Free Republic

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index was -8 last week, matching the five-year weekly high set the week ending Feb. 3. The current score is up from -13 the previous week.

This week the Enquiring Hitchhiker is proud to bring you the New York Times bestselling author of the Monster Hunter series Larry Correia… Question 1. You broke into writing by self publishing your first book. How did you market the novel and what experiences positive and negative did you have with that first book? ------- After getting rejected everywhere I decided to self publish. Since I was already well known in the internet gun community, I concentrated my efforts there. Specifically on a couple of gun forums, including one that I’d been a moderator on for a really long time....

So much of science fiction's core topics intersect with war, one way or the other. Rapid social change and technological innovation both get supercharged during wartime, and some of our greatest explorers are also warriors. So it's not surprising that many of science fiction's most well-known authors served in the military at some point — especially during the era when we had a compulsory draft. But how did serving in the military shape these writers' books? Here's a look at 15 of the authors who served in the armed forces, and how their work reflects that experience.

Of course, 2013 will be fine, because the 1950s sure were. That's the premise for the coming year, especially in regard to the agreement in Washington to raise U.S. tax rates on the well-off. In the 1950s, after all, tax rates were far higher than what the House and Senate have agreed on, a top rate in the high 30 percent range. Back then, they were even higher than what President Barack Obama might have proposed, if left to his own counsel. Republicans in that era went along with the idea that high rates took something away from the rich...

Some may see the films or books as just entertainment, but Tolkien spent a lifetime creating a mythos with far more detail than most writers ever imagine. An Oxford professor, he approached his writing as if it were a scholarly pursuit. Yet it was still entertaining and captivating, full of themes and message (though he never intentionally preached, so to speak, his beliefs informed his work). That’s why it has endured for so long (The Hobbit was originally published in 1937, mainly directed at children. Don’t see many children books like this anymore, do we?). Tolkien drew on many influences...

Washington — Consumers saved nearly $1.5 billion in 2011 as a result of rules in President Obama´s healthcare law that limit what insurance companies can spend on expenses unrelated to medical care, including profit, a new analysis shows. Much of those savings — an estimated $1.1 billion — came in rebates to consumers required because insurers had exceeded the required limits. The study by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund also suggests that the Affordable Care Act forced insurers to become more efficient by limiting their administrative expenses, a key goal of the 2010 law. In some cases, insurers passed savings...

I don’t get the fantasy subgenre of paranormal/supernatural fiction’s obsession with vampires and werewolves. It’s always been around, but has exploded in recent years and now commands whole sections of bookstores. Then, I guess, there are people who don’t get people like me who like epic fantasy like Tolkien, Lewis or Terry Brooks. Nonetheless. So here comes Bruce Hennigan’s The 12th Demon: Mark of the Wolf Dragon, which is a pleasant departure from high school age vampires who are all starting to look and act a lot alike.

For years I had intended on reading the classic fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien, but never did until a few months before the films were released. Then I was hooked. I had been a long-time sci-fi fan, but I still wondered how did I miss this genre? So I began seeking out more. Of late, however, I have had a tougher time finding new fantasy authors that I enjoy. A couple of times I have, in the middle of a series, given up and moved on. These authors have created detailed worlds and epic adventures for sure. Yet they are afraid...

<p>Dennis Avner, a 54 years old man who spent years trying hard to make his body look like a tiger, has committed suicide. According to DailyMail of November 13, his body was found November 5. He lived alone.</p> <p>The problem of Avner began when a Native chief, guided by spirits, said that Avner should “follow the ways of the tiger.”</p>

... Obama is having Mitt Romney over for lunch on Thursday and their meeting is already generating a lot of buzz. Here are five theories about the White House’s motives.... 1. Obama is extending a common courtesy... 2. Obama will offer Romney a Cabinet job... 3. Obama will enlist Romney in the fiscal cliff debate... 4. Obama wants Romney’s advice on business issues... 5. Obama wants closure on the 2012 presidential election, or something else?....

"...We are calling on you, our Senators, to request our electors not cast their vote! Then the House of Representatives CAN choose the next President (and Republicans still have the majority - 233 (R) to 195 (D) - in the House of Representatives)!!!..."

David Parker in his article, “The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism” looks closer at the many interpretations of the Wizard of Oz and gives us his opinion that sometimes a book is just a book and that interpretations pulled out of thin air are often just as ephemeral.  I have always been very interested in what adults think about children’s literature. More often than not they read into the stories political, religious, and even topical themes of their own time or the time in which the story was written.

By any honest measurement Barack Hussein Obama has been a dismal failure as a President. Few if any Presidents have been given as much power in their first term as Obama and done so little. In fact for two years he had an unassailable super majority in congress and still his administration has been unable to do something as simple as craft a budget much less control runaway unemployment, a crippling deficit, and the terrorist overthrow of the middle east. While contemplating how anyone could do much worse than Obama, it came to me: Obama is such a failure that...

This week we are proud to bring you an interview with Daniel Knauf. You may remember Daniel as the creator of the hit HBO show Carnivàle. He is currently working to recreate the story telling genre with his Bxx internet format. Bxx presents a non-linear method of telling a story in which the viewer can follow the story from multiple angles, out of sequence, or even follow specific characters through the story.

As Democrats gather in this Southern city on the eve of the convention, we look at the changing political landscape of the South with Democratic Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Kareem Crayton. He's a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, and he studies race in politics. And we thank you both for being with us...

Actually, I would appreciate if people didn’t remake anything. Some originality would be nice.  While, I would appreciate no remakes, this goes double for ones with Arnold Schwarzenegger.It as actually quite interesting how many of Arnold’s films were science fiction or fantasy based.  It is also interesting how every remake of one of them is a complete flop.  The latest edition of Total Recall going to the remake scrap-heap is prime example.  Great CGI, No originality and No Arnold equals epic fail.  It seems the original which was recently called ‘cheesy’ by some critic did far better at the box office than the new one which...

It was widely reported back in June that the producers of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” deliberately used a gruesome image of former president George W. Bush’s head impaled on a stake during the drama’s season one finale. The backlash was so great that DVD shipments were halted, digital copies were edited, and an apology was issued via press release. Now the author of the books, George R.R. Martin has shown his true colors, blaming conservatives in swing states for what he called “voter suppression”.In a recent blog post titled “Show Us Your Papers”, the avowed Democrat from New Jersey who thinks...

Join up for our fifth successive season. Join at Yahoo Fantasy Football. Free Republic Football League 2 (ID# 211856) Password cowboys

President Obama's agenda for a second term includes bringing peace to the Middle East. "I have not been able to move the peace process forward in the Middle East the way I wanted," he said in an interview with WJLA, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. "It's something we focused on very early. But the truth of the matter is, that the parties, they've got to want it as well."

After a monumental 2010 midterm election that saw them swept from power, Congressional Democrats are fantasizing again about holding the levers of the House of Representatives. Politico's Arena has a discussion among both Democrat and Republican legislators that sees a surprising optimism for Democrats. This comes in the wake of John Boehner putting Dems' chances at about one-in-three. Democrat Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio thinks the Ryan budget will be the GOP's millstone, claiming they want to "dismantle" Medicare. (If only, right?) The hat-loving Rep. Frederica Wilson dips into delusion, saying that Republicans "are intentionally starving efforts to jump start...