Free Republic

Knowing Ourselves The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9 IntroductionWhen Plato expressed the ultimate purpose and great imperative of philosophy with this command, “know yourself,” he had struck upon a valuable insight. If we would know our purpose in life, how we should relate to the world and to others around us, what our goals and dreams and desires should consist of, how we should spend our time, then we must know who we are. We must know how we were made and for what purpose, and we must know...

The response was typical from the local office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): Ahmed Bedier, the director and a spokesperson for CAIR’s Central Florida Council stated, “Obviously, if they had recently arrived here and they are from Saudi Arabia, they may not be familiar with American rules and laws. They might have thought it was some kind of public transportation.” CAIR’s usual response any time authorities detain or question Muslims or Arab nationals in the US who are suspected of potential terrorism planning came about when two young Saudi nationals, Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran,...

Time to dust off the whoopee cushions and hand buzzers. April Fools' Day is here and there's no better place for wisecracks and shenanigans than at work. In its annual April Fools' Day survey, CareerBuilder.com found 33 percent of workers have played a practical joke on a co-worker and 17 percent are planning office tricks for this year's holiday. Although it might be thrilling to finally one-up the office funnyman, pranks also help beat something that's no laughing matter: workplace stress. More than half of workers reported working under stress in another CareerBuilder.com survey. Stress and worry on the job...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Thanks to the "intelligent design" movement, Charles Darwin's birthday is evolving into everything from a badminton party to church sermons this weekend. Defenders of Darwin's theory of natural selection are planning hundreds of events around the world Sunday, the 197th anniversary of his birth, saying recent challenges to the teaching of evolution have re-emphasized the need to promote his work. "The people who believe in evolution ... really just sort of need to stand up and be counted," said Richard Leventhal, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "Evolution is the model that...

On the flight home this morning, I was unfortunate enough to have a bleeder sit next to me. By bleeder, I mean he was invading my space because he was large and his body was spilling over into my seat. I've seen worse cases than what I had today but let's hear your experiences.

I did it!!! For years I have been tying to post an article during normal freeping hours that nobody would comment on for over an hour. It is quite a challenge really. FR has a wide range of interests, and if an article is too weird, then people will comment on its weirdness. Anyway, every few weeks I have been trying to find an article just so totally boring that there would be no reason for anyone to comment on it, and at the same time not be too weird as to merit a comment based on its weirdness. I...

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Once upon a time, party conventions were the very model of modern democracy in action: delegates gathered from every state across the US to champion their chosen candidates for president. It was often a hard-fought battle, with delegates casting ballot after ballot to determine which contender would bear the party's standard. The Democrats set a record in 1924, when it took 10 days and 103 ballots to select the now-forgotten John W Davis to run against Republican President Calvin Coolidge (himself only slightly better remembered today). But there are no smoky backroom deals negotiated at party conventions these days. "I...

BOSTON -- Arab-American delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in their greatest numbers in years, say many in their community will vote for Sen. John Kerry because they are disillusioned with the current administration.     The Arab-American vote went overwhelmingly to George W. Bush in 2000, but unhappiness with the president's post-September 11 policies is turning those voters to Mr. Kerry, the delegates say.     "He has alienated so many of us," said Newman Abuissa, an Arab-American delegate from Iowa who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 but became so upset at the administration that he began actively campaigning for the Massachusetts...

Since I am approaching my one year anniversary of being a "freeper" and since I have never contributed a dime to FR, jim or the republican party, I am going to beat the powers to be at FR and voluntarily leave, rather than have them come up with one of the cock and bull stories to ban me. Been fun,Bye

Show me a honest politician and I will show you someone who has never won an election.