Free Republic

Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.... Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his...

There they sat royalty, commoner, academic, rich and the privileged being lectured to by someone that many in his own country consider to be a Usurper to the presidency. The sweet irony of it all is Barry Hussein Soetoro illegitimately holds the office of president and as a usurper he accepted a prize that by his own admission was generous given and quite undeserved. Yet the ultimate contradiction—the Orwellian redefinition of reality was Soetoro standing before the Oslo gathering. And standing there he told them that the prize which they awarded him, the Nobel Peace Prize, could in fact be...

Social workers took a 2-year-old U.K. boy into care after his mother refused to give him junk food. Zak Hessey was 17 pounds, 6 ounces when his mother Lisa took him to hospital, telling doctors he was a "fussy eater" and not gaining weight. Doctors said he should weigh 19 pounds, 8 ounces, and advised the mother of five to bulk him up on chips, chocolate and cakes.

From the Heritage Foundation's blog, The Foundry, this study was mentioned during Glenn Beck's radio show this morning: This Friday, the tax payer funded Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is hosting a briefing for Members of Congress and their staff on their new study: Online Town Hall Meetings: Exploring Democracy in the 21st Century. The CMF study consisted of 21 townhall meetings where Members of Congress and CMF provided a moderator: “spoke via voice over IP, and constituents asked questions and made comments by typing them. Only off-topic, redundant, unintelligible, or offensive questions were screened, and only questions asked by people...

Well! They want money from everywhere else, constantly holding out their hands for that which they didn't lift a finger to earn. Consider the fat tax, sugar taxes, tobacco taxes, the global warming sin tax(cap and trade) and on and on. All kinds of taxes that are based solely on trying to "help" you make better decisions by dissuading you economically from certain other choices. I don't think anybody could ever argue that what one man does to another man's body is healthy. Therefore, if it's unhealthy, will it be taxed? Will there be a gay tax?

Steve Miller, a fellow CFP contributor sent out an email blast last night. In his note he included examples of the HR3200 language including a link to the copy available through the library of congress. That’s one of things I really appreciate about Steve, he is dogged when it comes to research. No wonder the powers that be incessantly work to silence him. HR3200 is a beautifully woven web of governmental Orwellian doubletalk. For those under the age of 40, that is a reference to George Orwell’s novel 1984. Check it out and cross reference it to Obama’s last few...

If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP. From the White House website: There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see...

President Obama said Wednesday that health care reform is "central" to successfully rebuilding the U.S. economy after the current economic crisis... Blah, blah, blah...

Law:Law: The Senate is considering an expanded federal hate crimes law. And who wouldn't be for such a law, given its obvious noble intent? Beware. This new law won't reduce hate one bit, but it will limit your rights. Sadly, hate is an ineradicable part of the human condition. But one person's hate is another's righteous anger. That's why passing a law making a state of mind illegal is dangerous. That won't stop Democrats in Congress, though. They held hearings last week and soon may bring a bill up for a vote. Anyone who values the rule of law in...

We use Orwell, Orwellian, and Orwellianism loosely a lot these days, but what is going on in the Obama administration is beginning to get a little creepy and resembles a lot of things Orwell wrote about in 1984. When in, Soviet fashion, a critical overseer is dismissed as being "confused" and suffering mental problems in carrying out the law, as Gerald Walpin probably did in uncovering waste and possible fraud in connection with the mayor of Sacramento; or when the government begins to create new words like "overseas contingency operations" and "man-made catastrophes"; or when Justice Sotomayor says that a Latina is...

100 days and already the Obama hypnotic affect on the nation is waning. Fox network said that it would air its normal broadcast lineup rather than fall inline with the rest of the Obama Big Brotha Networks.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is labeling President Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget plan a "higher-tax, weaker-economy, fewer-jobs" blueprint that should trigger the most crucial policy debate since 1980. The leading Republican said he he actually agrees with much of Obama's rhetoric, but that there's a "gap between the words and reality." Gingrich said there are pieces of Obama's budget that are "doable," including projected savings from more closely watching for fraud in entitlement programs. But the Georgian also said, "The problem with the overall budget is that it's a job-killing budget." Gingrich was interviewed Friday on CBS's "The Early...

You have to hand it to the new administration: when they promised change, they meant it. Unfortunately, the change they promised is not the change they are focused on implementing. In his appeal to voters, candidate Obama promised to change the way business was done in Washington. But in their first month in office his team has shown itself devoted to hardball, insider and partisan politics, assembling an administration thick with veteran insiders, including several of the lobbyists they claimed had to be driven from the temple. But as we know, this is the quintessential end justifies the means crowd....

In the dystopic world of George Orwell's 1984, all news and historical records were governed by the Ministry of Truth. I have played with this cognomen over the years by identifying the mainstream media (MSM) with various appellations such as the Ministry of (mis)Information, and MinInfo whenever MSM's manner of coverage of a story revealed its bias favoring most any form of statism. Over the last two years, unlike any time in my long life, the MSM has warranted the name Ministry of MisInformation more than ever. It got to be an open joke among my acquaintences of how open...

Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled. The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society. But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage. "We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To...

Social services 'set up CCTV camera in couple's bedroom' Social workers set up a CCTV camera in the bedroom of a couple with learning difficulties in order to monitor their behaviour, a new report claims. By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs CorrespondentCouncil staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the (Human Rights Act), which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team...

Government plans new credit, mortgage programs By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 19 mins ago WASHINGTON – The government introduced a pair of new programs Tuesday that will provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt and to make mortgage loans cheaper and more available.

Washington--The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will unveil the program Tuesday, according to people familar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has yet to be made. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he plans to use a "relatively modest share" of the $700 billion financial bailout money to pay for the new program. It's the latest effort by the government to break through a dangerous credit clog that has...

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A Republican congressman from Georgia is calling President-elect Obama a Marxist and warning that he might be planning to form a Gestapo-like security force so he can rule as a dictator. Two-term Rep. Paul Broun of Athens cited a July speech that has circulated on the Internet in which Obama called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.

One of the big losers in this cycle is the English language. Not all of this is new to this election cycle of course, but it does seem to be getting worse. In fact, not only have many words lost their meaning, some have actually become the exact opposite. Here are some examples: Employee Free Choice Act: Of course, this is anything but a "free choice" on the part of employees. This is the proposed legislation which will take away the secret ballot part of union votes. Whether or not to unionize are some of the most heated and dangerous...

Michael Barone sounds the alarm. So, where is the ACLU? And, in a related item, all you women out there should find this alarming. Ah, but he says he'll only force you to register for the military, not to serve. Then why is registration so important to him? If you believe that, you'll believe that he and Joe Biden write their own speeches. UPDATE -- In the Obama Thugocracy, partisan groups of agitators long affiliated with the president, and who are under investigation (and who have been convicted) in over a dozen states for voter fraud, will be supported with...

Controversial author and social commentator Mark Steyn said Friday he wants to lose his case before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in Vancouver. Instead, Steyn wants to take the "hate speech" case to an actual court of law. Steyn said a negative ruling would allow the case to go forward in the legal system -- instead of being heard by what he has called a panel of "pretend judges." The tribunal is wrapping up a case brought by a member of the Canadian Islamic Congress "on behalf of Muslim residents in the province of British Columbia" against Maclean's magazine. They...

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTEDJune 4, 2008 Words mean nothing to liberals. They say whatever will help advance their cause at the moment, switch talking points in a heartbeat, and then act indignant if anyone uses the exact same argument they were using five minutes ago. When Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 election by half a percentage point, but lost the Electoral College -- or, for short, "the constitutionally prescribed method for choosing presidents" -- anyone who denied the sacred importance of the popular vote was either an idiot or a dangerous partisan. But now Hillary has...

Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to Britain's most senior police forensics expert. Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said a debate was needed on how far Britain should go in identifying potential offenders, given that some experts believe it is possible to identify future offending traits in children as young as five. 'If we have a primary means of identifying people before they offend, then in...

Californians may soon have to deal with climate change on a different scale -- and this time the culprit isn't greenhouse gas. The California Energy Commission is proposing a plan which allows the government to regulate household thermostats in the event of an "energy crisis." Under the proposed rules, all new thermostats will be fitted with technology that will allow the government to adjust the temperature of someone's home by plus or minus four degrees. Originally the plans called for mandatory compliance; however, amid public outcry, the plans have been slightly altered to allow an individual to turn off the...

NEWARK, Del., October 30, 2007—The University of Delaware subjects students in its residence halls to a shocking program of ideological reeducation that is referred to in the university’s own materials as a “treatment” for students’ incorrect attitudes and beliefs. The organization cited excerpts from the university's Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents, including the statement: "A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. 'The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class,...

In 1997, the National Association of Social Work (NASW) altered its ethics code, ruling that all social workers must promote social justice "from local to global level." This call for mandatory advocacy raised the question: what kind of political action did the highly liberal field of social work have in mind? The answer wasn't long in coming. The Council on Social Work Education, the national accreditor of social work education programs, says candidates must fight "oppression," and sees American society as pervaded by the "global interconnections of oppression." Now aspiring social workers must commit themselves, usually in writing, to a...

Take This Car and Shove It (THIS SITE IS HAVING PROBLEMS) An Orwellian “100 percent parking reduction”? rule quietly wends through City Hall By STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 5:00 pm (Illustration by Ken Garduno) AFTER WORLD WAR II, the city of Los Angeles figured it would be a swell idea to provide incentives to the local tire industry by dismantling what was then among the most comprehensive and enthusiastically used light-rail systems in the nation. What's good for business is good for the city, the tire companies said on their way to the bank, before the...

Orwellian Machavellianism the telling of carefully constructed lies for the manipulation and deception of the political masses and then forcing these law on the people by law.

Drug addicts to be given i-Pods if they beat their habits By JAMES SLACK Last updated at 16:37pm on 22nd July 2007 Drug addicts could be offered food vouchers and the chance to win prizes such as i-Pod music players by the Government body refusing treatment to Alzheimer's sufferers. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) wants to offer heroin and crack addicts 'incentives' to quit their habit. The users - many of whom commit crime to feed their habit - will be offered vouchers if they test clean for the illegal substances. The size of the taxpayer-funded gift will...

With their peculiar and unwieldy antennae, the first TV detector vans were the stuff of science-fiction B movies. And the myths that sprung up surrounding their supposed powers were also worthy of Hollywood. But the latest weapon in the battle against licence-fee dodgers is a green torch-like device weighing less than 1lb � and it really does work, with frightening efficiency. The hand-held detector linked to a set of headphones beeps if an operating TV is inside a radius of 29ft. It means licensing officers can now target places previously inaccessible by cumbersome vans, such as homes in very remote...

Business execs arrested for refusing to cut prices By Angus Shaw ASSOCIATED PRESS July 9, 2007 HARARE, Zimbabwe – Police arrested 16 more business leaders in a crackdown on those suspected of violating the government's order to slash prices by 50 percent, the official media reported yesterday. The mandated price cuts ordered more than two weeks ago are a desperate attempt to confront inflation that has spun out of control during Zimbabwe's economic crisis. The falling prices have caused stampedes, panic buying and near-riots. Among those arrested in the latest sweep were the directors of Edgars, a leading clothing and...

Chinese officials break "one-child" policy Jul 8 11:56 AM US/Eastern Nearly 2,000 officials in central China have violated the nation's "one child" family planning policy, further revealing difficulties in implementing population controls. Family planning departments have exposed 1,968 officials in populous Hunan province who have breached the law, Xinhua news agency said Sunday. One "national" level official surnamed Li even went so far as to sire four children with his four different mistresses, the report said. The local family planning commission caught 21 national and local legislators, 24 political advisers and 112 businessmen violating the birth control policies in the...

Al Gore is both leading the fight against climate change and coming back from political oblivion ONCE he was the nearly man of American politics, but this weekend Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s former sidekick, made it clear he was back, no longer just a politician but a phenomenon: the first global green celebrity. As the Live Earth concerts rolled out around the globe, each blessed with Gore’s presence, either live or on giant screens, it became clear that the failed presidential candidate has metamorphosed into a prophet. In an interview with The Sunday Times before yesterday’s Live Earth concert at...

Preview and Analysis for Weekend of July 7th and 8th, 2007 Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: NBC's "Meet the Press" Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. CBS's "Face the Nation" Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah Fox News Sunday Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.Rep. Chris Cannon, R-UtahRep. Peter Hoesktra, R-Mich. CNN "Late Edition" Iraqi national security advisor Mowaffak al-RubaieSen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.. ABC's "This Week" Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas;Former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska Immigration is not to be mentioned except perhaps to belittle those who opposed shamnesty as bigots...

<p>The House Armed Services Committee is banishing the global war on terror from the 2008 defense budget.</p> <p>This is not because the war has been won, lost or even called off, but because the committee’s Democratic leadership doesn’t like the phrase.</p>

VOTE SMARTMY RESPONSE TO'VOTE DIFFERENT'(Obama-Apple 1984 Ad Mashup)by Mia T, 3.10.07 COPYRIGHT MIA T 2007

MIAMI - Isaac Daniel calls the tiny Global Positioning System chip he's embedded into a line of sneakers "peace of mind." He wishes his 8-year-old son had been wearing them when he got a call from his school in 2002 saying the boy was missing. The worried father hopped a flight to Atlanta from New York where he had been on business to find the incident had been a miscommunication and his son was safe. Days later, the engineer started working on a prototype of Quantum Satellite Technology, a line of $325 to $350 adult sneakers that hit shelves next...

Mayor Ken Corley of Brazoria, Texas, has proposed a city ordinance that would make using the word in an offensive fashion a crime equal to disturbing the peace and punishable by a fine of up to $500. The 62-year-old mayor, who is a self-described "middle-class white boy," came up with the idea after watching Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton discuss banning the word on TV after "Seinfeld" comedian Michael Richards used the word in an act last November.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An animal rights group on Friday accused Macy's of selling a coat with a real animal fur collar even though it was advertised as fake fur. The Humane Society of the United States said a $237.99 Sean John Hooded Snorkel Jacket for sale on Macy's Web site was described as having an "imitation rabbit fur collar." But the group said when it purchased the coat, the label read "Made in China" and "genuine raccoon fur." The group said it is testing the fur to see if it is from a raccoon dog, a type of dog...

EPINAY-SUR-SEINE, France. When the call came about a car burglary in this raw suburb north of Paris one night last weekend, three officers in a patrol car rushed over, only to find themselves surrounded by 30 youths in hoods throwing rocks and swinging bats and metal bars. Neither tear gas nor stun guns stopped the assault. Only when reinforcements arrived did the siege end. One officer was left with broken teeth and in need of 30 stitches to his face. The attack was rough but not unique. In the past three weeks alone, three similar assaults on the police have...

After reading parts of the FoxNews Sunday transcript of the interview between Wallace and Clinton, something stuck out to me. Clinton keeps claiming that 'right wing conservatives' were constantly complaining that he was too obsessed with bin Laden. I have mentioned previous that I have no memories of that happening. What I do remember is conservatives in general complaining about his obsession with Monica. But, getting back to that claim that conservatives were complaining that Clinton was too obsessed with bin Laden. After watching the rant, oops, interview, Clinton slipped up. He showed his cards by uttering three little words:...

The Register reported on Monday that the Capistrano Unified School District "kept lists of 150 families who supported last year's board recall campaign, detailing such personal information as where their children went to school." This is a chilling abuse of power that should be thoroughly investigated by the county district attorney. One parent, appropriately enough, called the behavior "Nixonish." School districts are not allowed to engage in politics on public time. What else can such a list be considered if not political behavior? The Register reported that many of the documents about the recall were printed on district stationary, which...

GLAAD Urges Caution in Reporting on Language in New York Marriage Decision NEW YORK - July 6 - The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today urged media outlets reporting on the New York Court of Appeals' decision in Hernandez v. Robles, Samuels v. New York, and the state's other marriage cases to avoid uncritical reiteration of the plurality opinion's repeated use of the phrase "sexual preference" -- an inaccurate term for sexual orientation that violates Associated Press style guidelines. The AP Stylebook's entry for gay reads: "Used to describe men and women attracted to the same sex,...

A push to require all convicted criminals in New York to submit their DNA to a central database is gaining crucial support in Albany, where officials say it could create the most comprehensive DNA collection system in the nation. If the proposal becomes law, it would make New York the only state to require collecting DNA from everyone convicted of felonies and misdemeanors, including youthful offenders convicted in criminal court, officials said. Currently, 43 states require that people convicted of all felonies submit DNA, but none require samples from those convicted of all misdemeanors, and New York has required those...

Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative. At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals. The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar...

(CNSNews.com) -A conservative student group has been acquitted of a charge that it violated DePaul University's anti-harassment policy when it conducted a protest against affirmative action, the school announced Monday. However, the DePaul Conservative Alliance (DCA) was found guilty of violating the Code of Student Responsibility and censured. In January, the DCA held an "affirmative action bake sale" to mock affirmative action policies in higher education. The protests, which have occurred on other college and university campuses, involve white and Asian students being charged more for baked goods than blacks and Hispanics. The mock bake sales are designed to criticize...

There's no helping you. This site is now just a diversion -- like a train wreck. This site is inherently for and about raving egomaniacs, and Jim's site policies -- which amount to excluding reality and actual dialogue in favor of political/militaristic pornography -- is conducive to cognitive dissonance, which at the times your worldview is threatened leads you into psychotic breaks (on the political cognitive plane, that is, and just maybe in other realms too). Not to mention that your baseline politics is based in mythology about American demographics, science, economics, ethics etc. You spoonfeed each other in the...

Friend: Today, January 16, 2006, free speech may become illegal in England. I wish I were joking. Most Americans know that America’s precious civil liberties was born in England, out of English common law, English ideas of individual rights, and British parliamentary democracy. Most Americans don’t know that this glorious tradition, in defense of which Americans and Britons fought two world wars and a Cold War together, is dying where it was born. Today, believe it or not, civil liberty is under attack in the UK as it has not been since the dark days of 1940. Then, as now,...

In 1984 George Orwell portrays the importance of language in controlling thought. The totalitarian regime depicted in the novel had developed its own language -- Newspeak -- to meet the ideological needs of Oceania. In the novel's appendix on the language, Orwell explains: In the year 1984 there was not as yet anyone who used Newspeak as his sole means of communication, either in speech or writing. The leading articles of the Times were written in it, but this was a tour de force which could only be carried out by a specialist. Orwell adds: The purpose of Newspeak was...