Free Republic

Romance is dead — in your fortune cookie! The world’s largest fortune-cookie manufacturer has cut the heart out of its confections, removing romantic messages in response to complaints from parents of young children. “Some parents sent us e-mails. They said they didn’t want their kids reading them,” said Derrick Wong, a VP at Brooklyn-based Wonton Food. “Different people have a different perspective.”

Religious Affiliation of the Signers of theDeclaration of Independence Religious Affiliation # ofsigners % ofsigners Episcopalian/Anglican 32 57.1% Congregationalist 13 23.2% Presbyterian 12 21.4% Quaker 2 3.6% Unitarian or Universalist 2 3.6% Catholic 1 1.8% TOTAL 56 100% Name of Signer State Religious Affiliation Charles Carroll Maryland Catholic Samuel Huntington Connecticut Congregationalist Roger Sherman Connecticut Congregationalist William Williams Connecticut Congregationalist Oliver Wolcott Connecticut Congregationalist Lyman Hall Georgia Congregationalist Samuel Adams Massachusetts Congregationalist John Hancock Massachusetts Congregationalist Josiah Bartlett New Hampshire Congregationalist William Whipple New Hampshire Congregationalist William Ellery Rhode Island Congregationalist John Adams Massachusetts Congregationalist; Unitarian Robert Treat Paine Massachusetts...

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1825 that he intended the Declaration of Independence to be “an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.” Yet, he did not propose the Declaration should “find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of….” The last statement is the clearest articulation of what Jefferson and other members of the founding generation thought of the Declaration. It was a restatement of the rights of Englishmen, modeled in large part by previous works of English and American law. The Declaration was...

We meet to celebrate the birthday of America. The coming of a new life always excites our interest. Although we know in the case of the individual that it has been an infinite repetition reaching back beyond our vision, that only makes it the more wonderful. But how our interest and wonder increase when we behold the miracle of the birth of a new nation. It is to pay our tribute of reverence and respect to those who participated in such a mighty event that we annually observe the fourth day of July. Whatever may have been the impression created...

At this time of the year, while most U.S. citizens are contemplating U.S. independence and the Declaration of Independence, I ask myself why, in 19 years of teaching in the New York Public Schools, I have not once heard the students gathered to sing in any assembly or forum "America the Beautiful," " God Bless America," or "My Country ‘Tis of Thee?"  The National Anthem has only been sung once a year at the graduation ceremonies.  This serious omission of patriotic fervor can be attributed to the leftist influence on the school system.  Most leftists believe the Declaration of Independence...

"Subjects." That's what Thomas Jefferson first wrote in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence to describe the people of the 13 colonies. But in a moment when history took a sharp turn, Jefferson sought quite methodically to expunge the word, to wipe it out of existence and write over it. Many words were crossed out and replaced in the draft, but only one was obliterated. Over the smudge, Jefferson then wrote the word "citizens." No longer subjects to the crown, the colonists became something different: a people whose allegiance was to one another, not to a faraway monarch....

"Subjects." That's what Thomas Jefferson first wrote in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence to describe the people of the 13 colonies. - - - - - B I G - - - - - - -S N I P - - - - But in a moment when history took a sharp turn, Jefferson sought quite methodically to expunge the word, to wipe it out of existence and write over it. Many words were crossed out and replaced in the draft, but only one was obliterated. Over the smudge, Jefferson then wrote the word "citizens."

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights - that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men" The Declaration of Independence was the birth certificate of the United States of America. The principles they communicate have informed our history as a free people and inspired our neighbors in other parts of the world to stand up against all forms of tyranny. As we reflect upon the text this weekend we need...

WASHINGTON - Library of Congress officials say Thomas Jefferson made a Freudian slip while penning a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. In an early draft of the document, which is kept under lock and key in one of the Library's vaults, Jefferson referred to the American population as "subjects," then replaced it with the word "citizens," a term he used frequently throughout the final draft.

“IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...

Last week, Nina Easton, the Washington editor of Fortune, wrote a column about the SEIU and National People’s Action. The two progressive groups had sent roughly 500 protesters to Easton’s Chevy Chase neighborhood on May 16th to picket the front yard of Bank of America’s Greg Baer. Easton had just put her 2-year-old son down for a nap, and stepped outside to ask the protesters to quiet down. They didn’t. Easton wrote a column. And now she’s become the target of the SEIU and Media Matters for America.

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan government on Friday denied any link to a businessman who was stopped at an Argentine airport carrying a suitcase filled with nearly $800,000 in cash. The Venezuelan businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, carried the money from Caracas to Buenos Aires on a flight chartered by the Argentine government, and the undeclared funds were seized by customs agents last weekend. “We don't have anything to do with that plane or with that trip ... nothing to do with that businessman,” Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told reporters. The incident has shaken the Argentine government, prompted one...

Iranian Guards amass secret fortunes By Philip Sherwell, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:42am BST 19/08/2007 As the zealous enforcers of Iran's Islamic revolution, they are at pains to be seen living humbly, maintaining homes in the crumbling Soviet-style slums of downtown Teheran and driving modest, imported Korean cars. But for many commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, the force allegedly responsible for ordering attacks on British and US forces in Iraq, life is rather more luxurious than they want it to appear. Huge wealth: Sadeq Mahsouli Behind the façade of a simple, pious existence, they live in mansions in the exclusive...

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

The New Warrior Class Government Opinion (Published) Keywords: SOLDIER, PATRIOT, WARRIOR, ARMY WAR COLLEGE Source: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/parameters/1994/peters.htm Published: Parameters, 1994 Author: Ralph Peters Posted on 10/03/1999 20:26:33 PDT by Cvengr The New Warrior Class, author RALPH PETERS, © 1994 Ralph Peters PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Summer 1994 The New Warrior Class RALPH PETERS © 1994 Ralph Peters The soldiers of the United States Army are brilliantly prepared to defeat other soldiers. Unfortunately, the enemies we are likely to face through the rest of this decade and beyond will not be "soldiers," with the disciplined modernity that term...

Incarceration has worked a miracle on Martha Stewart's bottom line, restoring the disgraced domestic diva to billionaire status. She has watched her fortunes soar while serving a five-month jail sentence, during which she was forbidden by law to conduct any business.The 63-year-old homemaking queen will emerge from prison on March 6 more than $500 million (£264 million) richer on paper, after shares in her retail and publishing company soared on the back of a new reality television deal and higher licensing fees. Shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia slumped as low as $8.25 in May, as she awaited sentencing after...

Haiti seeks to change its fortunes in French sting By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles (Filed: 03/01/2004) Two hundred years after an army of African slaves evicted France from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Haiti is to begin legal action demanding reparations of £16 billion from its former rulers. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide made the declaration in a speech marking the bicentennial that was intended to highlight the achievements of the world's first black republic. Mr Aristide, 50, said: "1804 was the stinging bee; 2004 is sure to be the honey." His backers say the bill is to match the 150...

NEW YORK: US officials believe they have found a big chunk of Saddam Hussein "legendary fortune" and that as much as three billion dollars in Iraqi assets are lying in Syrian-controlled banks, a media report said. "Washington is anxious to determine that the money is not funding violence against Americans in Iraq, or being drawn down by regime officials and supporters", the Time Magazine says. Since the fall of Baghdad in April, the report says, American officials have scoured the globe in search of Saddam Hussein's legendary fortune. For months, the report says, the US has quietly insisted that Damascus...