Free Republic

If you ask most supporters of Sen. Barack Obama why they so fervently want him to be elected President, they will tell you about their deep yearning for "change." And that, of course, has been the theme of the Obama campaign from its inception -- "change." It is the word found on nearly all the placards at Obama rallies. It is the word most often cited by the candidate himself. But for all its ubiquity and for all the passion of its advocates, what this change is about is not entirely clear. Of course, Obama himself often has spoken about...

Across the electric wires, the hum is ceaseless: Give it up, loser. Don’t go down with the ship when it’s swept away by the Obama tsunami. According to newspaper reports, polls show that most people believe newspaper reports claiming that most people believe polls showing that most people have read newspaper reports agreeing that polls show he’s going to win. In the words of Publishers’ Clearing House, he may already have won! The battleground states have all turned blue, the reddest of red states are rapidly purpling. Don’t you know, little fool? You never can win. Use your mentality, wake...

Across the electric wires, the hum is ceaseless: Give it up, loser. Don’t go down with the ship when it’s swept away by the Obama tsunami. According to newspaper reports, polls show that most people believe newspaper reports claiming that most people believe polls showing that most people have read newspaper reports agreeing that polls show he’s going to win. In the words of Publishers’ Clearing House, he may already have won! The battleground states have all turned blue, the reddest of red states are rapidly purpling. Don’t you know, little fool? You never can win. Use your mentality, wake...

In the 19th century Americans took very seriously Washington’s warning against “entangling alliances” which might interfere with the country’s unfolding “Manifest Destiny” of dynamic growth and expansion. A corollary to this belief was that the “Great American Democracy” was a unique-perhaps even divinely inspired-form of political organization vastly superior to the Old World’s tired regimes of aristocratic privilege and downtrodden masses. In the 20th century America entered upon the world stage powerfully and decisively coming to the aid of embattled European democracies and leading them to victory in two World Wars and the Cold War. Launching these extraordinary interventions were...

Impoverished German children dream of the USA; one Greek person in four is behind with their most basic bills; sixty per cent of the poor in Romania have outdoor toilets. Cracks are appearing in Europe's beloved image of itself as the egalitarian alternative to the United States, writes Per Wirtén. What do we really know about poverty in Europe? Not a lot. The constant flow of facts, images and stories from the other side of the Atlantic means I know more about American poverty than its European counterpart. There is a steady stream of books and articles about "the working...

Fifty years ago I was a schoolboy in a Liverpool suburb and a strong supporter of Everton like Rhys Jones. My parents were cautious and loving, but they had no qualms about letting me follow the team around the country. That a boy might be killed by a drive-by shooter as he was returning from his local soccer practice would have struck them as an episode in a Latin American coup rather than a possibility in their relatively tranquil lives. Not unreasonably. In 1955, the anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer described this tranquillity in his book Exploring English Character: "When we think...

A major reason the United States has experienced more economic growth than most developed countries is that unions and the government have, for the most part, been sensible enough to recognize both differences in job requirements and in personal preferences, says Richard Rahn, director general of the Center for Global Economic Growth. Nowhere is this more evident than within the European Union (EU). Rigid work rules have handcuffed employers and employees with mandatory breaks and days off that completely ignore the necessity of "crunch time" at busy firms, or the freedom for employees to choose their own schedules, and to...

A greater number of voters believe a referendum on the EU constitution should go ahead in the Republic despite its rejection by the French and Dutch people, but more would vote to reject than ratify it, according to the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll, writes Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent. Some 45 per cent believe the referendum should go ahead, 34 per cent that it should not and 21 per cent don't know or have no opinion. Should the referendum proceed, 35 per cent would vote to reject the constitution, 30 per cent to accept it, while 35 per...

With the European Union agreeing on January 31 to lift the sanctions that it imposed on Cuba in 2003 after Fidel Castro imprisoned 75 political dissidents, European officials will be resuming their visits to the island. Spain's government pushed for the policy switch that critics have labeled a victory for appeasement. Cuban dissidents and exiles, Spanish opposition parties, human rights organizations and former Czech President Vaclav Havel have denounced the new policy as an abomination. Still, in foreign affairs as complicated as those involving Cuba, there are rarely any clear-cut victories. Madrid's proposal triggered a welcome and enlightening debate on...

Britain has one of the world’s most ineffective police forces and highest crime rates, according to an authoritative report to be published this week. It says the police spend too much time behind desks instead of tackling and preventing crime. The result, it says, is that crime is “a very low-risk activity for the criminal”. America, France and Germany have suffered similar sharp rises in crime to Britain since the 1960s but have tackled them more effectively, the report says. British police have failed to focus on prevention of crime and zero tolerance of low-level disorder and antisocial behaviour, it...

PARIS -- U.S. diplomats here respond to Jacques Chirac's continued Yankee-bashing following George W. Bush's re-election by saying the French president is out of step with his people, who are not nearly that anti-American. But thoughtful Frenchmen believe President Chirac is mining a deep vein of sentiment among fellow citizens that transcends President Bush. During a week in Paris, I encountered none of the rudeness I had been warned to expect because of my nationality. However, the question goes beyond amenities to visitors. One French intellectual described anti-Americanism to me as ''a cancer that is sweeping across the country.'' It...

Italy's nominee to become the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs commissioner failed on Monday to win the backing of the European Parliament's Justice Committee, days after testifying that he considers homosexuality a sin. The panel narrowly failed to endorse Rocco Buttiglione, who is currently Italy's European Affairs minister, said Jean-Louis Bourlanges, chairman of the Justice Committee. The committee voted 27-26 not to recommend Buttiglione, officials said. The vote caused a political storm in Italy, with politicians on the right coming to Buttiglione's defense and many on the left attacking the government's choice of candidate. During a confirmation hearing last...

Piggybank theft row damages Schröder Luke Harding in Berlin Thursday August 5, 2004 The Guardian Gerhard Schröder ignited a political row yesterday over plans to slash benefits for children of unemployed parents who have more than €750 (£500) in piggybank savings. As part of its controversial attempt to reform Germany's welfare state, the chancellor's red-green coalition intends to overhaul welfare for the unemployed from next year. Yesterday government officials confirmed that the amount of benefit paid to the children of unemployed parents, now €207 a month, would be slashed if the children had more than €750 in savings accounts. The...

Prodi: 'radical change' needed for EU to catch US 25.05.2004 - 19:45 CET | By Richard Carter EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Commission President Romano Prodi on Tuesday (25 May) called for a "radical change" in EU economic policy if it is to succeed in its ambitious goal to overhaul the US and become the "most competitive economy in the world by 2010" - its so-called Lisbon strategy. Speaking at a meeting of the European Economic and Social Committee, Mr Prodi said that the process is undergoing "great difficulties" and declared, "if we want the Lisbon strategy to be a success,...

<p>Clement Criticizes Low-Tax EU Entrants, FT Deutschland Says April 30 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union should limit aid aimed at countries joining the region tomorrow to those that refuse to agree to minimum corporate and income tax rates, German Economics and Labor Minister Wolfgang Clement told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper.</p>

<p>Births Fell in 2003, Putting Pressure on German Welfare System April 5 (Bloomberg) -- The number of German births declined last year, the Federal Statistics Office said, putting further pressure on the government to continue to reform the social- welfare system as the population grows older.</p>

The Netherlands has seen a shift in attitudes, with multiculturalism blamed for a host of ills EVERY morning Talin, an Iranian, waits for the letter she had hoped never to see. A doctor with a husband and a six-month-old baby, she has lived in Rotterdam for seven years with her parents and grandmother. But this week the Dutch Government passed a law ordering 26,000 failed asylum-seekers, herself among them, to return home, no excuses accepted. ?I can?t sleep. They say I must go back to our country, but it is not possible because we are political refugees,? she said in...

A helping hand is being met by a barrage of rocks. The Fire Department has to abandon rescue efforts MALMO. After having been bombarded with bottles from the eight floor and having been stoned and spat at, the Malmo Fire Department finally had enough when a gang of youth attacked them with sledge hammers in October 2003. It was then demanded that Police have to escort all rescue missions in Rosengard (Muslim area of Malmo). The Fire Deparment is not alone. During this fall, stone throwing gangs have also attacked parking attendants, security guards, ambulance personell and police officers. As...