Free Republic

I want to state at the outset that this essay is not intended to be an endorsement of Ron Paul. While I respect and admire many of his positions and his fidelity to the Constitution, I have strong misgivings about some of his stances on national security. If you could hear the debates between myself and my 20-year-old son, a passionate Ron Paul supporter, you would readily accept the sincerity of my disclaimer. That said, as the political season has heated up, I've been surprised at the tone of the discourse as it relates to Ron Paul. In fact, I...

Los Angeles – The campaign of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, who decisively won the California Republican state GOP straw poll Saturday, spent $25,000 on the effort — one his backers say displayed a “depth of support” and organizational strength for Paul in the 2012 campaign. Paul’s commanding win gave him 44.9 percent of the 883 votes cast by attendees at the 3-day state convention at the JW Marriott Hotel here. Coming in second was Texas Gov. Rick Perry with 29.3 percent, followed by a dramatic drop-off for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 8.8 percent. Rep. Michele Bachmann came...

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul was hushed by deafening boos from a crowd of Tea Partiers at Monday's GOP Presidential debate, after suggesting America's foreign police played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr Paul attempted to position his argument to slash military spending, contending that occupation was the 'real motivation' behind acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists against the U.S. But a provocative retort from presidential candidate, Pennsylvania lawmaker Rick Santorum, instead drew wide support, after he dismissed Mr Paul's comments as 'irresponsible'. Prior to the Tea Party debate, Mr Paul, 76, had reflected on the U.S. response...

Huntsman on Twitter: ‘Call me crazy,’ I believe in evolution, warmingBy Justin Sink - 08/18/11 02:59 PM ET Republican presidential candidate and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman on Thursday took to Twitter to offer his support for the theory of evolution. Huntsman made the tweet shortly after Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) offered comments that cast doubt on evolution, and his comments could be seen as a criticism of Perry. “To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy,” Huntsman, also a former ambassador to China, tweeted. Perry also has raised questions about...

Okay, this video is based on actual conversations with this insane woman named politicalarticles. She has a channel and her own website. She says the debt crisis is a conspiracy by Christian terrorists and not because of over spending on welfare. She also called Alan Keyes an Uncle Tom and says anyone against socialism is a right wing terrorist like Andres Brevik. WARNING! CONTAINS LIBERAL TALKING POINTS! VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!!!

A mysterious circle on a grainy scan, this is what scientists are claiming is finally evidence that Earth has been visited by aliens. Researchers have claimed the fuzzy outline is a flying saucer that ended up 300ft down on the ocean floor between Sweden and Finland. They were stunned when sonar scans taken while searching for a century-old wreck showed up the shape against the dirt.

Here's Frank Schaeffer, the David Brock of the religious right, on Rachel Maddow characterizing all conservatives as dangerous nutjobs. Rachel Maddow guest, author Frank Schaeffer, summarizes The Right Wing

As we watch the horrors in Iran, it makes us wonder if anything like that could happen in America. In Iran, the mullahs control everything and feel justified in any injustice they commit because of a belief in the rightness of their own actions. Is there anyone like that here? In an answer to that question, Frank Schaeffer wrote a column for the Huffington Post entitled “The Real Lesson of Iran — Beware America’s Republican Mullahs.” Reading it and the comments to it, I came to a realization: people who think the religious right are just like Iranian mullahs are...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is back on the air with another political ad, and this time his focus is guns.Just a few weeks after an operative from Al Qaeda released a video urging Islamic militants to take advantage of America as a country “absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms,” Mr. Bloomberg and his national anti-illegal gun coalition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released a commercial on Tuesday urging Congress to close what they say is a loophole in gun laws. That loophole is gun shows, the mayors say, where all kinds of people — even terrorists — can purchase firearms.The ad...

Anthony Weiner doesn't want to talk about that photo anymore, so much so his office will call the cops on you if you try and make him. A week after a crotch-shot appeared on the married Congressman's Twitter feed, Weiner's "certitude" regarding his junk is still national news, as much as he and the 21-year-old co-ed who the image was directed at wishes it weren't. At least we've all learned a lot about the "confident security" provided by those $11.25 Jockeys. Weiner made it clear that he was done talking about the issue and wanted to get back to work,...

Memorial Day weekend is here which means it's the official start of swimming pool season. This year though, you may want to think twice before jumping in and making a splash. There has been a nationwide recall of 1 million pool and spa drain covers that could trap you or your child, despite their federal "seal" of approval. "We're finding out the laboratories misrepresented their testing procedures," said Albert Rizzo, of Rizzo Pools in Newington. Rizzo says the timing couldn't be worse. "If you have one main drain, I would tell you not to swim in the pool. Now I...

"Conservatives would have to mount a massive, rapid, and high volume effort to get him in. I think such an outpouring of support and requests would draw Perry in. But, to do so, it’d have to be after Daniels and with continued displeasure with the field by conservatives. One of the sticking points has always been whether the country was ready for another guy from Texas so soon after Bush. With Texas’s economy flourishing and the national economy still imploding, I think the country could get ready for another guy from Texas really quick. Daniels is running. How conservatives react...

The largely-unspoken, and uneasy, tension between the United States and China may have just gotten a little more apparent. A new video game sponsored the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) now allows players to target and shoot American commandos. Wired.com reports the new game, “Glorious Mission,” was developed by China’s Giant Network Technology Co. It sends “soldiers’ off to basic training and then sets them out on various missions. For the most part, it’s modeled after many American-made shooting games. But the comparisons may end at the graphics once you read this: But there’s one key difference between the American and...

We're just living in it. Says...Juan Williams... Very interesting conversation about the results of Paul's being the father of the Tea Party movement, and in particular following on the discussion of the legalization of drugs.

When reporting that Ron Paul had defeated mainstream Republican Mitt Romney in the CPAC straw poll, Fox News superimposed archive footage of people booing from last year's event. Bonus Fox misbehavior! When a liberal blogger asked Fox News reporter Jesse Watters for comment on recent claims from an insider that the network makes stuff up, Watters ignored the question and mocked the interviewer's cheap camera. After MSNBC ran the clip, which makes Watters appear evasive and smarmy, Fox produced heavily edited versions of the clip for its own shows, claimed their man was ambushed (he was in fact approached at...

A recent survey claims that a plurality of Americans believe Christian values are at odds with capitalism. That left me wondering whether we first ought to ask whether Americans even know what Christianity and capitalism are. When one learns that one’s accountant espies a deep conflict between Newtonian physics and Jungian psychology, one is right to ask what he knows of velocity and synchronicity, and whether he ought not busy himself doing one’s taxes rather than spouting off to someone taking a survey. The two ideas seem simple enough. Christians follow Jesus and capitalists make trades. Except that we all...

In an effort to tap the tea party voter base, Ron Paul announced Tuesday that he will be forming a presidential exploratory committee, offering up a second chance at the Republican presidential bid. Congressman Paul formed a sort of "cult" following during the 2008 election, raising more than $35 million but falling short of wooing any caucasus or primaries. But Paul claims the country has changed since 2008, with "literally millions of more people now concerned about things I talked about four years ago." This may be true, and so far Paul's views on high government spending and the Federal...

According to National Journal, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas will be running for president in 2012: Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whose outspoken libertarian views and folksy style made him a cult hero during two previous presidential campaigns, will announce on Tuesday that he’s going to try a third time. Sources close to Paul, who is in his 12th term in the House, said he will unveil an exploratory presidential committee, a key step in gearing up for a White House race. He will also unveil the campaign’s leadership team in Iowa, where the first votes of the presidential election will...

The edition of TIME magazine timed for Easter Week features a cover story on the controversy over Rob Bell and his new book, Love Wins. Interestingly, the essay is written by none other than Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former editor of Newsweek –TIME’s historic competitor. Meacham, who studied theology as an undergraduate at the University of the South, helpfully places Rob Bell in the larger context of modern theology, even as he offers a basically sympathetic analysis. Meacham explains: "The standard Christian view of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is summed up...

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