Free Republic

An online privacy group is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accusing it of not releasing records from the agency's covert surveillance of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. The DHS creates accounts solely to monitor social media sites and establish a system of records of the information gathered. The agency does not post information, seek to connect with other users, accept invitations to connect or interact with others according to a statement on their website. The agency scans social media sites for a list of words that include "dirty bomb," "hostage," "exercise," "task force," "explosion," "lockdown," "riot,"...

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (AP) — Declaring the American middle class in jeopardy, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined a populist economic vision that will drive his re-election bid, insisting the United States must reclaim its standing as a country in which everyone can prosper if provided "a fair shot and a fair share."

Imagine this scenario: The IRS may soon just do your taxes for you — and send you the bill.If this sounds farfetched, it’s not.With a new congressional “super committee” tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in cuts by November, creative ways to find additional revenue are in high demand. And allowing the IRS to prepare you taxes could be one solution.The idea has been around for a while, but has been picking up steam in recent years. In 2006, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) argued it would close a $345 billion annual difference between what the government believes taxpayers...

“An FBI Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force handout being distributed to Colorado military surplus store owners lists the purchase of popular preparedness items and firearms accessories as ‘suspicious’ and ‘potential indicators of terrorist activities,’” an exclusive report by Oath Keepers reveals. Essentially, the government is conflating Americans who believe in being prepared for disruptions in normal circumstances with potential domestic enemies who bear scrutiny, and are recruiting those they patronize to spy and snitch on their customers. As potential terrorists. For such suspicious activities as buying storable food. And paying in legal tender. This is not a new tactic. Oath...

Time magazine’s cover story shows the U.S. Constitution and asks, “Does it still matter?” Reading this story, we kept waiting for Emmanuel Goldstein to show up for the Two Minutes of Hate. It was difficult to discern whether we were reading Time, or Orwells’ 1984. It portrays the Constitution as an outmoded document that we should ignore to whatever extent is expedient to pursue someone’s vision of a better society: “We cannot let the Constitution become an obstacle to a future with a sensible health care system, a globalized economy, and evolving sense of civil and political rights.” The story...

ALISO VIEJO – Members of a local church are saying an ad for their Easter service was deemed too controversial to run because it named Jesus.

Victor Hansen’s piece entitled President Hamlet emphasizes the bi-polar yet schizophrenic presidency of Barry Hussein Soetoro. (see story) President Soetoro like Charlie Sheen has a little tiger blood in him and is bound ultimately to the same fate in 2012 as Sheen. A fate which he will be blaming his employers (the American People) for canning him for the crazy and whacked out way he is mismanaging the U.S. Government as Sheen blamed his employers who fired him for his own irresponsible self-destructive and career ending behavior. Hansen makes plain the danger that the United States faces with a presidency...

The White House announced Wednesday it has postponed a ceremony for President Obama to accept transparency award from a government watchdog group. -snip-The right-leaning Drudge Report played up the award ceremony Wednesday on its site under the headline, "All WH events Wednesday 'closed press' -- except for ceremony praising Obama's 'commitment to transparent government'..."

And sometimes a drawing is just a drawing. An eleven-year-old boy was taken from his home a couple of night ago, arrested, handcuffed, his mug shot was taken and he was jailed. Police charged the little eleven-year-old with interfering with staff and students at an Educational facility, a third degree misdemeanor an apparent trumped up charge to justify police’s Fascist intrusion into the home and the unlawful arrest and detention of a child. What did the little boy do? Months ago while sitting at his desk the little student drew a stick figure picture of a “kid” holding and firing...

There is no pretense of partiality with Meet the Press David Gregory. On last Sunday’s show Gregory attacked Americans with some of the same Orwellian language as Uber-partisan Nancy Pelosi used when she infamously labeled Americans who protested Obamacare by calling them Astro Turf. But Gregory doesn’t directly attack. No he cowardly assaults Americans by proxy through the people’s elected representative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Gregory’s strategy? Gregory believes if he can badger Rep. Cantor into calling Americans who want the same proof of Barry Hussein Soetoro’s eligibility that 2008 presidential candidate Sen. John McCain showed, a long form...

War Of Words: Politicians of every stripe have long known that controlling the language of political conflict wins half the battle. The president cannot be allowed to misrepresent his record of fiscal irresponsibility. Two years before writing "1984," George Orwell wrote an essay titled "Politics and the English Language." World War II had just ended and this British socialist with no utopian misconceptions about Josef Stalin's Soviet totalitarianism to the east believed that "the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end." In...

Progressive Liberals are all about Contradiction. They hate the Constitution as demonstrated by their recent hue and cry when the Republicans of the 112th Congress proposed to read it before the start of their term. Ironically, the same elected Progressive Liberals who complain about the reading of the Constitution are sworn to uphold the Constitution. So why are they using the tragic assassination attempt on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Gifford as cover to violate the 1st and 2nd amendments by legislating against free speech and the right to bear arms. Democrats say their recent attack against freedom of speech and the...

As reported in this publication, Democrats have been quick to defend Donald Berwick's dead of night inclusion of advanced directive and end of life planning into what is called the Annual Wellness Visit (what most of us call a checkup). They claim it's purely voluntary and that Medicare already covers advanced directive discussions. But the inclusion of the advanced directive and end of life planning is not voluntary, only the patient's discussion is. Doctors are required to bring it up year after year. What's more, noting that Medicare added the discussion of advance directives to the initial physical exam begs...

So Im in the middel of a debate between a group of left wing commies Very hard core I might add. The debate was touched off after a friend of mine from California who was a homeschooling mother of 3 kids came under attack by the commies. It was started off by an evil woman named vampiressontheprowlq who is known for calling freedom a form of fascism and advocating the destruction of America on youtube with her girlfriend and lover. Here are some excerpts of the filth I have recieved... Ray Bradbury wrote "Fahrenheit 451", from fresh thoughts in his...

In perhaps one of her better Orwellian phrasings Nancy Pelosi insults reason and intelligence with her speech to justify the House passing the longest unemployment extension in U.S. History. According to Pelosi, "Unemployment creates Jobs" like War is Peace. Orwellian language or Newspeak, as it is formally referred to, is language that says the opposite of what it means by misnomer. So here is my own offering of an Orwellian phrase for the infamous speaker of the house, Democrats are Americans. (see 1:31min video)

As the privacy controversy around full-body security scans begins to simmer, it’s worth noting that courthouses and airport security checkpoints aren’t the only places where backscatter x-ray vision is being deployed. The same technology, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on U.S. streets. American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold U.S. and foreign government agencies more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents, Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at the company told me in an...

Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) had it right all along. This president is a liar! He and his Democrat Party manipulate words and meaning like a Crack-ho manipulates her mamma for money to buy milk for her baby. “Mamma I need twenty dollars, I promise I’m going to buy milk for the baby.” Mamma knows that her daughter the Crack-ho is probably lying, yet there’s that outside chance that she might be telling the truth this time. Out of hundreds of disappointments, this may be the time. But alas, Social Services called. They have the baby again and the crack-ho mama...

A recent study I conducted for Stratecast estimated the effects that net neutrality regulations would have on consumers and the greater U.S. economy. Our model attempted to look at such regulations on broadband operators through the eyes of a CFO, who is charged, both from a legal and business perspective, to invest the funds of the company wisely. The model indicates that in the presence of net neutrality, investment in infrastructure would decrease, our economy would suffer with job losses, and the costs would ultimately be borne by the consumer. The most negatively impactful of net neutrality options, strict non-discrimination,...

"…The more terrifying the occasion for defense, the closer will become the organization and the more coercive the influence upon each member of the herd. War sends the current of purpose and activity flowing down to the lowest level of the herd, and to its most remote branches. All the activities of society are linked together as fast as possible to this central purpose of making a military offensive or a military defense, and the State becomes what in peacetimes it has vainly struggled to become—the inexorable arbiter and determinant of men’s business and attitudes and opinions…" -Randolph Bourne Dear...

[Peter Brimelow writes: The Orwellian news that a British political party is being forced in the name of “equality” to admit members who oppose its principles got me thinking about another recent victim of what Roland Huntford called “The New Totalitarians”: American Renaissance and its disrupted attempts to hold its biannual conference. So I called AR Editor Jared Taylor and asked what was happening. Answer: nothing—no police inquiries into the left’s death threats, no outrage or even news reports in the Main Stream Media or Establishment “conservative” and libertarian (!) outlets. (We hope to publish an update from Jared soon.)...

Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.... Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his...

There they sat royalty, commoner, academic, rich and the privileged being lectured to by someone that many in his own country consider to be a Usurper to the presidency. The sweet irony of it all is Barry Hussein Soetoro illegitimately holds the office of president and as a usurper he accepted a prize that by his own admission was generous given and quite undeserved. Yet the ultimate contradiction—the Orwellian redefinition of reality was Soetoro standing before the Oslo gathering. And standing there he told them that the prize which they awarded him, the Nobel Peace Prize, could in fact be...

Social workers took a 2-year-old U.K. boy into care after his mother refused to give him junk food. Zak Hessey was 17 pounds, 6 ounces when his mother Lisa took him to hospital, telling doctors he was a "fussy eater" and not gaining weight. Doctors said he should weigh 19 pounds, 8 ounces, and advised the mother of five to bulk him up on chips, chocolate and cakes.

From the Heritage Foundation's blog, The Foundry, this study was mentioned during Glenn Beck's radio show this morning: This Friday, the tax payer funded Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is hosting a briefing for Members of Congress and their staff on their new study: Online Town Hall Meetings: Exploring Democracy in the 21st Century. The CMF study consisted of 21 townhall meetings where Members of Congress and CMF provided a moderator: “spoke via voice over IP, and constituents asked questions and made comments by typing them. Only off-topic, redundant, unintelligible, or offensive questions were screened, and only questions asked by people...

Well! They want money from everywhere else, constantly holding out their hands for that which they didn't lift a finger to earn. Consider the fat tax, sugar taxes, tobacco taxes, the global warming sin tax(cap and trade) and on and on. All kinds of taxes that are based solely on trying to "help" you make better decisions by dissuading you economically from certain other choices. I don't think anybody could ever argue that what one man does to another man's body is healthy. Therefore, if it's unhealthy, will it be taxed? Will there be a gay tax?

Steve Miller, a fellow CFP contributor sent out an email blast last night. In his note he included examples of the HR3200 language including a link to the copy available through the library of congress. That’s one of things I really appreciate about Steve, he is dogged when it comes to research. No wonder the powers that be incessantly work to silence him. HR3200 is a beautifully woven web of governmental Orwellian doubletalk. For those under the age of 40, that is a reference to George Orwell’s novel 1984. Check it out and cross reference it to Obama’s last few...

If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP. From the White House website: There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see...

President Obama said Wednesday that health care reform is "central" to successfully rebuilding the U.S. economy after the current economic crisis... Blah, blah, blah...

Law:Law: The Senate is considering an expanded federal hate crimes law. And who wouldn't be for such a law, given its obvious noble intent? Beware. This new law won't reduce hate one bit, but it will limit your rights. Sadly, hate is an ineradicable part of the human condition. But one person's hate is another's righteous anger. That's why passing a law making a state of mind illegal is dangerous. That won't stop Democrats in Congress, though. They held hearings last week and soon may bring a bill up for a vote. Anyone who values the rule of law in...

We use Orwell, Orwellian, and Orwellianism loosely a lot these days, but what is going on in the Obama administration is beginning to get a little creepy and resembles a lot of things Orwell wrote about in 1984. When in, Soviet fashion, a critical overseer is dismissed as being "confused" and suffering mental problems in carrying out the law, as Gerald Walpin probably did in uncovering waste and possible fraud in connection with the mayor of Sacramento; or when the government begins to create new words like "overseas contingency operations" and "man-made catastrophes"; or when Justice Sotomayor says that a Latina is...

100 days and already the Obama hypnotic affect on the nation is waning. Fox network said that it would air its normal broadcast lineup rather than fall inline with the rest of the Obama Big Brotha Networks.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is labeling President Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget plan a "higher-tax, weaker-economy, fewer-jobs" blueprint that should trigger the most crucial policy debate since 1980. The leading Republican said he he actually agrees with much of Obama's rhetoric, but that there's a "gap between the words and reality." Gingrich said there are pieces of Obama's budget that are "doable," including projected savings from more closely watching for fraud in entitlement programs. But the Georgian also said, "The problem with the overall budget is that it's a job-killing budget." Gingrich was interviewed Friday on CBS's "The Early...

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....

In the dystopic world of George Orwell's 1984, all news and historical records were governed by the Ministry of Truth. I have played with this cognomen over the years by identifying the mainstream media (MSM) with various appellations such as the Ministry of (mis)Information, and MinInfo whenever MSM's manner of coverage of a story revealed its bias favoring most any form of statism. Over the last two years, unlike any time in my long life, the MSM has warranted the name Ministry of MisInformation more than ever. It got to be an open joke among my acquaintences of how open...

Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled. The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society. But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage. "We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To...

Social services 'set up CCTV camera in couple's bedroom' Social workers set up a CCTV camera in the bedroom of a couple with learning difficulties in order to monitor their behaviour, a new report claims. By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs CorrespondentCouncil staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the (Human Rights Act), which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team...

Government plans new credit, mortgage programs By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 19 mins ago WASHINGTON – The government introduced a pair of new programs Tuesday that will provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt and to make mortgage loans cheaper and more available.

Washington--The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will unveil the program Tuesday, according to people familar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has yet to be made. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he plans to use a "relatively modest share" of the $700 billion financial bailout money to pay for the new program. It's the latest effort by the government to break through a dangerous credit clog that has...

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A Republican congressman from Georgia is calling President-elect Obama a Marxist and warning that he might be planning to form a Gestapo-like security force so he can rule as a dictator. Two-term Rep. Paul Broun of Athens cited a July speech that has circulated on the Internet in which Obama called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.

One of the big losers in this cycle is the English language. Not all of this is new to this election cycle of course, but it does seem to be getting worse. In fact, not only have many words lost their meaning, some have actually become the exact opposite. Here are some examples: Employee Free Choice Act: Of course, this is anything but a "free choice" on the part of employees. This is the proposed legislation which will take away the secret ballot part of union votes. Whether or not to unionize are some of the most heated and dangerous...

Michael Barone sounds the alarm. So, where is the ACLU? And, in a related item, all you women out there should find this alarming. Ah, but he says he'll only force you to register for the military, not to serve. Then why is registration so important to him? If you believe that, you'll believe that he and Joe Biden write their own speeches. UPDATE -- In the Obama Thugocracy, partisan groups of agitators long affiliated with the president, and who are under investigation (and who have been convicted) in over a dozen states for voter fraud, will be supported with...

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTEDJune 4, 2008 Words mean nothing to liberals. They say whatever will help advance their cause at the moment, switch talking points in a heartbeat, and then act indignant if anyone uses the exact same argument they were using five minutes ago. When Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 election by half a percentage point, but lost the Electoral College -- or, for short, "the constitutionally prescribed method for choosing presidents" -- anyone who denied the sacred importance of the popular vote was either an idiot or a dangerous partisan. But now Hillary has...

Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to Britain's most senior police forensics expert. Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said a debate was needed on how far Britain should go in identifying potential offenders, given that some experts believe it is possible to identify future offending traits in children as young as five. 'If we have a primary means of identifying people before they offend, then in...

Californians may soon have to deal with climate change on a different scale -- and this time the culprit isn't greenhouse gas. The California Energy Commission is proposing a plan which allows the government to regulate household thermostats in the event of an "energy crisis." Under the proposed rules, all new thermostats will be fitted with technology that will allow the government to adjust the temperature of someone's home by plus or minus four degrees. Originally the plans called for mandatory compliance; however, amid public outcry, the plans have been slightly altered to allow an individual to turn off the...

NEWARK, Del., October 30, 2007—The University of Delaware subjects students in its residence halls to a shocking program of ideological reeducation that is referred to in the university’s own materials as a “treatment” for students’ incorrect attitudes and beliefs. The organization cited excerpts from the university's Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents, including the statement: "A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. 'The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class,...

In 1997, the National Association of Social Work (NASW) altered its ethics code, ruling that all social workers must promote social justice "from local to global level." This call for mandatory advocacy raised the question: what kind of political action did the highly liberal field of social work have in mind? The answer wasn't long in coming. The Council on Social Work Education, the national accreditor of social work education programs, says candidates must fight "oppression," and sees American society as pervaded by the "global interconnections of oppression." Now aspiring social workers must commit themselves, usually in writing, to a...

Take This Car and Shove It (THIS SITE IS HAVING PROBLEMS) An Orwellian “100 percent parking reduction”? rule quietly wends through City Hall By STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 5:00 pm (Illustration by Ken Garduno) AFTER WORLD WAR II, the city of Los Angeles figured it would be a swell idea to provide incentives to the local tire industry by dismantling what was then among the most comprehensive and enthusiastically used light-rail systems in the nation. What's good for business is good for the city, the tire companies said on their way to the bank, before the...

Orwellian Machavellianism the telling of carefully constructed lies for the manipulation and deception of the political masses and then forcing these law on the people by law.

Drug addicts to be given i-Pods if they beat their habits By JAMES SLACK Last updated at 16:37pm on 22nd July 2007 Drug addicts could be offered food vouchers and the chance to win prizes such as i-Pod music players by the Government body refusing treatment to Alzheimer's sufferers. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) wants to offer heroin and crack addicts 'incentives' to quit their habit. The users - many of whom commit crime to feed their habit - will be offered vouchers if they test clean for the illegal substances. The size of the taxpayer-funded gift will...

With their peculiar and unwieldy antennae, the first TV detector vans were the stuff of science-fiction B movies. And the myths that sprung up surrounding their supposed powers were also worthy of Hollywood. But the latest weapon in the battle against licence-fee dodgers is a green torch-like device weighing less than 1lb � and it really does work, with frightening efficiency. The hand-held detector linked to a set of headphones beeps if an operating TV is inside a radius of 29ft. It means licensing officers can now target places previously inaccessible by cumbersome vans, such as homes in very remote...