Free Republic

On my way to work, there are a few side streets I can take should the roads back up a bit. My detour takes me through some neighborhoods you’re more likely to see in old episodes of Cops than Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. A gentleman was walking his dog this morning, carrying an aluminum baseball bat. It was clear he wasn’t heading over to Jose Conseco’s house to practice and the way he was holding it at the low-ready indicated he intended to use it immediately if needed. As a bat, it was too short to act as...

new survey of 900 registered Catholic voters holds devastating news for Obama that cannot be overstated. It says 54% of Catholic voter support he had in 2008 has dwindled to just 27% (MoE +/- 3 points); a historic low level no one running for president can survive. This 27% Catholic support for Obama will have important consequences for Obama and his Party in several states with sizable Catholic populations. While some might attempt to belittle this gap by pointing to the fact that only about 24% are “adherent Catholics” that argument is defeated by the fact that the survey found...

With Ann Romney and Chris Christie as the headliners, who would’ve thought that Love would steal the show. No, I don’t mean Ann’s speech, although she did announce right upfront that it was about love. And I don’t mean the Governator’s speech either which was about the relationship between love and respect. I’m talking about MIA LOVE, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah of all places! This feisty little lady took Big Guy on by name and said his policies had “failed” and that “no rhetoric, bumper sticker, or Hollywood campaign ad can change that.” Ouch! ... And then we...

..."One homosexual blogger (and regular critic of FRC) did a detailed critique of the FRC Issue Brief. To this final point, he emphasized that the SPLC “hate group” label is not because of our political positions, but because we support those positions by saying things which (they claim) are untrue. After reiterating this SPLC definition of an “anti-gay hate group,” the writer then says the following: “Now whether or not FRC hates gays is irrelevant.” Say what? “[W]hether or not FRC hates gays is irrelevant” (emphasis added) to the question of whether we are an “anti-gay hate group”? I certainly...

Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) defeated fellow freshman Republican Rep. Ben Quayle Tuesday, bringing to an end one of the cycle’s most heated member-versus-member primaries. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Schweikert led Quayle 53 percent to 47 percent, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for Schweikert. Arizona gained an additional House seat following the decennial redistricting process. The new lines also prompted some reshuffling among the state’s current delegation. Quayle was faced with a choice: run in the swing 9th district or the more Republican 6th district. He chose the latter last winter, setting off a fierce...

--IMAGE HERE-- When I wrote last week’s Anti-Gun Wacko of the Week column about University of Colorado Professor Jerry Peterson, I chose the name of the column on a bit of a whim. I didn’t really expect that I would find that level of outrageousness on a weekly basis. But by now, you would think I would know better than to underestimate the ability of bureaucrats to make blindly stupid decisions. And that brings us to today’s story about 3-year-old Hunter Spanjer. Hunter is, by all reports, a happy and well-loved child who attends preschool in Grand Island Nebraska. Hunter...

Not surprised but happy to see it admitted! This from Arthur Brisbane, public editor of the New York Times: "...I also noted two years ago that I had taken up the public editor duties believing “there is no conspiracy” and that The Times’s output was too vast and complex to be dictated by any Wizard of Oz-like individual or cabal. I still believe that, but also see that the hive on Eighth Avenue is powerfully shaped by a culture of like minds — a phenomenon, I believe, that is more easily recognized from without than from within. When The Times...

When is a job not a job? When it’s a job year. Although it sounds like a riddle told at an economic development convention, it has become a central point of an emerging debate about a ballot initiative that would increase the state’s renewable energy mandate from 10 percent to 25 percent. At the heart of the controversy is how a study, which was done under a contract between Michigan State University and the Michigan Environmental Council, described how it calculated the amount of jobs the 25 percent mandate would create if passed. The study said 74,495 “job years” would...

With the elections just a little over 3 months away you'll soon be hearing some Democrats running for political office, warning how the Republicans want to take away the old people's Social Security. Just in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn't know this it's easy to check out, if you don't believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what's what and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts: Social Security Cards, issued in 1934, and up until the...

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away,” Philip K. Dick said, when asked to define what reality is. Dick was a Science Fiction writer and that seems appropriate enough we are living in a Science Fiction world where there is no reality anymore, because the real goes away, but the unreal does not. Virtual reality, it turned out, was not some complicated gizmo that made you look like a blind skier and allowed you to enter into another world, instead it was an unreal world being comprehensively overlaid on top of our own. The...

I stayed up a little past my normal bedtime last night, with one purpose in mind. I wanted to watch Ann Romney as she took the stage at the Republican National Convention and talked about her husband, Mitt Romney. For months, we have heard the media and some of the liberal Democrats bash her for various things. Some days, it was that she was a stay-at-home mom. Oddly, they also found a reason to dislike her because she owns, and rides, horses. During the Olympics, they harped about the clothes she was wearing and how much they cost. Last night,...

That’s it. You can shut down the convention right now. It’s over. Romney’s camp just shut down all dissent, and they rigged it that way. Twitter is awash in angry tweets from people who know this was a sham. John Boehner actually wielded the gavel without a hint of a tear as he said “the ayes have it.” They didn’t have it, and I think it was pretty clear that even if they did, this was a set-up. I have news for the GOP establishment. I am voting in November. I will vote for all the down-ballot candidates who are...

This season one episode of “The Jeffersons” is called “Like Father Like Son.” As is always the case with early seasons of this excellent show, the entire episode is worth watching. But the part I most want to draw your attention to runs from 13:08 to 16:28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODbpbXrC0vw&feature=player_embedded#!

VIDEO: Republican candidate for U.S. Congress (UT-04) Mia Love passionately addresses the Republican National Convention on the American dream: "The America I grew up knowing was centered in self-reliance and filled with possibilities of living the American dream."

Backlash against Juan William's remarks was swift throughout Twitter.

VIDEO: Former Democrat and U.S. Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama addresses the Republican National Convention. Artur Davis was an enthusiastic supporter of Obama's 2008 bid for the presidency. In fact, Davis was one of the national co-chairs for Obama's 2008 campaign. In this speech, Davis encourages the nation to listen to the speakers at the Democrat Party Convention and ask yourself if they're speaking for you.

Gay and lesbian advocates teamed up with Maryland's largest Latino and immigrant rights group on Tuesday, hoping to build support for November ballot questions to allow same-sex marriage and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who have attended a Maryland high school and whose parents have paid taxes.

Please pray for my grandson and his parents, my son and his wife. Jen has been in labor since last night. We have been waiting all day for the baby to be born, but, although she was fully dilated at 10PM, the baby has not dropped. Please pray. Thank you.

"No doubt about it, Hayek's The Road to Serfdom was explosively controversial from the beginning, especially his case that all forms of collectivism lead to tyranny. The book was first published on March 10, 1944 by Routledge in Britain, before the ending May 8, 1945 of the Nazi 3rd Reich in Germany and the surrender in World War II."

A deaf three-year-old has been asked not to sign his name at school because it resembles a deadly weapon, according to 1011Now.com. “”It’s his name. It’s not like he’s going to bring a gun to school when he’s three years old,” Dana Schwieger told 1011Now.com. “Meantime, Hunter’s parents say that by Monday, lawyers from the National Association of the Deaf are likely to weigh in for Hunter’s right to sign his own name.” See the broadcast here: http://www.1011now.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7652612.