Free Republic

One of President Obama’s goals in his speech Wednesday night – unacknowledged, perhaps, but central – must have been to make the intransigient Republican opposition to health-care reform look rude, petty, disingenuous, counterproductive and fundamentally dishonest. My verdict: Mission accomplished, thanks to lots of Republican help. Obama pointed out how Republicans such as Sens. Orrin Hatch, John McCain and Charles Grassley supported earlier reform measures that expanded health coverage and care. He dealt with all the canards that opponents have thrown in the path of reform. No, it’s not a government takeover of health care. No, it’s not going to...

As the controversy over Obama’s speech to schoolchildren moves to the back burner – but not so quickly that the usual suspects are given an opportunity to burn a few witches – it’s been commented on that Obama was not the first President to go to a school and give a speech. Here’s a link to one that Ronald Reagan gave. It’s interesting that Reagan gave a speech in which he praises America. As he leaves office he points with pride to America’s history, to its exceptionalism: Over these 200 years, country after country has followed our path, and I...

How and why the surviving heirs of the Soviet monster are alive and well.Twenty years ago, the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe began to fall one by one -- so quickly that the coming months will be very dense with 20th anniversaries of great historic events. That was the final battle of the Cold War, where the Iron Curtain was finally broken, and the monstrous Soviet Empire ruined. Freedom triumphed in Europe at last. Or so it seemed. For the next twenty years have shown that that victory was not as final as many hoped during that momentous autumn of...

One of the key ideas under consideration—which can be read as expressing sympathy for limitations on end-of-life care—is morally revolting. And it’s helping to kill the plan itself. Make no mistake about it. Determining which treatments are “cost effective” at the end of a person’s life and which are not is one of Obama’s priorities. It’s one of the principal ways he counts on saving money and making universal healthcare affordable.

AUSTRALIAN female soldiers are already serving on the front line and here is the photograph to prove it. As the debate rages about lifting the ban on women serving in combat roles, small numbers of female soldiers, such as army medic Jacqui de Gelder from Canberra, are already doing the business. She was on her first combat foot patrol in the village of Chora in Afghanistan just two weeks ago. The younger sister of navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder, who lost his foot to a shark attack in Sydney Harbour, spent the previous day treating victims of a suicide...

Children As Young As Five To Learn About Masturbation and Abortion Under New UN Guidelines By KIRSTY WALKER 10th September 2009 Children as young as five should be taught about explicit sex acts, according to guidelines from the United Nations. The advice also calls for youngsters to learn about abortion, same-sex relationships and sexually transmitted diseases. The draft report on sex education has been compiled by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Too young? Children as young as five could be taught about masturbation if UNESCO guidelines are followed (file photo) The guidance is due to be...

examiner.com — On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge’s straight shootin’ message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have “reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot.” . . .

    Four years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the City of New Orleans, leaving anarchy in its wake, the Department of Justice is reportedly putting on a full court press investigation of the police in that city, with the main focus being on two shooting incidents that left three people dead.    Let’s be up front about this: Since the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association (and nobody else!) stepped to file a landmark federal lawsuit to stop authorities in New Orleans from illegally seizing firearms in the hurricane’s aftermath, nobody has been held accountable for that treachery....

The old news maxim 'if it bleeds, it leads' is the reason why nearly everyone in the country will hear or see this video of Rep. Joe Wilson (R. SC) calling Obama a liar before they hear anything else about the speech. Let's play first what we'll call the CNN clip. Then we'll see Wilson's heckle in context.

Hon. James David Manning warns of an uprising in America.

New Immigration Laws: Read to the bottom or you will miss the message... 1. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools. 2. All ballots will be in this nation's language. 3.. All government business will be conducted in our language. 4. Non-residents will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here. 5. Non-citizens will NEVER be able to hold political office. 6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other government assistance programs. Any burden will be deported. 7. Foreigners can...

THE Auckland electorate office of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was firebombed early this morning, police said. The office in Key's Helensville electorate in the semi-rural outskirts of the city was attacked with a Molotov cocktail, which caused a small fire in the early hours of the morning, police said.

Scientists have now levitated mice using magnetic fields. Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in mid-air before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets. Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside...

Here’s his latest Tweet “Just finished hours of transcripts and tapes. The tides change beginning 2 morrow AM radio-full boat tv.Huge story!- 41 mins. ago

What do you think a Republic is and why do you think it should be Free? In the context of a Republic, what does free mean? In the context of a Free Republic, does the concept of individual rights exist? If so why? Your grades will be posted in the hallway outside of class.

FED up with pop charts full of weedy boy bands? Well, here's a trio of REAL men aiming for No1. All three are serving soldiers who have witnessed the horrors of war first-hand, from Afghanistan to the Gulf. And now Trooper Ryan Idzi, Sergeant Major Gary Chilton and Sergeant Richie Maddocks - who are known simply as The Soldiers - have signed a recording deal with Warner Records. There are high hopes for the threesome's debut album, which is out on October 26. ******* ...it is this sense of how important camaraderie is to our Armed Forces that looms large...

Note to William Rivers Pitt. You're political poison to the Democrats. Get used to it. Your Fitzmas Hail Mary pass stating that Karl Rove had been indicted on May 12, 2006 has rendered you permanently toxic to that party. Even a NUtcase like Van Jones got hired while you still languish in trust fund kid obscurity. So the little grandstand stunt you pulled tonight sucking up to Obama minutes after his speech even earned you the disgust of your fellow DUmmies. Nice try, Will, but your suckup THREAD, "He parked it" accomplished you nothing but the mockery of many...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN's Deirdre Walsh reports that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson called the White House Wednesday night to apologize for his outburst during President Obama's speech, and spoke with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Rep. Joe Wilson called the White House after the speech to apologize to chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel for yelling "You lie!" at President Obama, POLITICO's Jonathan Martin reports. The personal apology comes in tandem with an abject statement that Wilson "let my emotions get the best of me" and that his "comments were inappropriate and regrettable." He said that he continues to believe illegal immigrants will be covered by health care legislation, though a House bill explicitly excludes them. Republicans Lindsey Graham and John McCain, as well as a host of Democrats, sharply criticized Wilson's outburst.