Free Republic

Words have meaning. If they did not, communication would be impossible. Unfortunately, in our political discourse, words are often sapped of their meaning and reduced to empty rhetoric. This handicaps our capacity for thoughtful deliberation. After all, if you can't find common ground in the dictionary, what chance is there to find it elsewhere? In the comment section of a recent NRB post regarding public employee unions and the related protests in Wisconsin, one of our readers demonstrated a curious inability to distinguish force from choice. The exchange was instructive of the entitlement mentality propagated by the Left. It is...

It's been many years since I watched the 1960 Academy Award winning epic Spartacus, spiritual predecessor to Ridley Scott's rousing Gladiator. I don't recall every detail. However, I do remember that much referenced scene toward the end. Roman soldiers have finally routed a ragtag army of rebel slaves led by Kirk Douglas' title character. The Romans offer to spare the defeated mob, and return them to their lives of slavery, if they will only give up their leader. As Spartacus rises to offer himself up for his men, one of them leaps to his feet. I'm Spartacus! Then another arises....

Over the weekend, public employee unions held a rally in Madison where the list of speakers included Bill Franks of the American Federation of Teachers. Franks had this to say about rank-and-file Republicans: ... the would-be Republicans, anybody making $30-40,000 who think they can afford to be a Republican is not living in any kind of reality. Real Republicans don't recognize them. Because the real "haves" are them. And these people who think they can afford these [conservative] principles, they can't afford them. That's not in their self interest. That's what we gotta cure as a pathology. This is a...

This is not supposed to happen. Republicans are docile, accommodating creatures. They're supposed to kowtow to their opponent's sense of "civility." They're supposed to let their opponents win. They're supposed to do anything to avoid being called names. They're supposed to get elected, then shift to the so-called "middle." Republican state senators in Wisconsin didn't get that memo. Wednesday night, they took bold and decisive action to end weeks of juvenile political theater. In a quick turn of events, Republican state senators in Wisconsin have successfully pushed through a provision stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights by separating...

[Meade] told me that just now, by phone. He got out, and is warning others not to go in. Obviously, it's a terrible fire hazard to make it so people cannot get out of the building easily. Presumably, protesters think it's a good idea to keep the police out, but it is dangerously stupid. ADDED: Meade called back to say, some of the doors are handcuffed shut and some are wide open. "ANYBODY CAN GET IN AND ANYBODY CAN BRING ANYTHING IN. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SECURITY WHATEVER." AND: Meade — who just got home at 9 CT — says...

It was only a matter of time. I'm surprised it took this long. Michael Moore has finally added his shrill voice to the cacophony of thugs in Wisconsin. "Right now the Earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge," said Moore... "America is not broke ... Wisconsin is not broke," Moore said. "The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers(...)" Repeatedly saying "America is not broke," Moore said "the country is awash in wealth and cash ... It has been transferred in the greatest heist in history...

While the Democratic "Fleedom Fighters" of Wisconsin hide-out from their constituents, the Mideast continues its implosion, and the Iranians continue to garner ever more power for their Caliphate building, twelfth Imam seeking misadventures. Meanwhile, the worrisome protests, the world over, have reportedly now spread into North Korea with even a nibble in China. But looked at in another way, it's almost as if the "democracy" protests, which started in Tunisia and spread throughout the Arab world, have seemingly found their way, somehow, to the shores of America of all places. So the question then quite logically becomes, is there a...

Just because you did good work on a great movie does not mean your political opinions matter. Somebody should have told that to cinematographer Wally Pfister before he accepted Inception's Academy Award for Best Cinematography; that way we might have been spared a lecture about Wisconsin's horribly oppressed unions. Jim Hoft has the scoop on Pfister’s acceptance speech shout-out to his union crew, and his backstage elaboration: “I think that what is going on in Wisconsin is kind of madness right now,” Pfister says. “I have been a union member for 30 years and what the union has given to...

The ongoing union protests against Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin have inspired comparisons to the Tea Party movement. Apparently, for some commentators, people at a capitol building holding signs is inherently "populist." However, beyond the superficial similarity of people protesting, there is nothing these union demonstrations have in common with the Tea Party. Quite the contrary, the unrest in Wisconsin is the antithesis of everything the Tea Party stands for. The Nation's Johann Hari acknowledges this. Rather than compare the events in Wisconsin to the Tea Party movement, Hari plainly states the contrast. Imagine a parallel universe where the Great...

Fascinating how we rarely hear the word "messiah" used anymore, isn't it? Has the seemingly Biblical turmoil in the mideast, along with all of the dark portents swirling all around us, much like an ill wind of doom, insulated our collective political vitriole, or is it, perhaps, something else? A recent story at ABC News spoke to this fairly new phenomenon. The story essentially admonished the President for using his own brand of "self-specialized" media while locking out the traditional news outlets. In fact, the reporter went on to state that "the President has narrowed access by the mainstream media...

I don't want to jinx it, but I'm so happy I feel like shouting from the roof tops. It looks like Big Labor is getting ready to die the ugly death it so rightly deserves and it will take the Democrat party with it. Today, Hanukkah came early. Rasmussen Reports, the most accurate political polling firm on the planet, is reporting that 48% of registered voters are siding with Wisconsin's heroic Governor Scott Walker and only 38% are standing with the lying, thieving public sector unions. It's a Hanukkah in February miracle! http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2011/48_back_gop_governor_in_wisconsin_spat_38_side_with_unions To quote our drunken Vice President, Joe...

I have been following the developements in Madison over the past few days with dismay. I am very upset about the pure hate many consevatives have been spewing towards Wisconsen teachers protesting Governor Walkers union busting tactics. I take this personally because I am part of the Madison Wisconsen Sweet Valley High School graduating class of 1990. I got a qualitie education in Madisen. The teachers were top notch. They cared about me 1st and there well being second. When my teacher called in sick I was pretty sure it was because she was sick. Almost all my teachers never...

What's that old saying? Birds of a feather flock together. If so, we might be inclined to wonder what binds bombastic Hollywood fraud Michael Moore to Egyptian revolutionaries and the public union protesters in Wisconsin. Moore relayed a message through his website on Sunday from Egyptian union boss Kamal Abbas. The message is addressed to "the workers of Wisconsin" and draws direct parallels between the ongoing Egyptian revolution and the protests against Governor Scott Walker's leadership in the Badger State. I am speaking to you from a place very close to Tahrir Square in Cairo... From this place, I want...

The Democratic National Committee and President Obama's Organizing For America are responsible for directing the protests in Wisconsin. As these "union" protests spread throughout the country, Twitter and Facebook are being used as the social network tools for the administration's efforts to destabilize our own country by inciting civil unrest. The following video from FoxNews provides the details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH6v5bWK-0w The next few days will be critical in our nation's history. Will the president and the DNC be successful in the implementation of their Cloward-Piven Strategy? At what point will Americans recognize treason at the highest level of our government? Our...