Free Republic

A woman named Lilly Gaddis recently went viral for a video bemoaning how “theater kids and nerds” run our society. "So, all those nerds in high school, like the weird theater kids and the anime people. You know who I'm talking about, the people we didn't hang out with, so they've grown up now, and they're the ones making the laws," Gaddis warned in her TikTok. This video was a hit with RW Twitter and conservatives. It aligns with a popular conception on that right-wingers were the popular jocks in high school while the libs were the nerds. It’s obviously...

Even as Mr. Obama is promising to bring America together, his candidacy is casting new light on the mounting class divide in the black community -- and the debate among blacks about how to get ahead. The expanding black middle class -- accounting for about 40% of the black population -- see in Mr. Obama a validation of the choices they have made: attending largely white colleges, working in predominantly white companies and government offices, climbing up the ladder of American success. For African-Americans living in the inner city -- where most children are being raised by single mothers, male...

A majority of black Americans blame individual failings -- not racial prejudice -- for the lack of economic progress by lower-income African Americans, according to a survey released Tuesday -- a significant change in attitudes from the early 1990s. At the same time, black college graduates say the values of middle-class African Americans are more closely aligned with those of middle-class whites than those of lower-income blacks, the poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found. And 40% of those surveyed said African Americans could no longer be viewed as a single community. The report said that in 1994, 60%...

A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING POVERTY by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. INTRODUCTION I do not remember why I bought this book, but I am glad I did. This book took a week to write, but it sold over 1,000,000 copies. While popular, the book must be unacceptable to mainstream, academic educators. There are no formal book reviews; there are no Wikipedia entries. In spite of neglect and criticism, the book is surely popular. Why, is easy to understand. Dr. Payne discusses what is not supposed to be discussed-- social class. She believes that misunderstanding between social classes results in problems for...

Almost all Americans see themselves as "middle class." To declare yourself middle class is to say you've succeeded without openly bragging that you're superior -- a no-no in a democratic culture. You're like everyone else, only a little more or less so. Not surprisingly, a recent poll done for the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, finds that only 2 percent of Americans put themselves in the "upper class" and a mere 8 percent consider themselves "lower class." The large majority classify themselves as "upper-middle class" (17 percent) or "middle class" (45 percent). The rest (27 percent) see themselves...

Children from poorer families do not necessarily have worse health than those with more affluent and better educated parents, research shows. A British Medical Journal study looked at insulin resistance - which ups the risk of diabetes and heart disease - in relation to socioeconomic status. Among Danish schoolchildren, those with highly educated and big earning parents were the least insulin resistant. However, the opposite was true for children from Estonia and Portugal. More research is needed before we can come to any firm conclusions Diabetes UK The findings by the international team, from the UK, Estonia, Denmark and Norway,...

Not too long ago the soft, somber undertones of the smallest fiddle in the world could be heard playing in the background to Bill Clinton’s depictions of the hardships of his upbringing. Today we are being serenaded by the mellow and solemn tones of the smallest Stradivarius in the world playing as background to a peek into Howard Dean’s upbringing courtesy of his mother’s interview with the New York Times. The interview illustrates the hardships this poor little rich boy experienced during the days of his youth. From having to accept entitlements from his parents via manipulation of tax loopholes...

Associated Press The 4th Infantry Division, shipping out from Texas. WASHINGTON — Does the United States military have to be representative of American society? The question has hung heavy since war with Iraq first seemed inevitable, and with it the possibility of heavy casualties. Now, with that war at a climax, a small band of critics continues to maintain that the all-volunteer force — which is 30 years old this year — is all-volunteer in name only. They argue that relative economic disadvantage has replaced local draft boards in determining who enters the military, especially the enlisted ranks, and that...