Free Republic

Newt Gingrich's rise in Republican presidential polls has come as he positioned himself as the true conservative who could capture the small-government fervor of primary voters. But his long history of policy pronouncements suggests the former House Speaker also believes in the power of government to do big things. At various times in his career, Mr. Gingrich has come out in favor of requiring that individuals carry health insurance and increasing federal spending for scientific research. He has backed programs run by the Education Department, which many of his peers would like to abolish, as well as national curriculum standards...

The last 10 years have been the worst for Western civilization since the 1930s. At the onset of the new millennium North America, Europe and Oceania stood at the cutting edge of the future, with new technologies and a lion’s share of the world’s GDP. At its end, most of these economies limped, while economic power – and all the influence it can buy politically – had shifted to China, India and other developing countries. This past decade China’s economic growth rate, at 10% per annum, grew to five times that U.S.; the gap was even more disparate between China...

Sarah Palin’s return to the spotlight with her successful book tour, her contract with and frequent appearances on the Fox News Channel, and her speech at the National Tea Party Convention have sparked a new flurry of speculation about her presidential ambitions and prospects. Tea Party conservatives love Palin. But according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 70 percent of Americans believe she isn’t qualified to be the President of the United States. The left incessantly ridicules her. And members of the Republican establishment make comments that reveal their doubts about her. Are her prospects really as bad as some...

Is there anybody out there with muscle-man Republican-populist appeal who is bigger, meaner, tougher than the indestructible Sarah Palin? Anyone who could take her on – and take her down in a run for the presidency? It seems a job for only one person – a creature of titanic strength, a man who, once he sets his sights on something, does not unlock like some kind of weird cyborg, maybe. And that one man could only be the Governator, the Terminator: Arnold himself. A new book due out next week reveals that Schwarzenegger hasn’t given up his hopes of parking...

At a cabinet meeting last week, the French government issued a decree creating a general secretariat to serve France’s upcoming turn at the rotating presidency of the G-8 and G-20 economic summit groups. Workaday stuff, seemingly, coming alongside directives concerning the functions of the French Coast Guard and the purview of the minister in charge of rural and territorial affairs. But if you think big — and the French and their president, Nicolas Sarkozy, can think grandiose (as in organizing “a new international monetary order”) — then this was the first official and annunciatory clash of cymbals in the short...

Since the end of World War II, our country has had three great presidents: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Their politics varied, but these giants stand in sharp contrast to our last three presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Barack Obama. The first two presided over gravely flawed presidencies; the third is on his way to outright failure. What makes these two presidential trios so different? A recent visit to the Truman Museum and Library in Independence, Mo., made me ask what made those great presidents great. The answer is character. The three greats...

“From Selfish Ambition to Humble Service” (Mark 9:30-37; James 3:13 – 4:10)In this long green season of the church year, the so-called non-festival half of the year, the Epistle reading is not chosen to fit the theme of the Holy Gospel, as it is in the festival half of the year. Instead, it’s just a straight reading-through of a particular epistle, and any correlation between the Epistle and Gospel is merely a coincidence. Well, we have such a coincidence today. The Epistle reading from James and the Gospel reading from Mark do have a common theme. It’s the theme of...

In television's long-running "Law and Order" series, the prosecutors are portrayed as righteous, dedicated searchers for the truth who seldom, if ever, fail to find it. And the defense attorneys are depicted as a necessary evil, capable of underhanded, devious action to free their clients whom everyone knows are guilty. Other entries in the legal free-for-alls that have been a TV staple have taken the opposite tack, giving the edge to those representing the downtrodden accused. Reality, of course, lies somewhere in between with the justice scales tipping one way or another on an individual basis. But it is safe...

Obama has let the camel's nose, into the tent. Hillary can now smell her goal. One guy is in her way. A successful Obama term, and his re-election would pretty much eliminate any chance Hillary ever would have of being president. She's no spring chicken. Eight years is a long time for her to be playing second fiddle to someone with no experience.

You know, Barack Obama has always been running for something. And it keeps him busy. I guess when you're a guy like that you wouldn't want to stop and take a look at yourself every now and then. Be damned scary if you ask me. Halloween like Ground Hogs Day on Steroids. Being on the move also tends to make one forget their obligations. I mean, when all you are looking at is the fantasy of who you think you are in a perpetual mirror, things around you can get lost. Like papers, for example. Or meetings you are supposed...

Barack Obama is a "decidedly liberal" senator "who was finding his feet, and then got diverted by his presidential ambitions", according to a frank verdict delivered to Gordon Brown by the British ambassador to the United States.

George Washington 1789 - fragments of the Draft First Inaugural Address The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes. Should, hereafter, those incited by the lust of power and prompted by the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact among men (however provident...

When John Adams begins acting like a pompous windbag, his wife, Abigail, reproaches him with a single word. John Adams on hbo.com “Ambition,” Abigail warns, when Adams tells her that he will get a lot of attention if he defends British soldiers in the Boston Massacre trial. “Vanity” is what she says to steer her husband away from what she calls “ostentatious erudition.” “Casting,” she might have told the producers of this new seven-part HBO mini-series, which begins on Sunday evening with a double episode. John Adams is the weakest part of “John Adams.” Based on David McCullough’s biography of...

As we start the New Year what plans do you have for the year and what is already sorted for the New Year. I am not talking about resolutions we covered that one last week I am talking more about things that you are planning not so much things you may wish to resolve to do but things you will or can do. In Britain many of my friends have already booked their summer holiday (vacation) some because they or their partners have set holiday at work or have to give their employers dates now. Others have booked their vacation...

What furious Hillary really knew about Bill’s affairsLast updated at 00:47am on 28th October 2007 Private life: New book could set back Hillary's presidential campaign with claims that she only stayed with Bill for her own political ends  Hillary Clinton's Presidential ambitions suffered a setback last night with the claim that she knew Bill Clinton was unfaithful long before his seduction of Monica Lewinsky. The only aspect of the sex scandal that is said to have surprised his wife was that his relationship with the White House intern lasted so long. And she was furious that he used the Oval...

10. John F. Kennedy's ambition. JFK displayed impressive Presidential leadership in three highly important yet previously unrelated areas. He enhanced American prestige as he inspired public support for space travel and exploration, despite steep risks, frequent failure, and high cost.

Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The first reason is because of the advent of high-speed Internet. Anybody with a home PC can now take a course online. If you have a laptop, you can take your course online and take it with you to the coffice (coffee house/office). That is where I am writing this. PCs and Macs are also becoming more affordable. For the price of one credit hour at some schools, a student can now buy a good desktop Dell or Gateway PC. There is no more driving to school, finding a parking place,...

Diplomatic push is planned to curb Iran's nuclear ambition By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 28/03/2006) The world's key powers will seek this week to reach agreement on a strategy that will build up pressure on Iran. This could lead to sanctions being imposed by the summer unless Teheran halts the most dangerous parts of its nuclear programme. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, along with foreign ministers from the United States, France, Germany, Russia, and China will meet in Berlin on Thursday at a gathering designed to finalise a United Nations call on Iran to comply with international demands,...

Horsefeathers has lamented the decline of quality in American popular culture. We wonder what the ghosts of Jo Stafford and Frank Sinatra would have to say about this year's Oscar winning song, a ghastly assault on the senses, depicting the hard life of a pimp. This decline has been evident in other spheres as well: one that particularly bothers Horsefeathers is the quality of newspaper sports writing. We long ago ceased reading the New York Times sports pages because the writing had less to do with sports than with politically correct social agendas. The writers seem aggrieved affirmative action hires,...

Energy: China's burning ambition Source: Copyright 2005, Nature Date: June 30, 2005 Byline: Peter Aldhous Abstract The economic miracle that is transforming the world's most populous nation is threatened by energy shortages and rising pollution. It also risks plunging the planet's climate into chaos. Peter Aldhous reports. China is booming, and its hunger for energy is insatiable. For its people, the dismal air quality across much of the country is a constant reminder of its reliance on coal and other dirty fuels. When Nature visited Beijing to meet the technocrats responsible for China's energy policy, the city was blanketed in...

LeBoutillier says the book will reveal Hillary's struggle with New York's Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan to get his seat. Though a Democrat, Moynihan had little use for Hillary. LeBoutillier writes: "Seven years later - after her husband's impeachment - Hillary Clinton decided to run for Pat Moynihan's Senate seat from New York. First Lady Hillary Clinton came to ask for Senator and Mrs. Moynihan's blessing and endorsement, visiting the Senator in his Washington D.C. living room - this time at the Watergate hotel and apartment complex. "Pat Moynihan was recuperating from recent back surgery and hadn't been up to the...

Leftists love to complain and they especially love to whine about "greed." They just don't get it. A market economy is based on incentives. The prospect of financial reward is what motivates most people to work, save and invest. There's nothing particularly ingenious about a system that recognizes this. It's intuitive. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith didn't invent an economic system; he merely observed and analyzed what people do naturally when left to their own devices. Socialism, on the other hand, is an ingenious system, an invention of coercive economic utopians, based on the notion that human nature...

Clintons Shutting Up, Quietly Undermining Kerry Written by Chris Long Tuesday, September 28, 2004 http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=10015 The problem with a Kerry presidency for the Clintons is the possibility that Kerry may preside over a strengthening economy not of his making and spark international chaos by giving terrorist groups a breather by waffling in what is, in reality, World War III. Either way, the Clintons lose. A good economy coupled with a Kerry presidency gets him re-elected; chumming with the French and Germans and undermining the War on Terror gets Kerry un-elected, replaced by Republican Colin Powell who now has foreign policy...

> The author of this letter is well known in the Canon City, Penrose, Pueblo area. He is an author of numerous books and a businessman in Florence, Colorado. He is a retired member of the "A-team" Green Berets. > > AN OPEN LETTER TO SEN. KERRY > > My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year and the recovery is > terribly painful. Then she developed staph-epi infection, and they > had to cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking > about the pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second...

There are those who decry political ambition. I am not one of them. Between my study of politics and my own experience, I have concluded that political ambition is both unavoidable and, within reasonable limits, a good thing. It is ambition that makes us do things, whether these are household chores, tasks at work or the duties of the political community. America's founding fathers, who knew a great deal about political ambition, good and bad, wrote a Constitution which gave considerable scope to political ambition. For the most obvious example, consider the presidency. It is a powerful, prestigious and almost...

Putin's nuclear show blows up in his face By Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 18/02/2004) Russia's biggest military exercise since the collapse of communism flopped yesterday, ruining an attempt to project Vladimir Putin as a global leader and reaffirm the country's status as a nuclear superpower. With Mr Putin and a host of military officials watching from the nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk, two intercontinental ballistic missiles went wrong during a firing from a submarine believed to be the Novomoskovsk. They were aimed at Kamchatka on the Pacific coast. A malfunctioning satellite was blamed. Putin promised that Russia will again be a...

HILLARY'S LIVING, ER, LYING-OUT-LOUD HISTORY-- The First Shot Of The 2008 Presidential Campaign by Denis Schulz At last the much-heralded Hillary Clinton blockbuster is on sale at bookstores all across the US. But is it a blockbuster? Hardly! Petunia Pig, in her unpublished reminiscences, had more to say about Porky's infidelities than Hillary has to say about Slick Willie's romps around the Oval Office. Sherlock Holmes spent more time looking through Moriarty's apartment for a piece of dental floss than Hillary spent searching for her lost Whitewater billing records. (Sherlock was a notorious stickler for details -- in her new...

Author's note: This is a short story that seeks to penetrate to the core of a conflict in modern society which places the entire destiny of human progress on the line. It is NOT a blurry post-modern perceptually-bound depiction, but rather a conflict of ideas with characters bound by only their own volition. Be prepared for a plot relevant to the most pervasive questions of human existence, and a style that harkens back to a time when rational humanism in writing was the rule, not the exception. Scott Denning, his face prematurely creased, wizened, and blemished by years of tanning,...

Rivera is now a much older and smallish man than the days when he milked the mental health system for its tragedies and used day time TV as a human garbage can in which to shove lifes losers into his own personal profit. After all, Geraldo helped pave the way for Gerry Springer as well as other low life media and TV prostitutes of the lower end of human nature. Last evening and instead of the Capone Vault, Fox's # one resident Ego in Afganistan stood proudly on the former field of battle and also showed us the damage done...

CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush is expected to face more Democratic criticism than at any other time in the past 16 months as he returns to Washington today from his Texas ranch vacation. Frustrated by the president's high approval ratings and their own new status as the minority party in both houses of Congress, Democratic lawmakers are already attacking Mr. Bush's domestic agenda, which he is expected to detail later this month in his State of the Union address. At the same time, an increasingly crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls is criticizing Mr. Bush's foreign policy. One emerging theme...

Zimbabwe's new middle class have one ambition: a ticket out By Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 29/10/2002) Zimbabwe's black middle class lives in a street near you in London, according to one economist, Farai Zizhou. "They spoke with their feet," he said. On a recent evening at Harare International Airport, an Air Egypt cheap flight to Cairo was full. Hundreds of people milled around the check-ins, all on their way to London. George Satande, 36, a partner in a pharmacy in Harare's leafiest suburb, manages to pay the bills only because his wife, a nurse, works in London. "It's strenuous...

by: Murray Soupcoff Is it something in the water that Democrats drink? Or the fact that Dubyah's approval ratings may have slipped one or two points in some opinion polls (from a whopping 79 or 80% to a "miniscule" 77 or 78%)? Or is it all just a diversion to deflect attention away from the latest reports of Clinton perfidy in office as more details of the pardons scandal emerge? Whatever it is, the loony liberal left has been out in force lately, making the screwiest pronouncements -- all of which seem to be based on the assumption that the...