Free Republic

London - You might want to take that vacation in England just as soon as you can – before its 1,000-year run as a sovereign nation comes to an end. This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon. You may think, "Innocuous enough," as Portuguese-inspired visions of the Tagus River and chicken piri-piri swirl before your eyes. But for England (Britain, actually) the Treaty of Lisbon isn't that appetizing. That's because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate with its capital in Brussels. Britain would...

For years, owning a Baja, California home has been the impossible dream for most Americans. Today, thanks to the newfound availability of traditional, US-style mortgages, the Baja market is suddenly primed for major development and Americans are pouring across the border to satisfy the desires held in check for so long. Until recently, many would-be Mexican real estate investors were frustrated by governmental insistence limiting property that could be acquired and how it could be paid for. Russ Schreier, president of Finance North America (www.financenorthamerica.com) explains what happened behind the scenes. "Before 2005 there were basically two options for you...

“There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.” George W. Bush, January 20, 2005. As noteworthy as what President Bush said in this and similar passages of his remarkable second inaugural is what he did not say. In particular, he did not declare the force upon which we must increasingly depend for “the survival of liberty in our land” to be the United Nations or multilateralism or supranational government....