Free Republic

The stalling of Illinois’ gay-marriage push—at least for now—shows the difficulty of approving legislation to legalize it, even with a nudge from the home-state president, steadily rising support in the polls and national momentum from the November elections. Democrats control both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s office in the solidly blue state. Yet the margin of support Senate Democrats were able to pull together for a bill last week was so thin that a death in one lawmaker’s family and another senator’s extended trip to Israel were enough to push the issue into the next legislative session....

The very first newspaper op-ed article I ever published, way back in 1984, was about All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, which has long had a reputation as a leading “progressive” parish. I wrote about attending a meeting where a group of parishioners were reporting back on a recent visit to the newest workers’ paradise, Nic . . .—now just wait for it!!—yes, indeed, it was Nicaragua (or “KNEE-car-AHHH-gua,” if you’re really au courant). Since this article was published in the pre-Internet age, I can’t link to it, so here’s the lede from my hard-copy archive:

Kailua Hawaii is situated on the East coast of the island of Hawaii, about a 14 mile drive from the Honolulu airport and much closer even to Kaneohe Marine Air Base. It's home to about half a dozen exclusive hotels and it is also the Obama family vacation destination. Last year Obama's dog Bo visited some damage to the property the Obama's rented so this year Obama issued an Executive Order guaranteeing that the taxpayers of the United States would make good for any damage Bo left this year. It seems Barack Obama needs constant reminding that he is the...

Republicans in Congress who took the politically risky step of voting to raise taxes now find themselves trying to fend off potential primary challenges next year from angry conservatives. These lawmakers wasted little time in attempting to deliver an explanation that would be acceptable to the tea party and the GOP’s right flank, and, perhaps, insulate themselves from a re-election battle against a fellow Republican. They’ve started defending last week’s vote as one that preserves tax cuts for most Americans, while also promising to fight for spending cuts in upcoming debates over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. … It was...

A massive cargo-carrying airship has taken shape inside one of the 17-story wooden blimp hangars at the former military base in Tustin. According to aircraft maker Worldwide Aeros Corp., construction is complete on a 36,000-pound blimp-like aircraft designed for the military to carry tons of cargo to remote areas around the world. The Montebello company hopes to have a first flight in the coming months and to demonstrate cargo-carrying capability shortly thereafter... The Aeroscraft is a zeppelin with a 230-foot rigid skeleton made of aluminum and carbon fiber. It's a new type of hybrid aircraft that combines airplane and airship...

The president can thank Republican congresswoman Michelle Bachmann for introducing bill H.R. 35, which she says would repeal Obamacare "in its entirety." MyFOX8 stated that CNN contributor and Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer says this just proves that the president and Republicans in congress are still on bad terms and that it appears that "they are going to fight the president tooth and nail," despite his reelection.

recent reports indicate the entire program may have actually hurt the environment far more than it helped. According to E Magazine, the “Clunkers” program, which is officially known as the Car Allowance Rebates System (CARS), produced tons of unnecessary waste while doing little to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The program's first mistake seems to have been its focus on car shredding, instead of car recycling. With 690,000 vehicles traded in, that's a pretty big mistake. According to the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), automobiles are almost completely recyclable, down to their engine oil and brake fluid. But many of the “Cash...

Scaffolding climbs the walls of the new elementary school in Salinas, an agricultural city celebrated as John Steinbeck's birthplace but plagued by gang violence. Although still under construction, the school is already embroiled in controversy because the school board decided to name it after Tiburcio Vasquez, one of the state's most notorious Old West bandidos. Critics say he was a 19th-century outlaw who robbed and terrorized Californians before he was convicted and hanged for murder. They say naming a school after him glorifies crime. In a city where two-thirds of residents are Latino, some Mexican-Americans say Vasquez was defending his...

In an op ed piece for the New York Times, Georgetown Professor of Constitutional Law Louis Seidman asserts that “obedience to the Constitution blocks implementation of measures those in a position to know best want to enact.” “The heralded ‘checks and balances’ inflicted on us by this archaic document stifle the beneficence of wise leaders like President Obama,” Seidman wrote. “Unconstrained by the outdated philosophy of the nation’s founders, President Obama could easily bring a new era of social justice to America and the world.” Seidman cited the imperfections of the men who wrote the Constitution as grounds for rejecting...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) -- Four gun shows, all about an hour's drive from Newtown, Conn., all canceled. A show in White Plains, N.Y., - brought back a few years ago after being called off for a decade because of the Columbine shooting - is off because officials decided it didn't seem appropriate now, either. In Danbury, Conn. - about 10 miles west of Newtown - the venue backed out. Same with three other shows in New York's Hudson Valley, according to the organizer. Gun advocates aren't backing down from their insistence on the right to keep and bear arms....

President Obama announces he is appointing Vice President Joe Biden to craft new policies within the next month to curb gun violence.President Obama announces he is appointing Vice President Joe Biden to craft new policies within the next month to curb gun violence. 0 The White House and gun control supporters are gearing up for a whirlwind month, with plans to pass reform legislation before outrage over the Sandy Hook massacre has a chance to fade. While the fiscal cliff has dominated Washington’s attention in recent weeks, lawmakers and activists are laying the groundwork for their big push. Vice President...

A senior official in the Indian Forest Service has been in the United States since July, awaiting a hearing in Pennsylvania's Pike County Court concerning an incident in a Westfall Township, Pa., hotel. Surendra Prasad Mohapatra, 52, was charged with indecent assault and false imprisonment on July 24 while staying at the Hampton Inn, an Eastern Pike Regional Police report says. According to the criminal complaint, Mohapatra called the front desk at 10:20 p.m. on July 23 to ask for help connecting his computer to the Internet. An employee tried to give instructions over the phone but was quickly cut...

Evidence is mounting that the map of pistol permit owners, published by New York-based Journal News, could be causing unintended consequences as law abiding citizens are being put in danger, according to a NewsBusters report. At least two media reports have surfaced with specific references to people who are most vulnerable as a result of the map. Fox News reports that reformed criminals have said the map can help thieves in two ways. “Crooks looking to avoid getting shot now know which targets are soft and those who need weapons know where they can steal them,” the report says. Also...

It's open season on the House Republicans these days, and the incoming fire isn't just coming from the left. Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, blasted House Speaker John Boehner for delaying a vote on Hurricane Sandy relief; the conservative commentator John Podhoretz accused right-wing members of Congress of "literally embracing chaos" with their ill-fated attempt to oust Boehner from the speakership on Thursday. Even within the GOP, it seems, the House GOP's actions of late seem beyond the pale. So I set out to find someone to defend them. I called former Rep. Steve LaTourette, an outspoken...

Anyone still need a reason to abandon "grand bargains" and deals negotiated between this President and GOP Congressional leaders? Here it is: The revival of two dormant provisions of the tax code means the much ballyhooed $450,000 income threshold for the highest tax rate is largely fake. The two provisions are the infamous PEP and Pease, which aficionados of stealth tax increases will recognize immediately as relics of the 1990 tax increase. Those measures, which limit deductions and exemptions for higher-income taxpayers, expired in 2010. The Obama tax bill revived them this week. It isn't going to be pretty. Under...

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan scrambled fighter jets on Saturday to head off a Chinese state-owned plane that flew near islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman said. The Japanese jets were mobilised after a Chinese maritime aircraft ventured some 120 km north of the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, at around 12:00 pm (11am Singapore time), the spokesman said. The Chinese Y-12 twin-turboprop later left the zone without entering Japanese airspace over the islands, he added. It was the first time Japanese fighter jets had been scrambled this year...

Speaker Boehner has announced he won't negotiate one on one with the president anymore. Obama has said repeatedly that he won't negotiate on raising the debt limit. The two sides are speeding toward each other waiting for the other guy to blink. ABC News: President Obama was pretty clear late on New Year's night as he reacted to Congress's passage of a bill to take a turn away from the fiscal cliff. He won't negotiate with Republicans about the debt ceiling. "Now, one last point I want to make," said the president, before wrapping up and hopping on Air Force...

Historically, the second worst record of job creation. New York Times: For jobs, the past four years have been a wash. The December jobs figures out today indicate that there were 725,000 more jobs in the private sector than at the end of 2008 - and 697,000 fewer government jobs. That works into a private-sector gain of 0.6 percent, and a government sector decline of 3.1 percent. In total, the number of people with jobs is up by 28,000, or 0.02 percent. How does that compare? It is by far the largest four-year decline in government employment since the 1944-48...

John Boehner at his swearing-in for 2nd term as Speaker: "We're here to do something... not be something" " You mean -like- be a conservative John? Sorry to tell you,  but that makes you something else by default... There are still people in my (conservative) party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it. Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous- you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides. To cure the British disease with socialism was like...

The politics of the “fiscal cliff” deal is debatable: On the one hand, Boehner got the “Bush tax cuts” made permanent for most Americans; Obama was forced to abandon his goal of increasing rates for those earning $250,000. On the other, on taxes Republicans caved to the same class-warfare premises (the rich need to pay their “fair share”) they’d successfully fought off a mere two years ago; while on spending the Democrats not only refused to make cuts, they refused to make cuts even part of the discussion. Which of the above is correct? Who cares? As I said, the...