Free Republic

The Day Freedom Dies - Harlingen, Texas, June 21, 2011: It was 38 years ago that a group of journalist acquaintances gathered in my Manila, Philippines hotel room to tell me about the arrest of another friend who had written with disfavor about the Marcos government. They were not even allowed to visit or correspond with him in any way. These writers also showed me how newspapers and television presented events in their country that was living under martial law. Nothing reflecting disfavor of the government could be printed or voiced. Now we fast forward to this morning’s newspaper in...

There has been fluctuating levels changing with each news report or editorial last seen of the possibility that the Muslim countries where leaders are under siege or have already stepped down will soon be holding democratic elections to decide the makeup of their governing bodies and leaders. Much of the reaction to the already planned elections in Egypt and the tantalizing possibilities of elections in even more Muslim countries have been widely positive despite absolutely no indication that such elections will turn out to the advantage of the Western democratic based governments and peoples. One need only look back at...

California: Talks on a budget have collapsed, but is this a disaster or an opportunity? We say the latter. It's time for a showdown between the people and public-sector interests. Jerry Brown should have known better. Maybe — privately — he did. But whatever California's governor really thought about the prospects of getting voters to go along with his tax plan, he now has to think about a Plan B. This past week, he officially broke off negotiations with Republicans whose votes he needed to put a measure on the June ballot to extend expiring tax and fee increases for...

The NYT artcile linked below takes on the air of child-like wonder when the author seems to ponder how it is that the "young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force" DUH! RPR and most other rational, intelligent observers noted the Muslim Brotherhood was the only truly prepared to assume the mantle of power in a post-Mubarak Egypt, and that, it appears, is exactly what's happening. Despite the crying and wailing, secular Egyptians are doomed to loose this fight. The Egyptians do not, and have never had, a culture of Liberty....

Now The Hate Will Fall Upon the Christians Editor: while NPR and various news organs like the Crescent News Network and the Obama administration were celebrating the Arab Revolt, many others who were more aware of previous Arab uprisings were not so enthusiastic. As the Coptic Pope has aligned himself against the Egyptian Pseudo-Revolution, all had joined the uproar about him. Now no one is apologizing to the man. In Egypt, the tensions between Muslims and Christians are growing day to day. This was from the website 'unzensuriert.at' on March 13th.

Here's a question about the Mideast turmoil for future historians: How much did food inflation contribute? We know some basic facts. Middle East countries import 50 percent or more of their wheat, a staple food for many. Beginning in mid-2010, world grain prices exploded. At $8.56 a bushel in February, wheat prices had doubled in eight months. Despite massive subsidies, some higher prices filtered through to consumers. Did that create a tinderbox for protest? "In both Tunisia and Egypt, women in TV interviews screamed about food prices," says Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Food inflation was a...

The Daily Beast calls Gene Sharp "The 83 Year Old Who Toppled Egypt." The New York Times reports that "for the world's despots, his ideas can be fatal." In the last month he's been praised in venues ranging from Scientific American to the BBC. It's an unprecedented level of attention for a scholar whose work has always circulated on the edge of our political debates, gathering influence but never driving the discussion. "It's really been quite amazing," Sharp says of the sudden wave of media attention. "It's never happened before." Sharp didn't topple Mubarak, of course. The Egyptian people did that. What he did...

Be careful what you wish for. After an ambiguous start, Western leaders have broadly welcomed the wave of protest and revolutions sweeping North Africa and parts of the Middle East. But beneath the words of encouragement about people taking charge of their own destiny, there is a growing and vital concern – the security of our oil and gas supplies. The West’s complicity in supporting the autocratic regimes that characterise many of the big oil-exporting nations is in part explained by the fact that, whatever their sins, they did at least seem to provide stability in the energy markets. That...

Iraq's largest oil refinery was shut down on Saturday after militants carried out a bomb attack and set it on fire, the governor of Salahuddin province said. The militants killed four people and planted bombs at production units for kerosene and benzene at the refinery in the town of Baiji, a former al Qaeda stronghold about 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, Governor Ahmed al-Jubouri said. "There is a big fire in the refinery and the refinery has completely stopped," Jubouri told Reuters. Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the peak of sectarian conflict in 2006-07, but...

Fresh off his success destabilizing the government in Egypt, President Obama is now taking aim at domestic tyrants — beginning with Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin. This time, rather than help the Muslim Brotherhood assume power for the first time, Obama is desperately trying to keep public employee unions —call it the Collective Brotherhood — in power. Why? Unions spent $400 million dollars electing Obama in 2008, and although Barack does not appear to comprehend the damage crippling deficits do to the nation, he’s well aware of what a $400 million dollar hole will do to his re–election budget....

“Spontaneous” demonstrations of thousands of youths pouring out into the streets with such force as to compel the flight of a long-time president… To which country are we alluding: Georgia, Serbia, Myanmar,[1] Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Iran, Hungary…? This time it is Tunisia. All of these “revolts” followed the same pattern. Already the Tunisian revolt is being called a “color revolution” by media and political pundits, and it has also been provided with a name; the “Jasmine Revolution,”[2] like the abortive “Green” and “Saffron” Revolutions, and the successful Velvet, Rose, Orange, and Tulip Revolutions, etc. These “color revolutions” all have a...

The Egyptian military arrested and later released six journalists from the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera, the network said today. "Special military units have just raided the hotel where our journalists from Al-Jazeera English were operating," Clayton Swisher, an Al-Jazeera reporter in Doha, Qatar, told ABC News. Swisher said the journalists were arrested and that newsgathering equipment was also confiscated. Though the journalists were released about 90 minutes later, the equipment was not returned. The six were told authorities did not "want to see [them] again" when they were released. Swisher told ABC News the network will continue to broadcast from...

TENS of thousands of demonstrators have started a silent protest in the Albanian capital Tirana, a week to the day after clashes during an opposition rally killed three. The demonstrators, headed by the leadership of the opposition Socialists and the families of the victims, started a march on the government buildings. People continued to pour into the downtown area near the government, bringing traffic in central Tirana to a standstill. Many protesters carried flowers.

Can the conservatives in America put 1 million angry citizens on the capital steps in 48 hours who are prepared to camp and stop Pelosi,Reid, and the Marxist congress from destroying our country. Folks, this lame duck session is way over the top and out of control and needs to be stopped. NOW! Lets put a million people on the capital steps and be heard..........red

The State Dept. will pay for the fund raising tour of the Imam who wants to build the mosque at Ground Zero. He will visit Riyadh, S.A., Quater, and Dubai, among other countries. After several days of phone calls and e-mail inquiries, the State Dept. answered, "we need to get clearance to comment" No denial was forthcoming. The Imam already has a mosque 10 blocks from the sone he wants to build.

GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation. It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine. Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later — G.M. is bringing a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else. For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but...

In 1861 America fought a civil war over slavery, States’ rights and economic differences between North and South. The opening shots of a second civil war were fired one hundred years later. War began on college campuses with rebellion against academic and civil authorities. Hostages were taken, buildings occupied. There were riots and bombings. Students and police were killed and wounded. Anarchists joined civil rights activists and so-called “peace” activists in violent anti-war, anti-capitalism riots. In common was the attack on society and the Constitution in favor of an ill-defined “just” society to be created. Civil society suppressed the foul-mouthed...

This month, three members of Congress have been beaten in their bids for re-election -- a Republican senator from Utah, a Democratic congressman from West Virginia and a Republican-turned-Democrat senator from Pennsylvania. Their records and their curricula vitae are different. But they all have one thing in common: They are members of an appropriations committee. Like most appropriators, they have based much of their careers on bringing money to their states and districts. There is an old saying on Capitol Hill that there are three parties -- Democrats, Republicans and appropriators. One reason that it has been hard to hold...

After watching this video, I had to admit, I was shaking my head, in disbelief with this college educator, who is calling for an outright revolt by Mexicans against the USA. Is this not sedition?