Free Republic

The president’s visit to China was seen as failure, but what if that was just the new standard? Martin Jacques on why the U.S. must get used to decline—and learn humility. Obama’s visit to China last week was starkly different from previous such occasions. The United States has stumbled into a new era. Just a decade ago it all looked so different. President Bush—in one of history’s great miscalculations—believed that the world stood on the verge of a new American century. In fact, the opposite was the case. The defeat of the Soviet Union flattered only to deceive and mislead....

A homegrown U.S. soldier-jihadist, having never served overseas, slaughters unarmed members of the U.S. military on American soil, and his act is foolishly excused by some as “secondary post-traumatic stress disorder.” Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp detainees responsible for 9/11 are being moved to New York for trial. As U.S. soldiers risk their lives in Afghanistan, our leaders struggle with the political consequences of their commanders’ recommendations. The war on terror is spoken of no more. We’ve adopted a see-no-jihad, hear-no-jihad, speak-no-jihad mind-set. Political correctness rules the day. Before it’s too late, America must again awaken to the unprecedented global threat...

As Sarah Palin embarks on a publicity tour for her book, conservative commentators have again taken to likening the former Alaska governor to the GOP’s revered conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Palin, like Reagan, brands herself as an articulate conservative. Both Palin and Reagan were governors from Western states, but the similarities end there. When Reagan entered the White House, he had successfully completed two terms as governor of California and had run for president against President Ford. Palin chose not to complete her first time as governor. Reagan’s Republicanism was that of the big tent—the kind where contrasting opinions, even...

Most of the media hate Sarah Palin. Given the hyperfocused offensive targeted at her, the simple conclusion is that the left-wing establishment views the former Alaska governor as the greatest threat to the current Democratic monopoly on power in Washington. Certainly Mrs. Palin's book tour is generating a lot of enthusiasm across the country, with thousands of admirers flocking to each stop. The book itself, "Going Rogue," was locked in at No. 1 on best-seller lists for weeks before it was officially available for sale. Mrs. Palin's appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" attracted the largest audience the program has...

A dangerous mythology has gripped the Democratic Party. It holds that the reason Democrats took a shellacking in the midterm elections of 1994 was that their members failed to pass Bill Clinton's health care overhaul. The logic goes that if Congress had gone along with Clinton's $331 billion plan (who would have guessed it would end up seeming like a bargain?), Democrats wouldn't have lost 54 seats in the House. The Republicans could have won as many as 41 seats that year and remained in the minority, where they had been mired for 40 years. Democrats have developed an alternate...

The former Alaska governor represents thwarted aspirations and brooding resentment. But she backs policies which would increase them. In the film, The American President, the president's speechwriter Lewis Rothschild (played by Michael J Fox) appeals to the commander-in-chief to take a firm, clear stand against the Right. "People want leadership, Mr President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone." he says. "They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand." The president...

If the entertainment industry were allowed to pick California's next governor, there would be no contest: Jerry Brown would win by a landslide. That was made clear this past week as the 71-year-old attorney general was feted by industry leaders at an event raising more than $1 million and co-chaired by directors Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, and other movers and shakers. It's also been clear for months as studio executives, writers and other Hollywood figures have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the as-yet-undeclared Democratic candidate's campaign. Meanwhile, industry figures contributed much less money, if anything, to Republican...

"You can't vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man." So pronounced the Rev. Jesse Jackson the other night at an event held by the Congressional Black Caucus, also known as the CBC, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Jackson's 1984 Presidential campaign. You might not have heard about Jackson's remark. It received some notice, but nowhere near the overwhelming coverage that Jackson's blue comments last year towards Barack Obama or even his tasteless comment that New York City's Jewish voters made the city "Hymietown." Jackson criticizing an African-American presidential candidate or offering bizarre anti-Semitic remarks are certainly...

The Republican party wonders why conservatives are so disappointed with it?Another glowing example of the problems confronting the Republican party occurred yesterday.  The Senate Republicans had the opportunity to force a full reading of the Senate's proposed health care bill so that every bit of the 2,200 pages would be made public by the reading, and so the people could become much better informed about its contents before it is passed...if it is passed.  It had the opportunity to really hold the Democrats' feet to the fire over this abominable excuse for legislation that is being crammed down the throats...

AT last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree on: You don’t actually have to read Sarah Palin’s book to have an opinion about it. Last Sunday Liz Cheney praised “Going Rogue” as “well-written” on Fox News even though, by her own account, she had sampled only “parts” of it. On Tuesday, Ana Marie Cox, a correspondent for Air America, belittled the book in The Washington Post while confessing that she couldn’t claim to have “completely” read it. “Going Rogue” will hardly be the first best seller embraced by millions for talismanic rather than literary ends....

As a journalist covering Chicago politics, verifying information is like climbing a mountain of sand. With each step you take, the deeper you sink. Last week while researching claims from a local Tea Party activist, I found myself asking a family for proof that they had lost an unborn grandchild. The family, Dan and Midge Hough, of Chicago, spoke in favor of health care reform and in support of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) at a Nov. 14 town hall meeting in Oak Lawn. Their daughter-in-law, Jenny, and an unborn grandchild died recently due in part, they believe, to a...

There are only 35 shopping days left until Christmas. I'm keenly aware of this primarily because of those overcaffeinated Glee-show-choir-in-red-white-and-blue-alpine-sweaters-and-ear-flaps-making-high school-cheerleading-pyramids Gap ads that started running about a week ago. You know, the ones where they chant a little ditty titled, annoyingly, "Happy Dowhateveryouwannukah." "Go Christmas! Go Hannukah! Go Kwanzaa! Go Solstice!" the exceptionally good-looking, multicultural, skinny-jeans-clad cheerbots shout. "You 86 the rules, you do what just feels right," they cheer, before entreating us to "do whatever [we] wannukkah" this ambiguous winter holiday season. Their jangly dance number ends by wishing us "a cheery night." How festive, you say? Meh....

I was away for most of the week, but I did catch up with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at a tree-lighting party on the Embarcadero Friday evening.He looked very relaxed and was having his picture taken with everyone. He said he was back in the swing of things and really looking forward to tackling the city's $500 million budget deficit. This time, he said, he would be free to do what needed to be done because he won't be beholden to anyone. It ought to be interesting.He also asked if The Chronicle had gone after me the way the...

"I'm not scared of what (self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed) would say at trial," Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee as he defended his decision to prosecute Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 planners in a federal criminal court. I'm not scared of what KSM has to say in court either. I'm scared of what a federal judge might say and do. Mohammed already has said, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z." By handing the 9/11 Five over to the federal court system, the Obama administration has opened the door for...

One of the leaders of the nation’s influential Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) tells Newsmax that President Obama is “very dangerous” in his economic policies and his foreign policy is causing “severe damage” to U.S. standing in the world. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and author of the book “The Divided State of America: What Liberals and Conservatives Are Missing In The God And Country Shouting Match”, told Newsmax.TV that the cultural war is heating up. Christians must remember that God is not partisan. “And on many of the most important issues...

Barack Obama's first visit to Asia since his inauguration was one of the most disappointing trips by any U.S. president to the region in decades, especially given media-generated expectations that "Obamamania" would make it yet another triumphal progression. It was a journey of startlingly few concrete accomplishments, demonstrable proof that neither personal popularity nor media deference really means much in the hard world of international affairs. The contrast between Asia's reception for Obama and Europe's is significant. Although considered a global phenomenon, Obamamania's real center is Europe. There, Mr. Obama reigns as a "post-American" president, a multilateralist carbon copy of...

A time bomb began ticking in the mid-1970s, when the psychiatric and mental health professions went politically correct and identified the mentally ill as "victims" who required advocates. While patients in general do need assistance, the activists turned caring into political action that changed the American cityscape and endangered our well-being. Announcing in the mid-1970s that confining mental patients violated their civil rights, a cadre set to work to release as many patients as they could, resulting in the huge homeless phenomenon of the 1980s that remains with us now. Suddenly the streets of major cities and small towns hosted...

(To be clear, that is a relatively low bar. Republicans went into the political wilderness in a major way following Bush's re-election as he grew increasingly less popular and it became increasingly more clear that the party was either unable or unwilling to break with the chief executive in any major way. Polls suggest that the Republican brand remains badly damaged in the eyes of the American public with most people still trusting Obama far more than Republicans in Congress to solve the major issues of the day.) With 2010 right around the corner, there is significant movement in this...

Obama provides his people a link to contact media to support healthcare bill! We can take advantage of it! We can use this same link to OPPOSE it. Dick Morris says we have to get 8% points in disapproval ratings to defeat it! Please follow this link, send your letter of opposition. (and continue to fax): Barack Obamas " Organizing for America " has put the call out for people to Email their local papers and write a letter to the editor. They have created a VERY easy and fast way to write all your local papers with just a...

SUDDEN JIHAD SYNDROME (SJS): Sudden Jihad Sundrome is individual or small, un-attached groups of radicalized Islamics who decide to carry out Jihad, or Holy War, against those amongst whom they live. It usually involves a single person, but may include small groups, who are radicalized in their Mosques, their readings, their conversations, or otherwise, and who then decide on their own to wage war against those whom they live amongst. It is a very real and very dangerous occurance that a nation ignores, or tries to explain away with other politically correct or sociological explanations at their grave peril...

If you're a fan of Sarah Palin, I have a distressing prediction: She isn't going to run for president in 2012. If you're not a big fan of hers, you might be cheered by that. Don't. The reason she isn't going to run for president is the process would bore her. That's the conclusion I've reached after reading her memoir, "Going Rogue." In it, she routinely describes a deeply rooted restlessness, a propelling engine that always seeks the next challenge. That means the endless slog of campaigning would grow tiresome, the fundraising would grow really tiresome and the need to...

Think how much money we could save! In his June 13 New York Times op-ed, Tyler Cowen wrote, “Medicare expenditures threaten to crush the federal budget.” The title of the article was “Something’s Got to Give in Medicare Spending.” Got it. Old people cost too much money to keep alive—and you younger disabled people on Medicare, you’re not helping either. So, what’s Mr. Cowen’s solution? Let’s limit health care benefits to old and disabled people. Boggles the mind. One of the proposals coming out of the Obama administration is to limit end-of-life care. What exactly does that mean? In 1974,...

Affordability, accessibility, quality?the hallowed trifecta at the center of the debate over health care reform. Proponents of reform argue that these three goals must be achieved for all Americans before any reform effort can be called a success. As a means to this end, supporters of market-based solutions to the health care problem are pushing to lift restrictions preventing the sale of health insurance across state lines. They maintain that allowing consumers to shop for insurance nationwide would increase competition, thereby lowering prices. Critics of this measure warn, however, that overturning the current ban on interstate sales of health insurance...

Perry has seemingly begun to build a case of grievances against the federal government. His primary points: -Current administration is “hell-bent” on socialism Washington is now actively punishing Texas through it policies -Health Care Bill would eat up Texas’ $9 billion rainy day fund in 1.5 years -Cap and Trade would cap the entire southern economy Texas may have to reassert 10th amendment protections I will not pretend to know whether Perry is sincere or if this is simply positioning himself for the upcoming primaries. But that’s not the point… certainly these statements indicate the mood of many of the...

From a speculator's perspective, the total return potential now in silver is probably greater than gold. On a percentage basis, the price of silver can easily outpace gold over the next few years as both metals hit record highs after adjusting for inflation since 1980. Silver might achieve that goal far more quickly than gold. But as gold reaches over $1,145 this week (+10% in November) there's one missing ingredient required to legitimize this historic bull market; silver must exceed its March 2008 high of $20.78 an ounce. Spot silver trades at $18.71 an ounce this morning in New York....

A 15-year-old Egyptian girl, Dina el-Gohary, has written an emotional appeal to President Obama asking him to use his influence to save her father, Maher el-Gohary, who is being persecuted for his beliefs. "Mr. President Obama, we are a minority in Egypt," Dina writes, according to a report from the Assyrian International News Agency. "We are treated very badly. ... We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country." Dina and her father are...

Philosophically speaking, there are two Americas, each with a founding father. The first man, born 500 years ago last July, was the theologian John Calvin. Should this sound incredible, bear in mind that this has been the contention of more than a few historians in the past. In his book Christianity and the Constitution, John Eidsmoe lists several reasons for agreeing with this estimation. First, at the time when America became a country, about two-thirds of the population had a religious affiliation that was at least partly Calvinistic in doctrine. In fact, it was the persecution of that particular religious...

Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus. In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of "the...

Does anyone read the newspapers in the U.S. government? How about checking out the dispatches coming from its generals in the field? Here’s a news story which tells all. A Reuters’ dispatch from Iraq interviews the commander of U.S. forces there. What’s he say? Al-Qaida is joining forces with Saddam Hussein’s supporters. And where are both al-Qaida’s forces fighting in Iraq and Saddam’s backers headquartered with lots of money stolen from Iraq? Syria. Syria? So Damascus is now allied with al-Qaida, the perpetrators of the September 11 attack to kill Americans and defeat the United States in Iraq? Is that right,...

he prosecution team I led in 1995 convicted the notorious Blind Sheikh and 11 others for conspiring to wage a terrorist war that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and attempting (unsuccessfully) to attack New York City landmarks. Consequently, some observers seem puzzled that I'm a vocal critic of civilian trials for our terrorist enemies. But they are confusing litigation success with national-security success. So is the Obama administration in deciding to transfer Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters to federal court in Manhattan. We certainly can convict terrorists in civilian court. We've done it too many...

Nobody outside the inner halls of Congress really knows what’s going on in the negotiations on health care “reform. Every now and then, someone emerges from the formerly smoke-filled rooms and throws another 2,000 or so page “bill” out into the public and then disappears to continue talks to carve up one-sixth of the nation’s economy. But we do know some of the critical unforgiving numbers. And we have strong reason to suspect that radical changes to Medicare Part E (as in Medicare for Everybody) is the real endgame, whatever the interim steps are called: public option, cooperatives, or mandated...

So apparently Sarah Palin sold over three hundred thousand copies of her book in one day – and as you can guess – they were all purchased by racists. At least, that’s what the sociology professors over at MSNBC Community College believe. Check out Hardball guest Norah O’Donnell, impersonating a talking puffin…

So apparently Sarah Palin sold over three hundred thousand copies of her book in one day – and as you can guess – they were all purchased by racists. At least, that’s what the sociology professors over at MSNBC Community College believe. Check out Hardball guest Norah O’Donnell, impersonating a talking puffin…

A tasteless joke – one that saw earlier popularity during the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – has resurfaced across America.  It is being told in whispers, emails, and even bumper stickers.  During Mr. Clinton’s administration it even found its way into some Sunday church bulletins.  And it is really beneath contempt in its lack of respect for the president, the presidency, not to mention the Bible itself.It goes something like this: “Pray for President Obama.  Psalm 109:8.”  At first glance it appears innocuous, even pious.  But when time is taken to look up the reference, well,...

Author’s note: The original title of this column was going to be, “If You Don’t Think the Fort Hood Massacre Was a Terrorist Attack then You’re a Damn Fool,” but because I’m trying not to cuss as much I changed it to “You’re an Idiot.” Progress, sweet progress.I was sitting in the Greensboro airport Thursday morning after a speaking engagement at UNC-Greensboro when a TV blaring CNN caught my attention. The talking head was reading the results of a survey CNN had conducted (with the smattering of viewers that have yet to defect to FOX) regarding how many believed the...

I posted on Nov. 11 at www.lvrj.com/blogs/vin/ a response to a letter-writing government schoolmarm who contends she should not be held responsible for the failure of her young charges to learn anything, since it's all their parents' fault. I answered, in part: "Teachers from 1620 through 1950 didn't go home with their kids to tuck them in, either. Yet Americans with eighth grade educations through all those centuries could read, write, spell and do basic arithmetic well enough to run circles around your pathetic charges ... even if today's pathetic inmates sit through a full 12 years of your progressively...

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's vote in favor of Obamacare was purchased for $300 million on Saturday, giving Democrats the 60-vote supermajority that will, barring a miracle, pass health care reform that will possibly include a public option and abortion coverage. The $300 million comes from a 2-page earmark inserted into the bill specifically for Louisiana, though the wording of the earmark didn't specifically name Louisiana as the recipient. It simply designated victims of national disasters within the last 7 years as eligible for certain federal funds — and the only citizens who that applies to are Katrina victims in Louisiana....

When a ship called the Mayflower set sail for the Americas on August 1, 1620, no one would have thought that a historical lesson in politics would be learned by those who gave up everything for a chance at a new life in a new world. 102 passengers set sail with William Bradford that day and once they were on the high seas they all signed an agreement. This agreement, or contract if you may, established what was to be a just and equal law for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. What the settlers...

.... Barack Obama's speaking skills are his signature talent. He's a platform performer, a speechmaker in the great tradition, a kind of teleprompter Cicero. The campaign to become President owed more to Mr. Obama's oratorical mastery than to any other element. His speech on race in America, necessitated by revelations of the ugly thoughts and sentiments of his hometown preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was the most important event of his campaign. If it had failed, his candidacy would have been doomed. Under pressure – the great test of the real speechmaker – he delivered. The other great speech of the...

The 2008 national election clearly shows our next generation of leaders must possess something that many recent and current elected officials lack: intellectual courage. President Nixon believed all leaders, regardless of their time, needed “brains, guts and heart.” Others have defined those character traits as “the right stuff.” “Given what is likely needed to right our ship of state, I don't think that it will come as a great surprise to many that our current men and women in the military are likely going to be the ‘right’ individuals for the job when they come home,” said Lara Brown, a...

... Obama has his own theory of our current economic situation. His "first job," he told Chuck Todd of NBC News, was to stave off another "Great Depression," save government jobs (police, firefighters, teachers), and "make sure certain sectors of the economy were supported," such as "construction and infrastructure." "We've gotten that job done," he said. "Our next job is to make sure we can accelerate the job growth," he said. "So what we're seeing now is businesses are starting to invest again, they are starting to be profitable again, but they haven't started hiring again." What's the matter with...

It’s easy to dismiss Sarah Palin. She’s back on the trail, with the tumbling hair and tumbling thoughts. The queen of the scenic strip mall known as Wasilla now reigns over thrilled subjects thronging to a politically strategic swath of American strip malls. The conservative celebrity clearly hasn’t boned up on anything, except her own endless odyssey of self-discovery. And she still has that Yoda-like syntax. “And I think more of a concern has been not within the campaign the mistakes that were made, not being able to react to the circumstances that those mistakes created in a real positive...

WASHINGTON -- What city contributed most to the making of the modern world? The Paris of the Enlightenment and then of Napoleon, pioneer of mass armies and nationalist statism? London, seat of parliamentary democracy and center of finance? Or perhaps Titusville, Pa. Oil seeping from the ground there was collected for medicinal purposes -- until Edwin Drake drilled and 150 years ago -- Aug. 27, 1859 -- found the basis of our world, 69 feet below the surface of Pennsylvania, which oil historian Daniel Yergin calls "the Saudi Arabia of 19th-century oil." For many years, most oil was used for...

... [Geraldine Davie] joined 12 other 9/11 family members at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Obama administration's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four other 9/11 planners not as enemy combatants and war criminals before a military commission, but as civilians in federal court in New York City. They brought with them more than 100,000 signatures gathered by three 9/11 and national security websites--TheBravest.com, 911Familesfor-America.org, and Keep-AmericaSafe.com (on whose board this magazine's editor serves). Holder spoke of the trials as a correction of Bush-era delays and an overdue attempt to seek justice for the victims of...

I'm sure I would like Sarah Palin if I got the chance to meet her. We share many things in common. She is still married to her first spouse, as am I. She has a Down syndrome son. I have a brother with Down syndrome. We share the same faith and we both like the outdoors. She is conservative on economic and social issues, and so am I. In her new book, Going Rogue, Palin complains about her running mate's handlers, whom she says kept her from being herself. I have similar complaints. Those handlers also kept me from interviewing...

As the NIAC and Trita Parsi story unfolds in the wake of Eli Lake’s bombshell story, it is interesting to note just how it might be that many on the Left are simultaneously reaching the same conclusions (e.g., it’s all a neocon conspiracy, Parsi is besieged by an MEK agent). On Parsi and NIAC’s side is Brown Lloyd James, a PR firm with much experience in this area. The firm’s website tells us: “Brown Lloyd James handled the international launch of Al Jazeera English.” And we also know from news reports that “Brown Lloyd James, a public relations firm with...

Where did the swine flu vaccinations go? They went the way of the “stimulus money” – that is to say, they were sent here, and shipped there. And, of course, they were “administered” and “disbursed” and “distributed” by high ranking officials who work in very important positions in vital departments of our U.S. Government. But nobody in our government – no one, specific individual – can say with certainty how many flu shots there are, or where they are, or where they might be headed. And the same is true for the billions of dollars that were entailed in President...

The war on terror is over. The decision to prosecute the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, along with his al Qaeda cohorts, in federal court marks a political watershed. President Obama seeks to return America to a pre-Sept. 11, 2001, mind-set. Terrorism is to be treated - as in the 1990s - as a criminal law enforcement matter. The administration's decision to hold Mohammed's trial in a New York City civilian court, just a few blocks away from ground zero, is irresponsible and grotesque. Foreign terrorists who commit atrocities against American civilians will be given...

Barack Obama’s increasing disregard for Britain’s views is no way to treat an ally whose troops have fought side by side with America since September 11, says Con Coughlin It says much about Britain’s rapidly disappearing ‘special relationship’ with America that when I happened to mention to some of our senior military officers that I was visiting Washington, they begged me to find out what the Obama administration was thinking about Afghanistan. It is not just that the transatlantic lines of communication, so strong just a few years ago, have fallen into disuse. There is now a feeling that, even...

As we left it last week: I was on my way to the White House with a horsy pajama-clad leader of the free world, his toadies, Axelrod and Emanuel and three Secret Service Agents. For secrecy measures, the President had opted to make a Cessna puddle-jumper the make-shift AF1 to pick me up. After I applied a little “Godfather” shock therapy, I was about to give President Obama the advice he sorely needs to prevent his administration from descending to the bottom of the cesspool beneath history’s worst president, Jimmy Carter! As bright sunlight now pushes the mighty midget craft...