Free Republic

Just when I thought ammo prices were finally starting to stabilize.

In Canada, where they have what is supposedly a wonderful government run healthcare system, the median wait time in the province of British Columbia for vascular surgery is 2.7 weeks. My paternal grandmother had major vascular surgery this past Monday. Her carotid (sp?) artery was 90% blocked. This was discovered by an MRI (something else you have to get on a waiting list for in Canada) a scant four days before the actual surgery was done. The only reason it took four days is because it's easier to get a surgeon on a weekday than on a weekend. So while...

I open my eyes with a start, like the murderous freak in the slasher movie the audience thinks is dead but isn't. The clock reads 3:55 A.M. I've awakened within six minutes of this time for the past three nights. I shut my eyes and take a breath, hoping to ease back to sleep. Too late. The anxiety is already gathering momentum, my brain roiling with thoughts that have no business being there in the middle of the night. It's like a Law & Order episode in my head: Opposing sides argue and counterargue, witnesses are badgered, lawyers shout objections....

I am currently in the process of writing a novel, and one of the scenes in this novel is going to take place in Sarajevo. Problem is, I've never been there and don't really know what the place is like beyond what you can read on the internet. If there are any FReepers who have been there and could give me an idea of what the city's like, I'd appreciate it. It will really help me with my book.

There is a small bit of business we ought to take care of. Most people have expressed to me a desire to allow critiquing of each other's work. I think this is a good idea, with one reservation: posting your work to an open forum, such as FR, could leave you open to copyright infringement. Granted, it's not likely to happen, but one never knows. It helps some that FR time stamps its posts, so you can get an exact date for when you created the material, and it would further help to keep a copyright posted in your posts...

This is the initial Righters Ping List, in alphabetical order. Normally, a ping list is used to alert folks on FR to articles that would be of interest to them. While this ping list will be like that, I'm hoping that as time goes on it will become more. What I would kind of like to see happen is have this thing turn into a kind of writer's workshop, a place where folks could come to learn from each other. I know I could use that kind of help. If anyone has any good ideas to that end, or any...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Six girls at a rural high school were charged with homicide conspiracy after their principal found a list of 300 names and officials discovered online postings suggesting they kill people, authorities said Thursday. School officials said the list, discovered in a classroom trash can, mostly named students and faculty members but also included Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and the Energizer bunny. Sequatchie County High School Principal Tommy Layne said that he initially considered it a joke, but that authorities then found the ninth-graders' online MySpace pages and postings that included the word "kill."

This column is not going to be pleasant, but then again, it?s not supposed to be. In the aftermath of the election, while conservatism might be intact, the GOP got its rear end handed to it on a silver platter. The blame for this falls squarely on the three major factions: social conservatives, libertarian conservatives, and the GOP leadership. I am not going to be nice any of these camps. The Nice Guy approach hasn?t worked, so we?re going to try the rough approach. No republican of any stripe is going to like me after readings this, and I couldn?t...

In the realm of conservative politics, we have two main factions: Christian conservatives and secular/libertarian conservatives. I generally find myself, no surprise, more in agreement with Christian conservatives than libertarians since I’m a baptised believer. However, there is now forming a divide among Christian conservatives, one that could be our undoing. Christian conservatives can now be described in one of two ways: big government Christians and small government Christians. It is truly a sad day in the history of our Republic when small or large government is even up for debate, whether between Christians or not. Unfortunately, big government Christians...

One of the common perceptions we have in our culture is that freedom and safety are compatible with another. We have in our nation a massive intrusion of government into our lives in the name of ’safety’. If you need an example, I suggest you peruse this column by Joseph Farah. The left has succeeded in convincing us that freedom and safety are equivalent. By doing so, this allows the left and the authoritarian right to introduce ever increasing amounts of government intrusion into our lives without opposition because they tell us it’s for our safety. Since we think safety...

I’m sitting and talking with some of my friends the other day, and one of them gets to talking about Bush’s NSA wiretapping program. Now personally, I don’t have a problem with this program, although not for the same reasons as most. In the US, it is legal for anyone to receive any transmission that goes over open air (although it is illegal to decode some transmissions. This is where freeloaders get their free satellite TV), so I don’t see a problem with the NSA listening in on some guy that they’ve got good reason to believe may be involved...

All of us know that historical revisionism is a favored tool of the liar and those who like to play the blame game. Right after 9/11, this was on display for the whole world to see when Bin Laden and the Left decided to blame the Middle East’s hatred of the West on, of all things, the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars that were fought nearly a thousand years before anyone on this Earth was born, yet the extremists hang on to it today like it’s some kind of personal injustice. I find it inconceivable that one...

One of the more odious lies that the far left and the media has successfully propagated centers around the alleged Serbian ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanians. At the time, US government officials, such as Ambassador David Sheffer, were making hysterical claims that the death toll from Serbian ethnic cleansing was in the hundreds of thousands. NATO decided to move in and correct the situation. Not a bad idea, as far as ideas go, there’s just one problem: the ethnic cleansing that was the justification for war never happened. It’s all one gigantic lie.

Democracy. It’s a word that conjures different imagery for everyone, but in most cases includes something to do with America and her freedoms. The word ‘Democracy’ has a lot of positive connotations associated with it. It shouldn’t. The United States of America is NOT a democracy, and thank God for it. Folks, the word ‘Democracy’ does not appear in the US Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. The Founders of our nation did this on purpose, as they did not found a democracy.

It is stated in the Bible that the devil is the father of all lies. And I believe it. I am something of a student of history, a subject that is pretty much ignored by our school system, and when it isn’t, it teaches more historical revisionist lies. The frightening thing about it is that our schools, our leaders, and especially our media, repeat flat out bald-faced lies as often as they can. And we believe them. God help us all, but we believe those lies so easily at times.

I hate to be posting yet another vanity, but I have yet another question for those FReeps who have automotive knowledge. As some of you already know, I'm pretty intensively searching for a replacement for my aging auto, and I'm finding it hard to find a vehicle that suits me, and for those of you who've read my threads on this you know pretty much what I'm looking for. I've on and off considered buying a Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V, and I was wondering if any FReepers have owned or test driven one and if those who have reccommend...

I am something of a do-it-yourselfer. I got my dad to teach me how to change the oil in my car so that I wouldn't have to pay someone to do it. So yesterday, I succeeded in changing the oil in my car, although I'm a bit of a klutz so I ended up getting oil all over my clothes. Not a problem, as they were work clothes and it didn't matter much if they got dirty. However, after I was done I blithely tossed my work clothes in the washing machine, and then considered that that might not've been...

General Motors’ board of directors has voted to start exploratory discussions with Nissan and Renault on a potential business alliance — a plan first proposed one week ago by Kirk Kerkorian, GM’s largest shareholder. But would a deal with the automakers help boost GM’s flagging fortunes?

I am going to be replacing my car with a newer one sometime early next year. I've done extensive research and test driving, but I'm having trouble finding a Honda Prelude to test drive. I was wondering if anyone has ever driven or owned one, and what their experiences with the vehicle has been, as far as reliability and fun factor. The vehicles I'm going to be comparing it to are the 2000-2005 Toyota Celica GTS and 2002-2006 Nissan Altima V6. I like the Altima's raw power, but it doesn't handle as well as I'd like and it's styling is...

Friday, I wrote about the betrayal and murder of the Son of God, without a doubt the day that humanity was at its very worst. After the Lord was dead and the people realized the enormity of the atrocity they had comitted, He was taken down from the cross and laid in a tomb. Jesus’s disciples despaired. The Romans, trying to stop a nascent rebellion, ordered that the tomb be guarded day and night and that a large rock be placed in front of it. The tomb was owned by a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimithea, fulfilling the old...