Free Republic

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is demanding that the Lewiston (Maine) School District allow seventh-grader Nasra Aden to pray in school at the regularly designated times for Islamic daily prayers and in the regularly prescribed prostrated posture. The District has not been accommodating in-school prayers under the apprehension that prayers are not permitted in public schools. CAIR said it cannot accept the District’s insistence that any praying be done silently and unobtrusively. “Islam is a very vocal faith,” CAIR spokesman, Runha Amuk said. “God commands that we praise him frequently and openly. To demand silence is an insult to...

Coase’s FCC Legacy Bethany Stotts, December 1, 2009 At first blush the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—which regulates “interstate and international communications” using “radio, television, wire” and “satellite”—doesn’t seem like much of a free-market mecca. But panelists at a recent conference held at George Mason University (GMU) argued that the FCC was significantly affected 50 years ago by Ronald H. Coase’s noted article, “The Federal Communications Commission.” In this paper Coase argues that, with regard to broadcast radio, “the government and its historians based their regulatory views ‘on a misunderstanding of the nature of the problem’” and “goes on to present...

I stumbled across this 1948 cartoon video (below) entitled, "Make Mine Freedom", and for some reason took a few minutes to watch it. I'm so glad that I did! I'm not alone because over 2,000,000 have also tuned in. This cartoon, over sixty years old, is eerily timely and applicable to the state of our government and country. Don't cheat yourself. Watch the entire video because it saves the best for last. What's so incredibly, amazingly eye-popping about it is that it exposes the EXACT SAME LIBERAL LIES that are being repeated today ad nauseum. They recycle the same old...

Academic Radical on Fox Cliff Kincaid, November 30, 2009 Bill O’Reilly has brought back cop-killer apologist Marc Lamont Hill as a commentator on his highly-rated cable show, which he calls the “No Spin Zone.” Curiously, this follows the firing of Hill by O’Reilly’s boss, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation. There has been no explanation, not even spin, from official Fox News representatives for this strange situation. How can Hill be showing up on the same channel that fired him? On his show, O’Reilly postures as a defender of police officers and law enforcement authorities. He frequently taunts public officials...

Best Buy recently removed itself from places we’ll shop by placing Islamist holidays above Thanksgiving and Christmas in things it thinks are important to celebrate. Best Buy was previously our go-to place for anything technical and electronic. The Mac we use to write this site is failing, so we’re saving up for a new computer, this time a PC, and we most likely would have bought that at Best Buy. Instead, we will be buying that new computer in 2010 at a store that does not promote Islam. On September 11th, 2001, our friend Jane was killed by Muslims in...

As Thanksgiving festivities wind down we contemplate all we have to be thankful for as free Americans! We head into the Christmas season wishing for leadership in Washington that reflects our commitment to the values and ideals that have built the freest and most prosperous and generous nation on earth. Heading into December and Tuesday’s announcement of our nation’s strategy in Afghanistan, I ask the President to reassure us that the administration is in this War on Terror to win. And I’ll pass along the following from Harold B. Estes, a 95-year-old member of the Greatest Generation: “I realize you...

f you are not one of the nearly one million people who have purchased and read Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue, An American Life, then you are missing out on one of the really great treats and treasures of our time. One doesn’t actually read Going Rogue, they experience it. You experience Sarah Palin’s life as she takes you from a young girl growing in the rugged Alaska wilderness through her days as a championship basketball player, a city councilwoman, mayor, oil and gas regulator, reformer, Governor, and vice presidential candidate. All told in Sarah’s wonderfully enjoyable way. The...

The Springfield Nativity Scene Committee (SNSC) will again erect a Nativity Scene that will stand in Illinois’ state Capitol Rotunda Building. Opening day ceremonies regarding the Springfield Nativity Scene (SNS) will take place between 12 Noon and 1 P.M. on December 1st in the state Capitol Rotunda located at South 2nd Street & East Capitol Avenue in Springfield, Illinois. The public is invited to attend the event. The Springfield Nativity Scene--which was originally underwritten by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society--is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. This year the display is co-sponsored by Isringhausen Imports of Springfield and...

The reasons that I could never get elected to any government position is the same reason why conservatives have a tough time getting elected and, if they end up elected, can't govern in this era of the ill-educated voter. First I'll lay out my main principles... Leave me alone Stop taxing me Shove your regulations That's about it. Though there are complexities and nuance contained in them, these are the main tenets of modern conservatism simply put. And therein lies the problem. How can one get elected when his basic tenets are that government should do less, stay out of...

In the spring of 1964, Sarah Heath, then just three months old, flew into backwater Skagway, Alaska (population 650) aboard a 1930s-era Grumman Goose to start a new life with her parents, brother, and sister. At that same time, in America's other new outlier state, Hawaii, two-year-old Barry Obama was just getting used to a fatherless existence in the otherwise-comfortable world his white grandparents and occasionally his mother would make for him. At the time, not even Nostradamus could have foretold that the paths of Barry and Sarah would intersect in the "historic" 2008 election, Barry as the first major...

WTH is wrong with people? They should sue.

Catastrophe Denied: A Critique of Catastrophic Man-Made Global Warming Theory

We have a few more weeks, folks, to gather our thoughts and political weapons, and then 2010 is upon us. It will be a mad dash to the finish line, and we have a lot of priorities: Kill healthcare, kill Cap & Trade, pursue terrorists wherever they hide, win primaries, and stand atop Capitol Hill with the Conservative Flag in November. Horowitz is an old warrior. He's a good place to start.

Concord-Carlisle High School is promoting a take-down of family values on Thanksgiving Day – engineered by Mr. Peter Atlas, an old friend of Kevin Jennings (Obama’s “Safe Schools czar” and founder of GLSEN). A few years back, we reported on Concord-Carlisle High School’s disgraceful hosting of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus on Palm Sunday. Now they’re at it again. Under the direction of perennial gay-activist CCHS math teacher Peter Atlas, CCHS students are performing “Falsettos” in December -- a musical pushing polyamory, bisexuality and homosexuality.

The video from my climate lecture on November 10, 2009 is now available online

The blessings of God and the promise that He made to protect the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel save them from their neighbors, relatives and enemies. However, this very success and achievements of this small family, as per God’s promise and against all odds and opposition, raises the hatred and jealousy of their neighbors... ... This is also a lesson that our father Yaakov intended to teach us. We are not allowed to rein in our talents and achievements.

Spitting and drooling on MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews said, "President Obama has his chin out on just about every hot issue out there.... He’s exposed and vulnerable. His poll numbers are dropping. Is he just too darned intellectual? Too much the egg head?" Tingles notwithstanding, where do you suppose Matthews got that notion? It can't be because of Obama's lofty scholastic achievements. Not only has he adamantly refused to release his transcripts, he's spent upwards of $2 million, employing every legal trick in the book to hide them. It can't be because of Obama's scholarly papers. In the 13 years...

Lest we forget! A stroll down Thanksgiving Palin memory lane! Skip the middle if you want and just watch and listen to the shock of the media before and after! Video!

Governor Palin's interview with Gretchen Carlson aired this morning on Fox & Friends.

The man and woman who launched the bell ringers defied their fears A school of ministry in Redding, Calif., is a little off the usual model. Rather than kick you out if you mess up while trying some new way to expel the darkness, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministries insists you experiment, for the glory of God. "I don't know of any other way to learn but to fail," says the founder, Bill Johnson. He didn't invent this, of course. William Booth did. The founder of the Salvation Army had his students do a few of the run-of-the-mill things—like circuit...

... recent study, "Minorities in Tax 2010," conducted by TaxDiversity, a web site dedicated solely to issues of diversity in the accounting profession. Although some noticeable progress has been made between 2002 and 2008, "the accounting profession has made very limited strides in both attracting and advancing minorities within the field," the study finds. Among the study's key findings: * Overall, white people are exiting the tax profession at a faster rate than many other professions. * Even though the number of Blacks in the public accounting profession has increased by 25 percent between 2002 and 2008, they still only...

A short message to the people and to Washington! Video

I grew up in a small city in the New York suburbs. My parents scrimped and saved to give us a saner life than in the Bronx. Unlike most other towns in the county, our area was diverse, with a wealthy population in opulent estates; a middle class group (mine); and a large, low income population, mostly comprised of black residents. In the 60's, liberal policy makers conceived of forced busing so that deprived kids could enjoy tonier surroundings. The utopians envisioned the dazzling spectacle of ethnic bonding. At my elementary school, the black kids arrived each day by bus...

My home state of Florida is the fourth largest state in the U.S. -- and it's a fairly wealthy state. Yet, our K-12 school system is among the worst in the nation in some pretty important respects. According to the Miami Herald, Florida is 39th (or 47th) in the nation in terms of school funding, and Florida schools got an "F" from Education Week Magazine in terms of our students' college readiness. In 2008, Florida ranked 29th in teacher pay. A Johns Hopkins think tank found that Florida was among a few states whose low high-school graduation rates render Florida...

Every last bit of the thousands of pages of this bogus program is insane. Somehow Obama is driven by someone or something hidden behind the curtian. Someone is willing to sacrifice trillions of dollars and many political careers to achieve this prize. It is clear the Wizard behind the curtain will not take no for an answer. Who is the puppet master and what is his hidden agenda? One world government? The collapse of America? Greed? Power? Marxism? A suicide wish? It all makes no sense. Most Americans are against this fiasco. Why is it being shoved down our throats?...

Katherine Kersten, reporting for the Minnesota Star Tribune, writes: 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...

A few years ago, Francis Fukuyama was widely criticized for his book claiming that mankind had seen "The End of History." Fukuyama contended that liberal democracy had won the debate over which system was best and, therefore, there was necessary no more "moving forward" for man's social order. While Fukuyama might have thought the question of the best system was settled -- that being the Western democratic system --- what good does a great system do if no one is aware of it? Unfortunately, we are quickly nearing a time in our schools where any knowledge of our political system...

The Empire Strikes Back Malcolm A. Kline, November 24, 2009 Bill and Melinda Gates, in their education reform efforts, have drawn the ire of NEA types, RiShawn Biddle at the Capital Research Center points out. “From the bastions of traditional public education—the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the university-level schools of education that dominate teacher training, and the public school superintendents—the alarm has sounded: the Gates Foundation engages in ‘misinformation campaigns,’ and wants to ‘effectively cripple public control’ of schools,” Biddle writes. “Two years ago the National Commission on Skills in the Workplace, a Gates...

SAT Rap (Video) Bethany Stotts, November 23, 2009 Can the SAT be cool? The makers of this motivational video certainly try. “Relax” by Charta Squad [Video at link] YouTube user “Elka131” writes that the video is “created by teachers at the Believe High Schools in Brooklyn, NY.” Nancy Griesemer at The Examiner and Eric Hoover at Tweed attribute it to Williamsburg Charter High School (WCHS), which is part of a network of three charters in Brooklyn, NY. WCHS serves a low-income community (79% of students were eligible for a free lunch in the 2005-06 academic year)....

Can’t wait to meet our troops – and all those who love the U.S. Armed Forces – today at Ft. Bragg. Read my book’s dedication page. The book is for these Patriots who fight for freedom. They deserve our support and our government’s unwavering commitment to equipping them for victory. The book tour is beyond all expectations. This feels like the time when a team comes together, gearing up before a major competition to show unity and supply strength and encouragement to each team member equally, regardless of the team member’s role or title. On this tour I hear the...

It should be obvious by now that Barack Obama’s disastrous Cloward-Piven economic policies were not meant to lift the economy. After all, ask yourself, what would Obama be doing differently today if he intentionally set out to destroy the American economy? He’s tripled the national deficit in less than one year. He’s increased the national debt to $12 Trillion. And he’s nearly doubled the unemployment rate since the Bush years. Even Saturday Night Live and Chris Matthews can’t ignore it any longer. Jim Simpson at The American Thinker reported today on Obama’s Cloward-Piven economic plan: It is time to cast...

This is single sourced for now. Here's the MEMRI Blog source, which is calling out this original reporting from al-Watan.com. A source in Kabul for the Afghan secret talks between the elements in the Taliban led by Mullah Mutawakkil, the Foreign Minister of movement between the American ambassador in Kabul, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, which has achieved progress - without explaining further details. She suggested the United States during the talks give the power to the Taliban in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Kunar, and Nuristan, in exchange for not ... Full article...

Lucky or blessed? An inch either way would have been a life changing experience, to say the least! MailOnline

When it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn't matter. When he started appointing czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxists and Communists, people said it didn't matter. When he stood before the nation and told us that his intentions were to "fundamentally transform this nation" into something else, people said it didn't matter.

Denitown, Connecticut -- Chip McKeown, president of the Atheist club at Connecticut's College of Regional Accountant Practitioners (CRAP), has announced that the club will be disbanding at the close of this semester. Professor Freewind Pulcinski (pictured) expressed his disappointment with the move. "It was, like, totally, you, know, juss... like bummed. Ya know, man?," the professor told reporters on Monday. The four members of the club all agreed to disband early last week. Said McKeown, "We kept getting together and asking each other what we were there to discuss. But every time the answer was the same: 'Nothing.'" McKeown went...

A magazine in Tokyo is reporting that President Obama's summit with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama was a frosty disaster, precipitated by incompetence on both sides and an entirely avoidable diplomatic slight to the Japanese side by Obama. The visit was abruptly re-scheduled, seriously inconveniencing the Emperor of Japan, as well as the Prime Minister, whose intricate schedules require meticulous planning and coordination. Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun cites an unnamed insider at the Foreign Ministry, who delivers a devastating account of not merely a failure to agree, but figurative slaps in the face of the rude president, delivered in retaliation....

This is the third article to appear on these pages from an IBD subscriber who lived in the Soviet Union until 1980. Click here to read the previous two articles. Whenever I speak about my experiences living in the USSR, my American friends respond that such things can never happen in a democracy like the United States. They don't understand why I am repulsed when I hear the president talk about "sacrificing for the collective good," which sounds so compassionate, as opposed to greedy capitalism. "Sacrifice for the collective good" is one of the founding principles of socialism, where the...

In direct contradiction to accusations that it is “dithering” or “wishy-washy,” the Obama Administration has acted forcefully to counter what it calls “the most serious and credible threat we face at this time.” It turns out that it is the rising popularity of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as evidenced in record-breaking sales of her autobiographical book and the massive crowds that have attended her book-signing appearances, that has spurred a concerted effort at countermeasures from the Obama Administration. While Ms. Palin will still be permitted to go through with an appearance at the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina,...

<snip>2.4 Diagnosis #4: The Attraction of Magnificent Academic Trusels. A "trusel" is an idea or a finding that is widely perceived to be true, but which is largely useless (or even of negative value). (The idea that a truth may lack value may be disturbing, but it is true, although it is not a trusel and probably will not be thought to be magnificent.) A "Magnificent Academic Trusel" (MAT) is a trusel that has been widely acknowledged for its intellectual content (explicitly or implicitly), but without a corresponding amount of attention being given to its utility or even to its...

In case you missed it, here is video of Part two of Sarah Palin's interview with Bill O'Reilly. Tonight, they focus on policy issues. Below is the first segment of tonight's Part 2 Interview. In the second part, not yet posted, Palin says bluntly that Obama's foreign policy is weak, citing the fact that Obama is "bowing to other world leaders." We'll post the rest of it once it is available . . . (VIDEO)

Beauty and the beast.....

Pure evil. As if the parents of special needs children don’t suffer enough. Dems will increase taxes on the parents of special needs children in their nationalized health care bill. LifeSite News reported: The statistics are scary when it comes to the percentage of unborn children born with special needs who become victims of abortion. One fiscal conservative group says the task for parents raising such children is made more difficult by extra taxes found in Harry Reid’s new Senate health care bill. The measure has already been condemned by pro-life groups and the Catholic bishops for its abortion funding...

However, despite the public appearance of a committed relationship most Europeans countries today, and some Jewish sects do not support the state of Israel and the European government is somewhat puzzled by the Americans protectionist attitude toward Israel. The common views outside the United States towards Israel is that they are an oppressor state — some go as far as declaring Israel a "terrorist" state, while others give Israel the benefit of the doubt by declaring "well, both sides are guilty, but Israel is stronger and should know better"

The Senate is set to vote Saturday night, right before the holiday, on a motion to proceed on its latest health care government take-over bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for yet another weekend vote (commonplace now for the party of “transparency”) because he knows that the American people will be none too happy about the Democrats’ proposal the longer they have to look it over. A vote against the Democrats’ motion will help stop Obamacare before it gets any closer to becoming a reality. While this Saturday night vote might seem like a procedural matter, at the...

Small Business Tax & Toil By: Larry Walker, Jr. I have been contemplating all the blood, sweat, and tears shed by Small Business owners like me. Having been in business for the past 9 years, I have come to the realization that: I am paying a hell of a lot in Taxes (and government mandated fees), and I am feeling mighty under appreciated. The Federal Government, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, chose to give a Social Security tax cut, the Making Work Pay Credit, to workers making under $75,000 per year. That's all well and...

Republican activist and free market think-tanker Grant Bosse formally declared his candidacy today in New Hampshire’s 00th Congressional District after news that the Obama administration has attributed a majority of the state’s stimulus jobs to that non-existent district. Bosse is in New Hampshire has only two congressional districts, neither of which are numbered “00.” “Even a fake district needs real leadership,” said Bosse while appearing on WGIR’s Charlie Sherman show on Friday morning. “The people overseeing the stimulus actually found more fake congressional districts than there are real congressional districts. So if we run in all 440 phantom congressional seats...

DISGUSTING: Despite legislation passed by Congress to make it possible to sue foreign governments that sponsor terrorism, in a filing in federal court, the Justice Department is arguing that giving the money to the victims "can have significant, detrimental impact on our foreign relations, as well as the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its extensive overseas property holdings."

“There’s no such thing as monsters.” We tell our kids that. The truth is that monsters are real. A real live monster might live next door to you, or across the street from your child’s school, even around the corner from your church. These monsters are called “Sex Offenders”, a label that is far too innocuous to convey the evil of those who have earned it. Somer Renee Thompson...Only one thing is known for certain: on the way home from school that fateful day, Somer met a monster face-to-face.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the crucial years Barack Obama spent growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 1967 to 1971, ages 6 to 10 in his life. These formative years, when a child first spends significant time in the wider world beyond his family environment, must have taught him many lessons about America, some of them very unpleasant, given the particular situation of his family. It would have been brutally difficult for any child, including young Barry Soetoro as he was then known, to have been uprooted from Honolulu, where his mother raised him as a single mom...

National Academy of Title IX Malcolm A. Kline, November 20, 2009 As we’ve reported over and over again, no matter how unscientific their data, elites continue to insist that women are underrepresented in the sciences. Now, the national Academy of Sciences is publishing a whole reading list sure to tilt the playing field even further towards regulators idea of a Title IX utopia. NAS is even throwing in finger puppets of Marie Curie and George Washington Carver, two scientists who managed to achieve all that they did without the aid of the divisive rules. Among the titles that NAS is...