Free Republic

Remember these headlines in the Sentinel from three years ago? " FBI: Murder rate soars in Orlando." "Armed robberies shatter calm." They make headlines such as these from recent weeks all the more striking. "Odd recession perk: Crime actually falls." "FBI: Orlando violent crime drops 30%." Crime is down in most cities across the nation this year, despite the job loss and other hardships created by the recession. New York, the nation's largest city, is headed for its lowest murder count since 1962. Theories behind the crime drop include better security measures, stiffer sentencing and an aging population. But it...

Here is video of Dick Morris talking with Sean Hannity last night where he continued to say that the Republican Party will win back both houses of Congress in the 2010 mid-term election. Morris said there is a "Tsunami" coming, just as there was in 1994 when the GOP swept to power in Congress when Bill Clinton was President. He makes the comments at the end of the segment. Earlier in the segment, the discuss Obama's falling poll numbers, with Morris pointing out that at the end of Bill Clinton's first year (1993), he had an approval rating of 56%,...

Regular readers of this column know that I’ve been rating the most vulnerable House seats — open and incumbent — for years. It’s that time again, and since there aren’t yet enough competitive open seats to rate by themselves, this list includes the dozen most vulnerable seats in the House. There are two caveats that go with the list. First, there are strong arguments for including at least half a dozen other districts on the list. So, not being on this list doesn’t mean a contest is not extremely competitive. Second, since the midterm elections are still almost a year...

AMERICAN.COM A Magazine of Ideas Hate the Sin, Tax the Sinner? By Rev. Robert A. SiricoWednesday, May 20, 2009 Filed under: Economic Policy, Lifestyle, Public Square An excise tax on those goods that elected officials deem morally suspect has come roaring back. But the temptation to impose sin taxes is one that should be resisted for economic and moral reasons. Dramatically expanding the reach of the federal government by adding new “universal” entitlements, while at the same time pretending to manage the economy out of the pit of a severe economic downturn, is no mean feat. Which is why the sin...

Media: The shameless denial with which major newspapers and networks have treated "Climategate" layers even more scandal on top of the original one: Mainstream media now co-conspirators with scientific hacks and big government. The evolution of America's dominant media from guardians of our freedoms to enablers of government growth has been a decades-long story, their biases copiously chronicled. But their response to the scientific scandal of the century, since it broke a week and a half ago, bids to become known as history's great unmasking of these supposedly independent journalists. The scandal burst into the open when a hacker —...

Another selection of editorial cartoons from cartoonists who "get it"

Fourht and final installment of editorial cartoonists from the conservative side.

A fresh batch of editorial cartoons from artists who are finally catching on.

These editorial cartoonist are finally getting a clue. The last two installments have been very popular. Check out the new posting.

Looks like the honeymoon is over. Editorial cartoonists have abandoned their "hands off" policy toward Obama.

One reads and hears with increasing disbelief and anger that we don't know the motive or motives of Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major who fired over 100 shots at his fellow American soldiers in order to murder and maim as many as possible. Hasan ended up allegedly murdering 13 people, but government and Army spokesmen and the mainstream media claim they just can't figure out why he did this. They are, however, certain that it was not an act of terrorism. Sunday's New York Times "Week in Review" article about Nidal Hasan was titled "When Soldiers Snap." The gist...

(English-language translation) No one can question that the past few weeks have been very difficult for the Puerto Rican people. The government's decision to dramatically cut the public payroll to relieve the deficit that accumulated during the past years has had a direct and indirect impact on most Puerto Ricans. It involves a painful decision, so much to whoever makes it as to whoever is affected by it. The natural and anticipated reaction is to have raised, as it did, public expressions of protest. Finally, a call to a general strike tomorrow seems to have united a variety of labor,...

When the poet Matthew Arnold wrote of faith's "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar," the thought was that scientific inquiry had forever undermined claims to certitude. In hindsight we see Arnold was only half right. In place of Genesis we now have scientism—the idea that science alone can speak truth about man and his world. In contrast to the majority of scientists whose wondrous discoveries seem to inspire humility, today's advocates of scientism can be every bit as dogmatic as the William Jennings Bryans of yesteryear. We saw an example a week ago, when the New York Times reported that many scientists...

The most recent........

If Detroit had been savaged by a hurricane and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it. If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night. Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it — if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

I've been thinking a lot recently about the disparate gap in reasoning between the mainstream academic elites and the rest of America. Why is it that liberalism is so often an outgrowth of scholarly people? The most prominent colleges in America---the ivy league schools---are often the most liberal environments, and produce the writers, artists and politicians who are often the most liberal. Why is this so?

The Constitution of Honduras contains 379 articles, all which can be reformed or removed except for seven of them. These seven articles are known in Spanish as “articulos petreos”, meaning that they cannot be altered or reformed in any way; they define the form of government, the national territory, and the extent and limit of presidential terms. So, 372 or 98.15% of the articles in the Constitution of Honduras can be legally reformed. So then, why did Mr. Manuel Zelaya so desperately insist on summoning a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution? The answer is simple; he wanted...

(English-language translation) How future events develop in Honduras rests on Roberto Micheletti's and Manuel Zelaya's prudence and sense, and their first task is to ensure that the deposed President's surprise return does not become the reason for any type of violence, as several governments, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union have unanimously requested. However, there is the possibility that things get out of control. Therefore, Brazilian President Lula asked Zelaya yesterday not to take actions that may provide a pretext for government forces to intervene, and not to put the Brazilian Embassy installations in harm's way....

The most recent........

President Obama is right: This nation shouldn't allow tens of millions of its citizens to be left without health care. Those Americans suffer physically and financially, and the country is diminished because of it. He is also right that it is time for our leaders to act. As the economic downturn leaves more and more people without health insurance, the well-being of thousands of families is eroding week to week. The president made that case persuasively in his address to Congress and the nation Wednesday. It was high time that he stepped in. After a fractious August, during which both...