https://freerepublic.com/tag/by:parsifalca/ en-us Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:45:23 GMT Focus Forum 15 https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2427307/posts A Simple Idea The country has been turned upside down by the healthcare debate. Does anyone understand why this has to go through so fast? What’s the urgency? Why is any of it a good idea? Who has any proof? Of course, one might suspect that this isn’t about healthcare as much as it’s a power grab. Probably doesn’t take great political insight to figure that one out. Get it done before the 2010 election, right? Kind of an endgame… So, what’s this “YOU First Act” anyway? A pretty simple idea, really. If Congress truly believes that the nation’s healthcare... YouFirstAct.org https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2427307/posts#comment Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:45:23 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2102743/posts Where is the “Maverick?” Senator McCain likes to talk about his reputation as the Maverick of the Senate and a committed reformer. He thinks that the public already knows that. Well, sort of. Where is that guy? Everybody whoÂ’s paying even modest attention to this election knows this is a fight for the Middle. Barack Obama and his handler David Axelrod have this down cold. The voters in the Middle started paying attention around the time the Democrat convention ended. And what theyÂ’ve seen over the last six weeks is Cool Obama, Regular Guy Obama, “24″ David Palmer ObamaÂ… The... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2102743/posts#comment Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:19:38 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024626/posts Sleight-of-hand relies heavily on misdirection and distraction. The Proposition 99 campaign tries the same trick on voters, attempting to get Californians to look only where it wants, while ignoring the most important issues in eminent domain reform. Proposition 99 was crafted because Proposition 98 had qualified for the ballot with a good chance of winning, backed by many documented abuses of emotionally appealing “little guys” steamrollered by the politically powerful—i.e., to defend the beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse against real reform. 99 does nothing to restrict eminent domain to justifiable public uses. It “protects” only owner-occupied primary residences, while undermining... CaliforniaRepublic https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024626/posts#comment Mon, 2 Jun 2008 03:52:31 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024624/posts The June ballot is bringing rent control back into the spotlight. Proposition 98 would protect all Californians from abuses of eminent domain and phase out rent control. Proposition 99 is a decoy measure which would override Proposition 98 if it attracted more votes, written by beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse, that the Legislative Analyst concluded involved so little reform that it “is not likely to significantly alter current land acquisition practices.” Proposition 99 offers precious little protection. It wouldn’t protect farmland, churches, businesses or rental properties from eminent domain abuse. It wouldn’t restrict the almost unlimited purposes for which eminent... CaliforniaRepublic https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024624/posts#comment Mon, 2 Jun 2008 03:49:17 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024621/posts Protecting Californians from eminent domain abuses headlines our June ballot. There are two Propositions--98 and 99--that address the issue. However, both are portrayed as real reform by backers and as misleading scams by opponents, making it hard for voters to sort through the assertions. Given both propositions’ backers claim they intend to rein in government eminent domain abuses at the expense of property owners, the best approach is to ask which “reforms” would be most effective at restricting them. If the intent is to limit abuses, would we want to protect owners of all property—homes, farms, churches, businesses and rental... CaliforniaRepublic https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024621/posts#comment Mon, 2 Jun 2008 03:46:08 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023511/posts -- Woman says SATC inspired her to have sex at 14 -- ABC News.com is currently highlighting a Sex and the City- inspired story about a woman who says the HBO series inspired her to start having sex when she was 14. Will the networks news shows pick up the story or will it remain an "internet only" feature, not likely to be seen by a broad audience? The question is worth asking because ABC's Good Morning America was one of the first network morning news shows to salivate over last week's London opening of Sex and the City: The... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023511/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 14:06:13 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023508/posts Broadcast TV finally conveyed “Sex and the City” episodes to a wider public, albeit with a bit of editing here and there. The HBO breakout chick-flickette series gathered garlands and huzzahs, and a few brickbats, thru S&C’s long run on cable. It quickly saturated the post-HBO syndicated broadcast market, and fell short of many assessments by conservative voices. Much more mainstream than you’d have guessed, and far more than I’d guessed until the saturation distribution reached my eyes and ears. And analytical synapses. Now comes a summer release of the awaited feature film, with Big and Carrie rumored to wed.... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023508/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 14:01:23 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018052/posts Because California, and Hollywood in particular, have been the punch line for so many jokes over the years, I suspect that people who don’t live out here assume we can’t possibly be that wacky. They don’t know the half of it. In order for you to better understand what conservatives in this neck of the woods have to deal with, I’ll relate a few typical incidents. The first took place about 10 years ago. My wife and I were invited to a dinner party by the widow of a screenwriter who’d been my longtime tennis partner. We were one of... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018052/posts#comment Mon, 19 May 2008 13:57:31 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013016/posts [Note: for all of you Freepers who got all upset the first time this was posted... please note that Julia Gorin is a comedian... so, you should read this post with your irony and sarcasm glasses on... JP] The Washington Times recently reported that "the church where Sen. Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades publicly declares that its ministry is founded on a 1960s book that espouses ‘the destruction of the white enemy.’ Trinity United Church of Christ’s Web site says its teachings are based on the black liberation theology of James H. Cone and his 1969 book ‘Black... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013016/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 14:13:16 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013001/posts The Washington Times recently reported that "the church where Sen. Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades publicly declares that its ministry is founded on a 1960s book that espouses ‘the destruction of the white enemy.’ Trinity United Church of Christ’s Web site says its teachings are based on the black liberation theology of James H. Cone and his 1969 book ‘Black Theology and Black Power.’ …Conrad Worrill, a leader of the Chicago-based National Black United Front, said…’I think most black people would agree that what Jeremiah Wright said is the truth.’" It sure is ironic, then, that a parishioner... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013001/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 13:52:47 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011911/posts There are major differences between liberals and conservatives, and that’s why I never know what people such as Barack Obama are talking about when they speak of bringing us all together. And I suspect that Jeremiah Wright’s surrogate son doesn’t know, either. For instance, if I support the surge in Iraq and you insist on bringing the troops home by next Thursday, what’s our compromise? Bringing our troops only partway home? Say as far as the Canary Islands? If you’re in favor of same-sex marriages and I happen to think the whole idea is a very silly joke, where’s our... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011911/posts#comment Tue, 6 May 2008 13:58:26 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011908/posts According liberals, they are tolerant, open-minded, sensitive to complexity and nuance, and wary of simplistic explanations. So why is a column by the liberal Michael Hirsh, in the liberal newsweekly Newsweek, so intolerant, close-minded, simplistic and bigoted? Hirsh’s piece sounds the alarm over the fact that “Southernism” has taken over the “national dialogue” and has “transformed the sensibility of the country, . . .setting the agenda for our political, social and religious mores.” What alerted Hirsh to this “Southernization of our national politics” was a piece in The New York Times about the elimination from the American Idol television show... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011908/posts#comment Tue, 6 May 2008 13:57:15 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002306/posts I have written two plays for my kids to perform based on the sinking of the Titanic, surely a strange parenting technique, and have been interested in the doomed liner most of my life. One of the plays will be performed this weekend, so if you are near Biola University in Los Angeles, you can get my take on what the sinking of Titanic meant. For the rest of the cosmos, including the better looking, better educated, and more socially aware that will not condescend to see me cling to my outmoded religion due to economic bitterness by writing a... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002306/posts#comment Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:07:34 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002301/posts Here’s an informative news analysis: “The session of Congress beginning tomorrow may not do much – a little bread and a few circuses – but it may well vote a 5-cent increase in the gasoline tax, the idea being to repair highways, bridges, and so on, and to put some of the unemployed back to work. Practically everybody says it’s a nice idea. But the Democrats want to spend the money where unemployment is highest; the Republicans want to spend the money where the repairs need to be made. And the two are not always in the same places. …... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002301/posts#comment Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:04:17 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001804/posts A while back, I admitted that John McCain was not among my three favorite candidates for the Republican nomination. But I went on to say that if he emerged as the standard bearer for the GOP, he would get my vote. And to tell you the truth, I don’t feel I’ll have to bite the bullet in November so much as maybe gum it a little bit. Needless to say, I have been hearing from a great many conservative hardliners. Among the things they’ve called me are sell-out, traitor, closet liberal and a mole for the Democrats. When a few... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001804/posts#comment Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:30:37 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1991831/posts Bernard Lewis’ studies of Islam and Arabic society are conducted by this Princeton prince of intellect without ever entering the home of Islam, forbidden to enter the Hejaz by the Saudi government. His studies have gotten no closer than Turkey’s academic sources, for Mr. Lewis, author of many learned pieces of many lengths on Islam, Muhammad [PBUH] and Arabism is a Jew. He’s never had access to the Ka’aba, Islam’s mosque of central symbolism in the heart of Mecca. He’s never viewed Medina where Muhammad [PBUH] died, but does have access to the famed ‘far mosque’ in Jerusalem – for... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1991831/posts#comment Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:30:14 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990587/posts by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter] 3/24/08 Most 12-step programs start out by requiring that people have to understand that they’re powerless over their addiction and that only by turning their lives over to a Power greater than themselves can they be restored to sanity. Far be it from me to suggest that I am that Power, but clearly someone has to step in and try to rescue these poor liberal souls. Even the most harebrained among them deserves that much. First, though, they have to acknowledge that Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Dick Durbin, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and Charles... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990587/posts#comment Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:48:47 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1989377/posts Barack Obama’s attempt to defuse the crisis in his presidential campaign caused by videos of his “spiritual mentor’s” bigoted sermons has been spun as “the most significant public discussion of race in decades,” as The New York Times gushed. In fact, Obama merely recycled the tired received wisdom about race in America, the same clichés and nostrums peddled by television, government programs, movies, and just about every classroom in America. That this old racial script is being touted as some sort of fresh and “honest” discussion of race in America proves just the opposite. Liberal Americans, both black and white,... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1989377/posts#comment Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:36:08 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1977112/posts Senator Clinton will never be president. Obama would be a fool to put her on a ticket and he is no fool. Against a weak field, cleared out for her, she failed. She is a phenomenally weak campaigner who is exhausted by crowds and people. She is smart, perhaps having the most book smarts in the race, but she has not “people intelligence.” To give just one example of her bad ear for the “people” side of debate: [more @ ExileStreet] ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1977112/posts#comment Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:19:45 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1959455/posts It is a little ironic that at a festival called "Sundance" I have spent upwards of twelve hours a day, sitting in a sometimes-cramped seat, completely in the dark. But, rightly considered, the "Sun" – the truth claims embedded in the films shown here – represents the light the filmmakers possess, and the dance is the dialogue that follows between the creators and their audiences. Coming here is nothing like seeing a movie at your local cineplex. It is, at turns, more delightful and more dangerous (but more on that in the next installment). I was invited to Sundance as... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1959455/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:41:08 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957051/posts Some years ago, I was a movie reviewer. I started out at UCLA, reviewing for the Daily Bruin, and then moved on to be the first critic for Los Angeles magazine. All told, I stuck it out for about a dozen years. What I didn’t realize at the time was that, all in all, I had had it pretty good. But it took seeing a rash of movies recently to drive that point home. At least back then, the inflated egos of the director and the star didn’t make it inevitable that every movie would run well over two hours.... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957051/posts#comment Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:52:19 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1943914/posts Usually, when people say they’re not religious, they’re looking to pick a fight or at least start an argument. That’s probably because people who identify themselves as atheists or agnostics are often as dogmatic as Cotton Mather and have merely made a religion of their own non-belief. In my case, however, religion simply plays no role in my life. Or perhaps I should say institutionalized religion, seeing as how I very much subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system. It’s the reason that I’m so grateful that two sets of Russian Jewish grandparents had the guts to pack up their kids... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1943914/posts#comment Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:37:41 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942766/posts In the late 90s, when the damage of having a reckless buffoon, communist sympathizer and for-sale “leader of the free world” in the White House came to fruition, the only thing that allowed me to sleep at night was the sure knowledge that Christopher Ruddy was in the world. He’s the guy who started Newsmax, an outfit which, as one of my editors then scoffed, “is founded on Clinton-bashing”—to which I replied that I couldn’t think of a higher calling. At night, I would drift off to sleep thanks only to the quiet assurance that someone in the world was... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942766/posts#comment Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:46:33 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942659/posts If you want the wide-angle-lens view of a conflict, ask the generals. But if you want up-close-and-personal snapshots of war, talk to the street-level NCOs. Three senior sergeants serving with the 1st Infantry Division's Dragon (4th) Brigade took time away from leading their troops in Baghdad's former badlands to share with their views of where we are in the war - and where we're headed. First Sgt. Todd Hood is "Top" in the Delta Destroyers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry; 1st Sgt. Travis Wewers has the Bravo Barracudas of the 4th Brigade's Special Troops Battalion, and Master Sgt. Michael... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942659/posts#comment Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:43:14 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941712/posts Yepsen is aboard, plus Barone, as are other me-too reconsidering pundits. Fred done good. Held firm. Told that prune-faced lefty hostess with the leastest, No way. No hands. No mo’. Will it lead to the long-overdue ‘Big Mo’mentum, so long awaited? Fred got ‘demoted’ in an chat this summer, by my poor vision or poor memory, from admiral to ship’s captain for his role in “The Hunt For Red October” – I’d thought I saw an eagle on his shirt lapel in that two-shot scene in the largest ‘conference room’ you’ll ever see in a navy ship, even a capital... ExileStreet https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941712/posts#comment Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:02:26 GMT