Free Republic

… There are a number of differences between conservatives operating in the William F. Buckley Jr./Ronald Reagan tradition and neoconservatives operating in the Irving Kristol/George W. Bush tradition. Here are three, and I’ll use Kristol’s own words to explain it.* Neoconservatives believe the GOP should be converted to embrace a “modern democracy,” aka a welfare state in the mold of FDR and the Great Society. Neoconservatives don’t want to disassemble the federal government in order to rebalance divided powers between federal, state, and local governments; they just think they can pilot Leviathan better than the Democrats.Neoconservatives are largely secular intellectuals...

Pope Francis recently issued the apostolic exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel." Click here to read it. Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh isn't pleased with the document, calling it "pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope." (Source) I sought comment on the matter from Father John Trigilio Jr., Ph.D., Th.D., president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Below is Father's analysis (slightly edited). I often listen to Rush Limbaugh and find him to be an intelligent man and an erudite conservative journalist. He uses common sense and logic to expose the fallacious arguments of liberal progressives. Unfortunately,...

In a far-ranging 50,000 word statement released by Pope Francis on Tuesday, he illustrated that he is sympathetic to the tenets of liberation theology and hostile to capitalism.

Israel now is pumping natural gas from one of the enormous offshore fields which will transform Israel into an energy-independent nation and a global energy powerhouse: Natural gas from the offshore Tamar field was pumped to Israeli shores for the first time Saturday, four years after its discovery, in preparation for its first use in the Israeli energy market — a move that could transform the Israeli economy. The Tamar deposit, discovered in 2009 some 90 kilometers west of Haifa, holds an estimated 8.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. On Saturday, hailed an “important day for the Israeli economy”...

JERUSALEM: Natural gas from the Tamar field off Israel’s Mediterranean shores began flowing yesterday, the head of a partner in the field said in a statement. Israel, once energy poor, is expected to become a gas exporter by the end of the decade, with the Tamar field holding enough reserves to meet the country’s gas needs for decades. The gas discovery in 2009 led to an exploration frenzy in the Levant Basin — shared between Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon — and the uncovering of a second bigger find, Leviathan, which prompted Israel to set up a natural gas wealth fund....

One thing that makes the energy sector so intriguing is the constant overlap between markets and politics. In many ways, energy security is synonymous with national security, and the supply and demand needs of the oil market can make the most unlikely bedfellows. One country that has been at the center of energy and politics for decades has been Israel. For years the country has been dependent upon foreign energy sources, but a major discovery by Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL ) and its partners has turned this situation on its head. Let's look how this massive natural gas find could...

When budget negotiations come down to the wire – sorry, I mean the “Continuing Resolution” negotiations, since we haven’t had an actual budget in forty years – the Democrats always use the same mantra: “Those Wascally Wepublicans are forcing a government shutdown!” As if we should all be shaking in our boots at the prospect of the federal government shutting down for an hour, let alone a few days, or even a week or two. But should we really worry, and should we really hold the more adult party – the only one, after all, actually trying to RESOLVE our...

A while ago, I wrote about why using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages in Richmond California was bad economics and creates dangerous moral hazard incentives. Now we find out that almost a third of the mortgages targeted for seizure aren’t even underwater! And 63% were cash-out refinancings where borrowers where borrowers extracted $53 million from their homes. Data shows 31% of the 624 Richmond, CA mortgages being targeted for eminent-domain seizures by Mortgage Resolution Partners aren’t even underwater, according to a declaration filed in court yesterday by Phillip R. Burnaman II, a managing director at GreensLedge Group. • 63%...

Global sovereign yields jumped almost 10 basis points (except for Greece). wbm081313 And as of 11am EST, the US Treasury 10 year yield rose almost 9 basis points as retail sales rose in July for a fourth consecutive month. ust10081313 The US Treasury yield curve steepened (of course, it looks like the Treasury 10 year yield increase since the short-end of the curve is low and seemingly constant). 102081313 The Fannie Mae 3.0% agency MBS continues its fall from May 1, 2013. I reach a plateau since mid July but may start falling again. fannie3081313 And the Dow Jones is...

Some forty years ago, in his groundbreaking study, Twilight of Authority, sociologist Robert Nisbet observed a disturbing trend in American culture. As respect for authority had declined among the population, he wrote, members of that population became increasingly willing to accept and actually applaud an increasingly powerful, albeit less legitimate, governmentThe notion of true authority, Nisbet wrote, assumes the strength of two essential social qualities—hierarchy, and privacy. Yet both are fading before our eyes.For Nisbet, the egalitarian agenda of the elites—especially the liberal intelligentsia—is a driving engine of social collapse. It crushes a rich, varied, and multidimensional culture featuring an...

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 17 (UPI) -- Nobel Energy of Houston, which discovered Israel's big natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, is pressing the government to decide on an energy export policy as the prospect of an undersea pipeline to Turkey gains credibility. Israel's deep-water Tamar field, found in 2009 and containing an estimated 9 trillion-10 trillion cubic feet of gas, began production March 31. But Nobel and Israeli partner Delek Energy, the team that discovered Tamar and other fields off Israel, is reluctant to develop the much bigger Leviathan field, found in 2010, until it the government makes...

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 9 (UPI) -- Israel's rapprochement with onetime strategic ally Turkey is a vital element in Ankara's drive to become the intercontinental east-west energy hub in the Mediterranean and many expect it to produce an energy alliance that will transform the region. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has, since taking power in 2002, transformed his country's economic prospects through a wide-ranging diplomatic drive aimed at restoring Turkish leadership in the region. He has long sought to transform Turkey, which has no energy resources of its own, into the unassailable central hub for transporting oil and gas...

The Internet Sales Tax (aka, The Main Street Fairness Act) is a blatant attempt to punish innovation in the name of fairness. Amazon.com and other internet retailers have changed the face of retail marketing by allowing products to be delivered to you home rather than have you travel to the product (such as a shopping mall and big box retailers like Best Buy). Retailers such as Best Buy (BBY), Sears (SHLD), Office Depot (ODP), Barnes & Noble (BKS), RadioShack (RSH) and even Gamestop (GME) have seen declines in sales and are trying to re-think their retail strategies in 2013. To...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In a step toward restoring ties, former allies Turkey and Israel agreed Monday on the "methods and principles" of working out compensation payments for the victims of a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Turkey's deputy prime minister said. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed and several other pro-Palestinian activists were wounded when Israeli commandos stormed the ship Mavi Marmara while stopping an international flotilla trying to breach a blockade of the Gaza Strip. The incident, which also wounded seven Israeli soldiers, increased tensions between the once close allies and led to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department is working out final details of $10 billion in sales of warplanes, transport aircraft and advanced missiles to Israel and two Arab nations amid concerns about the growing threat from Iran and its disputed nuclear weapons program, Pentagon and congressional officials said Friday. The U.S. has spent the past year negotiating with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the deals, which come ahead of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to the Middle East starting Sunday. The officials said the United States will sell to Israel an undisclosed number of KC-135 aerial...

The fiscal cliff is now less than six weeks away. Negotiators are reportedly locked away behind closed doors working on a grand bargain to avoid the tax hikes and spending cuts that will hit on January 1. Most of the debate so far has centered on how best to raise taxes on the wealthy: whether to increase tax rates, as the president demands, or eliminate deductions and loopholes, as some Republicans seem to be open to considering. Unfortunately, these priorities are almost entirely upside down. Therefore, let me offer some unsolicited advice for the negotiators: You can’t hike taxes on...

"...began distributing the grain for free. The result was a sharp increase in the influx of rural poor into Rome... ...The expansion of the dole is an important reason for the rise of Roman taxes... ...the demand for revenue led to debasement of the coinage. Revenue was needed to pay the increasing costs of defense and a growing bureaucracy. However, rather than raise taxes, Nero and subsequent emperors preferred to debase the currency by reducing the precious metal content of coins. This was, of course, a form of taxation; in this case, a tax on cash balances... ...The war against...

"The New Leviathan:""How the Left-Wing Money-Machine Shapes American Politics""and Threatens America's Future" By David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin David Horowitz contends that tax-exempt organizations of the political left,who present themselves are more aligned with the concerns of the poor and working class than conservative groups and the Republican Party, have assets over 100 hundred billion dollars and outspend conservatives seven to one. The author argues that the Left has used their finances to promote a progressive agenda that has transformed the political landscape. David Horowitz speaks at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles.

ON Sunday, the best climate policy in the world got even better: British Columbia’s carbon tax — a tax on the carbon content of all fossil fuels burned in the province — increased from $25 to $30 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, making it more expensive to pollute. This was good news not only for the environment but for nearly everyone who pays taxes in British Columbia, because the carbon tax is used to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses. Thanks to this tax swap, British Columbia has lowered its corporate income tax rate to 10 percent from 12...

Know the difference between the State and government? Another short segments distilling down the cornerstone books from our conservative heritage Nock inspired Buckley, C.S. Lewis, Hayek, Kirk et al. with his groundbreaking 1935 book 'Our Enemy, The State'. The book launched a full-frontal intellectual assault on the perverted use of the law to advantage some at the expense of others.