Free Republic

when rome receded, europe saw a long period of people living in the ruins of a more advanced civilization. bridges fell and no one knew how to fix them. stone homes were repaired with thatch. medicine and technology were lost. crop yields fell. sanitation became once more vile. social and cultural cohesion disintegrated. the dark ages decended. "that could never happen again" seems a popular view, but is it true? to be sure, in modern times, outside knowledge like "how to make a cell phone" will be preserved by global communication and markets, but if we're going to be seriously...

Why is school starting next week with heat warnings in effect in AZ and many southern states ? Locally, in Phoenix, many k-12 schools begin this week. Kids will be walking in 115° heat to and from home, parent's autos nearby. Any outdoor recess is out of the question. I wonder why ?

Those of us watching the game fav or worst comercials please if you want post here. thank you in advance

In politics, there are several mental shortcuts that a skilled political operative can use to manipulate voters: Short Cut One The Drunkard's Search Conducting a drunkard's search a drunkard’s search is to look in the place that's easiest, rather than in the place most likely to yield results. Taken from an old joke about a drunkard who loses his car keys while unlocking his car and is found looking under a streetlamp down the road because the light is better, it has been an object of consideration in the social sciences since at least 1964.

> > by Charley Reese > > If you step back a moment and think about it, you will realize that you are > constantly being propagandized to approve of war - not just the wars in > Afghanistan and Iraq, but war generically. > > We should resist. War is killing, maiming and disfiguring human beings. It > is so disgusting and horrible in reality that even the most "realistic" > Hollywood movie sanitizes it. The news media sanitize it. The government > sanitizes war because it doesn't want you to see the coffins. Most of all, > it...