Free Republic

.... The typical Socialist is not, as tremulous old ladies imagine, a ferocious-looking working man with greasy overalls and a raucous voice. He is either a youthful snob-Bolshevik who in five years' time will quite probably have made a wealthy marriage and been converted to Roman Catholicism; or, still more typically, a prim little man with a white- collar job, usually a secret teetotaller and often with vegetarian leanings, with a history of Nonconformity behind him, and, above all, with a social position which he has no intention of forfeiting. This last type is surprisingly common in Socialist parties of...

What would it have been like to be brought up by George Orwell? Pretty grim, you might think. But you would be wrong. In June 1944, Orwell and his wife Eileen adopted a three-week-old boy whom they named Richard Horatio Blair (Eric Blair being Orwell's real name). Now a retired engineer living happily in an immaculate house in a picture-book Warwickshire village, Blair has never publicised the fact that he was related to Orwell, always preferring to remain in the background. But ahead of a talk at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival with Orwell's biographer DJ Taylor (details, below...

and the people still sit silent as they watch Obamanation grow in unbridled power. Geithner Asks Congress for even Broader Power to Seize private Firms as the average American stumbles through their daily routine as if nothing is happening. (snip) The American people would never trade personal freedom for the false promise of federally redistributed free-stuff under some ill-fated socialist experiment, unless they were first threatened with a soup line existence. And so it shall be… (snip) With their backs against the wall, confused by a daily diet of media manipulated headlines aimed at scaring the public into submission, convinced...

<p>House Passes Mandatory National Service Bill http://www.infowars.com/house-passes-mandatory-national-service-bill/ The House passed a bill yesterday which includes disturbing language indicating young people will be forced to undertake mandatory national service programs as fears about President Barack Obama’s promised “civilian national security force” intensify.</p>

Among the bills signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday is House Bill 1568, which bans the use of cameras to catch motorists running red lights. Mississippi joins at least eight other states in banning the automated technology, including neighboring Arkansas.

St. Louis, MO- The city installed red light cameras at twenty intersections, and they've taken in nearly $2 million in fines since they were installed last summer. Traffic Law Center where spokesperson Ann Horner says she see flashes from the camera on a daily basis. Horner however says there are no consequences for not paying. She says if you have outstanding parking tickets you cannot renew your plates or driver's license, but there's nothing in place like that if you get a red light ticket. Horner says it's all unconstitutional because there's a presumption of innocence in this country, and...

One of the nation's most prominent dictionary companies has resolved the argument over whether the term "marriage" should apply to same-sex duos or be reserved for the institution that has held families together for millennia: by simply writing a new definition. "I was shocked to see that Merriam-Webster changed their definition of the word 'marriage,' a word which has referred exclusively to a contract between a man and a woman for centuries. It has now added same sex," YouTube user Eric B. noted to WND. "The 1992 Webster's Dictionary does not mention same sex at all," he wrote. He created...

Householders who put 'the wrong sort of rubbish' in their bins are to face re-education visits from council officers at their homes. They will be told how they are failing to recycle properly and will be encouraged to 'do better'. Bureaucrats are using microchips placed in bins to measure the volume of rubbish thrown away - and the contents may also be analysed in a search for plastic, glass or other items that should have been recycled instead. Those who break strict rules will first be contacted in writing, but may be confronted by a council officer on their doorstep...

Was George only wrong on the year? Does anyone else feel like they have stepped into a George Orwell novel? For months after the election Obama’s face was everywhere; I felt like “Big Brother” was watching me. Early into the administration Big Brother told us all that he was open to any ideas to fix the economy, even from Republicans. When a Republican suggested tax cuts he was immediately cut off with, “I’m going to trump you; I won, - we aren’t going to do that”. The Ministry of Truth didn’t see any disconnect. Big Brother campaigned on not following...

http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d7-Wall-Street-Journal-lapses-into-newspeak-when-it-comes-to-guns SNIP "U.S. law-enforcement officials have seen a spike in heavy-caliber rifles heading to Mexico. A World News article Saturday incorrectly quoted William D. Newell of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describing a spike in machine guns. "Machine gun" is a technical term for a classification of a firearm that doesn't describe the type of weapon he was referring to." This correction was printed on page 2 of the Wall Street Journal on March 5, 2009, and made me feel like I had slipped into an Orwellian world of “newspeak.” You know, the language being promoted...

You have to hand it to the new administration: when they promised change, they meant it. Unfortunately, the change they promised is not the change they are focused on implementing. In his appeal to voters, candidate Obama promised to change the way business was done in Washington. But in their first month in office his team has shown itself devoted to hardball, insider and partisan politics, assembling an administration thick with veteran insiders, including several of the lobbyists they claimed had to be driven from the temple. But as we know, this is the quintessential end justifies the means crowd....

After a month in complete control of the federal government, Democrats in Congress and the White House have quickly dispensed with any notion that we have entered into a new post-partisan era of governance. Their campaign claims of wanting to govern inclusively were greeted with optimism by the more gullible among us. However, their recent actions leave no doubt as to their true intentions. They will push through whatever they want whenever they want. The minority party need not participate. Their first order of business was the wasteful $787 billion economic stimulus bill, rushed through Congress with no Republican votes...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has gone coatless in the Oval Office. His meetings sometimes run late. He opened a session with corporate CEOs with good-natured grousing about his kids' snow days. And he gave GOP congressmen the green light to take a "whack" at him on Fox News. Obama is launching his presidency with a laid-back style that is setting a cool-casual tone for the rest of the White House as well. After his meeting with military commanders at the Pentagon ran late, the president apologized and admitted, "We kind of lost track of time." Those are words that...

Town halls are photographing houses in the middle of the night to see whether they are wasting energy. The thermal images, which show heat escaping though windows, doors and roofs, will be sent to homeowners to encourage them to insulate. Tens of thousands of properties have been photographed over the past few months and there are plans to extend the scheme to every house in the country. The images show warmer temperatures as whites, reds, yellows and oranges, and cooler temperatures as greens and blues. So in the pictures above, the house with the mainly green walls is well insulated,...

RICHMOND Some legislators want Virginia to join the growing chorus of states that have defied the federal government by refusing to participate in a national identification program billed as a way to fight terrorism and identity theft. Two pieces of legislation for consideration when lawmakers return to Richmond on Jan. 14 call for Virginia to ignore the federal mandate to come into compliance with the Real ID Act by the beginning of next year. Similar bills went nowhere last year, but supporters say the looming deadline gives the issue new urgency. "Basically, this statute that I put in is one...

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him. All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper. In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping...

CCTV cameras which can 'predict' if a crime is about to take place are being introduced on Britain's streets. The cameras can alert operators to suspicious behaviour, such as loitering and unusually slow walking. Anyone spotted could then have to explain their behaviour to a police officer. The move has been compared to the Tom Cruise science-fiction film Minority Report, in which people are arrested before they commit planned offences. It will also fuel fears that Britain is becoming a surveillance society. There are already 4.2million cameras trained on the public. The technology could be used alongside many of...

It has been sixty years since George Orwell wrote his chilling dystopian classic, 1984, and it has been thirty years since we saw the creepiest example of educated and free people willingly walking into a living dystopia. November 18, 1978, three decades ago, 918 people drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Jim Jones, the communist leader of Jonestown, Guyana, had become "Big Brother." Soviet and Communist Chinese propaganda films and condemnations of capitalist and imperialist America blared continually to the subjects of this island of Leftist Hell. Jonestown ended in mass suicide, but the real horror was that ordinary people, Americans...

It has been sixty years since George Orwell wrote his chilling dystopian classic, 1984, and it has been thirty years since we saw the creepiest example of educated and free people willingly walking into a living dystopia.  November 18, 1978, three decades ago, 918 people drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide.  Jim Jones, the communist leader of Jonestown, Guyana, had become "Big Brother." Soviet and Communist Chinese propaganda films and condemnations of capitalist and imperialist America blared continually to the subjects of this island of Leftist Hell. Jonestown ended in mass suicide, but the real horror was that ordinary people, Americans...

N.C. State student leaders lobby for hate crime act RALEIGH, N.C. — There was a call for change Wednesday evening night at North Carolina State University. Student leaders came together to talk about passing the "Free Expression Tunnel Hate Crime Act" after classmates admitted to painting racist remarks about President-elect Barack Obama on the night of Nov. 4. Two of the messages in N.C. State's "Free Expression Tunnel" said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head" and "Hang Obama by a noose."