Free Republic

A short review of the book “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross, c/r. 1995 Accurate Press. 861 pages. ( Note: This posting is in no way in fact, inferred, or implied to be a submission in MD’s contest! ) This tome came with a dust cover depicting a swat clad fella man… handeling Lady Liberty… the poor lady was in the midst of a wordrobe malfuncition. Rather tacky dust ‘cover’ on this book. But I would be the last to judge a book by… a tacky dust cover, so I threw it out and took a dive into this one. What...

The way that people carried on in 2008, you would have thought we had elected a messiah and not merely a president. Some people who felt that way can be excused because that’s the way Obama was sold to us. After all, he vowed to lower the oceans, heal the planet and unite all Americans, whatever their class, race, gender or nation of origin. That’s pretty big talk for someone whose singular accomplishment as a member of the Illinois Legislature was to vote in favor of partial-birth abortions, and whose most noteworthy achievement during his two years in Washington was...

A new report says wealthy Maryland residents may be moving out due to recent tax hikes – a finding that is sure to escalate the battle over taxing the American rich. The study, by the anti-tax group Change Maryland, says that a net 31,000 residents left the state between 2007 and 2010, the tenure of a "millionaire's tax" pushed through by Gov. Martin O'Malley. The tax, which expired in 2010, in imposed a rate of 6.25 percent on incomes of more than $1 million a year. The Change Maryland study found that the tax cost Maryland $1.7 billion in lost...

There are very real consequences to the Environmental Protection Agency’s continued efforts to undermine America’s coal industry. Those consequences were recently spotlighted in an industry-produced video, embedded above. Maria Tworek owns a sports bar in Omaha, Nebraska. “Our energy bills are sky-high,” Tworek explains. The bar has to keep its cooling facilities running 24/7 to keep all of its beer cold. If “we can’t cool our product, we don’t make money,” Tworek says. “It’s as simple as that.” The bar is Tworek’s livelihood. “This is how we live,” she says. “This is how we support our family.” Nebraska is a...

In the closing hours of World War 2, the Japanese found themselves in a fix. Increasingly Japanese citizens, who had been assured by their mainstream media that the war was practically won, emerged from the shelters after the latest bombings of their cities, and asked themselves, "If the week before last we annihilated the all of American carriers in the battle of Saipan... And last week we sank all of their remaining few ships off-shore of Iwo island. And yesterday we decisively destroyed their poorly defended airfields, then exactly why... today, is it us who are eating grass and burying...

"They are 'Precious Snowflakes', wrapped in cotton wool from day one," said Paul French, the founder of Access Asia, a China-based research company. "Nothing is ever quite right for them. It is always either too hot or too cold and they are all hypochondriacs. ~snip~ "The first generation, the Little Emperors, were quite tough: fat little thugs always stuffing themselves full of McDonald's," said Mr French. "The new generation is very concerned with things like air quality, which the Little Emperors never bothered about. "They only drink Evian and are scared of food unless it is imported. Their parents tread...

A top oil industry official delivered a clear warning to President Obama Wednesday: approve the Keystone XL pipeline or face “huge political consequences.” American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard urged Obama to quickly approve the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf Coast. A payroll tax cut package signed into law by Obama last month includes a GOP-backed provision requiring the president to make a final decision on the pipeline within 60 days.

Two teenagers who spotted a five-year-old girl sleeping in a stolen car have told how they were arrested for 'doing the right thing' when they called police. Tyler Thompson and Connor Roderick were held in custody for four hours and had their DNA and fingerprints taken. Their clothes were also kept by police following the incident in St Helen Auckland, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Now Tyler,16, and 18-year-old Connor plan to submit a complaint to the authorities about their treatment. The teenagers were on their way to a shop to buy milk at about 10.15pm nine days ago when...

Apple could face disruption to its iPad sales in China after a court rejected its claim to own the iPad trademark in the country and a rival sought to halt sales of the tablet device in two Chinese cities. The developments are the latest in a long-running dispute between Apple and Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a struggling Taiwanese-owned company that registered trademarks for the name IPAD in many countries long before Apple conceived its smash hit tablet computer. >SNIP< Huizhou Intermediate People’s Court has scheduled a hearing in the other for January 7. “We are starting with these two cities, and...

Just when you think that the Obama administration hasn’t annoyed the American Jewish community quite enough or publicly insulted our democratic ally Israel sufficiently, along comes an administration figure willing to stick his finger in the eye of the Jewish state. On Friday, that task fell to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Speaking at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, Panetta mouthed some nice words about the two countries’ relationship. Platitudes were not in short supply: “[I]n this time of understandable anxiety, I would like to underscore one thing that has stayed constant over the past...

A Long Island man was stunned to find out that his 4-year-old twins weren’t an accidental pregnancy at all — his desperate girlfriend secretly stashed away his sperm and used it for an in-vitro procedure, he charges in a lawsuit. Elmont resident Joseph Pressil, 36, wasn’t planning on having children with Anetria Burnett, with whom he was in a relationship for six months in 2007, he said. So she took matters into her own hands, he told The Post, in order to remain in his Texas house and make a legal bid for half of his possessions. -snip- The real...

A former China-desk Army intelligence analyst and co-author of a new book about Chinese-American relations, told HUMAN EVENTS November 15 that the strange giant white lines drawn in western China's Gobi Desert were most likely practice targets for Chinese space weapons. “Usually when we think of space weaponry, we are talking about horizontal targeting by satellites firing on other satellites—to take your eyes out,” said William C. Triplett II, who with Brett M. Decker, wrote Bowing to Beijing: How Barack Obama is Hastening America's Decline and Ushering A Century of Chinese Domination. The former analyst said at first he was...

All the ingredients are here. We have a potentially powerful politician, a hopelessly flimsy accusation of sexual misconduct and a predictable media, desperate to fill broadcast hours. Was there really ever any doubt that alleged civil rights attorney Gloria Allred would get involved? After all, whether she’s demonstrating anal sex using a baseball bat, buddying up to bereft pornstars or inserting herself into the life of Chaz Bono, she’s proven that her proper place is in front of a camera,

Obama won the 2008 election by default, but believed he won with a mandate to implement progressive dreams. In pursuing an aggressively leftist agenda, he has done these United States a profound service; he has clarified the fundamental ideological battle at the heart of all politics -- statism vs. individualism -- and dramatized the results that flow from such statist public policies. As a result, the American people are angrier than ever with politicians of both parties. As I say, this is a very positive development. More Americans are focused on issues of Constitutional principle than ever before. They have...

Three days after leaving China—where he pledged to work for peace—Kim Jong Il threatened to wage war against South Korea (Yonhap News Agency, May 30). The highly provocative comments from the North Korean regime at the end of May were interpreted as a sign of Chairman Kim’s defiance of Beijing, after a week-long visit that Korea watchers termed “disastrous.” Indeed, there are moments when Beijing and Pyongyang do not see eye to eye—such as this May during Kim Jong Il’s trip—but in essence the North Koreans know that the Chinese have to support them. That is why Kim felt confident...

'A deep-rooted hatred of the British': How Israelis 'armed junta' in Falklands conflict Israel secretly provided arms and supplies to Argentina during the Falklands conflict, according to revelations in a new book. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin had such a deep-rooted hatred of the British that the Jewish state covertly became the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Argentine military junta. Gas masks, radar alert systems, air-to-air missiles and fuel tanks for fighter bombers were sent from Tel Aviv to arm General Galtieri’s forces. The most audacious deal involved supplying 23 French-built fighter aircraft – Mirage IIICs – which...

With fighting intensifying between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, the Arab League on Sunday announced plans to ask the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305545#ixzz1JDWz1jI1

After 20 years and two children together, Laura Munson’s husband told her that he wanted to leave their farmhouse home. Laura suppressed the urge to rage at his selfishness – and her restraint had surprising consequences…

Fools and Their ConsequencesIsaac Newton is known as a great mind of science who has influenced the minds of men in many disciplines. What many do not realize is he was also a great influence in the realm of theology. Mr. Newton while not flawless in the religious realm has created some excellent commentary upon God’s truth from the Bible. Mr. Newton is well noted for his observation and recording of three laws of motion. It is the third of these from which application to this final article regarding fools will be drawn.Newton’s Third Law of Motion: To every action...

Sluthood wasn't always considered a virtue. Most normal, rational people look at sleeping around as something sad and wrong. It's not healthy, physically or mentally, it can be damaging to a young girl's reputation, and it can also be incredibly dangerous. Women that sleep around oftentimes end up feeling used and regret their choices when they get older and decide to settle down. Other women end up contracting STDs, which may or may not be treatable. For these reasons and more, being a slut is understandably looked down upon -- it can be genuinely harmful. Today's pseudo-feminists, however, have...