Free Republic

In his third State of the Union address last night, President Obama channeled the mantra of U.S. progressive groups by repeatedly calling for so-called economic fairness in America. Some progressives point to revolutionary socialist Karl Marx as divining economic theory that stresses “economic fairness.” Also, late Harvard professor John Rawls, one of the most important philosophers of liberalism in the twentieth century, named his own theory “justice as fairness.” Some have previously pointed to Rawls possible influence over Obama. Rawls calls for ensuring distributive justice of resources. The headlines in scores of U.S. newspapers and news websites today stress the...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A Ramsey County judge on Monday blocked a unionization vote by Minnesota child care workers that was to get under way this week, saying the issue must go through the state Legislature. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the Democratic governor exceeded his powers with the executive order setting up the election. "If unionization of day care is to become the law of Minnesota, it must first be submitted to the lawmaking body of the state," Judge Dale Lindman said after hearing three hours of testimony. Lindman also said he was "bothered" that less than half of the...

Hi, folks. Here's a collection of some of the better Occutard political cartoons I've come across. Hope you enjoy! 17 Occutard 'Toons

Could Karl Marx and other foundational socialists, like Proudhon and Bakunin, have had a soft-spot for Lucifer? Would it even make sense to suggest anti-religious, godless persons could still salute Satan? This article is a brief investigation into whether socialism has any claim to fame as an ideology of not just atheists, but even diabolically minded people ...

House Democrats today filed a brief in support of a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The amicus brief filed by 133 Democrats, including the party’s top leaders, maintains that Congress hastily passed legislation during President Bill Clinton’s presidency to limit who can marry and asserts that the law is unconstitutional. The brief was filed in a consolidated court case being considered in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, although a release said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other top Democratic leaders...

Major U.S. indexes (DIA) (SPY) declined sharply with the financial sector leading the way after a combination of warnings from Europe and disappointing earnings dampened investors’ attitudes.

NEW YORK - Thousands of demonstrators protesting corporate greed filled Times Square on Saturday night, mixing with gawkers, Broadway showgoers, tourists and police to create a chaotic scene in the midst of Manhattan. "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" protesters chanted from within police barricades. Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away. Sandy Peterson of Salt Lake City, who was in Times Square after seeing "The Book of Mormon" musical on Broadway, got caught up in...

Karl Marx believed that class conflict is what drives history forward. He envisioned a more perfect society that could grow out of the eventually doomed capitalistic one. This communist society would be classless in its highest phase of development. As Karl Marx famously said in the “Critique of the Gotha Program,” it would “inscribe on its banner: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need!” Marx’s mantra meant the end of incentive, the fabric of any successful society. His political philosophy would only lead to disaster and totalitarianism. He completely ignores the fact that success requires...

On Saturday morning, October 25, 1851, Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune , entrenched after a decade of existence as America’s leading Whig daily, appeared with twelve pages rather than its usual eight. The occasion was too noteworthy to be passed over without comment by the paper itself. So a special editorial was written—probably by Greeley’s young managing editor, the brisk, golden-whiskered Charles A. Dana—to point it out. Besides a “press of advertisements.” the editorial ran, this morning’s enlarged paper contained “articles from some foreign contributors that are especially worthy of attention.” Among these were “a letter from Madame Belgioioso, upon...

by John F. Di Leo, for Illinois Review, 9-11-2011 Sitcom fans will recall a particularly memorable episode of the iconic show Seinfeld – “The Fatigues” in Season Eight – in which two characters accidentally mix up a pair of manuscripts, not realizing their error until they go on stage in their respective venues. Comic Kenny Banya accidentally delivers a serious lecture on risk management to his comedy club audience… and George Costanza delivers a comedy routine on Ovaltine to a bewildered corporate audience expecting to hear the risk management lecture. To each audience, the inappropriateness of the speech for the...

Policy makers struggling to understand the barrage of financial panics, protests and other ills afflicting the world would do well to study the works of a long-dead economist: Karl Marx. The sooner they recognize we’re facing a once-in-a-lifetime crisis of capitalism, the better equipped they will b (visit source article)

The world of socialism is built on a deep secret. I learned of this founding secret from an old friend. Now it can be told. I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce American Thinker readers to an old schoolmate of mine; one with whom, after being out of touch for decades, I've exchanged political thoughts via e-mail over the past several years. Damian Housman has come a long way since our days at Manhattan's Junior High School #104. He's a retired USAF lt. colonel who flew as a navigator in C-141s and a weapons systems officer in F-4s, and...

It is this picture which must inform our discussion of education as we try to understand why the America of 2011 looks nothing like the America of 1911. Somewhere along the way, the baton of proud American traditions, brilliant accomplishments and upstanding virtues became a thing of shame and ridicule. Our schools, teachers and yes our parents have more and more questioned our long-held values, and have substituted expedient excuses for eternal truths.

Obama has a conundrum that is becoming more complex as the election approaches; he must campaign for reelection, but on what? Defending his bailout of the auto industry is likely to lose support rather than gain support. He can't point to improvements in the economy, because those are dubious at best. His signature accomplishment, Obama Care, the health care that no one wants, has the majority of Americans hoping for appeal. He can cite the stimulus, one of the biggest scams in the history of the world, but if you weren't in line for some of the millions that were...

Gov. Mark Dayton will be the first Minnesota governor ever to participate in the Twin Cities annual gay and lesbian parade. The Twin Cities Pride Parade takes place in Minneapolis on Sunday. In a proclamation, the DFL governor proclaimed June “Pride Month” in the state, and noted that Minneapolis was the first city in Minnesota to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Here is a very brief and startling exchange between Sen. Mike Parry (R-Waseca) and Minnesota Management & Budget Jim Schowalter. On June 7th, weeks after Dayton vetoed the budget, a frustrated Sen. Parry asked for details of the Governor's planned cuts so the legislature has a place to start negotiations--asking "what are you going to cut?" Commissioner Schowalter reiterated Dayton's plan to "find a way to work together...to meet in the middle" and said that he could not give "details for a proposal that do not exist." Why does this proposal not exist? That is outrageous, odd and irresponsible. Please...

The president has unveiled a plan to cut joblessness with an industrial policy from the 19th century. In this "new" economy, government will pick winners and losers for industry. It didn't work then, it won't work now. Taking a cue from classical Marxist theory as well as vintage union organizing doctrine, both discounting the value of service work over manufacturing, we now see President Obama touting training for factory jobs over all others, pushing government spending in that area and calling it a jobs recovery plan. It's as if all the economic knowledge acquired in the course of the 20th...

Detroit — General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars, and he's confident the government will soon shed its remaining 26 percent stake in the once-bankrupt automaker. "I actually think the government will be out this year — within the next 12 months, hopefully within the next six months," Akerson said in a two-hour interview with The Detroit News last week. He is grateful for the government's rescue of GM — "I have nothing but good things to say about them" — but...

Haters of God, 2 Tim. 3:2 Our war is against God and the world created by Him, declared Karl Marx, father of the Communist Manifesto. In his poem, "The Pale Maiden" he admits that he has willfully opted for Hell: "Thus heaven I've forfeited; I know it full well; My soul, once true to God; Is chosen for hell." (Marx & Satan, Richard Wurmbrand, p. 22) "The Evil One is the satanic revolt against divine authority....Socialists recognize each other by the words, "In the name of the one to whom a great wrong has been done....Satan (is) the eternal rebel,...

'A deep-rooted hatred of the British': How Israelis 'armed junta' in Falklands conflict Israel secretly provided arms and supplies to Argentina during the Falklands conflict, according to revelations in a new book. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin had such a deep-rooted hatred of the British that the Jewish state covertly became the biggest supplier of military equipment to the Argentine military junta. Gas masks, radar alert systems, air-to-air missiles and fuel tanks for fighter bombers were sent from Tel Aviv to arm General Galtieri’s forces. The most audacious deal involved supplying 23 French-built fighter aircraft – Mirage IIICs – which...

Had Americans been able to stop obsessing over the color of Barack Obama's skin and instead paid more attention to his cultural identity, maybe he would not be in the White House today. The key to understanding him lies with his identification with his father, and his adoption of a cultural and political mindset rooted in postcolonial Africa. Like many educated intellectuals in postcolonial Africa, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was enraged at the transformation of his native land by its colonial conqueror. But instead of embracing the traditional values of his own tribal cultural past, he embraced an imported Western...

Who pays Minnesota taxes? Every two years, the Minnesota Department of Revenue answers this question with its 'Minnesota Tax Incidence Study.' The newest study shows that low- and middle-income Minnesotans continue to pay a much larger share of their earnings in state and local taxes than our state's wealthiest citizens. This trend has worsened over the last decade. In 2008, the most recent year analyzed, the top 5 percent of Minnesota's income-earners, with annual incomes over $183,000, paid an effective tax rate of 10 percent of their incomes on all state and local taxes. However, middle-income Minnesotans, earning between $32,000...

Bicycles instead of cars? Dense apartment clusters instead of single homes? Community rituals instead of churches? "Human rights" instead of religious freedom? The UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) which met June 3-14 [1996]in Istanbul, painted an alarming picture of the 21st century community. The American ways-free speech, individualism, travel, and Christianity-are out. A new set of economic, environmental, and social guidelines are in. Citizenship, democracy, and education have been redefined. Handpicked civil leaders will implement UN "laws", bypassing state and national representatives to work directly with the UN. And politically correct "tolerance"-meaning "the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism"...

Dr. John C. Drew, a grant writing consultant in Laguna Niguel, Calif., tells Newsmax he met Obama in 1980 when Obama was a sophomore at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Drew had just graduated from Occidental and was attending graduate school at Cornell University. Drew’s then girlfriend, Caroline Boss — now Grauman-Boss — knew Obama because she shared classes with him at Occidental.... During Christmas break, Drew says he was at Grauman-Boss’ home in Palo Alto when Obama came over with Mohammed Hasan Chandoo, his roommate from Pakistan. “Barack and Hasan showed up at the house in a BMW, and...

Radio host and author Paul A. Ibbetson's fictional version of Animal Farm with a conservative twist. The delightful tale of Oliver the Squirrel unfolds on this departure from the conservative political discussions found previously in Ibbetson's books. Oliver's Tale is a thinker's piece and while written in the same spirit as George Orwell's Animal Farm it has its own unique social, political, and religious message to be discovered by readers. Surrounded by a colorful cast of animal characters, Oliver experiences a spiritual growth in his relationship with God as he becomes privy to the secret plan of the Gray Skunk,...

George Orwell said that the first duty of decent people was to say the obvious.  So here it is for today. The United States Constitution enshrines a far greater political philosophy than anything Karl Marx ever dreamed of in his totalitarian ideology. In 1787, the Constitution proclaimed a political philosophy that has led to greater well-being and happiness for more people over more centuries than anything Europe's totalitarians ever did.  But precisely because the Constitution limits the greed of the power-hungry, it is always under assault.  Every generation needs to understand that because human nature has not changed since 1800. ...

The founder of a leading tea party group is showing himself to be quite the bizarre extremist, shocking I know. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips became worked up after seeing a banner supporting the DREAM Act on a Washington area Methodist Church. He promptly posted an anti-immigration screed on his website, wherein he said “My dream is the Methodist church goes out of business.” He then proceeded to paint the church as a breeding ground for “Karl Marx” Communists and socialists. If this makes no sense to you, join the club. “I have a DREAM. That is, no more...

Because it is the thirtieth anniversary of the tragic murder of John Lennon, much nostalgia will be summoned up for Lennon, the Beatles and the times they lived in. The glory days of sixties idealism and “innocence” will be recalled with misty fondness by aging baby boomers, and those who came along later. But were the Beatles merely innocent, mop headed,peace loving idealists? As we looked at last week in our previous article, Lennon;Whose Minstrel Was He ?, Lennon was an effective musical evangelist of the sexual revolution, which has wrecked untold millions of lives, in broken health, broken families,...

OPEN SOCIETY: Soros Explains The Anti-Capitalist, Pro-Marxist Tactics He Uses to Fundamentally Transform Countries http://www.theblaze.com/stories/open-society-soros-explains-the-anti-capitalist-pro-marxist-tactics-he-uses-to-fundamentally-transform-countries/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMtpCnqIQ&feature=player_embeddedTHE UN RIGHTS OF THE CHILD TREATY IN A NUT SHELL... 1. First of all, the government (unelected in this case)will be the parent not you. Dont like it, you lose them. 2. Your child has a right to be forced to go to a communist indoctrination center (school) to be dumbed down, and conditioned to be a loyal marxist who will never question authority and grow up to be an illiterate factory worker 3. Your child has a right to grow up in a marxist country with no freedom of speech, freedom of the press and has the right...

All you fans of the Left will recognize that title as a twist on Proudhon's historic slogan, "Property is theft." That's the personal catechism of Obama and his gang. Or, to put it more honestly, "Your property is theft. My property is untouchable." Gimme that Air Force One. Gimme that trillion-dollar slush fund. Gimme that vacation in Spain at taxpayer expense. It's mine! The Clintons even took the White House silverware, remember? Some people have a monstrous appetite for power and privilege, but they always claim to do what they do from compassion for the little people. Kim Jong-Il in...

Historically, the structural and class bases of anti-Jewish feeling in Europe were inextricably linked with the ruling classes and the forces of reaction. The Catholic church propagated anti-Semitism as a matter of religious ideology as well as expediency. Landed aristocracy created the class of Jewish moneylenders, and then allied themselves with the peasants against their Jewish creditors. Reactionary regimes like the Tsarist Regime in Russia used the Jews as scapegoats for the ills of their society. [snip] Much literature and philosophy of the 19th century, especially socialist and communist literature, was permeated with anti-Semitism. Proudhon and Fourier were notorious anti-Semites....

... He must, rather, master “the art of communication,” which means he “communicates within the experience of his audience,” affecting “full respect to the other’s values.” He doesn’t, for example, burn the American flag—he holds that “it is the establishment that has betrayed the flag while the flag itself remains the glorious symbol of America’s hopes and aspirations.” This isn’t because he actually cares about America’s hopes and aspirations. Those he seeks to lead care about them, however inchoately, and the successful organizer must connect with his audience’s self-interest. If he plays this game of misdirection well enough, the organizer...

Prime minister George Papandreou's attempt to offer austerity-weary Greeks a "message of hope" in a much-awaited speech last night was eclipsed by mass demonstrations and a shoe lobbed at him by an irate protester. As some 20,000 protestors took to the streets – launching what trade unionists have pledged will be an unprecedented winter of discontent – the socialist leader tried to persuade Greeks that belt-tightening efforts were not in vain. "Greece is engaged in a struggle of survival … in this battle, either we win ... or we sink altogether," he told the near-bankrupt nation in a keynote speech...

Not sure what the excerpt rules are on this so link only. The theme seems to be 'Demand all the changes we voted for'

The Absurd Case of Karl Marx’s Dialectical Fundamentalism While modern leftist academics routinely mock at the looming Judeo-Christian apocalypse prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments (Joel 2; Isaiah 24; Matthew 24-25; 2 Thessalonians 1-2; Revelation 6-19) as something only a deranged literalist could entertain in his own fundamentalist mindset, they remain completely unaware that their most important leftist forefather, Karl Marx, was a false prophet of secular fundamentalism and profane eschatology. Karl Marx's false prophecies, written in the 19th century and based on an extreme ‘literal’ socio-economic reading of life which was inappropriately hotwired with the so-called ‘scientific’...

Back in the 90s when Fr. Paul Marx, founder of HLI, was asked his opinion about the efforts to legalize "same-sex unions" he commented in his usual forthright fashion, "When they do that," he said, "it's the end." He meant "the end" of the Christian civilization whose values used to form the basis of American common life. Fr. Marx, in a prophetic sense, saw rightly that a society cannot survive the perverse manipulation of the very structure of reality that God Himself has revealed to us, one very fundamental element of which is the institution of marriage. When we allow...

I was inspired by a comment I heard on the tube in reference to the Missouri rejection of the ObamaCare mandates, where some politician referred to that overwhelming rejection of the over-reaching powers of a magisterial federal government as a prairie fire. That man may very well have inadvertently given the definitive name to the so-far spotty, spontaneous and disorganized movement of rejection of the Obama Administration, the Pelosi/Reid Congress and their raid on the Constitution of the United States of America. Respectfully borrowing from the lyrics of two of America's musical icons, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, I do...

Howard Zinn, the prominent “progressive” historian who died early this year, has been “outed” as both a communist and a liar. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media writes: The prominent “progressive” historian Howard Zinn, whose books are force-fed to young people on many college campuses, was not only a member of the Moscow-controlled and Soviet-funded Communist Party USA (CPUSA) but lied about it, according to an FBI file released on Friday. The file, consisting of three sections totaling 423 pages, was made available on the FBI’s website and released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from...

On July 15, 2010, Democrat Charles Rangle introduced a piece of legislation into Congress that would basically reinstate the draft (compulsory military service). H.R. 5741 will give the President of the United States the power to require all American citizens between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform either military service or civilian service in the interests of "national defense and homeland security." It would also give him the power to require citizens to join the military during wartime to meet the manpower needs of the military. In February 2009, President Barack Obama asked Congress to send him a...

According to a new poll by Democracy Corps 55 percent of likely voters think “socialist” is a reasonably accurate way of describing Obama. That’s an absolutely astounding number considering it was derived from citizens of a nation that was founded on individual liberties, property rights, and limited government. When the majority of the citizens of this great Republic believe that their chief executive officer is a socialist that should send a pretty clear message that we’re on the wrong track.

... "The choice of timing was particularly refined," Lavrov said sarcastically, referring to the fact that the arrests occurred after Obama met with Medvedev on Thursday for a visit widely seen as the latest step in the "reset" of relations between the former Cold War rivals. A source in Obama's administration said the president was not happy about the timing of the arrests, but investigators feared that some of their suspects might flee, The New York Times reported. The arrests might have been spurred by an FBI sting operation on Saturday in which one of the, Anna Chapman, was given...

It bears repeating: If we hope to halt, reverse and permanently alter America’s descent into the gutter of debauchery and that political tyranny that is forever its companion — “education is the key.” (1) And if so, it must be, it can only be that that education is initiated, financed, and controlled by parents, not by Karl Marx and the Almighty State; no, nor by anyone far removed from our home, our values, our input, and our right to say, “You’re fired!” Of course, Marx, and every godless statist there ever was and is, knew the road to their Godless...

...Marx viewed the world as divided into two camps, the bourgeois and the proletarians, or the capitalists and the laborers. And in his writings, he was scathing in his treatment of the former while appearing sympathetic to the plight of the latter. He pit the two factions against one another, always predicting that the laborers would rise up in revolution and overthrow the capitalists, thus imparting power to victorious revolutionaries “in the name of the people.” Although many who have taken Marx’s teachings to heart – Vladimir Lenin, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, etc, – sought revolution at the end of...

Marxists have used the Catholic Church as a tool for ushering in their social revolution. The Church has always maintained, we are our brother’s keepers–Isn’t this the line the Left uses to send religious people on a guilt trip? While the Left has pulled the Church close to its bosom, they have at the same time slapped the Church in the face with policies of deconstruction of the family, advocacy for abortion and euthanasia, and support for gay marriage. In addition, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) have joined the Left in opposing enforcement of laws regarding illegal aliens,...

Marxists have used the Catholic Church as a tool for ushering in their social revolution. The Church has always maintained, we are our brother’s keepers–Isn’t this the line the Left uses to send religious people on a guilt trip? While the Left has pulled the Church close to its bosom, they have at the same time slapped the Church in the face with policies of deconstruction of the family, advocacy for abortion and euthanasia, and support for gay marriage. In addition, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) have joined the Left in opposing enforcement of laws regarding illegal aliens,...

John C. Drew: "He definitely saw America as the enemy."

How do you complete your “fundamental transformation” of America? Why, with a little help from your friends, of course. And Barack Obama’s Hyde Park friends, terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, are more than willing to help a fellow traveller achieve their lifelong goal of overthrowing the government of the United States. In conjunction with the Obama administration’s EPA-managed faith-based initiative which partners government and religion to promote environmental and social justice, former Weatherman leaders Ayers and Dohrn will be Featured “Visionary Speakers” for the Seattle 2010 Green Festival, June 5-6, 2010. The Green Movement is shamelessly parading its ties...

The few serious contributions by socialist writers towards understanding Jews and Jewish history are normally entitled The Jewish Question (Abram Leon's book) or The Jewish Problem (Isaac Deutcher's essay on 'The Russian Revolution and the Jewish Problem'). Also, reactionary writings on this subject have similar titles—for instance Marx's article and Sack's book on The Jewish Question. What is really at issue here is a non-Jewish problem. It is a non-Jewish problem every time a Jew on the Left comes out as Jewish and is immediately requested—with grave suspicion by the person making the request—to give their position on ... zionism....

Who's more important: Christopher Columbus or John Smith? Clara Barton or Ruby Bridges? Ruby Bridges or Dolores Huerta? Is the story of Nathan Hale too gruesome for first graders? Will history books refer to the 44th American president as Barack Obama, Barack H. Obama or Barack Hussein Obama? The curriculum covers grades kindergarten through high school, and yet after 12 hours of debate the board had only just begun talking about its biggest challenge – high school standards – at 9 p.m. Thursday. All day long the board dropped, added and swapped the names of historical figures and events into...