Free Republic

For the past several months, fate has conspired to keep me away from the computer. I haven't posted nearly as much on FR as I used to. With the holidays, though, I've had an opportunity to catch up a bit. What I found on my return is a bit disconcerting. While there's always been an element here that refuses to reason and does little more than insult Democrats and RINOs, it seems that this mentality has taken over a large portion of our membership. I've encountered more shrill, radical nonsense in the past couple of days than I had in...

Senate Analysis 2004 – 11/1/04 Final Senate Race Predictions Over the past several months, I've followed the Senate races closely, noting every poll and watching every trend. I've made predictions and then rescinded them. I've made mistakes and occasionally shown some insight (odds are out as to which I've done more, though). As the election nears – just tomorrow, in fact, it's time for my final predictions. So, here they are. Not only am I predicting the winner of each race, I'm predicting the margin of victory – closer races have vote tally predictions, too – just to give me...

Senate Analysis 2004 – 11/1/04 Final Senate Race Predictions Over the past several months, I've followed the Senate races closely, noting every poll and watching every trend. I've made predictions and then rescinded them. I've made mistakes and occasionally shown some insight (odds are out as to which I've done more, though). As the election nears – just tomorrow, in fact, it's time for my final predictions. So, here they are. Not only am I predicting the winner of each race, I'm predicting the margin of victory – closer races have vote tally predictions, too – just to give me...

Will Wisconsin Be Red or Blue in 2004? Many conservatives are unhappy with Bush's massive spending and his attacks on civil liberties. While these unhappy conservatives are probably not prepared to switch their vote to Kerry, many, if asked properly, would seriously consider switching their vote to Libertarian Michael Badnarik. So by helping Badnarik get more visibility, you can hurt Bush chances of winning battleground states like Wisconsin! We will use 100% of your donations to run television and radio commercials (listed below) that specifically target conservative voters who might otherwise vote for Bush. We don't want Bush to win...

Senate Analysis 2004 Bi-weekly Analysis Article – 10/6/2004 Update As the election nears – just 27 days until Americans rush to the polls to decide our country's leadership – the Senate races are looking increasingly important. Many races have opened up towards one candidate, usually the incumbent, with just a few close races remaining to decide the control of the Senate. Previously, the Democrats' chances at reclaiming Senate control were looking quite grim, but several races have now shifted in their favor, though their chances at taking back the Senate outright are still not very large. For just a little...

Senate Races 2004 Analysis - 9/20/2004 UpdateIt being an election year, and me being too lazy to get up off my *ahem* rear and start and maintain a blog, I've taken to being my good ol' opinionated self right here, offering punditry here at FR. Since Gerry already does a great job with his ECB analysis, I'm concerning myself with the Senate races this year. I posted my first analysis two weeks ago, and since then many polls have come out, some validating my anaylses, others trashing them. So here goes... The three sources from my first analysis haven't changed...

Hmmm...Just scrolling down the latest comments. There have been three trolls zotted in the last several hours: I beleive a boycot of CrapBC's sponsers is in order!!!!1 (ZOT! You will have to try much harder).Trolls again aaarrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!! ZZZZOOOOOTTTTTT!!!!!W for war but eager to avoid it, prof recalls (Meeeeoooooowwwwwwwww?) Now, I'm no FR historian (call the famous [infamous?] Lazamataz about that), but it would seem that today's troll quotient greatly exceeds the average evening zottage ratio. The question, though, is why? Why are we suddenly hit with such an outpouring of fecal matter? Could the DUmpers be angered at the fact...

HURRICANE IVAN ADVISORY NUMBER 30 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 5 PM AST THU SEP 09 2004 ...HURRICANE IVAN HEADING FOR JAMAICA AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS... A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR JAMAICA. AT 5 PM...2100Z...THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WARNING FOR THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. A HURRICANE WATCH AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE SOUTHWEST PENINSULA OF HAITI FROM THE BORDER OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WESTWARD...INCLUDING PORT AU PRINCE. A HURRICANE WATCH AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FROM BARAHONA TO PERDENALES....

Senate Races 2004 Analysis This started out as a simple reply to a thread on the subject, but it soon grew into another full-blown article - like my article on Friday concerning the mainstream media (here). Also, this is the third time I've written this, the first two lost to power sags from Frances. This is my slightly-informed, slightly-plagiaristic analysis of the important Senate races in 2004. It was compiled with help from National Review's analysis, Townhall's take on the races, and an analysis from a left-of-center site, Modern Vertebrate. A little background: the Republicans hold a 51-49 advantage in...

HURRICANE IVAN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 28A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 8 AM AST THU SEP 09 2004 ...IVAN...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE...CONTINUES TOWARD JAMAICA... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ARUBA...BONAIRE...AND CURACAO. A HURRICANE WATCH AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE GUAJIRA PENINSULA OF COLOMBIA...FOR THE ENTIRE NORTHERN COAST OF VENEZUELA...AND FOR THE ENTIRE SOUTHWEST PENINSULA OF HAITI FROM THE BORDER OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WESTWARD...INCLUDING PORT AU PRINCE. A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR JAMAICA AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. A HURRICANE WARNING WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED FOR JAMAICA LATER THIS MORNING....

HURRICANE IVAN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 26A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 8 PM AST WED SEP 08 2004 ...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE IVAN INTENSIFIES FURTHER WHILE MOVING WEST-NORTHWESTWARD ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN SEA... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ARUBA...BONAIRE...AND CURACAO. A HURRICANE WATCH AND A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE GUAJIRA PENINSULA OF COLOMBIA...AND FOR THE ENTIRE NORTHERN COAST OF VENEZUELA. A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE SOUTHWEST PENINSULA OF HAITI FROM THE BORDER OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WESTWARD... INCLUDING PORT AU PRINCE. A HURRICANE WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR JAMAICA. A...

For those getting just a bit tired with the all-Frances, all-the-time coverage (even I am, and I'm in Florida), Dr. Mike S. Adams, author of Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor and a Townhall columnist is on C-SPAN2's BookTV right now. A nice break from the usual leftist drivel that's usually shown. We now return you to Frances-mania.

Just a minute ago, Alan Colmes, supposedly disproving Zell Miller's statement that (paraphrase) "John Kerry would let Paris decide when the US needs defending," played a clip of Kerry's acceptance speech where he said the exact opposite, that he "would never let other nations decide" yadda, yadda, yadda. Terry Holt then responded with "When JFK was first becoming a political figure, he made the statement that he would turn over our sovereignty to the UN." Colmes then incredulously shot back that, since Kerry made that statement thirty-five years ago, it was no longer relevant or accurate. A Kerry flackey then...

The books are not there, but the conspiracy theories are. Unfit for Command, the controversial book by two swift boat veterans criticizing John Kerry's military service and post-war protests, has been selling out as fast as it has come in. The Barnes & Noble in Mandarin, for example, hasn't received enough copies yet to even put one on display and sell to the public. Dwayne Scarbrough, a manager there, said only about 25 copies came to the store and there are still close to 200 people on the waiting list. That's been happening all over the country, leading to accusations...

Now we know why the Democrats are so adamant about gay marriage. Talk about a "unity" ticket. Kerry + Edwards

Author’s Note: the following editorial contains mildly offensive language. Given the subject matter, the author is sorry that it does not contain highly offensive language. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. The pictures of those “abused” prisoners have been plastered all over the front pages of papers around the country. Some of my conservative friends have interpreted the excessive coverage as proof that papers like the New York Times are actually rooting against America in its current war on terror. Even those who aren’t willing to go that far say that such coverage is...

Alright, folks, time to kill the useless liberal initiative that ignorant voters approved. The high-speed rail will cost Florida over $17 billion over 35 years. Any Florida FReepers who haven't already need to contribute their signature to the DEBT campaign (www.debtpetition.com). We've only got 10% of what we need to put it on the ballot so far. Help out!

So while FR was down recently (was it just me?), I cruised over to DU, just for kicks. Their Hate Mailbags are particularly interesting (warning - some vulgar and vomit-inducing content). Since they seem unwilling to ACTUALLY debate issues with conservatives (not surprisingly, of course) why don't we, instead of just sitting here cursing them, invite a few of them over for a nice, friendly debate. Perhaps we could even set up a "Debate" folder and invite rather high-profile DUers or otherwise to debate the issues - fair and balanced. If necessary, we could restrict the debating to one-on-one, just...

Dear Conservatives Upset With the Policies of the Bush Administration: There is an old saying in southern American politics which goes like this: 'you dance with those who brung ya.' Have the corporate Republicans in Washington forgotten 'who brung ‘em?' That question is being intensely discussed in conservative-libertarian Republican circles and writings. Many conservative Republicans are feeling these days that the Washington, D.C. Republicans are taking them for granted. You know what happens when that happens – you get taken! The first basic sign of a platform fissure between the conservative base and the big business Republicans came with the...

Q: Did Ralph cost Al Gore the election in 2000? A: No. Al Gore won the election in 2000. George W. Bush cost Al Gore the election. No one is entitled to votes, they must be earned. To say someone is a "spoiler" is to relegate all third-party and independent candidates to second class citizenship. American does not belong to two parties. The Constitution does not mention parties. This country had a rich history of third parties. George W. Bush’s recount strategy in Florida cost Gore the election. The deceptive butterfly ballot, which Democratic officials approved, cost Al Gore the...