Free Republic

Just announced on CNN. Sarkozy expected to speak shortly

Social hypochondria is the national disease of the most successful nation. By most indexes, life has improved beyond the dreams of even very recent generations. Yet many Americans, impervious to abundant data and personal experiences, insist that progress is a chimera. Gregg Easterbrook's impressive new book, ''The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse,'' explains this perversity. Easterbrook, a Washington journalist and fellow of the Brookings Institution, assaults readers with good news: American life expectancy has dramatically increased in a century, from 47 to 77 years. Our great-great-grandparents all knew someone who died of some disease we...

MESA, Ariz. -- There appears to be a trend emerging in modern Western society. It is something that has been noticeable in the past, but is something that I think has become more prominent and disturbing in recent years. It is the habit we have developed of sacrificing personal freedom and convenience in favor of increased security, almost always in reaction to an isolated incident which we are afraid to treat as such. Periodically, and with alarming frequency, something tragic will happen that will be greatly publicized. Perhaps this event injures or kills a person or many people; and, whether...

Risk averse and running scared The BBC is already starting to cave in to government pressure John Kampfner Friday September 26, 2003 The Guardian Whatever Hutton says about the government when he reports in November, the BBC will be found wanting - and the corporation's response to the verdict will determine the course of political coverage for years to come. It should accept criticism, change its procedures, but press full steam ahead with its efforts to set the news agenda, not follow it. A return to the craven days of old will alienate viewers and listeners and do further damage...

The CIA and State Department are actively working to undermine the U.S. war on terrorism by deliberately ignoring evidence that al-Qaeda conspired with Baghdad in the 9/11 attacks. That's the contention of terrorism expert Laurie Mylroie, who detailed the case against the two agencies in an interview with WABC Radio's Monica Crowley earlier this week. Before President Bush launched the Iraq war in March, "[the CIA and State Department] continually sought to undermine the U.S. case [for war] by leaking to their allies in the media that there was no evidence about Iraq's involvement with al-Qaeda," Mylroie explained. "They...

The horrors that can be attributed to fire and explosive accidents cannot be overstated; but, depending upon your perspective, walking across the street can be a dangerous endeavor as well.....