Free Republic

With government intervention now becoming the only viable solution being touted for everything from individual health care and the economy to our personal safety and how we educate our children, it would only make sense that officials in Washington also figure out a way to use their power of confiscation and redistribution to equalize the income playing field. It’s no secret that 48 million Americans require nutritional assistance just to put food on the table, or that over 100 million of us are living in or at the very edge of poverty, or that nearly one in three of us...

The caveat, he says, is that if economic growth remains subpar, the likely next Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, is likely to keep monetary policy easy. “If the Yellen-led Fed tries to offset the negative economic consequences of Obamacare with more easy money, watch the stock market go vertical,” he says

After titillating the media for the past few days with hints of a “big announcement,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told an audience in Atlanta that her office was taking a “historic step to aggressively deal with mental health issues under the Affordable Care Act.” Undaunted by a spattering of audible groans from the audience, Sebelius plowed ahead explaining that “studies show that nearly 50% of Americans have serious mental health issues that have gone untreated. People who should be on medication are not currently receiving this benefit. People who should be institutionalized are not receiving this...

As part of his drive to improve the quality of life in Baltimore, Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple, led what he called a “Breaking Every Chain” demonstration around the Baltimore City Detention Center Oct. 27 before going inside the jail to pray for those incarcerated. For several blocks on a brilliant Sunday afternoon hundreds of people, many of them members of the Empowerment Temple congregation, surrounded the jail, locking arms and praying to deter criminal behavior that results in jail terms and criminal prosecution and to send a message of encouragement to jail inmates. “When the prisoners look...

But why would anyone want to be sane when lunacy is the new normal? Look at the happy, normal, insane people![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfl55GgHr5E&w=640&h=360] Video linkMost of the world, including the United States, has gone bonkers. An article at The Constitution Club titled America's Threatening Civil Climate Change notes, The sky isn’t falling; it’s worse than that. America’s long and carefully built civil society is falling, deconstructed from within by its own heedless citizens. What does that mean? It means that our streets aren’t safe anymore, any citizen walking or jogging may be randomly attacked from behind or shot dead for no sensible reason. It means we...

An Australian woman has taken her desire for the ‘strong and silent’-type to a new extreme when she married a bridge. Jodi Rose married Le Pont du Diable Bridge in Céret, southern France after falling head over heels for the ‘sensual’ 14th century stone structure. Ms Rose, or Mrs Le Pont du Diable, has spent the past decade travelling the world recording the vibrations in bridge cables with contact microphones and using them to create experimental music.

While reading from the teleprompter in front of the Business Roundtable headquarters in Washington DC, President Obama suggested that raising the National Debt Limit would not increase the Nation’s Debt. Well – actually – he didn’t suggest that. . . He simply said it: "Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt.” Um. . . Ok. I mean, well, it has increased our debt every other time it’s been raised. . ....

If you haven’t had a good look at this terrifying sport, it’s time for you to check out this video from the Pike’s Peak Downhill. On Sept. 8, over 50 of the world’s fastest skateboarders met up to compete on a breathtaking course set in Colorado’s most visited mountain summit.

The municipal government of the city of Venice, Italy has passed a law banning the terms “mother” and “father on forms parents must fill out to gain a place for their children at publicly funded day care and kindergartens. The “civil rights and anti-discrimination” policy was introduced by city councilor Camilla Seibezzi, who said that such changes to language are a fundamental objective to combat stereotypes. “The [linguistic] construction forms a category of thought, a daily practice,” she said. The newspaper, Corriere del Veneto, reports that the terms will be replaced by “parent 1” and “parent 2”. The change has...

President Obama surprised aides when he revealed today the existence of a sealed indictment in the Benghazi, Libya, attack, leaving some wondering if he crossed a legal line. At a press conference at the White House, President Obama was asked whether justice would come to those responsible for the terrorist attack nearly a year ago in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. "[W]e have informed, I think, the public that there's a sealed indictment," the president responded. "It's sealed for a reason. But we are intent on capturing those who carried out this attack, and we're...

“Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered legislators who passed laws without reading them… [and] black-skinned individuals shilling for the white status quo. She excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina… [and] held the only critical Congressional briefing on 9/11… She read truth into the Congressional Record, held town hall and hearings, led protests, showed up while others played along to get along... This is the Cynthia McKinney saga as it stands to date—what she saw, what she learned, and how...

A woman has married a 600-year-old bridge in France. Jodie Rose, an Australian artist, visited Le Pont du Diable as part of her 'Singing Bridges' project, recording the vibrations in bridge cables. Explaining that she felt the world move under her feet while standing on the 14th Century structure, Rose wrote on her website: "The Devil's Bridge is everything I could desire in a husband - sturdy, trustworthy, sensual, kind and handsome. "He understands that I love other bridges - and men. Ours is a love that embraces the vagaries of life, as materialised in the swirling currents of the...

I've almost completed the 1st week of Insanity. I understand that it is designed to be a rough workout, but I have a hard time keeping up with Shaun T. I was wondering if other have completed this and if they were happy with the results. A guy I work with does P90X and repeats it - he's done it 6 times so far. I definitely feel better after a week.

“A Queens man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly firing a lifelike weapon and handing it over to his toddler-age son…. Jack Pawlowski was led out of his Queens home in handcuffs Wednesday, with his stunned wife and three young kids looking on. He said nothing as detectives put him into a squad car.

SUFFOLK, Va. — Two Suffolk second graders have been suspended for making shooting noises while pointing pencils at each other. Media outlets report the 7-year-old boys were suspended for two days for a violation of the Suffolk school system’s zero-tolerance policy on weapons. They were playing with one another in class Friday at Driver Elementary. “When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Well I was being a Marine and the other guy was being a bad guy,’” said Paul Marshall, one of the boys’ fathers. “It’s as simple as that.”

The Miami Dolphins’ quest for public funding for an overhaul of Sun Life Stadium will go down to the wire in the Florida Legislature. After hopes appeared to be fading early Friday, the Senate version of the bill was scheduled for a second reading on Monday. There are five days remaining in the session, and the House version of the bill remains bogged down in committee.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty. Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community.

Homeless people in California would have the right to rest in public spaces, including sidewalks, without the threat of arrest, and local governments would have to provide access to bathrooms and showers, under a bill that passed its first major test Tuesday. The bill, called the Homeless Person's Bill of Rights and Fairness Act, could supersede local laws - including in San Francisco - that bar people from sitting or lying on sidewalks unless those localities meet certain requirements. It was introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 7-2 party-line vote, with...

The cookware giant has decided to temporarily stop selling pressure cookers at retail locations, including the Garden City store in Cranston. If you're in the market for a new pressure cooker to whip up some stew or pulled pork, don't head to the Cranston Williams-Sonoma for the time being. Williams-Sonoma, the specialty retailer of home furnishings and gourmet cookware with more than 250 stores in the United States, has pulled pressure cookers from their shelves following the Boston Marathon bombing. It was first reported that Williams-Sonoma pulled pressure cookers from shelves in stores in Massachusetts, but a call to the...

THE Supreme Court has frequently handed down judgments that have shaken America to its core. Now, it has turned its attention to the raisin. A group of farmers has brought a complaint about the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, under which the government confiscates part of the annual national raisin crop. The Court is considering whether the arrangement is constitutional. But why is a country that generally celebrates red-blooded capitalism regulating the raisin trade in the first place?Since the 1940s a government agency called the Raisin Administrative Committee has confiscated a portion of the annual raisin crop: 47% in 2003 and...