Replies

Free Republic has completely changed my life. It is a tremendous resource for not only breaking news with real time commentary but also for in depth news and fascinating discussions on virtually every topic of interest. I have learned more in my five years on Free Republic than perhaps all the years in my life up to that point and that is no exaggeration.

Used to be that I would watch the 11:00 news every night to get the latest news, sports and weather. I haven't sat down and watched a news broadcast on television in years. With Free Republic I am up to speed in minutes and then I can easily spend hours going in depth on the current events that interest me. (If I want sports or weather, I can zip right over to ESPN or AccuWeather.com. but Free Republic usually covers sports and weather too!)

September 11 was a perfect example of what I am talking about. During that first hour, people in my office were stumbling around with all sorts of misinformation. One person was saying that the Senate Building got taken out and another was saying that there were at least a dozen more hijacked planes out there. I logged onto Free Republic and within minutes, the entire office congregated around me because I had all the latest information.

Same for the election nightmare of 2000. It was Free Republic that kept me sane during that uncertain month and I am convinced that Free Republic not only helped keep Algore from stealing the election but they generated enough votes for Bush to win him Florida in the first place (thanks in large part to bringing a lot of attention to the Elian controversy earlier that year).

How many from your office became freepers?

Thumbs up Sam.

FR has altered my news gathering habits as well. I barely watch Television news anymore. Outside of extended programs like The Jim Lerher Report on PBS, or major events, TV news is history in my house (I don't have cable TV). .

Same thing at my office on September 11th. There was a bunch of Engineers walking around with misinformation and discussing the logistics of planes hitting buildings. I was on FR and watched a streaming video link of the first tower coming down. I went down the hall and announced what I had seen and several people, who finally got onto CNN, MSNBC, etc., corrected me that the building had been hit by a plane; that it had not fallen.

I told them that I SAW it fall. Then I introduced them to FreeRepublic.com. I was ahead on the news of every non-Freeper that day.

During the election even the President of my company would ask me to verify a bit of information announced on the news. I would resume the always open FR tab, perform a search and give him and others the real skinny.

Thanks Jim.

Stay safe; stay armed.