Free Republic

I remember taking a forestry class my freshman year of college. The curriculum, presented by a veteran instructor from the California Department of Forestry, covered several related topics that included ecology, biology, life cycles, wild-land fire control, conservation, and commerce based on those natural resources. I never heard the associate professor use the word "environment" or "environmentalist" during the course. Granted, it was years ago, and course outlines do change over time as new information on any given subject becomes available. But, the disconnect suggests the environmentalist movement is a recent concoction that has little basis in traditional resource management...

I'm very happy to see the spring weather finally arrive. It seems Old Man Winter just wouldn't go to bed this year. With changes in the weather, comes my spring chest cold. There isn't anything I can do about it except head to the doctor and ask him to treat the symptoms until it clears. That's the routine. However, I discovered the routine isn't so routine anymore. After entering the exam room, I saw a new computer had been set up in the exam room. Nice LCD monitor, sleek key board on a telescoping arm. I asked the nurse about...

A far as messed-up elections go, this Kloppenburg-Prosser affair in Wisconsin has been enormously amusing for me. It’s one of those rare occasions when a “clerical error” has gone in favor of a republican candidate. By rare, I mean as rare as hobby horse dung. By messed-up, I mean it’s one of those typical close elections that attracts liberal socialist thuggery like President Obama attracts re-election endorsements from third-world dictators. In past elections, with vote totals separated by razor-thin margins, we could count on our socialist friends pulling up in their mobile home with out-of-state tags. They would disgorge the...

Following the tragedy at Tucson, our liberal socialists have again showcased their ability to "never let a good crisis go to waste". Attempting to exploit the good and correct feelings of ordinary Americans, over a horrific event, our liberal socialists shamefully further their own political ambitions by blaming the event on any political dialogue that is opposed to their socialist agenda. You have to admire their persistence and gall as they remain willing to say or do anything to make political headway by publicly demanding we adopt "a more civil political dialogue". It is a bold attempt to define the...

In my childhhood, I always dreamed of being a professional athelete. I played football and baseball in high school. Though I was recruited to play football at a local college, my true love was basketball, a sport I did not play well in high school. I apparently lacked the requisite skills to play that particular sport and was not invited to play on the school basketball team. It really was no fault of my own. In fact, some of the factors that made me good at football and baseball were a hinderance in basketball. I was cursed with short legs...

"What you see is what you get." How many of you believe in that old adage? Ever since Aaron Burr - America's first professional politician - put a lead ball into Alexander Hamilton, Americans have had to be more aware of what truly goes on behind the scenes in Washington, D.C. In our time, we need be similarly concerned with the dark machinations within the minds of our contemporary professional politicians. I believe that if the average American was privy to the behind closed doors conversations and intrigues that occur daily "in our best interest", they would be appalled. Maybe...

During my consideration of contemporary politics, I have noticed five reoccurring themes regarding liberal socialist thought. The Five Pillars of Liberalism detailed below, seem to capture the prevailing position taken by most every liberal socialist to which I have the pleasure of conversing. I've put their collective thought into words, and organized them for your pleasure. 1) Scorn - America is bad : In order for a world socialist workers utopia to have any chance at realization, the United States of America, as we know it, must cease to exist. The reason all prior communist revolutions have failed is because...

As of late, I have been impressed with the number of electoral irregularities that have been reported during the past several election cycles. By electoral irregularities, I mean all these lost-and-found ballot boxes and bags, miscalibrated voting machines, judicial interventions, etc. Please understand, I am no mathematician or statistician, but I would think the very nature of any series of errors leading to those irregularities would be random, i.e. those errors would favor democrats and republicans equally. In fact, a decent dictionary definition of the word random could be a process of selection in which each item of a set...

In addition to potential theft of elected office I see in various parts of the country, the debacle in Alaska is turning my stomach. Lisa Murkowski has shown that she is unworthy of any serious consideration as an elected official. Other than democrats, I’m actually shocked that any appreciable number of Alaskans voted for her. She is the next self-promoting loser in the parade of blue-blood republicans willing to do whatever it takes to stay attached to the government teat. It is behavior I expect in a liberal socialist, not a republican. Specter, Crist, and now Murkowski all put “self”...

In addition to the potential theft of elected office I see in various parts of the country, the debacle in Alaska is turning my stomach. Lisa Murkowski has shown that she is unworthy of any serious consideration as an elected official. Other than democrats, I’m actually shocked that any appreciable number of Alaskans voted for her. She is the next self promoting loser in the parade of blue-blood republicans willing to do whatever it takes to stay attached to the government teat. It is behavior I expect in a liberal socialist, not a republican. Specter, Crist, and now Murkowski all...

Oooh! That’s going to leave a mark! Well, it’s official: the tea party movement has left its mark on the face of the American Body Politic. Both democrats and republicans have felt the effects of the TPM, and the slap may smart for quite some time. A slap across an otherwise stuporous face is precisely what the republicans needed, while democrats will attempt to call it anything other than what it was – a sizeable rejection to their liberal socialist agenda. As I stayed up late on election night watching results pour in from across the nation, many thoughts crossed...

Diversity. What a pleasant sounding word. I see colorful posters bearing the word placed in prominence around the office where I work. I often see the word applied in noble motto: “Strength in Diversity” or “Celebrate Diversity”. What a lovely sentiment. What could be wrong with that? I am a German American, whose original German-born ancestor arrived in the United States of America in 1853 following the death of his first wife. I’m quite sure his life in Germany was shattered. He came to America destitute, with small children in tow. He remarried an Ohio woman and settled in the...

In an otherwise bleak month leading up to the 2010 midterm election, democratic pollsters announced today their latest polling data indicates America’s dead are breaking to democrat candidates at an unprecedented rate. Though enthusiasm for democrat public policies wane among the living, on a generic ballot the dearly departed prefer an unspecified democrat party candidate over any republican at a staggering six to one ratio. A further breakdown of polling data indicates major shifts within the dead demographic. While interest among groups traditionally supporting democrat candidates remains strong, even dead conservatives now seem poised to cast votes for democratic candidates...

Rarely has the political differences dividing our country been so stark. Certainly, the antebellum period prior to the Civil War was such a time. The Civil War itself remaining a clear reminder of what happens when political policies and actions are taken to extremes. Two very different interpretations of the 10th Amendment, protectionism of northern industry the Confederacy viewed as biased against southern agriculture, and a popular abolitionist movement in the north proved to be a volatile combination. The rest is, well, history. (Please, no flames - I know the causes of the Civil War were more complex and varied....

In an otherwise bleak month leading up to the 2010 midterm election, democratic pollsters announced today their latest polling data indicates America’s dead are breaking to democrat candidates at an unprecedented rate. Though enthusiasm for democrat public policies wane among the living, on a generic ballot the dearly departed prefer an unspecified democrat party candidate over any republican at a staggering six to one ratio. A further breakdown of polling data indicates major shifts within the dead demographic. While interest among groups traditionally supporting democrat candidates remains strong, even dead conservatives now seem poised to cast votes for democratic candidates...

In an otherwise bleak month leading up to the 2010 midterm election, democratic pollsters announced today their latest polling data indicates America’s dead are breaking to democrat candidates at an unprecedented rate. In a generic ballot, the dearly departed prefer an unspecified democrat party candidate over any republican at a staggering six to one ratio. A further breakdown of polling data indicates major shifts within the dead demographic. While interest among groups traditionally supporting democrat candidates remains strong, even dead conservatives now seem poised to cast votes for democratic candidates on Tuesday. Senator Harry Reid said about the development, “I’m...

Rarely has the political differences dividing our country been so stark. Certainly, the antebellum period prior to the Civil War was such a time. The Civil War itself remaining a clear reminder of what happens when political policies and actions are taken to extremes. Two very different interpretations of the 10th Amendment, protectionism of northern industry the Confederacy viewed as biased against southern agriculture, and a popular abolitionist movement in the north proved to be a volatile combination. The rest is, well, history. (Please, no flames - I know the causes of the Civil War were more complex and varied....

I just finished reading an excellent article by Peter Wallsten, “Tea Party Shaping 2012 Race”, October 25, 2010, in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Wallsten breaks down the field of potential 2012 GOP candidates very nicely. What I find most interesting about the topic is the extent to which those potential 2012 presidential contenders seem willing to go to harness the tea party momentum. It reminds me of when I was in high school, and a hot new girl transfers in. All the suave “chick magnets” come out and start busting a move. Sometimes two or three adolescents at a...

I just finished reading an excellent article by Peter Wallsten, “Tea Party Shaping 2012 Race”, October 25, 2010, in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Wallsten breaks down the field of potential 2012 GOP candidates very nicely. What I find most interesting about the topic is the extent to which those potential 2012 presidential contenders seem willing to go to harness the tea party momentum. It reminds me of when I was in high school, and a hot new girl transfers in. All the suave “chick magnets” come out and start busting a move. Sometimes two or three adolescents at a...

DIVERSITY vs. E PLURIBUS UNUM Diversity. What a pleasant sounding word. I see colorful posters bearing the word placed in prominence around the office where I work. I often see the word applied in noble motto: “Strength in Diversity” or “Celebrate Diversity”. What a lovely sentiment. What could be wrong with that? I am a German American, whose original German-born ancestor arrived in the United States of America in 1853 following the death of his first wife. I’m quite sure his life in Germany was shattered. He came to America destitute, with small children in tow. He remarried an Ohio...