Free Republic

When Wendy Larson arrived to watch Wednesday night's presidential debate at Ann's Choice in Warminster, she had already decided on voting for incumbent President Barack Obama. "I made up my mind after the conventions," said Larson. "When I saw the Republicans, I didn't think they represented me." Ninety minutes later, Larson found herself back on the fence over how she will cast her ballot on November 6. "Romney acquitted himself well," she said. "He showed he has more experience in dealing with the country's problems." Judging by the real time reactions posted by Patch users in Bucks and Montgomery counties...

Tonight wasn’t about winners and losers - although Romney clearly was the more impressive man - it was about who has the poise, experience, competence and vision to restore America’s economic vitality and who can project an image of strength throughout the world. I will freely admit, in past years, I was not Mitt Romney’s biggest cheerleader; I refuse to lie and be a hypocrite. However, when we needed him most, when America literally hangs in the balance between propaganda and patriotism, Governor Romney erased any doubt as to who will defend the timeless ideals this nation was founded upon:...

No matter how many times I brought up this issue about Mitt Romney during the GOP primaries, it didn't get any traction. Conservatives should be appalled by this but if the 95% of African-Americans who voted for Obama believe it is government's job to take care of them, they should be informed: (2 min. video)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) contends that Republicans are “poisoning the debate” and “suffocating the issues under a barrage of facts and statistics.” “All we are hearing from them is negativity,” Pelosi complained. “They say the economy is faltering, too many people are unemployed, taxes are too high, foreign policy is a shambles—just one unpleasant fact after another. This doesn’t lift up the country. It doesn’t boost morale.” The Congresswoman contrasted the GOP’s negativity with the Democrats’ message of “hope and change.” “Everyday, the President is out there trying to take people’s minds off their troubles,” she said. “He...

Tweet I know, there really isn't any good news in that headline. Americans are steadily getting poorer, fatter and sicker and yet most people continue to operate under the delusion that things are somehow going to get better. Sadly, not only are we not better off than we were four years ago, the truth is that things have been getting worse for a very long time. Median household income in the United States has declined for four years in a row, and it has fallen by more than $4000 overall since Barack Obama has been in the White House....

A friend of mine posted the above from E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post on Facebook. While the post quickly garnered a number of “Likes” I was incredulous. My response was thus: What a ridiculous statement. Tax cuts allow the rich and poor alike to keep more of the money they earned rather than give it to nameless, faceless and largely unaccountable bureaucrats to distribute. Conservatives don't want to give the rich anything. They simply don't want the government taking from those who work or invest to give to others. That's pretty simple. If Dionne has such a good...

On September 10, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, a Markman Hearing was held in the case of Calypso Wireless v. T-Mobile. In 2004, Calypso was granted a patent ("923") for seamless wireless switching between cell communication and HotSpot communication. That year, T-Mobile signed an agreement with Calypso to examine and potentially use the patented technology with the aim of offering it to its customers. After seeing it demonstrated and getting the specs, CLYW alleged that TM then simply stole the technology and has been using it ever since. FTM, CLYW alleges...

Corruption: Our lawless president tells defense contractors they can break the law requiring politically inconvenient layoff notices caused by sequestration defense cuts, and the taxpayers will pay their legal bills. When President Obama took the oath of office, he swore to uphold the Constitution and see that the laws of the United States were faithfully executed. He lied, and that lie was exposed in the administration's weekly document dump last Friday. It included a memo from the Department of Labor telling defense contractors not to obey the law and that, if they don't, U.S. taxpayers will foot their legal bills...

Two new studies show just how much work needs to be done to improve economic performance in Michigan and across the country. An analysis from Northwood University commissioned by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce looked at the state's economic competitiveness. While the state has improved in the past few years, particularly in state debt and taxation, Michigan has had a steady, decade-long decline in other economic areas compared to the rest of the country. The study looked at 200 variables including Gross State Product growth, tax policy, regulatory policy and the cost of doing business. While the past few years...

It is panic time for the Romney campaign.  We are in the final stretch toward the most important election of our lifetimes, and Romney’s campaign still hasn’t left the starting blocks.  The fact that he is as close as he is to an incumbent president in the polls is a powerful testament to the failure of our current leader, not shrewd tactics from Romney’s campaign team.  By every measure, Obama’s policies have been an unmitigated disaster to the United States.  Until this past month, Obama could claim to have some solid footing on foreign policy, but now even that...

Hillary Clinton is a free market capitalist. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Hillary Clinton is a free market capitalist? What??? On what planet? Have you lost you’re mind?” I’ve not lost my mind and Hillary Clinton is a free market capitalist on this planet. Just not in America. Hillary has decided that reducing regulation and taxation of small businesses is a favorable and worthwhile goal… In Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. Yes, Hillary Clinton is tacitly repudiating the Obama Administration’s mode of governance in favor of pro-private sector growth initiatives. Still don’t believe me? Here it is direct from her...

September 30 was the last day of Fiscal 2012 for the US which explains why despite the barrage of debt issuance in the past month, the year closed with total debt of just $16.066 trillion, a modest increase of just $50 billion in the month. Luckily, moments ago we got the first DTS of the new fiscal year, which eliminated any residual confusion we had. As of the first day of FY 2013, total US debt soared by $93 billion overnight, and is now a record $16,159,487,013,300.35. One can see why Tim Geithner wants to push all the debt under...

Industrial Policy: The president's media apologists will say it was not a gaffe, that he merely misspoke and corrected himself. But the fact remains that his policies are exporting jobs, particularly to China. President Obama, during a campaign speech at Kent State University in Ohio on Wednesday, mistakenly said he wanted to export more U.S. jobs before correcting himself and saying he was "channeling" Republican rival Mitt Romney. Or was it a mistake? To his media supporters, it's no gaffe. Their dictionary defines gaffe as anything that comes out of Romney's mouth. Certainly not the mouth of Joe Biden, who...

General Motors reported that it sold 2,851 Chevy Volts in September. The number is sure to be touted as a great success, even though the annualized rate of sale is still well below initial sales goals for the vehicle and no where near what conventionally-powered, mainstream cars sell. What is sure to be less publicized by the media is that the majority of the Volt "sales" were heavily subsidized leases that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. GM spokesman, Jim Cain, told me that a full two thirds of Volt sales were leases. Backing out leases and fleet sales, about...

Today I went shopping at BJs and then visited a newly opened Dick's Sporting Goods store in the same mall. Big store, but the shooting cubicle is hidden in the back of the store between fishing stuff and camping equipment. Had to search. They had a fair stock of long guns -- no evil handguns, of course. I asked to see the prices on .22 LR and was pleased to find that they carry the Remington .22 LR copper-covered rounds in the 525 round box for $10.98. The rest of the .22 ammo was expensive, however: 100 rounds for $21.95....

During their three-year crime spree, the infamous young couple murdered nine police officers and at least as many civilians. The pair finally got what was coming to them on a dusty road in Louisiana, where a six-man posse ambushed them and shot them dead. Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who led the posse, was rewarded for his service by being allowed to take anything the outlaws had in their possession at the time of their deaths. So he took the Colt .45 semi-automatic pistol the 25-year-old male had in his waistband and the .38 Special the 23-year-old female concealed under...

At its most fundamental level, SocGen's Dylan Grice notes that economic activity is no more than an exchange between strangers. It depends, therefore, on a degree of trust between strangers. Since money is the agent of exchange, it is the agent of trust. Debasing money therefore debases trust. Grice emphasizes that history is replete with Great Disorders in which social cohesion has been undermined by currency debasements. The multi-decade credit inflation can now be seen to have had similarly corrosive effects. Yet central banks continue down the same route. The writing is on the wall. Further debasement of money...

The highlights from Bill Gross' latest monthly piece: Armageddon is not around the corner. I don’t believe in the imminent demise of the U.S. economy and its financial markets. But I’m afraid for them.The U.S. is no “clean dirty shirt.” The U.S., in fact, is a serial offender, an addict whose habit extends beyond weed or cocaine and who frequently pleasures itself with budgetary crystal meth. Uncle Sam’s habit, say these respected agencies, will be a hard (and dangerous) one to break.What the updated IMF, CBO and BIS “Ring” concludes is that the U.S. balance sheet, its deficit (y-axis)...

Internet freedom and intellectual property rights are often considered to be in conflict with each other, with a win for one cause generally seen as a loss for the other. However the newly formed Internet Association, a lobbying group whose powerful members include Google, Facebook, and Amazon, seems to differ with this notion. Michael Beckerman, the President of the group, who advocate for the protection of internet freedom and promotion of experiment and innovation, gave an interview two weeks ago in which he noted that, “I would say that no-one has done more to protect intellectual property than these Internet...

A short review of the book “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross, c/r. 1995 Accurate Press. 861 pages. ( Note: This posting is in no way in fact, inferred, or implied to be a submission in MD’s contest! ) This tome came with a dust cover depicting a swat clad fella man… handeling Lady Liberty… the poor lady was in the midst of a wordrobe malfuncition. Rather tacky dust ‘cover’ on this book. But I would be the last to judge a book by… a tacky dust cover, so I threw it out and took a dive into this one. What...

Where in the hell are the Romney television ads? Good ones, bad ones, any? Everyday, I see multiple, obnoxious Obama ads go unchecked on national stations; blatant lies and distortions that actually have half of America believing they are better off under a man who is largely responsible for their misery and poverty! Obama is the one who must be made to answer for four years of historic failure and radicalism, not Mitt Romney. I’m fully aware of the so-called swing state strategy, but sometimes when a candidate and party are so obsessed with a handful of contests, they miss...

There is no doubt about, a Federal debt of $16 trillion is staggering will have to be repaid by our children and their children. The debt per taxpayer of $140,458 is daunting enough, but the unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Prescription Drug and Medicare) are $1,055,885 per taxpayer. And growing! It reminds me of the Tennessee Ernie Ford classic song “16 Tons.” We should call it “The Federal debt song.” “You load sixteen tons what do you get Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go I owe my soul to the...

Immigrant job-seekers have gained far more in President Barack Obama’s weak economy than have native-born Americans, according to government data. Since Obama’s inauguration, employers have fired and hired millions of workers during the bust and slow recovery. The net result is that they employed more than 1.7 million more immigrants — but only 418,000 more native-born Americans — in August 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey. That number “seems like a usable tool on the table if [Gov. Mitt] Romney wanted to use it … to drive up [his] numbers,” a GOP operative told The Daily...

What has happened since The Fed announced its QEternity? The New York Fed purchased $0 billion of agency (GNMA, FNMA, FHLMC) mortgage-backed securities last week as promised. The results so far? As of 9/28/2012, the Bankrate 30 year fixed rate mortgage average rose slightly after dropping on the QEternity announcement. The spread between the Fannie Mae current coupon rate (paid on new Fannie Mae MBS) over the 10 year Treasury yield has risen to a positive spread after dipping into negative territory last week. On the other hand, the spread between the Bankrate 30 year fixed rate mortgage average and...

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) demanded that the United Nations launch an investigation into the United States “racially discriminatory election laws.” At issue is the loss of voting rights for convicted felons. “This is unfair because minorities are disproportionately affected,” Lorraine Miller, Chairperson of the NAACP national board’s advocacy and policy committee complained. “Just because a person is a criminal doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a voice in government.” “A democracy must reflect the views of all the people—honest and dishonest alike—if it is to be truly representative,” Miller argued. “Disenfranchising a segment of the...

Mystery charges on my Credit Card caused me to issue a fraud notice and I now have a new account number. FR has my old number for my monthly charges. I want to continue my donations, so what to do?

LAKELAND | Is it true that former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin — the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president — is slated to speak at Southeastern University next year? You betcha. The university's 2013 National Leadership Forum has announced that Palin, 48, will speak at the seventh annual forum, scheduled for March 7 and 8 at the university's Lakeland campus. Past forum speakers have included Colin Powell, Jeb Bush, President George Bush and Condoleezza Rice. The forum is geared toward leaders in the business, professional and church communities. Brian C. Carroll, vice president for university advancement, said the event...

Statistics are odd things. They can grab one’s attention; they can utterly fascinate, or they can make one’s eyes glaze over. Election seasons are a great time for such examples – candidates, parties, and commentators all use statistics to make their points, but all too often, the important issues are lost in the shuffle of challenges or defenses to the statistics. The modern welfare state presents such a problem. Consider the “rise of the Obamaphone” in recent years, as a three-decade-old policy of providing the most indigent with a subsidized landline has been translated by the current administration as a...

Kicking Common Sense Down the Road- By: Larry Walker, Jr. -When one of today’s most brilliant liberal economists recently mentioned the European fiscal crisis, he said, “Spain is suffering the hangover from a huge housing bubble, which caused both an economic boom and a period of inflation that left Spanish industry uncompetitive with the rest of Europe. When the bubble burst, Spain was left with the difficult problem of regaining competitiveness, a painful process that will take years.”Yet, when far less knowledgeable left-wingers, including the President, speak of America’s economic woes, they routinely regurgitate the meaningless thread, “We are suffering...

The latest California community to face bankruptcy is Atwater, just down the Golden State Highway from Modesto and next to Merced. Atwater, like its neighbors Modesto and Merced, are still reeling from the crash of the housing market where prices have fallen about 70% from their peak. And unemployment rates are roughly twice the national average. Since I don’t have the house price indices for Modesto, Merced and Atwater, I will use the Case-Shiller Las Vegas house price index as a proxy. Like many communities during the housing bubble, expenditures were made based on increased property tax revenue. When the...

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Economists often note that durable goods orders is one of the more volatile economic indicators that we get every month. However, there wasn't much sugar-coating anyone could do to the Thursday's report that showed durable goods orders plunged 13 percent in August. Economists were looking for a 5.0 percent decline. In his latest Breakfast with Dave note, David Rosenberg points to one sub-component of the durable goods report that sent a particularly scary signal. The three-month moving average of core capex orders (i.e. nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft) was -4.1 percent in August. "History shows when the trend weakened to...

(Associated Posers) – MADRID, SPAIN – The European Debt Crisis is reaching the boiling point as Spain and Portugal brace for massive “austerity” protests. The official unemployment rate in Spain is around 25% while half of those under 24 are out of work, leaving them plenty of time to protest. Meanwhile Spain is set to borrow upwards of $266 billion (in US dollars) next year in a rescue package. The 2013 budget proposal would freeze public sector wages while trimming ministry budgets by 8.9% and the budget also assumes increased revenue from a higher VAT tax, as the country...

The mob boss from the south of Europe encounters an unexpected demonstration as he makes his rounds in Athens one September morning... Greco was feeling sorry for himself. As his career decline approached four years of sheer misery, he was beginning to wish he had become a fisherman, hotel clerk, tour guide, archaeologist… heck, anything would be better than running the rackets in times like these. How do you shake people down when the people don’t have anything left to be shaken out of them? Wednesday, September 26 was a particularly bad day for Greco, as he wandered through Athens...

A vigorous discussion is taking place online about the word “illegal” as an adjective for certain immigrants. An immigrant activist named Jose Antonio Vargas, a former reporter, is urging news organizations like The New York Times to stop using it. He says the word is inaccurate, improper and demeaning. The Times’s public editor, Margaret Sullivan (an independent voice who writes about The Times but is not part of its news or opinion operations), has been looking into this, interviewing editors and reporters and soliciting readers’ opinions. She says she will weigh in soon. I figured I should, too, because I...

Buoyed by polls showing him pulling away from his opponent, President Barack Obama says “it’s time for all patriotic Americans to rally for the common good by giving me four more years.” The President acknowledged that “things may be tough for many of you, but whatever setbacks you may have experienced are just bumps in the road compared to the existential threat to this country that is posed by the risk that I might not prevail on election day.” The President declared that the latest report showing extraordinary weakness in the nation’s economy “reemphasizes the importance of continuing the work...

The latest California community to face bankruptcy is Atwater, just down the Golden State Highway from Modesto and next to Merced. Atwater, like its neighbors Modesto and Merced, are still reeling from the crash of the housing market where prices have fallen about 70% from their peak. And unemployment rates are roughly twice the national average. Since I don’t have the house price indices for Modesto, Merced and Atwater, I will use the Case-Shiller Las Vegas house price index as a proxy. Like many communities during the housing bubble, expenditures were made based on increased property tax revenue. When the...

If you are unemployed for an extended period of time, people are going to look at you differently. Unfortunately, this is especially true if you are a man. In our society, men are primarily defined by "what they do". If you have been unemployed for a long period of time, that can make social interactions even more awkward than normal. Most people will instantly become more uncomfortable around you when they find out that you are unemployed. Many will look at you with pity, and others will actually look at you with disdain. Women will not want to date you,...

All that noise about Obama family luxury vacations with a huge entourage, Romanesque White House parties, Manhattan shopping sprees, over-sized 'crew' packed with cronies... it was just the embittered clingers again, mean people spreading lies about our nation's perfect First Family (who we're lucky to have) -right? Well, numbers don't lie (except at Gallup)- and what they say is that the Obama family blew $1.4B on travel and entertainment for themselves and their (overpaid) personal staffs last year: that's 200 times more than what the entire British Royal Family cost the UK ($57.8M)! Alas, at 27 million bucks a week, them clingers must...

While precious metals such as gold and silver make an excellent choice as a hedge against inflation or the devaluation of the dollar, they can be extremely hard to spend. Quite often bartering will become the alternative to cash which may have little or no value. There is where the law of supply and demand comes into effect. There may be a significant supply of cash for which there is no demand because it no longer has value. In a situation such as this, cash money will have little or no value for the purchase of goods which you may...

The Obama Administration is unfolding its latest plan to address lackluster economic growth, an action it seeks to accomplish partly by reforming national trade policies and regulations. National, that is, specific to the nation of the Philippines, where the U.S. Agency for International Development has launched yet another program to help improve the ability of that country’s business sector to compete internationally. The Trade�Related Assistance for Development (TRADE) project, as the endeavor is known, is the latest effort of the U.S.-Philippine “Partnership for Growth,” or PFG , according to a solicitation that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located during routine...

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development recently released its Education at a Glance 2012 report. The report examines OECD and G20 countries where the data was available. According to the report, which includes vocational training as part of higher education/post-secondary education, here are the five most educated countries in the world:

When politicians claim that they will save money by “in-sourcing” federal functions from contractors, or will respond to some new need by expanding the federal workforce, that has a cost to taxpayers. How much is that cost? In order to determine the cost of hiring a new federal bureaucrat, ATR has calculated the “all-in” cost of hiring a new federal employee. We include salary as well as benefits, pension contributions, training and other expenses, and payroll taxes. We assume a 40-year federal career. The numbers presented are both nominal and inflation-adjusted. Here are the results for a low-cost, medium-cost, and...

.... I am a proponent of carbon taxes. One criticism of this policy that you hear, for instance here from Noah Smith, is that they are pointless because you need international cooperation to make a real dent. But among non-tradeable goods this is not really the case. We don’t have to worry about transportation shifting abroad, since you can’t really outsource driving your car or shipping a package. And this matters, as transportation accounts for 70% of U.S. fuel consumption, and 30% of U.S. greenhouse gases. But even if carbon taxes are problematic, surely higher gas taxes are a good...

One of the enduring myths about the Mafia is that it respects women and children. However, for several years boss Vito Genovese protected one of his top earners Salvatore "Sally Burns" Granello who allegedly raped multiple underage girls. Indeed, at one time Granello even was being groomed as a possible successor to Don Vito. The only thing that prevented the child rapist from becoming a family boss was his big mouth which finally got him whacked in 1970. * * * The Genovese family finally said good riddance to the child rapist who once was in the running to be...

Business activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in September for the first time in three years, adding to signs manufacturing will contribute less to the economic recovery. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer fell 49.7 this month from 53 in August. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction. This is not surprising given yesterday’s disastrous durable goods orders report. But the University of Michigan survey of consumer confidence rose to 78.3, the second highest reading since President Obama was sworn into office. Unfortunately, it is still far below the readings...

A majority of small business owners and manufacturers are mulling drastic changes to comply with Obamacare, with 21 percent set to drop health insurance to workers altogether and 38 percent planning to make employees pay much more. In a poll done for the National Association of Manufacturers and National Federation of Independent Businesses, 59 percent said that they will have to consider changes once the full law kicks in because increased costs will jeopardize their operations. According to the poll, 67 percent expect Obamacare to raise healthcare costs.

Friday, September 28, 2012 City Votes Down Party Suite Funds (Associated Posers) - ORLING, TX – A contentious city council meeting packed the chamber tonight as a controversial budget amendment took center stage. City Manager Timothy Gonzales introduced the budget by saying it was balanced, there were no layoffs and no taxes or fees were raised even in the midst of a years-long recession. When the Mayor asked for comment City Councilman Joey Putter introduced an amendment to the budget that would replace $410,000 for “economic development” for an item that had been omitted from the Orling-Lost Colony Chamber of...

I hope not but unfortunately what I am seeing and hearing in my sliver of America explains the recent presidential polls. There has never before existed in America - a time of greater national ignorance and depravity than in 2012.... (Continued/Vlog)

Redbox will be renting Dinesh D'Souza's 2016 movie! You can see it on the Redbox Coming Soon page in the October 16 releases (http://www.redbox.com/comingsoon).