Free Republic

For the past 20 years, the U.S. has maintained a Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 (MLDA21), with little public debate about the wisdom of this policy. Recently, however, more than 100 college and university presidents signed the Amethyst Initiative, a public statement calling for "an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age." SNIP Our research compares traffic fatality rates in states before and after they changed their MLDA from 18 to 21. In contrast to all earlier work, however, we examined separately the impact in states that adopted an MLDA21 on their own...

Pundits escalate attacks against Obama Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writers Thursday, April 9, 2009 PRINT E-MAIL SHARE COMMENTS (1905) FONT | SIZE: It took fewer than 100 days for conservative critics to start lobbing the F-bomb at President Obama. "F" as in "fascist." Take Glenn Beck, the bombastic Fox News host, who in recent weeks has repeatedly used the term - along with references to Mussolini and pictures of Hitler and Lenin - to describe Obama's efforts to revive struggling banks and automakers. The American Spectator, a conservative publication, earlier this month ran an essay on Obama titled "Il...

Dennis Herrera is running for re-election as San Francisco's city attorney and loudly rumored to be eyeing the mayor's office down the road. So a few weeks ago, he invited about a dozen influential folks to a local restaurant for drinks (on his campaign's tab) and some face time. Those folks were local bloggers. Their questions didn't rock him on his heels initially. Instead, Herrera was quizzed about his favorite movie trilogy ("The Godfather") and what he'd write on a cardboard sign if he were homeless ("Wanna have fun?"). Soon the crowd turned serious and interrogated him about more typical...

It seems like everybody is beating up on greed these days. In the wake of the AIG bonus scandal, pompous members of Congress, the Obama administration and the media are disparaging the very concept. It's time someone stands up for greed because without it, there would be no United States of America.

<p>HAS the world turned upside down? America, the capital of capitalism, is pondering nationalizing a handful of banks. Meanwhile, Canada, whose banking system had long been notorious for its stodgy practices and government coddling, is now being celebrated for those very qualities.</p>

I am working on a project to enable people to get more involved in the political process with the hope that we can start making a difference. To that end I would like to get opinions on what are the top three issues of importance to each of you. Please give me your top three issues. Mine are: 1. Taxes 2. Immigration 3. Government Accountability* * This includes everything from the role of the federal government to having Holder and Rangel dragged off to the cells they should be in. Thanks in advance.

Previously I compiled a list of the Ten Manliest Firearms. I noted that variations on the list were certainly acceptable, but still ran into a bunch of grief from non-men who were unable to read, nor to grasp that real men don't care if other real men disagree with them. Still, there are a LOT of guns out there, so I figured it was time to compile another list. You should own all of these guns before Zero takes office, and then buy more until he wets his pants and blubbers like the wuss he is. And if you don't...

Aging Grammy award-winning singer and Academy award-winning actress Cher recently told CNSNews.com that “living under Republican rule almost ‘killed’ her, and she does not understand why anyone would want to be a Republican.”[sic] The multi millionaire, much married, and largely irrelevant, vacuous singer/actress, who offered this unoriginal cheap shot against Bush and his party—so vogue among Hollywood celebs—has not done so badly under Republican and Democrat administrations over the last five decades; therefore no one was certain why she offered this commentary. When asked by Stoos Views during a telephone interview why she supported Obama in the last election,...

"Don't worry son, you'll get used to it." http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/02/13/still-looking-for-a-breath-of-fresh-air.aspx

Brave New Pedagogues by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 11, 2009 Academics pride themselves on dreaming up the cutting edge ideas that govern us. That might not be a good thing. They frequently do so without any grave concern about the evidence behind their theories or any regard for the ethical problems inherent in adopting them. Thus, the Ivory Tower is a bastion of support for embryonic stem cell research even though thus far, it has been an abysmal failure and interfering with the creative process of birth is something that you will have to explain to the creator someday. “Stanford...

I submitted the following to BuzzDash to see if anyone else was curious to know more about out new President. Below is the question and after the question is the email I got back from BuzzDash. "Is it important to you to know how many names Pres Obama has used?" Unfortunately, we were unable to post your suggestion to BuzzDash. In selecting buzzbites for the site, we look for those most likely to reflect the interests and breadth of opinions of users in the given topic area. We also check for duplicate questions and inappropriate content to ensure the best...

How refreshing, then, that this presidential campaign season has given us not one but two political husbands to speculate about. First gentleman manqué Clinton is now out of the running, and we know more than we ever wanted to know about him anyway. The other is would-be second gentleman Todd Palin.

(snip)This week the House will be voting on a two-year, $825 billion economic stimulus package. This is on top of vast sums already being spent in the financial bailout packages. The program is immense. Will it work? The idea is to jump-start "aggregate demand," according to traditional Keynesian precepts. Milton Friedman, on the other hand, taught us that government spending and tax handouts do not stimulate demand, because every dollar doled out by government must be first taken in by taxes, borrowing or other spending cuts. The net effect on aggregate demand is zero.(snip)

On Obama's agenda, according to his White House website, is the goal to "encourage diversity in media ownership." Obama elaborates on the site that his aim is to "encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum." The plan apparently aligns with longstanding Democratic suggestions to resurrect the "Fairness Doctrine." The policy was abandoned in 1987 under President Reagan when there were 75 radio talk shows in the U.S. Reagan opposed the policy because it required...

I got a solicitation in the mail to order the New York Times so I don't miss "history in the making"...

Here’s your chance to have your voice heard and participate in the poll that is likely to be the most talked about of 2009.We’re calling this survey “What Americans Really Want … Really” because it is the first poll to allow average people the chance to prioritize what really matters to them. This survey tackles every important area of life: keeping a job, what you want for your family and the future, defining the American Dream, maintaining quality of life. There are questions on religion, on health, on retirement. It’s going to take about nine minutes of your time –...

"Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law), looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.). The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman (Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin (Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.) and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law)....

Freep this poll. Who did you really pull the lever for? http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/366171

Ratzenberger on with Neil Cavuto.

Ashamed to be an American? You will be if your vote is for Obama this November... Why Europeans want you NOT to vote for Obama: We the citizens of Europe beg you please to vote for the Republican candidate. Because we view Barack Hussein Obama to be a left-wing impostor and troublemaker and a frontman for the insidious immoral Anti-American postmodern collectivist anarchistic movement that the left, in alliance with the creative and entertainment mass media of artists, pop musicians, actors and press, have been working for forty years to bring to power...