Free Republic

The "good times" between Turkey and the West seem to be over. As the Erdogan years in Turkey have attempted to turn Turkey from a once-secular country into a de facto Islamist country, the West and Turkey seem to be on a collision course, or at best, an impasse. The questions now to ask include: What to do about an Erdogan-ruled Turkey that appears intent on reshaping the Middle East in its own Islamist and nationalist image and agenda; the response of America and the West (particularly NATO) if Turkey breaks diplomatic relations with Israel; and what how to adjust...

On the ninth anniversary of the greatest mass murder on American soil in the history of our country, Michael Moore issued a clarion call to the United States. "If the [ground zero] 'mosque' isn't built," he wrote, "this is no longer America." In fact, said Moore, he was opposed to building the ground zero mosque two blocks from ground zero. "I want it built on ground zero," he wrote. Personally, I'd like to see the ground zero mosque built on Michael Moore. But we can't always get what we want. Moore's rationale for this stunning display of moral incoherence: He...

It has taken me a while for me to finally notice this. Approximately 2 years ago Beck was on the radio talking pitchforks and torches. About fighting back against the liberal-progressive tide. Now he is talking about what seems to be a national Kum-Byah-Ya and group hug? It seems he has become more interested in shilling for Beck Inc. rather than raising a call to action. I may be viewing it wrong but that is just how I see it.

Years ago, when I lived in upstate New York, I decided to quit smoking. Around the same time, I developed a craving for Buffalo wings. There was a great wing joint less than a mile away that delivered. I got fat. 25 wings, four or five times a week will do that to you. Sure, there were dietary charts and calorie counters, but did I read them? No. If only I’d been forced, against my own personal tastes and free will, to eat healthy I wouldn’t have been in that predicament. Thankfully, a young person today will never have to...

Madison Heights, Mich. (WXYZ) - Jennifer Tesch's six-year-old daughter has been removed from the Madison Heights Wolverine flag football cheer team. The Madison Heights mom contacted Action News last month because she was upset about the words to one of her daughter's cheerleading chants. The cheer she objects to says "our backs ache, our skirts are too tight, we shake our booties from left to right." League members were outraged, saying it cast a bad light on the league and she should have handled it internally. The team voted to keep the cheer and voted unanimously to remove the child...

PIMCO Makes Massive Bet That Bernanke Will Create Inflation Joe Weisenthal Sep. 15, 2010, 8:15 AM The last time we heard from PIMCO, the gigantic bond house was back to buying long bonds, betting on deflation. And we know that the firm's chief mouthpiece, Mohamed El-Erian has been warning about this scenario, pegging the odds at about 25% (it's not his base-case scenario, just a substantial risk). But obviously this isn't the whole story. The firm is also betting against deflation. Bloomberg: Bill Gross’s Pacific Investment Management Co. made an $8.1 billion wager that the U.S. won’t suffer a decade...

A national debate is raging in Germany over Muslim immigration. The issue is drawing attention not only to Germany's broken immigration system, which for many decades now has failed to integrate Germany's Muslim population, but also to Germany's demographic time bomb, which is significantly accelerating the pace of Muslim immigration.

Efforts to tame America's ballooning budget deficit could soon confront a daunting reality: Nearly half of all Americans live in a household in which someone receives government benefits, more than at any time in history. At the same time, the fraction of American households not paying federal income taxes has also grown—to an estimated 45% in 2010, from 39% five years ago, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research organization. A little more than half don't earn enough to be taxed; the rest take so many credits and deductions they don't owe anything. Most still get hit with...

There has been such a cascade of stupid federal spending programs over the years it might seem nearly impossible to say which was stupidest of all. But let me try. In the late 1980s, the National Endowment for the Arts seemed to contend honorably for the title. Back then, the NEA funded an exhibit featuring Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ, a photo of a crucifix submerged in urine. The NEA defended the grant on First Amendment grounds -- as if the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion required the government to extract tax dollars from Christian...

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A group fighting the establishment of a prison in Pahrump is among the latest to be sued for copyright infringement after a Las Vegas Review-Journal story allegedly was posted on its website. Righthaven LLC, the Las Vegas company suing website operators throughout North America over Review-Journal stories, on Tuesday filed suit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas against Pahrump Life and two individuals associated with the group, Maren and Michael Scaccia. This was one of at least four Righthaven lawsuits filed Tuesday, boosting its lawsuit total since March to at least 128.

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday’s Larry King Live on CNN, comedian Bill Maher picked up on a recent contention by Newt Gingrich that President Obama is motivated by anti-colonialism which his Kenyan father felt as the Real Time with Bill Maher host smeared the potential 2012 Republican presidential field as racist: "How are they going to out-firebreathe each other? I mean, where this rhetoric has gone to at this point. It’s only 2010, and we’re having Newt Gingrich, as we were talking about before, calling him an anti-colonial Luo tribesman. ... That’s the new Kenyan, Larry. And Kenyan, of...

Wednesday, September 15 Impartial Judge, Impartial Savior For there is no partiality with God. Romans 2:11 Recommended Reading Ephesians 6:5-9 It's hard to imagine an impartial world. We make partial choices continually in our life--spouse, friends, foods, vocations, clothing, and many others. To say we are partial to this or that is not wrong--except in one way: how we treat people. The Bible says that, with God, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." And we are to view people with...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The organizers of a Naches parade say they've heard criticism about a float that depicted President Obama cracking a whip over a youth who was pulling a wagon and sporting a shirt labeled "future tax payer." The tea party-affiliated group "Remember Us ... We the People" sponsored the float in the annual Naches Sportsman's Days parade. Leader Kirk Groenig told the Yakima Herald-Republic that the group is trying to bring attention to overspending and the growing national debt. He says he rejects the contention that it contained racial overtones.

New York Fed Manufacturing Index Dives Again -- Optimism Hits Lowest Level Since Summer 2009 Joe Weisenthal Sep. 15, 2010, 8:36 AM The New York Fed Empire State Manufacturing Index is rolling over. Although the measure is still indicating growth, it's at its lowest level in over a year. From the NY Fed: The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions held relatively steady in New York's manufacturing sector in September. The general business conditions index remained positive, although it slipped 3 points to 4.1. The new orders and shipments indexes were both up moderately for the month, at levels...

Teachings from the leaders of the Mormon (LDS) Church on the blessings of our Constitution and the freedoms we must defend. President Ezra Taft Benson statements (continued). This will be my final installment of President Benson quotes: In recognizing God as the source of their rights, the Founding Fathers declared Him to be the ultimate authority for their basis of law. This led them to the conviction that people do not make law but merely acknowledge preexisting law, giving it specific application. The Constitution was conceived to be such an expression of higher law. And when their work was done,...

How long ago it seems now that Barack Obama was inaugurated, and the Great Uniter championed "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. ... (T)he time has come to set aside childish things." It seems the president spoke prematurely. With his approval ratings sinking and Democratic prospects tanking, Obama began the fall campaign in Milwaukee with a petulant tone about his adversaries: "They talk about me like...

Byron York at the Examiner: Christine O'Donnell gives GOP establishment a thumpin'. It's not every day you win the Republican Party's nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate and the Republican Party tells you to get lost. But that's exactly what happened to Christine O'Donnell here Tuesday evening. Sore losers, perhaps? Oh, you bet. But I'll focus below on the media angle. Last night, along with Christine O'Donnell and Mike Castle, there were winners and losers in media, as well. If blogs and other new media outlets were winners, I'd argue that our established beltway media were the big...

A fatal mid-air collision between a helicopter and a small plane, which resulted in the deaths of nine people, was caused by an air traffic controller talking on his phone about a dead cat, an investigation has found. A government safety panel said the incident over New York's Hudson River last year occurred after the controller became distracted by the call. Five Italian tourists were killed on August 8 2009 when their tour helicopter smashed into a light aircraft flying over the city. The U.S National Transportation Safety Board said the Federal Aviation Administration rules between New York and New...

Congressional Democrats are confronting deep divisions in their nervous ranks over whether to support President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans — or just punt the entire matter until after voters go to the polls Nov. 2. Democratic leaders committed to Obama's proposal were to hear Wednesday from endangered lawmakers who fear that raising taxes on anyone in a weak economy could be politically lethal. "Don't raise taxes in a recession," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. Democratic leaders refused to say whether they were open to changing Obama's plan, or even commit to a vote before...