Free Republic

The conservative wahoo suggests: Here are ... the defining characteristics of "Neo-socialism". 1. A belief in the concept that capitalism has failed, but can be resuscitated by a new partnership between government and business. This new partnership will be inherently more fair to more people. 2. A belief that competition isn't necessarily bad, and that government can and should be permitted to compete with private industry. 3. A belief that big government isn't necessarily bad; what is bad is BAD big government. Big, effective government is desirable. 4. A belief in the transcendent quality of the world community while de-valuing...

After giving a talk to a group of family values minded Freeport, Illinois area residents addressing three major threats facing the United States – which I term “The Perfect Storm,” and a solution to a problem that safeguards the US Constitution, I found myself personally and ideologically assailed by a letter-writer to a local newspaper, a Ms. Patricia Wemstrom. I take issue with her critique not only because she mischaracterized each and every point that I made at the event, but also because she wasn’t even in attendance. The critique was caustic and hateful in nature: “I am surprised by...

On Wednesday, Pelosi had a forum with top House Democrats and a team of economists: Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, October 21, 2009 'Absolutely horrendous long term fiscal out look' This is a graph presented by Jared Bernstein, chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden. Do you see any current recovery? There are not going to be Job increases for a long time, look at that curve in the graph Yet, Pelosi says the recession is coming to an end; http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102209/content/01125107.guest.html PELOSI: It's no accident that right now that as the recession's coming to an end it does...

Russia is a very disorganized part of the World. In what way have they contributed to humanity? Russia simply isn't fit for life and furthermore lacks true a sense of leadership. How my country could contribute to getting rid of Russia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eENe0bBhvSM

You will also find this poll by scrolling down the I.O. Portal Sidebar. Tell us what you think. http://investigatingobama.blogspot.com/2009/10/poll-obamas-ideology-runs-1016-1030.html

InsideHigherEd.com writes: In the last few years, a conservative legal organization [Ed. -- Mark Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation] has filed complaints and extensive information requests to at least 11 colleges and universities with regard to labor centers that conduct research about and offer programs for unions. ... The [American Association of University Professors'] statement questioned the basis for the Landmark actions and said that the association was trying to undercut the labor centers by waging an ideological attack on them. Further, the statement noted that colleges and universities have a range of offerings for different organizations in society, and that...

Americans were justifiably proud last week of their many Nobel Prize winners. Eight of the nine honorees in physics, chemistry and medicine were US citizens, some native-born, some naturalized, a near total American sweep. And their achievements were glorious: better understanding how DNA works, the basis for enormous medical progress; developing fiber-optic cable, revolutionizing global communications; and advances in cell biology, with enormous implications for treating cancer. In each case, these breakthroughs, some made as long as 20 years ago, have proven themselves beyond the laboratory, and already made enormous real-world differences. Next to these marvels, how to explain the...

In a Commentary essay, Carl Woese and Nigel Goldenfeld provide an analysis of biological thought that differs profoundly from that presented by those celebrating the Bicentenary of Darwin's birth and, incidentally, the recently published AP Biology Standards. "This is the story of how biology of the 20th century neglected and otherwise mishandled the study of what is arguably the most important problem in all of science: the nature of the evolutionary process. This problem [ . . ] became the private domain of a quasi-scientific movement, who secreted it away in a morass of petty scholasticism, effectively disguising the fact...

August 25, 2008, just about one year ago, my article on those Battleground Polls -- which have routinely shown for many years that about sixty percent of Americans are "conservatives" -- stirred up quite a ruckus. If my analysis is right, then that would explain Democrat hysteria over the town hall meetings in America as the revelation that the Left is just a small minority of Americans who have insinuated themselves into the chokepoints of information, education, entertainment, and policy in American society. Gallup, which has also polled the ideology of Americans, has presented the data in a much murkier...

You have people who are true conservatives and then there are those who are CINO’s (Conservatives in Name Only). This is a three part series that will take you through the top nine views (chosen by Your’s Truly) that make a conservative, a true conservative. This time around, we will discuss Abortion, Gun Rights, and Government. This is what I believe and what I believe it means to be a True Conservative. There will always be controversy, however, as these are core principles of conservatism that I will be discussing.

Texas' identity as a solid "red" state is unlikely to change any time soon. According to a new Gallup Poll, 43 percent of Lone Star State residents identify as "conservatives" while just 16 percent identify as "liberals." Thirty-six percent of respondents described themselves as "moderates," in the poll of more than 9,100 Texans. The most conservative state is Alabama, where 49 percent of residents are solidly conservative, followed by Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana. The most liberal state is Massachusetts where 29 percent of people identify as liberal, followed by Vermont, Oregon and Washington. In Washington D.C., 37 percent of respondents...

Terry Krepel over at ConWebWatch had a response yesterday to my post challenging his misinterpretation of David Horowitz’s and my arguments regarding racial profiling: In an Aug. 6 NewsReal blog post, David Swindle takes us to task for our previous criticism of him and David Horowitz for their apparent support of racial profiling: David Horowitz had a great one-line response to Terry’s inability to even bother engaging our arguments for discussion: What is it you don’t understand about protecting black people from black predators? To which we respond: What is it you don’t understand about not treating all black people...

We've got a problem in America, and it's not just our politicians. It's us. We like to blame the politicians, of course, and sadly, they usually deserve it. We even like to chastise them by reminding them that they work for us, not the other way around. And yet we all to often forget that fact ourselves. One of the reasons I think we tend to let things slide is because we don't think about it until it's our own ox being gored. We're committed to our own interests, but that's as far as it goes. Sometimes we can't even...

John Adams Said :Ideology = an organized collection of seductive hopes and wishes ,a systematic way of going wrong with confidence.

This is quite long. If you like it, it's continued at the link... Last night, as I reread Robert Kiyosaki's 1997 Bestseller "Rich Dad Poor Dad," I realized why Barack Obama will be unable to do what is necessary to fix America's economy. It's not just that he believes in government intervention in business, although that's a big part of it. But what makes it even worse is that President Obama is Poor Dad. For those who haven't read the book, let me give you the gist so you can follow along. The author uses a fable, loosely-based on his...

The role of religion in public life in Sweden has been brought into sharp relief by a provocative ad campaign questioning the existence of God. Earlier this week, billboards went up in several Stockholm subway stations and elsewhere around the city proclaiming, “God probably doesn’t exist” (Gud finns nog inte). Accompanying the proclamation are images of three flags featuring symbols from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity fashioned in the same shades of blue and yellow found on the Swedish flag. The ads come from the Swedish Humanist Association (Humanisterna), and are part of a campaign to further debate about the impact...

You've probably already noted that the pro-abortion crowd is making political hay blaming anti-abortion groups for the actions of the lone, nutcase-anarchist who killed Tiller. Talking Points Memo is known as a top-shelf liberal blog (liberalism at the top lefty blogs is so complete that it extends to taking liberties even with spelling). The doctor's body had barely hit the ground before Talking Points made the usual idiotic case that you, if you believe abortion is murder and have the temerity to speak about your belief, are responsible for Tiller's death. " No one is fooled Reverend... The time for...

As you may know, Jeb Bush made some comments recently that suggested that Republicans needed to stop being nostalgic about the past (ie, Ronald Reagan) and move forward. This teed off many conservatives, who believe that our party's failures are the direct result of ignoring everything that Reagan stood for. I couldn't agree more. Yet, Bush has had his defenders the past couple days, who say that he meant no such thing. Mike Devine is having none of this talk, and rips that idea to pieces. You can (and should) read it here. Jeb says of the 2008 campaign: "I...

...Sadly, the economic demise of newspapers like the Chicago Tribune may be a result of a departure from the traditional tenets of journalism. The political ideology of a paper should only be found on the editorial pages. Yet, long ago, many conservatives learned this is not true. For a case in point, a number of pro-life organizations complained about the slanted coverage in the Chicago Tribune regarding the issue of abortion. Hundreds of thousands were attending the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. which is held to note the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a U.S. Supreme Court decision...

MORE than anything else, business needs a predictable environment if it is to create jobs. Changes in the regulatory environment and the tax code make it almost impossible for businesses to make investments. Yet President Obama seems to ignore this reality. Each day's news brings another bold and far-reaching proposal to change the fundamentals of the US economy. And each time he indulges his personal ideology with such a pronouncement, businesses all over the world cut back on their planned investment until the dust settles. Most incredible was the fact that he chose the middle of a deep recession to...

Despite what Obama and all of the Left think, the inconvenient truth is that when it comes to putting ideology/politics over science, the Left takes the yellow cake. A prime example? Four words: Man made global warming. Every environmentally conscious Prius owner is putting ideology over science; it turns out that, after taking into account the amound of energy put into creating and disposing of one, a Prius is less green than a Hummer. What about all the things animal rights groups like PETA are opposed to? I’m not saying I’m all for horse torture or cock fighting, but consider...

Lou Dobbs and Progressive Insurance?

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s directive on Monday to “guarantee scientific integrity” in federal policy making could have a far-reaching impact, affecting issues as varied as climate change, national security, protection of endangered species and children’s health. But it will not divorce science from politics, or strip ideology from presidential decisions. Mr. Obama delighted many scientists and patients by formally announcing that he was overturning the Bush administration’s limits on embryonic stem cell research. But the president also went one step further, issuing a memorandum that sets forth broad parameters for how his administration would choose expert advisers and use scientific...

You can’t help but admire Rush Limbaugh’s talent for publicity. His radio talk show is probably—reliable figures only go back to 1991—in its third decade as the number-one rated radio show in the country. And here he is in the news again, trading verbal punches with the president of the United States. Limbaugh remarked on Jan. 16 that to the degree that Obama’s program is one of state socialism, he hopes it will fail. (If only he had said the same about George W. Bush.) The president riposted at a session with congressional leaders a week later, telling them, “You...

In 1960, the sociologist Daniel Bell published The End of Ideology, in which he argued that ideology—understood in the sense of a coherent, single-minded philosophical outlook or system of abstractions intended as much as a lever to change society as a description to explain it—was dead, at least in the West, and in the United States in particular. A combination of democracy and mass prosperity had “solved” the political question that had agitated humanity since the time of Plato. There were to be no more grand and transformative, if woefully erroneous, ideas; all that remained was public administration, with, at...

Any politician who has taken on Bill and Hillary Clinton's national political machine and won should not be underestimated. Yet Republicans as well as many Democrats persist in underrating Barack Obama's electoral talents and, above all, his soaring political ambition. His writerly mind, professorial bearing, and effortless self-control make it difficult to take his measure as a politician. He can seem cool, detached, unusually introspective. As a wag at the Financial Times put it, if John McCain's life story is the stuff of Hollywood movies, Obama's is like an off-Broadway play—it lacks action but is full of internal monologues. Raised...

The election victory of Barack Hussein Obama has been lauded by the media ad nauseum as a triumph for African-Americans, and a huge step forward for blacks in America. Possibly they are correct, but there is another school of thought. For those who value free-enterprise and capitalism it can be downright concerning. Despite winning 92% of the African-American vote on election day, inside the community there has historically been a divide of ideology between two approaches, the civil rights approach and the economic rights approach. The term "noneconomic liberalism" was coined by scholar Harold Cruse in the 1980's to describe...

Reporting from Sacramento -- In the wake of crushing defeats for Republicans in last week's national elections, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday that his party should regroup by moving away from some of its core conservative principles and embracing spending on programs that Americans want. "I think the important thing for the Republican Party is now to also look at other issues that are very important for this country and not to get stuck in ideology," the governor said in an interview broadcast on CNN. "Let's go and talk about healthcare reform. Let's go and . . . fund programs...

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, he will do so in the 30th anniversary year of the founding of the so-called Religious Right. Born in 1979 and midwifed by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Religious Right was a reincarnation of previous religious-social movements that sought moral improvement through legislation and court rulings. Those earlier movements—from abolition (successful) to Prohibition (unsuccessful)—had mixed results. Social movements that relied mainly on political power to enforce a conservative moral code weren't anywhere near as successful as those that focused on changing hearts. The four religious revivals, from...

After studying the cryptic history of the Democrat candidate for President, Barack Obama Jr., I had an eye-opening revelation about U.S. radicalism: The radical movement we currently know as the "60's" was in fact started in the years following WWII. In the history books (I'm a border Gen-Xer/Boomer), I vividly remember being taught that the Vietnam-era anti-war activists was a 60's phenomenon, and based on how the books assembled the timeline, the 60's were an isolated period in our nation's history. After studying Obama's parents, It has become clear to me that Obama's grandparents were a part of a broad...

The following is an excerpt from James Kalb’s The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2008), 330 pages, $28. “The tyranny of liberalism” seems a paradox. Liberals say that they favor freedom, reason, and the well-being of ordinary people. Many people consider them high-minded and fair to a fault, “too broadminded to take their own side in a quarrel,” too soft to govern effectively. Even the word “liberal” suggests “liberty.” How can such an outlook and the social order it promotes be tyrannical? The answer is that wanting...

It is time to confront the unhappy fact about our country: There are now two Americas. Not a rich one and a poor one; economic status plays little role in this division. There is a Red one and a Blue one. For most of my life I have believed, in what I now regard as wishful thinking, that the Right and Left wings have essentially the same vision for America, that it's only about ways to get there in which the two sides differ. Right and Left share the same ends, I thought. That is not the case. For the...

Much to the dismay of ideological purists everywhere, governing is not achieved by following an ideological handbook. This is why every president, at one time or another, upsets his political base. It is why Capitol Hill Republicans just spent several days staging a revolt against George W. Bush, who does not have the luxury of a job description that requires him to do nothing but talk. To govern is to deal with the circumstances that present themselves, and to make choices. Bush is not blind to the fact that the federal buyout of $700 billion worth of troubled mortgage securities...

Sought-after Israeli expert and former chief of the Israeli army, Moshe Yaalon warned this week that Western efforts notwithstanding, there will never be peace in the Middle East until brokers like the United States acknowledge the true roots of the conflict. “No ideology, least of all radical Islam, can be defeated by concessions, which encourage, energize, and inspire Jihadists,” noted Yaalon. “Those who wish for peace must face and assimilate this fact, and realize that territorial concessions, or any concessions in any realm in the struggle against militant Islam, have been consistently counterproductive.”

A few nights ago, I had occasion to attend an event at a conservative organization here in Phoenix. I will not say which organization, but I have it on good authority—and observed for myself—that the organization is slowly being taken over by libertarians.In many ways, conservatives and libertarians draw from the same ideological well: 18th century classical liberalism. We have much in common when it comes to the notion that government should be limited. Of course, it's a matter of degree; conservatives see a need for a small government, to be sure—but not quite so small as the libertarians.We...

Political correctness began as a reasonable adjustment of manners, but as an ideology, it corrupts language and dulls thought.

Lizards Show Proof Of Adaptive Change By STAN FREEMAN   Italian wall lizards placed on a tiny island in the Adriatic Sea evolved over three decades to adapt to their surroundings.     AMHERST, Mass. — In 1971, five pairs of Italian wall lizards were transplanted by biologists from their home island of Pod Kopiste, in the South Adriatic Sea, to the neighboring but subtly different island of Pod Mrcaru, where none lived, as an experiment in evolution.How, if at all, would these creatures change?Largely insect eaters, the half-foot long reptiles would find themselves on an island where insects were...

While uninformed laymen erroneously believe the theory of evolution to be a product of Charles Darwin in his first major work of 1859 (The Origin of Species), the historical records are exceedingly clear that the evolution-creation-intelligent design debate was largely formulated well before the birth of Christ. Numerous famous writings have appeared on the topic for almost two thousand years; in fact, our Founding Fathers were well-acquainted with these writings and therefore the principle theories and teachings of evolution – as well as the science and philosophy both for and against that thesis – well before Darwin synthesized those centuries-old...

It's about ideology—and what the Democrats have done—not about race. Conservative and Republicans should be careful how they write about WrightBy Christopher Cook The campaign of Barack Obama for president has raised the issue of race in ways that it has not been raised in America for some time. This is primarily the result of the sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor who preached to Obama and his family for 20 years. The incendiary rhetoric of this pastor—with its anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, neo-Marxism, black liberation theology, and even racism—is something that Barack Obama cannot escape, even though he himself did...

We all know of people who make strange choices, but what about those who make self-defeating choices over and over and over again, so magnetized are they by spouses (and others) who are bad for them? The woman who marries a drunk, then a gambler, then a philanderer – the man who marries a gold digger, then a nag, then an iceberg. Time after time, this type ends up with a variation on an off-note theme, while friends and colleagues shake their heads and remark, “But he’s so smart…she’s so experienced.” That seems to be the universal reaction to last...

I came across this post tonight by an Islamic blogger who, today, tried his best to explain how Islam will dominate the world. If there’s any doubt about what Islam’s plan for the world is, then start here. First he explains why the West won’t embrace Islam: Why would the disbelievers and hypocrites hate for Islam to be implemented? Simply because they do not wish for their corruption, evil, crime, cheating, oppression, dishonesty, fraud, lies, tyranny, freedom, and deception to come to an end, and for justice (Islam) to prevail. Did you catch that? Yes he said the West does...

Radical Islam Is Growing in the US: Where’s the American Anger? by Thomas D. Segel It is very difficult to understand why Americans are not enraged at the thought of any radical Islamic movement, particularly in the United States. But, being unconcerned seems to be an understatement, for Islam is rapidly expanding in this country and there is already evidence that from evening prayer to the teachings of Islamic schools the tone is anti-American and anti-Christian. We have already seen the growth of the Muslim faith in Europe. Even in England there are already calls for the country to adopt...

VoteHelp is a nonpartisan candidate calculator that tracks the main politicians' stands on important issues. 1. Input your opinions 2. Weight the importance of the issues 3. Find out how each candidate's views match your own Question Your Opinion Importance ?1. I support a set timeline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Strongly Disagree Disagree Slightly Disagree In the Middle Slightly Agree Agree Strongly Agree Not Important Not Very Important Below Average Average More Important Very Important Ultra Important2. I believe government should increase regulation of activities that appear likely to harm the environment. Strongly Disagree Disagree Slightly Disagree...

By Steve Finefrock Even the best can blow it – having failed to understand very old, established lessons. The interface between politics and entertainment is most entertainingly entered by Jay Leno’s famed phrase – and oft-stolen by Fred Thompson – that politics is show-business for ugly people. Frank Luntz reveals a classic error quite forthrightly in “Words That Work� regarding a wee tiny mistake in his focus-group groundwork for the ’92 Perot campaign. Somewhere in his early education, he’d not absorbed the dramatic concept of the Three-Act Structure. And politics is about drama as much as about policy. As a...

Life in southern Israel is unbearable. Since last January, on average, 6.3 mortars and rockets have been fired from Gaza on southern Israel every day. As Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i warned the heads of the communities around Gaza last week, due to the improvements in the Palestinian arsenal since Israel vacated Gaza two years ago, the Palestinians now field missiles and rockets with extended ranges that place 130,000 Israelis under threat of missile attack. Wednesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi made clear that if Israel wishes to secure its citizens there is only one thing it...

Presidential primary campaigns illustrate politics as manipulation of, as well as pandering to, public opinion, with no necessary connection to political wisdom. Gail Collins, editorial page editor of the New York Times, in a December 8 edition op-ed article, reflects liberals’ embrace of mobocracy at the expense of Constitutional government. She writes: "Romney’s message, which boiled down to let’s-all-be-religious-together, was certainly different from the John Kennedy version, which argued that a candidate’s religion is irrelevant. But then Kennedy was speaking to the country, while Romney had his attention fixed on the approximately 35,000 Iowa religious conservatives who will tip the...

For thousands of years, people have pondered the age old question, why I am here and what happens when I die. Depending on the answers a person hears during this time on earth, there can be a variety of different explanations. For many of us, there is the notion that we are here to serve a higher purpose. For others, life is simply what we make of it and it’s over when our bodies cease to function. Which answer is correct and how do we know? The secular position on this question could be summed up by saying that, “the...

We have come to a point in the 2008 presidential election cycle where both political parties’ candidates are fielding questions about religion. While religion is a personal issue for an overwhelming majority of Americans, religion in government has been frowned upon ever since the ACLU took an active roll in purging it from the “public square.” So, it would seem at odds with the dogma of the Secular Progressive Left that religion should be an election issue at all. Yet each candidate has had to answer questions about their faith, with Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney being literally scrutinized on...

Sweden: "The Highest Standard of Living Anywhere" The beautiful nation of Sweden has the highest standard of living in the world.

The Road Less Traveled by: Heyecan Veziroglu, October 25, 2007 Although something of a liberal icon because of his presence at President Kennedy’s inauguration, poet Robert Frost was anything but left-wing, according to a friend who knew him well. Dr. Peter Stanlis, distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rockford College who has been Frost’s friend said the most celebrated American poet of the 20th Century was 90 when he spoke at the Kennedy inauguration on January 20, 1961. He added that in his poems, Frost examined social and philosophical themes, but his hostility towards President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” was evident. Frost...