Free Republic

The government in Washington D.C. seems to be going out of its way to obfuscate and confuse the American citizens as to various economic factors and what the reality is of the situation the people find themselves in. Instinctively the people know matters are worse than what they are being told and with the most incompetent and unscrupulous resident of the White House in the country's history in charge there is great unease that their government is not being honest with its citizens. More than ever the American people deserve to be told the truth. Among the most confusing of...

....We all know that what is happening (in Egypt) can and might end in disaster, and so this is the point at which the Obama administration is going to have to handle itself with far more care, assurance, and focus than it has thus far. It is therefore horrifying to discover that hauntingly familiar happy talk is beginning to emanate from the administration’s highest reaches — talk suggesting that the possible disaster might not be a disaster, that the bad guys aren’t really the bad guys, that those who might lead the region into war are actually far more complex...

The American entertainment industry has never been comfortable with the act of abortion. Film or television characters might consider the procedure, but even on the most libertine programs (a “Mad Men,” a “Sex and the City”), they’re more likely to have a change of heart than actually go through with it. Reality TV thrives on shocking scenes and subjects ...but abortion remains a little too controversial, and a little bit too real. [snip] In every era, there’s been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by...

Lucifer, God’s greatest of all God's creation (Ezek. 28:12, 15), in eternity past enjoyed a relationship to Almighty God. I truly believe there was a point in his existence that he loved and adored and the Triune God with all his heart. He had the chief place as Protector of the Holiness of God (Ezek. 28:14) and was the worship and choir director of Heaven (Ezek. 28:13). Lucifer enjoyed all the heavenly blessings of his rank and position. As events proceeded, though, there came a time when he became proud, arrogant, envious and bitter. In his foolish heart he sought...

The drive towards a European superstate has had its flaws exposed at last, says Christopher Booker. The collapse of the euro: The most obvious place for disintegration to begin was the single currency Twelve years ago, I stood on the plinth of Nelson’s Column in the pouring rain, addressing a crowd of 10,000 people. We had marched through central London in the biggest ever demonstration against Britain joining the euro, a course then being daily urged on us by the BBC, with the aid of such Euro-zealots as Michael Heseltine, Chris Patten, Kenneth Clarke and Sir Leon Brittan. At the...

The images on the television screen emanating from Europe are a sobering reminder that socialism has failed wherever it has been tried and will always do so despite the best efforts of the die-hard true believers. The riots in the streets of France and Greece, the announced layoffs of nearly 500,000 government employees in the United Kingdom, and the potential national bankruptcy of Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Portugal are the current face of this failure. Yet within the halls of power in Washington, D.C. there is a socialist/progressive cabal, and its titular leader Barack Obama, oblivious to this reality. These...

Obama, after the "pragmatic" Palestinians have repudiated any idea of "historic compromise," any recognition of Jewish national sovereignty: "…so far the talks are moving forward in a constructive way…" You couldn’t make this stuff up! In a different universe the recent events regarding the rekindling of the "peace process" could well be the stuff of a macabre comedy, couched and conveyed in deliberately overstated caricature. But sadly in this universe they portend tragedy.

The problem is that we are spending so much time with contrived entertainments that we tend to become addicted to exciting electronic images. Worse, we become addicted to excitement itself, and we have difficulty distinguishing artificial images from reality. When I was a kid, I looked out the car window when my family went for a drive. The view of small towns and farms wasn’t exciting. But there was nothing else to do, so I got used to not being excited all the time. I learned about the lives of ordinary people. I learned to see the farmer in bib...

It’s been a while since we’ve had a true contestant for the title of most depressing job offered to a law student. Sure, there have been a lot of jobs that offer $10 an hour, or even $0 an hour, for legal work. But at least those jobs were offering the opportunity to put long years of legal education to some sort of use. No, the most depressing jobs for would-be lawyers in this economy are jobs they could have easily gotten before they went to law school. Or college. Really, the most depressing job I’ve seen appeared last year,...

The United States' economic decline precariously resembles Argentina's economic collapse, which started in 1998 and landed Argentina in a depression by the end of 2000. What began in Argentina as a recession mushroomed into a full-fledged depression due to bad economic and monetary policy. The Obama administration and its congressional Democrat lackeys are on the precipice of following Argentina's disastrous economic and monetary policy decisions. Arguably, the United States economy has been in a two-year-long recession, and while some may posit that the country has started an economic recovery, others suspect the country will plummet into a deeper recession, or...

That's right: Levi Johnston's manager, Tank Jones, is confirming a report that Johnston is planning to run for city office in his hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, as part of a reality TV show. ... Jones said Johnston is serious about a run, either for mayor or City Council. "Let me put it to you like this: If you live in a town and things are happening in that town, and you're displeased with it, what do you do? You try to change those things," Jones said.

Income Tax Reality CheckCompiled by: Larry Walker, Jr."If you make less than $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by one dime." ~ B. H. ObamaLeft-wing pundits are claiming that the Bush tax cuts were for the wealthy, which is simply not true. Next year when the 10% tax bracket disappears, and tax rates return to pre-2001 levels, will represent an across the board tax increase affecting every American. In addition, the child tax credit will return from $1,000 (per child under age 17) to $500 representing a tax increase for everyone who has children, not the wealthy. The...

The White House can repeat these “jobs saved or created” numbers as often as it wants; it won’t make them true. Consider this Business Week report on a study released today by the Council Of Economic Advisers: The report says the stimulus has “saved or created” about 3 million jobs, and is moving toward a goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity before the report’s release today. As it turns out, when you unpack the numbers, you find that Romer and her team didn’t actually count...

"I'm not gonna be here for very much longer," said Phil Harris, the hard-living captain of the crab fishing vessel Corneila Marie in a recent episode of Discovery Channel's unscripted series "Deadliest Catch." "That's a fact. I smoke and I drink. I've done every drug known to man. I mean, hell -- it catches up to you." It caught up to Capt. Phil in January, when he suffered a stroke not long after the above statement was recorded. The show's producers were thrown into a quandary. "Deadliest Catch" is known for its commitment to reality -- in the documentary sense...

Editorial: Wake up dreaming to explore consciousness AM I awake or am I dreaming?" I ask myself for probably the hundredth time. I am fully awake, just like all the other times I asked, and to be honest I am beginning to feel a bit silly. All week I have been performing this "reality check" in the hope that it will become so ingrained in my mind that I will start asking it in my dreams too. If I succeed, I will have a lucid dream - a thrilling state of consciousness somewhere between waking and sleeping in which, unlike...

She has a gaudy new mansion, pricey breast implants and spends thousands of dollars on shopping sprees for her spoiled brats -- but a New Jersey reality star and her goombah hubby are real-life deadbeats who owe $11 million, court records show. Free-spending "Real Housewives of New Jersey" diva Teresa Giudice and her husband, Joe, make just $79,000 a year and are up to their tanned necks in liens, foreclosures and unpaid bills, according to bankruptcy papers filed in Newark federal court. The Giudices say they owe creditors $10,853,648.04. Teresa, known for her lust for designer clothes and expensive bling...

Sometime before the dawn of history, a clever individual made a fascinating discovery. Pick an object. Any object. A rock will do nicely. Stare at it intently. Almost automatically, anyone who happens to come by will begin staring too. And if there are enough “starers,” the tendency becomes almost irresistible. Anyone new on the scene is drawn in irresistibly: One can't help but focus on it. Transform that stare into something slightly stronger. Begin to praise the object, to honor the object, to treat the object as if it were truly important, and others will do so too. If you...

Britain's airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country. Skies fell quiet for six days, leaving as many as 500,000 Britons stranded overseas and costing airlines hundreds of millions of pounds. Estimates put the number of Britons still stuck abroad at 35,000. However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk. The satellite images demonstrate that the skies were largely clear, which will not surprise the millions who enjoyed the fine, hot...

Obama going off the deep end FLOYD AND MARY BETH BROWN, COMMENTARY April 9, 2010 A recent analysis by Roger Simon of PJTV Media maintains that Obama is showing signs of mental illness. A wide variety of commentators have observed that Obama displays severe narcissism. Obama is conceited, and he is demonstrating a serious disassociation from reality. A recent case in point was Obama's bizarre and meandering 17-minute, 2,500-word answer to the simple question about how he could justify raising taxes for ObamaCare during a recession when citizens are already overtaxed. Obama's wildly inappropriate answer left the audience stunned and...

Up from SlaveryThere's no such thing as a golden age of lost liberty For many libertarians, "the road to serfdom" is not just the title of a great book but also the window through which they see the world. We’re losing our freedom, year after year, they think. They (we) quote Thomas Jefferson: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” We read books with titles like Freedom in Chains, Lost Rights, The Rise of Federal Control over the Lives of Ordinary Americans, and yes, The Road to Serfdom. The Cato Institute's boilerplate...