Free Republic

Last night Gov. Deval Patrick declared war on the taxpayers of Massachusetts, proposing the largest tax hike in state history — nearly $2 billion. Today it’s time for voters to demand that their elected representatives choose up sides. They can give in to this lame duck governor intent on bringing taxpayers to their knees and economic growth to a standstill, or they can side with their hard-pressed constituents. The worst part is that this is a “crisis” of the governor’s own making. MBTA debt and deferred maintenance on it and state highways would be manageable with some reforms and a...

And so, we march A message from Most Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., Bishop of Trenton While standing in a grocery store checkout line recently, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the cover of Time magazine which read: “40 Years ago, abortion-rights activists won an epic victory with Roe v. Wade … they’ve been losing ever since.” Wow! That certainly is good news in a battle that those of us committed to the pro-life cause have been waging ever since the Supreme Court’s tragic decision in 1973. I bought the magazine and read the article which pointed...

A colleague made an interesting point this morning. If the NRA and its paranoid membership are so worried about the government creating a national gun registry, lest the government use that list to confiscate guns, they should stop worrying: The best list in the country already exists. It’s called the NRA membership. Sure, the NRA membership list doesn’t contain a gun registry of “all” firearms owners in America. But it does contain a list of many of the most paranoid, crazy, militant gun owners. The very people a “fascist” government would be most concerned about. Why does this matter? Well,...

Virginia Representative Jim Moran has taken PC, pop psychology to its logical extremes by claiming that "older white guys" are the "most insecure" part of American society . Moran, one of the nation's most left-wing Congressmen, appeared on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show on January 16 and went into an aspect of the next election cycle that seemed to trouble him. It was during this discussion that he found what is wrong with our nation. Clearly, we had a very successful election in November. I worry a bit about 2014, when we don't have the President at the top of the...

"And so I began to search my memory, and I could not recall a single adult male in my boyhood speaking to me or my friends in such tones. I cannot recall any men routinely squatting down or leaning over to make themselves appear closer to my own height. I cannot remember any men putting a breathless wheezing whisper into their words. I cannot bring to mind a single incident in which a grown man opened his eyes and mouth as wide as possible and talked to me like some grinning, masculine Norma Desmond. What I do remember are the...

'Thirty-five hostages killed in Algerian helicopter attack on BP gas plant siege': Two Brits feared dead, but some captives including Americans and Irish have escaped Helicopters 'began strafing' complex, also killing 15 militants, claim rebelsMilitants had earlier threatened to blow up the hostages if they intervened Al-Qaeda group also demand safe passage out of facility with the hostagesTwo British nationals and Algerian are believed to have been killed in siegeBritain will allow Algeria to 'take the lead', but will consider request for helpPM Cameron: 'Extent of attack suggests considerable degree of planning'Attack was planned by 'one-eyed Islamist known as...

The welcoming remarks of an unidentified member of the senior GOP House leadership to the assembled Republican conference gathering for a "retreat" in Williamsburg have leaked: Welcome to Williamsburg, Members of the House Republican Conference. We hope you enjoy your retreat. Perhaps we should begin with that age old tradition: Look to your left. Now look to your right. Either you or one of those two people won’t be here in two years. Perhaps two of the three will be gone. If you are sitting in the wrong row, all three of you could be looking for work with the...

We could have a debate about which matters least, I suppose— the signature threshold on the “We the People” petitions or the survival of the Office of Congressional Ethics. Oh, I kid. The Office of Congressional Ethics, despite its creation at the hands of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the oxymoronic ring to its name, is not without merit. It’s independent of the actual Congress, it ticks off entrenched Republicans and Democrats alike, and has been unfairly accused of racism for holding members accountable regardless of skin color— all signals it can and has unearthed real issues. In December, the board...

Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show 1270 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Join This Ping List Now! Click Here To Join this Ping List!

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Hisham Al-‘Ashri, which aired on Al-Tahrir TV on January 10, 2013. Al-‘Ashri, who recently returned to Egypt from the U.S., has established a committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. Interviewer: Does the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 constitute Jihad? Hisham Al-‘Ashri: Well, it depends who did it. Jihad is only for Muslims. They even say “Jihad” in English because they have no equivalent. [...] I call on everybody to type in Google “911”, and then click. You will get an incredible amount of...

For liberals facts are never really important. “Truth” to liberals like Democrat New York City Congressman Jerrold Nadler is what he “feels” it is. Nadler has said: “Hunters don’t use large ammunition clips, and as far as self- defense, I mean who are you defending yourself against? If you’re defending yourself against a robber… two or three or four shots should be enough—period.” It’s a safe bet Nadler has never faced an assailant fueled by adrenalin drugs and alcohol. That doesn’t matter, of course, since no one will ever challenge Nadler on his supposed knowledge of the danger presented by...

Sen. Rand Paul says The White House, Capitol buildings, and key U.S. cities should build their own versions of Israel's Iron Dome to defend them from missile attacks, BuzzFeed reports. “I saw presentations of the Iron Dome and it was very impressive … [I am] absolutely in favor of it,” Paul told reporters in a conference call after touring Israel and Jordan. …

At least two American hostages are being held hostage at a gas plant in Algeria, but there's been no word on unfolding the situation from either President Barack Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact, the only official word to come from the Obama administration is confirmation from the State Department that indeed Americans are being held hostage there. "[W]e condemn in strongest terms the terrorist attack on British Petroleum personnel and facilities at In Amenas, Algeria earlier today. We are obviously closely monitoring the situation. We’re in contact with Algerian authorities and our diplomatic counterparts in Algiers,...

The electronic pulltab sales slated to help fund the Vikings stadium are nowhere near their projected target, even after the state lowered that target last month, a House committee learned Wednesday. (snip) The sale of electronic pulltabs, run by Minnesota charities, was supposed to generate $348 million in taxes to underwrite the state's share of the cost of a new Vikings stadium. But the electronic pulltab games, introduced in September, have pulled in just $4.2 million in gross receipts -- and $635,000 in net receipts after prizes were paid.

GOOGLE SEARCH: "Te'o Hoax" results in 120,000,000 references. GOOGLE SEARCH: "Obama fake birth certificate" results in 1,750,000 references Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend story is trending around the world. It is a firestorm. We do not know exactly where this is going, but one of my first observations is marveling at the reporter feeding frenzy - both sports and regular news journalists. From what I understand, this is a good kid, from a good family, who is an Eagle Scout. He may have been really immature in relationships with the opposite sex, let a story get out...

Watching Piers get destroyed last night on his show Dana Loesch and Scottie Hughes was something of a treat. Morgan wanted to hang his hat on the second amendment applying to tanks. It was pretty darn funny.The annoying thing about it is that liberals, the constitutional loose constructionists who found a right to abortions, via a right to privacy, via the fourteenth amendment (which says nothing about privacy, much less inferring that said privacy is a good enough impetus to allow infanticide) would think it's crazy that the second amendment would be "loosely" interpreted to include anything that could be...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta joined the gun control debate on Thursday when he told troops at a military base in Italy that only soldiers needed armor-piercing bullets or assault weapons. Asked by a soldier what President Barack Obama would do to protect school children from gun violence without infringing Americans’ right to own guns, Panetta said action was needed after the attack on a Connecticut school in December in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. He told members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Vicenza (Italy) that there were areas where steps could be taken....

2031 is likely the next 2012. No, the Mayan calendar hasn't been reinterpreted -- but the Social Security Administration's statistical projections have, and it's not looking good. A new study by professors Gary King of Harvard University and Samir Soneji of Dartmouth College finds that the Social Security Administration's (SSA) $2.7 trillion trust fund that is supposed to fund the retirement of baby boomers, will be exhausted in 2031 -- two years earlier than the SSA's original projection. Indeed, 2010 was the first time in more than 25 years that Social Security ran a deficit; spending $49 billion more in...

Leonard Pitts Jr.: How black is black enough? BY LEONARD PITTS JR. | Published: January 16, 2013 I suddenly find myself concerned about my blackness. It had never occurred to me to worry about it before. Then came the incident last month on ESPN's “First Take” program that initially got commentator Rob Parker suspended and then, last week, fired outright. It seems Parker, who is black, analyzed what he saw as the insufficient blackness of Robert Griffin III, rookie quarterback for the Washington, D.C., football team that is named for a racial slur. Having returned their team to relevance for...

A sweeping set of gun control proposals laid out by President Obama on Wednesday is adding more fuel to a growing national debate, and one local lawman is raising concerns that the proposed legislation is unconstitutional. Madison County Sheriff Blake Dorning told WHNT News 19 that his office will not enforce new gun control legislation if he feels those laws violate the Second Amendment. Dorning said he has serious doubts about President Obama’s latest proposals, stating that any gun laws which do pass would have to be in line with the U.S. Constitution and Alabama state law in order to...