Free Republic

How many Independence Days does America have left to celebrate? That appears to be up to us. I’m reposting these thoughts, originally marking Independence Day, 2009 because the concerns I noted then have not only not been addressed, they grow more egregious with each passing week. Consider this a call to arms. All boots on the ground my fellow Americans, evening is closing in on us fast: Independence. Not Just a Day. Patrick Henry passionately appealed to his fellow colonists in 1775...

Tweeting first, “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either No. 2 or 3 in hierarchy,” and then, “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people,” the News Corp. CEO waded into the morass and basically declared himself Scientology Enemy No. 1. Many were shocked—why the hell would Rupert Murdoch, of all people, get involved in this? But a close Murdoch ally noted, “He has a long memory and no love for Scientology.” ...... Lachlan soon terminated his friendship with Cruise and made it clear...

Romney seems to have a "tin ear" when it comes to listening to conservative views. Since it is nearly impossible to mount a successful campaign against him now and come up with another viable candidate who can win in the November election, we need to be sure that our voices are heard and heeded by the Romney campaign. Question: Do conservatives have someone in Romney's inner circle who can influence him and make sure he sticks up for our values? Is there anyone from FreeRepublic who can represent us and our concerns on his team? How can we get a...

I apologize in advance for the fact this a vanity post. As I have struggled to come to grips with the disastrous and, from a constitutional perspective, inexplicable Obamacare decision by John Roberts, I have read a wide spectrum of opinions, everything from the idea that the Chief Justice is a political genius, who wants to cement a Republican victory in November, to speculation that he was a closeted homosexual who was blackmailed into changing his opinion. However, a thought occurred to me that I have not seen expressed so far (and I'm sure that someone here will correct me...

Lost my job this week which comes on top of 4 years of putting kids to college, etc. Cash funds are depleted and I am seriously considering something I never thought - doing a strategic foreclosure on my house, cashing in IRA / 401(k) funds and paying cash for a smaller house. Just curious about everyone's thoughts?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Twitter will provide biannual reports about U.S. and foreign government demands for information about its users, just as Google has been doing for the past two years. The first batch of data posted Monday on Twitter's website shows the online messaging service processed 849 government requests about its users during the first half of this year. Twitter says it gave officials at least part of what they wanted 63 percent of the time.

Is anyone surprised that the ink wasn't dry on Chief Justice John Roberts' incoherent switcheroo before team Obama was again denying Obamacare is a tax? Why did he do it? There is no doubt that the left waged a war on the court's public image. Just as Obama lectured at the justices during his State of the Union address for the Citizens United decision, so Obama and his media minions prepared for this verdict with blatant mob pressure: Side with us or your image is ruined. For liberal journalists, repeal of Obamacare was tantamount to a deadly third strike. Strike...

Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) gets some boys interested in American history with his version of Paul Revere's ride.

Really? The Supreme Court’s big health care decision means 30 million or more uninsured Americans are soon going to have coverage? It’s far from that simple. The ruling does point a way forward for millions who can’t get affordable coverage because they’ve been sick, they’re self-employed or they are otherwise shut out of the insurance plans that most Americans get in the workplace. But the path is clouded for millions more: the people on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder who are supposed to be reached by a major expansion of Medicaid.

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…” ...Please read the whole thing. Read it to your children, to your grandchildren, the neighbor’s children. They need to know. God knows, they will not learn about it in school any more - probably because His name is invoked with such reckless abandon therein, with no concern whatsoever for the separation of church and state...

When a person joins the military they enter into an eight year contract. They are promising that over the next 8 years they can be called upon to fight for their country. The contract is a mix of active and reserve duty time. A military service member (MSM) gives up many freedoms to protect yours. They are told what to wear. They are told when to eat. They are made to exercise. If they are late for work or fail in what they are told to do there is no threat of being fired; there is a threat of Uniform...

Click on link.

Since progressives want government to run health care, let's look at what government management did to K-12 education. While most every other service in life has gotten better and cheaper, American education remains stagnant. Spending has tripled! Why no improvement? Because K-12 education is a virtual government monopoly -- and monopolies don't improve. In every other sector of the economy, market competition forces providers to improve constantly. It's why most things get better -- often cheaper, too (except when government interferes, as in health care). Politicians claim that education and health care are different -- too important to leave to...

Almost every American knows the traditional story of July Fourth—the soaring idealism of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress's grim pledge to defy the world's most powerful nation with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. But what else about revolutionary America might help us feel closer to those founders in their tricornered hats, fancy waistcoats and tight knee-breeches? Those Americans, it turns out, had the highest per capita income in the civilized world of their time. They also paid the lowest taxes—and they were determined to keep it that way. By 1776, the 13 American colonies had...

As the Episcopal Church's governing body gathers this week, members are preparing to discuss church recognition of same-sex couples living in committed relationships. "We anticipate that the church will approve a rite for blessing same-gender relationships," the Right Rev. Sean Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, said. .. "I do plan to authorize same-gender blessings in this diocese," Rowe said in a letter to members before the convention. The Episcopalians aren't alone in considering same-gender issues this month. At the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly, commissioners are considering whether marriage is between "a woman and a man"...

Some people will go to extreme measures to save money these days, as the residents of one southern state have proven. South Carolinians are celebrating a new law coming into force, allowing them to drive fuel-efficient golf carts up to four miles from their homes. Previously the buggies were allowed to be driven just two miles on public roads, but Governor Nikki Haley has signed the law and it will come into effect from October Owners of the open-sided vehicles will be let loose on the streets among cars and trucks, and the change has been welcomed by residents, eager...

Rick Calamaro, Charlie Sheen’s former longtime personal assistant and close friend, was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment Sunday. The 46-year-old club promoter had reportedly been dead for a few days when police found him, according to TMZ. "Numerous pain medications and an open bottle of alcohol" were littered in his apartment, the site reports. Calamaro was considered one of Sheen’s closest friends and was reportedly present during Sheen’s infamous 36-hour drug binge in October 2010.

What's pale yellow, riddled with holes and not very sharp? President Barack Obama's renewed class-warfare attack on GOP opponent Mitt Romney. To kick off the Independence Day holiday, America's fundraiser-in-chief took to Twitter to stoke wealth-bashing resentment against Republicans. "FACT," Obama's official Twitter account declared, "In 2010, Romney reported having a $3 million Swiss bank account." Obama for America campaign manager Jim Messina piled on, urging "every reporter covering Romney" to read left-wing Vanity Fair's new report on his offshore finances. In a water-carrying news conference call, Obama campaign flack Ben LaBolt assailed Romney's "mysterious corporation in Bermuda, his funds...

We have been on a cruise around the Mediterrean for the last three weeks, very little news about the US. Only channels available are Fox, MSNBC, Skye, and BBC Europe. Time difference means watching hours later than your time. It looks like MSNBC has no advertising, all we get are the same comments from the anchors(?) about the condition of the country. I watched MSNBC for 45 minutes and not one commercial but about 20 minutes of the same comments from the anchors(?). Is it possible that maybe MSNBC is fading off into the neverland of extinct channels?

Yesterday I took a walk down to the oldest part of New York City, where the Dutch landed and planted their flag near the current location of the Staten Island Ferry, where George Washington stood his officers rounds at Fraunces Tavern, now filled with Wall Street types, and where a bunch of smelly hippies stirred by an Anti-Semitic Canadian magazine decided to squat a public park in order to make a statement about their own need for attention. Zuccotti Park has returned to its original function as a place where secretaries, construction workers and off-duty cops go to eat quick...