Free Republic

God bless all veterans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AyDqkSr4nI&list=UUYv53FRgnRMagpLX2E-EoyA&index=1&feature=plcp

The Obamacare Layoffs Begin...By Jillian Kay Melchior November 9, 2012 12:25 P.M. The Obama health-care law’s adverse effects on employment are no secret. But it’s one thing to look at the economics, and it’s quite another to hear it firsthand from a small-business owner who’s being forced into an untenable position. Yesterday, a Las Vegas business owner fired 22 of his 144 employees, phoning in anonymously to a local radio host and explaining how the decision was directly caused by President Obama’s reelection. The interview is articulate and nuanced, worth listening to in its entirety. But here’s the jist of...

Most all of us agree Main Stream Media (MSM, Old Media, the Alphabets....) was a factor in this cycle. It began with WH shill George Stephanopolous' planted debate question to Romney about contraception, and continued through the ignored tragedies in the wake of Sandy on Staten and Long Islands that Obama had supposedly healed with his 2 hour visit. Our goal is to hasten MSM demise by concentrating our efforts. Please join us. It's difficult to turn off ALL media all the time, so let's agree to one at a time. NBC News programs are my suggestion and consensus choice...

The recount started at 7 am this morning. Any word how it's going? Was only for one county.

This tune lhas a familiar ring to it. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=wq_lhlIn1e0

Yes, the federal government is growing, as measured by its outlays of money. However, if one compares these to the size of the overall economy, the increases are less dramatic than many claim. Total federal outlays during the first three fiscal years of the Obama administration averaged 24 percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, which measures the value of all final goods and services produced in our economy. That was an all-time high. But 30 years ago, during the first three fiscal years of the Reagan administration, they averaged 22.5 percent. Whether an increase of 1.5 percentage points over...

Part of the hope the Romney campaign offered was a comprehension of the role energy plays in the American economy—especially energy that is abundant, affordable, and available. He made “energy” the number one point of his five-point plan. During his now-unsuccessful bid for the White House, he met with industry leaders from a variety of sectors to determine what would unleash job growth and economic development. Those meetings, and America’s current predicament, brought about a transformation in his thinking and resulted in specific agendas designed to roll back the Obama Administration’s onerous regulations—specifically those imposed by Lisa Jackson’s Environmental Protection...

Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the first time on Sunday, firing warning shots into the neighboring country after a stray mortar shell from across the border hit an Israeli military post. The Israeli military said the mortar fire caused no injuries or damage at the post in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and then annexed. But in recent weeks, incidents of errant fire from Syria to the north have multiplied, leading Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible for fire on Israeli-held territory.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Businesses with 50 or more employees who average at least 30 hours of work a week will be subject to the Obamacare insurance coverage mandate. Companies are reportedly planning large layoffs due to the implementation of Obamacare. But, companies can potentially avoid being subject to Obamacare's insurance requirements by limiting employees’ weekly hours to less than the 30 hour level defined by Obamacare as “full-time.” A little-known section in the ObamaCare health reform law defines “full-time” work as averaging only 30 hours per week, a definition that will affect some employers who utilize part-time workers to trim the cost of...

As promised, we're updating our chart showing the number of publicly-traded companies that have acted to decrease their dividends through the end of October 2012 - providing what might perhaps be the simplest and best near-real time picture of the state of the health of the U.S. economy (our thanks to S&P for the updated data - that was quick service!). In October 2012, S&P recorded that some 2,471 publicly-traded companies making declarations regarding their dividends, with 165 announcing dividend increases and 26 announcing they would cut their dividends. To put that level of dividend cuts for the month of...

Divided government still rules in the nation’s capital after last week’s Tuesday’s vote, but unity is increasingly the name of the game in cities such as Annapolis, Topeka, Concord and Little Rock. In a little-noticed footnote to last week’s election, state legislature elections this year have produced the highest number of states with one-party rule in 60 years. Democrats or Republicans now have sole control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in 37 state capitals around the country. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which tracks party representation in the country’s 50 state governments, Democrats now...

President Obama has won reelection, and his administration has asked state officials to decide by Friday, November 16, whether their state will create one of Obamacare's health-insurance "exchanges." States also have to decide whether to implement the law's massive expansion of Medicaid. The correct answer to both questions remains a resounding no. State-created exchanges mean higher taxes, fewer jobs, and less protection of religious freedom. States are better off defaulting to a federal exchange. The Medicaid expansion is likewise too costly and risky a proposition. Republican Governors Association chairman Bob McDonnell (R.,Va.) agrees, and has announced that Virginia will implement...

...Congress did a poor job of deliberating regarding EESA. Its leadership deferred to leaders of the executive branch and failed to show a seemly skepticism about the bailout. In the end, Congress resorted to less seemly methods to pass the law. After the initial rejection of EESA, congressional leaders purchased the necessary votes for passage by offering funding for projects favored by members who had voted “no” earlier. In other words, the leaders bought the passage of EESA by wasting perhaps $150 billion on what were essentially bribes.56 Vote-buying, not deliberation, brought victory on October 3.... ...The first vote taken...

Two key U.S. senators are restarting bipartisan talks on U.S. immigration reform that will include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Democrat Schumer said he has spoken with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and they have agreed to resume talks that broke off two years ago. "And I think we have a darned good chance using this blueprint to get something done this year. The Republican Party has learned that being ... anti-immigrant doesn't work for them politically. And they know it," Schumer...

STORY When out-of-work techie Duke Evans and his family try to rebuild their lives in a remote mountain town, their own version of the American Dream is cut short as planes begin falling from the sky and all power, communications and transportation suddenly stops working. Caught in an unprecedented cyberattack that signifies the end of the U.S. as we know it, Duke and his family must use all their wits and the unlikely help of an illegal immigrant, to survive this frighteningly realistic scenario where water, food and time are running out.Dragon Day Dragon Day is an independent film that...

I’m in Jersey, where I gave a speech last night. But not New Jersey, the state where you shouldn’t die. That’s the state that many people have been fleeing because they don’t like paying confiscatory taxes to finance bureaucrats who make as much as $320,000 per year.Instead, I’m in the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is a UK dependent territory off the coast of France. Jersey is a so-called tax haven, which I applaud because it helps encourage better tax policy in less enlightened parts of the globe.Because I’m such a cultured and sophisticated guy, today I used some of my...

The real problem is that about half the country believes that business and the success that might flow from business is somehow contrived. About half the country believes that success is assigned, whimsically or arbitrarily, by guys in blue blazers who flick their cigar ashes at those whom they do not wish to succeed. It doesn't work that way, and we know it doesn't work that way. Mitt Romney, for example, was successfully portrayed to about half the country as a fellow who had it made from the beginning. His old man headed up a car company. He must have...

The Colombo family was a principal target in the January 2001 FBI raid against the Italian Mafia in the Northeast, and on Friday the feds announced that with the exception of reputed soldier Ralph Scopo Jr. it has wrapped up the case as reported by John Marzulli for the Daily News: "Scopo, 63, claims he is suffering from liver failure and thus is too sick to stand trial on extortion charges relating to the Cement and Concrete Workers Union Local 6A, according to court papers. He was scheduled for trial in January but Brooklyn Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto adjourned the...

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.( Matthew 11:20-22)Jesus at this point in the gospel, was already being rejected in the very towns and villages where he had done his...