Free Republic

Read this passage slowly and carefully, especially the second sentence: "The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, Balanchine ballet et al., don't redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history. It is the white race and it alone — its ideologies and inventions — which eradicates autonomous civilizations wherever it spreads, which has upset the ecological balance of the planet, which now threatens the very existence of life itself." It was not the fault of the...

October 07, 2004 Drive-Thru Diplomacy Gregory A. Borse HERE’s the slippery thing about credibility. You can earn it in one of two ways: you can prove that you are trustworthy by following through on instructions that you have been given. Or, you can earn trust by following through on what you say you are going to do. In the Vice-Presidential debate, it became clear which side each campaign is on in terms of credibility. The Kerry-Edwards ticket, via the “global test” for the use of military force in defense of U.S. interests, is clearly interested in establishing credibility via the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech following the bloody end to the school seizure in Beslan marked a significant break from Russia's attempt in the past to isolate Chechen terror from the issue of radical Islamic terrorism, according to Israeli officials. Putin, during a somber televised address to the nation after the botched attempt to free the captives, said, "We have to admit we showed no understanding of the danger of processes occurring in our own country and the world at large. We failed to react appropriately to them and, instead, displayed weakness. And the weak are always beaten." One senior...

6:30PM U.S. consumer attitudes stuck in rut: ABC/Money by Anne Stanley WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) --- U.S. consumers remain skeptical about the economic recovery, according to a weekly survey published Tuesday by ABC and Money magazine. The ABC/Money consumer comfort index fell to negative 17 in the latest week from negative 16 a week ago. The index has been stuck between negative 21 and negative 16 for three months. The survey shows a wide gap between perceptions of personal finances and the overall economy. Thirty-one percent say the economy is excellent or good, up from 29 percent a week ago and the...

The mood of the country entering the third year of this strange new century is that of a paranoid schizophrenic. On the one hand we imagine conniving enemies behind every kiosk in the mall and sinister cabals plotting our destruction in the desert warrens of far-off barbarian fiefdoms. On the other hand we insist that the orchid show must go on. In fact, we consider it an act of patriotism to buy more orchids this year than we bought last, as a defiant gesture meant to send a signal to the world that we WILL have our orchids. We're very...

The Ipsos-Reid CASH Index—an index of Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household—stands at 85.1 in two surveys conducted in August, down 14.9 points from January 2002, when the index was set at 100. Between May and July, the Ipsos-Reid CASH Index measured a dramatic tumble in consumer attitudes, particularly on expectations about the local economy and the individual’s ability to invest. Attitudes about current individual finances slipped from mildly positive to neutral over the first half of the year. So far, the CASH Index has not fully recovered.