Free Republic

Gun Control: Protecting Terrorists and Despots Tragically, over the Thanksgiving holiday, the world was reminded how evil and cruel people can be. According to emerging accounts of the events in India, about a dozen well-armed and devastatingly well-trained terrorists laid siege on the city of Mumbai, killing almost two hundred people, and terrorizing thousands. Regardless of the reasons, the indiscriminate shooting on masses of unarmed and defenseless people is chilling and reprehensible. How were these terrorists able to continue so long, relatively unchallenged, killing so many? India’s gun laws are her business, of course. However, once the shock of these...

Probably the easiest, quickest, cheapest, and best way to solve the current Worldwide Depression -- other than have it start raining cars and houses -- is to radically improve transparency for every Big Finance company on earth. This means much more honesty -- and much less silence, cover-up, and fraud -- for every large commercial bank, investment bank, investment firm, stock brokerage, insurance company, and similar Big Business. So too, perhaps, for the various national banks around the globe. It's time to put a vast, sudden, and emphatic halt to the general economic "panic," the dearth of public "confidence," and...

We've seen a lot of social conservatives upset over today's intemperate attack by Kathleen Parker (Note: she was unnecessarily contemptuous, but her point that "the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs" is worth serious consideration).Well, I am a libertarian, so let's talk about the Kathleen Parker of the social conservative crowd: Mike Huckabee.This week, Huckabee called libertarians the "real threat" to the Republican Party... In a chapter titled "Faux-Cons: Worse than Liberalism," Huckabee identifies what he calls the "real threat" to...

On one extreme, we have the idea that the Constitution is a written document that can only be altered by a deliberately time-consuming process of amendment. On the other extreme, we have the idea that the Constitution means whatever a group of judges says it means. The Constitution itself belongs to the first group -- it declares that it can only be changed through the amendment process. But ever since Roe v. Wade in 1973, we have watched as, first the U.S. Supreme Court, and now state supreme courts in Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, make new law by judicial decree,...

Billionaire Facebook investor's anti-immigrant heresy By Owen Thomas, 11:20 AM on Fri Nov 14 2008, 4,806 views Insiders at Clarium Capital, the $5.3 billion hedge fund run by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, are buzzing about their boss's $1 million donation to NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group. The donation is an open secret within Clarium, and it has enraged several staff members who joined Clarium because they believed Thiel shared their libertarian ideals. When I asked Thiel if he'd made the donation, an underling passed on a nondenial saying the company didn't comment on "gossip and heresy." A typo — he meant...

Do you love the smell of libertarianism in the morning? If so, today is a good day for you. Ron Paul Last week we solicited your questions for Congressman Ron Paul. There was such a big response (more than 400 comments) that we have split Paul’s answers into two batches, the first of which is posted below. Thanks to Paul for his answers and all of you for your good questions.

This has the latest voting video some just produced and at times some not yet shown. http://afreeamerican.com/

It constantly amazes me that the Obama/Biden ticket do not get hammered hard by the GOP, and Republicans in general for their political leanings, especially when we need to call Obama out on his liberal and darn right socialist ideology, in light of his official website's call for a protest in Gov. Palin's event in Dallas today. Sen. Obama's message, and Sen. Biden's at times, is full of terms referring to his progressive, community organizing, taxing the rich and upper middle class, fair, equality, etc., only stopping short of using socialist terminology such as proletariat, bourgeoisie, and revolution. Note that...

The Islington Council, by trying to force a civil marriage registrar to participate in homosexual domestic partnership ceremonies, perpetrated a "violation" of her dignity and "created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment." In unexpectedly strong language, the Central London Employment Tribunal has ruled that Lillian Ladele, a Christian civil marriage registrar, cannot be forced to act contrary to her conscience in conducting homosexual domestic partnership ceremonies. The panel ruled, "Islington Council rightly considered the importance of the right of the gay community not to be discriminated against but did not consider the right of Miss Ladele as a...

I own a startup staffing service here in the St. Louis metro area. Wednesday a kid came in to apply for assignment with us, and he brings a woman with him. It turns out she is his "work coach". What this means is that every time he goes looking for a job, she's with him, injecting herself into the proceedings, talking about him like he isn't there, using terms like "high-functioning" as if the guy were retarded. The poor bastard would do much better on his own. Has anybody else encountered anything like this?

Recently Congress sent the latest Farm Bill to the president. The bill features brand new federal programs, expansion of existing subsidies, more food stamps and more foreign food aid. This bill hits the taxpayer hard, while at the same time ensuring food prices will remain elevated. The president vetoed the bill, citing concerns over its costs and subsidies for the wealthy in a time of high food prices and record farm income. Nevertheless, this over-reaching, government-expanding Farm Bill will soon be law.

When Dennis Rader was first arrested as the suspect in the BTK murders, the media heard complaints about Rader’s role as the compliance officer in Park City. But none perhaps has been so shocking as the story told by a former Park City resident. The woman says she lived in fear. Park City was a nice place for Misty King and her two children to live until something simple happened. She and her husband divorced and then she says something strange happened. Dennis Rader came knocking at her door. “He said, ‘I read in the paper that your divorce was...

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney jokes about the reasons he got out of the race. One of his targets: Al Gore. See #5. #7. There wasn't room in the campaign for two Christian leaders. #5. I'd rather get fat, grow a beard and try for the nobel prize. #3. Once my wife Anne realized I couldn't win, my fundraising dried up. #2. I took a bad fall at a campaign rally and broke my hair.

A REVOLUTION TO TAKE BACK THE US CONGRESS by Nelson Lee Walker of tenurecorrupts.com I am proposing that we create a popular, bloodless, political revolution in our country. I believe that it is very necessary, very possible, and very doable. The object of this revolution is the destruction of the professional political class which currently dominates and corrupts the US Congress. I am convinced, as are many, many voters, that the bulk of our country’s political problems arises out of this ‘permanent’ Congressional political class, and their devotion to party power and to the financial special interests keeping them in...

Politicians take people's money with a promise to fulfill desires that supposedly can't be attained any other way. Prostitutes do the same, though by reputation, they are more reliable in delivering. It's not surprising for people in the same line of work to gravitate toward one another, as Eliot Spitzer and a woman named Kristen reportedly did in a Washington hotel room. I understand why Spitzer's alleged hiring of a call girl was stupid, selfish, reckless, immoral and a betrayal of his family. What I don't understand is why it was illegal. It's not as though sex is otherwise divorced...

Study: Presidential Frontrunners Would Boost Federal Budget by Range of $7 Billion to $287 Billion Annually byDemian Brady, Natasha Altamirano, Peter J. SeppJan 29, 2008 (Alexandria, VA) -- Presidential contenders have been busy portraying their political differences from others inside and outside of their parties, but when it comes to fiscal policy, ideological labels don't necessarily apply. That's just one finding of a comprehensive study from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), which provides cost estimates -- based on hard data -- for more than 450 of the major candidates’ proposals that would affect the federal budget. "Our analyses hopefully...

It has been over 6 years since the atrocities of September 11 were committed and there are still some very basic measures that need to be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice and make America safer. I have proposed legislation to help with these efforts and will continue to fight in Congress for the safety and security of the American people. My legislation entitled The Marque and Reprisal Act of 2007 (HR 3216) makes the surgical strike option available to the President in our mission to capture Bin Laden. Our military has been pursuing him without result for far...

Online oddsmakers have Ron Paul in a comfortable third place finish among bettors in both the Republican Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary. While third place may not be as good as an outright win, it's good enough to boost momentum for Ron Paul heading into future primaries where his treasure chest for advertising totals upwards of $20 mil. Many of the 2008 US Republican Presidential candidate's supporters believe that once voters realize Paul is a formidable candidate, finishing among the top 3, more Americans are likely to vote for him. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney were in a...

I argued previously that liberty means the freedom of each adult to do or not do whatever he or she chooses as long as he or she accords the same freedoms to others. The most powerful justification for government in a land of true liberty is to prevent individuals from stepping on the same rights and freedoms of others. And while no one this side of sociopathy doubts the importance of keeping each of us from infringing willy-nilly on each other's rights, too many people regard organized infringement to be just fine. Indeed, some call it "progressive." "Progressives" yearn to...

The following are the segments of the hour long interview Ron Paul had with Glenn Beck: 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pme20JHPkwk 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y4j4m90-XM 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjnvp5z6kM 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGrlZTlD-Sc 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_92PpCyUs 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnm1nPHdATQ 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD1qMXMOjfo 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kze69_lmGmA