Free Republic

From the journals of the video game: "The Old Republic". Your sith lord is a jerk, but how bad can it be? Sex, gratuitous violence, snappy quips, megalomania, greed and disco-grunge dancing galore!!!! Subtle jokes and a reference to the "Never Ending Story" will make you LOL. Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63vWEzqjn2U Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWrLwD2hMdk Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX4dWvLsUFQ Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d2JZj7G_60 Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIULbosH_f4

The South by Southwest Festival (known as SXSW), held every March in Austin, Texas, bills itself as a "unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies." This year, things got a bit more political, adding a few sparks to its normal techie, artsy-fartsy flair. During a public discourse between former Vice President Al Gore Jr. and Sean Parker (who co-founded Napster), Gore said, “Our democracy has been hacked,” and urged the audience to commence an “Occupy Democracy” movement. This is eerily reminiscent of statements he made to Keith Olbermann last August, including the idea that we should work...

The United States may be a republic, but it’s democracy that Americans cherish. After all, that’s why we got into Iraq, right? To take out a dictator and spread democracy. “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “One person, one vote.” We are an egalitarian society that treasures the mandate of its citizenry. But more than a decade’s worth research suggests that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders. They know what's best for the country. Work by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning and then-colleague Justin Kruger found that “incompetent people are inherently unable...

At the Occupy Strategy Session at New York University, all the usual suspects are once again targeting capitalism. This isn't surprising, anybody who digs into the roots of all this 'Occupy' stuff will quickly see that it's all based on progressivism and central planning - with a hint of socialism, a hint of communism, and they have even teamed up with Islamists. But this business about the incompatibility of capitalism and democracy. What makes that true? In 1887, Woodrow Wilson wrote an essay titled "Socialism and Democracy", and in my original entry I wrote an observation about mobs. We've all...

Anyone else experience this? It's just on Free Republic only.

For about a week now, in multiple browsers and from iPad and iMac, Free Republic has been deadly slow. Frequently it times out waiting to load. This is on FIOS at top speed, both wireless and wired. No other site is even slightly slow for me. I don't see any other threads mentioning this, and I've posted to the yahoo group with no responses, so I am assuming it's me. What could I be doing wrong? Or has this been your experience too? What's up?

Persists everywhere. The idea that voting or individual activism will fix the trouble we’re in is a big part of what got us into this mess to begin with. Our republic is strong, and is filled with hardworking people who will carry it anywhere it wants to go. Pitiably, the leadership of that Republic has been usurped by a shadow empire, a ruling class which has it’s own set of rules and it’s own hierarchy. Nobody “Elected” Rahm Immanuel, nobody ran against him. Wingnuthead got “voted” in despite being as worthless as tits on a boar. The Ruling Class, despite...

The Republic of The United States of America was founded in 1776. It was founded as a Republic and not a Pure Democracy, because the Founders knew that a Pure Democracy and independence cannot coexist in the long term. One of the key differences between a republic and a democracy is the requirement for an informed electorate. A Republic requires that suffrage be as wide as possible, while not including those who are likely to be detrimental to the continuing independence of the Republic. As an analogy, Democracy is like theoretical mathematics, while Republic is like engineering. Theoretical mathematics is...

Youtube link, also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioQooFIcgE&feature=player_embedded

The national spokesperson for group that seeking to take the selection of the president out of the hands of the Electoral College says the movement is gaining steam. Tom Golisano of the “National Popular Vote Initiative” was in Des Moines Thursday talking about the effort. The group needs states that have 270 — or half of the electoral college votes — to approve the change to make it happen. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm around our position now, it’s more a feeling of when and no if it’s going to happen,” Golisano. He says 10 or 11 states have signed...

It sounds quaint. But giving Washington less control over our affairs, and the states more control, is a bad idea. Here's why: People move. Anybody who has relocated from one state to another knows there's a huge hassle factor associated with simply adapting to a different set of rules. There's also the dubious proposition that states manage their business better than the federal government. It's true that nearly all states are required to balance their budgets, which creates a degree of spending discipline. But that's hardly the same thing as responsible government. It's worth keeping in mind that the national...

"Your people, sir, is ... a great beast." So Alexander Hamilton reputedly said in an argument with Thomas Jefferson. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Hamilton explained: "Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of dictatorship." In his column, "Democracy Versus Liberty," Walter Williams cites Hamilton, James Madison and John Randolph, who wrote of "the follies and turbulence" of democracy, and John Adams: "Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There...

Democracy is exactly what we have in America today and it’s even worse than Thomas Jefferson warned when he said - “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” It’s really much worse than Jefferson indicated… it’s what Karl Marx said it was, “the road to socialism.” Thomas Jefferson was a well-traveled and studied individual, commissioned to write our Declaration of Independence at the founding of our country and a significant player in the formation of our Constitutional Representative Republic. He was also one of...

This occurred in a Farmingdale, NY courtroom. Video is proof.

The intellectual struggle worldwide today is now between the beliefs encapsulated in the American Revolution and those in the French. It is interests versus reason.

When the cover was blown from Osama bin Laden’s last gift to Pakistan – his choice of residence in Abbottabad, a favour we could have done without – it was only to be expected that the guardians of national ideology would be rendered speechless. There are some situations too embarrassing for words and this was one of them. A frank admission of failure might have been more sensible. But this being no part of the Pakistani tradition, our guardians did the next best thing: climb the ramparts and blow the trumpets of national dignity and honour. For about 10-12 days...

“Every generation needs a new revolution.” ~ Thomas Jefferson Our country and it’s supreme law (the constitution) was founded by revolutionaries, our Founding Fathers. Men who literally had a price placed on their heads by King George of England. Their capture would have meant a cruel and certain death as public examples to what happens to the enemies of the crown. Yet they persisted! “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, [they did] mutually pledge to each other [their] Lives, [their] Fortunes, and [their] sacred Honor” (Declaration of Independence). Because of their sacrifice we enjoy relative freedom...

Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “compiled a list of some of the 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders;” it’s being publicized by the far-left MoveOn.org (financed by George Soros), NPR and other Progressive websites. Five on the list are also on the UN Global Compact’s “selection” of corporations as follows: * General Electric: CEO Jeffrey Immelt is also Obama’s Green Jobs Czar, a top contributor to Obama’s 2008 campaign at $499,130 and one of the two biggest recipients of government contracts since Obama took the White House. * Bank of America: The Board Chairman of BofA, Charles O. Holliday, serves...

1861 - Colonel Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army. Two days earlier he had been offered command of the Union army.

Socrates: We are gathered here today at my Symposium to discuss part of a major work by my student, Plato, namely his venerated parable, the Allegory of Plato's Cave, which appears in Book 7 of his "Republic." This opus examines the form and essence of the ideal state and its ideal ruler – the philosopher king. Plato's justification for placing the controls of government in philosophers is based on his comprehensive study of truth and knowledge, and it is in this background that the Allegory of the Cave is created.