Free Republic

You know the old saying about having a hammer and everything looking like nails? I was reading an article in the Journal of Law and Economics about why housing prices in Manhattan are so high, and I thought, "Omigosh! The answer to the demographic implosion." Since my hammer happens to be sex and marriage, even an economics article reminds me of sex. So bear with me. I’ll explain what the article had to say about housing prices. Then I’ll tell you what it has to do with sex...

The latest criticism of the war in Iraq has become so politically manipulative, so disingenuous, so over-the-top that it is undermining a critical cause that we cannot, for a variety of global security reasons, afford to lose... Let’s look at last Thursday, March 16, the day the Iraqi National Assembly opened in Baghdad and a high-profile "air assault" northeast of Samarra, as an example:

Since the New York Times and Wall Street Journal broke the news about the admission of Taliban official Sayeed Rahmatullah Hashemi to a special student program at Yale, we’ve received numerous emails from outraged Yale Alumni. One email stood out from the rest — "I won’t give Yale one red cent this year, but maybe I will give them a red fingernail instead!" She was referring to the Taliban’s policy of pulling the fingernails off of Afghani women who dared to wear fingernail polish. Some of these women even had their thumbs sliced off as punishment. To date, Mr. Rahmatullah...

Here's a speech we would like to hear from an Academy Award winner: I thank you for this wonderful award. Receiving an Academy Award gives the recipient an almost unique opportunity to speak to hundreds of millions people around the world, so I would like take this once-in-a-lifetime moment to say this:

In the long run, the battle to make America safer is part of a larger cause—the battle to make the free world safer and, indeed, to make the whole world freer. Victory will come only if representative government prevails, because freedom is the one force strong enough to stop tyranny and terror. In our modern day and age, America appears to have forgotten the guiding principles that have led her thus far. Getting America Right offers not a revolutionary, novel solution, but an answer that is as old as America herself—a conservative one...

One exciting thing about the free market is that you can't predict what the market will create. Big-government advocates tell you exactly what will happen when their plans work (as if they actually would work!), but we who trust the free market can only say that people will compete and good ideas will win. We do know that competition works. It works because it gives people the chance to be creative...

Would you care to guess who said this: "To the courageous men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall Afar (Iraq) from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life"? Give up? That is a letter from...

Now, mirabile dictu, some of the same Democrats who have routinely lambasted such profiling are rushing to the floors of Congress and in front of TV cameras espousing these very same policies. The impetus: the White House's boneheaded insistence on ramming through a $7 billion deal giving United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World control over significant operations at six major American ports in New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Miami....

Choosing how your children are educated should be as routine in America as the ability to choose your neighborhood, your church, and your place of employment...

In my thirteen years as a college professor, I’ve never seen joy and celebration that rivals the response to Dick Cheney’s hunting accident. Of course, that’s really saying something. Bringing American professors to laughter is nearly as tough as bringing American feminists to orgasm. It’s a theoretical possibility that is seldom achieved without a workshop. The liberal reaction to Cheney’s accident may vary slightly from liberal to liberal but there is one common characteristic; namely, these liberals feel morally superior because they’ve never shot someone on a hunting trip.... Of course, the fact that.....

In a recent USA Today op-ed, Tom Krattenmaker argues that “playing the God card” has backfired on President George W. Bush. The president’s favorability has fallen through the floor, Krattenmaker argues. And surely God would never side with unpopular presidents. “The God’s-on-our-side rhetoric is looking even less credible now, after more than a year of frequently bad news for the president and his administration,” he writes....

In some form or fashion, I have known the players in what I am about to describe as a series of regrettable moments at the funeral of Coretta Scott King. The one I know least, President George W. Bush, won both my sympathy and respect for gallantly enduring the slings and arrows pointed directly at him during what should have been a celebration of a great woman, but instead turned into a political rally

I always enjoy watching the Super Bowl, but it usually feels like I’m watching a foreign film without subtitles. This year, I thought Super Bowl XL would be a perfect opportunity to learn some football terminology by applying it to the part of the game I already know and love: the commercials...

Looking back at the history of tragic times often reveals that many -- or most -- of the people of those times were often preoccupied with things that look trivial, or even pathetic, in view of the catastrophe looming over them. Will later generations looking back at our times see a similar blindness, and even frivolousness, in the face of mortal dangers?

I hereby expressly consent to the NSA eavesdropping on any telephonic, Internet or other electronic forms of communications I may have -- whether I initiate or am on the receiving end of the communication -- with any person or persons the government has reasonable basis to conclude is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda.

An irrational fear of evangelical Christians deprives secular America of a true understanding of the dangers posed by radical Islam. But those who fret over an imagined American “theocracy” run by Christian zealots should take note that it’s not Bobby from Birmingham or Wally from Wichita that’s burning down embassies, raiding buildings, threatening executions and otherwise behaving like animals on the streets of (to name a few) Damascus, Gaza City, Jakarta and Baghdad. The initial reaction was tepid. But then an Austrian newspaper reprinted the cartoons in January, followed by French, German, Italian and Spanish newspapers this month. The reprints...

Democrats are hammering Republicans right now for what they call a "culture of corruption." While the Abramoff scandal is no small thing, it is important to realize that he is now on trial for his crimes. He has also been disavowed by all Republicans. Furthermore, those who have been connected with him have lost their power. But when we talk about corruption, let's look at a few facts: Clinton Democrats: 61 indictments or criminal charges 33 convictions 14 imprisonments 7 independent counsel investigations 72 Congressional witnesses pleading the 5th Amendment 19 foreign witnesses who declined interviews by investigative bodies 17...

The 58-42 vote for Judge Samuel Alito to be the 110th Supreme Court Justice could very well culminate in a detrimental change in the role and operation of the Supreme Court. Progressives think that this is because Justice Alito will replace the so-called swing vote of moderate Justice Sandra Day 0’Connor. No, the risk is that the bitter partisanship associated with his confirmation could undermine the Court’s independence and authority.

The real Bush? By Robert Novak Feb 2, 2006 WASHINGTON -- While jumping up on cue to cheer during the speech and delivering rave reviews afterward in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, conservative members of Congress were deeply disappointed by George W. Bush Tuesday night. It was not merely that the president abandoned past domestic goals. He appeared to be moving toward bigger government. The consensus on the Right was that President Bush's fifth State of the Union Address was his worst. Republican congressmen agreed privately that he was most effective at the beginning with his familiar message of why U.S....

I read a review of Brokeback Mountain, the conservative author of which actually felt bad that he had felt bad during the movie. The heartache experienced by the characters in the film had elicited a degree of compassion and empathy in him, yet this author’s hatred toward the act of homosexuality had so inoculated him against seeing the true struggle behind the issue that it seemed like he actually felt guilty for internalizing the humanity in Brokeback Mountain. As much as the movie tilts at the windmills of our country’s Judeo-Christian foundations, and in doing so ravenously angers its conservative...