Free Republic

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday single-handedly wiped out the Democrats’ national gerrymandering advantage by proposing a map that eliminates constitutional infirmities. Subject to the legislature’s approval and likely court challenges, the map will destroy all the hard work Democrats’ redistricting machine has created throughout the last months.

The official, ultimate demise of the greatest socialist experiment in history, that of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, occurred, ironically, on Christmas Day 1991, but only after it had dispossessed, imprisoned, tortured and murdered untold millions of its own citizen in the quest for the workers' chimerical paradise of equality and fairness, where each was projected to produce according to his ability and receive according to his needs. After 69 years of unremitting misery for the overwhelming majority of its people -- the socialist Nirvana never coming even remotely within sight -- the inevitable economic collapse took place, leaving...

I ran across this sort -but-interesting article today-written by JIM VERDONIK , a securities lawyer in Raleigh, NC, who does a great deal of new business startup work. There is a lot of "gloom and doom" about business,but his conclusions may surprise - and encourage you. (Excerpt ommitted for copyright reasons)

BAGHDAD, Aug. 21, 2008 – He has been living in the United States since 1993, when he was 7 years old and his parents moved from Guatemala to escape a civil war and the dangers of the violent drug trade. Army Spc. Noe Barrientos, who hails from Corpus Christi, Texas, gives the thumbs-up signal as he prepares to head out from Camp Liberty, Iraq, on a mission, Aug. 13, 2008. Barrientos is a combat engineer with the 836th Sapper Company, 890th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Multinational Division Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Patrick Moore, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Aug. 12, 2008 – Growing up in Lansing, Mich., Army Pvt. Ryan Bruin didn’t have many opportunities to make a life for himself. He joined the Army purely for the steady pay. Army Pvt. Ryan Bruin, an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter maintainer serving in Multinational Division Baghdad with the 4th Infantry Division’s Company D, 1st Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, works at his company's maintenance hangar on Camp Taji, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2008. The 18-year-old Lansing, Mich., native is the youngest soldier in his battalion. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jason Dangel, Multinational Division...

A few years ago, I wrote an article discussing the ways in which libertarians and conservatives have common cause on a number of policy issues -- and how the Blogosphere can work to bring libertarians and conservatives closer together. Along somewhat similar lines, we have seen articles by people like Kenneth Silber who have discussed the fusion between libertarian and conservative ideas, and Stephen Stanton, whose analysis of "South Park Republicans" helps further identify people who are comfortable as libertarian-conservatives -- people like me. My status as a libertarian-conservative is why I took interest in a recent debate concerning whether...

Christine Miles, News That’s To The Point, KOIN-TV (CBS affiliate in Portland, Oregon) 5:48 A.M., January 15, 2003 -- Reporting about the proposed billion dollar a year increase in NASA’s annual budget, and a new focus on the creation of a permanent moon base. A stepping stone toward the goal of a manned mission to Mars sometime around 2030. Miss Miles said, “Many people feel that President Bush needs a reality check.” This, of course, is a reference to the belief held by some (all liberal) Americans that the money should instead be spent by government on bloated and inefficient...