Free Republic

The World Health Organization is moving full speed ahead with a controversial plan to impose billions of dollars in global consumer taxes on such things as Internet activity and everyday financial transactions like paying bills online — while its spending soars and its own financial house is in disarray. The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations' public health arm, is moving full speed ahead with a controversial plan to impose global consumer taxes on such things as Internet activity and everyday financial transactions like paying bills online — while its spending soars and its own financial house is in...

Two long-time friends of mine sent the photo above of a sign outside an El Arroyo Restaurant location in Austin. It appears the owner of the Mexican restaurant has, using tongue-in-cheek language, put President Barack Obama’s wealth redistribution thinking on the menu. The sign reads, "TRY OUR OBAMA ESPECIAL. ORDER ANYTHING AND THE NEXT TABLE PAYS." Priceless!

Sanibel, Fla., was one of the first U.S. cities to endorse the Earth Charter nearly a year ago as a part of Earth Day celebrations. It was also the first U.S. city to withdraw its endorsement. This controversial document, promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong for a decade, is seen by many to be an effort to create a new "16 Commandments" to serve as the foundation for a new global religion. Sanibel citizens were not happy about the endorsement. Forty-two citizens and five former mayors signed an open letter, published in a local newspaper, demanding that the endorsement...

You know the trillions and trillions these Socialists are costing us are going to come due. And let's not forget they've continually (like we predicted) defined "the rich" lower and lower as time as moved on. And that's before the whole tens of trillions we're already on the hook for with the ponzi Social Security scheme, and Medicare and Medicaid. The reality is that these two are going to cost EVERYONE a tremendous amount of money, and do a TREMENDOUS amount of damage. Nobody is going to be spared from these nutjobs' orwellian, liberal nanny-state, rules-are-rules schemes. More and more...

The World Health Organization has carried out the first ever analysis of the world’s health systems. Using five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states, it finds that France provides the best overall health care followed among major countries by Italy, Spain, Oman, Austria and Japan. The findings are published today, 21 June, in The World Health Report 2000 – Health systems: Improving performance. The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance, the report finds. The...

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who...

If leadership is defined as recognizing a crisis, addressing its challenges, and setting new directions while remaining true to one's values, then Barack Obama is already demonstrating his strengths as a leader. He has inherited an economic crisis worse than any the nation has experienced since the Great Depression. Within fewer than 50 days in office he has signed a historic stimulus package to bolster demand and create 3.5 million jobs. Governors, business leaders and economists from both the left and the right have applauded the stimulus. Friday's distressing employment numbers indicate that much more may be needed. President Obama...

A University of South Florida dean is being investigated after surveillance video captured him taking a red bike from the loading dock of the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr., Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute. Dr. Abdul Rao, senior associate vice president for research at USF College of Medicine, said he took the bike on Monday to help a "nearly homeless'' friend and intended no harm. Video of the theft has been posted on YouTube. Rao, who joined USF in 2006 ,draws a $269,280 salary plus four administrative stipends of $115,000.

Don't let anyone tell you the American dream has faded. the truth is the U.S. is still minting lots of millionaires. Glenn Goss is one of them. Goss retired four years ago, at 42, from a $90,000 job as a police commander in Delray Beach, Fla. He immediately began drawing a $65,000 annual pension that is guaranteed for life, is indexed to keep up with inflation and comes with full health benefits. Goss promptly took a new job as police chief in nearby Highland Beach. One big lure: the benefits. Given that the average man his age will live to...

A thug named Mykul—all 6-foot-5-inches and 250 pounds of him—knocked me, a 5-foot-2, 120-pound “grammy” to three, down to the concrete. I was in front of St. Nick’s Pub, at 10:30 on a Monday night this past May, when he stole my handbag, a beautiful green snakeskin bag and all its contents, including more cash than I’d carried in Harlem—ever. People I knew from the pub stood and watched. Mykul was so sure of his protected status as a thug in the ‘hood that he ambled away cradling my bag in his arm like a football. Amused that he didn’t...

Even without the election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in Congress, conservatives were going to have to reassess much of their philosophy on the key issues of taxing and spending. The financial crisis has already led to a vast expansion of spending, and even if John McCain had won, there was going to be a lot more to come. The aging of the baby boom generation alone means there will be increasing demands for Social Security, Medicare and other programs for the elderly in coming years. (The first baby boomer turns 65 in 2011.) Moreover, Americans’ zeal for tax...

The Obama-Lincoln Bizarro parallels begin with their home state. It is true that both hail from Illinois, but Obama's and Lincoln's Illinois could scarcely be more different. Lincoln's Illinois was the epicenter of the newly formed Republican Party, Obama's is the tightest of Democrat strongholds. Also, the driving force that guided Lincoln and his Illinois Republicans was morality in politics and law. Conversely, modern Illinois is home to the most immoral political machine in America. Obama's attitude is more congruent with Lincoln's challenger Stephen Douglas, who asserted that the "Union can exist forever divided into free and slave states." Obama...

Economics: When is a tax cut not really a tax cut? President-elect Obama's economic program will reduce your tax bill if you jump through a series of hoops — or fail in business.Considering how difficult it always is to control the growth of government, it's tempting to embrace what might be called the Will Rogers school of economics: "I never met a tax cut I didn't like." Maybe any tax cut is better than no tax cut, but a clear view of what the incoming Obama administration has planned raises serious concerns. Not surprisingly, considering the class-warfare rhetoric of his...

STRASBOURG (AFP) – The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the EU's climate change package, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, lifting the last hurdle to the ambitious plan. Six texts on the package, already agreed by the 27 European Union member states, were passed by a large majority of the MEPs present. "We have sealed the climate package," said European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, after the vote. The so-called "20-20-20" climate package, which Europe hopes will serve as a model to other nations, will oblige EU nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent...

During the vice-presidential debate of 1988, Republican nominee Dan Quayle attempted to draw a parallel between himself and John F. Kennedy. Quayle's Democratic opponent, Lloyd Bentsen, who had served with Kennedy in the Senate, looked Quayle in the eye and said, evenly, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!" When Republicans singled out Barack Obama's income-tax proposal and labeled him a socialist during the recent presidential campaign, one astute commentator saw the fallacy in that charge. Referring to Eugene Debs, a founder of the Socialist Party of America more...

RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly. The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for...

Sway: Our next question is from Matt from Iowa: "If your desire is to spread the wealth around, what incentive is there for me to try to work hard? If I am only going to get more taken away from me, the more money I make, why wouldn't I just slide into a life of relaxation and let rich people take care of me? And a lot of people are asking similar questions, and I wanted you to specify. What does this mean exactly?" Obama: What is amazing to me is this whole notion that somehow everybody is just looking...

This woman's quote begins in the last 30 seconds of the NBC6 coverage of the Orlando Obama rally. She is there with her two young daughters, apperently. She says: "It was the most touching moment of my life! I never thought this day would ever happen! I won't have to work to put gas in my car! I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage! You know, if I help HIM, he's going to help us!" Man... Is this woman in for a massive letdown, or what!!! This begins at the :30 second mark of the tape!! http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=797441

In remarks made on the campaign trail yesterday, according to Senator Obama, his redistributive tax policies are based upon a belief that, "That is how we have always grown the economy, from the bottom up". The problem that I have, however, is simple: History just doesn't support that statement. So my challenge today is simple: Name me ...

I've added a link at the top of the latest posts pages to view "Selected Free Republic McCain vs Obama promo videos." We usually only run these kind of promos during our FReepathons, but I thought I'd continue these selected videos until the election is over. We're now receiving nearly 2,000,000 page views per day from 200,000 to 300,000 daily visitors. Half of these visits are from new visitors. I'd like to give them all an opportunity to see and hear the truth about The One, That One, The Marxist Obamessiah. Please bear with me. I'll take them down after...