Free Republic

Is Obama the Democrats' perfect stranger?By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER WASHINGTON POST Last Modified: Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 6:35 a.m. Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life. Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself. **SNIP** The air of unease at the Democratic convention last week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments -- bearing even fewer witnesses. **SNIP** Eerily missing at the Democratic convention this year were...

12/21/2005 - GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFPN) -- It was starting to snow as we headed downstairs to pull out some Christmas décor. While helping me sort through the boxes, my daughter stumbled across a stuffed animal -- a plush, multi-colored donkey. “Mom, this isn’t a Christmas decoration,” she said. As I turned away from the tedious job of untangling lights, I saw the little donkey and remembered a night that will forever be in my heart. We were headed home for a family celebration from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., to upstate New York on the...

Shh ! People From a Parallel Universe at Work ! Some say there are people who look like us, and walk amongst us:people from a strange parallel universe ! Tijuana : A motorcylist , roaring through downtown Tijuana ,lost control while rounding a curve, crashed his bike , and fled on foot – leaving his helmet-wearing passenger behind. When police checked the passenger, they discovered he had been dead for at least six hours. There were cuts and other wounds on his head ; and ligature marks suggested he had been strangled. The deceased had bindles of methamphetamine in a...

Just When You Thought it Was Safe(To stop sleeping in the bathtub) Canandaiga,NY : A farmer in this Finger Lakes community decided to advertise for a second wife – but didn’t want to place a “personals” ad -for fear of being teased by his neighbors…so he planted an ad , using seed corn. Once the corn reached a height of 6 to 7 feet , the farmer’s 900 foot by 600 foot message was clearly visible from the air . 50’ letters proclaimed: SWF Got –2 (heart) Farmin’ An arrow pointed to the farmer’s house. The farmer did get a...

I just met a woman while exercising at the track. She was crying her eyes out.

When is it “OK” for an innocent bystander to be brutalized at the whim of a common thug? Amid the collection of worldviews we endeavor to rationalize in our pluralistic cultural, brutalizing ones neighbor and stranger alike is still repugnant to most. Who among us, whether atheist, Christian, or secular humanist will praise and commend the actions of a judge who in the name of love and understanding does not penalize the lawbreaking thief, rapist, and murderer. Why is it so difficult for the average person to apply this simple example of reality to God? If the Creator God...

This is something that occurred to me the other day...

My beloved Caleb, There were seven candles on your birthday cake last month. What big changes have taken place since the day there were six! Last fall you entered first grade, and with it a whole new world of schoolbooks, homework, and report cards. Like many children, you never seem to have much to say when Mama or I ask, "What did you do in school today?" But ever since you told us that Monday is your favorite day because it means you still have a whole week of school to look forward to, we've been pretty sure that first...

October 13, 2003 Stranger in a New Land Stunning finds in the Republic of Georgia upend long-standing ideas about the first hominids to journey out of Africa By Kate Wong We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. --T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets: "Little Gidding" In an age of spacecraft and deep-sea submersibles, we take it for granted that humans are intrepid explorers. Yet from an evolutionary perspective, the propensity to colonize is one of the distinguishing characteristics of our...

Hi all ~~ Mrs. Fierro and I are selling a motorcycle (NOT mine -- hers) and a few people have expressed interest in coming to see it/test drive it. Have any FReepers ever sold a motorcycle to a stranger? If so, how did you handle the test drive issue delicately (getting the bike back WITHOUT alienating the buyer)?