Free Republic

If you have a chance, I recommend each of you carve out the evening of Dec 20, from 7-9pm, to watch CNN. The show is called After Jesus: The First Christians, and it is an excellent and stimulating presentation of the first four centuries of the Christian faith. CNN kindly sent me an advanced copy and I have watched it in its entirety. Dec 21, in the morning, I would like to begin a conversation on this blog with those who watched it the evening before. (It will also be replayed Friday Dec 22 at 10pm and 1am; Saturday Dec...

If your New Year’s resolution is to change your light bulbs, don’t worry—the federal government’s here to help. Beginning January 1, 2014, the federal government will ban the use of 60-watt and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs. The light bulb has become a symbol in the fight for consumer freedom and against unnecessary governmental interference into the lives of the American people. 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law an energy bill that placed stringent efficiency requirements on ordinary incandescent bulbs in an attempt to have them completely eliminated by 2014. The law phased out 100-watt and...

Don’t say Christmas. That’s the message that was conveyed to a group of soldiers at Camp Shelby by an equal opportunity officer from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, according to a soldier who attended a recent briefing. “It’s unbelievable that the Army would ban ‘Christmas’ like it’s a bad word,” said Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, a legal firm representing the unidentified soldier. Two weeks ago, a routine meeting was held at the Mississippi base with various leaders of the 158th Infantry Brigade. During the meeting, they discussed an upcoming Christmas football tournament. The equal opportunity...

Don’t say Christmas. That’s the message that was conveyed to a group of soldiers at Camp Shelby by an equal opportunity officer from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, according to a soldier who attended a recent briefing. “It’s unbelievable that the Army would ban ‘Christmas’ like it’s a bad word,” said Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, a legal firm representing the unidentified soldier. Two weeks ago, a routine meeting was held at the Mississippi base with various leaders of the 158th Infantry Brigade. During the meeting, they discussed an upcoming Christmas football tournament. The equal opportunity...

I’m sorry to arrive late to this controversy — explanation forthcoming in a later posting — but my impression is that the word “blacklist” has not been mentioned much in the debate over the Robertson family, GLAAD, and the A&E channel. Or if it has been mentioned, it certainly hasn’t had the central role that it should have had in this row. For what GLAAD has been operating is a classic blacklist operation. Its object is not to persuade those who disagree with it over the morality of same-sex relationships to change their minds. Nor is it principally intended to...

It seems like it would take a special combination of Grinchy, Scroogy awfulness and world-historical stupidity to run afoul of a straightforward new law in Texas called the “Merry Christmas Law” that allows children and teachers in public schools to celebrate Christmas and other winter holidays plainly and explicitly.Naturally, then, a group of parents and a state legislator have claimed that the organizer of the winter party at Nichols Elementary School in the affluent Dallas suburb of Frisco has outlawed all mentions of Christmas at the event.But, wait! There’s so much more. The unidentified, fun-hating party organizer has also...

Is it possible to teach students the meaning behind President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address without mentioning the Civil War? According to the government’s new Common Core education standards, the Gettysburg Address must be taught without mentioning the Civil War and explaining why President Lincoln was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. …

It’s past time for Conservatives and Conservative Talk Show hosts to start calling the Obama Regime and the Democrat Party “Communists”. Sean Hannity avoids the word and the closest Mark Levin can do is Statist. The Obama Administration is full of communists. The EPA and many Government Agencies and Bureaus are pushing Government control of every aspect of our lives. DHS and other Government Agencies are buying up all the ammunition while the EPA is in the process of closing the last lead smelting plant in the U.S. (ALERT! BACK DOOR GUN CONTROL MOVES FORWARD!--"Obama … beforeitsnews.com › Events Oct...

It happens every year. Someone on the left goes so overboard in their hatred for America that they can’t even let Thanksgiving pass without their wacky comments. This year, Huffington Post author Nicole Breedlove didn’t disappoint. Her piece bashed America under the headline: “Happy National Genocide (Thanksgiving) Day!” Breedlove doesn't miss a beat—slamming everyone from Columbus and to the Pilgrims while invoking images of the Holocaust and 9/11. She began her piece talking about how her family “always gave thanks that all the Native Americans weren’t wiped out when Columbus ‘discovered’ America.” Because, of course, liberals assume Columbus personally killed...

In true Marxist form, the ludicrously named "Affordable Care Act" mounts an all-out attack on marriage. In 2010 the Heritage Foundation pointed out under the bill couples would face massive financial penalties if they marry or remain married. Conversely, couples who cohabit without marriage are given highly preferential financial treatment. If the Senate bill becomes law, saying 'I do' would cost some couples over $10,000 per year.

There is a phenomenon that is rarely commented on but which is as common as it is significant. For at least two generations, countless conservative parents have seen their adult children reject their core values. I have met these parents throughout America. I have spoken with them in person and on my radio show. Many have confided to me -- usually with a resigned sadness -- that one or more of their children has adopted left-wing social, moral and political beliefs. A particularly dramatic recent example was a pastor who told me that he has three sons, all of whom...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) Actors Jonah Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell are among a batch of celebrities donning Russian-language "Love Conquers Hate" T-shirts to show support for gays in Russia alarmed by a new law banning pro-gay "propaganda."</p> <p>It's part of an initiative launched Monday by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay-rights group.</p>

If Octo-Mom annoyed you, then you haven't seen welfare mom Angel Adams, a 39 year old Black single mother of 15 young children, 12 of which were in her care.

WEST POINT — Two West Point graduates were married Saturday in the military academy’s first wedding between two men...

Here's a fascinating chart that probably comports with what you're seeing in real life. The age at which people are first getting married is soaring. (Via John Podhoretz). The jump in the last decade is particularly notable. There are various theories for why people are getting married later, but one notion has to do with cultural attitudes towards marriage, and the growing perception that marriage is a "capstone" of life achievements, rather than a cornerstone.

Tonight in his Talking Points Memo FOX News host Bill O'Reilly accused Democrats of pushing communism on America.

Glenn Beck on Thursday broached a topic that he said “horrified” him when it was brought to his attention roughly two weeks ago, describing it as an “effort to re-write our history and catalyze a new culture for America” with the help of “America’s latest propaganda machine.” Beck proceeded to tell his viewers about two groups, the first called “Imagining America” and the second called “The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture.” The latter isn’t actually a body of the United States government, but in the group’s own words, “the nation’s newest people-powered department, founded on the truth that art...

Communist Goals (1963) Documention below ________________________________________ Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963 Current Communist Goals EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, January 10, 1963 Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America. At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies...

September 27, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Argentinean government is under fire for distributing “educational” literature with graphic nudity, rape scenes, and explicit bestiality to public schools throughout Argentina. “They contain explicit sex, drugs, and even zoophilia,” said Principal Osvaldo Calvente, from the Guillermo Villanueva School in Maipú, in the province of Mendoza. He was the first person to publicly denounce the books. “I decided to put them away immediately to keep them out of the student’s reach. This cannot, by any means belong in a school library,” he said. “It is my duty as the school’s principal.” One of the...

You’ve no doubt seen adaptations and derivations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet many times, both on screen and on film. But you’ve probably never seen it done the way that Philadelphia’s Curio Theatre Company is set to do it: with Romeo and Juliet as lesbian lovers. Curio’s Romeo and Juliet opens on October 11th at Calvary United Methodist Church (those liberal Methodists!) in West Philadelphia. The show marks the kickoff to the company’s 2013-14 season, all of which explores ideas surrounding gender. “I had been thinking that it would be interesting to do Romeo and Juliet as a same-sex...