The not so free "free republic"

[drummer55]

by William Gheen
President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
2/11/05
The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President's 'guest worker' amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.

The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management's answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.

more at

http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2241

[Mojambo]

1. " Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate"

That one made me chuckle.

[Fridays Child]

8. Utter BS. Call him on it. I am.

Here's his email address: [e-mail]

[madinmaryland]

9. They debate over there?

:wtf:

i thought it was . . . , oops can't say that here!

[Carni]

20. If they do it must be nitpicking about what position one should be in...

When they...

Well, like you, I would prefer to keep it G as well!

[Skittles]

10. assholes debating fucking assholes

nt

[Beaverhausen]

12. Come on Skittles, don't hold back.

How do you really feel!!!

[Fridays Child]

13. I wrote to Mr. Gheen...

Re: "Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country."

Horse hockey. Jim Robinson has spiked articles and banned every member who fails to goosestep to the neocon drumbeat, since the early days of Free Republic. Diverse opinions have never been welcome there and documented facts are often suppressed. When the truth does manage to sneak in, it's always qualified by the term "barf alert."

Freerepublic.com is a seething hotbed of reactionary, radical neoconservative propagandists, and they will not deviate from the party line. Mr. Bush could leave bags of burning dog droppings on each and every one of their doorsteps and they'd have the damn things bronzed.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. Always marching in line with the Pres. opinion

showing us that these people are nothing more then power-hungry and a disgrace to the name "conservative"

[RadiDem]

3. LOL !

"Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate"

FUNNY !


Maybe if you like to debate if Chimpy is even greater than Ray-Gun !

[Jack The Tab]

7. HAH!

Isn't that the truth.

[txaslftist]

4. Since they're not censoring the President...

...I assume they're censoring the people who disagree with him. That's funny. Watch for a lot of new DUers with 'moderate' opinions to start showing up, heh.

[KissMeKate]

5. "not so free" SMACK!

lol

[Jack The Tab]

6. Question is...

How long before someone posts this at FreeRepublic and how long before Rimjob takes it down.

LOL Freepers.

[girl gone mad]

15. I have a sneaking suspicion that Robinson is..

on the WH payroll, too.

He was outspoken in his criticisms of Bush during the 2000 primaries.

[walldude]

11. Well at least here we only kick them out

it looks like they have taken to eating their own.

[seabeyond]

14. someone needs to go over there and rave and rave, praise

bush plan. just really rub it in reapeating over and over all the stuff the conservatives hate and saying what a grand idea isnt bush so smart this is the best for all

[kiraboo]

16. I just sent him my dissenting opinion, lol.

It's funny this should show up today. Just this morning I was chuckling over the idea that I was banned within a few minutes from a site called "FREE Republic". And let's face it, many if not most of the freeper posters seem unable to put two and two together and come up with a coherent post. IMHO. A tool for debate, indeed!

[Lefty48197]

17. Now this is a real newsflash:

"free speech is an illusion on FR.com"

[Sgent]

18. I've never had

any problems expressing divergent views on DU. Although a Democrat, I do ahve some moderate views especially on economic and foriegn policy issues (I still think Condi is a whore though).

At times, I have expressed opinions (pro tort reform) that are significantly divergent than the mainstream. In response, I have usually gotten good debates, I've learned a little, and I have changed some of my views. The idea that FR doesn't allow for this same type of interchange is troubling.

[No Exit]

19. Ladies and gentlemen! Do you hear that tearing sound?

It's the repukelican party! It's coming apart!

The freerepublic stuff is just a symptom of what is happening to them. There are strong reasons to believe that freerepublic has, in its more recent history, been bought off by the powers-that-be in the (neocon-controlled) repukelican party.

The suspicious changes in freerepublic have been catalogued ad nauseam by numerous sites started by people who have been banned from freerepublic. The purges and the changes strongly suggest that money has somehow changed hands. No one has hard evidence of this, but considering that we DO have evidence concerning the payoff of Armstrong Williams and the creation/payoff of "Jeff Gannon", it is not unreasonable to speculate that a similar payoff has involved freerepublic.

Their current Big Purge is the banning of the most articulate anti-immigration people. Recently, some of those banned have started a site called www.alipac.us. It is there that they are finally free to tell about what was done to them by freerepublic (they were banned with no explanation.)

I've been saying over and over that this immigration business just MIGHT be the wedge issue that would split the repukelican party. I want it to split--in fact, I want it to splinter. I want it to destroy itself so much that it doesn't have a viable presidential candidate for decades. I don't care which issue splits it, I am just interested in nurturing any issue that DOES THE JOB. Looks like this immigration business might be IT. Here's hoping!

After foisting George W. Bush on the naive (okay, stupid) American public, the republican party DESERVES TO GO DOWN IN FLAMES FOREVER. No other fate would be severe enough for what they've done to us.

[Strelnikov_]

26. Yep. This Is THE Issue That Could Bring The GOP Down

As we all know, a majority of those who support the GOP could not give a damn for anyone but themselves. As long as Our Leader is blowin’ up brown people good, and comin’ down good on librals, gays and all other strawmen that the propaganda ministry throws up, they are happy.

Thing is, the vast majority of this demographic is middle class and below. They need jobs just like their counterparts on the left to maintain some semblance of their current life. The Oligarchy, however, would prefer to throw the borders open, resulting in an unlimited labor supply to depress wage, environmental regulation and workplace safety, to create a North American ‘China Miracle’ .

My concern with unlimited immigration is that we are a nation of limited resources, and jobs, and unlimited immigration would result in a race to the bottom in wages and a crash in living standards. I would prefer a planned ‘Powerdown’, or gradual decline in growth, living standards and resource consumption to bring about a fair distribution of wealth with our fellow humans in other countries. That is, a gradual decline versus a crash.

Of course, my ‘Powerdown’ would take some sacrifice. Freepers know nothing of sacrifice, fairness, or other humans not of their race, religion and political beliefs. They will just see themselves losing jobs to ‘brown people’, and will be looking for someone to blame. Of course, they will be blaming the ‘brown people’ first, but will also rally to anyone taking harsh measures against these immigrants.

Hence, the GOP will have a Catch-22 on their hands. Support unlimited immigration to please their masters and lose a good part of their base to a more radical right-wing party, thus splitting the vote. Or support limited immigration, with the GOP politicians who oppose the Oligarchy’s imigration policy losing monetary support, and therefore their office.

[No Exit]

27. Great post! I live in a "red" state, and I was

formerly one who voted for repukelican presidential candidates. To me, these anti-immigration dissenters are a source of deja vu. That's because the repukelican party left me behind over a different issue: the fraudulent Iraq war. (My spouse never trusted anyone of the name of Bush, and had previously tried to warn me... it took the Iraq invasion to wake me up.)

So I am enjoying seeing the anti-immigration people jumping ship. (My own view: at the moment, the presence of "too many Mexicans" in the country does not bother me much.) If I have the bad luck to be discussing politics with someone who is drinking the Bush Kool-aid, I always make a point of hammering on the issue of Bush's open-borders plans. That's the one thing that can bring a Bush follower into line--they all have to admit their god is wrong about that issue. This helps them to understand that their god Bush CAN be wrong. From that, other things follow.

So let's keep fanning the flames! I want (figuratively speaking) a bonfire! On that bonfire will be the effigy of the republican party. I don't care if it "mends its ways". I want it to go up in flames (figuratively speaking). That party can never be forgiven for taking Bush as its leader. For me, there is no going back!

[No Exit]

21. Oh, and by the way...

there's also the mess about the freeper named NCPAC, whose real name was supposedly Joseph Steffen. He's the guy who worked for republican Maryland governor Ehrlich.

Steffen allegedly began a false rumor on freerepublic that a soon-to-be democratic opponent of Ehrlich (for the governor's race) was "cheating on his wife".

And as we all know, some alert congress members are seeking to investigate this corrupt plot.

I wonder who freerepublic keeps on retainer these days.

[AlCzervik]

22. all the good little lockestep freepers are sucking up to Jimbo

free brown shirts to go with their brown noses.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341266/posts

[The Minus World]

23. As a Giant Burning Meteor Falls Towards Earth

atmospheric resistance chips away at its surface, until it lands, not much larger than a baseball, with an unceremonious thud.

Think of "reality" as unavoidable atmospheric friction, whittling at the Republican party, and it will become quite apparent that they are falling apart; dissolving before our very eyes.

Our greatest weapons against their propaganda machine will be the guns they turn upon themselves - metaphorically, of course.

[Bariztr]

24. What a battle

It's the paranoid "our country is being invaded" versus the delusional "Bush is god".

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of folks.

[Piperay]

25. Hah so now they are 'eating

their own', it was bound to happen.