Free Republic

U.S. capitalism is ahead of all. The greatest development of technology and the most rapid progress are facts which make old Europe emulate the Yankees. But it is not the democratic institutions that the European bourgeoisie is borrowing from America, nor political liberty, nor yet the republican political system, but the latest methods of exploiting the workers. The most widely discussed topic today in Europe, and to some extent in Russia, is the “system” of the American engineer, Frederick Taylor. Not so long ago Mr. Semyonov read a paper on this system in the assembly hall of the Railway Engineering...

What a strange comparison, the reader may think. How can a race be compared with a nation? It is a permissible comparison. The Negroes were the last to be freed from slavery, and they still bear, more than anyone else, the cruel marks of slavery—even in advanced countries—for capitalism has no “room” for other than legal emancipation, and even the latter it curtails in every possible way. With regard to the Russians, history has it that they were “almost” freed from serf bondage in 1861. It was about the same time, following the civil war against the American slaveowners, that...

The 32nd Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labour, as the association of trade unions is called, has come to a close in Rochester. Alongside the rapidly growing Socialist Party, this association is a living relic of the past: of the old craft-union, liberal-bourgeois traditions that hang full weight over America’s working-class aristocracy. On August 31, 1911, the Federation had 1,841,268 members. Samuel Gompers, a strong opponent of socialism, was re-elected President. But Max Hayes, the socialist workers’ candidate, received 5,074 votes against Gompers’s 11,974, whereas previously Gompers used to be elected unanimously. The struggle of the socialists against...

Posted by constitutionallyspeaking(patlin) on August 21, 2009 Following up after a very informative debate on Wednesday evening, I set my sights to further research St. George Tucker and his commentaries on the Constitution. During the debate, the lawyer for the liberal cause was quite adamant that the 1790 Naturalization Act,even though it had been repealed, was the one law that backed his claims that Obama is constitutionally qualified under A2 S1 C5 of the Constitution. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story who was also the founder of Harvard Law School begs to differ with the libs and wishes to set them...

SNIPPET: "In March, La Nueva Cuba, an online newspaper, reported that “Russian personnel has been in Cuba for several months working on modernizing SIGINT operations in the old Lourdes surveillance and monitoring facility.” The Web site said the supposed renovation was: …part of a project of rearming and modernization of Russian armed forces and the goal of completion by 2011. The new operations could include military sections dedicated to hacking or computer systems espionage with a capacity to neutralize U.S. military networks… Then last week, an opinion piece appeared in Miami Herald. The headline: Cuba capable of waging a cyberwar....

From the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) study "Are Health Care Reform Cost Estimates Reliable? History Shows True Costs Are Often Significantly Understated": Since the end of World War II, major health care reform proposals have generally always cost more—sometimes significantly more—than the highest cost estimates published while the legislation was pending. The chart above from John Goodman's Health Policy Blog illustrates the eight examples outlined in the JEC report (Table 1: By a Country Mile: Historical Examples of Erroneous Health Care Cost Estimates), including the Medicare DSH program (actual costs were 17X higher than first estimated), the entire Medicare program...

We have already pointed out in Pravda the great importance of the Republican Party split in America and the formation of Roosevelt’s Progressive Party.[2] Now the elections are over. The Democrats have won, and at once the consequences predicted by the socialists are beginning to tell. Roosevelt’s Progressive Party, with its 4.5 million votes, is a specimen of the broad bourgeois-reformist trend which has come on the scene in sweeping American fashion. What happens to this trend is of general interest because, in one form or another, it exists in all capitalist countries. In any bourgeois-reformist trend there are two...

The Results and Significance of the U.S. Presidential Elections Wilson, a “Democrat”, has been elected President of the United States of America. He has polled over six million votes, Roosevelt (the new National Progressive Party) over four million, Taft (Republican Party) over three million, and the Socialist Eugene Debs 800,000 votes. The world significance of the U.S. elections lies not so much in the great increase in the number of Socialist votes as in the far-reaching crisis of the bourgeois parties, in the amazing force with which their decay has been revealed. Lastly, the significance of the elections lies in...

The latest issue of the American labour weekly, Appeal to Reason, received in Europe reports that its circulation has increased to 984,000 copies. The letters and demands coming in—writes the editor (No. 875, September 7, new style)—indicate beyond doubt that we shall exceed one million copies in the next few weeks. This figure—a million copies of a socialist weekly which American courts harass and persecute shamelessly and which is growing and gaining strength under the fire of persecution—-shows more clearly than long arguments the kind of revolution that is approaching in America. Not long ago the sycophantic Novoye Vremya, a...

August 20, 2009 "The Sick Fanatics at Islamic Awakening Make the News" SNIPPET: "And this is shocking how?" SNIPPET: "Just for our notes, this is also the same site where America's #1 al-Qaeda supporting blogger Samir Khan AKA Inshallahshaheed posted the announcement of the return of his blog and the new issue of the al-Qaeda supporting magazine Jihad recollections. OK are you upset yet? If not lets continue, especially if you live in the UK."

Note: Photo included. # Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Khamenei Praises Syria's Resistance, Stresses Cooperation Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei yesterday praised Iran's key ally Syria for its "resistance" in the face of world powers, in a meeting in Iran with visiting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. "Syria’s most important characteristic among Arab countries is its steadfastness and resistance," Khamenei said, stressing Syria's "excellent standing" in the region. Khamenei said "the resistance front" in the Middle East "should strengthen its cooperation and ties... "America’s blade has become blunter in the region," Khamenei added. He continued, "The unity between...

Oh, this should be good. Nebraska readers, let me know if you can attend. I’m sure Axelrod will offer many illuminating thoughts on transparency, disclosure, conflicts of interest, and the corrupting influence of Eeeeevil Drug Companies on policy debates. When pigs fly:

SNIPPET - Quote: Here's a vidcap of a video showing the alleged "miracle" of one deceased jihadi in the Caucuses named "Abu Dudjanah" [called "The Shahid Ilyas"]. According to a video being featured by al Qaeda's Russian affiliate, the "Martyr Ilyas" was still bleeding at his funeral over a week after he had been killed. A miracle! Allahuakhbar! Alternate explanations: 1) Oh no, we buried him alive! 2) Zombies! Protect your brains! 3) That'll teach Ilyas to try and blow up The Statue of the Perpetually Weeping Virgin. Thanks to Abu Umar. By Rusty at August 20, 2009 03:11 PM

Here are the news stories, editorials, and videos that conservatives dugg yesterday, Wednesday, August 19, 2009. Please take a moment to digg these articles at Digg.com, then get back over here! What is Digg? And why should I care?

According to the Michigan Association of Realtors and Detroit Board of Realtors (data here), the average sales price of a Detroit home fell to $11,596 in July (Year-to-Date), a -40% decline from the $19,596 average home price during the same period last year (see chart above). 2009 year-to-date unit sales increased by 17% to 7,373 homes, compared to 6,315 Detroit homes sold last year over the same period. From the $97,850 peak Detroit home price in 2003, prices have fallen by an amazing 88%. With a 20% down payment on a $11,596 average priced home in Detroit, the monthly payments...

Ben Smith at Politico has a story up with quotes from an Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) spokesman challenging Governor Palin's statement from this morning. The governor's statement questioned why America is loaning $2 billion to Petrobas, Brazil's state-owned oil company, to develop off shore oil resources, when we are not allowed to develop our own. Phil Cogan argues to Politico that Ex-Im doesn't rely on taxpayers' dollars (we'll come back to that in a moment). Mr. Cogan also said (as paraphrased by Politico) that the bank's central purpose is, "To lend money to foreign companies for the purchase of American...

Good for Karl Rove. The liberal crazies have spent years trying to set him up as the second coming of Darth Vader, Rove's crime, he put together the strategy that got George W. Bush elected twice. For the past three years, the drive-by media has been accusing Rove of being the brains behind the political firing of eight US Attorneys (who serve at the discretion of the President). The Democrats in congress made this a major Issue accusing the Bush administration of politicizing the Justice Department. OMG, politicizing a political appointment, how could that happen? Ironically those same Democrats suffer...

What is Digg? Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by its users. You won’t find editors at Digg — they’re there to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and they’re changing the way people consume information online. How do they do this? Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images — is submitted by their community of users (known as "diggers"). Once something is...

The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is vitally important, touching on a wide range of areas including, among others, economic policy, security, foreign relations, and human rights. U.S. and PRC interests are bound together much more closely now than even a few years ago. The Administration of President Barack Obama has inherited not only more extensive policy mechanisms for pursuing U.S.-China policy, but a more complex and multifaceted relationship in which the stakes are higher and in which U.S. action may increasingly be constrained. Economically, the United States and the PRC have become...

It's The Terrorism, Stupid About That "Without Preconditions" Caveat On Talks With Iran... By Steve Schippert | August 18, 2009 SNIPPET: "A funny thing happened (and keeps happening) along that road to meeting with the Iranian regime "without preconditions." Seems we keep finding such bothersome things as dead American soldiers and Iranian-made weapons on various battlefields." SNIPPET: "But it's not the potential for nuclear weapons that is at the heart of the threat, real or imagined. It's the nature of the regime. It's the terrorism, stupid."