Free Republic

I like the phrase "Big Abortion" which I've noticed people using here lately. We need additional catchy phrases that will stick in people's minds.

A woman's right to kill.
Contraceptional-Abortional Complex.

"A woman's right to kill" is a good one. "Contraceptional-Abortional Complex" isn't. Feminists are always claiming that the pro life movement's real goal is to ban all contraceptives. Your slogan plays right into their hands.

Haven't watched Letterman since he made such an ass of himself when he interviewed Bush. It was disgraceful. Won't watch him again until he apologizes for his behavior, and I don't think he will, so I could give a flip where this loyalty-free jerkoff ends up next. I wish he'd end up off the air.

One interesting thing about Dave's politics. Back in 1988 someone asked him who he was voting for and he answered "Ron Paul." He didn't seem to be kidding either. From that, his anti-communist bits during the 80s, some comments he's made about high taxes, and his hostility to Limbaugh I'd say he's politically libertarian and culturally liberal.

Most kids have lots of discretionary money. Whether they get it from working at McDonalds or from parents who don't spend much time with their kids can be debated. Who goes to the movies the most? Who buys the most cd's? Who play all the video games? Who needs the hip name brand clothes?

I saw a 3rd grader I subbed this afternoon in a mini-mart and he flashed me a $20 bill he had to spend. I mentally began translating that into hours of work (my subbing, his mom's hourly wage, etc.) Maybe he had a birthday, I sure hope so.

Exactly. Older people could spend more money if they wanted to but they need a better reason than seeing a commercial a few dozen times. Also whatever brand loyalty they have has long since been etched in stone. Advertisers don't want to waste time chipping away at that. They prefer the proverbial young skulls full of mush.

But there are old people who buy silly crap on impulse. Just listen to Art Bell's commercials.

It sounds like you're not using massive amounts of third-party software, so you might want to consider joining the Macintosh community. We have no tiresome and privacy-sapping product activation, and most people using Macs think they are wonderful. Perhaps best of all, you lose that tiresome impression that you are a serf for Bill.

Yes. Then instead of being stuck with a proprietary OS you can be stuck with a proprietary OS that only works on overpriced patented hardware from a single manufacturer.

Crush! Kill! Destroy!

Sorry I just can't stop laughing at that picture.

It will have no effect on anyone's life whether we run a deficit or surplus this year or the next or the one after that.

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about five trillion dollars.

Taxes GOOOOOOOOD!!! Fire BAAAAAAAAD!!!

If you will not be turned then you will be destroyed!

America's future? World's only superpower keep that foreign gravy train of aid, trade, and troops flowing till you drop. Keep the good times rolling. What is going on in the Coliseum circus today? What's on TV? Tax cuts anyone? More condoms? Vote for me.

Trade and tax cuts don't belong on that list.

Love the chair.

Now, is the time for America First Buchananites and Reformers to unite behind one conservative candidate--Alan Keyes in preparation for the inevitable presidential contests and rematch of 2004.

If Dubya screws up badly enough to lose the primary to some other republican the democrat will win the general election. If Dubya doesn't screw up there will be no serious challenge. Needless to say Keyes is not a serious challenge.

The multi-billion dollar porn industry is not propped up by guys in trenchcoats, but by hypocrites who watch it all week, who then spend an hour in church each Sunday listening tho their minister preach against the evils of pornography, and then say "Amen".

No more than forty percent of people in the U.S. attend church regularly. Maybe some of them are paying customers of the pornographers. Probably some are. But not necessarily many. The unchurched sixty percent provide more than enough people to account for the demand.

We seem to have done just fine without the gold bugs since about 1980. Gold buggery is a red herring. The money supply can be controlled without reverting to the inert metal. And it takes is will and discipline and skill. And at that, the US has had an exemplary record for two decades, thanks in large part to Volker and Greenspan, two gentlemen who have done at least as much good on this planet in the last 50 years than any I can readily think of.

If they'd done a good job the dollar wouldn't have lost half its value in the past 20 years.

By the way, liberty either comes from God, or it's manmade and therefore arbitrary and worthless.

If manmade things are arbitrary and worthless why is human life sacred?

Here is another irony: By the time the abortion-loving baby boomers reach retirement age, there will not be enough young working age people to support their social security! Lovely.

That was always in the cards. It was just a matter of time. Ponzi schemes inevitably collapse in the end.

Now, what exactly makes it crap... the fact that you don't like it, or the fact that it is true? If it is not true, then tell us why it isn't. Or is this kind of truth, the reporting of something someone verifiably saw, and not rumor or exaggeration, something you'd rather not read?

This sort of petty inquisitorial nonsense is what scares a lot of people about conservatism. What do you want, to bring prohibition back? Let he who has never been drunk cast the first stone.

I kinda wish NewsMax would leave this stuff alone. The fact that an adult is drinking is hardly news, even if said adult is Chelsea Clinton. Conservatives complain that the press won't leave the Bush daughters alone, but don't hold themselves to the same standards.

When I read stuff like that article all I can think is thank God my father isn't a politician.

What is it about Harry Potter that you think gives it staying power? Just curious.

I've only read the first book and seen the movie so I can't comment on the quality of the series as a whole but I think it has staying power because, in the world of children's fads which generally last a year or two at most (remember pogs?), the Harry Potter phenomenon is in its fourth year with no end in sight. When was the last time people were lined up outside bookstores waiting for the release of a novel? The only comparable event in recent memory was the people (many of them adults) who lined up outside stores awaiting the arrival of the Phantom Menace toys. Using that as the benchmark I suspect Harry Potter is on par with Star Wars in terms of long term success. How Harry Potter stacks up to a literary phenomenon like LOTR, which, if you include The Hobbit, has lasted for 64 years and shows no sign of abating (probably in response to the publicity generated by the new LOTR film The Hobbit sold over one million copies last year, up from a few hundred thousand the previous year) it is too early to say. But I wouldn't be surprised to find that, as they say in the business, it has legs.

So, assuming that I'm right and it's more than a flash in the pan, why do I think this is? Based on the one book and movie I've read and seen I will venture a guess. I think Harry Potter is a very congenial fantasy to just the sort of children who are most likely to read relatively sophisticated books like Harry Potter. They find ordinary Muggles just as boring as Harry does. When Harry discovers he's a not just a wizard but possibly one of the most powerful wizards you can be sure that every little kid with coke bottle glasses is beaming with joy. Then he gets to go to Hogwart's, which combines the ordinary day to day troubles of school (which any child can identify with) with a labyrinth of adventure (which he wishes he could explore).

All of that, is, of course quite formulaic. (There's a more than passing resemblence between Harry Potter and Skywalker Sr. & Jr.) The tricky part which will thwart most would-be imitators is the creation of a fascinating world for their protagonist to explore.

Which, come to think of it, is the same thing that has eluded all the men who would be Tolkien for all these years.

Um...no. I'll wait until after the beginning of the year when schools are back in session. That way I can see LOTR in the afternoon without having to sit in an audience filled with teenyboppers. This group tends to make the most noise.

The teenyboppers at the showing I was at were giggling and talking for the first thirty seconds. After that I think the movie had them under a spell. (It surely had me) They were totally respectful throughout and the only sound they made was to join in the applause.

Really great films can do that.

The worst part of the movie was when it ended because I didn't want it to end. I would have gladly watched six more hours like the first three. The locations are gorgeous, the monsters horrifying, the battles thrilling, and what a cast! Viggo Mortensen, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, John Rhys-Davies, Sean Bean and Christopher Lee are perfectly cast. Ian McKellen IS Gandalf. I cannot praise this movie enough!

Forget Harry Potter (which was great) - THIS is the real movie of the year. I just hope Peter Jackson can maintain this quality for the next two.