Free Republic

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] Happy New Year! And don’t feel bad about taking today off. After all, you’ve traveled far. And I’m not talking about the trip home from the party last night. According to NASA, just by being on the planet Earth in the last year, you’ve zipped about 584 million miles around the sun to get back where you were. At an average speed of about 67,000 miles per hour. Again, not talking about the drive home last night. Of course, the trip was not a perfect circle. As Kepler showed, the Earth’s...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind ? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' lang syne ? For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp ! And surely I’ll be mine ! And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. We twa hae run about the braes, And pu’d the gowans fine ; But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot, Sin auld lang syne. We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn, Frae...

The Freeper Canteen Wishes Everyone NEW YEAR WISHES May peace fill all the empty spaces around you And in you, may contentment answer all your wishes. May comfort be yours, warm and soft like a sigh. And may the coming year show you that every day is really a first day, a new year. Let abundance be your constant companion, so that you have much to share. May mirth be near you always, like a lamp shining brightly on the many paths you travel. ~~What Are You Doing New Years Eve~~ ~~Auld Lang Syng~~ An added second of time!...

Yes, it's a vanity. Not a whole heck of a lot to say. My thanks go out to Jim Robinson, for the creation of the best forum on the internets. My thanks go out to all who post or comment. There is not a day that goes by that I do not learn something new here. The knowledge, humor, compassion and honest straight talk of this community is a valuable resource, unrivaled anywhere. Happy New Year !! Peace and Prosperity to You and Yours!! I've had a year filled with surprises, mostly good, a year which brought me life changing...

Sydney Harbor, AustraliaAhmahdabad, IndiaSeoul, South KoreaThe KremlinLondonBrandenburg Gate, BerlinManilaIt's cooooooold in Times Square

"Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-sent Poet who composed this glorius fragment," wrote Burns to Mrs. Dunlop on 7th December 1788. In a note to George Thompson (1783), he describes it as "the old song of the olden times and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing." To what extent Burns reworked this traditional ballad has been the subject of speculation for many years. The tune itself has been known in print since 1700. Robert Burns, The Complete Poetical Works. CHORUS For auld...

Put yourself in Barack Obama's sensible shoes. In less than a month, you'll be president of the United States and, upon entering the Oval Office, one of the biggest messes in history will be yours to sort out. So let's make a list and see exactly what the new president will be facing. On the plus side, the media is still firmly on Obama's side and will continue to blame George W. Bush for everything until at least 2011. The media, in general, has a lot invested in the new president and will spin most events his way. That gives...

1. For Our Liberal Friends: Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes For an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low- stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due...

1. For Our Liberal Friends: Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes For an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low- stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due...

In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008 By Peter Graff Mon Dec 31, 4:23 PM ET On New Year's Eve Ridaa al-Azzawi squeezed into his pointy snakeskin boots, his tight black sweater and his snazzy corduroy flared jeans, hustled down to a Baghdad hotel ballroom and partied for peace. 2008 arrived in a less-violent Baghdad, and residents said it was the first real party they had seen in years. At the stroke of midnight, exuberant locals fired into the air with automatic rifles, sending red tracer fire streaking over the city, as fireworks lit up the sky. While the...

    What more can I say, other than what a wonderful Christmas vacation!  I was surrounded by family, everyone had the Christmas spirit, and other than the fact it went by way too fast it was an exceptional visit.      So now here we are, it’s a new year, 2008.  Many people consider this a magical time of the year.  The time to start over, start fresh, and initiate the goals that we put off all of 2007, you know the ones where you kept saying “I think I’ll _______ (fill in the blank) next year”.  Well as of today, it is...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, sound off the men and women of Combined Joint Task Force-82 as they count down to midnight, Dec. 31. Though no one popped open a bottle of bubbly, Servicemembers here still found a way to have fun on the last night of 2007. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines celebrated the count down to New Year’s 2008 here with live music and lots of laughs. The tunes were courtesy of visiting Boston band Lansdowne and Level 82, part of the 82nd Airborne Division’s All-American Band. Two comedians, Daniel Kinno and Julie...

Petraeus Letter to the Troops - "Hope has been rekindled." 12/29/2007 12:00:00 AM Editor's Note: On December 28, General David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force Iraq, sent the following letter to his troops. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq: As 2007 draws to a close, you should look back with pride on what you, your fellow troopers, our Iraqi partners, and Iraqi Coalition civilians have achieved in 2007. A year ago, Iraq was racked by horrific violence and on the brink of civil war. Now, levels of violence and civilians and military casualties are significantly...

Howdy everyone!! Happy New Year! Goodbye 2007, hello 2008! The future is finally here and so are the primaries. The good news is that the Republican hopefuls are now falling all over each other trying to claim that they are more conservative and more righteous than thou. Even the RINOs. Some are even claiming to be the next Ronald Reagan, God rest his soul, but there is no Ronald Reagan clone. Never will be. It's refreshing, though, that they all now recognize that a Republican candidate must be a pro life and liberty conservative to get the nomination. Even Giuliani...

The Mike Huckabee campaign will show that The Gong Show is alive and well in Arkansas. (Outdoorsmen will agree that Iowa would be a better place if the pheasants hunted the Huckabees.) It is likely this epidemic of Hollywood stars adopting African children be formalized into a program called Affirmative Adoption. (After the Michael Vick affair, let’s hope Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie do not buy these kids any puppies.) An automobile company will fire its advertising agency’s CEO for suggesting its newest model be named the Oldsmobile Chappaquiddick. Hillary Clinton will propose a new Health Care System to spend...

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — At least 11 people died and another 21 were hospitalized for drinking tainted vodka during New Year's Eve celebrations in Mongolia's capital, a government official said Tuesday. An emergency has also been announced for Baganuur district of Ulan Bator where the deaths happened, city governor's office announced. That means all shops were closed and further celebrations were banned, according to Ganbold Khurlee of the governor's office. New Year's Day is also a holiday in Mongolia — a largely poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia. He said tests showed that the vodka was made with...

Happy New Year, everyone!!

video of live performance

<p>In one of the shortest session in its history, the Senate's final session of the year lasted a total of 12 seconds Monday.</p> <p>Only one senator, Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, was in the chamber to gavel open the Senate and adjourn it until January 3.</p>

A short musical video message from our troops to the world, and a very special thought for our Anti-Military brethren. The message is sincere and true.