Free Republic

Notice the picture the NY Times is painting of this week’s primary results? Republican insurgents from the far right did well in Tuesday’s primaries. What their campaigns lack in logic, compassion and sensible policy seems to be counterbalanced by a fiercely committed voter base… This is an attack on voters thinly disguised as a critique of candidates: Much of the G.O.P’s fervid populist energy has been churned up by playing on some people’s fears of Hispanics and Muslims, by painting the president as a dangerous radical, by distorting the truth about the causes of the recession. Far too many Republican...

For years, researchers such as Gerald Celente have been warning that the coming economic collapse is going to spark mob scenes and riots that are unprecedented in U.S. history. Many have scoffed at these predictions and have refused to believe that anything like that could ever happen in America. But if what happened on Wednesday near Atlanta is any indication, we could be on the verge of something really bad. 30,000 people turned out to pick up only 13,000 applications for government-subsidized housing. Some people had waited for over two days just to get their hands on an application. The...

Editor: So far, there hasn't been a lot of coverage of this event in the USA and little mention was made of the explicit and decadent nature of the event, except on some conservative German Catholic news blogs, but there are others who see it correctly, as Kathnet reports: [Kath.net] "Welcome to the sexiest party in the world!" wrote "Bild" still on 23 July, the day before the Love-Parade in Duisburg. Instead of sexiness, journalists are coming to describe it in terms of biblical decine after the mass panic with 19 dead and hundreds of injured. "Hell at the Love-Parade",...

Cognitive decline and memory loss are the biggest fear factor for seniors and their caregivers. Frustrations, miscommunications, and strained emotions further cloud an issue characterized by mental haze. Determining if “senior moments” are consistent enough to affect quality of life and whether something should be done requires communication. It may be failure to pay attention that first raises concern and prompts the need for discussion. Sometimes seniors become so accustomed to others planning their days that they don’t take much time to focus on the details. A senior may ask a question and then not pay attention to or not...

Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls.

We are hearing all sorts of reasons why the United States is doomed to decline. After all, America is piling up deficits at a record rate of about $1.5 trillion a year while other countries are slashing their spending. The national debt cascades over $13 trillion and is on track to reach $20 trillion within a decade. The current recession is heading into its third year. Unemployment still hovers at nearly 10 percent. Much of the country thinks the war in Afghanistan is as good as lost. There are more than 80,000 American troops deployed there, along with nearly 50,000...

SÃO PAULO – In a heroic case of finding a silver lining in the bleakest of all situations, the European Union climate commissioner has concluded that the global economic crisis and recession actually provided a lucky break for everyone. Commissioner Connie Hedegaard says that the slowdown in economic activity will make it easier for the EU to achieve its 2020 goal of ensuring that greenhouse-gas emissions are 20% below their 1990 level. In fact, Hedegaard believes that cutting emissions has become so easy that European leaders should be more ambitious and unilaterally aim for a 30% reduction below the 1990...

The chaos in world financial markets over the stability of the euro calmed somewhat late last week. But the con ditions causing the European Union crisis -- the solvency and even creditworthiness of many governments using the euro -- are far from resolved, and the next stages may be even more perilous. Realize first that, from the outset, the "common currency" project was as political as economic. Europeans who wanted an "ever closer union" hoped that creating a currency without a government was an important backdoor way to build the pan-European state they ardently desired. They believed that the need...

Posted on September 21, 2009 7:12:34 PM CDT by pastorbillrandles Why the heathen Rage…pt1 by bill randles “Why do the heathen Rage and the people Imagine a vain thing? The Kings of the earth set themselves,and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Messiah saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us…”(Psalm 2:1-3) The Psalms have ever served me as my prayer book, from the very beginning of my new Life in Christ. As I grew in Christian grace, I realized the value of the Psalter for worship, noticing that...

We often hear about churches closing their doors in the U.S. But some may be surprised to hear that the total number of churches is not in decline anymore. An important shift happened in recent years, according to researchers Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird. After decades of net decline, more U.S. churches are being started each year than are being closed. The credit largely goes to the recent increase in enthusiasm for church planting. Stetzer, who leads LifeWay Research, says church planting has become the "it" thing right now and the new evangelism. So many new churches are springing up...

The shops must close before a long-debated city ordinance takes effect June 7, or face criminal and civil penalties.... Los Angeles city prosecutors began notifying 439. It's the first step in what could be a lengthy and expensive legal battle to regain control...- - clip - - The city's enforcement efforts, however, could be stymied by court cases. Two related lawsuits filed by dispensaries challenge the City Council's decision to close stores that did not register under the moratorium, which a local judge ruled was illegally extended. "We're looking for the court to just acknowledge that our clients are unlawfully...

Many years ago, I asked the late Alan Jay Lerner, author of Camelot, Gigi, My Fair Lady and much else, why, as a Broadway colossus, he chose to live in London. And he replied that, in his opinion, Britain was the most eminently civilized society on earth.

"A series of decisions taken over the last few years in Europe have alarmed me. The first imposed the rule of unanimity within the European Union for any decision regarding foreign policy or the use of armed force for other than humanitarian purposes. Because everyone must agree, nothing is agreed. As a result, Europe cannot develop a common foreign policy. The second alarming decision limited the Union's budget to a mere 1% of EU GDP, thus preventing any new common policy initiative for much of the past decade. The third decision concerns the British vetoes of the candidacies of Jean...

The spring Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Fas-Fax report was released in the middle of earnings season. And so the many newspapers reporting that ad revenue was still falling, but at a slower pace, were mostly also posting circ numbers that continue to slide but not accelerate.

Imagine you're legendary business guru Jim Collins. Decade ago "Good to Great" and "Built to Last" made him the new Peter Drucker. He's a guy USA Today says would rather be rock climbing than helping companies learn the secrets of making "the leap to greatness." *SNIP* Stage 1 kicks in when people become arrogant... ...insiders see "success virtually as an entitlement" ... like Wall Street banks today ... they "lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place" ... they "overestimate their own merit and capabilities ... The best leaders we've studied never presume they've...

Toyota's Stumble is Not a Metaphor for Japan Inc. Written by Lam Peng Er Monday, 29 March 2010 Bowed but unbeaten: CEO of Toyota Motor corp, Akio Toyoda apologies, but Japan's industrial excellence is undminished Toyota's management had problems before the brakes Toyota's dramatic fall from grace has come as a great shock in Japan, especially as many abroad tend to view this as emblematic of the country's decline. Inside Japan, though, the car manufacturer's troubles are seen as more political than technical in origin. All the explanations underlining Toyota's problem of global overstretch, however, make the prognostication of Japan's...

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Historians cite the late second century as the turning point of the Roman Empire, when the once- proud, feared society began its descent into infamy. As the ruling class was undermined by civil wars and attacks by outsiders, the Romans’ respect for law and social institutions began to erode. In the end, a combination of political and economic mistakes led to the empire’s downfall. The U.S. today is a mirror image of the Roman Empire as it tipped into chaos. Whether we blame our bloated government, a greedy elite or a lethargic population, the similarities between...

The passage of the health care law shows that the US empire is declining because it illustrates the fact that people expect the state to take care of them, David Murrin, the co-founder of Emergent Asset Management hedge fund manager, told CNBC. On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed into law health care legislation that expands health coverage for the poor, imposes new taxes on the rich and forbids insurance practices such as refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. In their expansionary phase, empires force people to go out, seek risks and fend for themselves, Murrin said, reminding of...

Sometimes you do live to see it. In my book America Alone, I point out that, to a five-year-old boy waving his flag as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession marched down the Mall in 1897, it would have been inconceivable that by the time of his 80th birthday the greatest empire the world had ever known would have shriveled to an economically moribund strike-bound socialist slough of despond, one in which (stop me if this sounds familiar) the government ran the hospitals, the automobile industry, and much of the housing stock, and, partly as a consequence thereof, had permanent high...

SYDNEY — Australia on Monday unveiled a 43 million dollar (38 million US) plan to keep older people in the workforce, as it strives to ward off an economic slowdown expected as the growing population ages. Treasurer Wayne Swan said Australia's population was expected to rise by 14 million to 36 million by 2050 with a much higher proportion aged 65 or over, leaving fewer workers as health costs soar. "If we are going to get to the point where there is going to be 2.7 working Australians for every person aged over 65, not five as there currently are,...