And don't forget to check out the source and stop in and say hello to the fine FReepers over there.
Then I found out on FreeRepublic that Clinton was coming to Philadelphia on October 2, 1998. On October 1st, I called City Hall in Philadelphia, and they told me unambiguously that Clinton was coming that evening. I de-lurked in order to raise the alarm.
As it turned out, my post was in error. Fine Freepers soon set me straight with hard evidence. My wife, Mrs. Physicist, helped me to make a sign for the planned FR rally against Clinton. The sign said "COWARD!" in 450-point Helvetica Bold.
I got to City Hall at 4:30 on October 2, 1998. I was expecting to see hundreds of people arrayed against Clinton, as had been happening all over the country, along with many Freepers. What I found was an organized rally of about 500 people in support of Clinton, most of them carrying signs that said "Teamsters for Clinton". I was the only anti-Clinton protester there.
I remembered something I had read on a thread a few days before. Some Freepers were complaining about an anti-Clinton rally in Ohio, saying that it wasn't a successful rally because only a few hundred people were there. A wise Freeper pointed out that it only takes one person to have a successful rally. Those words gave me the strength to raise my sign. The police had inadvertently forced me to stand amongst the Teamsters, and I began my protest right in the middle of them.
It took maybe 30 seconds before they took my sign away, roughed me up, and threw me out. (I believe that I am still the only Freeper ever to have his blood shed by the enemy while Freeping.) My horrified wife watched on the couch with my young daughters as LuAnn Cahn led off the 5:00 pm broadcast of NBC 10 in Philadelphia with a verbal account of how there was only one protester, a man carrying a sign that said "COWARD!", who was dealt with harshly by the crowd. In reality I was not badly injured, but from the time I raised my sign until I was safely across the street, my only expectation was that I would be severely beaten.
Two and a half hours later, I witnessed the far more vicious beating of Don and Teri Adams.
It was the most terrifying experience of my life. Since that incident, I have organized about a dozen protests in the Philadelphia area, most of them to protest a Clinton visit. One of the reasons I do it is to prove to myself that, despite my acute fear, the Clinton brownshirts have not intimidated me away from doing what I thought was right.
Part of the fallout of the City Hall Putsch was the October 31, 1998 March for Justice in Washington DC. Prior to the march, I contacted Don and Teri Adams and got them to appear. It led to my involvement with the 4 court cases that came out of the Adams beatings. It also led to the formation of the FreeRepublic Philadelphia chapter.
But here's the main difference that FreeRepublic has made in my life: I can look myself in the face in the mirror.
My story is much the same. A friend sent me a link to FreeRepublic. I visited, imediately signed in and have been here ever since........ in between nagging living outside of cyber-world.
I support FreeRepublic because FreeRepublic supports me.
It supports me by giving me a place to share my thoughts with like-minded individuals thereby saving my sanity.
In a world over-flowing with left-wing, liberal, socialist tripe, FreeRepublic is an island of warm breezes and gentle ocean mists.
I love FreeRepublic. I love FReepers. I will continue to support FreeRepublic with my finances as long as I am able!
Thank you for this cool thread!
Even though I am in New Jersey, I have been to about 10 or so White House Freeps over the last 2+ years. I was also able to make 3 of the Gore VP mansion election freeps. In addition, I was able to freep at Times Square several times during the Gore fiasco. And, of course, the icing on the cake was attending the Count the Silverware Inaugural Ball.
While my efforts can in no way compare to many, I hope that, in some small way, my participation has helped the cause of Freepers everywhere.
Of course, this has changed my life! I have traveled a bit more, met great people, and I feel as if I am a part of a cause greater than myself. In addition, I am not as reluctant to speak out about politics and things that I find offensive in our culture.
As for on the homefront, FR is the first thing to come on in the morning and the last thing that gets turned off at night. I cannot check in while at work, so it is the first thing I look at when I come home...even before my e-mail!
Yes, it is an addiction. My house has not been kept up as it used to be, laundry now piles up, and other interests have taken a back seat. I think I will wean off a little once time cures my anxiety attacks brought on by Clintonism in all of its forms. But, in the meantime, I am so thrilled with Dubya and the new administration that I am on FR a lot just to see how he is doing (the mainstream press does not give me enough info). Also, we do not live far from Hillary's stomping grounds, so FR helps me to keep an eye on her! And then, there are issues, old and new, they are very important to me and FR provides well-rounded coverage and insight on a wealth of subjects.
So, I guess I am going to be addicted for a very long time. Well, there are worse things.........
I have been on FR for over 3 1/2 years.
I used to be an active poster - but over the last few months - not nearly as active as I used to. I still do a lot of lurking, though.
And yes - my life has never been the same either. It's amazing!!
I'll never, ever forget the first time I found Free Republic. It was thru the 'Whitewater' link from Drudge in March of '98. I clicked on --- read a few of the threads --- and called downstairs to my husband and said "Jim --- you should see what I've just found!!!!!"
As with the rest of my fellow Freepers, life just has not been the same. Bedtime has changed, no more daily 'NYTimes crossword', and until I got a laptop to take with me when I traveled, I just stayed home! I remember being in a hotel one night, and I didn't know how to hook up the laptop. It was HORRIBLE! There I had my computer, but couldn't use it! To be so close to Fr.com, yet not able to take part!
I have become so politically savvy about all that is current, and I have to thank all of you for your informative input, analysis, humor, and - well, you all know what I'm talking about.
But first of all I have to acknowledge the one man who is responsible for all this:
~~~~~~THANK YOU, JIMROB!!!!!!~~~~~~
P.S. Because of the nature of Free Republic, I have the jump on the news before others (except Freepers). The morning after the plane crash of that young singer, I mentioned the overweight luggage problem. No one else had heard of that as a cause. I've become a font of knowledge because of Fr.com - be it politically heavy news or some light stuff. Yesterday, at Schundler's HDQ, someone passed around a joke. Everyone howled over it. Guess what? Old stuff to me!
Has my life changed? You betcha!!!!!
It also seems to me that since finding FreeRepublic we've managed to avoid most major household jobs. Not a single room painted or otherwise renovated, and the attic and basement are still in dire need of cleanout. Hmmm, couldn't be a connection, could there?
Soon, that was my home-page. One night I was checking out the links he had to other sites and discovered "Free Republic". A lurker was born. Soon I signed up and FR was my home-page - and has been ever since.
I've lived through the Drudge disconnect (haven't been THERE in almost two years) and the Trixie split, several "Good-bye Cruel World" posts, and held my breath and prayed with Gonzo when the SS came to his door. Have witnessed some awesome flame wars. I cyber-met and chat with Alamo-Girl and amom and Yellow Rose of Texas, 3 people I consider friends.
Lord, I love this place! And yes, I donate regularly.
My only regret is not finding it sooner!
I always knew there had to be people who believed as I did, I just never could find them in this liberal West Coast area. I always knew there had to be conservative news sources; I just never could figure out where they were. Now I know.
God bless Jim Robinson and his dear family, and may FR "live" forever.
In 1998 I was chewing nails as I watched Bill Clinton flaunt his immorality to the world. Long story short, I helped organize an anti-Clinton rally when he came here to fundraise.
We had 750 fantastic citizens show up and jeer the creep!
I looked into the mass of people and noticed a group, hopping up and down, slapping backs, laughing and hugging and I wanted to know more... I moved in and asked them if they knew each other and they all replied, "YES, WE'RE FREEPERS!" I knew I had to "join." I knew these were my new best friends. And I certainly wasn't wrong. I'm home now. And I love it.
Thank you JimRob, thank you FReepers, thank you God for FReerepublic!
I TRIED to find other sources of news. I went to the local libraries to read books written by Conservatives for Conservatives, but those were far and few between. And those books were usually out of date. The Conservative magazines, when I could find them, usually informed me of some Conservative happening (a debate, a press conference, some get together of some Conservative organization: The Heritage foundation, NRA, etc.) weeks after it was over. But I would find no mention of these things in the liberal press.
Then Rush Limbaugh came along with his new talk-radio program. And he kept me informed of what the liberal media was hiding from me. Rush had cable tv and internet access and would inform me of what he saw on C-Span, etc. Providing me with a much needed source for a Conservative point of view, three hours a day, 5 days a week.
Then I got cable tv. And I was finally able to see for myself a few more alternative news sources. Especially the then unbiased C-Span. Finally I could hear my fellow Republicans speak for themselves, live on the house or senate floor or some conservative function, in their own words without the usual liberal editing (read: censoring) and filters.
Then I got a home computer. (top of the line then, junk now) Naturally, like all beginners to the internet, I got AOL. I explored the chat rooms, the message boards, the usenet newsgroups, before I drifted over to AOL's political message boards where I found alot of like minded people and remained for a couple of years.
The AOL political message boards, along with all their other message boards, you could only post text or links. No pics. No sounds, etc. But it was better than nothing.
However, we Conservatives of the AOL political message board eventually learned that AOL was planning to shut our boards down while planning to leave open the less traveled board favored by the liberals. We protested the obvious bias, but there was nothing we could do. Someone, I don't remember who, placed a link to FR on the message board before it was shut down (This was around 1996 or 97, I think), saying that we could go there from now on. I went to FR, but the website was quite slow. I don't know if that was the fault of AOL, the antiquated server of FR, my computer, or a combination of all the above.
However, I stayed with FR, as painfully slow as it was in those days. I lurked for about 3-6 months before I finally signed up (under a different name than the one I am using now) Often using it as a source for news. Taking great articles off of FR and planting them in the AOL message boards and usenet newsgroups. EVERYONE would ask: ""Where do you always get these great articles??? What's your source???" Of course I told them: FreeRepublic.com!
I've been Freeping ever since :-)