Free Republic

Since it is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's ground-breaking book, "On The Road," many are using the occasion to reminisce about the author. However, Tom Hayden is using this anniversary as a way to lament in the Huffington Post over the fact that Kerouac was too much of an iconoclast to buy into his collectivist leftwing agenda: Having set the stage for the '60s, Kerouac seems to have gone missing which at first I thought odd, but it made perfect sense because he defined himself as a loner on the margins. Suddenly confronted with the possibility...

The novel that launched the Beats, the hippies and designer jeans turns 50. But this legendary 'joyride' is actually the saddest book you'll ever read—even with God on every page. Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" gets the full 50th anniversary treatment next month, and both cheerleaders and hand-wringers acknowledge that it radically changed American culture—somehow or other. True, the National Quiet Desperation Index has only risen since 1957, and if the book's exaltation of junker cars and diner food had really taken hold, we'd have fewer SUVs and fast-food franchises. But "On the Road" showed, and continues to show, generations...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Seeking to regain momentum, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his reform agenda on the road Monday, leaving any mention of last week's retreat on his plan to fix the state's pension system behind in the capital. His remarks in San Diego contrasted with Thursday's announcement from Schwarzenegger that he would delay his proposed ballot initiative to privatize much of California's public pension system from November until June 2006. The governor said "misconceptions" by firefighters and police officers that they could lose death and disability benefits had overwhelmed the issue. On Monday, Schwarzenegger spoke before 400 employees at...