Free Republic

Recently a discussion of this story about DC Comics being pressured by homosexual activists to fire one of its writers because he’s on the board of the National Organization of Marriage prompted vigorous debate on my Facebook wall. While perusing through the various comments, it was obvious there still exists much confusion in our country today about the term “rights.” There are two types of rights: unalienable and contractual. Sometimes referred to as a natural right (i.e. “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” reference from The Declaration of Independence), an unalienable right is a right that comes from God...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted Sunday that Republicans would eventually accept Democrats’ combination of closing tax loopholes and spending cuts to replace sequestration. Schumer characterized the GOP’s plan to offset the across-the-board cuts with other spending cuts and no new revenues as out of step with a majority of voters. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee chairman said Republicans’ preferred path caters to special interests and the wealthy. “I think that the Democrats have the high ground both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue. … I believe that just like on the ‘fiscal cliff,’ Republicans will come...

The Great Gun Debate shows American political discourse at its irrational worst; with both left and right promoting panic and hysteria that distracts attention from the nation’s truly menacing problems. Instead of addressing crushing deficits, economic stagnation, political gridlock, and the erosion of middle-class security, politicians and pundits obsess over gun violence—one of the few challenges where the United States has made dramatic progress in recent years. How can the president and his supporters work themselves into a self-righteous lather over minor regulatory adjustments that have been tried before with no measurable impact on the rate of firearms crime? And...

**SNIP** The president also conceded that “[t]he same dynamic happens on the Democratic side,” but in his mind, “the difference is just that the more left-leaning media outlets recognize that compromise is not a dirty word.” He claimed that “leaders like myself—and I include Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in this—are willing to buck the more absolutist-wing elements in our party to try to get stuff done,” as opposed to the opposing party which he views as obstructionist. “[T]hat’s one of the biggest problems we’ve got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value...

And Obama's advisor (Jarrett) went on to compare the current president with Abraham Lincoln. "I think you can't compare the Civil War to what we're going through," she said. "But we've been through a really tough time in our country. And seeing how Lincoln had to work so hard just to make the progress that he did, how he never gave up, and how resilient he was, and [how] he tried a whole range of different strategies. And I think obviously that resonated with the president. And so it kind of reaffirmed what he already knew, which is you have...

“You come in here, brandish your little book as if I don’t know what’s in there--” “My little book? That’s the Constitution of the United States. It’s our founding document, Piers.” “I know what’s in your Constitution.” “Do you really?” That was the climax of a heated debate between Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro and CNN’s Piers Morgan on live television this evening--one in which Morgan came off much the worse for wear. Shapiro began by pointing out that for weeks, Morgan had bullied guests who defend the right to bear arms by "standing on the graves of the children...

The decision of a newspaper in New York’s Westchester County to publish an interactive map that allowed readers to discover the names and addresses of owners of legal guns is generally being debated as one about whether the Gannett-owned Journal News showed good judgment. It didn’t, but the problem goes a lot deeper than whether or not a newspaper ought to publicize information that is legally available to the public in this manner. The controversy goes to the heart of the entire discussion about guns in this country. No matter what those behind this stunt say

Sen. John Kerry is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations responsible for oversight of US State Dept., execution of foreign policy and oversight of diplomatic facilities. But in Oct. 2012, Kerry was also acting as Obama's debate coach when Obama prepared for the 2nd debate, the foreign policy debate at which Romney was expected to grill Obama over the Benghazigate disaster. Did Kerry violate the separation of powers and ignore a conflict of interest in being both Obama's foreign policy debate coach and Chair of the committee? Kerry's committee in the legislative branch is supposed to provide...

One of the most common and quickest traps and which most of us fall in the marriage debate about recognizing same-sex couples is that we allow the conversation to center around the couple themselves, that is, to center on the adults. But intrinsically marriage as an institution is not fundamentally about adults, it is about children.William May recently wrote a short book on this matter: Getting the Marriage Question Right: a guide for effective dialogue. I want to summarize one of the key points he makes.Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other, and any children born from...

Romney’s Mona Lisa smile The Italians have words for it; the meaning of that famous smile. The tight lips with the ‘giocondo’ smirk of self-amusement. The ‘sfumato’ smile of blurry ambiguity leaving all to the imagination. But there was little left to the imagination in the Mona Lisa smile of Mitt Romney. It was everywhere in that final debate; that tight smile and warm eyes. The face that never wavered. It was a constant reflection into his opponent’s rage. It softly deflected the opposing aspirant’s mean eyes darting the fiery embers of spent dark coal. The gentle face absorbed the...

What's the explanation for Mitt Romney's unparalleled breakout? A few weeks ago, the Romney campaign was regarded as dead in the water. The polls (with the exception of Rasmussen) had the campaign uniformly down, giving Obama up to half a dozen points. Voter interest was phlegmatic at best. A combined Chicago-media offensive appeared to have put Romney on the ropes. The consensus was that Obama would cruise to another victory, one paralleling and perhaps even exceeding his triumph over John McCain four years ago. Today, little more than an electoral-cycle heartbeat later, the situation is utterly reversed. The big mo...

Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren both postponed campaigning Monday. Brown and Warren then announced they are pulling out of Tuesday's final debate. A Brown spokesman said the Republican incumbent decided against the debate "out of concern for the hardship faced by people in the path of Hurricane Sandy." Just last week, Brown pledged to attend the debate and even offered Warren a ride to the venue in his truck.

DEBATE season is over and there are only eight days left before the US Presidential Election. As the Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” reports on each debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, we also engage our viewers by asking their opinion about the candidates’ performances in presenting the policies and platform of their respective parties. The first debate was reported to belong to Romney, as indicated by almost all mainstream media polls -- primarily because of Obama’s “lackluster” and “flaccid” performance in this first face-off. Our ISYU NGAYON daily online poll of “Balitang America” also showed...

[ Click above to embiggen: Didn't you think it was STRANGE that Michelle Obama raced up onto the stage and practically dragged her husband away after he acted like he was on drugs during the Denver presidential debate? That's because he was on drugs at the Denver presidential debate. The simplest answers are often the best ones...and Michelle's outfit that night was recycled from a McDonald's "Grimace" costume. Stating the obvious is fun. ] Peggy Noonan wrote another of her “articles” today, in her coloring book, or the Wall Street Journal, or her litter box or wherever. This one’s about...

Barack Obama is toast. This is not something I say lightly. I generally try to remain cautious about predictions, because the prediction business is a humbling one. I have never been especially bullish on Mitt Romney, and I spent most of the summer and early fall arguing that this was basically a neck-and-neck race that would go down to the wire. But in the end, two things stand out: One, Mitt Romney has a consistent, significant lead among independent voters, which increasingly looks like a double-digit lead. This is especially clear in national polls, but can also be seen in...

Why was the first debate so toxic for the president? Because the one thing he couldn't do if he was going to win the election is let all the pent-up resentment toward him erupt. Americans had gotten used to him as The President. Whatever his policy choices, whatever general direction he seemed to put in place he was The President, a man who had gotten there through natural gifts and what all politicians need, good fortune. What he couldn't do was present himself, when everyone was looking, as smaller than you thought. Petulant, put upon, above it all, full of...

Since he couldn't bring the 'prompters, looks like Plouffe and Axelrod were coaching  The World's Most Overrated Intellect through an earpiece: _______________________________________________________________ Pat Dollard   h/t and Dave Simpson via Coreen Doyle

After watching the third presidential debate, are you clear on America's foreign policy? I thought not. That's because there appears to be no singular foreign policy, rather a series of foreign policies, which must be tailored to fit each nation. I expected Mitt Romney to go after President Obama on his most recent foreign policy failure, the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, including the U.S. ambassador. The president had no explanation as to why there was inadequate security in Benghazi, preferring instead to say only that we are "going...

During Monday night’s debate nearly 60 million of us got a good look at why Barack Obama has not been able to accomplish anything in four years. It’s his patronizing, me-me personality. Did you see how condescending he was toward Mitt Romney, not to mention downright rude at times? Obama’s more-presidential-than-thou attitude, which he did little to hide or dial back at the debate, should have reminded us of what happened in the first two weeks of his administration. Remember when he met with congressional leaders and said he wanted to come up with a bipartisan solution for the country’s...

See the video HERE. FEINSTEIN FINALLY DEBATES EMKEN! Emken Uses Hollywood Technology To 'Create' Debate (ORANGE COUNTY, CA) After weeks of watching Dianne Feinstein refuse to give California voters an opportunity to compare their U.S. Senate candidates in public debate, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken has turned to Hollywood for a solution. Using the same technology that made Forrest Gump a household name, the Emken campaign is releasing a YouTube video that puts Emken in a “debate” with Feinstein – a debate that the 79-year old three term Senator had sought to deny the public as well as her...