Free Republic

Former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani minced no words when it came to the Obama administration's massive health care overhaul. In an exclusive interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, Giuliani stated that, plain and simple, it "was an ideological act by the Congress" liberal Democrats "are very happy about." "Instead of privatizing - which is what our government should be doing - we're taking major roles of the economy for the United States government," Giuliani told "Closing Bell" anchor Bartiromo. "And it is not an exaggeration to say we are starting to look more like a European...

The president is surrounded by acolytes of the Cult of Obama. They consider him to be a "transformational figure" who need not sully himself with the usual rules of politics. The president agrees, rejecting suggestions that he recalibrate his Olympian ambitions. That's not me saying that, nor one of my knuckle-dragging, baby-eating, right-wing brethren. It's Dana Milbank, the liberal Washington Post writer widely seen as Maureen Dowd in drag by most conservatives. Milbank wrote a column Feb. 21 arguing that all the president's problems could be attributed to a single factor. "Obama's first year fell apart in large part because...

I finally read the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Having read several commentaries on Marxism I felt it time to read the actual Manifesto. Considering the nexus of all communist ideology is the Communist Manifesto, and given the vast number of its "followers," I prepared myself for a deeply intellectual assault on my capitalist ideals. Surely, the bastion of all communism would be based upon solid reasoning, keen economic knowledge, and adept sociology...right? Let's just say I was grossly over-prepared. For those more accustomed to Twitter than Tolstoy, I will provide my synopsis in two sections: one...

Sarah Palin just came out and told us it's time to pick a party, and she is absolutely right... Republicanism is not Conservatism We all have our own ideologies.  When they broadly overlap with others we make common cause via a political movement or party.  Our two major political parties only imperfectly concord with ideology.  Rather, they are the two vessels, right and left, that carry candidates to victory or defeat.  They are the two big tents.  Given this True or False question, the only right answer for a conservative is the GOP. I think we criticize politicians too much...

WASHINGTON -- Retiring Sen. Evan Bayh yesterday denounced "brain-dead partisanship" in Congress, saying the pettiness and focus on personal gain are keeping the institution in a state of dysfunction. "There's just too much brain-dead partisanship, tactical maneuvering for short-term political advantage rather than focusing on the greater good, and also just strident ideology," the Indiana Democrat told ABC News, a day after stunning the political world by announcing he won't seek re-election. "The extremes of both parties have to be willing to accept compromises from time to time to make some progress, because some progress for the American people is...

'I am not an ideologue," President Obama insisted at his truly refreshing confab with the Republican caucus last Friday. When he heard some incredulous murmurs and chuckles from the audience in response to the idea that the most sincerely ideological president in a generation is no ideologue, he added a somewhat plaintive, "I'm not." The president's defensiveness isn't surprising. He holds his self-definition as a pragmatist dear -- and not just because it polls well. It's clear from interviews that he's fond of the notion that he is above ideological squabbles and is a clear-eyed appraiser of facts and adjudicator...

"It's the economy, stupid." Or is it? We know this shopworn cliché is true because none other than Mr. Health Care Reform himself, Barack Obama, made the economy the featured item in his State of the Union address. But then, saying the economy is front and center to Mr. Obama misstates his real intent, which has everything to do with advancing statism's frontiers and ransacking the bag of cheap tricks that Democrats resort to when sinking in the polls. That bag of tricks is called demagoguery. But will it work this time? No, and for good reasons. Mr. Obama is...

Our culture is distracted and fragmented due to competing concepts of meaning. In the last 30 or 40 years we have seen the rise of an irrational and radical ultra-tolerance whereby any and all ideologies are accepted because they are different. There is no value judgments placed upon these ideologies, even if they oppose our own because to do so would be to display intolerance; we are sacrificing our nation on the altar of a mistaken and ignorant misunderstanding of the functioning of humanity. Radical tolerance upon which multiculturalism and post-modernism rest is the idea that there is no truth...

Lyndon Johnson gave us one "entitlement extraordinaire", MEDICARE. It’s obviously broke and in turn breaking the country. Lets not even mention the Vietnam fiasco. Jimmy Carter? His incredible naivete coupled with his liberal and anti Israel mind set actually created the current and extremely dangerous Iran mess. He forced the strong western supporting ally Shah into exile leaving a massive void. His irresponsible action allowed the west hating Ayatollah Khomeini to radicalize a soon to be enemy nuclear menace. Does any intelligent American think a “professional” ACORN community organizer can do more than create campaign slogans like “hope and change”...

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, to "save" or "preserve")[1] is a political attitude and philosophy that advocates institutions and traditional practices that have developed organically,[2][3] thus emphasizing stability and continuity.[3] The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution.[4] The term has since been used to describe a variety of politicians with a wide range of views. In Western politics, the term conservatism often refers to the school of thought based on British politician Edmund Burke's criticism of the French Revolution. Though his legacy as a conservative is disputed,...

The recent revelations of misrepresentation by CRU scientists about research on climate change should come as no surprise. Scientists, like all human beings, are sometimes tempted to lie or cheat and occasionally they succumb to those temptations. Actually, scientists don't do too badly. According to a recent analysis of surveys of scientific misconduct: "In surveys asking about the behavior of colleagues, fabrication, falsification, and modification [of data] had been observed, on average, by over 14% of respondents, and other questionable practices [such as 'dropping data points based on a gut feeling', and 'changing the design, methodology or results of a...

I am seeking Feedback on your views as to what is this person's political ideology. Your opinions are most appreciated.http://www.linkedin.com/in/steventrevinohttp://www.globalresilience.mysite.com

Pro-Darwin consensus doesn't rule out intelligent design --snip-- (CNN) -- While we officially celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" on November 24, celebrations of Darwin's legacy have actually been building in intensity for several years. Darwin is not just an important 19th century scientific thinker. Increasingly, he is a cultural icon. Darwin is the subject of adulation that teeters on the edge of hero worship, expressed in everything from scholarly seminars and lecture series to best-selling new atheist tracts like those by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The atheists claim that...

The conservative wahoo suggests: Here are ... the defining characteristics of "Neo-socialism". 1. A belief in the concept that capitalism has failed, but can be resuscitated by a new partnership between government and business. This new partnership will be inherently more fair to more people. 2. A belief that competition isn't necessarily bad, and that government can and should be permitted to compete with private industry. 3. A belief that big government isn't necessarily bad; what is bad is BAD big government. Big, effective government is desirable. 4. A belief in the transcendent quality of the world community while de-valuing...

On Wednesday, Pelosi had a forum with top House Democrats and a team of economists: Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, October 21, 2009 'Absolutely horrendous long term fiscal out look' This is a graph presented by Jared Bernstein, chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden. Do you see any current recovery? There are not going to be Job increases for a long time, look at that curve in the graph Yet, Pelosi says the recession is coming to an end; http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102209/content/01125107.guest.html PELOSI: It's no accident that right now that as the recession's coming to an end it does...

Russia is a very disorganized part of the World. In what way have they contributed to humanity? Russia simply isn't fit for life and furthermore lacks true a sense of leadership. How my country could contribute to getting rid of Russia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eENe0bBhvSM

You will also find this poll by scrolling down the I.O. Portal Sidebar. Tell us what you think. http://investigatingobama.blogspot.com/2009/10/poll-obamas-ideology-runs-1016-1030.html

InsideHigherEd.com writes: In the last few years, a conservative legal organization [Ed. -- Mark Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation] has filed complaints and extensive information requests to at least 11 colleges and universities with regard to labor centers that conduct research about and offer programs for unions. ... The [American Association of University Professors'] statement questioned the basis for the Landmark actions and said that the association was trying to undercut the labor centers by waging an ideological attack on them. Further, the statement noted that colleges and universities have a range of offerings for different organizations in society, and that...

Americans were justifiably proud last week of their many Nobel Prize winners. Eight of the nine honorees in physics, chemistry and medicine were US citizens, some native-born, some naturalized, a near total American sweep. And their achievements were glorious: better understanding how DNA works, the basis for enormous medical progress; developing fiber-optic cable, revolutionizing global communications; and advances in cell biology, with enormous implications for treating cancer. In each case, these breakthroughs, some made as long as 20 years ago, have proven themselves beyond the laboratory, and already made enormous real-world differences. Next to these marvels, how to explain the...

In a Commentary essay, Carl Woese and Nigel Goldenfeld provide an analysis of biological thought that differs profoundly from that presented by those celebrating the Bicentenary of Darwin's birth and, incidentally, the recently published AP Biology Standards. "This is the story of how biology of the 20th century neglected and otherwise mishandled the study of what is arguably the most important problem in all of science: the nature of the evolutionary process. This problem [ . . ] became the private domain of a quasi-scientific movement, who secreted it away in a morass of petty scholasticism, effectively disguising the fact...