Free Republic

Two days ago we were sitting on the dock in Como, having a gellato, waiting for our ship to come in. Not actually a ship, just a small commuter boat that connects the small communities on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place. I can see why VIPs come to a small hotel, built by a mediaeval Cardinal as his residence, just up the Lake. No wonder that George Clooney has a villa here, that is reached only by helicopter, or so the gossip says. And, this area's history reaches deep into the...

How many people still listen to NPR (National “People’s” Radio) and take it seriously? Apparently that list doesn’t include the editors and reporters for NPR. Two cases in point, both having to do with numbers. As I was driving up to D.C. for the Rally on the Mall on Saturday, I heard NPR gushing over (excuse me, reporting on) the President Obama’s speech to a Joint Meeting of Congress. In that speech, the President said that “there are 30 million uninsured Americans.” Notice that the number dropped from 45 million because that part of the uninsured are not Americans. They...

The last time a new American political party came into being, one strong enough to elect a President, was in 1854. As you have guessed, that was the Republican Party. Its first elected President was Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Many third party and independent campaigns have been mounted since then. The Progressive Party around 1900 managed to elect Governors and majorities in the legislature of several states. Their high water mark was in 1912, when former President Teddy Roosevelt chose that Party as his vehicle to run again when the Republicans declined to nominate him, again. (No, there never was...

by John Armor (BB 670, Even, 4 Sept, 707 words) The last time a new American political party came into being, one strong enough to elect a President, was in 1854. As you have guessed, that was the Republican Party. Its first elected President was Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Many third party and independent campaigns have been mounted since then. The Progressive Party around 1900 managed to elect Governors and majorities in the legislature of several states. Their high water mark was in 1912, when former President Teddy Roosevelt chose that Party as his vehicle to run again when the...

I don't know how to post this, or whether to post this. So, I leave both questions in the hands of you, my colleagues on FreeRepublic. The first two links are to Parts I and II to an appearance by Ben Franklin at a conservative town hall for about 350 people in Raleigh, NC, last Tuesday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xa6rbgq1lw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ304mIo1eI The final one is an appearance by Ben Franklin at a Freedom Fest, sponsored by FreedomWorks in (appropriately) Franklin, NC, in June. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhbAVkvSaAw&NR=1 If anyone finds these worthy of interest, and knows how to post up these clips on FreeRepublic, feel free....

What would make a fitting legacy for Ted Kennedy in the Senate? I think it would be the election of a Senator to take his place, who committed to the same great public ideas that Senator Kennedy spoke about, so often and passionately. Teddy often spoke of his dedication to and respect for the Constitution. This is to be expected where Sam Adams created the Sons of Liberty who threw the tea in Boston Harbor. And where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at, and later fired by, the Minutemen at Concord and Lexington. So, the person...

The Associated Press reported today (Friday) that lawyers for certain detainees at the Gitmo Prison in Cuba, possibly violated federal criminal law by releasing the identity of CIA covert operatives. The current Justice Department investigation connects to both the Valerie Plame matter a few years ago, and the current issue of where and how Gitmo detainees should be charged and tried. First, the Plame affair. According to the mainstream media, that was about the “outing” of a CIA “covert operative” in violation of federal law. But that law applied only to people who had been a covert operative “within five...

This is the 666th column in this weekly series. It had to be spent on an overarching subject. So it is. President Barack Obama is the most accomplished liar I have ever encountered, and that includes several pathological liars I faced in court. The best of those I could not rattle even with a well-prepared and vigorous cross-examination. Only the weight of solid facts from other sources served to expose and defeat those people. Pathological liars can give the impression that they are telling the truth because they are smooth, accomplished, and effective. But the most important reason is that...

Let’s begin with the easiest subject to understand – economics. Last week two important events happened. The Cash for Clunkers program shut down when it burned through money planned for four months, in four days. And based on a previously passed federal law, the minimum wage went up again. Now, the two programs are different in size. The minimum wage only increased by 70 cents an hour; whereas, the Clunker program is/was giving away up to $4,500 per transaction. So, the change was both larger and faster in the latter instance. I was on the road on family business and...

by John Armor (BB 664, Even, 25July, 676 words) How many of you remember Casey Stengel? If you do, raise your hand. For those who don’t know the name, Stengel was the legendary manager of the legendary Yankees for many seasons. When they cut him loose, he became the legendary manager of the Mets, who were legendary for losing, not winning, games. But Casey’s immortal contribution to American civilization was scrambling the English language beyond both comprehension and belief, while at the core having an excellent base of knowledge and statistics. His mantra was, “And you could look it up,”...

Today I read an obscure book which is addequately written. Its subject is not of front-burner importance, all things considered. And yet, it tells a story that entirely too many Americans are unaware of, but should be. The book is “Legacy of Honor, the Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts,” by Alvin Townley. There are now about two million people in the US who hold the rank of Eagle Scout, of the 110 million Americans who have ever been part of the Boy Scouts of America. The Eagles are a small fraction of Scouts, a tiny fraction of the...

Here is what Judge Sotomayor said in her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. She said, “my judicial philosophy... is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law.” On seven occasions, one by example in an opinion, she made clear an opposite opinion, that the outcome of a case decided by a judge of her style of decision-making, can and should be varied according to the “experience” of the judge. She wrote and published, “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her...

There are two aspects of Governor Palin's decision to resign now, which have not been competently discussed, or discussed at all, in the main stream media. One is based on the map, the other is based in American political history. Regarding the map: I have two, immediate sources to know how long it takes, with what sort of wearing down from the journey itself, to travel to and from Alaska. One is my cousin who is a leading labor lawyer, and who went from Atlanta to Alaska frequently when the Aleska Pipeline was under construction. The other is my son-in-law's...

I was asked to write a brief history of the Church of the Incarnation, in Highlands. North Carolina, for a local magazine. The piece was intended to be about the building itself, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built in 1896. But you cannot research the history of a church without also researching the history of the people who brought that church into being. Of the dozen people who formed the congregation for this church, one was Sarah Whiteside Norton. She was the first non-native American child born in the Highlands area, the daughter of...

Saturday Night Fever begins with the classic scene of a very young John Travolta striding through the streets of Brooklyn. His shoes slap the pavement, his body sways to the rhythm of the Bee-Gees’ immortal song, played sotto voce, Stayin’ Alive. The story is about the attempt of the protagonist, his whole family, his friends and his community merely to survive. Therein lies a lesson for our times. The late, great Peter Drucker once wrote to the effect that, “Once an organization exceeds 1,000 people, its first purpose becomes self-preservation.” (Anyone who can find the precise quote in Professor Drucker’s...

One of Mark Twain’s well-known quotes is this: “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The humor works because it is based on truth. We all know there are those who play games with statistics to support a false conclusion. One of Twain’s own examples was that “the number of Methodists and murderers is rising at the same rate in the Nebraska Territory.” That “proved,” of course, that Methodists are murderers. It is also possible, however, to present a lie by constructing a discussion with nothing but hard, provable facts. The New York Times demonstrated that fact today (Sunday) with...

I was shaving Friday morning in a small, unaccommodating, shared bathroom on when a stranger walked in. He said hello, I said hello, and I felt like Cary Grant, shaving in the bathroom of the train station in Chicago, in North by Northwest. Well, he wasn’t a complete stranger. I knew he was a member of the Class of 1964 from Yale University, since we were up for our 45th Reunion (yes, we are older’n dirt). Anyway, he noticed my faceful of shaving cream and said, “Still doing it the old-fashioned way?” I replied, “It lets me see where I’m...

Dear Sonia, May I call you Sonia? We’ve just met but I feel I’ve known you forever, because of your “compelling story.” I’m an elderly, white male who’s a lawyer. But wait, I’m not that dull and dismissible. I’ve had my “story” moments. Remember that psychologists’ list of the ten worst things that can happen to a person? Losing your job, or house, getting divorced, going bankrupt, facing death, burying a child. You know, nasty stuff. I’ve been through almost everything on that list, some more than once. You pick yourself up and continue on as best you can. Big...

Did anybody else notice that the phrase “global warming” has largely disappeared from public discourse? All but the slowest enviromentalists have dropped that phrase because for the last three years the globe as been cooling off. So, the new phrase is “climate change.” As a public service, I’d like to explain this phrase by reference to a pair of coal-fired furnaces, one in Birmingham, Alabama, the other one in Baltimore, Maryland. My mother grew up in Birmingham almost a century ago, in a rambling, wood-framed house on Warsaw Street. It had sleeping porches for summer heat, and a coal furnace...

I have enjoyed Oprah Winfrey’s work on television since she showed up as the second banana on People are Talking with Richard Scher on WJZ in Baltimore, four decades ago. Now, she is the leading talk show host in the known universe. Although her audience has decreased from nearly 9 million in 2005 to 7.3 million in 2008, she is still the top of her profession. Oprah’s success demonstrates that several efforts of the current Administration to restrict both freedom of the press, and freedom of speech are both wrong and unconstitutional. There is a proposed bill in Congress which...