Free Republic

Why the disconnect between conservative electoral wins these last thirty-five years, and how leftward American culture and law has slithered? How did it come to this? Thought being the father of action, ineffective efforts spring from flawed worldviews. Our ballot box wins having proven at best delaying actions against the Left’s Borg-like assimilation of the United States, it is time for conservatives to take a hard look at how conservatism views itself and the Left. Ultimately, much of the problem results from certain conceptual metaphors inherent in modern conservatism. Change those metaphors, and different, more effective actions will result. [skip]...

(From the site's blog) Welcome to the new Tank Chair website! We strongly believe that the Tank Chair is the superior off-road vehicle of choice for the disabled. TC Mobility has poured countless hours into building the most feature rich and capable machine for those in need. As a result, we felt the need to design a website which really expresses our vision and to better outline the specifications of the tankchair. We urge our existing and potential customers to use this site to gather information, provide feedback and experiences, and join the community based around the Tank Chair. TC...

We've all seen calls for a third party (which would be disastrous I think, given the lack of success third parties have had since 1860) and countering calls for taking control of the Republican Party. But what has been distinctly missing is any idea of how to do either of these things. I'm not going to bother about how to form a third party, as I think it would be at best a waste of time. Instead, I'm going to present an idea and a website that gives concrete instructions on how to start to take control of the Republican...

My church is promoting participation in my town's annual Crop Walk. A fellow conservative member of the church has asked me to do some research on the Crop Walk organization and see if they have any particular social and/or political agenda beyond feeding the hungry and helping with Third World rural development. I looked at their website, (www.cropwalk.org) but couldn't really tell one way or the other. Do any of you have any knowledge about this organization and its administration? Thanks!

I've been a registered Republican since I first came of voting age. I always thought that the Republican Party most closely reflected the values and beliefs I held dear, and was serious about working toward putting them into effect. I joined others among the conservative grass-roots members of the party in deriding Republican elected officials who denigrated conservative principles and were only interested in personal power as "RINOs," Republicans In Name Only. I've come to believe in the past few months, after watching Republicans in positions of power actively pushing away conservative values and beliefs and calling those of us...

I was chatting with a friend via email a few days ago and he told me, "I've been reading a lot lately about the 150 years before Caesar took the Dictatorship of Rome and there seems some parallels between then and now. In fact a little scary. One of the problems the Roman's had was weaknesses in their constitution and balance of power between the Senate and Executive branch is seemed." I replied, "I used to think it was just aging and the natural belief that things were better when I was younger, but I've come to believe that we...

I just got a call from the RNCC, asking me to donate again. I immediately said no, the Republicans had lost me as a donor till they start to show me that they will act on the conservative principles they claim to hold. The fellow on the phone started getting very argumentative and almost nasty about having to take back the Congress from the Democrats. I told him that they needed to show me some actual conservative actions, not just promises to get my money and support and then the back of the hand after I'd done my part. We...

Here's something that I posted a day or two ago on the forum site for my home-town newspaper, mainly to try to cause some strokes among the whacko lefties there: "OK, this is going to irritate a bunch of you I suspect. SGould [a leftie who admantly denies being one, and even denies being the person referred to in his listed email address :) ] is adamant that religion has no place in public discourse. I expect that view is generally agreed with by the liberal contingent here. Religion shouldn't be promulgated or exercised on public property, or in any...

This was just posted to a web forum hosted by my local newspaper. Before I comment on it to the poster (who has posted before that he's a registered Republican, but who is a frothing liberal), I want to find out if anyone here knows anything about this. If Freepers really did this, I'm ashamed. But I have a hard time believing that, especially since DU is mentioned. In fact, as I re-read it I notice that there are no checkable or verifiable facts here. What can you all tell me about this? Here then is the post: This is...

This is the beginning of a statement of principles for the organization we're trying to start. It came out of a Townhall meetup, where we decided that we wanted to be more than just a kvetching get-together. I envision it as an educational society, to explain conservatism to people in terms they will understand and agree with. Once we get them to understand the fundamental underpinnings of our beliefs, we should be able to enlist their help in putting them into practice. This is just the beginning of this statement of principles, and any observations and suggestions will be greatly...

This was posted here back in mid-April, but I think it bears reposting for those who haven't seen it and would like to help: "Fellow citizens, When American citizens of good will look at Iraq today, the most poignant question heard is: "What can I do?" At the Spirit of America we answer that question not with rhetoric, but with action. Our answer is direct aid to the people of Iraq. Working closely with the United States Marines, the Spirit of America finds real needs of real people and fills them; quickly, efficiently, and without bureaucratic log jams. By matching...

MAKE CALLS FOR TOOMEY [KJL] A friend of NRO and Toomey e-mails (i.e. it's on the up-and-up): "Conservatives across the country know how important it is to defeat Sen. Arlen Specter (RINO-Scotland) in the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday. Here's a way for conservatives everywhere to help. Turn-out is incredibly important in this tight race, and Toomey will be running phonebanks to reach as many Pennsylvania Republicans as possible - but they can use more volunteers. Anyone who would like to make calls this weekend for Toomey's campaign - no matter where you live - can just email electtoomey@yahoo.com. You'll be...

I've been a subscriber to Scientific American for about 35 years. It has been my primary source of information and education about science, a deep interest of mine. However, in the past few years the magazine's increasingly strident left-wing bias has become more and more difficult to swallow. I've decided to let my subscription lapse. But I need my science! :-) Does anyone have any suggestions on what publication I can subscribe to that can keep me up-to-date on happenings in science and technology at approximately the technical level of Scientific American, but which doesn't push any political agenda? I...

My priest's wife told me about this site this morning after liturgy. I've never seen it before, but it's hilarious! The Onion Dome - Orthodox News with a Twist

I was just talking to another volunteer in our Pat Toomey for US Senate campaign here in Pennsylvania, and the discussion turned to President Bush's immigration reform and border control proposals. Neither of us were particularly happy with the proposals, but neither of us had much better ideas, either. But in talking it out, we came up with what I think is an intriguing idea that I'd like to get some of your thoughts on. Here it is. It seems obvious to us that short of erecting a DMZ across our entire southern border we're not going to be able...

This is important to bring up, I think. In 1971, John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he had committed war crimes in VietNam. This is well-known, but I don't think the significance of it has been thought through yet. Either he was telling the truth and we have a confessed war criminal running for president of the USA on the Democratic ticket, or he was lying and we have a deeply disturbed individual running (for what other kind of individual would confess to fictitious war crimes?). It must be either one or the other. There isn't...

Saul Alinsky died in 1972. He was a Marxist grassroots organizer who spent much of his life organizing rent strikes and protesting conditions of the poor in Chicago in the 1930s. However, unlike Christian socialist and activist for the poor Dorothy Day, Alinsky's real claim to fame was as strategist for anti-establishment '60s radicals and revolutionaries. Indeed, Alinsky wrote the rule book for '60s radicals like Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Miller and Nancy Pelosi. He considered Hillary Rodham to be one of his better students and asked her to join him in his efforts as an organizer of radical...

What is required of a congressional resolution for it to be a declaration of war under the Constitution? Does it have to unequivocally say, "A state of war exists between the United States and [insert belligerent's name here]?" If not, then does the resolution authorizing the president to take all necessary measures against Iraq constitute a declaration of war? Is it possible for Congress to inadvertently declare war? I'd really like to be able to make the case that we've already declared war against Iraq, but I'm not sure about all this. Oh, I know that Congress doesn't want to...

Corporates evading Microsoft Corp's unpopular new licensing program by renewing existing contracts have caused an unexpected spike in both net and unearned revenues for the first fiscal quarter 2003. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp yesterday announced a 26% jump in net revenue to $7.75bn with a $1.4bn jump in unearned revenue to $914m for the three months to September 30. Microsoft attributed the spike to a headlong rush by corporates renewing their existing Upgrade Advantage (UA) contracts before the program officially expired on July 31. Microsoft launched the replacement Software Assurance (SA) under the Licensing 6.0 program, introduced on August 1....

Oklahoma Congressman turned Republican gubernatorial nominee Steve Largent blurted out an obscenity during a taped television interview that aired Sunday night, referring to an interviewer's questions as "bull---t." The incident occurred when KOKH-TV anchorman Andrew Speno questioned the one-time football star about his whereabouts on Sept. 11, 2001. Largent was hunting in Idaho at the time and didn't learn of the attacks until two days afterwards. However, while he was in the woods, his staff released a statement with Largent's reaction even though they hadn't been in touch with him. Speno also pressed the former congressman on where he was...