Free Republic

Dire predictions about the fate of certain government programs were hardly in short supply recently, as sequester-related budget cuts loomed. So it was hardly a surprise when Education Secretary Arne Duncan got in on the act. “It just means a lot more children will not get the kinds of services and opportunities they need, and as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs,” he said in an interview with Face the Nation. “There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can’t come back this fall.” Turns out, though, that it isn’t...

I'm giving up on Drudge report for a while, not going to visit it. There is too much subtext going on, incitement and hyperbole, propaganda and manipulation. The picture that often accompany headlines are not in context with the 'moment' but rather stock photographs that portrait an emotion or sense of predicament that the author wants us to feel. Almost every headline for the past few months have been foreboding impending doom of some sort that I don't want to deal with or be reminded about on a daily basis. Just sticking with Fox News, they temper that stuff down...

The first murder of history occurred on the 25th of Kislev in the year 41 from creation (3720 BCE), when... Cain, killed his younger brother, Abel, as recounted in the 4th chapter of Genesis. Link: From the Midrash

Biden: Because of Bush Administration and Wall Street ‘People Died' and ‘Homes Burned’ By Elizabeth Harrington October 19, 2011 Subscribe to Elizabeth Harrington's posts (CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “people died” and “people’s homes burned to the ground,” because the Bush administration allowed “God-awful Ponzi schemes” on Wall Street. Speaking at a rally to promote a piecemeal provision of President Obama’s jobs proposal, Biden told police and firefighters that the budget shortfalls of state and local governments were not attributable to state and local governments. “Those of you know it’s not really the fault of your...

The global economy is being held back in part by political problems that are complicating an array of other forces that have conspired against growth, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said.

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals. It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs. This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled. The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy...

New Jersey, the Garden State, has just taken its first step toward becoming the Sharia State, with Governor Christie's nomination of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney to detained terrorist suspects, to a Superior Court judgeship in Passaic County. The Sohail nomination continues Christie's unfortunate pandering to the American Muslim Union and the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Passaic County has the second largest Muslim population in the country. And the Islamic Center of Passaic County is the state's largest mosque, and it's the only one run by an an Imam who was a member of the Hamas terrorist organization. But when...

Just because the motives of many climate change advocates are questionable, even evil, does that mean the entire global warming proposition is a fraud? It is an article of faith among many conservatives that climate change is sham science. Even worse, it is the nexus of a vast conspiracy involving governments, the UN, and climate scientists that is seeking to destroy the industrial economies of the West, create a one world government, and enrich people like Al Gore who have bet a bundle on a reduced carbon emissions future. They believe that either the earth is not warming at all,...

Gallery: The World's 100 Most Powerful WomenThey are heads of state and first ladies, bankers and cultural icons, CEOsand entrepreneurial athletes. A fresh look at power and creative influence.

There is an open secret in the oil industry that dare not speak its name: peak oil. Well, two did speak its name and gained no acclaim for it. One, M. King Hubbert, died years ago. The other and the most controversial, Matthew Simmons, died at his Maine summer home Aug. 8. The peak oil idea is simple: Oil is a finite commodity, and one day we are going to use up all of it. Hubbert, a geologist, began speculating on the effects of the gradual decline in worldwide production in the 1950s. He expressed this in a simple graph,...

Last month, in a speech to the National Press Club, actress Ashley Judd took a break from taking on Sarah Palin and set her sights on business practices in her home state. Judd referred to the mountain top removal of coal in Kentucky as “environmental genocide,” called the process “the state-sanctioned, federal government supported, coal industry operated, rape of Appalachia,” and said the miners should be retrained to take “better jobs” (unfortunately the “vacuous actor” career field is full up at the moment). On Wednesday, the coal industry sponsored a golf tournament at StoneCrest Golf Course in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and...

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Stone. At a time when women weren’t allowed to rent a car, play professional sports, fly jets, or serve as police officers, 13 strong women pilots sought the impossible: to be part of the Mercury 13 astronaut program in 1961. Non-Fiction. Lexile n/a.

Now Most Americans Think Gulf Wildlife And Beaches Will NEVER Recover Gus Lubin Jun. 16, 2010, 11:31 AM Image: the sierra club A new Gallup poll shows most people are very pessimistic about the oil spill. 59% of Americans say local wildlife will never cover. 49% say local beaches will never recover. Nearly everyone thinks wildlife and beaches will take more than ten years to recover. Most people say the spill will hurt the economy (83%), push up gas prices (79%), and push up food prices (79%). The polling numbers tell you everything you need to know about major publicity...

The world has only seven years before climate change causes a “point of crisis” that will drive food shortages, terrorism and poverty, the Prince of Wales has warned. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the ministerial segment of the Copenhagen climate conference, the Prince said the “survival of the species” was in peril. The talks have been dogged by walk-outs and protests as the poor world becomes increasingly frustrated at the lack of refusal by richer countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Yesterday Yvo de Boer, the head of negotiations, admitted things are moving “too slowly” as pressure grew on...

Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a “planetary transformation” to save the world from climate change. The Governor of California said an international agreement at Copenhagen will usher in a new era of renewable energy and economic growth through manufacturing green technology. Even if a deal cannot be done between nation states, he said cities and regions such as California are moving forward in transforming their industries and individual lifestyles. And he offered to host a summit for “sub-national governments” such as California and London to make sure climate change is tackled on a regional level. Speaking in the Danish capital,...

All this week we are asking questions; I may not have the answers, but power left unchecked can turn very ugly, very rapidly. So it's vital that we all question with boldness, hold to the truth and speak without fear. You need to start asking questions: Day 3 - Why does the FCC have a diversity "czar"? - Who is Mark Lloyd and how does he plan to "balance" the airwaves? - Will he bring back the Fairness Doctrine or worse? - Cass Sunstein once said he wants to balance the Internet; is that next? - Will broadcasters who leave...

Imagine that you are a teacher of Roman history and the Latin language, anxious to impart your enthusiasm for the ancient world — for the elegiacs of Ovid and the odes of Horace, the sinewy economy of Latin grammar as exhibited in the oratory of Cicero, the strategic niceties of the Punic Wars, the generalship of Julius Caesar and the voluptuous excesses of the later emperors. That’s a big undertaking and it takes time, concentration, dedication. Yet you find your precious time continually preyed upon, and your class’s attention distracted, by a baying pack of ignoramuses (as a Latin scholar...

It turns out Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) made more waves at the Netroots Nation conference on Saturday, accusing Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) of "treason" for saying that health reform would result in doctors "pulling the plug on grandma." "I mean what Grassley said the other day was an act of treason. I'm sorry. It's not being called on," the outspoken Democrat said to a group of liberal activists. The Senate Finance Committee ranking member made his claims about the end-of-life provisions in the House healthcare bill last Wednesday, but retracted his claims later in the week. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)...

"To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds." Photo caption of Michelle Obama speaking to her daughter Malia posted on The Free Republic. Disclaimer on The Free Republic: "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government. " For those of you who have argued vociferously with me that we are living in a "post-racial America" rather than an America in which Jim Crow is on steroids, you apparently have not read the daily diet of racism that the readers and bloggers on this site consume and then regurgitate....