Free Republic

Lies in the Wind This past election season every politician on both sides of the isle had them in their commercials. Every oil, gas, or major energy company advertises with them in their publications, brochures, and public announcements. They are the answer to our energy problem, the solution to the global climate crisis. I am speaking of wind turbines; the massive structures being erected at break neck speeds across the Midwest and coastal regions. As an electrical engineer working for a power generation company, I have been naturally curious as to the actual application of this technology, its cost, performance...

It is truly sad, but undeniable that major elections in this country are decided by the most uninformed and indecisive 10-15% of us. The folks who are swayed by commercials, celebrity name status, or even the best looking, most well versed candidate, are currently deciding the future of our country. By successfully convincing these folks of the presence of non-existent grey areas, the Democrats recently gained significant political control of our country. Unfortunately, perception alone plays a large role of getting elected in today's political environment. True beliefs and positions on key issues mean little to the liberal Democrat running...

Feeling depressed, unnoticed and un-liked? Tired of being a nobody with no one? Well we've got just the remedy for you. Simply go insane and kill a bunch of innocent people and we'll go ahead and write you into the annuals of US history. Maybe you'll beat the current record body count, maybe you won't, but it is our mission statement to you that we will make you famous either way. While your planning your onslaught, please write down any and all of your nut case theories, stories, opinions, and anything else that is weighing heavy on your mind. We'll...

As we embark on another news cycle about the “shocking” event at Virginia Tech this week, I can already feel myself slipping into insanity over the ignorance of how it will be covered, and the conclusions that will be drawn. We will be forced to watch weeks and weeks of news coverage and talking heads analyzing how in the world such a tragedy could occur. On top of that, we will surely be lead down the path that the fault ultimately rests on the corrupt, and violent American gun culture. Maybe even Micheal Moore will throw out a few “I...

This week's State of the Union address makes me wonder how many in our country know the difference between the statements “Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” and the new and improved ”Life Liberty and the Guarantee of Happiness”? Apparently the latter is now the Utopian dream of both the Republican and Democratic parties. Yes, the Republicans may have been forced into it by the over zealous socialist dreams of the democrats, but nevertheless they are now on board. The modern problem we face in today's political scene is that most people would agree that the idea of everyone...

Over 200 years ago, a group of ticked off New Englanders stormed the docks of Boston Harbor in disguise, and proceeded to fling the contents of the tea ships overboard. What could have possibly provoked such an egregious reaction from the public you ask? The answer was.. an unrepresentative tax on their favorite social beverage. As I review my income and tax records for 2006, I am wondering why the same outrage is not felt today. I again realize looking at my past years' documents that every year I pay multiple thousands of dollars to a school district so that...

As I approach 30, I am beginning to look back on the scraps of wisdom I have gained thus far in my life. I look at the man I have become and find that it is harder and harder for me to relate to he views of most people every day. From my early teens to mid 20s I have had a major interest not so much in politics, but in the issues of the day, where certain demographics in this country came down on each of these issues, and why. The last couple of years however have been increasingly...

I have recently been informed, by watching the Oscars, that the business of sex trafficking must be very stressful. I suppose this is understandable as I can't imagine it is easy to keep numerous sex slaves in line, all while forcing them to abuse themselves for your own personal profit. Not to take away from the obvious hardships pimps must carry, but I would like to make a similar case for the burdens our society currently places on parents. Fortunately for most parents, we live in a society that will gladly raise our children for us. It is very easy...

Modern American society seems obsessed with the feminist culture. Women insist on equality with men, at any cost. With the noble goal freeing women from 5,000 years of brutal patriarchy, feminism has introduced into our culture wonderful ideas such as, unrestricted abortion, lack of personal responsibility to each other in relationships, and the overall destruction of the traditional family. However, in the case of abortion on demand, feminism is quickly destroying its base. It can be successfully argued that abortion destroys two lives, but for the sake of being unique, I only want to focus on “the other one” here....

With the recent news of six major US ports soon to be under Arab management, I am somewhat amazed at the uproar. Senators on BOTH sides of the isle are uniting against the White House in an effort to stop this impending tragedy. On the other hand the White House has quite insanely vowed a fight to the death to keep the deal on track. Why my surprise at these unfolding events, you ask yourself? Well, for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that any Senator on either side of the isle actually gives a crap about the...

A recent study by Emory University, found that when debating political hot topics and listening to debates from opposing candidates, both Democrats AND Republicans have knee jerk, emotional reactions to issues and ignore facts to reach whatever conclusions they had previously held. Well, they got it half right. The report on the study itself was vague, undetailed, and led a reader to believe it was probably unscientific and irrelevant. Find it here....... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379 After all, if a report on a study performed does not list the numbers of people in the control group, the specific stimulus applied, and the percentage...

A recent article apparently shocking enough to make cnn.com's front page yesterday boldly uncovered the fact that Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, “smacks” his kids. While this must be terribly horrific information to the left leaning viewers of this particular web site, it is hardly newsworthy to normal Americans. Reading the article I was suddenly reminded of a situation I found myself in a few years back, and which I will never put myself in again. Unless of course, Tony is by my side. My wife found out that a local Baptist church had a “parents night out” program where...

With the recent illness of Israel's Prime minister, and the ever more frequent inspirational speeches of Iran's cheery president, I believe 2006 will prove to be a busy one for 24 hour cable news networks. Certain inevitable circumstances are escalating almost daily to yield a situation of earthshaking proportions. On a regular basis in the past few months we have heard tidbit after glorious tidbit of insane talk from Iran. Whether it is their president spreading maniacal rhetoric like, the Holocaust was a ruse designed by the Jews to steal Palestinian land, or simply saying that Israel should be relocated...

A recent poll on worldnetdaily.com has me shocked to say the least. A highly conservative website, there is no fear of having these results polluted by leftist wackos and hippies, like some other internet polls out there(cnn.com?). This is perhaps why the numbers scare me so much. The poll question was worded, “Which political concern is the most important one for you?” The result had almost half of the respondents(47%) answering, border security. The abortion epidemic was a very distant second at around 12%. What has happened here? While border security is certainly a major issue, especially post 9/11, how...

Like any other service or product, abortion is driven by a market demand. Like it or not, there is a market for it, a lot of money to be made providing the service, thus creating an entire industry built around it. One of the few shortcomings of our economic system is that capitalism in itself has no conscience. This trait is left up to the individuals operating as the many moving parts of the capitalistic machine. If a conscience is absent, this machine with simply continue to function without one. Obviously, as a people we have failed in this aspect...

I'm starting a new organization purely for capitalistic purposes. Judging from recent opinion polls on Iraq, constant complaints of prisoner rights violations of “enemy combatants”, and the overall negative media reports on just about anything having to do with the war on terror, I believe membership will approach the 50 million range fairly quickly. My organization is going to be called People For the Ethical Treatment of Terrorists, or PETT for short. I'm going to charge five bucks a head, per year, as a membership fee. Cha-Ching...... The greatest thing about my new venture, is that the organization's goals and...

Christianity in America has taken on a certain social stigma as an escape for the weak minded and down trodden among us. Jesus Himself is looked upon by a large portion of Americans as a figure that certain insufficient adults need to cling to as a child clings to a teddy bear. Modern pop culture, is filled with contempt and mockery of Christians. One only need to watch people's reaction to a Christian evangelist in the street, to see the how widespread this attitude has become. So what is the truth? Is Christianity simply for weak minded people who have...

If the communities we live are have become an unreliable disaster for our kids we must redouble are efforts as parents. As a matter of fact maybe this should have been part one, as the individual family’s values shape the nature of the community (we could argue chicken and egg theory here). Now this next concept is pretty dramatic and complex, so hold on to your coffee. Here it is....More people need to make raising their kids the most important priority in their lives. This is not a revolutionary idea, but seems terribly hard for many folks to put into...

Growing up in a small Midwestern town with a population of a whopping 2500, most of the guys I ran with regularly kept guns in their cars. This made the after school hunting excursion very convenient. In our little school there was no lack of fighting, bullying, or other conflicts common to high schools across the nation. It was not unusual for a couple of kids to get in a scuffle in the hallway between classes, and sometimes even have such a serious disagreement that would call for a special “appointment” in the park after school. Sometimes the guy everybody...

Minorities in today's political landscape lean so far to the left one would think the Republican Party had a “whites only” clause. This is true especially among African Americans, who voted Democrat 9-1 in the last presidential election. How has this happened? Are all conservatives white elitists looking to keep the poor and “non-white” below them, both economically and socially? To find the answer all we need to do is look at a few undebatable FACTS to realize that the American left has succeeded in convincing an entire section of our population, mainly African Americans, to bet against themselves. It...