Free Republic

WASHINGTON, February 15, 2012 – Each February, Americans enjoy a holiday to reflect upon the accomplishments of their Presidents. In this election year, the place to start is with the tenure of President Barack Hussein Obama. Back on Election Day 2008, some giddy enthusiasts were already considering where to place a likeness of Obama on the face of Mt. Rushmore along side the craggy visages of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Since I am still a young buck, I am often surprised to read past works of financial commentators who I respect very much and find that their commentary reflects present trends. I was directed by the excellent Felix Salmon to an article that Michael Lewis wrote in 1992 about Mr. Buffet's rescue of the troubled Salomon Brothers.  His windfall came out of the shareholders' pockets, since his cheap option dilutes the value of the existing shares. Although a few of them sued, the deal never met the popular resistance it deserved, mainly because it involved Buffett. Public feeling was that...

The level of orwellian control Obama has been exercising here must be brought up. He emphasizes that this process will be "quick", "efficient", and "controlled". If this doesn't terrify you, you aren't thinking about it. To characterize Barack Obama's actions here as unjust is close to a patriotic imperative. Barack has been able to draw those banks that have accepted TARP money to his heel and force them to abide by his diktat as concerns the Chrysler bankrupcy. It should be a gigantic; neon exclamation point that those who object to the government's handling of this event are those who...

THEY don’t come much more blue-chip than General Electric of the US. The company – valued at nearly $350 billion (£178 billion) – is almost like a nation state. It’s seen as the ultimate safe bet – powerful, genuinely global, diversified. And when the company produced its 2007 results last month, GE was able to boast record earnings. From jet engines to windpower turbines, from refrigerators to railway locomotives, GE has its finger in every industrial pie. And while other companies have been buffeted by the turbulence of the credit crunch, GE has apparently remained above it all. At the...

Thank you for opening this. I'm writing an essay on the nature of liberal guilt, its causes/etcetera. I'm looking for the viewpoints of tons of people for doing my research. Please fill out the questionnaire below...leave your name and i will cite you in the bibliography! Thanks So much, William Ortel Have you ever suffered from a bout with liberal guilt? What are characteristics of liberal guilt? Where does it stem from? What are its causes? Does liberal guilt neccesarily follow party affiliations (Can republicans catch it too?) What sectors of our society are most prone to be infected with...

Forty years after the voters’ rights act, it is arguable that the black American is in a worse place than he was back then. Why is that? Because he/she is constantly being told about the numerous black people who have advanced to higher stations in life, like Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, and various black executives. I must, however remind the reader of a time-tested adage: The exception proves the rule. The fact that certain people have escaped the poverty inherent to the ghettoes such as Harlem and Compton in the united states means absolutely nothing, under funded schools and cultural...

“Breeding Evil” is the headline of this week’s London Economist magazine. What is the subject matter? With such a dramatic headline, surely it must be something like an expose on terrorist camps, or perhaps the mechanism by which new suicide bombers are recruited, or perhaps even how bush’s treatment of the China/Taiwan issue will lead to problems down the road; however, what’s the story really about? Its subtitle is “The real impact of videogames.” While this article concludes with a profound statement: that the argument over videogames is nothing more than the argument over Rock n’ Roll in the fifties,...

In writing an essay, the first thing one is taught is to present a thesis in a clear and unmistakable fashion. Thus; my thesis: in these days, compromise will not work. If you ask any American these days to mention three people who they consider to be evil, three people will be surely mentioned, those people? Hitler, Stalin, and Osama Bin Laden. Of those three, two of them are men with which compromise did not work. Why, then, do people seem to think it will work with the latter? As an American high school student, I’m often faced with the...

In writing an essay, the first thing one is taught is to present a thesis in a clear and unmistakable fashion. Thus; my thesis: in these days, compromise will not work. If you ask any American these days to mention three people who they consider to be evil, three people will be surely mentioned, those people? Hitler, Stalin, and Osama Bin Laden. Of those three, two of them are men with which compromise did not work. Why, then, do people seem to think it will work with the latter? As an American high school student, I’m often faced with the...

Why would you ever be a republican? That’s the question I’m most often greeted with when I “come out” to friends as a conservative. It’s a pretty simple answer for most, “because I think it’s right” or some such thing. Pundits would have us believe that republicanism is either the cure-all for a world gone painfully awry or a belief held exclusively by greedy fat cats with summer houses on cape cod who drive BMW’s. Well, I don’t think that my beliefs are going to save the world, I’m only a 16-year-old kid, and I drive an inherited Volkswagen. So...

A rebuttal is at the bottom of this article. Op/Ed - Cynthia Tucker BUSH CAMPAIGN PROFITS FROM VETS' SLIMY ATTACKS ON KERRY Sat Aug 28, 8:00 PM ET By Cynthia Tucker It is an axiom of normal human behavior that one is embarrassed when caught flat-footed in a lie. That axiom, however, does not apply to the Swift boat critics of John Kerry (news - web sites). When caught cold in one lie, they simply move to the next. The latest news reports shed light on the prevarications of John O'Neill, who succeeded Kerry as commander of Swift boat PCF-94....

alright, one thing that tends to be missed by liberal commentators is that this is a war! during vietnam and those wars, were there bulletins written by some wussy reuters guy saying "one guy got a boo boo?" we've been at war for 3 years. less than 20,000 people have died. i think we're doing pretty well.

Democrats prove they don't know what they're talking about again today in their blastings of the bush administration for not creating enough new jobs. The bush administration has been creating new jobs, just not in the democratic sense which involves going out and paying people to run un-needed toll booths or build unneccesary bridges. George Bush has been creating jobs that don't tax the economy, private sector jobs. An important distinction between private sector and public sector jobs is the issue of who pays for them. when one is dealing with a public sector job, the taxpayer pays for it....

Inaugural Column Skimmington rides were most common in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. Wives and husbands were subjected to ridicule and shame by their communities when they committed offenses against marriage and society. The offense would be recreated by imposters who would then be set on a horse or post and carried through town to the accompaniment of great noise. A the conclusion of the ceremony, whose original intent seems to have been shaming both members of the marriage, the offending wife or husband would be heaped in dung or cast into a pond. It is interesting to...

What did The war on iraq really do to the united nations? Ever since the first hut-buster bomb was dropped in baghdad, International and domestic naysayers alike have been questioning our methods and the actual act. But one of the largest choruses of liberal opinion has been that in our action we have undermined the authority that the U.N. Had. Howeeever, my simple question to them is this, How does enforcing a U.N resolution undermine it´s the authority of the governmental body issuing said resolution? The fact that we are even debating this is proof that the liberal b.s. machine...

so·ci·e·ty ( P ) n. pl. so·ci·e·ties The totality of social relationships among humans. A group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture. The institutions and culture of a distinct self-perpetuating group. mor·al ( P ) Pronunciation Key (môrl, mr-) adj. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary. re·li·gion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-ljn) n. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the...