Free Republic

Grasping bankers bring back fears of class warfare Americans will remember 2009 as the year that class warfare reared its ugly head Irwin Stelzer American Account No sense in wasting too much of this year-end report on what you already know. The financial sector is back from the brink. The largest banks have been able to raise capital and earnings sufficiently to repay their government bailout loans and have enough left over for generous bonuses. Share prices have recovered half the losses made since they peaked. Sales of existing homes are at close to a three-year high, but the sector...

In The Taming of the American Crowd: From Stamp Riots to Shopping Sprees, I argue that unlike the kind of crowds that have surged across the pages of American history and unlike crowds in certain other parts of the world, today's American crowds seldom even figure in the news. We have crowds of shoppers, spectators, and travelers, but these are ill-prepared to act as one. Then, in April 2009, when Taming was well along in Monthly Review Press's publication process, some American crowds did begin to make the news. On April 15, thousands of angry Americans attended Tax Day "tea...

Here are some thoughts on where things stand in the aftermath of the certain passage of the Senate health-care bill. 1. Few Democrats understand the depth and intensity of opposition that exists toward them and their agenda, especially regarding health care. Passage of this bill will only heighten the depth and intensity of the opposition. We’re seeing a political tsunami in the making, and passage of health-care legislation would only add to its size and force. 2. This health-care bill may well be historic, but not in the way the president thinks. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen anything quite...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - It was the concern of Nebraska's Republican governor over expanded Medicaid costs in the proposed Senate health care overhaul bill that led to a compromise to cover his state's estimated $45 million share over a decade, U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson said Sunday. Gov. Dave Heineman "contacted me and he said this is another unfunded federal mandate and it's going to stress the state budget, and I agreed with him," the Nebraska Democrat said. "I said to the leader and others that this is something that has to be fixed. I didn't participate in the way it...

Barack Obama’s public approval rating has dropped to as low as 47% in the last week, according to Gallup. Although the President will not appear on the ballot again until 2012, how the public views his presidency will have a direct impact on each party’s performance in next year’s mid-term elections. The party holding the White House has lost seats in 10 of the last 12 mid-terms, going back to President Kennedy’s 1962 losses. Even in that year, with a 74% approval rating following the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s Democrats lost seats in the House. Historically, the...

/begin my excerpts N. Korea to Shut down Markets for Three Days Effective on Dec. 14: News Letter Market prices higher than state-mandated prices... (the state has) not yet set wage levels (Seoul=Yonhap News) Chang Yong-hoon = Despite currency reform and announcement of state-mandated prices, market price of many goods is not settling down, prompting N. Korean authorities to shut down markets for three days beginning on Dec. 14, according to N. Korea newsletter 'Good Friends' on Dec. 15. In the newsletter, the (aid) organization said, "Since the reform, market price is fluctuating badly, and rising fast. The authorities decided...

Anti-Obama sentiment brewing on internet as Tea party threatens boilover WHEN Stacy Mott, a stay-at-home mother of three children, started writing a blog after the election of President Barack Obama last year, she had no involvement in politics and simply wanted to vent her frustration at financial bailouts, healthcare reform and legislation to combat climate change. The former marketing executive at Toys R Us quickly found she was not alone. One year on, her blog, Smart Girl Politics, is an organisation with 23,000 members and co-ordinators in almost every state. "There are a huge amount of people out there...

In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections. “We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.

Republicans are planning to fight furiously...

'Women Power' Gathers Against N.Korean Currency Shock North Korea's women are emerging as a formidable force in the face of controversial currency reforms, sources said Monday. Most of the market traders in the North are women in their 40s and 50s trying to earn enough to feed their children. And now they are openly expressing their anger as the draconian reforms, which replace the currency at a rate of 100:1 and effectively confiscate any savings, make their lives even more difficult. "The women are tough and defiant," a source said, "and now they are angry. Markets are turning into places...

N.Korea military on guard against unrest: reports Thu Dec 3, 3:58 am ET SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea's military was on guard as public anger grew over the communist country's shock currency revaluation, reports said Thursday. The revaluation implemented Monday has sparked fury and frustration as some citizens saw much of their savings wiped out, according to reports and observers. They said the North had tightened security against possible agitation, with a curfew reportedly imposed in a border region and shops closed across the country during the changeover period to a new currency, which ends Sunday. Military authorities have strengthened...

-- snip --Mr. Obama's spending choices are dragging congressional Democrats into ugly electoral territory where many are likely to meet a brutal fate next fall.

Democrats are starting to worry that President Obama's "charge-and-spend" debt, new "cap-and-trade" tax and "apologize to the world" agendas are going to hurt them when they run for re-election, leaving the WorldNetDaily Freedom Index ticking up to 53.2 on a 100-point scale, despite a month of relatively few major controversies. "What I think is going on here is that Democrats are growing slightly more concerned that the Democratic initiatives in Washington may come with a steep political price tag outside the beltway," said Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies. "This is especially true after the Democratic election losses in deep blue...

Militia Movement Resurfaces Across Nation Resurgence in part coincides with the arrival of Obama administration Rachel D'Oro / AP Ray Southwell, left, and Norm Olson, members of the Alaska Citizens Militia, stand by the woods near their home in Nikiski, Alaska, on Sept. 29. Olson's militia is small at the moment, but there has been a resurgence of the militia movement nationwide. By RACHEL D'ORO Associated Press Writer Nov . 20, 2009 NIKISKI, Alaska - Norm Olson's genial tone belies his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet here he is, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm...

Former President Bill Clinton visited Capitol Hill recently to deliver a pep talk to Senate Democrats. "It's not important to be perfect here. It's important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling," he reportedly told senators. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sounded a similar theme in an interview with the New York Times. "I'm sure there are a lot of people sitting in the shade at the Aspen Institute ... who will tell you what the ideal plan is. Great, fascinating. You have the art of the possible measured against the ideal." So the strategy on...

One year out from midterm elections, anti-incumbent sentiment is approaching its highest level in two decades, according to a poll released Wednesday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The survey found that 53 percent of Americans said most members of Congress should not be reelected, compared with just 34 percent who said most members should be reelected. Fifty-two percent would like to see their own representatives reelected in 2010, while 29 percent want them out of office, according the Pew poll. The last time voter sentiment was this negative was during the 2006 and 1994 election...

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said Thursday that House Democrats should brace for challenging races in 2010, but he dismissed the idea that next year’s mid-term elections would be an all-out sweep for Republicans. “People who think this is a redux of 1994 are totally misreading the current situation,” said Van Hollen, a speaker at Bloomberg’s Washington Summit. Democrats are in a situation for a historically “very tough cycle” given the party’s major victories in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, said Van Hollen, who is also assistant to the Speaker. “I set these expectations back...

Nearly a week after the Fort Hood massacre, the anti- Muslim backlash that our leaders and some in the media feared remains a no-show. No mobs of braying bigots marching on mosques; no calls for banning Muslims from the military; no anti-Muslim legislation being drafted in Congress or state capitals; no spate of attacks on Muslim students, shop owners, or neighborhoods. What happened? What's holding the angry, red-blooded vigilantes in check? Why, if this keeps up, we might have to conclude that the United States is a remarkably fair-minded society as opposed to the cauldron of seething prejudice that many...

Whoops, sorry -- this isn't backlash against the poor, innocent Muslims being terrorized and victimized by the thousands after the Fort Hood Nothing-To-Do-With-Islam attack. This is just the familiar Muslim backlash against non-Muslims, which will increasingly be a feature of American life in the coming years. Nothing to see here. Move along. "Man arrested for 'anti-Christian' mall disturbance: Kiosk employee allegedly tore a crucifix from someone's neck," by Emily West for the Danville Express, November 10 (thanks to Bob): Police arrested 22-year-old Abdul Walid Hamid of Hayward on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 4, after he reportedly tore a crucifix...

In looking ahead to next year’s midterm elections, President Barack Obama and the Democrats would certainly like to see a reprise of 1998, when the party of the previous Democratic president gained seats in the House and held its own in the Senate. Republicans, no doubt, would love to see another midterm like 1994, when they swept into power on both sides of Capitol Hill. Yet when looking at some of the major factors that shape the electoral backdrop — presidential popularity, the state of the economy and ongoing wars overseas — the current landscape points to a different set...

Cities, counties no longer mellow about pot dispensaries At least 120 cities and eight counties in California have banned medical pot shops, fearing crime and profiteering. Some cite the proliferation of dispensaries in L.A. By John Hoeffel November 10, 2009 As hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened this year in a startling rollout across California, unnerved local officials have started to push back aggressively. Many cities and a few counties have banned them. Others have imposed emergency moratoriums. And some have started to sue dispensaries to force them to close. So far, the state's courts have sided with local...

<p>ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Homeland Security secretary says she is working to prevent a possible wave of anti-Muslim sentiment after the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas.</p>

Democrats will pay at the polls for their vote in favor of a sweeping health care reform package Saturday night, a top House Republican warned, while Democrats cheered the bill's narrow approval as a historic achievement. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference, told "Fox News Sunday" that the vote proved Democrats have not listened to American concerns about over-spending, bailouts and government takeovers. "The message from last night is that the Democrats didn't get the message in August or last Tuesday," Pence said, referring to the town hall meetings over the summer where members of the...

The U.S. Army's top general expressed concern on Sunday that last week's mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, blamed on a Muslim Army officer, could fuel a backlash in the military against Muslim troops. General George Casey, U.S. Army chief of staff, cautioned against jumping to conclusions about whether religious beliefs motivated the accused gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States of immigrant parents. Read more at the source. "I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I've asked our Army leaders to be on...

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Homeland Security secretary says she is working to prevent a possible wave of anti-Muslim sentiment after the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas. Janet Napolitano says her agency is working with groups across the United States to try to deflect any backlash against American Muslims following Thursday's rampage by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim who reportedly expressed growing dismay over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The shootings left 13 people dead and 29 wounded. Napolitano was in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for talks with security officials and...

This morning I awoke to the news that the democrats have succeeded in passing their "health" bill. One lone Republican voted for it, thirty-eight democrats voted against it. In spite of the people's wishes this government has moved us another step into socialistic fascism. Just as Hitler did in his tenure as leader of Germany. So, I am wondering today...what do we do now? It is obvious that protesting as we have with our Tea Parties have had no affect. Tyrants always have reason for tyranny and they will not be stopped by the American people protesting politely, even when...

November 08, 2009 Democrats Face Electoral Backlash After Health Care Vote, Top Republican Warns Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference, tells 'Fox News Sunday' that the House health care reform vote proves Democrats have not listened to American concerns about over-spending, bailouts and government takeovers. Democrats will pay at the polls for their vote in favor of a sweeping health care reform package Saturday night, a top House Republican warned, while Democrats cheered the bill's narrow approval as a historic achievement. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference, told "Fox News Sunday" that...

New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves Thursday following outraged media reports about bankers who got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines through their employers. Although there is a longstanding arrangement for employers to provide seasonal flu shots to workers, the city health department was bombarded with calls and television reports about Wall Street workers jumping the line ahead of pregnant women and children. "It's bad enough that Wall Street crashed our economy and is back to paying out platinum bonuses after taking trillions in taxpayer-funded bailouts and backstops," Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said in a statement....

Today, national Democrats are trying their best to dismiss missing limbs as flesh wounds. It is their job. But they are in deep trouble if they believe their own spin. Compared to 12 months ago, 24 percent more Virginians voted Republican at the top of the ticket. Independents broke decisively against Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. If this is not a backlash against Democrats, then who, exactly, was being lashed? These losses, for the most part, don’t seem to be a personal repudiation of the president. But they highlight a political fact -- the political fact of the last...

Up shot of article (my snap translation):--Obama in a painful situation, because just one year ago, he took these states. Now, tonight, they fell to the Republicans.--It seems that with the election of the 2 Republicans and defeat of Obama, his prized "Health Care" program is in jeopardy.--The results show the sentiment of the American People in those states toward Obama and is a reflection of what might be expected a year from now in the 2010 midterm elections.--Obama had quite a year in Virginia (in 2008), which did not go for a Democrat for President in 44 years, and...

Harry sure changed his mind... fast! We're not going to be held to any timeline, we are going to take the time to get it right [Healthcare] Harry tonight was dragged kicking and screaming back to the center by the ass kicking Dems got tonight. You can bet the Blue Dog's told Harry if the GOP sweeps tonight, we don't want any part of your mess. Dems in the House and Senate ... get ready for that enema that's been needed for some time. Who do you fear more? The voters of Pelosi/Reid

NEW YORK (AFP) – Republicans are looking to wound President Barack Obama's Democrats on Tuesday in three closely fought elections seen as barometers of a vital battle for Congress in 2010. In the governor's race in Virginia -- where Obama caused a sensation last year in becoming the first Democratic presidential contender to win since 1964 -- Republican Bob McDonnell looks set to defeat Democrat Creigh Deeds. New Jersey's Democratic governor Bob Corzine, meanwhile, faces a nail-biting finale in an ugly race against former Republican prosecutor Chris Christie, who is vying to overturn the state's traditional Democratic form. A smaller...

With Democrats poised to lose the governor's race in Virginia, and to possibly lose the governor's race in New Jersey and a special election for a House seat in New York, the White House has started insisting any pending losses will not have any significance. "Whatever the results are I don't think they portend a lot in dealing with the future," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Friday, pointing to the fact that Democrats won the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races in 2001 despite a very popular President Bush, with Republicans picking up seats in Congress...

OMG. From the backwater town of Wasilla, the naïve hockey-mom moose-huntress simply "Facebooked" a few thoughts into her device of choice, and damned if those words didn't bounce off a satellite and land squarely in the middle of New York state politics. Key among those words was the phrase "endorse Doug Hoffman."  Perhaps they landed in the middle of the run up to the 2010 mid term elections as well. And from the glass towers of Manhattan to the stately low-rise buildings of Washington, self-important media pundits and Republican Party hacks are once again slow to realize that they have...

On the one hand, the Democrats are trying their best to suffer a devastating blow at the ballot box come November of 2010. After all, the deficits are at obscene levels. Unemployment will be at 10% and go higher. They can't figure out health care, climate change, and they are desperate to lose in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Republicans are trying just as hard not to take this opening and run with it. When a Congressional race becomes the flashpoint for a political civil war within the party, you know there are problems.

The establishment media in the United States fears Rush Limbaugh more than any other media figure. Liberals who actually start to listen to his show frequently discover that his insights are rewarding, his humor is entertaining, and his combination of common sense and sophisticated analysis is compelling. Ever since his national show began, those who depend on establishment media for their information have been fed the line that he is hateful, racist, crude, and above all, not to be listened to. The ability to persuade those who pay little attention to politics that Limbaugh is anathema to all that is...

CNN is receiving criticism, of many different kinds from many different places, for a segment Monday on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." The segment "fact-checked" a Saturday Night Live sketch. The sketch, which has been deemed the show's first viral hit of the season, cataloged Pres. Obama's supposed lack of accomplishments. The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto called the idea "a bizarre exercise." The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik wrote, "Fact checking a comedy sketch -- I will say no more." FNC's Greg Gutfeld showed the clip on Red Eye and joked, "Seriously, reviewing an 'SNL' skit for accuracy is...

Reviewing September's detailed sales results in the car business carried at the Wall Street Journal, three things stick out immediately: The awful performance at General Motors -- down 45% from September 2008. Chrysler's even worse performance -- down "only" 42% from September 2008, but a mind-boggling 61% from September 2007 (62,197 in 2009, 156,799 in 2007) Ford's tiny decline of only 6% from a year ago, despite the end of the Cash For Clunkers program in August. No other major maker had a year-over-year September decline that was even half of that seen at GM or Chrysler. Yet the...

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands... This outrageous power grab by the Federal Government thankfully requires a vote of confidence. The election of 2010 is our best opportunity to peacefully, legally, and constitutionally THROW THE BUMS OUT. There's 123 House of Representative seats and 34 Senate seats in play. That's one third of the whole congress. Did somebody say change? Here's some results from last time around; Chris Dodd (D) 66.35%, Harry Reid (D) 61.08%, Chuck Schumer (D) 71.16%, Patrick Leahy (D) 70.63%, John McCain (R) 76.74%. What...

Video of Former NBA Player John Salley stating majority of white America hates Obama because 200 some odd days ago they loved him. Doesn't this statement seem a tad contradictory to anyone? I mean they voted for him because he was "great", now they hate him because he is "black". Is anyone else beyond sick of this garbage yet?

Congress's approval rating is in the basement, at sixteen percent. Fifty-three percent rate the Democrat-controlled Congress as "poor." It's striking that even more independents (72%) than Republicans (64%) rate Congress's performance as poor. Michael Barone says that Democrats are losing the enthusiasm battle, too. No surprise there: what phenomena have liberals mustered that begin to approach the tea parties, townhalls, and the march on Washington of a couple of weeks ago? The Washington Post finds that the public's dwindling support for the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats is hitting them where it hurts, in the pocketbook. Contributions to the Democrats'...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton predicts that Democrats won't suffer the kind of political meltdown that hobbled his administration after the 1994 elections. Democrats lost control of the House for the first time in 40 years after those elections. Republicans are forecasting that kind of backlash next year against the Democrats. Clinton suggests that's wishful thinking by the GOP.

Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by the party's harsh rhetoric about big business.

Not so long ago, Democrats were thrilled by the long length of Barack Obama's coattails. Creigh Deeds would be a lot more thrilled today if he could just step off. Mr. Deeds is the Democratic state senator running for governor of Virginia, and while he's at it, running away from his commander in chief. It ought to worry Democrats that their top recruit for the year already views their Washington agenda as a liability. It ought to worry Mr. Deeds that there seems no escape. The Virginian's problem is that he's a little too important to party leaders. The Obama...

My favorite line from The Simpsons, FOX’s long-running comedy: Play the race card … play it! Homer Simpson demands it from his lawyer as a court case against Simpson appears all but lost. It’s a great line because our yellow-skinned hero got himself into his predicament — and it had nothing whatsoever to do with race, of course. It’s not unlike the comedy act coursing through the public square today — except I’m not laughing. And neither are countless other Americans being broadly accused of racism for daring to critique black politicians. The perils of using the race card are...

Amid a fierce backlash, western Democrats risk being forced to give back some of their recent gains. DENVER -- When the elected officials attending a summit of Mountain state Democrats gathered onstage for a group photo last month, they had to crowd elbow to elbow to make room for everyone. If Project New West, the Democratic research and polling firm that organized the gathering, had taken a similar class picture a few years ago, there would have been a lot more room to spread out. For Democrats, the Mountain West has been one of this decade's towering success stories. After...

September 18, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Dr. Barack and Mr. ObamaThe backlash is sharp as voters learn that Obama is not the man they thought he was. By Victor Davis Hanson No one imagined that Barack Obama, during his first nine months in office, would be falling in the polls even faster than George W. Bush did prior to 9/11. We all knew what Obama’s weaknesses were as he came into office — a lack of experience in foreign affairs, little knowledge of how private business works, and poor judgment concerning the extremist company he had kept in the past. But...

There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults. Prayers are more intense, visits with family longer. Mosques become a refuge. Eight years after 9/11, many U.S. Muslims still struggle through the anniversary of the attacks. Yes, the sting has lessened. For the younger generation of Muslims, the tragedy can even seem like a distant memory. "Time marches on," said Souha Azmeh Al-Samkari, a 22-year-old student at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Yet, many American Muslims say Sept. 11 will never be routine, no matter how many anniversaries have passed.

Last night, former Bill Clinton advisor Dick Morris joined Sean Hannity to discuss breaking news that both unemployment and the budget deficit were trending higher than forecast earlier by the Obama White House. Morris called the news "a disaster for the Democrats." Hannity balked when Morris made the startling prediction that, given these developments, along with a looming "double dip" recession, "you could see one hundred seats changing" from Democrat to Republican in the next election.

The Obama administration is bracing for a political backlash on Tuesday when it issues national debt numbers showing federal debt rising by $9,000bn over the next decade – significantly higher than the forecast it made earlier this year. The revision, which will add $2,000bn (€1,400bn, £1,200bn) to the White House’s initial projection made in February, comes amid growing public jitters about the scale of US nat­ional debt, with one recent opinion poll showing Americans giving higher priority to reducing deficits than to reviving the economy.