Free Republic

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is Time magazine's "Person of the Year." Twelve months ago, the "honor" went to then-President-elect Barack Obama. Notably, the 1932 recipient was President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who asserted in his March 4, 1933, inaugural address, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Mr. Roosevelt went on to describe the economic anxieties of millions left jobless in a deepening depression as "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." He then served notice that if the "national emergency" required it, he would "ask the Congress for the one...

To the thousands of men and women stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii sixty-eight years ago today, it was a Sunday morn not unlike any other. Sunrise at half past six arising over a partly cloudy sky with a moderate breeze lending to slight wind ripples on the water in the bay. It was, by all measure, dawning as just another day in paradise. But by the time that paradise sun shown down at high noon its rays could barely pierce the clouds of acrid black smoke billowing from hulks that just four hours earlier comprised the United States Pacific Fleet....

I am "new" to the site. I think this is my first post. However I have been a reader for years and am a libertarian leaning Republican. I had a thought about healthcare reform that is scaring me. Although I don't think it can pass, consequences could be terrifying if it does. For purposes of sharing my nightmare, let’s assume it passes. Let’s also assume that the SCOTUS has the same five conservative members when compulsion to buy health insurance is enacted into law. It would be unprecedented for the government to mandate disposal of wealth in such a way....

She is a striking brunette with a decidedly outspoken attitude. She lambasts President Barack Obama as a socialist and has become the darling of America's right-wing activists who flock to her appearances. She is hated by liberals and loved by conservatives. Sarah Palin? Not quite. Meet Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota who is being hailed as a new and increasingly powerful voice in American politics

Not long after Major Nidal Malik Hasan had pulled the trigger for the last time at Ft. Hood, the mainstream media began assembling their anything-but-Islam narratives. A rationale was needed, something that could plausibly be claimed to motivate a killing spree. A desperate rush to explain his behavior in politically palatable terms naturally resulted in desperate stories in which preposterous motivations, contrary to the known facts, were posited. Among the first possible reasons for Hasan's actions submitted was that he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Ever since the Vietnam War, media swells have peddled the stereotype of the psychologically...

Unnecessary fear over swine flu is clogging up area emergency rooms. Three of Cleveland's major hospitals -- MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic -- said Tuesday they are seeing unprecedented numbers of people coming into their ERs with flu symptoms. The vast majority of these visits are unwarranted because the cases are mild and don't require emergency medical attention. After being seen by a doctor, most patients are being told to go back home, rest, drink fluids, take Tylenol and avoid contact with others. The emergency room at MetroHealth has seen a record number...

...as Christians, we have been forced into a tolerance that has handicapped us in such a devastating way that unless we make some serious changes, we may never see the freedom that Christianity once knew in America. What exactly do I mean? We have been urged to be tolerant of other religious faiths such as Muslim, Atheist, Buddhism, and other newer evolving religions, as well as cults. We have been forced, or allowed ourselves to be forced into, being tolerant of behaviors that blatantly defy the Law of God, which is what Christianity is based on. Some may argue that...

During his current media bombardment, President Obama is wisely downplaying the charges of racism his allies have been making. He told CNN’s John King that race wasn’t “the overriding issue” for the opponents of his health care plan. Not exactly an exoneration of his critics’ racial attitudes, but at least an acknowledgment that there is more than bigotry at work. What Obama says is really driving the negative response to his policies is fear. Fear of “big changes.” Fear of “uncertainty.” The president likes to equate the resistance he’s facing with that met by Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.

I started reading this post (below is an excerpt) to keep up on the "on our soil" terrorism investigation and thought with an AG that is so much into investigating Republicans and previous administration officials, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE FINDS A REAL TERRORIST: 1- does he let him/them go? 2- does he gloss over it? 3- does he shut down the investigation? WHAT HAPPENS TO US 1- do we get injured? 2- do we get killed? 3- are we protected at all? (excerpt of prev. post) Attorney General Eric Holder said the probe had spread beyond Denver, home to the...

Liberals are having difficulty understanding the grass roots opposition to President Obama's plans for the government takeover of the health care industry, as well as the President's loss of support since his election. Equally disconcerting to liberals was the massive turnout on September 12th to protest a Federal government that is too big, too intrusive, and far too corrupt. As one who attended the September 12th rally at the Capitol, let me offer liberals the following explanation for what is happening. Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards out of all of us." And what are the American...

I was born into the WWII and learned to understand people lime Hitler, Lenin and Mao who were walking the earth at the time. After the war our attention was focused upon the communists and their threat to us. The country was very concerned for its safety given the risk imposed by the USSR on a daily basis. At the age of nine I made a personal oath with myself to fight communism with all my ability. I was not alone in this type of commitment; many of my young friends felt as I did. At eighteen I joined the...

Dear Ms. *******: Thank you very much for your communication about our decision regarding advertising on the Glenn Beck show. Our position is simple and was not driven by taking sides in any political debate. We support free speech of all kinds, and vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans. But we expect the speech and the debate to be informed, inclusive and respectful, in keeping with our company’s core values and commitment to diversity. In our view, Mr. Beck crossed the line. While advertising on the Fox network is part of our communication plan, we...

Here's a post about the Yale professor in the midst of the Yale University Press decision to omit the Danish cartoons from a book about... the Danish cartoons. Flash back to 2006. Professor Marcia Inhorn, a medical anthropologist and director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, is invited to lecture in Tehran on her field of expertise, infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in Muslim countries. On her return, she seeks to dispel misconceptions about the Middle East. Because of the "American daily diet of fearsome media discourses about the Middle East,...

I was embarrassed for my country when many Americans let the fear of terrorism turn them into cringing cowards, willing to give up our basic civil liberties for the illusion of safety, ignoring how we are 200 times more likely to die in our automobile than in a terrorist attack on our soil. I am equally embarrassed today. Many of my fellow Americans have let themselves be manipulated by corporate interests and ratings-hungry media. They have become frightened, angry, and unable to cooperate to form a more perfect union. Why do so many Americans have so little faith in our...

This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over 500,000 hits. Keep it going. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. =============== Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle...

Skimpy supplies of flu vaccine and public panic are not the only concerns among officials charged with managing a potential pandemic. Some vital caregivers could be no-shows.

On sunny afternoons, having collected the kids from school, I am sometimes coerced into making a minor detour through a nondescript North London park. The equipment is meagre and battered; there are so many stone steps and steep drops that the place resembles a game of Tomb Raider and, as nothing overlooks the playground, it is both a doggy convenience and a youth hangout. Today, there are eight or more teenagers, mostly in hoodies, being noisy on the swings. Two women from a local action group are bravely asking the youths how the park could be improved. Then, politely, I...

LONDON: The smell of fear really does exist, according to a new study, which also suggests that being terrified is infectious. The study, conducted by Dr Bettina Pause and colleagues at the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, suggests that people subconsciously detect whether others are scared by picking up chemicals they release from their bodies. Researchers believe the signals can be contagious and can spread around a group. For the study, researchers put cotton pads under the armpits of 49 student volunteers before they were due to start a university exam, reports the Telegraph. Pause and colleagues also collected sweat...

(IsraelNN.com) In a public address delivered on Al-Aqsa TV by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based terror boss informed Arab viewers that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama came to power in the United States due to Islamic jihad in the Middle East.

Outspoken Republican Representative Michele Bachmann says she's so worried that information from next year's national census will be abused that she will not fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.

SWORDLESS SAILORS Graduating midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are being told in writing to leave at home or in their vehicles all "ceremonial swords" and anything else "that might be considered a weapon or a threat by screeners" for Friday's outdoor commencement ceremonies featuring an address by President Barack Obama. Inside the Beltway has obtained the academy's list of prohibited items for this year's graduation exercises, which, besides ceremonial swords, includes umbrellas. Yes, cell phones and texting are still allowed.

My morning email contained this letter: The author, Lou Pritchett is a well-known public speaker who retired after a successful 36-year career as the VP World Sales for Proctor and Gamble. AN OPEN LETTER TO OBAMA (not "my" president) Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no...

The 'Plan B' scenarios if the special election measures are defeated continue to trickle out of the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This afternoon, a new one: the governor is prepared to propose a $2 billion suspension of the 2004 constitutional initiative protecting city and county revenues. Talk of suspending 2004's Proposition 1A comes on the heels of a meeting yesterday where Schwarzenegger aides told the firefighting community that voters rejecting the measures on the ballot in two weeks time would result in as many as 1,700 firefighting positions. One local government official on this afternoon's call said the plan...

"Anyone who is honest about this has to admit that if al Qaeda launches a spectacular biological attack which could cause contagious disease to be spread, no entity in the world is prepared for it," Noble said. "Not the U.S., not Europe, not Asia, not Africa." Since the WSN/33 situation in Korea provides some valuable insight into detection and reporting of bird or human flu, and wire services are carrying stories about biologic attacks by terrorists causing a contagious disease, it is worth reviewing some of the lessons learned from the swine WSN/33 infections. If pandemic flu is the contagious...

WASHINGTON – As Congress begins to debate climate change in earnest, the science is taking a back seat to economics: How much will it cost to slow the Earth's warming because of man-made pollution — and what's the cost of doing nothing? With a key House committee starting four days of hearings, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed to get a climate bill approved this year. Noting that Earth Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, she told reporters by the next Earth Day "we want to celebrate what we've done this year" to address climate change and clean energy. But the...

What and who exactly are President Obama's homeland-security officials afraid of these days? If you are a member of an active conservative group that opposes abortion, favors strict immigration enforcement, lobbies to protect Second Amendment rights, protests big government, advocates federalism or represents veterans who believe in any of the above, the answer is - you. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead, her department is sounding the alarm over an unquantified "resurgence" in "right-wing extremism activity." On...

To hear liberal mouthpieces in and out of the administration tell it, a sweet rationality guides the minds of those who agree with Barack Obama’s economic policies, not an emotion so debilitating it prevents even the acknowledgment of their consequences. Fortunately, a great many Americans recognize such drivel for what it is: propaganda spewed by wolfish shills whose job is to quash the notion that much public opinion is being driven by an understandable, transient fear that the president and his liberal allies in Congress are happily (actually, ecstatically) taking advantage of. Those wolves, by the way, come dressed in...

President Obama frequently railed against the Bush-era “politics of fear” on the campaign trail. In his inaugural address, he said, “We got here because we have chosen hope over fear.” President Obama also earlier made the comment in March 2008 that “we need to break the politics of fear that uses 9/11 to scare up votes.” This offensive, below-the-belt criticism insinuated that his opposition didn’t see 9/11 in the context of blood and misery, but in the context of check marks next to their names on Election Day. But he has had no trouble issuing fear-inducing warnings himself. President Obama...

You betcha, they are. Although early polling seems to demonstrate that Sarah doesn't have much of a chance head-to-head against President Obama in 2012, the left seems intent on tearing her down. If it's not stories about her children (does she really have to continue to "prove" that her son is actually hers?), or stupid criticism about methods of population control of arctic wolves (if the wolf has a bullet in his brain, do we think he cares where the bullet came from?), it's a new charge of ethics violations based on some of the most asinine allegations.

In a world growing more dangerous by the week in this dark spring of 2009, Washington may be the most dangerous city in the world. The city is safe enough for its residents - it is the rest of the country and world that is endangered by what Washington is capable of doing. On a bipartisan, bicameral, bigovernmental (executive and legislative branches) basis, rarely has so much policymaking, world-economy-transforming power been in harness to such unsteady political and policy instincts. Whatever one thinks of the American International Group Inc.'s bonus actions, last week's performance by Washington's political class should give...

Longtime pillars of the community are now pariahs living in fear, hiding behind locked gates and security guards amid the public outrage over bonuses paid with taxpayer bailout money. Payouts by American International Group Inc. appear to have put a face on the economic struggles the country faces, and the anger targeting AIG executives living in this ritzy area of Connecticut is palpable. Death threats have been pouring in since the brouhaha broke, the company said, and its workers are taking no chances. "It's scary," one executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution. "People are very,...

At a recent forum, when referring to the present tsunami of national economic fear, Lawrence Summers, the president's director of the National Economic Council said, "Fear begets fear." His comment had a very biblical ring to it, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen" (Hebrews 11:1). In a similar context, Summers' words might read, "Fear is the substance of things feared." Fear wreaks negativity in the same way as faith contributes to the positive. Summers' fiscal premise being, fear begetting fear is exacerbating our economic problems. What is the genesis of this public panic?...

By Barack Obama our Affirmative Action/white guilt president is an empty suit way over his head. He’s a one trick pony continually parroting words of fear doom and gloom to hide his inadequacies. His whole Administration is built on selling fear. Predictably one of his advisers, Lawrence Summers has blamed the fearfulness of average Americans for the Democrats’ economic disaster. That he is selling us Obama’s terrifying future doesn’t penetrate his stupid head. Speaking without concerns the supine media would mention that only one month ago he said the economy is “….likely to decline for some time” Summers had the...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said Friday the nation's economic crisis has led to an "excess of fear" among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn. "Fear begets fear," and that "is the paradox at the heart of the financial crisis," Lawrence Summers, the president's director of the National Economic Council, told a forum. "It is this transition from an excess of greed to an excess of fear that President Roosevelt had in mind when he famously observed that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself," Summer said. "It is this transition...

Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery. Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good news and he was "highly optimistic" about the long term. The president's proposals for major health care, energy and education changes in the midst of economic hard times faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol...

Members of Congress are raising the alarm that war-like conditions on the Mexican border could lead to Mexican drug cartels helping terrorists attack the U.S. “When you have…gangs and they have loose ties with al Qaeda and then you have Iran not too far away from building a nuclear capability, nuclear terrorism may not be far off,” said Rep. Trent Franks (R- Ariz.), a member of the House Armed Services committee. The Mexican drug cartels’ violence accounted for more than 6,000 deaths last year, and in recent months it has begun spilling over into the districts of lawmakers from the...

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow Jones industrial average fell to an 11-year low on Monday as investors dumped shares on uncertainty about the latest potential U.S. government action to shore up beleaguered banks. Making matters worse, worries about a fall-off in business and consumer spending on technology hurt the biggest names in the tech sector. IBM (IBM.N) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) were the top drags on the Dow industrials. Investors had initially welcomed reports the government could convert an earlier investment in Citigroup (C.N) into a big common stock holding, but enthusiasm faded as long-standing uncertainty about the government's ultimate...

Fear is the main word here that I speak of. President Obama has instilled nothing but fear in the American Public and in his own Democratic Congress to get what he wants. He used it to win the White house and he uses it still today to pass the bills he wants. Whats sad is that none of the Democratic Senators even read the package before they even voted on it cause they were scared into what would happen if they voted NO. They voted on a Bill that was so big and that would change the face of this...

An Oklahoma City police officer wrongly pulled over a man last week and confiscated an anti-President Barack Obama sign the man had on his vehicle. The officer misinterpreted the sign as threatening, said Capt. Steve McCool, of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and took the sign, which read "Abort Obama, not the unborn." Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police car followed him for several miles and then signaled for him to pull over. ''I pulled over, knowing I hadn't done anything wrong," Harrison said in a recent phone interview. When the officer asked Harrison if...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Oil prices slid closer to a new multiyear low Thursday because of growing doubts that the $789 billion stimulus package will reinvigorate the economy and demand for energy. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, reached a new high for 2009 on Thursday and appeared headed back to $2 a gallon as refiners cut back on production. Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell $1.04 to $34.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.61 overnight to settle at $35.94 after a government report on Wednesday showed that crude inventories jumped much more than expected. There...

It seems the United States Congress has once again leapt before it looked. Even if I believed in government bailouts of foolish private industries, the "stimulus" bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains exceedingly more government growth money than private business stimulus money. What sickens me is that I'm not confident that a single Senator who voted for this bill actually read the bill before voting. The vast majority simply voted for it because it's a short term fix for which they can claim credit (no pun intended, but certainly apropos) with the local rubes when they go home for...

NEW YORK – The stock market is plunging, with the Dow Jones industrials skidding 400 points as investors show their frustration with a lack of details about the government's latest bank bailout plan. Financial stocks are leading the market lower, reflecting Wall Street's growing concerns about the government's ability to restore the health of the banking industry. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the broad outlines of the plan. But investors, who want to know among other things how banks' soured mortgage assets will be valued, are showing their disapproval at the lack of details by selling. The Dow is down...

Didn't President Obama run on a pledge to replace the "politics of fear" with a vision of hope and change, or was I imagining that? Apparently the latter, because President Obama is quickly becoming a master of the politics of gloom and doom. Take Obama's first press conference Monday night on the need to pass the Porkulus Bill, for example. It's enough to make Jimmy Carter take that old sweater of his out of the closet. Companies that have sustained this community for years are shedding jobs at an alarming speed, and the people who’ve lost them have no idea...

As an old-time consumer reporter, I can tell you when a salesman says you have to do the deal right now, chances are he’s a rip-off artist, and a good general rule is to walk away — or better yet, run away. The old now-or-never routine is generally regarded as a red flag flying. When a president tells Congress and the nation you have to do a trillion-dollar deal immediately or catastrophe is in the wings, you should be skeptical. When he says we’ll get into a recession we’ll never get out of, you know he’s just blowing smoky hot...

From crisis to catastrophe. Off a cliff. Dark, darker, darkest. Mortal danger of absolute collapse. Armageddon. President Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill are deploying these and other stark predictions of doom and gloom to push through their economic-stimulus package. In terms not heard in Washington since the late 1970s under President Jimmy Carter's watch, the new president has sought to terrify Americans into supporting the $800 billion-plus bailout bill.

Ever since she was a kid, Sheila wanted to be married in Istanbul's famous Neveh Shalom Synagogue. "It's a very beautiful place," the 26-year-old told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. "Growing up in Istanbul, all the girls want to to have their weddings there." But Sheila, who made aliya three years ago and lives in Jerusalem, said that given the dramatic increase in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment in Turkey following Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last month, her dream wedding is turning into something of a nightmare. "I was engaged three months ago," said Sheila, who asked that...

<excerpt>In the middle of last week I tipped over from a state of mild fearfulness about the global economy to one of wild panic over what is to become of us. On Wednesday, I became host to all sorts of crazy worries – big, unmanageable ones as well as little, stupid ones. I worried about there being anarchy on the streets of London – while at the same time fretting over whether I should have painted the boxroom cream rather than white. This is the sort of mixed-up mental state I am familiar with from bouts of wakefulness at three...

How is this possible? Orly Taitz has a scheduled conference hearing for Jan23, by Justice Roberts...it has disappeared from the docket. posted by Shestheone IP: 72.224.141.133 Jan 22nd, 2009 - 7:38 AM Re: America's finest ! Dr Orly Taitz- Just sent lots of subpeona 's out _ I hope she sees my future Ah, but her cases are no longer on the docket - bo has struck. All elgibility cases have disappeared. Please call and write to our Supreme Court and demand that they put the elgibility cases back on the docket. Visit scotusblog.feedback@gmail.com too and leave feedback.

The earth itself provides many valuable analogies for massive dislocation in the relief of grand energy differentials. In the air, vast differentials between cloud structures in their electrical charge result in sudden lightning bursts as the release. In the air also, vast differentials between high cool masses and low rising warm masses result in powerful ongoing storms in hurricanes. In the ground, more accurately the earth plates, vast pressure builds from the movement of such plates, often with one plate flowing underneath another, leading to massive earthquakes and tremors. We had yet another earthquake in Costa Rica last week, enough...