) and then force a vote in the caucus. DeFazio says he thinks that if a majority of House Democrats are against this compromise, they shouldn't bring it to the floor.

California's Screamin' Called on Jerry Brown Though his hair is gray 'Cause he can talk the talk Of the Greens and Gays Poverty's the norm In large parts of L.A. California's Screamin' To make it go away… Stopped going to church We passed more laws today Well, we cut down Liberty And taxed our wealth and pay You know the leeching unions drove All of our jobs away California's Screamin': Our debt, we'll never pay… So call on Jerry Brown He still lives by the Bay Where you can’t take a walk And smoke outside today And yet illegal felons...

No big vanity here, guys (nor, perish the thought, an "opus"). I just wanted to observe the fact that I've been on this forum for 10 years today, and to thank Jim Robinson for the opportunity to vent my spleen and express whatever humorous or (hopefully) thoughtful impulses happen to drift through my transom. And when they do, it is often at the instigation and inspiration of many of you here assembled. You folks have become like an extended family to me, and yes, I truly mean that.Thank you all for your passion, your humor and your continuing commitment to...

The national economy may be working its way out of the recession, but pay from private employers isn't exactly in growth mode as of yet. A new analysis out today from USA Today found that pay from private employers shrunk to its smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of 2010. After shedding nearly eight million private jobs, the report says Americans have become increasingly reliant on government-funded programs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes fell unexpectedly in December, data showed on Wednesday, the latest indication that the government-led housing recovery might be losing some steam. The Commerce Department said sales fell 7.6 percent to a 342,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 370,000 units in November. It was the second straight month that new home sales declined.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell in December as consumer spent less on vehicles and an array of other goods during the holiday shopping month, data showed on Thursday, raising concerns about the durability of the economy's recovery. The Commerce Department said total retail sales fell 0.3 percent last month, the first decline in three months, after rising by an upwardly revised 1.8 percent in November. Sales in November were previously reported to have increased 1.3 percent. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.5 percent last month. Compared to December 2008, sales rose 5.4...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two seasonal Yellowstone National Park concession workers have been fired after a live webcam caught them urinating into the Old Faithful geyser. Park spokesman Al Nash says a 23-year-old man was fined $750 and placed on three years of unsupervised probation for urinating, being off-trail in a restricted area and taking items from the area. The man also was banned from Yellowstone for two years. The second employee’s case is pending. The park’s dispatch centre was called after someone watching a webcam on the geyser saw six employees leaving the trail and walking on Old Faithful on...

We had a great tea party on Manchester, New Hampshire this evening. I would estimate the crowd at close to (if not over) 1000 patriots. On hand were Mayor Frank Guinta of Manchester, the mayor of Franklin, NH, local sports radio celebrity Charlie Sherman, and Charles Arlinghaus of the NH Union Leader, among others. I saw no sign of "disruptors" anywhere. Instead a throng of patriots gathered to launch an effort whose importance cannot be overestimated, but whose vitality will be determined by our individual involvement and commitment. Pictures begin with my comment below.

Dentist's Protest Stirs a Tempest in a Tea Bag By DAN TUOHY AND MARK HAYWARD New Hampshire Union Leader MANCHESTER – All Michael Yannetti wanted to do Monday was to protest the notion of Washington bailouts and $3.6 trillion in federal spending. So he did what thousands did across the country this week: mailed tea to their congressional representatives in protest. Yesterday, police showed up at his door. The green tea he had mailed to the Manchester office of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter prompted the evacuation of her office yesterday. Police and firefighters were at the downtown location for about 1...

My Radio Was Gone (To the tune of "My City Was Gone" a/k/a Rush Limbaugh's opening theme.) I went back to the airwaves But my radio was gone There was no Rush Limbaugh There was no more Sean Somehow they'd disappeared All my favorite voices Talk Radio had been replaced By bland Top 40 choices Hey, "O": way to go, Obama Well, I went back to the "AM" But my shows were all gone I scanned through the whole dial But there was nobody home I was stunned and depressed My Glenn Beck memories Slowly swirled away Just like our...