Free Republic

Federal government labor unions and agency managers are bargaining over how and when to carry out first-of-their-kind furloughs of more than a million employees as deep spending cuts are all but certain to kick in Friday. Union leaders cannot stop the furloughs or determine who in each agency must take them. They say their best option is to soften the pain of unpaid days, which could slash federal pay by up to 20 percent this fiscal year. -snip- This would be the first time that furloughs across the federal government would occur with no chance that lost pay would be...

The Sequester is not a cut.

President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress want to raise the minimum wage to improve the lot of the working poor. But they've got the wrong idea. The problem is not that these workers earn so little; it's that the things they buy cost so much. I propose instead to outlaw high prices. No one, after all, likes paying too much. So let's put a stop to it. Gas is too expensive? Make it $2 a gallon, max. Bread and meat take a big bite out of the family budget? Poor people could eat better if they had to pay...

North Korea on Sunday warned the top U.S. military commander stationed in South Korea that his forces would "meet a miserable destruction" if they go ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korean troops, North Korean state media said. Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, gave the message by phone to Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, KCNA news agency said.

For the past 10 months, the 19-member Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection has been reviewing Florida Statute 776, also known as the “stand your ground” law, which defines justifiable use of force. On Friday, the task force released its final report, concluding that the law is good and should not be overturned. The Task Force, led by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, held public meetings in Tallahassee, Longwood, Arcadia, West Palm Beach, Cutler Bay, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Aided by thousands of comments from the public and from law enforcement experts, the panel concluded that Floridians have the right to...

Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura will not face criminal charges related to his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said. In a statement, Wolfson said that although Bonaventura’s preliminary breath test showed he was over the legal blood-alcohol limit when he was pulled over Feb. 12, that test is not admissible in court. An arrest report indicates he registered a level of 0.099 on that test. A second, admissible breath test showed Bonaventura’s blood-alcohol level at 0.069, below the legal limit of 0.08. That test was administered at the...

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Marco Rubio, R-FL., topped the list of approximately 40 House and Senate Republicans who received a perfect conservative voting score from the American Conservative Union, sponsor of next month’s Conservative Political Action Conference. The ACU released its annual rankings Thursday. In the Senate, Rubio and Paul, who are both seen as possible 2016 presidential contenders, were awarded the Defenders of Liberty designation, receiving a “perfect 100 percent” score on their voting records ... Thirty-four House members were deemed Defenders of Liberty, among them Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Joe Wilson, R-S.C.; and Tom Price, R-Ga. The...

This speech is from last month. Somehow it got overlooked, but it will knock your socks off!

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor 3:17 Once again we are being propagandized by the Global Warmists. Of course they have changed the catchphrase into Climate Change or as it has been called in the past; weather, they are mining the nuggets of fear many are hoping for. For communists, the main purpose for living is centralizing power and more control in distributing the resources of a country. The Regressives have pretty much taxed every source on the planet so the only thing untaxed is air, Global...

By the time of this writing (Feb. 22nd), several RINO Senators – Mike Johanns and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, John McCain-Feingold of Arizona, Lindsey Gramnesty of South Carolina, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine, intend to vote for cloture (i.e. breaking the filibuster) on Chuck Hagel’s nomination for SECDEF, thus allowing it to proceed to the floor, where it is sure to pass as the Democrats have 55 votes. If these RINO traitors vote for cloture and thus vote to allow the Democrats to confirm Hagel along party lines...

Given a two-day plunge in crude futures, gasoline prices may have hit a temporary peak. Nonetheless, consumers feel the pinch as pump prices have risen 34 straight days. For only the fifth time in history Gas prices topped $4 a gallon in District of Columbia. Nationwide, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.78 a gallon, up 47 cents in the past month, the AAA said. In parts of California, Gasoline Prices Topped $5.00 on February 5. CNN Money has an interactive Gas Price map to check prices in your state. Republicans Cry Foul Yahoo!News reports Politicians...

When Thomas Steyer — a San Francisco billionaire and major Democratic donor — discusses climate change, he feels as if one of two things is true: What he’s saying is blindingly obvious, or insane. It’s a somewhat shocking statement for someone who’s in the running to succeed the cerebral Steven Chu as energy secretary. Granted, he’s a long shot — the leading contender is MIT professor Ernest Moniz, who served as the department’s undersecretary during the Clinton administration — but his backers say his strength lies in combining business savvy with an activist’s passion. But it’s not as if Steyer,...

With the outrage over the Newtown massacre fading, gun-grabbers are hastening their efforts at the state level. The Oregon Firearms Federation (hat tip: Gateway Pundit) reports: Two days after Senate Democrats claimed they would not seek a ban on modern firearms and feeding devices, Democrats in the Oregon House introduced just that. Seven Senators joined with eight House Reps to introduce a sweeping ban on virtually all modern firearms. Among the Senators is, of course, Ginny Burdick, who claimed on Wednesday "that she is backing off an attempt to push through a bill on gun clips that she drafted following...

It's rare that a grown man cries in public, but when Dave Thomas thought he was going to lose his dog, he couldn’t stop the tears. The San Bernardino, Calif., resident had been arrested after failing to appear in court for two traffic violations, and his best friend, Buzz Lightyear, was impounded. Thomas was told he needed $400 to get the dog back — half of it by the following Wednesday — or the adoption process would begin. It was Friday, and he had $6 in his pocket. That's when Maria Sanchez, a regular visitor to the shelter, saw Thomas...

Submitted for your consideration without further comment:     If that doesn’t do it for you, there’s much more:     I can’t do any more. You’re on your own ...Read the Rest here>>>

CNA STAFF, Feb 18, 2013 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- A priest who was conceived in rape when his mother was only 13 years old is sharing the story of how he met, forgave and heard the confession of his father, who is now living a life of faith. “I could have ended up in a trash can, but I was allowed to live,” said Father Luis Alfredo Leon Armijos of Loja, Ecuador. In a Feb. 6 telephone interview with CNA, Fr. Leon, who is pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Loja, said his mother, Maria Eugenia Armijos Romero, was working...

"We have cleared away the rubble of crisis," President Obama reported in his State of the Union address, "and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger." He cited troops coming home after a decade of "grinding war," six million jobs created "after years of grueling recession," American car purchases up, foreign oil purchases down, a healing housing market, a rebounding stock market, corporate profits that "have skyrocketed to all-time highs," Republicans and Democrats working together "to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion," "tens of thousands" of American jobs created by green...

Diànnǎo Hēikè “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” –Sun Tzu Sun Tzu would love cyber warfare. The master of the Chinese board game of Go enjoyed the idea of defeating his enemy without a battle. China is conducting cyber war on the United States. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have a group of highly trained hackers (Hēikè) whose sole purpose is to attack American companies in order to steal information to enhance the Chinese Military. This hacking group is...

There have been many wonderful letters written through time on a number of topics including love (Napoleon, Beethoven and Lewis Caroll), fatherly advice (Reagan and Fitzgerald), and condolence; perhaps none better than Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby, but my favorite letter of indignation, honesty, and dire warning came this week from the CEO of Titan (TWI) to the industry minister of France. On January 31 of this year, Goodyear Tire made the decison to close its sprawling commerical and farm tire plant in north France. The company in fact decided to bolt Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It simply...

By Joe Tremblay * Euthanasia is not such a bad word anymore. In fact, the medical practice of prematurely declaring a person as clinically dead is widespread in the West; especially when the patient is an organ-donor. Although the practice of organ donation is morally permissible and is inspired by honorable intentions, nevertheless, what should be borne in mind is that not a few hospitals, hospices and other medical institutions are heavily influenced by the culture of death.Take Dominic Wilkinson, a physician specializing in newborn intensive care and medical ethics in the UK. In May of 2010 he wrote about...