Free Republic

Link only allowed

The most surprising and disappointing aspect of our politics is how little pushback there has been against the vile, extremist rhetoric that has characterized such a large part of the anti-Obama movement. President Obama's White House has largely ignored those accusing him of "fascism" and "communism," presumably believing that restraint in defense of dignity is no vice. Republican politicians, worried about future primary fights, have been reluctant to pick a fight with a radical right that seems to be the most energized section of their party. Their "moderation" has consisted of a non-benign neglect of the extremists and of accusing...

I certainly understand why someone would want to post anonymously on The Times Argus Web site/message boards. A number of legitimate reasons have been provided in letters and subsequent on-line comments ranging from "I don't want my boss to know my politics" to "It's my right as an American to express my opinion." When one poster suggested that I would "die soon and nobody would care" and went on to describe what I was wearing, I even considered adopting a pseudonym for myself. Most contributors make consistently reasonable points in mostly respectful ways. Coincidently, many of them are real people,...

This past weekend, a small brouhaha erupted over a Halloween display on Capitol Hill. The display, in essence, mocked the death of the Republican Party and the conservative movement... Though distasteful, the display makes a point that has become increasingly common in American political discourse, that the Republican Party and American conservatism are dead... Of course, this is oversimplification and hyperbole. Conservatism is not dead, just civil conservatism. You can still hear some semblance of conservatism in the streets when Tea Partiers march, still see it on the television when you watch Fox News. In ever more hysterical tones, conservatism...

Late last month, Charisse Carney-Nunes fired up the computer at her home in Washington to check her e-mail. Her brain already was on morning drive time: breakfast for the kids, her day's work at a government agency. She glanced down at her screen, then froze. "Ms. Carney-Nunes," began the e-mail from Michelle Malkin, a best-selling and often inflammatory conservative writer with a heavily trafficked Web site. "I understand that you uploaded the video of schoolchildren reciting a Barack Obama song/rap at Bernice Young elementary school in June. I have a few quick questions. Did you help write the song/rap and...

Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri got too close to the live mike on the House floor Thursday when he let another lawmaker, a fellow Missourian, have it. "So stick it up your a--," Skelton could be heard saying during the debate on a defense bill. Not exactly a Joe Wilson moment. Still, it seemed in perfect tune with the nasty political tenor of the times.

Russ Feingold Takes On "Czars": A Plea For A More Civil Discourse?Posted by Michael Scherer Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 10:35 am At 1:30 p.m. today, in Room 226 of the Dirksen Building, Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., will hold a hearing on the "History and Legality of Executive Branch Czars." Since Feingold is a liberal Democrat, this raises eyebrows. Why would Feingold embrace a topic--so often distorted and misunderstood--that has been the purview of Fox News and sundry other detractors of President Obama? The answer may be as simple as: Feingold believes we are better than all that. To explain...

urn to tennis and we see this week a pathetic Serena Williams in a profanity-ridden rant, because she is being beaten badly on the court and apparently cannot handle the self-induced humiliation, and so goes ballistic over an apparently bad call. I am sure she would have preferred, as in the past, the racist- to the profanity-card, had not the targeted umpire herself been a person of color. Of course, John McEnroe, Ilie Natase and Jimmy Connors set the present low standards in tennis. Ms. Williams is only following in their ends-justify-the-means footsteps. In about a week, her father will...

If you think American politics have gotten nastier, crueler, and more symbolic over the last 20 years, blame Ted Kennedy.

A special spot in hell is reserved for the media whose shameless hypocrisy has sunk to new lows with their feigned indignation over health care town hall protests. Even as they currently bluster about 'astroturf' and shout down guests about shouting people down, these same Obama sycophants refused to condemn orchestrated disruptions aimed at the Bush administration, and, in some cases, may actually have conspired to execute them. According to Dante, the eighth circle of hell holds those who have committed conscious fraud or treachery -- such as the Media wing of the Democratic Party has been perpetrating. Perhaps most...

<p>If Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) gets confronted by Tea Party Patriots next week, she'll counter with a patriot of her own.</p> <p>Markey's staff will be handing out a copy of George Washington's “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” to everyone at her public events.</p>

House Democrats ask for civility at town halls By Mike Soraghan Posted: 08/15/09 11:18 AM [ET] If Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) gets confronted by Tea Party Patriots next week, she'll counter with a patriot of her own. Markey's staff will be handing out a copy of George Washington's “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” to everyone at her public events. It’s her effort to cool down the boiling debate, with a deliberate nod to Tea Party Protesters, some of whom don tri-cornered hats and carry "Don't tread on me" flags to protest the Democrats' health care plans. “If you're going...

Take a conservative stand in the blogosphere, cable television and the mainstream media and you can count on being attacked in the rudest, crudest, and foulest possible language, much of it unprintable in a daily newspaper, by zealots on the Left. I ignore such stuff, knowing that Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" encourages the use of abusive, garbage language as a tool to isolate and discredit people and institutions. Perhaps that makes it easier to send those the commissars deem utterly evil or hopelessly ignorant to re-education camps, or worse. But I never expected to hear such language from people...

Thank you, Barbara Boxer, for hammering the final nail in the coffin of angry and irrelevant pseudo-feminism. If there were any life left in its wheezing and flailing body, her latest experiment in the utterly ridiculous effectively pulled the plug. The venomous brand of feminism that cuts men off at the knees to make women arbitrarily taller is no longer credible. When Boxer had the audacity – and some would argue, questionable mental clarity – to publicly scold a US Army general for calling her “ma’am” instead of “senator,” it telegraphed to the rest of the world the sheer inanity...

Word For The Day, Monday, 5/4/09 In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". objurgate to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly; berate sharply. Other forms: ob'jur·ga'tion n., ob·jur'ga·to'ri·ly (�b-jûr'gə-tôr'ə-lē, -t�r'-) adv., ob·jur'ga·to'ry (-tôr'ē, -t�r'ē) adj. Etymology: 1610–20; < L objūrg�tus, ptp. of objūrg�re to rebuke, equiv. to ob- ob- + jūrg�re, jurig�re to rebuke, equiv. to jūr- (s. of jūs) law + -ig-, comb. form of agere to drive, do + -�tus -ate 1 Rules: Everyone must leave a post using...

They told us if Barack Obama were elected, the nation would come together. Souls would be fixed. Spirits would be healed. Public discourse would be elevated. Welcome to civility and tolerance in the Age of Obama: -- Celebrity leech/trash blogger Perez Hilton took to the Internet and TV airwaves to humiliate a beauty pageant contestant who gave what he considered an “offensive” answer about gay marriage. Hilton, inexplicably serving as a judge for the Miss USA contest, asked Miss California, Carrie Prejean, whether she supported the legalization of gay marriage. Prejean respectfully answered: “I think that I believe that a...

In an event billed as a “distinguished speaker series” event, Ann Coulter faced off against Bill Maher last night at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In front of 6,000 hissing New York City liberals -- alternately absorbing and answering vulgar, sexist and racist insults from “comedian” Bill Maher -- Coulter battled back against audience shriekers, an unfunny Maher and “moderator” Mark Halperin of Time Magazine in a “debate” that would have been more accurately billed as a cage match and shown on Pay-per-View tv. The tone was set at the very start. The audience was asked whether they...

What? Pollsters and Joe the Plumber reveal that things are just as uncivilized in the Obama era of change as the were in previous days.

Watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama, I was impressed by the graciousness and civility by the two presidents at the platform during the transition. To tepid applause, Mr. Obama began his Inaugural Address by thanking George W. Bush for his service. As the camera panned to Mr. Bush, the 43rd president seemed non-responsive, sad. After the ceremony, the Obamas and Bushes slowly descended the Capitol steps together, almost arm in arm—two presidents and two first ladies, two couples, four Americans, four people. They chatted quietly, amicably. The Obamas escorted the Bushes to the helicopter. They hugged, shook hands, George...

Should the GOP be nice to Obama for a while? Or not? Plus news of America's prevailing mood, select quotes and one cool thing for the fireplace.

And so, my own final judgment of this campaign is that John McCain’s failure to assess the depth of his opponent’s desire for power — power for its own sake — was his own fatal flaw. And the moment of truth in this campaign: When Larry King asked John McCain less than a week before the election whether he believed Barack Obama was a socialist, McCain firmly answered, “No.” In fact, he should have said, “Verily, I do not know what Barack Obama is and neither does anyone else, except perhaps the man himself.” To which McCain might have added...

After taking criticism for standing by for days while his supporters grew increasingly unhinged and hysterical, John McCain did the right thing today, telling his supporters that there's no need to be "scared" of a president Obama and calling on them to be "respectful" towards him. We have two videos for you from the same event. Here's vid of McCain saying that you needn't fear Obama: "He is a decent person, and a person that you do not have be scared as President of the United States"...

Republican John McCain is telling supporters in Minnesota to stay respectful when it comes to Democrat Barack Obama. McCain interrupted boos at a town hall meeting Friday in the Twin Cities suburb of Lakeville after he said he admired Obama and his accomplishments. McCain says he wants supporters to point out the differences between what Obama says and what he has done in the Senate, but he wants them to do it respectfully. About 2,000 people came to Lakeville South High School for an event that was part campaign rally, part town hall meeting. Earlier today, he appeared at a...

How To Debate Politics Like A Gentleman Posted By Brett & Kate McKay On September 21, 2008 Kate grandpa’s is fond of repeating the mantra he and his fellow sailors repeated while serving aboard the [5] USS Indiana during World War II. “Never discuss politics or religion.” And he always adds, “So what does that leave to talk about? Girls, of course.” Gramp’s advice is certainly appropriate if you’re going to be trapped on a ship with the same guys for months on end. And it’s a rule of good etiquette for dinner parties and other occasions when polite decorum...

“it would be a “fundamental if not fatal mistake for the GOP to demonize Barak Obama” ... I believe his ideas are totally wrong for America and many of his plans would take us the opposite direction from where I think we need to go. He is an ardent supporter for the most liberal and indefensible positions on abortion, including his refusal to support a ban on the most vile forms of all, partial birth abortion. He has stated that he would be an activist in seeking to push for what the anti-life forces euphemistically call “reproductive rights.” His plan...

The best indicator of Republican John McCain's surprisingly strong presidential prospects in what should be a slam-dunk Democratic year is not his solid general-election poll numbers but rather the increasingly shrill attacks from Democrats.The latest was a grotesque slam from Barack Obama supporter Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia. In a newspaper interview in his home state, Rockefeller let loose this stinker: "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the...

Indeed. Randi Rhodes agrees with Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro on everything - abortion, health care, climate change, you name it. Yet the first is "a f***ing whore" and the second is "David Duke in drag" merely because they disagree on which Democratic senator would make the best president. The people applying these deranged epithets to the Clintons are in large part the very same people who spent the Nineties applying equally deranged epithets to anyone who disagreed with the Clintons.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) - Sen. John McCain called Saturday for a presidential campaign that is more like a respectful argument among friends than a bitter clash of enemies, and said he is better able than either of his Democratic rivals to govern across party lines. "We have nothing to fear from each other," the Arizona senator said as he wrapped up a weeklong trip designed to broaden his appeal beyond the voters who cast ballots in last winter's Republican primaries. "We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom, promote the general welfare and defend our ideals."

As traditional news outfits migrate online to become dot-coms, one of their biggest headaches is how to adapt to the sprawling new frontier of public comment.In the pre-Internet world of TV and newspapers, public comment wasn't a problem. Broadcast news didn't have any -- aside from the weekly guest spot, usually some hapless civic association president reading from a prompter and staring terrified into the camera. Papers had their letters pages, but allowed only enough space for a few dozen a week, and they were generally written with care and were easy to prune for taste and diction.Things were nicely...

Court challenge prompts CSU to drop civility code for students To the relief of a campus Republican group, the 417,000 students at California State University's 23 institutions no longer face the possibility of discipline for failing to be civil to one another. The change was part of a settlement approved by a federal magistrate in Oakland this week in a lawsuit by the San Francisco State College Republicans, whose members were subjected to a disciplinary hearing after some of them stomped on two flags bearing the name of Allah during an anti-terrorism rally in October 2006. The flags represented the...

Arguments are going to happen in marriage. Two people living together are bound to generate friction. Indeed, having no disagreements at all might be a sign that your marriage has entered the dangerous "doppelganger" realm where you have become so alike that you are fused into the same person. Differentiation is a necessary component of passion, and marital friction can turn out to be as much a source of light as it is heat. But in order for the healthy sparks in marriage not to grow into a consuming conflagration, it's essential that you learn to fight fair, never hitting...

RICHMOND(AP)— What little remained of bipartisanship in the House of Delegates lay in shambles yesterday after a rare procedural move by Republicans triggered a fierce floor dispute. The extraordinary partisan rancor arose over a delegate's routine request to withdraw a bill he sponsored and left in doubt whether the House Republican majority and the Democrats can cooperate effectively in the remaining 43 days of the 2008 General Assembly. "It was not a good day for the commonwealth," House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong said after lambasting the Republicans as bullies and tyrants. "They put a bill in, then they're too...

Insulting British callers make operators sick By Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi Last Updated: 1:43am GMT 06/01/2008 British callers may be infuriated when they discover that the company they are telephoning has moved its customer service centre to India. But their frustration is as nothing compared with the heart attacks, ulcers and insomnia afflicting those on the other end of the line. Staff in call centres say they have been shocked at the ferocity of the verbal attacks they encounter Research carried out by India's booming call centre industry has found the 1.6 million people who work in them, mostly...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at Republicans in the closing days of this congressional session, saying “They like this war. They want this war to continue until every last terrorist is killed. They’re that bloodthirsty." Pelosi asserted that these are not sentiments shared by the American people. “The people are tired of this war,” Pelosi insisted. “They want to ‘change the channel.’” “The notion that we might win the war is too risky,” Pelosi continued. “Quitting the war, as I have been urging, can be accomplished unilaterally and immediately. Winning requires collaboration and time to accomplish. In my...

Across the ideological spectrum, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dashed expectations. On the right, the hope was that Pelosi would be the tallest lightning rod in Washington — playing to type as a “San Francisco liberal” and handing the Republican minority all manner of ideological openings to exploit. For the most part, that has not happened. On the left, the hope was that Pelosi would lead the newly empowered Democrats to hijack President Bush’s agenda on the issue that matters most to party activists — ending the Iraq war. To Pelosi’s regret, that has not happened either. Appraisals of Pelosi’s...

New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt's Sunday column, "Civil Discourse, Meet the Internet," delivered some piping hot news, circa year 2000: Web comments can often be rude and crude. "WARNING: This column contains rude and objectionable language not normally found in the pages of this newspaper but seen surprisingly often on its Web site.

Exerted.... "SAN DIEGO — Like Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years earlier in New Orleans, thousands of people rousted by natural disaster fled to the NFL stadium here, waiting out the calamity and worrying about their homes. The similarities ended there, as an almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium." "Bands belted out rock 'n' roll, lavish buffets served gourmet entrees, and massage therapists helped relieve the stress for those forced to flee their homes because of wildfires." "At Qualcomm, thousands of tents, many set up by relief organizations, provided temporary roofs, while hundreds of people slept on open-air cots. Some...

When I heard Sen. John Thune getting heckled Friday morning, it underscored a theme I've been thinking about more and more -- incivility in political discourse. The heckling also reminded me of a Swiftian "modest proposal" once offered in jest -- I hope and pray -- by novelist and buffalo rancher Dan O'Brien, a friend with whom I often share whacky ideas. But first, the Thune story.

After several days at sea, I have begun to suspect that the US may be in worse shape than I thought. Not only does our economy need imported oil and foreign capital to prosper. It also could be developing a dependence on the kindness of strangers. I left dry land because my mother decided to celebrate her 70th birthday by inviting her children and grandchildren on a cruise – a five-day voyage from Bayonne, New Jersey, to Bermuda and back. Having grown up in the Long Island suburbs of New York, I viewed cruises as the vacation equivalent of a...

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. As I mentioned on yesterday’s broadcast about Peter Wood’s new book, A Bee in the Mouth, anger has become the new norm for public discourse today. Just think about any arguments you have had—or heard—lately about the war in Iraq, global warming, gay “marriage,” or abortion. Clearly, our nation and our culture are polarized. Discussion and debate have been replaced with yelling and demonizing. We Christians cannot retreat from the public square. We are called to speak the truth in love. But how do we engage others in a...

SERENITY CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought. A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect he...

Profanity by Reginald Firehammer One reason people of today, who never experienced the fifties, cannot imagine what they were like is because they are immersed in a totally corrupt and uncivilized culture and society. Profanity is one example. It was heard rarely in the fifties, and almost never in polite society or in the presence of women or children. Such profanity as one was likely to hear was the mildest kind, unlike the crudities that fill the mouths of so many people today, including women and children and is heard everywhere, in the 50s were almost never heard. Even those...

The lost art of civility "A week of 'I can't believe you just said that'." That's how writer Robyn Disney of the Macon Telegraph described offensive comments muttered by radio host Don Imus about the Rutgers women's basketball team last week after their loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in the NCAA finals. Imus created a stir on his morning radio/TV show with derogatory banter about the team. He started by saying "That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos." He later called the Rutgers women "nappy-headed hos." Critics want Imus fired for his statements. He has been suspended...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Outrage abounds in the "blogosphere" as a pair of Internet luminaries are lobbying for rules of behavior in the lawless world of online commentary. Internet publisher Tim O'Reilly, credited with coining the phrase "Web 2.0," and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales triggered torrents of vitriol by proposing a "Blogging Code of Conduct" to impose civility on the Internet. The idea came in the wake of anonymous death threats posted on the blog of author and speaker Kathy Sierra, O'Reilly's friend. "A culture is a set of shared agreements that allows us to live together," O'Reilly wrote in...

I came here in 1998 looking for conservative, logical, thoughtful conversation and debate on the things that matter to us the most. I was a Reagan Republican. One of those who had watched in horror as our embassy staff in Tehran was taken by fanatics. The answer should have been overwhelming force, but it was Carter, that limp-wristed, can’t-we-just talk-this-out, weakling who had made the military a shambles, and stripped it of its soul because of VietNam. I knew from the beginning that there was no room in this world for weakness and that was the beginning of my road...

Iowahawk Online Community Issues Forum Special by Ann Coulter and Bill Maher.ANN: Hello, I’m syndicated columnist and best-selling author Ann Coulter.BILL: And I’m Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time.”ANN: Today we want to talk to you about an issue that concerns both of us: the deterioration of civility in American politics.BILL: That’s right Ann, you anorexic Nazi whore. Even though we are on opposite sides of the political fence we can both agree that Americans of all political stripes need to start walking back from the hateful rhetoric that unfortunately characterizes much of our contemporary political discussion.ANN:   I...

(CNSNews.com) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called on Republican and Democratic 2008 presidential hopefuls to avoid personal attacks during their campaigns, for the sake of the nation. "We will not defeat the [Sen. Hillary] Clinton machine by being negative," Gingrich told the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. He called for "idea-oriented, positive dialogue" during the campaigns. Earlier this week, the New York Post quoted Gingrich as calling Clinton a "nasty woman" and "endlessly ruthless." Gingrich is despised by many liberals for his role in pursuing the investigation and impeachment of President Bill Clinton for...

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec. 27 — After four years of renovations that closed two-thirds of the building, the museum housing the world’s most famous collection of Chinese art is reopening this winter and holding a three-month exhibition of its rarest works.

We cannot excerpt this source. The article says the comment could cause a "diplomatic row". The article is available at - http://www.independent.co.uk/

Hatred-politics endanger Lieberman race THIS is no exaggeration: The soul of the Democratic Party - and possibly the future of civility in American politics - is on the line in the Aug. 8 Senate primary in Connecticut. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Conn., one of the last "liberal hawks" in the Democratic Party and a leader in efforts to find bipartisan solutions to America's problems, is being targeted for defeat by an emergent new left that's using savage, Internet-based attacks to push moderation out of politics. If former Greenwich Selectman Ned Lamont beats Lieberman in the Democratic primary, it will represent a...