Free Republic

Arthur Koestler (1905-1983)The following excerpt from American Betrayal appears today in slightly edited form at Breitbart News:In his contribution to the famous 1949 collection of essays by ex-Communists titled The God That Failed, Arthur Koestler carefully illustrates how set language binds thought to ideology at the expense of evidence. Koestler, author of the unparalleled novel of Stalin's show trials, Darkness at Noon, describes a conversation he had early in his Communist career with "Edgar," his Party contact, in which they discuss the front page of a Communist newspaper."But every word on the front page is contradicted by the facts," I...

Ready or not here she comes. New Yorkers are scrambling for last minute provisions today as Hurricane Irene draws closer to the city. The forceful storm — a Category 1 with ferocious 85 mph winds — is expected to wallop the city by 4 a.m. tomorrow. -snip- "How can I get out of Coney Island?" said Abe Feinstein, 82, from an apartment with view of the boardwalk. "What am I going to do? Run with this walker?"

'Where are the black people?' the outspoken actress, 44, asked as the panellists as they critiqued Prince William and Kate Middleton's ceremony. [snip] 'It was like where's Waldo, where are the black people?' she added. 'We found one little black child in the choir but where's the black people at this wedding?' she continued. 'They are segregated but they are at the front so we have our Rosa Parks moment,' she added referring to the African-American civil rights activist Rosa Parks who refused to obey a bus driver's order to give up her seat for a white passenger on December...