Free Republic

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

by John Hill Stand With Arizona Kris Kobach, architect of Arizona's landmark S.B. 1070 and Kansas Secretary of State, brought needed common sense to the CPAC Conference discussion on immigration. Following remarks by Alex Nowrasteh, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in which he denounced E-Verify and claimed - to boos from the audience - that "free market conservatives" should allow employers to hire illegal aliens (see synopsis here), it was Kobach's turn to restore sanity. First Mr. Kobach laid out the concept of "attrition through enforcement" with a simple analogy. He then laid out how Arizona and...

Co-author of Arizona immigration law says 'self-deportation' workingBy Josh Lederman - 02/11/12 10:39 AM ET Immigration crackdowns in Arizona and Alabama are succeeding in persuading illegal immigrants to voluntarily leave the country, the co-author of tough immigration laws in both of those states said Saturday. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an ardent opponent of illegal immigration who has endorsed Mitt Romney, said jobs are opening up for Americans and school budgets flourishing thanks to tough new policies. "If you want to create a job for a U.S. citizen tomorrow, deport an illegal alien today," Kobach said to boisterous applause...

TUSCALOOSA | State Rep. Alan Harper of Aliceville is switching to the Republican Party. Harper, who was selected Monday night to be Northport’s economic development director, has been a Democrat throughout his time in the Legislature. He was first elected to represent District 61 in the House in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. “This is a decision that has taken many months of deliberation and thought,” Harper said. “In the end, I made the decision because it is best for District 61. I was elected to serve my district to the best of my ability and this decision reflects...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Fearful members. Declining church attendance. Concerned pastors. Uncertain futures. Despite dramatic changes in the life of many Hispanic congregations in Alabama with the new immigration law, the news isn't all bad. "A lot of people left," Carlos Gomez said of the Hispanic congregation he leads at First Baptist Church in Center Point. "I called them back and some of them returned. But I know of another ministry that is close to me here in town that had around 120, and now it has about 40." Reports of decreased attendance in Hispanic congregations are common since the...

My liberal "friend" who is from Alabama but now lives in San Francisco posted this link on her FB page knowing many of her friends live in Alabama. I sure would like to put her in her place, but this article made me so angry that I can't think of the right words to say. I could use the help of some good writers...we could do kind of a Cyrano De Begerac thing?? Thanks.

Alabama Ties Notre Dame With Most National Titles In Poll Era Cork Gaines Jan. 10, 2012, 9:43 AM If you want another reason why the poll system in college football is absurd, just try to figure out how many national championships Alabama has after winning last night's BCS Championship game. Alabama claims it is their 14th national title. But according to the NCAA, Alabama has actually been recognized with 18 titles. The problem, of course, is that the NCAA does not have a system to determine the national champion on the field. Even with the BCS system, the NCAA still...

Most of Southern Louisiana is currently covered by rain showers that are headed eastward to New Orleans. The concern should be that by the end of the game tonight severe weather may be over the Superdome. With all the probable drinking and celebrating, this may make for a bad combination. It will not be Chamber of Commerce weather for this event. This weather was on the Texas border this morning, and has been moving Eastward all day...

An Alabama schoolteacher was jailed on charges of sexually abusing a fourth-grade female student, and police said Thursday the man told them he molested more than 20 other girls over his 25-year career. Alabaster police said Daniel Montague Acker Jr., 49, was charged with three counts of sexual abuse, and additional charges were possible. "This is not a one-time event," said Deputy Chief Curtis Rigney. "This happened over a period of 25 years." Acker taught fourth grade at three schools and drove buses in the Shelby County school system from 1985 until he retired in 2009. He was investigated on...

A Jefferson County judge today set a Monday hearing on a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's citizenship and right to be on the 2012 ballots in Alabama. Circuit Judge Helen Shores Lee will consider a request by Mark Kennedy, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, to dismiss the suit filed against him on Dec. 14 by Birmingham resident Albert E. Hendershot. The hearing will start at 9 a.m. Jan. 9 in Lee's Birmingham courtroom. Hendershot wants Lee to issue an injunction blocking Obama from being certified as a candidate in Alabama. His suit claims he has "staggering evidence" that Obama...

Former Democratic congressman Artur Davis, who has been a thorn in the side of Democrats in the aftermath of his loss in the 2010 Alabama gubernatorial primary, is a man without a political party. In an interview with The Fix, Davis openly speculated about running for office as an independent or even a Republican. In both cases, he suggested his decision not to make the switch has as much to do with the difficulties involved as any desire he has to remain a Democrat. “I’ve heard some people at the national level encouraging me to run as an independent for...

by John HillStand With ArizonaThe numbers are dramatic, although you shouldn't expect to hear it trumpeted on your evening news. It simply doesn't fit the media's narrative about "traumatized Latinos" and "crops rotting in the fields" that we heard all Summer long after Alabama's Governor Bentley signed their tough immigration law H.B. 56. What was really happening in all that time is nothing short of an economic miracle. As we reported last month, in the wake of tens of thousands of fleeing illegal aliens from Alabama, thousands of Alabamans were being hired - producing a sharp drop in the unemployment...

Alabama’s unemployment rate fell at a record pace in November amid stepped-up efforts by President Barack Obama’s deputies to frustrate enforcement of the state’s popular new immigration reform. The state’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percent in November to 8.7 percent, according to new state reports, partly because the state’s employers opened up jobs to Americans after shedding illegal immigrants. The unemployment rate is far below October’s rate of 9.3 percent and September’s rate of 9.8 percen

Now comes citizen Newt, clear of voice, deepened in his determination to tackle an issue that is basically his alone to tout; because unlike his leading rival Romney who can not get his arms around something that he can’t take two different positions on; Newt is the real solid constitutional deal. Iowa is not the only state where this should be stirring some turbulent political waters. Conservatives in states like South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan, as well as other GOP political king making states, should be taking careful notes. Core values issues like preserving life, a...

This is a prime example of the way “the few� can ruin it for “the many.� Because a few parents have sent their kids to school bearing over-the-top presents for Teacher, the State of Alabama Ethics Commission has decided that some Christmas gifts equate to bribes. A new ruling from the Commission prohibits teachers from accepting certain gifts, including gift cards, hams and turkeys. The Washington Post’s Janice D’Arcy has more: Many states and some individual schools ask that parents and teachers respect certain gift-giving guidelines, but Alabama’s law is far tougher than most. A teacher who is caught in...

Alabama Republicans who pushed through the nation's toughest law against illegal immigrants are having second thoughts amid a backlash from big business, fueled by the embarrassing traffic stops of two foreign employees tied to the state's prized Honda and Mercedes plants. The Republican attorney general is calling for some of the strictest parts of it to be repealed. Some Republican lawmakers say they now want to make changes in the law that was pushed quickly through the legislature....

Justice Department Warns Alabama Law Enforcers On Immigration By Pete Williams and Kari Huus The Justice Department has sent a letter to dozens of local law enforcement agencies in Alabama that receive federal money, warning them that they risk losing that funding if they're not careful in how they enforce the state's tough new immigration law. The Obama administration has already sued the state, claiming that the law is unconstitutional. Now it's keeping the pressure on by addressing how the law is carried out. The law, HB56 passed by the Alabama Legislature in June, attempts to combat illegal immigration by...

I know I now, everyone knows that already. But come on, a team that already lost to LCU, at home, gets in over a 1-loss conference champ. It's a farce. And why does the "Big" East get an automatic BCS bowl bid? Are they any better than the MWC? Bah. I hope Alabama wins to make a further mockery of the whole thing.

WASHINGTON -- The members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will meet next week with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss enforcement of Alabama's immigration law, according to Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. Gutierrez, a leading critic on Capitol Hill of states that try to police immigration themselves, said he wants the federal government's top immigration officials to emphasize that they will not deport illegal immigrants snagged in Alabama's dragnet unless they have a record of other crimes. President Barack Obama's administration has announced that its policy puts a higher priority on deporting those with criminal records, and less...

Only a week after there was a formal hearing in the state of New Hampshire on a request to remove Barack Obama's name from the 2012 presidential primary election ballot over allegations of fraud, state officials in Georgia are facing a related request. Activist Carl Swensson, who runs the RiseUpForAmerica.com website, and has been integral in campaigns to have Obama investigated, told WND that not only has he petitioned the state secretary of state, but some half a dozen others have done the same thing. In his complaint letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Swensson wrote that while...

LEEDS, AL (WBRC) - Voters in parts of Jefferson and St. Clair Counties head to the polls today. It is for a special election to fill the District 45 seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. The election was necessary after the death of Republican Representative Owen Drake of Leeds. The Republican nominee is Drake's brother, 65-year-old Dickie Drake of Leeds. The Democratic nominee is 49-year-old Paige Parnell of Leeds. Parnell was Miss Alabama in 1980 and the first runner-up for Miss America in 1981. The polls close at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Authorities in Alabama dropped charges Wednesday against a German Mercedes-Benz executive who was arrested under the state's stringent new illegal-immigration law after a police officer caught him driving without required identification. Last week, a Tuscaloosa police officer pulled over Detlev Hager, 46, for driving a rental Kia with no license plates. After Hager was only able to produce German identification documents, an unacceptable form of identification under the new law, he was arrested, Police Chief Steve Anderson said. The Alabama law, considered the nation's strictest, includes a provision requiring police conducting traffic stops to check the residency status of people...

There is a problem with the Bowl Championship Series, but it’s not the one you probably think. College football doesn’t need a playoff. A traditional playoff system – an eight-team or even four-team bracket – brings nothing in the way of advantages over the current system and probably would make things considerably worse. Don’t tell me the traditional architecture for playoffs is the only – or even most – accurate way to determine a champion. The St. Louis Cardinals just won the World Series under that system despite having fewer wins in the regular season than any other team that...

Unemployment rates have fallen in Alabama amid new legal pressure on companies to comply with a popular immigration reform law. September was the first full month that the reform was in force, and the unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent in September to 9.3 percent in October, according to a Nov. 18 report from the state government. The rates fell from 9.9 percent to 9 percent in Etowah County, from 8.8 percent to 8.1 percent in Marshall county, and from 11.6 percent to 10.6 percent in DeKalb county. “The latest fall in unemployment numbers is proof that American citizens will...

by John HillStand With Arizona The war against Alabama's immigration law has intensified in recent weeks, with a Justice Department lawsuit, visits by DOJ officials, and a showdown over illegal alien children who have been pulled from Alabama schools. Eric Holder sued Alabama, trying to block every aspect of its enforcement provision. Why has the Administration and their ACLU and La Raza allies frantically tried to stop Alabama's law from being enforced? Because it's WORKING - and putting legal Alabamans back to work. As illegals have fled the state by the tens of thousands, the jobs they took -...

Editor's note: Martin Luther King III is president and chief executive officer of The King Center in Atlanta. Richard Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO. (CNN) -- It is one of the painful ironies of our time that in the same season Martin Luther King Jr.'s memory is finally honored with a memorial in our nation's capital, the state where he began to lead the civil rights movement is once more the center of an ugly conflict over racial injustice. The passage of Alabama's anti-immigrant legislation, HB 56, invokes inhumanity reminiscent of the Jim Crow South. And the police state...

A strong storm system that produced several suspected tornadoes hit the Southeast on Wednesday, damaging dozens of homes and buildings. At least 15 people were injured in Mississippi. Suspected tornadoes were reported in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Four homes were damaged in western Alabama, about 60 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa. It was the worst bout of weather for that state since about 250 people were killed during a tornado outbreak in April. < SNIP >

(Reuters) - From corrupt and incompetent local officials to Wall Street's credit crisis and toxic bonds, there was plenty of blame to go around on Thursday, a day after Alabama's Jefferson County declared the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The county, once a leading industrial hub in the U.S. Deep South, filed for bankruptcy court protection after failing to reach final agreement on terms of a preliminary deal with creditors led by JPMorgan Chase & Co in September to settle $3.14 billion in sewer-system debt. [Read the whole story]

U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL) had access to highly sensitive financial information during the 2008 bailout debates that may have helped him earn tens of thousands of dollars by trading stock options, even as most Americans’ portfolios took a beating. On Sunday, Rep. Bachus’s trading behavior came under fire in a 60 Minutes report based on Throw Them All Out, the book by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor that has triggered a political earthquake in Washington. Bachus’s trades during debate over the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) raise serious questions about whether he invested based on information he acquired as...

Actual headline to long in list title ...OUR VIEW: State officials apparently want local law enforcement agencies to figure out on their own how to enforce Alabama's troublesome immigration law One would think that if curbing illegal immigration was truly a state concern, the Legislature would pass a law that provided for training and funding for the various venues of enforcement. Instead, as the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, proudly declared, Alabama's law is intended to make every part of an undocumented immigrant's life difficult. "We want to discourage illegal immigrants from coming to Alabama and prevent those that...

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - The State Department of Education is advising school superintendents to hold off on providing enrollment data to the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ had requested Alabama school superintendents provide a list of all students who had withdrawn from schools since the beginning of the school year. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez sent a letter to Alabama school systems wanting to know how many Hispanic students are enrolled in schools and how many have withdrawn since the beginning of the school year. Educators reported the new law caused many Hispanic students to stay home in the...

1. Alabama is a wonderfully free "right-to-work" state, which simply means it prevents unions from extracting dues from workers who do not wish to join. 2. General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt is the poster-boy for crony capitalism, having backed Obama's rush to socialized medicine and green energy to benefit various of its business units. 3. It turns out that GE's Aviation division is breaking ground on a new factory in Alabama. And, unlike Boeing, which tried to build a factory in a right-to-work-state, the National Labor Relations Board hasn't uttered a peep. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Remember...

Video of Herman Cain from local Alabama TV (clip) HERE (HIT ARROW @ WAFF-TV WEBSITE STORY TO STREAM STORY).I will say this, Herman Cain got heckled and boo-ed it seems by contingent of rather loud, rude Ron Paul supporters right when he was trying to give his Alabama speech. I just saw this separate clip of Cain handling these Paulbots last night. It was brilliant. He humiliated them publicly and the crowd burst forth with resounding applause and laughter. They were vanquished, embarrassed, and they shut up right away. Folks, it was the closest I have yet seen in Campaign...

Fresh off another straw poll win, GOP presidential contender Herman Cain said Saturday he will win the South Carolina primary, and finish first or second in Iowa and New Hampshire. The Atlanta businessman has been hit hard for not focusing on the early primary states during this election season. And this bold prediction came during a two-day swing through Alabama that included an appearance at the Western Alabama Republican Assembly straw poll and a Samford University football game. Cain told reporters at Samford University he won't be "dialing down" his schedule, but his campaign will be more deliberate when they...

Washington (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security is not helping Alabama as it tries to implement its controversial new immigration law, Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

Fraudulent voting by imaginary voters, not racist obstacles to the ballot box, is the most disturbing and common form of voter suppression facing people of all races, says former Alabama congressman Artur Davis, an African-American Democrat. “I’ve changed my mind on voter ID laws — I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one — and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office,” Davis wrote in an October 17 op-ed published in the Montgomery Advertiser. “The truth is that the most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African American community, at least in...

A Jasper woman could get five years in jail after authorities say she threatened the life of Alabama's governor over the state's tough law cracking down on illegal immigration. The Montgomery Advertiser reports that 38-year-old Tiffany R. Morales is accused of calling Gov. Robert Bentley's office Sept. 29 and telling a member of his staff: "Tell the governor he has a bullet with his name on it." Morales, who says her fiance is an illegal immigrant, was arrested Oct. 1 and charged with threatening certain state officers, a felony.

. Good Sam Club 500 Sunday 2:00 pm on ESPN from Talladega Superspeedway SPEED Pre-race show at 11:00 EasternABC Pre-race show at 1:00 Eastern Green Flag 2:19 Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.

Opponents of Alabama’s new immigration law can now call the Justice Department directly to make complaints about the state’s effort to crack down on illegal immigrants. The Justice Department has set up a hotline and email for the public “to report potential civil rights concerns related to the impact of Alabama’s immigration law.” The Justice Department is seeking to block the enforcement of the law, which is widely considered the toughest in the nation. Justice officials filed a challenge to the law last week, claiming it is “highly likely to expose persons lawfully in the United States, including school children,...

The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta this afternoon blocked enforcement of two sections of Alabama's immigration enforcement law, H.B. 56. But it also let two parts stand including the main provision based on Arizona's S.B. 1070. The provisions are blocked until the Court hears arguments from the DOJ at a November 29th hearing, as to why they assert the law should be blocked permanently. It is a mixed bag, to be sure, and Alabamans are getting rightly sick and tired of meddling by the same Federal government which refuses to enforce its own laws against illegal aliens....

The Obama Admin. shows once again who its REAL constituents are: ILLEGAL ALIENS. The Department of Justice, which is appealing Alabama's outstanding new law, has set up a "hotline" number for illegals to report "civil rights" incidents under the new law. Opponents of Alabama’s new immigration law can now call the Justice Department directly to make complaints about the state’s effort to crack down on illegal immigrants. The Justice Department has set up a hotline and email for the public “to report potential civil rights concerns related to the impact of Alabama’s immigration law.” Clearly the DOJ is trying emotional...

The days of unbiased reporting are well behind us. What we have now are news agencies who are bent on furthering a political agenda. Proof positive comes in the form of a Reuters story with a somewhat confusing title: “Alabama immigration law decried, applauded as some flee state.” (Click here for original story) The title is somewhat ambiguous as to who is “decrying” and who is “applauding” but the article leaves little doubt as to the ideological leanings of the author(s): (Reuters) – A climate of fear and panic has taken hold in Alabama’s immigrant community since a federal judge...

Foley, Ala. — Trailer by trailer, yard sale by yard sale, and pew by empty pew, a poor but tightknit immigrant community on Alabama’s breezy Gulf Coast is rapidly disintegrating. This time it is not a tornado or hurricane uprooting families and scattering them to the winds. It is a new state law, largely upheld last week by a federal district judge, that seeks to drive illegal immigrants from the state by curtailing many of their rights, punishing anyone who knowingly employs, houses or assists them, and requiring schools and police to verify immigrants’ legal status. Other states, including Arizona,...

I work for an engineering company that would like me to relocate to Huntsville AL from the Pittsburgh PA area. It is a big decision for my wife and I. I grew up near where I currently live and my extended family is nearby. Other than one co-worker and a few business acquaintances, I know no one in the Huntsville area. Are there any locals that can give me advice on the area? Schools, churches, neighborhoods, activities, places to avoid, etc? Thanks, K51

About 200 college students and others from Huntsville came down to the Capital City to raise awareness for the children that may be affected by the new law on illegal immigration now that it has taken effect. The National Association for the Prevention of Starvation is taking a stand against Alabama's law on illegal immigration. Students from Oakwood University in Huntsville said they wanted to represent those who are not able to represent themselves - the children. "We work with children in those communities and a lot of them are afraid," organizer Mia Pile said. "Many of them are American,...

President Barack Obama’s administration filed a motion Friday asking a federal appellate court to block implementation of Alabama’s tough new immigration law, citing a risk the measure will lead to discrimination. Justice Department attorneys want the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta to impose an injunction against enforcement of H.B. 56 pending a final ruling on the multiple suits challenging its constitutionality. Critics call the Alabama measure the most extreme of the five state laws that have been adopted recently to combat illegal immigration. The Justice Department said Tuesday that for the federal government the priority in applying...

by John HillStand With ArizonaFederal District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn again refused to halt Alabama's tough new immigration enforcement law, pending appeal - this time turning back an "emergency" request by the U.S. Department of Justice and left-wing non-profits who advocate for illegal aliens. She upheld provisions which authorized police to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other provisions. Blackburn said...that the law's challengers, including President Barack Obama's administration and civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups, had not shown they were likely to prevail in...

The effects of Alabama’s new strict immigration law are starting to be felt. Since a federal judge upheld many of the laws key parts last week, law enforcement agents will begin enforcing the law this week. This means that officials can start checking the immigration status of any child enrolled in school. This has caused a rather large exodus of Hispanic families from the state. Late last week, schools were reporting Hispanic students mysteriously absent from class. Some of the families actually came into the school offices to officially withdraw their children from the schools. This has caused a panic...

by John HillStand With Arizona For months, America has been told by left-wing non-profits like the Alien Criminals Liberation Union (ACLU), La Raza and LULAC, that Alabama's new immigration law H.B. 56, "targets Hispanics" and is "anti-Latino". Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn wisely ignored that rhetoric when she let stand (pending trial) the law's most critical section - having police check immigration status of individuals apprehended in a lawful stop or arrest. Well, the very first such arrest has now occurred since the Judge's ruling. And - surprise, he is not from Mexico, or any other Latino American nation. He...

New photographs obtained exclusively by BigGovernment.com reveal that Barack Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Alabama in March 2007. The photographs, captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before it was scrubbed, are the latest evidence of the mainstream media’s failure to examine Obama’s extremist ties and radical roots.