Free Republic

Pennsylvania has a ballot question almost certain to pass this November because most voters won’t know what it means. One of the things it may mean is that baby boomers can’t admit we’re getting old. The ballot question goes like this: “Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to require that justices of the Supreme Court, judges and magisterial district judges be retired on the last day of the calendar year in which they attain the age of 75 years?” Sounds pretty reasonable, right? Jurists, who enjoy about as secure an elected position as exists, shouldn’t serve forever. What you may...

Prominent Cuban-American priest, Father Alberto Cutié, questions Pope Francis’ apparently warm attitude towards the Castro dictatorship during his visit to Cuba this week, asking in a Miami Herald column, “Why do you so strongly condemn capitalism … but we never see an equally strong condemnation of atheist communism?”

The overwhelming majority of Palestinian Arabs believe that Israel carried out the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, according to a new poll. Although at first blush one might be tempted to chuckle and turn the page, in fact the poll is not merely a curiosity. It has significant implications for the chances for Middle East peace. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, was published in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida. It found that 84% of Palestinians believe the Paris attacks were “suspicious, and that Israel may be behind it.” Just 9% of Palestinians acknowledge that...

No one gets elected President by being stupid, unless of course the election is stolen in cities controlled by the Democratic Party, but one must also factor in the intelligence of nearly half of the voters who pull the Democratic Party lever no matter who the candidate may be. America is seriously divided between liberals and conservatives, but there are indications that even those who self-identify as liberals are having second thoughts as the result of the havoc ObamaCare has inflicted on their lives and the economy. Voters who self-identify as “independents” are the deciding factor in most elections. They...

With unusual candor, the Washington Post declares in its top headline that “Hamas’ tactics garner support” and that “Palestinians see path to victory through fighting.” This strengthening of Hamas is the entirely predictable consequence of the cease fire that the Obama administration worked to impose on Israel. Because Hamas waged war against Israel and the Israelis backed down, it is (to quote) the Post “the commonly held view in both territories (the West Bank and Gaza) that the Islamist militants of Hamas — who refuse to recognize Israel — defeated their enemy, and that they did it with weapons, not...

Gun Control: Under a program run by the Justice Department, weapons were knowingly sold to criminals suspected of links to Mexican drug cartels, with two guns ending up at the murder scene of a border patrol agent. Considering how this administration has made a cause celebre out of gun control, the revelation of a program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), in which weapons were transferred on purpose to Mexican drug cartels and criminals and then lost track of, is at best embarrassing and at worst an unconscionable dereliction of duty. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

What both parties in Washington are doing to America in terms everyone understands.

Introduction Imagine that one afternoon you ask your child or grandchild who is in 7th grade, ―What did you learn in school today?‖ Much to your surprise they answer, ―I learned about the African exodus to America after our country was founded.‖ ―African exodus to America?‖ you ask. ―I never heard it called that before.‖ ―Yes, it‘s all here in my textbook. My teacher says that earlier explanations of how Africans came to the new world as ―slaves‖ were written by uninformed, America-hating authors who have been discredited.‖ You open her brand-new textbook to the chapter on ―The African Exodus...

John Dean, a President Nixon staffer as Watergate was about to unfold, told his boss, "There is a cancer on your presidency." Would any member of President Obama's staff dare tell him any such thing today? -snip- At no point until now has the birthplace of a president been anything more than a local chamber-of-commerce item of pride (where I come, from they're still arguing whether President James Polk was born in Tennessee or North Carolina!). All of a sudden the question of President Obama's birth place threatens to undermine his very eligibility to serve, and to toss America into...

For the last eight years, the Left labeled George W. Bush evil. I found this amusing since many doing the lecturing viewed any judgment or condemnation of nearly anything to be unacceptable, as only a post-modernist can. Radical Islam? Not evil. Using human shields? Not evil. Saddam Hussein? Not evil. The Axis of Evil? Not evil. However....Bush? Evil. Cheney? Evil? Haliburton? Evil. You get the idea. The notion that George Bush was "evil" was so preposterous, such over-the-top nonsense that it hardly deserved any attention--except that it was everywhere. A person couldn't escape mention of his soulless nature. By maligning...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Women who undergo breast enlargement often see a sizable boost in self-esteem and positive feelings about their sexuality, a University of Florida nurse researcher reports. Although plastic surgery should not be seen as a panacea for feelings of low self-worth or sexual attractiveness, it is important for health-care practitioners to understand the psychological benefits of these procedures, says Cynthia Figueroa-Haas, a clinical assistant professor at UF?s College of Nursing who conducted the study. The findings ? which revealed that for many women, going bigger is better ? appear in the current issue of Plastic Surgical Nursing. ?Many...

Grove City College publishes an excellent newsletter titled "Visions and Values." Its July 2006 edition features an interview with Dr. Richard Pipes, acclaimed Russian historian and Harvard University professor of Sovietology. The interview was conducted by Grove City College professor of political science Dr. Paul Kengor. Dr. Pipes, who served on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, explained that there are actually only a few communists among academics. At first glance, that's a puzzling observation, given the leftist bias at most college campuses. Drs. Pipes and Kengor explain the puzzle in a way that makes perfect sense. While...

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a complex opinion rebuking much of the Bush administration's legal response to the 9/11 attacks. The court ruled that al-Qaeda detainees were entitled to at least a modicum of protection under the Geneva conventions--and that the President needed Congress' approval before sending detainees to military tribunals for trial and punishment. The high court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is being reported as a defeat for the Bush administration, and so it is. But that same decision opens the way to an important and useful debate over counter-terrorism policy--and that is a debate the...

If the Catholic Church wants to prevent sexual abuse by priests, several abuse experts said, there are better ways to do it than by trying to bar gay men from the clergy. The church recently began checking American seminaries for ''evidence of homosexuality," and the pope is widely expected to ban actively gay men from taking holy orders. But it will be tricky to cull gays from the priesthood, the abuse experts said this month. And it would be more effective -- and more humane -- to target likely abusers rather than all gays. ''There's no adequate way to screen...

What should we do if Saddam Hussein hides out in the French embassy in Baghdad?