Free Republic

In 1936, Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated Alfred Landon by an electoral vote of 523 to 8. This was the only contested election in which the major losing candidate received fewer than 10 votes (1788, 1792 and 1820 were uncontested). The landslide came on the heels of what appeared to be an economic recovery. Unemployment fell, productivity rose; people believed the New Deal really worked and they rewarded FDR accordingly. Shortly into the second term did the ugly truth reveal itself. The so-called recovery had been built entirely on government spending. Massive borrowing and government make-work projects put money in enough...

The Big Ten expansion process will accelerate this week in Washington, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. Sources tell the Tribune top Big Ten officials will discuss expansion Sunday in Washington, the site of the Association of American Universities meetings.

Ten Rivalries to Witness College football passion covers the width and breadth of the many social, economic, racial, regional and religious subcultures in America. From Boston Brahmins (Harvard) to Hollywood fashion (USC), from Southern tradition (Alabama) to California progressives (Stanford), from Catholics (Notre Dame) to Mormons (BYU) to hippies (Cal), everyone has a team to cheer for. Below are 10 games that highlight that spectrum of passion, pageantry and pride (listed in approximate order of occurance during the season): Texas vs Oklahoma: The Longhorns, the Sooners and the Texas State Fair recall how so much of our culture is derived...

Speaking on Wednesday morning to the ACNA Assembly, His Beatitude, Jonah, Metropolitan of All America and Canada and leader of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), called for a "full... intercommunion" with the Anglican Church in North America. "What will it take," he asked, "for a true ecumenical reconciliation? That is what I am seeking by being with you today." This marks the potential resumption of an Orthodox/Anglican dialogue that began a hundred years ago between two missionary bishops, St. Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Grafton of Fond du Lac, only to be broken off in the 1970s with the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Everyone from President Barack Obama on down to fans has criticized how college football determines its top team. Now senators are getting off the sidelines to examine antitrust issues involving the Bowl Champion Series. The current system "leaves nearly half of all the teams in college football at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to qualifying for the millions of dollars paid out every year," the Senate Judiciary's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights said in a statement Wednesday announcing the hearings. Under the BCS, some conferences get automatic bids to participate in series, while...

Think of where you were eight years ago and where you are now? Are you better off?

PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION ADOPTED 12/03/2008 PROVINCE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA PREAMBLE In the Name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. We are Anglicans in North America united by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures and presently members of the Common Cause Partnership. We know ourselves to be members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We are grieved by the current state of brokenness within the Anglican Communion prompted by those who have embraced erroneous teaching and who have rejected a repeated call to...

It's Rivalry Week in the world of college football! In honor of this wonderful time of the football year, I have assembled a list of ten games that the true fan of college football should attend at least once in a lifetime. The games are listed in no particular order: 1) USC vs UCLA: This is Hollywood vs the rest of Los Angeles 2) California Berkley vs Stanford: The peace-niks vs the tree huggers (or the other way around). This shows that even leftist wackos enjoy college football. 3) Texas vs Oklahoma: The Red River Shootout. Yes, I said "Shootout"...

The mainstream media and democratic party will be paying close attention to the reaction the conservative blogosphere has for McCain's Vice-Presidential pick. So, please, regardless of whom he picks, let's not give them any fodder. The last thing we need to hear from Chris Matthews is "Conservatives are outraged over this pick. Here's just a sampling of posts on the conservative blog Freerepublic..."

It seems to me that every change in the economy brings opportunity. So then, if the economy collapses (recession or depression), what opportunities are there? Open for discussion....

I guess "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the Name of Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember I AM with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20) is not as important as "From each according to his ability to each according to his need" (Communist Manifesto) at TUCC.

Does everyone remember the Palestinian election in which Hamas did so well? In that event an organization built on hatred and rage all of a sudden found itself in a governing situation. The result has been disaster for them. The same will be true of a Democratic Congress. They did a real good job heckling the President on everything he said and did. They talked the talk, now they must walk the walk. As Hamas is learning, vitriol and rage do not lend well to effective government. Pelosi will learn that lesson too.

PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES •Man Faces 50 Years for Marriage to 14-Year-Old•Wife Says Teenage Groom Is 'No Victim'•Teen Who Wed 37-Year-Old Says Relationship Was Consensual•Woman to Marry Man Who Shot Her FALLS CITY, Neb. — A 23-year-old man was sentenced to more than a year in prison Tuesday on a sexual assault charge filed after he impregnated a teenager, then married her last spring when she was 14. Judge Daniel Bryan sentenced Matthew Koso to 18 to 30 months in prison, saying probation wasn't an option because Koso continued to have sexual relations with his underage wife. "Marriage...

000 WTNT33 KNHC 110831 TCPAT3 BULLETIN TROPICAL DEPRESSION VINCE ADVISORY NUMBER 8 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 5 AM EDT TUE OCT 11 2005 ...VINCE MAKING LANDFALL IN SPAIN AS IT BEGINS TO LOSE TROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS... INTERESTS IN SOUTHWESTERN SPAIN SHOULD CONSULT STATEMENTS FROM LOCAL WEATHER OFFICES ON THE REMNANTS OF VINCE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. AT 5 AM EDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION VINCE WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 37.2 NORTH... LONGITUDE 7.1 WEST OR ALONG THE COAST OF SOUTHWESTERN SPAIN NEAR HUELVA....

Another season of college football is just around the corner. As fans and players from Boston College to Hawaii gear up for the season, they will undoubtedly engage in casual discussion (or heated debate) some of the serious problems facing college football, especially Division I. Below is a list problems and suggested solutions. Media Relations: Commercial breaks during games have become obnoxious. The frequency and duration of television time outs has come to the point that they impact the game itself by stifling any momentum built by a team or enthusiasm built up in the crowd. The NCAA needs to...

WASHINGTON — Skyrocketing housing prices are driving people from San Francisco, Boston and other big cities. Warm weather and more affordable living are behind the rapid growth in midsize cities in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California. Census Bureau (search) figures being released Thursday show no letup in the migration to the South and West, which are home to all 10 of the fastest-growing cities with at least 100,000 people. The Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Ariz., topped the list. The city grew by more than 46,000 people, or 42 percent, to just over 156,000 residents in a little over four years....

What movies make you proud to be an American? It may be rare today, but in the past Hollywood produced many movies that instilled a sense of patriotic pride in the Americans who wathced them. The following are five movies that have given me pride in our nation, our culture and our accomplishments. What suggestions might you have? 1) Midway. The classic Charlton Heston war movie, complete with real war footage, of our decisive victory in one of the key battles of WWII. 2) It's a Wonderful Life. This movie affirms all that made our country great- faith, family, hard...

Last night the History Channel finished its two part series on the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Anyone have any thoughts?

There is currently no shortage of talk on how to fix social security. Our present social security system is not, however, the only entitlement program from times past that is in trouble. Medicare and Medicaid are both experiencing similar problems to social security: rising costs and a decreasing amount of contributors relative the overall population. Taxes can only be raised so far to deal with the costs. Solutions must be found. In a nutshell, the federal government collects taxes and then uses the money to reimburse the states for their Medicaid costs. One of the major problems is that the...

The Pilgrims’ Short Lived Experiment in Communism Many have credited Karl Marx with inventing what we now know as communism in the middle of the 19th century. The concept of communal living and dependence, however, came long before The Communist Manifesto. Over the centuries, the concept has been applied by different people in different places. While the reasons for applying the communal approach varied as widely as the people who attempted it, one thing did remain constant: failure. From Roman latifundiae to the Soviet Union, communism time and again proved the failure inherent in its concept. Americans do not need...