Free Republic

I can't say I came up with this totally on my own, it was largely inspired by this piece from iOwnTheWorld.

Virginia Republicans voted on May 17 to hold a nominating convention next year — rather than a primary — to select a challenger to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the Virginian-Pilot reported. The move, which came at the state party’s annual convention in Richmond, could affect the GOP field that vies for the nomination. Conventions, where only party activists vote, often nominate more conservative candidates than the broader GOP primary electorate. Meanwhile, with the focus on the gubernatorial race, there has been little chatter about any candidates laying the groundwork to take on Warner. The former governor remains the most popular...

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate by praising Michigan's economy recovery and calling Washington D.C. "a mess." In doing so, he may have stumbled upon the truth. Rep. Peters is running to replace U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, who announced he won't seek re-election in 2014. "Washington is a mess, but Michigan is on the verge of re-inventing itself with a new economy and a middle class that's stronger than ever — and I want to be on the front lines of that fight," Rep. Peters said May 1. That prompted Michigan Republican Party Chair...

...Next thing you know, they’ll be asking what sort of prayers IRS employees say at work. Here’s the letter in full:

When it comes to the IRS’s ongoing, repressive behavior against conservative groups, you’re likely to hear different verdicts: The hard Left says, of course, that this is a molehill that the Republicans are scandalously trying to turn into a scandal. (The New York Times perfectly exemplifies this line of thinking.) Others on the Left admit incompetence, but refuse to assign moral blame. Conservatives are willing to assign moral blame but think that no one really cares. I believe that everyone should care because what we’re seeing now is a new type of scandal in American history, and the biggest crime...

According to RealtyTrac, Akron Ohio is the leader in housing units per foreclosure filings. And Columbus Ohio is 6th on the list. The FC in Ohio? Rounding out the top 20 foreclosure metro areas are Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Canton. You know, pretty much the entire state. Huh. I would have thought that Richard Cordray, the current Robo-cop at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and former attorney general of Ohio, would have cleaned up the foreclosure mess before heading up the CFPB. Here is a chart of underwater mortgages in Ohio. Ohio is at 32.48% underwater. The striking thing...

Rush Limbaugh is taking a “whistling past the graveyard” approach to Barack Obama’s scandals. He is being very cautious about allowing himself to feel that some damage will be done to Obama when the dust from these scandals clears. Rush even quotes James Carville’s liberal wishful thinking about this lasting “only 30 days” to help convince himself he’s right; nevertheless, Rush is wrong. While there is no doubt that Obama won’t be impeached, as Rush allows that isn’t important. Saying there won’t be any damage to Obama, his Party and their dangerous agenda is simply wrong. These scandals will do...

During an interview with Geraldo River this morning, Dennis Kucinich said that president Obama has "constructed a framework" that shields him from taking responsibility.

Her'e something to amuse you as we await Jay Carney's 12:45 WH presser. In an article about the impact of the Obama scandals on the upcoming Massachussetts senate special election, we get this gem.....

The Wall Street Journal reports that the part-time Florida Legislature has adjourned for the year without approving the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which Gov. Rick Scott famously flip-flopped into supporting earlier this year. Here's how the Journal's editorial described the outcome: The nine Republican governors who decided earlier this year to pump some helium into the Obamacare balloon and expand Medicaid forgot about that saving grace of American politics: the separation of powers. On Friday, Florida became the latest state to reject the expansion, as Gov. Rick Scott failed to convince the GOP-controlled legislature to approve his Medicaid flip. Republicans in...

Sharon at the Phoenix Gun Turn In Sharon came to the gun turn in at the Sunnyslope Mennonite Church in Phoenix, looking for a pistol for self defense. She shoots at Shooters World, and intends to take the pistol there to have it checked out. She has children in the Army, and she expects that they will go to the desert for some family fun with their firearms. Sharon said "We should have weapons to protect our families and homes." Sharon's Makarov The pistol that she obtained, a Russian made Makarov in .380 ACP, was in excellent condition with...

    As the top chart shows, gold's brief recovery now looks more and more like a "dead cat bounce." Further weakness is likely in store, as the second chart suggests. As I mentioned last month, gold appears to be re-linking to commodities.   This is a big deal, as the chart above suggests. Gold had been trouncing just about everything for 10 years or so, but now things are reversing. Equities—productive investment—are now in favor while gold—speculative investment—is out of favor.

Lamar Alexander has an inventive way of fending off potential primary foes, one that could be a model for GOP incumbents running in 2014. Drop by their house for iced tea. Just ask Monty Lankford, who threatened to challenge Alexander in a 2014 primary. On a recent afternoon, the Tennessee Republican met Lankford’s family at their home outside of Nashville, then sat down with his one-time foe for iced tea and cheese and crackers. The result: Lankford joined Alexander’s campaign team as its co-chairman and a chief fundraiser. The iced tea summit is indicative of the new, more aggressive tactics...

If you were smart you made the most of your pre-Memorial Day weekend by not watching the news. Or maybe you only watched the Sunday morning talking heads to keep up on Scandal-gate. Either way, you probably missed the big stories about our newly expanded and re-vitamized initiatives. Let me bring you up to speed. First, Lady M announced she is dramatically expanding her No Child’s Fat Behind initiative to zoos! Yup, that’s right, zoos. [Let’s be careful out there: no simian references please. We’re better than that.] Most people are not aware of the growing problem of zoo resident...

If you're looking for some good news - here it is! All eyes are on Illinois. We've watched the legislatures in state after state capitulate to the well-funded and well-organized "gay marriage" blitzkrieg. This year the final state in the "gay marriage" path is Illinois. But it looks like the "gay lobby" will probably be stopped there by a marvelous pro-family army! With only two weeks until the current session ends, it's down to a final vote in the House. After months of intense lobbying, the "no-on-gay-marriage" votes have a pretty strong lead, which actually seems to be growing a...

How many times over the last decades are we going to hear from Washington leadership, especially in the Executive Branch, that they “didn’t know” or it was some underlings fault? I wonder how long the American people are going to get scammed with those excuses before finally waking up. There is a basic and simple reason for these pleas of incompetence from perpetrators of criminal behavior. You don’t go to jail for incompetence or lack of knowledge. You do go to jail for intent and deliberate illegal acts. Possibly you could go to jail for negligence, but not nearly for...

Sunday, May 19, 2013 Radicals, Moderates and Islamists Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments The radical-moderate continuum that has defined the dialogue on Islam in the War on Terror is not an authentic perspective, it is an observer perspective. To the Western observer, a suicide bomber is radical, a Muslim Imam willing to perform gay weddings is moderate and the Muslim Brotherhood leader who supports some acts of terror, but not others, is moderately radical or radically moderate. These descriptions tell us nothing about Islam or about what Muslims believe, but do tell us a...

Shortly before the second-term inauguration of Barack Obama this January, I wrote the following of my worries over the Obama way of doing business: But the untruths and hypocrisy hover in the partisan atmosphere and incrementally and insidiously undermine each new assertion that we hear from the president — some of them perhaps necessary and logical. Indeed, the more emphatically he adds “make no mistake about it,” “let me be perfectly clear,” “I’m not kidding,” or the ubiquitous “me,” “my,” and “I” to each new assertion, the more a growing number of people will come to know from the past...

Talkin a lot more than a tax audits now... Houston-based True the Vote is an organization dedicated to preserving the integrity of the voting process. They're a outfit any normal, good-faith American ought to be glad exists, what with 160 U.S. counties showing more people registered than the actual number of live, eligible voters in existence. Alas, the compulsively-crooked Obama White House despises them. True the Vote IS NOT a Republican outfit, and promotes no candidates nor political issues- they're merely focused on ensuring legal/fair/inclusive voting. In just the previous 18 months, voter fraud cases have been prosecuted in 36 states, so...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Compilation of the IRS’s actions in its targeting of conservatives In May 2013, the Washington Post reported that the IRS had illegally targeted conservative groups for additional reviews. Organizations with the words “tea party” or “patriot” were singled out for harassment, such as requiring them to provide a list of donors, details about their internet postings on social networking websites, and information about their family members.When this was first reported by the media in May 2013, Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that had conducted these illegal activities, claimed that only low level employees had...

On the evening of 23 March, 1983, Ronald Reagan delivered a televised address about defence and national security. "Let me share with you a vision of the future," the president began in what was a last-minute addition to the half-hour speech. In Reagan's vision, we would "embark on a program to counter the awesome Soviet missile threat with measures that are defensive." It was the first mention of Reagan's Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), the plan to change America's nuclear posture from offensive to defensive. His goal was to render the Soviet nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete." Reagan's admirers praised SDI...

The feast of Pentecost is the celebration of one of the most important moments in church history. It commemorates the day when, after the Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Spirit gave the Faithful a special ability to speak to crowds of different nationalities in their own languages. Now, we don’t know exactly what happened that day – whether the Apostles instantly learned other languages, or their audiences instantly learned to hear them in their heads as if they had. All we know is that the leaders of the Church were suddenly, miraculously, able to reach people, and this was...

One of the things which has so *maddened* conservatives during the oh-so-dolorous-and-slow Chinese water torture of the Obama administration, is the way that the Administration seems to be "above the law" or "unaccountable"; and at that, not only in a Nixonian sense, but in a Louis XIV sense ("L'état, c'est moi"). Look back at some of the initial scandals and/or muckraking topics from the first term, or from the campaign against Romney: "They acted stupidly" / beer summit The non-prosecution of the Black Panthers for voter intimidation The brouhaha over the "birth certificate" The non-closure of Club Gitmo The run-up...

Republicans seek to establish paranoid 'culture of cover-ups' at IRS hearingblares the headline of allvoices. During a heated grilling on Capitol Hill by congressional lawmakers, resigned IRS Commissioner Steve Miller gave his best effort to describe what happened at the Cincinnati office by examiners, who were accused of “targeting” conservative groups for extra scrutiny on tax-exempt applications. It was not nefarious activity meant to be politically targeted, said Miller. Apparently, it was a shortcut system designed to handle the flood of applications for 501(c)(4) status that doubled after Citizens United was allowed by the Supreme Court to deluge political campaigns...

When He appears officially it is played. Who is the Chief? Of what?Writing about Hail to the Chief here, I observed that President Obama is the chief only of the military. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwJvxY7uENM?feature=player_detailpage] Video link The lyrics are not usually sung. Here they are: Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation, Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all. Hail to the Chief, as we pledge cooperation  In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call. Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander, This you will do, that’s our strong, firm belief. Hail to the one...

A senior adviser to President Obama mounted a combative defense of the administration on Sunday, saying that the controversies enveloping the White House were the result of Republican lawmakers trying to “drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations.”

The IRS is Obama’s KGB – their agents and the armed goons that they employ to enforce their arbitrary will. And the IRS isn’t the only agency Obama uses to bludgeon Americans into surrendering their freedom. Make no mistake – Obama is the person responsible for the IRS lawbreaking, not some low-level rogue bureaucrats.Obama has made it clear that conservatives, Tea Partiers, and Republicans are the enemy. He has never acknowledged their legitimacy, even after the 2010 mid-term elections, and he never misses an opportunity to demonize them. Any IRS manager would view this as a green light to punish...

[typo is in the original article title, should read "Oakland"] No matter what the outcome, the federal court takeover of the Oakland Police Department is going to cost taxpayers millions — starting with the $270,000-plus-a-year salary for the new compliance director. That’s $13,000 more than what former Police Chief Howard Jordan was making before he jumped — or was pushed — into medical retirement this month. In addition to the $270,000 salary, compliance director Thomas Frazier will receive benefits equal to those paid to the city administrator and the police chief, including any unused vacation, sick or executive leave that...

The Tea Party Patriots on behalf of Tea Party, Patriot groups, 9/12, liberty activists, and the American people, we are calling for anyone and everyone to protest the IRS’ complete abuse of power on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at noon local time.

I've almost completed the 1st week of Insanity. I understand that it is designed to be a rough workout, but I have a hard time keeping up with Shaun T. I was wondering if other have completed this and if they were happy with the results. A guy I work with does P90X and repeats it - he's done it 6 times so far. I definitely feel better after a week.

Inadequately covered females force male members in the Religion of Piece to react impurely. Ditto in the U.S. Armed Forces. That must cease, right now. No matter how hard the task may become, the rank and file must embrace Our Loving President's creative solutions. President Obama's gracious embrace of Islamism and his own heroic assassination of Osama Bin Laden have brought peace to the Islamic World including even the United States. Because of his historic foresight in making it perfectly clear that "the future must not belong to those who speak accurately of slander the prophet of Islam," we are no longer under threat of attack by Islamic terrorists extremists and...

Presidential adviser David Axelrod sought to deflect blame for the scandals swirling around President Obama by pointing out that “as it stands today, government is unmanageably big. The responsibilities and scope of action are so enormous that no human being or even team of humans could possibly govern effectively.” Axelrod hastened to clarify that “I’m not joining the ranks of the ‘smaller government’ crowd. That would be irresponsible. Government has a moral obligation to meet the needs of the people. It can’t shirk this obligation just because its attainment is impossible.” The very impossibility of the task was held to...

Haaretz's Barak Ravid reports that US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has given Israeli and 'Palestinian' negotiators something upon which they can agree. About one thing, thereÂ’s no disagreement between Jerusalem and Ramallah: Kerry has a lot of good intentions and a real sense of mission; he truly wants to make peace in the Middle East. But despite his good intentions, Kerry so far looks like a naive and ham-handed diplomat who has been acting like a bull in the china shop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Or as former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan once put it, heÂ’s a good...

When you watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart from 1946, you are given the impression that banks (as represented by Henry F. Potter) are stingy and evil. Savings and Loans (S&Ls) (as represented by George Bailey) are kind-hearted and good. A ridiculous stereotype, of course. Tell that to taxpayers who had to bail out the S&L industry to the tune of more than $124 billion. Bert Ely has a nice discussion of what happened to the S&L industry here. In short, S&L’s were regulated as to how much interest they could pay on deposits (Reg Q) and when...

Israel Radio reported this morning (Sunday) that the United States has apologized to Israel for disclosing that Israel was behind the strikes on Damascus two weeks ago. According to the report, the decision to disclose that Israel was behind the strikes was made at a low level in the Pentagon, and the US Department of Defense is investigating how that happened. According to the report, Israel believes that it is now facing much stronger threats from Bashar al-Assad as a result of the disclosure.

Swiss Vetterli Carbine Circa 1870 This Vetterli carbine was turned in very early on May 18, 2013, at the Phoenix gun turn in event. I photographed it on the turn in table at about 8:09 am. I cannot Identify it further, and this is the only picture that I have. Does anyone know if this is an original carbine, or is it a later conversion? The rifle was manufactured about 1870. Dean Weingarten

You know what the IRS is really great at? Breaking its own laws. In addition to targeting conservative groups, the corrupt government agency has also been singling out disabled veterans. They do this by using banks to launder and then stealing the veterans’ disability checks. Shameful. The Veterans Disability Act of 2010 exempts VA disability from withholding of any sort. But the IRS has been stealing disabled veterans’ money anyways. Kevin Lake is a 60% disabled veteran of the Iraq War. A few months ago, he noticed that his VA disability check had not been deposited, and that his bank...

A friend of the court brief by Lucas Daniel Smith appears on line as having just been filed with the Alabama Supreme Court in an appeals case seeking to reinstate the challenge of President Obama’s eligibility to serve as US President. The online link shows the fully notarized Amicus Curiae (1) which Smith sent to Chief Justice Roy Moore and ten other authorities and includes a copy of the Mombasa certificate of live birth of Barack Hussein Obama II. Other exhibits include passport photos of Obama, Sr. and a postal mailing of the Senate Publication dealing with the Natural Born...

I don't know about you, but the mantra being spouted by President Obama and his administration officials is wearing a little thin. The latest is what they are saying about the IRS targeting conservative groups for intense scrutiny before they were granted or denied their tax exempt status from the IRS. If we are to believe President Obama, he knew nothing of the actions taken by the IRS and is totally outraged. Just as he knew nothing of what took place in the Fast and Furious operation and what actually went down in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of...

Ever since its spontaneous inception, the Tea Party has been doing their Paul Revere thing with respect to warning citizens about the danger of too big, out-of-control government. So, in a move designed, seemingly, to prove their point, the IRS’ responded by implementing a program designed to harass and intimidate individuals and groups that looked anything like a tea party. Alinsky rule # 12: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. That sounds a lot...

@4:10 WJ: Given the current kerfuffle that President Obama tried to lay to rest yesterday with the release of the long form, if he had essentially been born in Kenya for any reason would that have disqualified him automatically from being president of the United States? Spiro: Well, good question. What has given the "birther" movement some legs is that under the law as it existed in 1961 Barack Obama would NOT have been a citizen at birth if he had been born in Kenya.

Celia Roady is a lawyer and a partner at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP. Roady is now admitting that she was contacted by Lois Lerner on May 9th. Lerner on the 9th asked Celia Roady to ask the planted IRS question discriminating against conservatives and she agreed. Celia Roady, who released a statement to Fox News says there were no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question. Also, Roady claims that she hasn’t spoken with Lois Lerner about this issue before that May 9th phone call. Finally, Celia Roady says that Lerner did not tell herr how she would...

Saturday, May 18, 2013 The End of Competition Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments The American Dream does not actually require a red, white and blue flag or a dream. What it requires is a willingness to accept messiness. Messiness is another word for chaos. And no one likes chaos. Chaos means that in the richest country in the world some people will be illiterate, others will be homeless and some will accidentally set themselves on fire because the fireworks don't come with enough safety warnings. Those aren't good things. They're not things that governments...

I don't agree with much at all of what the Oklahoma Policy Institute puts out, but their information about the recent tax cut legislation passed by the Oklahoma legislature and signed into law by Governor Fallin is right on the money. Opinions about policy can vary, but numbers don't lie. I've looked at the new tax rates in House Bill 2032 and I've run the numbers against the tax rates in this year's form 511 - the Oklahoma individual income tax form. What the numbers tell me is that the things being said by Governor Fallin, Speak of the House...

More at Reaganite Republican...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Here are 176 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, government waste, and other misdeeds In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for the Green Party in future elections. Some of the things on this list are major events that should scare the daylights out of any true liberal who cares about civil liberties.Other things on this list are medium things...

Last year Burger King’s Summertime Menu included a Bacon Sundae but they seem intent on topping that this year with the introduction of the Burger King Rib Sandwich. An obvious copy of the popular McDonald’s McRib Sandwich, the Burger King version will be available starting May 21st through the end of the summer along with the return of a line of Memphis Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Sweet Potato Fries. The Burger King Rib Sandwich was tested in Shreveport, Louisiana and did very well there. Let’s not forget Burger King also had those Fire Grilled bone in Ribs a few years...

In an exceptional political signal, a senior Israeli official contacted Mark Landler of the New York Times and explained that the Israeli government was determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hizbullah. The official, who remained anonymous throughout the report, added that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reacts to this policy by attacking Israel – either directly or indirectly through a proxy force – he will “risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate.”

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was Jay Leno’s guest on the Tonight Show Friday, and he didn’t have kind things to say about the current White House resident or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At one point in their discussion, Romney said, “I’m not a fan of the president—in case you didn’t know that.” …

When in doubt, pull it out. Pull what out, you ask? Why, the Race Card, of course. It always comes in handy whenever Our President comes under attack. And so it is for such a time as this that the Race Card was created. For this has been a very rough week or so for Dear Leader. I mean, the Benghazi scandal, which just won't go away, now has been joined by the IRS targeting scandal and the AP record-seizing scandal. Oy! Time for the Big Guy to take a golfing vacation somewhere, I guess, to get a little...