Free Republic

Good tidings from Virginia that may extend all the way across the nation. The coalition of voters that propelled Barack Obama to the White House is fragmenting and falling away, losing interest in Obama and unlikely to support other Democrats in future elections- at least if the Virginia gubernatorial election holds clues to the rest of the electorate. The anti-GOP wave has crested. From the Washington Post regarding a poll of Virginians focus on potentially critical shifts among Obama's coalition:

Scott Rasmussen's Daily Presidential Tracking Poll gets a lot of national attention -- as it should -- with the index balancing the strongly approve numbers versus the strongly disapprove numbers. Taken with the three day rolling average concept, an argument could be made that Rasmussen's poll and his index is the best snap shot of informed and engaged Americans at any given time. Certainly the fact that sometime around July 4th this poll crossed into negative territory and has stayed there is significant. Also important and telling is the fact that the strongly disapprove numbers have hovered around 40% for...

Voting rate dips as older whites stay home About 63.6 percent of the nation's eligible voters cast ballots in November WASHINGTON - For all the attention generated by Barack Obama's candidacy, the share of eligible voters who actually cast ballots in November declined for the first time in a dozen years. The reason: Older whites with little interest in backing either Barack Obama or John McCain stayed home. Census figures released Monday show about 63.6 percent of the nation's eligible voters, or 131.1 million people, voted last November. Although that represented an increase of 5 million voters — virtually all...

It might have been just a coincidence, but if it was, it was an awfully eerie one. Last week, 13-year-old Kayva Shivashankar won the 2009 National Spelling Bee by spelling the word "Laodicean." That word left a lot of Americans befuddled. Typically, the vast majority of Americans that are products of our nation's collective calamity known as the government schools have no clue how to spell or define the words used at the National Spelling Bee. "Laodicean" is certainly no different. The uninformed mainstream media did its typical best to keep Americans as uninformed as they are. Most of those...

This is my first post here in a long time. Since my last post, back in 2001, I have worked on a few campaigns for local conservative candidates, I've been a candidate, and I have been on my local Republican Executive Committee. I also publish a local elections blog in which I give all local candidates a username and password so they can blog with impunity at no cost in a local forum where people are looking for them. What has been so frustrating is seeing how conservatives will make a big show of outrage over some government wrongdoing, but...

People used to say that South Africa was 20 years behind the rest of the Western world. Television, for example, came late to South Africa (but so did pornography and the gay* rights movement). Today, however, South Africa may be the grim model of the future Western world, for events in America reveals trends chillingly similar to those that destroyed our country. America's structures are Western. Your Congress, your lobbying groups, your free speech, and the way ordinary Americans either get involved or ignore politics are peculiarly Western, not the way most of the world operates. But the fact that...

When these gun owners are pressed about their true dedication to the cause of gun rights, they invariably offer the infamous "… from my cold dead fingers" or "They can have them … bullets first". To these people, I would like to say, "Please stop with the clichés! If your freedom means so little to you that you are not willing to fight for it politically, then do not insult my intelligence by claiming to be willing to lay down your life for it."

...Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger... showed that Americans are hungry for good old-fashioned heroism and happy endings. Thanks to our convoluted legal system, however, they may not get what they crave. A case in point involves Nigel Haskett, an employee at a McDonald's in Arkansas. In August, Haskett came to the rescue of a woman inside the restaurant being beaten in the face by a man...

This week, Virginia Tech saw another brutal killing, and without a gun. The interesting thing about knives is that they are silent and they do not run out of ammunition. Witnesses did nothing. The campus alert system announced the incident long after it was a completed act, taking fifteen minutes to complete the student body list of cell-phone recipients. One of the best kept secrets in the anti-violence movement is to tone down - obfuscate - details of the incident. It takes a little curiosity and a little searching to discover how brutal this killing was on campus, a gun...

I believe that most of us participants of Free Republic believe in God, who loves all of His creatures, and we want that members of our government to be also people who believe in God and try to do what God wants because they trust God more than themselves. Does God not want only our love for Him and our love for each neighbor which God created, behind whom Jesus hides ("You did it to ME"!; Mt 25:40)? Thus it is very important to help, in any way, to encourage and bring our friends and acquaintances, who believe as we...

Henry Kissinger used to say that while it can be dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, to be a friend is fatal. The people of South Vietnam learned that bitter lesson when the United States abandoned them in 1975. The Poles learned it after Yalta, the Hungarian freedom fighters learned it in 1956, and Cubans learned it at the Bay of Pigs. And tens of thousands of Iraqis learned it in 1991, when at the urging of George H.W. Bush they rose against Saddam Hussein, only to be slaughtered when American support never materialized. Now we can...

The world has seen many cultures rise and fall. The common thread among all, from the Ancient Romans and Greeks to others, is that prior to their fall they became selfish, gluttonous and apathetic. They adopted the feel good and do it now mentality that today’s secularists feel is an invention of their own. Anyone who studies human nature should find it apparent that our Creator set up a system whereby gluttonous selfishness leads to apathy. It is therefore of no surprise that those who embody the “feel good, do it now” movement are so out of touch with the...

Increased Knowledge About Global Warming Leads To Apathy, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2008) — The more you know the less you care -- at least that seems to be the case with global warming. A telephone survey of 1,093 Americans by two Texas A&M University political scientists and a former colleague indicates that trend, as explained in their recent article in the peer-reviewed journal Risk Analysis. "More informed respondents both feel less personally responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming," states the article, titled "Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes toward Global Warming...

Apathy U by: Emily Mullin, November 27, 2007 “Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” The quote was said by one of our most famous founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. And although it was spoken over 200 years ago, the message is still applicable today. The world has changed slightly since the time of Thomas Jefferson, and so has the youth of America. Young people now live in a sort of bubble, a controlled environment called college. We permeate our brains with information five days a week and our livers with...

A homecoming fit for heroes? Deserted streets greet soldiers' parade on their return from Afghanistanby MICHAEL SEAMARK and ARTHUR MARTIN - More by this author » Last updated at 00:45am on 6th October 2007  After six months risking their lives against the Taliban in Afghanistan, they might have expected a token show of appreciation from a grateful public.  But as they paraded through Abingdon in Oxfordshire, these brave soldiers had the streets almost to themselves. Four hundred men from the 4th Logistic Support Regiment - dressed in desert fatigues - were virtually ignored on their march to St Helen's...

Shortly after the tragedy last October at the Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, PA I saw a fellow interviewed (can’t remember where) who travels around to schools and instructs students as to how to react if an armed intruder enters their classroom. Simplified, his basic premise was to act as quickly as possible. To work as a group, grab whatever might be handy, throw the objects en masse at the intruder, and rush him collectively. His theory was that, by doing so, the odds are greater for a larger number of survivors to walk out of the classroom alive than...

How can anyone be a bystander while someone is stabbed? By Mark Steyn (Filed: 13/09/2003) On September 11, 2001, the first individual to be named among the dead was the wife of the US Solicitor-General, Barbara Olson, whom I'd sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. On September 11, 2003, I woke to the news of the death of the Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago, at a conference. I can't claim anything other than the most casual acquaintance with either lady, but even an accidental proximity...

It is common knowledge that today’s gangs are very well armed and are very willing to kill or maim to achieve control over their turf and to commit their crimes. For quite a while, now, it has been common knowledge that illegal immigrants from south of the border are creating or joining violent gangs in our inner cities. It is common knowledge that a significant portion of our prison inmates are illegal aliens and or gang members. Some states are trying to implement state witness protection programs so as to protect the public from gang retributions. One interviewee said that...

SO...have any of you heard?? Micahel Richards made some racist comments last week... OH..I forgot..that is about ALL that has been in the news lately.. That, and the part about Maddame Pelosi defending terrorists, and of course...Brittany Spears getting ready to re-start her career. No , or at least very little mention of some REAL threats out there.. It looks like the "Big bear",( whom many of the unwashed masses have been brainwashed into believing is "no threat anyomre, or never was a threat,) is starting to show some ominous signs of returning back to the "old ways" of doing...

Evacuees in area schools being held back at high ratesOne in four Houston Independent School District students displaced by Hurricane Katrina failed to make enough academic progress to be promoted to the next grade this school year — a far higher rate than their classmates and an indicator of the massive challenges still facing area schools. About 700 of the 2,900 Katrina students returning to HISD this year were held back, including 41 percent of high school sophomores and 52 percent of juniors. That 24 percent retention rate was among the highest in the area, according to retention rates released...

President Bush has pursued an "erroneous policy" that has fostered violence in the Middle East, said former President Jimmy Carter, who brokered the historic Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. "In my opinion, maybe the worst ally Israel has had in Washington has been the George W. Bush administration, which hasn't worked to bring a permanent peace to Israel," Carter said Friday during a stop in West Michigan. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were here as part of a fundraiser for their son, Jack Carter, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada. The $500-a-person event, attended by...

While American troops are hunkered down in "safe zones" in Iraq trying to stay out of an escalating civil war, our government seems oblivious to a growing threat of civil war right here in the United States. As anyone can see, millions of illegal aliens living here are becoming more vocal, more demonstrative, more belligerent, and more violence-prone by the day. Unless our government takes deliberate and significant action immediately, America could be in for serious civil unrest real soon. It is absolutely incredible that our government would tolerate people who are not even legal residents of our country to...

By the time the war protesters began their march Saturday morning in Salt Lake City, only about 50 people had gathered. Their numbers had swelled to about 200 by noon - and that was with a little high-tech help from a marcher who text-messaged friends to join him. The early low turnout was discouraging to some, such as Susan Westergard of Holladay. "There's just about more policemen here than people," said the Democratic candidate for the Utah House of Representatives in District 40, nodding to the squadron of eight motorcycle officers parked alongside 400 South. "I guess the longer the...

Like so many Patriots..... I DON'T CARE!

SEATTLE -- Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the war in Iraq on Wednesday, urging a troop drawdown as the United States enters its fourth year of conflict in Iraq. "It was a completely unnecessary war. It was an unjust war," said Carter, the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "It was initiated on the basis of false pretenses. All of those are true, but we can't just pre-emptively withdraw."

Bystanders ignore plight of burning homeless man     Christine Wellstead, an emergency room nurse at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, stands near an alcove outside a Starbucks where she doused a homeless man whose comforter caught fire while he was sleeping. Photograph by : Ian Smith, CanWest News Service         Maurice Bridge, CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 VANCOUVER -- St. Paul's emergency nurse Christine Wellstead has seen some pretty rough things on the job, but nothing has shaken her as much as the callous indifference she witnessed Monday night as bystanders ignored...

As President, Jimmy Carter may not have consulted an astrologer to decide the details of his schedule - á la Nancy Reagan directing her husband's busy days. But Ronald Reagan's predecessor did once employ a woman in a trance to locate a downed government plane in Africa. "We had a plane go down in the Central African Republic. A twin-engine plane. Small plane. And we couldn't find it," the 81-year-old 39th President reveals to GQ magazine's Wil S. Hylton. "So we oriented satellites that were going around the Earth every 90 minutes to fly over that spot where we thought...

HAVANA — American activists camping out at a Cuban military checkpoint outside the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay started their first day of a water-only fast Monday to protest the treatment of suspected terrorists detained at the base. Members of the largely Christian group Witness Against Torture are demanding access to the prisoner camp to meet with inmates. The activists arrived late Sunday at the checkpoint, which is about five miles from the U.S. base, after a five-day march from the eastern Cuban city of Santiago. "We can see the windmills of the U.S. base, we can see some...

It’s an interesting question, and one that I was asked today. I have pondered the question for years, and have come to the conclusion that those born after the mid to late 1960’s are not patriotic citizens by the same definition as those born prior to the 60’s. In fact, I’ve heard many 20, 30, and even 40-somethings claim that they held no particular allegiance to the United States, as they consider their country to be Imperialistic, dishonest, exploitative, and devious. But we older citizens must realize that the younger generations have not had the benefit of time, wisdom, and...

Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government "competent and compassionate," responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation, and continuing tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations. Carter, who has rarely used his full name--James Earl Carter, Jr.--was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were mainstays of his upbringing. Upon graduation in 1946 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons,...

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23 2005 Five years after the controversial 2000 presidential election, ex-President Jimmy Carter now says he's certain Al Gore defeated George W. Bush. "Well I would say that in the year 2000, the country failed abysmally in the presidential election process," Carter told a panel Monday at American University in Washington, D.C. "There's no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president." Those in attendance broke out in applause for that statement. "[Gore] received the most votes nationwide, and in my opinion, he also received the most votes in Florida," Carter continued. "And the decision was...

This is the story of a hero, the true story of a man who lived thru a version of hell that is simply unimaginable. That he got through it, is amazing. That he survived the madness and escaped to go on living, is a miracle. The story told by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire in his magnificent book "Shake Hands With the Devil – The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" (Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York) is beautifully written, but is horrifying, infuriating and discouraging. It's a portrait of evil that was ignored and allowed to happen. He worked on the...

ATLANTA - Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday called for the United States to shut down its Guantanamo Bay prison to demonstrate the country's commitment to protecting human rights. "Despite President George W. Bush's bold reminder that America is determined to promote freedom and democracy around the world, the U.S. continues to suffer terrible embarrassment and a blow to our reputation as a champion of human rights because of reports concerning abuses of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo," Carter said in a news conference following the close of a two-day human rights conference at his Atlanta center. In addition...

/begin my translation The Great North-South Divide of Public MoodHamkyong/Yanggang (N. East)  -- "War is not my concern" Pyongan/Hwanghae   (S. West) -- "Will follow (Kim Jong-il's) order" [ 2005-05-20 11:34 ] Pyongyang citizens passing by(Yonhap News)  A N. Korean defector, Ahn Young-bae(alias, entered S. Korea in 1998) in Pusan, had a phone conversation with his family back in N. Korea not long ago, and they told him, "There are words going around here, which say, 'The South goes its own way, and so does the North.'"We are not talking about S. Korea and N. Korea. What it means is that public mood in the Southern region of...

Woman Raped on Street While People Watch The Epoch Times May 08, 2005 About 10 p.m. on April 27, a criminal forced a 23-year-old woman down on the ground and raped her near a construction company in Baofeng county of Henan province. The woman loudly and repeatedly called for help. He had a knife and stabbed her right hand. He threatened to suffocate her if she continued to shout. More than a dozen onlookers responded to her calls for help, but then watched silently, not offering help. The assault ended with the arrival of the police who responded to a...

The current heat surrounding the case of Terri Schindler-Schaivo underscores the need for moderation. Rather than continue to hold the national will captive to the extremists on either side, the majority in the middle need to step up to the plate and assert themselves. What we are saying is that there aren't only two choices in this matter. It is reactionary to assume that a husband must either decide to kill the wife, or not decide to kill the wife. All that many people are asking for is that each husband be allowed to decide on his own whether or...

Fewer young people likely to vote in election than for reality TV shows Mon Mar 7,12:33 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - Fewer young people are likely to vote at the general election expected in May than have already voted in reality television shows, according to a survey. Fewer than 42 percent of first-time voters think they will vote for a political party, yet 46 percent have already voted for contestants in shows such as "Big Brother" and "Pop Idol," said the YouGov poll. The 18 to 24-year-olds, who account for nearly one out of every ten voters, are more turned...

Jimmy Carter told NBC's "Today" show in September that he was confident the elections would not take place. "I personally do not believe they're going to be ready for the election in January ... because there's no security there," he said.

Good evening. I want to have a frank talk with you tonight about our most serious domestic problem. That problem is inflation. Inflation can threaten all the economic gains we've made, and it can stand in the way of what we want to achieve in the future. This has been a long-time threat. For the last 10 years, the annual inflation rate in the United States has averaged 6-1/2 percent. And during the 3 years before my inauguration, it had increased to an average of eight percent. Inflation has, therefore, been a serious problem for me ever since I became...

At the risk of being labeled an inveterate pessimist, as we approach what may prove to be the most critical election day in our republic’s history, I cannot help but feel a sense of discouragement about America’s future (accompanied, of course, by the knowledge that He works in miracles, so nothing is ever hopeless). As I see it, we will witness one of three likely outcomes of the November 2nd vote: (1) If the election is close, the thousands of leftist trial lawyers hired by the DNC and/or Kerry/Edwards, who are already gearing up to take this election out of...

Why Christians and the Church are unable to fight the culture waralthough it's still not too lateOctober 23, 2004http://www.nodnc.com Often, in and out of church walls today, we hear about the apathy of the religious community. Hardly a month goes by that the church is not embroiled in some major controversy to the glee of the anti-christian left. The Church in America has lost its soul. The American church no longer fears God, and no longer loves God. If this sounds like harsh criticism, I intend to fully support it in just a moment. First, a little background. Since as...

Voter apathy Younger citizens less likely to cast their ballots By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Mark Egge has definite opinions about politics, despite the fact that he just turned 18 a month ago. He cast his first votes in the primary election Tuesday. "I guess I vote because I'm somewhat idealistic," he said. "I care about the direction the nation is going. I don't think I have a right to complain if I don't vote." Although politics are not regular dinner conversations at home, Egge said his parents have set a good example by...

SECOND LETTER TO Michael Jeck Mjeck@afi.com *** Please write to this individual *** Mr. Jeck decided to show "Fahrenheit 9/11" but rejected ABIP "COVERING CUBA 3: Elian calling it "controversial". July 25, 2004 American Film Institute Dear Mr. Jeck: According to most critics, Moore's film is not only controversial, but it is filled with lies; makes a mockery of our capitalist and democratic system and most controversial of it all, it appeals to our worst enemies. So much for this American laughing on his way to the Bank while soldiers are dying to protect his rights! Still, Mr. Moore has...

Hillary, The Dirty Dozen and Karl Marx by Kerry L. Marsala "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From Bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage." -Alexander Tyler (Lord Woodhouselee, Alexander Fraser Tytler a Scottish historian/professor who wrote several books in the late 1700s and early 1800s.) Over the...

When societies become exceptionally decadent, when decency is under attack and immorality defended, we naturally seek the source of such a nightmare. Certainly, evil cannot thrive without the cooperation of man. But what men are most culpable for our present decadence, the blatant instigators of the revolution against Our Lord, or the “silent majority”? By silent majority it is meant those that look the other way in the presence of evil or sigh and say: “Oh well...”. Such “Ohwellians” would prefer to let their heads remain firmly in the sand than acknowledge evil for what it is and take an...

BROWNSVILLE -- Former President Carter on Thursday called the Bush administration's decision to wage war against Iraq "ill-advised and unnecessary," adding the resulting campaign "has turned out to be a tragedy." The former Democratic president also said Bush's environmental policies are perhaps the worst in the nation's history. Carter made the comments at the Rio R.V. Park after wrapping up a four-day birding trip with his wife, Rosalynn, in the lower Rio Grande Valley. "President Bush's war was ill-advised and unnecessary and based on erroneous statements, and has turned out to be a tragedy," Carter said. "And my prayer has...

<p>Turnout in the Democratic primaries, heralded by party leaders as a strong showing of unity and outrage against President Bush, was actually in line with past primaries, lower than many recent Republican contests, and included some record lows in later states, according to a full accounting released yesterday.</p>

While Big Print Media has headlines today of "Kerry in Big Victories Across Nation", and "Kerry Rout, Edwards Out"... and Big Broadcast Media opens their newscasts with "John Kerry wins big on Super Tuesday", here's what they're NOT reporting: VOTER APATHY ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IS OVERWHELMING!! Take a look at the number of votes cast in the 10 Democratic Primaries on Tuesday as compared with the number of registered voters in each state: California - 15.4M Registered Voters - 2.6M Votes Cast for Democratic Candidates = 17% New York - 11.0M Registered Voters - 646K Votes Cast for Democratic...

<p>After John Kerry's Tuesday win in Wisconsin, it's fairly safe to say he's the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee. But is it also safe to say, as a number of polls suggest, that Democrats, believing he is their party's best chance to beat George Bush, have been turning out for Mr. Kerry with zeal?</p>

I apologized to an important political figure in Washington last week on behalf of my profession. I started my professional life as a journalist. Later, when I came to Washington, it was to work with the media from the inside. Then throughout my career, which has included the initiation of eleven conservative institutions, I always considered myself a journalist. When, in 1980, we began to publish what is now Stu Rothenburg's Political Report, I insisted on journalistic standards. Former Speaker of the House, Tom Foley (D-WA.), called me once and said Stu had written the most objective report about his...