Free Republic

Like a replicating amoeba, America is pulling apart into two separate cultures. One is strongly committed to the birth of an even more robust, pro-growth, entrepreneurial capitalism. The other thinks Che Guevara and Karl Marx had important social insights relevant to America today, and wants to follow the path of Juan Peron 's Argentina, if not Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. This is the stark choice facing the American people in 2012. This is also why the vast majority of the American heartland feels more cultural affinity with the people of New Zealand and Australia than with the people of San Francisco...

John Edwards' mug shot released By: CNN Political Unit (CNN)–Former U.S. Senator John Edwards, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and campaign law violations in early June. His mug shot was obtained by CNN following a Freedom of Information Act request. The plea came after a federal grand jury indicted him on six counts, including conspiracy, issuing false statements and violating campaign contribution laws. A grand jury has been investigating whether money given to support Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, by benefactors of Edwards should have been considered campaign donations, a contention Edwards' team has disputed. A plea deal between the two-time...

As expected, the Department of Justice landed with both feet on former Senator and one-time Democratic nominee for Vice President John Edwards today. The DoJ released a grand jury indictment on six counts — four of illegal campaign contributions, and one each of conspiracy and making false statements to the FEC: John Edwards, a two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, was indicted today on charges of conspiracy and false statements. The indictment is the culmination of a secretive federal probe that has been going on for more than two years. The...

“Celebrities have other needs,” so says the Israeli super-duper model Bar Refaeli, she of the Illustrated Sports sexy swimsuit edition, and the part-time girlfriend of the aging boy actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. > ...she used the fake marriage to avoid having to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, something required of all young Israelis, both male and female. Here is the full quote from the Israeli website Ynet.com. “I really wanted to serve in the IDF, but I don’t regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time,” she said. “That’s just the way it is, celebrities have other needs. I...

Former Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards must testify before a judge about his relationship with his former mistress, Rielle Hunter, a North Carolina judge ruled on Friday. The private testimony will come during a deposition set for June 20 as part of a civil suit brought by Hunter against Edwards' former aide, Andrew Young. Hunter has sued Young and his wife Cheri to force the return of a videotape that allegedly shows Hunter and Edwards having sex. Young says he found the tape while packing boxes in a home near Chapel Hill, North Carolina where Hunter lived with the...

In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker went to Southeast Portland on a patrol call. With a few minutes to spare, he decided to get a coffee. So, he popped into the Red & Black cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out when a customer approached him, saying she appreciates the hard job that police officers do every day in Portland. One of the co-owners of the cafe, John Langley, has another point of view. While the officer and customer were chatting, he walked up and asked Crooker to leave, saying he...

The new Obamacare legislation that was forced on unwilling Americans this week specifically mandates that we all purchase health insurance. That is, unless you don't believe in that sort of thing. That's right, the current health care bill contains a clause which exempts certain individuals form the requirements and penalties set forth in it. " EXEMPTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS. —In the case of an individual who is seeking an exemption certificate under section 1311(d)(4)(H) from any requirement or penalty imposed by section 5000A, the following information: In the case of an individual seeking exemption based on the individual’s status...

One of the odder political subplots of President Obama's term so far has been his relationship with the tourism-dependent city of Las Vegas. A year ago, Obama irked Nevadans by demanding that corporations not use federal bailout money for trips to Vegas. A couple of weeks ago he infuriated them again by telling a New Hampshire audience to save their cash for college instead of “blowing” it in Vegas. No Nevadans were more annoyed, of course, than the state's Democratic politicians, among them Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who faces an uphill fight for re-election this fall. So now the...

The health care legislation about to be passed by the U.S. Senate requires all Americans to purchase health insurance. All Americans, that is, except for the Senate, other members of Congress and their staff. The Democrats refuse to even allow vote on the matter.....

Today in America we have two different classes of poor: 1) the American Indigent Poor; and 2) the Capable Poor or the “New American Poor” (i.e., “The Subjective Socially Dependent”). The American Indigent Poor are those individuals who are truly helpless and indigent. These were born with physical infirmities and birth defects who suffer physical traumas or mental issues and are unable to survive through this life without help from society. Some are our valiant veterans of foreign wars and others are rejected outcasts of society. These individuals need and deserve our charity and help, and most of all we...

Imelda Obama and her husband are living large on our dime.

Alexandra Kerry is off the hook in her DUI case and won't face any criminal charges, Los Angeles prosecutors said Monday. "We reviewed the arrest report and have declined to file criminal charges due to insufficient evidence," says L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan. The daughter of Sen. John Kerry was pulled over in Hollywood on Nov. 19 for an expired registration, her father's spokesperson said.

I live in two Americas. One is the America I recognize; the one I grew up in and the one in which I am proud. The other is a hollow, cheap and immoral imitation. I saw the distinction between these two Americas as I observed two funerals…one on television and one in my hometown. The first funeral was for Edward M. Kennedy, senior Senator from Massachusetts. The other, Jonathan T. Rape, a local boy who died in Afghanistan from a roadside bomb. One was watched by millions and personally viewed by tens of thousands. They lined the processional for miles...

CHILMARK, Mass. – President Barack Obama played tennis with his wife and golf with his buddies Monday, starting his first vacation in office on Martha's Vineyard, a picturesque island known as a refuge for the wealthy and privileged. Obama began the day with a workout at his rented retreat, then tennis with Michelle Obama, White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters traveling with the president. Obama later played golf with UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf and Chicago physician Eric Whitaker, both friends. White House aide Marvin Nicholson was also in the foursome. White House officials have stressed that the...

"My expectation is that, at some point, something happens," Elizabeth saidThe wife of philandering former Sen. John Edwards said she expects a paternity test will take place soon to determine the father of the 18-month-old child of her hubby's former mistress. In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Elizabeth Edwards confronted rumors that her cheating husband was set to claim paternity of little Frances, his alleged love child with ex-mistress Rielle Hunter. When asked about testing the paternity of the baby, Edwards said her "expectation is that, at some point, something happens. And I hope for the sake of...

The National Enquirer is reporting what everyone already knew—that John Edwards is in fact the father of Rielle Hunter's child—and a North Carolina TV station says he may admit paternity. This news has been met largely with shrugs. Edwards is not only a failed candidate, he is a failed politician, with next to no influence among Democrats. Still, the news raises two tantalizing hypothetical questions: What if Edwards had won the Democratic nomination? What if he had won the presidency? First question first. It's easy to forget how close John Edwards came to being the Democratic nominee. When Edwards entered...

As the New York Times struggles to hold onto its dwindling pile of cash, its board is getting slammed by angry employees for hiking top executive pay as much as 35 percent.

One of the favorite refrains of the class-warfare left has long been to lament what it perceives as a division in America between economic haves and have-nots. From the standpoint of egalitarian, socialistic philosophy, the fact that some Americans prosper more than others is prima facie evidence of injustice. It is considered unfair that some Americans are allegedly left behind while yuppies and others get richer. It seems never to have occurred to the egalitarians to analyze WHY individual Americans’ income differs. Those who work hard at acquiring skills valued in the marketplace, and who then work hard to succeed...

There should be no more arrests or convictions for tax fraud, non-payment of taxes or vehicular homicide until Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Senator Ted Kennedy are tried for their "alleged" crimes! Are we a republic or an oligarchy? Why do powerful men and women get off scot-free when lower and middle-class people rot in a jail cell or prison for similar (or lesser) crimes?! "Equal Justice Under The Law" is what's inscribed on the front of the Supreme Court building in Washington! When will that become a reality?! We are either a nation of laws or men, we cannot...