Free Republic

On Monday, Georgia came to a halt or, rather, it came to life.  A massive human chain gripped the avenues of Tbilisi, the streets of Russian-besieged Poti, the squares of every city, the lanes of every village and the country roads that connect them.  Maybe Russian Czar Vladimir Putin watched on television the human chain that will defeat his tanks.  This is no maudlin deviation from this column's traditional realist analysis.  It is a sober argument that Georgia's human chain represents the march of history from which Putin has kept his country. The sky above Tbilisi threatened rain but loosed...

We are NOT in a recession. I'm not running for anything, I can afford the luxury of acknowledging we're not a nation of Tom Joads. But I will say there's cause for concern going forward. Concern, as in, we're firmly in control of our economic future and we should concern ourselves with making wise economic- and political decisions to ensure continued prosperity for future generations of Americans. We'd better get things right in November. Consider what President Obama and the MoveOn.org Congress would mean for workers and investors on three key issues:

You need to go read the original post first. Here's the link: America, the new serfdom.Are you one of the few Americans who knows your American rights, knows the value of them, and knows how to defend them? Let's find out. 1) Explain the connection between rights and freedom. 2) Explain in legal terms how a right creates freedom. 3) Explain why a courtroom is the best place to claim and assert your rights. 4) List 10 of your fundamental American rights. There are way more than 10. I'm just asking for 10. 5) Cite the legal authority for those...

Even though my country, Sweden, isn't a NATO-member, I'm beginning to feel somewhat annoyed over the behavior the Russian Air Force displays towards my dear neighbor country Norway. I think the Nordic countries, as well as the whole of "Democratic" Europe will have to fight Russian Expansionism within a generation. Russia will lose. Russia stands no chance against a united Western Europe - and if Russia does not wish to realize this, we will make them highly aware of their inferiority in terms of population size, technological know-how, production capacity and overall management skills. Compared to governments like those of...

WHERE IS THE SPONTANEITY TODAY? What is taking its place…and why? by John W. Cassell How long has it been? I mean the last time a political convention really did its job…chose who was to be the party’s nominee for president and vice-president? Maybe some of you can correct me, but the last I remember anxiously keeping score as the individual state delegations cast their ballots was the Democrat Convention in 1960, where Kennedy beat Johnson. From the history books come much more intense struggles. The 1948 Republican Convention was a hog fight between Governor Dewey and Senator Taft. If...

Nearly five years have passed since the Free State Project adopted New Hampshire as its home base and began the task of convincing 20,000 activists to commit to uprooting their lives and moving here. They would come in droves, the plan went, overwhelming the sparsely populated state and ultimately changing the way big government works by limiting its power through free-market solutions. There would be tax reductions; regulations such as being required to have a driver’s license to get behind the wheel of your own car would be relaxed or scrapped; power would be restored to the people and the...

What do you think of Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate? Total Votes = 8863 Great choice 27.77 % Good choice 7.187 % Too soon to tell 15.97 % Poor choice 12.94 % Terrible choice 29.13 % Don't care 6.984 %

Freedom through Regulation Those of us sitting on our hands with tape over our mouths trying not to distract attention from the Democratic Convention in Denver are in awe of the obvious. Catholics take exception to the abortion policies of the Dems. Soldiers don’t like the cut and run ethic that has only recently been watered down by the Democratic Party. Businesses don’t want to hear any more of the taxation policies being proposed. The NRA is against the over-regulation of firearms that has become a tenet of faith to the Dems. Christians have had it with the pro-homosexual policies...

Liberal without even Trying From the times of the Great Depression through the 1950’s, some people were known as those who were just “passing through” town. During that time, one could pass through a town anonymously. Those days are gone. With fingerprint, information, a certifiable form of identification, a social security number, a speck of DNA or a face recognition photograph authorities have the ability to know everything there is to know about an individual. That individual had better have their legal ducks in a row before passing anywhere. This is but a tiny fragment of an example of those...

Governments tend toward tyranny. Governments are comprised of selfish humans with personal desires for money, job security, and increased authority over fellow citizens. A citizen working for a government has opportunities to rule over and oppress fellow citizens, they would never have outside their government position. Therefore, government becomes a magnet for selfish power-seeking individuals. By their sheer size and superior firepower, governments tend to overrun and ignore personal rights. The machine capriciously devours it's victims. The Declaration of Independence declares that governments exist to protect the rights of citizens. The Constitution for the United States of America further states...

I am just delving into Andy McCarthy’s book Willful Blindness, but already his scholarship confirms what those of us unpersuaded by pro-Muslim, Western intellectual apologists perceive about Islam. Islam is not one of the world’s great faith traditions, sibling to Judaism and Christianity in its monotheism and its celebration of the unique relationship between God and His creation—most especially that between God and man. Islam is, in fact, the antithesis of Judaism and Christianity, the latter two sharing so much more than merely a belief in one God. Torah means “law;” gospel comes from koine Greek for “good news.” Both...

We are constantly reminded about the destructive consequences of religion -- intolerance, hatred, division, inquisitions, persecutions of "heretics," holy wars. Though far from the whole story, they are, nevertheless, true. There have been many awful consequences of religion. What one almost never hears described are the deleterious consequences of secularism -- the terrible developments that have accompanied the breakdown of traditional religion and belief in God. For every thousand students who learn about the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials, maybe two learn to associate Gulag, Auschwitz, The Cultural Revolution and the Cambodian genocide with secular regimes and ideologies....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2008 – Listeners who log on to listen to Stardust Radio’s “Talking with Heroes” program on Aug. 17 will learn how they can honor veterans past and present and commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The show’s host, Bob Calvert, will welcome Roxie Merritt, spokeswoman for the Defense Department’s America Supports You program and director of New Media and Community Relations for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Merritt’s community relations staff is responsible for organizing this year’s fourth annual National America Supports You Freedom Walk here while hundreds of others...

Behind the attempt to regulate the Internet is an attempt at destroying our God given constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and an attempt to suppress the spread of opinions, news, and ideas. For the Multi-national corporations and it's leftist CEOs there is a need for greed and to limit our choices they way they do with Television. The chance to monopolize the Internet and the video games industry is met with the support of none other than RINOS as well as the far left. Hillary Clinton, John Mccain and to some extent even Obama have expressed support for regulating...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press SecretaryMay 10, 2005 President Addresses and Thanks Citizens in Tbilisi, Georgia Freedom Square Tbilisi, Georgia 1:27 P.M. (Local) PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for that introduction. Citizens of a free Georgia, Laura and I were in the neighborhood -- we thought we'd swing by and say gamarjoba. (Applause.) I am proud to stand beside a President who has shown such spirit, determination, and leadership in the cause of freedom. (Applause.) And Laura and I are proud to stand with the courageous people of Georgia, in this place that has earned a...

As House Republicans spend their fourth day protesting a lack of action on energy prices, Freedom's Watch is taking aim at incumbent Democrats Nancy Boyda of Kansas; Don Cazayoux from Louisiana; Texan Nick Lampson; Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire; and Chris Carney of Pennsylvania. Ads against the five endangered members will try to tie them to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and drilling bans on the Outer-Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Freedom's Watch is doing what it can to protect some Republican incumbents too, targeting four Democratic challengers who look strong at the moment. Challengers to Reps. Bill Sali,...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)-If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight....

If you're in Beijing for the Olympics kick starting this weekend, don't be spilling any beans (state secrets or otherwise) in your cab back to the hotel, because you're being listened to. As the WSJ is reporting, on your taxi's dash is a microphone that can be activated remotely, at any time and without the driver's knowledge, for a live listen into any one of Beijing's estimated 70,000 cabs. And then, if the folks on the other end don't like what they hear, they can take things even further.The GPS-equipped devices also allow for remote disabling by "cutting off...

You might have thought the demented Americans with Disabilities Act — a bonanza for lawyers that requires any public facility to be designed with handicappers in mind or be sued out of existence — would be the last word in otherly-abled totalitarianism. Not so. Visitability is a concept that makes the ADA downright libertarian by comparison. The initial objective of Visitability proponents is to impose on every home a zero-step entrance, interior doors at least 32" wide, and at least one wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the ground floor. Once they've managed to have this mandated, we'll see where they go from...

While Google may claim that there is no such thing as privacy anymore, I can't see this unnamed Google executive being too happy about the NLPC using Google's own technology against him. It's the sort of thing that might cause him to place a bit more value the privacy of himself and others.

Washington, DC – Today, Google is under fire for issuing contradictory statements on privacy. In California, Google responded to California State Assemblyman Joel Anderson’s (R-San Diego) concerns about Google’s privacy policies yesterday by stating that “Google takes privacy very seriously.” However, in Pennsylvania court documents released the same day, Google stated, “privacy does not exist.” Google’s privacy statements yesterday came on the heels of comments by Google “Evangelist” Vint Cerf to the Washington Technology Alliance’s annual luncheon in May where he explained that “nothing you do ever goes away, and nothing you do ever escapes notice… There isn’t any privacy,...

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is dead, says Robert A. Pastor, the American University professor who for more than a decade has been a major proponent of building a North American Community. "The new president will probably discard the SPP,"

A pro-Second Amendment group is taking the unusual step of asking for financial help for the family of a gun owner caught up in a bizarre prosecution for a malfunctioning firearm. David Olofson is a U.S. Army veteran, Army Reservist and a gun enthusiast who loaned his personal 20-year-old AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to a neighbor who had expressed an interest in learning to shoot. A semi-automatic weapon fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. But – as Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, explains – when the neighbor took the gun to a range, it...

In God We Trust, a national political inter-faith advocacy group, has called on Sen. Barack Obama to condemn the message on a billboard in Denver, the site of next month’s Democratic National Convention. The billboard, alluding to a song by the late John Lennon of the Beatles, bears the message “Imagine No Religion” imprinted over what appears to be stained glass. It was paid for by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which describes itself as a membership association of atheists and agnostics. According to a report in the Denver Post, the billboard will only stand through July and will...

I was talking to a friend yesterday afternoon (yes, people can still have a private conversation after church) about the political situation here in Illinois; told her that there were more registered Republicans than Democrats in the state. "Then why do they keep winning all the elections? she asked. "Because not enough Republicans get up on election day with a burning desire to make a dash to the polls to vote." The late Richard J. Daley said probably the only thing I ever agreed with him: some reporter asked him why so and so hadn't gotten elected. "Simple," said Daley....

Steve Shippert, of ThreatsWatch.org just sent this email out on a small email ring of bloggers. It is simply and truly incredibly important, and eloquent. I beseech every blogger to post it on their blog. If all do, it will redound widely, and be widely heard, as it must be, if we care for our nation, our children's future, everything we value in life and liberty. This must get out. It can really shape the debate in this country, and sway many. In every election, there is a moment when it happens, and Shippert's message is that moment. PLEASE, everybody...

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence. On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress. I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and...

Heritage Lecture #1094 Delivered June 27, 2008The Heritage Foundation founded the Index of Economic Freedom in 1995 as a way for countries to measure progress and compare themselves in what we believe is an essential ingredient of prosperity— namely, economic freedom. The Index is now in its 14th edition, and it is co-published with the Wall Street Journal.[1]Over the years, it has been interesting to see how competitive some countries have become regarding their own scores in the Index. In fact, sometimes gov­ernments actually try to persuade us to give them a better score. We steadfastly refuse to be lobbied...

This edition features mentoring Iraqi Policeman and an Iraqi Army exercise.

Former Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown is waging war on California suburbs because of global warming, says Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. Brown is concerned about the alleged environmental damage caused by the suburbs. He wants to compel residents to move to city centers or to high-density developments clustered near mass transit lines: • Brown has threatened to file suit against municipalities that shun high-density housing in favor of building new suburban single-family homes, on the grounds that they will pollute the environment. • He is also backing controversial legislation -- Senate bill 375 --...

Gasoline is at over $4 a gallon in late summer of an election year. Once upon a time, incumbent congressmen and senators would have reacted to this about as well as Dracula to sunlight and crucifixes. And they would have rushed to get prices lower by the first Tuesday in November, so as to best protect their precious re-elections. But not this year. Democrats have stopped all attempts to increase domestic drilling with the ruthless efficiency of The Terminator. On its face, this would seem to be an insane and suicidal move. Even with a biased mainstream media giving them...

[note: You won't read this in five minutes] Nile Gardiner, Ph.D.: Good morning. Welcome to the Heritage Foundation and the fifth Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture.The Margaret Thatcher Lecture series began in Sep­tember 2006, with a major speech by former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky on the subject, "Is Free­dom for Everyone?" It was followed by lectures on economic freedom and religious freedom by Hernan­do de Soto and Michael Novak, and by Ambassador John Bolton's lecture "Does the United Nations Advance the Cause of Freedom?"Our distinguished speaker today is Victor Davis Han­son, who will address the theme, "In Defense of Liberty: The...

The Mossad secret was involved in the operation to free hostage Ingrid Betancourt from Colombian rebels, AFP quoted a Spanish newspaper as reporting on Sunday. Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, right, greets her daughter Melaine Delloye after Melanie arrived from France to a military base in Bogota. Photo: AP Slideshow: Pictures of the week According to the report, American and French secret services were also involved. "Mossad, the US, and French intelligence services worked for more than a year with the Colombian authorities to develop the plan," the story run by Vanguardia claimed, citing an Israeli secret service source. The Jerusalem...

Address on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater Rendezvous with Destiny October 27, 1964 This speech is a verbatim transcript of "The Speech" given as a portion of a pre-recorded, nationwide televised program sponsored by Goldwater-Miller on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for the presidency whom Ronald Reagan actively supported. 4,626 words Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own ideas regarding the choice that we face...

At a town hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, had the "most extreme" record in the Senate. Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling later asked McCain about that comment. "Extreme?" Helling asked. "You really think he's an extremist? I mean, he's clearly a liberal." "That's his voting record," responded McCain. "All I said was his voting record, and that is more to the left than the announced Socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont." Asked Helling: "Do you think he's a socialist, Barack Obama?" "I don't...

One of the unappreciated casualties of the War of 1861, erroneously called a Civil War, was its contribution to the erosion of constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty. It settled the issue of secession, making it possible for the federal government to increasingly run roughshod over Ninth and 10th Amendment guarantees. A civil war, by the way, is a struggle where two or more parties try to take over the central government. Confederate President Jefferson Davis no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C., than George Washington wanted to take over London. Both wars are more properly described as wars of...

…After reading the comments on “The Lesser of Two Evils” I realized most of them could be divided into two groups: The “Strugglers” and The “Settlers”. Good.This perfectly describes the conditions before and after the founding of America. The only problem in this case is that the settlers of that time came after the struggle, not before. As long as there have been elections there have been those making the claim in one form or the other that, “this is the most pivotal election in history”. Strangely enough, they were probably all correct! Each time we have the opportunity to...

Links6th ColumnACTAmil ImaniAnnagedAmerican Border PatrolAmerican Patriot CouncilAmerican ThinkerAnswering IslamAnti-CAIRApostates of IslamAtlas ShrugsAyaan Hirsi AliBetter ImmigrationBibleMap.orgBlack FiveCAIR WatchCampus WatchClarity & ResolveCounterTerrorism BlogDaniel Pipes9/11 Conspiracy MythsDhimmitudeEFSHAe-VotingBooth.comExposing IslamFaithFreedom.orgFather O'MalleyFormer MuslimsFrontPageMag.comFrosty WooldridgeHugh HewittHistory of Terrorism (Israel)Immigration ControlIn The Name Of AllahInternet HaganahInvestigate IslamIran Military ForumIslam ReviewIslam: The Religion of Peace?Islam UndressedIslam - What The West Needs To KnowIslam WatchJewish Task ForceJihad WatchLiberal PinheadsLittle Green FootballsList IslamMEMRIMichelle MalkinMiddle East FactsMiddle East ForumMiddle East Info.orgMilitant Islam MonitorMinuteman HeadquartersMinuteman ProjectMIPT Terrorism Knowlege BaseMosque WatchMuhammadanismMuslimFact.comMuslim RefusenikNeal BoortzNegative Population ControlNo To Political IslamNortheast Intelligence Network Nuke Alert NumbersUSA.com Obsession - The MoviePalestinian Media WatchPatriotic Pillow ProjectPeople's Truth ForumProphet...

Local toll road activist Terri Hall, the Spring Branch home schooling mom who's campaign against toll roads made her WOAI's San Antonian of the Year for 2007,. is taking her populist campaign nationwide. Hall is among the speakers for Saturday's 'Freedom March,' in Washington DC, organized by supporters of former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, and designed to keep alive his message of smaller government and vigilance against encroaching government power. "They wanted someone to speak about the Trans Texas Corridor, and what's happening here, and the eminent domain abuses, and how all these toll roads are tied to corporate...

If you’re a liberal goob or a PETA-loving tree-hugger, you might want to take a sedative before reading this… however, if you love your freedom to be a moron and want to protect it, you better go ahead and read anyway... If you’re a conservative, a Christian or both and don’t mind giving up your religion and your values, then just walk on and don’t look back… But neither group better say you were not warned. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Mama Jed) has once again predicted the demise of Israel. Monday, June 02, 2008 he promised that Muslims would uproot...

The English Speaking Nations are the Greatest Nations in the World By Christopher CookLet's face it... People are rotten. Governments are rotten. Human history is mostly slaughter, oppression, and privation. True freedom—in the context of civil government that protects that freedom—is a relatively recent phenomenon. English history was made by humans, and by the governments the they empowered or suffered to rule over them. And it is a history filled with the kind of rotten behavior by people and governments that we have seen in every corner of the globe for all of human history. And yet... ...something put the...

For Americans the Fourth of July marks national independence, but the holiday has become symbolic of a more universal cause: human liberty. The development of human freedom, in theory and in practice, is in large measure the story of Christianity. How we understand the past influences how we live in the present, which is why debates about history can be so rancorous. Whether Christianity is a vehicle of oppression or a force for liberation is a question whose answer has remained contentious for two millennia. For many, Christianity is oppressive. For them, the Christian religion is associated with the Crusades,...

<p>Happened to come across this web site that was devoted to the Obama birth certificate issue. It looks like the Obama SS troops acted like Nazi's and scared this guy to shut his site down.</p>

This edition features a mass re-enlistment ceremony, U.S. service members explaining why they are proud to serve, and a bazaar celebration for the 4th of July. http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21033&Itemid=163

Barbara Walters: Syrian Dictator 'Charming,' 'Intelligent' By Justin McCarthy | July 7, 2008 - 15:31 Surprise! Barbara Walters visits an anti-American dictator and returns with very nice remarks about him. Returning from the week long break on "The View" July 7, Barbara Walters described how she spent America’s birthday, and the celebration of a document denouncing tyranny, with an anti-American tyrant.While most Americans celebrated Independence Day with fireworks and barbeques, Barbara Walters spent the occasion dining with Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad, whom Walters described as "intelligent" and "charming" who wants "very much to have good relations with us." Perhaps...

Think there's no such thing as too much parking? Take a look at Tysons Corner, where there's more parking than jobs, more parking than office space, more parking than in downtown Washington. That must change, said advocates and politicians seeking to transform Virginia's largest business hub from suburb to city. Reducing parking, charging for parking and finding new uses for the acres of parking that separate Tysons' buildings and the people inside is at the heart of plans to remake the area.... "Who wants parking spaces to be the hallmark of a development?" said Clark Tyler, chairman of a Fairfax...

The flame of which America is the white-hot heart is the living fire of the West. But who knew I would find one of the most moving descriptions of what the United States represents in one of my youngest son’s books? Rick Riordan has created Percy Jackson, son of a human woman and Poseidon, the (Greek) God of the Sea. In The Lightning Thief, Percy discovers what it means to be a half-blood; that the gods truly are immortal—and they are living in America: Explains Charon the Centaur: “Come now, Percy. What you call ‘Western civilization.’ Do you think it’s...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJuly 5, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       Independence Day THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This weekend, Americans are celebrating the anniversary of our Nation's independence. Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, our Founding Fathers came together in Philadelphia to proclaim that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The man who wrote those immortal words was Thomas Jefferson. Yesterday, I celebrated the Fourth of July at Monticello, Jefferson's home in Virginia. While there,...

TODAY, the 232nd anniversary of the day our Declaration of Independence rang out in Philadelphia, we rightly honor the men who debated and signed the document: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and their colleagues. Yet, after that glorious declaration was signed in ink, it had to be counter-signed in blood. Without men willing to take up arms and fight for the freedoms the Founding Fathers asserted, the words themselves would have secured us nothing. It took courage to affix a signature to the Declaration. But it had taken another kind of courage entirely to stand at Lexington and Concord the year before....

Independence Day 2008 finds the United States too dependent on foreign oil and in a surly mood about the president, Congress, food prices, home values and much else. Americans need to reassert a national character trait to put the country back on a more productive path. That trait is American exceptionalism, the product of mixing individualism, freedom and national vision. This virtue, first identified by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 treatise "Democracy in America," has led to unrivaled private and public accomplishment: from the westward expansion that built a continental nation to NASA's mission to colonize the moon; from...