Free Republic

The negative job growth that began during the last year of Bush's presidency was perfectly normal, and even expected; it was the natural byproduct of the market correction. It was expected to last for about a year -- and, it did. Job creation was expected to return to normal in February of 2009, but as the chart shows, under Obama's dismal leadership, job creation recovered too slowly, taking a year to get to baseline, when it should have taken no more than three months.

Most of you who read this site are well aware of my political leanings - I happen to believe that the current administration is perhaps the most inept, reckless and endangering to liberty in the history of this nation and needs to be replaced at the ballot box this coming November. Those of you who own mining company stocks should take note that as part of the budget submitted by the Obama administration, all hard-rock mining companies would be required to pay annual rents and royalty fees of no less than 5% of gross proceeds. Currently a law that is...

Politico is a bit upset about the recent investigative journalist piece done by The Daily Caller on Media Matters. In that piece they spoke to many former staffers at Media Matters, and what did they find? Yet those same interviews, as well as a detailed organizational planning memo obtained by The Daily Caller, also suggest that Media Matters has to a great extent achieved its central goal of influencing the national media. Founded by Brock in 2004 as a liberal counterweight to “conservative misinformation” in the press, Media Matters has in less than a decade become a powerful player in...

Watch Ted Nugent annihilate communist CNN talker, Piers Morgan, in one of the greatest take-downs in recent memory.

The Race Detective makes a huge discovery again! At the Fox News article about Whitney Houston, he discovers racist comments. What’s odd is that I have seen Whitney Houston threads at various Conservative sites. Not once have I seen racist sentiments directed toward the death of Ms. Houston. But as we know, the Race Detective has henchmen like Killgore Trout and Hoosier Hoops who plant racist comments. Once again, The Race Detective is “tipped” off by posters and discovers racist comments!

http://youtu.be/s3u9LB32YYM

In the Fair Sex Act, yankeerino humorously attacks the left wing notions that entitlements are open ended, that equality is the absolute goal of a just society. Beginning as an open letter to "fellow" liberals, the Fair Sex Act imagines a world where economic equality has been achieved, and liberals now need to figure out what else to make equal, so as to stay employed. Complete with a faux history of Karl Marx's stages of society reworked as sex, scientific studies extolling the virtues of equality in sex, and even a sample sexual tax return, the Fair Sex Act is...

Romney said he was "severely conservative" in a deep blue state. What the hell does that mean? That doesn't have a positive sound to it. What is so severe about being correct? The Murdoch media keeps telling us that we conservatives are not yet convinced that Moot is conservative - as though if Romney just teaks that speech of his a little more here and a little bip and tuch there - THEN - er will all capitulate our sense and get aboard the Romney express. The pundits want to keep this clown in the game so badly. I don't...

A massive plan to turn Lamorinda cities into Fruitvale Transit Villages to force drivers out of their cars and rely more heavily on public transportation was unveiled Thursday, February 9 at a joint meeting of the city councils of Orinda, Lafayette, and Moraga. The plan proposes a major reconfiguration of the layout of all three cities. The plan was unveiled by Martin Engelmann of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, a public agency formed, in 1988, by the voters of Contra Costa County. The agency is charged with county-wide transportation planning. The plan proposes to concentrate housing and population growth near...

Social networking has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the latter are the occasional dispute one gets dragged into with someone you think is an imbecile; perhaps an intelligent imbecile, but an imbecile nonetheless. That's a harsh judgment, and I'm sure I'm wrong about the person I disputed with, who I don't even know. But, uses of government power inspire passions for and against, and those who meet the outrage of those imposed upon with "tut-tut-you've-got-it-all-wrong" protestations are apt to provoke a reaction. I fell into the trap the other night on a facebook friend's post--another person I don't know--and want...

It’s now official, Ranting Andy Hoffman and I are extremists. Why, because we favor a return to the Gold Standard and believe that the United States went bankrupt as a result of Nixon’s decision to abandon the remnants of the Gold Standard that were still in place in August 1971. The FBI is warning local law enforcement that people who consider themselves to be sovereign citizens, who object to EPA regulations, who resent the IRS, could be prone to extreme violence with no warning. If we’re extremists, then we hope you will join us and together we can show the...

A couple of polls came out from Public Policy Polling this weekend showing that Santorum seems to be replacing Newt Gingrich as the main "not Romney" candidate in Minnesota and Colorado. There seems to be a desire to "give another conservative a chance" as well as to potentially field a candidate without as much baggage as Newt so that Mitt Romney's negative ad carpet bombing will not be as effective. I think though that this reasoning is fallacious and switching support from Newt to Santorum at this point would be a major mistake. Let's just look at what I believe...

What would a birthday be without some commemoration? Noman Says is one year old today. It occurred to me just yesterday that somebody out there might be invoking me as an authority in an argument, or mentioning me in a conversation: "Noman says..." That's my hope, especially for readers overseas. It's been a good year, though I'm amazed I stayed with it. If the President had been less forceful shoving his defective ideas about state power down the country's throat, I might not have. Then, there was the economy--always a lively topic. May it once again become safe in America...

Americans don't want a king — which was as true in 1776 as it is today.If George Washington had not been sitting in the room, it’s likely many of the delegates to the federal convention of 1787 would have supported a multi-executive model for the new Constitution, rather than a solitary president. After all, just upstairs in the Pennsylvania State House where they met that summer was the chamber where the Pennsylvania executive council met, led by a president who they changed annually. But Washington’s unquestioned integrity, submission to civilian rule over the military, and willingness to lay down his...

I know that President Obama is cool, and everybody just loves him personally. But, does it ever seem as if he's going out of his way to poke his finger in your eye? Not that you'd mind, of course. Well, it turns out you're most probably right. Rule for Radicals #10 (no, I'm not joking) is "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition." The dark lord of discord, Saul Alinsky, explains: [quote] It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential...

Since the Bolshevik Revolution, the clenched fist has been the left’s most visible symbol. In the ‘60s, it adorned posters and buttons and was adopted as a symbol of revolution by SDS, the black power movement, feminists and other Trotsky wannabes here and abroad. Now, it’s been resurrected by some in Occupy Wall Street. The symbolism couldn’t be more fitting. Fists are for smashing (institutions and traditions), bashing (heads) and pounding (square pegs into round holes).

Senior Muslim Brotherhood official tells 'Al Hayat' if the US cuts aid to Egypt, it would be violation of 1979 peace accords. US aid to Egypt is guaranteed by the Camp David Accords, and stopping it would be a violation of that treaty, a high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker said Sunday. Essam El-Erian, who also serves as chairman of the Egyptian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that should aid from Washington be cut, the Brotherhood would consider changing the terms of Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. El-Erian told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat the US needs to understand that “what was...

The FBI, our federal police, have just released a report claiming that sovereign individuals, who oppose environmental regulations and believe that the United State's departure from the Gold Standard caused it to go bankrupt present a threat to law enforcement. Never mind that rampant criminality taking place on Wall Street, people who believe in limited government are now the threat. So next time you get stopped by a cop, let him now that you support ever expanding government, that he is entitled to life time free medical coverage and that his pension is way too small. And that you believe...

Forcing us to buy health insurance and pay for abortions whether our conscience will allow it or not are not the only dangerous elements of Obamacare. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has examined the bill …….. Here are the AFP’s observations. It’s partially true that healthcare will be rationed. Cost limitations are mandated and will be enforced. It is true that a committee of government bureaucrats will decide what treatments you can receive with no appeals accepted. Despite doubletalk to the contrary healthcare costs for ACORN the SEIU the UAW and other unions WILL be subsidized by you. And remember the...

Debbie Squires of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association speaks to the House Education Committee. "Educators go through education for a reason. They are the people who know best about how to serve children. That is not necessarily true about an individual resident. Not saying that they don't want the best for their children, but they may not know what actually is best from an education standpoint."

This is the Obama’ who liberals fought for in 2008. This is Obama the brilliant one, the wise one, the just one, the master compromiser and most of all the ultimate voice of fairness’. In keeping his promise to feminists to force all employers to give their female employees free birth control drugs and devices through employee health insurance, via the Affordable Health care Act (aka Obama-care), he ran into opposition by the Catholic Church and Catholic leaders. Catholic objections to having their institutions being forced to give free birth control to their employees when they believe that using birth...

Liberals:President Barack Obama: "I deserve a second term.” President Obama: "What's frustrated people is that I haven't been able to force Congress to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008.  It turns out that our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about changes than I would like sometimes." Obama: "One of the worries we have obviously in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super PACs, these independent expenditures that are gonna be out there, there is gonna be just a lot of money floating around and I...

The federal debt has increased by $4.47 trillion since President Barack Obama released his first federal budget on Feb. 26, 2009. That budget was entitled, “A New Era of Responsibility.” On Feb. 26, 2009, as Obama released his budget for fiscal 2010, the national debt stood at $10.88 trillion (10,881,159,722,022.36). At the close of business on Feb. 9, 2012, the national debt stood at $15.36 trillion ($15,355,838,921,022.16). That represents an increase in the debt of $4.47 trillion ($4,474,679,198,999.80).

We showed President Obama’s health care mandate to be the intrusion into the free exercise of religion that it was, and we showed that his “compromise” was no compromise at all, but a wolf in compromise clothing. So, how did the president’s magnanimous gesture of healing go over through the weekend? Predictably, it flopped. At least among those serious about their faith...

It is perhaps indicative of how tense things are here right now that Iran has taken the trouble to deny Prime Minister Netanyahu's accusation that it was responsible for the attempted bombings at Israel's embassies in New Delhi and Tbilisi on Monday. Iran rejects as "sheer lies" accusations that it was involved in a bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in India, the official IRNA news agency quoted the Islamic Republic's ambassador to New Delhi as saying on Monday, after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu implicated Tehran and its ally Hezbollah in the attacks. "Any terrorist attack is condemned (by Iran)...

Last week Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi writer was arrested for Tweeting his opinion that he and the Islamic prophet Mohammad were essentially equals; he faces execution. For Christians that have endured Piss Christ, and The Holy Virgin Mary, such comments seem fairly innocuous, but Ismah, the doctrine of Muhammad's infallibility says otherwise. Still, execution remains a stretch. Kashgari fled for his life to Malasia, which does not execute blasphemers, but he was extradited to Saudi Arabia in violation of his right to a hearing. Worse, Interpol, a US sponsored agency, facilitated this arrest and violation of his human rights. As...

In 2008 when my wife, Gena, and I were on the campaign trail backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was fighting to get former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney elected. (Listen in this video how Santorum passionately endorsed and elevated Mitt in his bid for the Oval Office.) Just three years ago in his interview with radio host and conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, Santorum also emphatically told millions of listening Americans: “If you’re a conservative, if you’re a Republican, there is only one place to go, and that’s Mitt Romney.” Why an alleged conservative...

Up to now, President Obama has railed against so-called “super PACs” that bundle money to conduct “independent” campaigns on behalf of favored candidates. But as his efforts to raise funds for his own campaign have bogged down he is urging his supporters to donate to “Priorities USA,” a super PAC led by two former Obama aides that is dedicated to his reelection. “I wouldn’t call it a ‘flip-flop’ so much as a demonstration of nimble flexibility,” said Obama campaign spokesman David Axelrod. “I think it was Emerson who said that ‘consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’ The President shouldn’t...

Taxpayers are unlucky in love this Valentine’s Day. Of an identified $17 billion in Valentine’s Day related spending on candy, flowers, dinner, jewelry, greetings cards, clothing, and hotels, government composes 33.14 percent of those costs—approximately $5.6 billion in revenues. But how does government love thee? Let us tax the ways…. This year’s average Valentine’s Day spending is estimated to be $126.03 a person, an 8 percent increase in spending since last year. Valentine’s Day spending is subject to income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and other taxes on business activity. Government then includes additional fees, excise taxes, and international...

You have to hand it to Barack Obama. He has unmasked in the most thoroughgoing way the despotic propensities of the administrative entitlements state and of the Democratic Party. And now he has done something similar to the hierarchy of the American Catholic Church.

Do you remember Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak? He was the rarest of rare birds, a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat who had the stones to stage a Custer’s last stand against the Pelosi/Obama health care bill in 2009. And for his trouble, former-Congressman Stupak got himself Custered. He objected to language in the Patient Protection and Affordability Act – ObamaCare – that would permit abortion funding and force religious charities to fund contraceptive services in contradiction to their beliefs. Nancy Pelosi refused to amend the bill’s language to explicitly ban abortion funding and to protect the freedom of religious charities from government...

The polo magnate who adopted his girlfriend in an alleged attempt to protect his fortune from a lawsuit must now battle with his teenaged children who want the adoption thrown out. John Goodman adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend in the fall, giving her a share of the more than $300 million trust he established for his two biological children -- a move that critics said was a ploy to save millions for himself if he loses an upcoming wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a car accident that killed Scott Wilson in February 2010. The guardian of Goodman's children opened another legal...

The Detroit Tigers were a few wins short of going to the World Series last year. Team ownership signed All Star first baseman Prince Fielder to a 9-year, $214 million deal in the hopes that he will help push the team over the top as well as continue strong attendance at Comerica Park. Since the club has all that extra revenue available and expect more from higher attendance, will they consider repaying Michigan taxpayers for the hundreds of millions of dollars that were used to subsidize the team's stadium? Comerica Park opened in 2000 after three years of construction and...

When campaigns gather information from strategists, one of the most annoying things I notice is the importance placed on poll-tested buzz words. In a Republican primary, where every candidate seeks to gain the vote of its base, the biggest buzz word is 'conservative.' During the 2010 elections, newly active conservatives (the tea party) worked to unseat Democrats who played the big buzz word but then voted for the wholesale take over of the health industry. They also worked to primary (negate incumbency) life-time anointed Republicans who hadn't really been scrutinized in the past. The actions of the tea party showed...

Something to cheer your Monday up I hope...lol

President Obama has a slightly different interpretation of Exodus 20:3, first of the Ten Commandments, he has now clarified his policy: When a despot (Obama) declares one “right” (too choose to kill your offspring) to be SUPERIOR to another right (worship and conscience, as per First Amendment)… we soon learn we in reality have NO RIGHTS at all (how can any "right" trump another?)! Obama’s actions are tantamount to “establishing religion” as worship of government above all other is demanded and to be forced through Federal coercion! This is not just unconstitutional, it is ANTI-Constitutional! BIG LIB, media and Obama...

By now we know ……….Cardinal Timothy Dolan has not “caved to Obama” or anyone else. There was never any doubt this would be the case because as the personal representative of Pope Benedict XVI Cardinal Dolan is carrying this fight not only for religious freedoms of Catholics but the liberties of all Americans as well. In this proxy war between Benedict and Barack Obama the very existence of the Catholic Church in America is at stake and Pope Benedict has no intention of losing. The timeline of events over the past eight years makes this very clear. In 2004 Benedict...

As I uncovered long buried interviews from your contemporaries in the late 80’s, and then interviews with Paul Weyrich and Pete DuPont, I rediscovered the enormity of what you had accomplished as a young Congressman. I became shocked and angry I didn’t know this and that current conservative leaders didn’t seem to care. Until someone puts themselves back in the era of what was considered a “permanent” minority position, no one today can not comprehend the mental, financial, political and cultural challenge to reversing 40 years of Democrat domination. And you were planning it as a hippy-looking, first term Congressman...

I won't pretend that there has been any one, single event or occurrence of late that has prompted this discussion. Suffice it to say that I'm absolutely, positively fed up as a Christian, a veteran, and as an American. I'm well into my 50's now, and in my lifetime I have never seen a more open, blatant attack on not only our freedoms as Americans but also our beliefs (e.g. Christianity in all of its forms), our sensibilities, and even our intelligence. There are multitudinous examples of enemies out there who loathe our country, our faith, our founding principles, our...

.....At the same time, the president’s foreign aid request includes an entirely new $770 million account in 2013, described as the Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund with the purpose of advancing democratic and economic reforms in the region after the turmoil of the past year. The two initiatives come on top of the budget’s plan for an almost 50 percent, six-year increase in transportation spending, $231 billion of which would be financed not by gas taxes but war savings attributed to Obama pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Conservatives are sure to challenge this assumption and...

There are two possible conflicts on the table in Washington. One is with Iran and the other with Syria. The Iran conflict is the one that Washington doesn't want. Its most likely trigger at this stage is an Israeli assault on Iran's nuclear program. Like most of the wars centering around Israel, this one is existential and of no interest to the philosopher kings in D.C. who wage wars with the grand purpose of making the world a better place. Washington does not particularly care whether Iran gets nukes or doesn't get nukes. It cares about History. With a capital...

For those of us who emigrated from those nations whose societies suffered not only overwhelming destruction, but a devastating loss of freedom and liberty, we can only warn our fellow citizens that the country is going down a road that is becoming eerily familiar. It is not hyperbole to say that we see someone in the White House whose character reflects the worst and most dangerous traits to be found in a national leader, and we are stunned that the majority of the American people do not understand what is happening to the most successful society in the history of...

One surfaced recently in Colorado, as they are beginning to around the US. Clearly, some characters (that we never should have let into the country) have gone to the trouble of getting stamps made -not some random scribble- just so they can put this rubbish in your face. About all one can do is reject the bills as defaced to keep the propagandized currency from circulating, much as resolutely repainting a public wall neutralizes graffiti artists' platform: please beware and DO NOT accept such bills from anyone. Anybody out there who still doesn't think we are at war...? As the...

Sarah Palin isn't seeking the GOP nomination for president. But if these "social media" numbers are any indication, more than twice the voters prefer Sarah Palin to Mitt Romney.  At present, 3,283,462 followers "like" Sarah Palin on her Facebook page. That is more than twice the number of those who, so far, have "liked" Mitt Romney on his Facebook,-1,469,434.Palin likewise smashes Romney on Twitter with 734,104 "followers" , while Romney has a mere 333,569 "followers".Perhaps this "follower" on Palin's Facebook echos the sentiment of many with this recent comment"["Happy Birthday Sarah !,-God bless you ! RUN SARAH RUN, for president you are the last...

This is a cool video of the ISS flying from Mexico to New Brunswick Canada. You can see the Aurora Borealis in the distance. As you get further north, it is easier to tell what is what, and you can clearly make out Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit (which surprisingly has a lot of lights, but the lights could be Windsor), Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, and even Fredrikton. You can see most of the great lakes, the St Lawrence River, and at the very end you can see the Gaspee peninsula of Quebec, and my favorite place I have worked,...

While Ron Paul is still in search of his first win of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign, one of his Iowa strategists, A.J. Spiker, was elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. Spiker will fill out the remainder of Matt Strawn’s second term, which will end in January. Strawn resigned after being criticized for his handling of the Iowa Caucus results and the ensuing certification process. The selection of Spiker by the Republican State Central Committee (SCC) has raised questions from some Republican activists. Spiker is an unabashed supporter of Ron Paul and was on his payroll. Since being...

Phil Lawler of CatholicCulture.org offers an in-depth analysis of President Obama's accommodation of the religious Left in the flap over his administration's coercion of religious institutions, most obviously Catholic ones. Catholic Leftist's like Sr. Carol Keehan, D.C., President of the Catholic Health Association--known as Obama's nun; the presumptive Bishop of the American Church recognized by secularists and self-hating Catholics--approve of the State intruding upon the Church's internal governance. They won't object about that until Catholic governance reflects their beliefs, at which time enough will be enough, the lamb will lay down with the lion, and Church-State relations will achieve heights...

Yes, I know Athens is burning as some of the more violent demonstrators threw some Molotov cocktails and the media was given some photo ops so the situation can be understood by those too involved with life’s challenges to read. If that sounds acerbic it is because I have been writing about the Greek debt crisis since December of 2009 when the Chinese investment funds reneged on a promise to purchase $25 Billion of Greek bonds and the debt crisis was in full swing. Again, Athens may be the present battleground but the political and financial games are being played...

  Which Is Anti-Immigrant, Arizona or California? David C. Stolinsky Feb. 13, 2012 If you relied on the mainstream media, you would conclude that Arizona is anti-immigrant, while California is pro-immigrant. You would conclude that Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer must hate immigrants. After all, she signed SB-1070, which requires police to refer illegal immigrants to Immigration if they are arrested for other crimes. The law was passed after illegals committed a series of crimes, culminating in the murder of well-known rancher Robert Krentz, a man who went out of his way to help others. But Democratic California Governor...