Free Republic

I know what you’re thinking: what does a piece of legislation guiding American agriculture programs have to do with broadband access? And you’re right to be asking that question since the answer should be: nothing. As we’ve frequently written, the USDA has long run a program to hand out taxpayer-subsidized loans to rural broadband companies. This time, however, some lawmakers are finally questioning the program’s value. Little positive can be said about USDA’s Rural Utilities Service broadband loans. With a budget that hovers around $800 million, the program has a long history of waste, fraud, and abuse. The USDA’s Inspector...

In a press release Monday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) likened the U.S. tax code to Hydra, the "mythical Greek beast." While the complicated U.S. tax code is reminiscent of an ancient multi-headed water beast, Senator Baucus' suggested methods of slaying such beast will prove ineffective. Senator Baucus' goals for tax reform suggest measures of increased spending and revenue. While in line with the tax reform measures of the Obama Administration, Baucus' means of achieving such goals run contrary to the budget proposed by the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. As stated in the Ryan Budget, "Washington...

I freely admit to being rigid and borderline inflexible pursuant to my low opinion of those elected or appointed to political office. But even using that as a high bar of contempt, Obama, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Janet Napolitano fail to come even close to exceeding it. The overwhelming majority of Americans have no idea how incestuously corrupt and self-serving politicians can be, and that the majority of those in the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch of the Federal Government, in fact, are. Specific to that point, Fast and Furious, the illegal international gun-smuggling operation, is a case study...

Does Washington have the American taxpayers'interests as their top priority? Watch as lobbyists drown out your voice and Peter fights the tide.

It was in August of 2010 the House Ethics Committee decided to proceed with charges against California Congresswoman Maxine Waters for contriving to procure “special favors” for the Massachusetts-based, OneUnited Bank. And although “Waters has done her damnedest during [these] three years to exploit as many legal technicalities as possible to try to get the investigation halted…” it now looks as though the jig might finally be up. (1) In 2008, Representative Waters set up a meeting between officials of the Treasury Department and members of a “trade association” of minority owned banks. The meeting, however, consisted almost exclusively of...

Faced with the coming threat of the largest tax hike in history, commentators are salivating at the idea of another "grand bargain" that gets Republicans to agree to raise taxes on American families and employers. Any lawmaker willing to consider such a deal is poised to become another fool of history. The 1990 Budget Deal: Starting May of 1990, President George H.W. Bush huddled with Democrat House and Senate members at Andrews Air Force Base. What was Promised: Congressional Democrats convinced a number of Republicans to join them in a bipartisan deal promising $2 in spending cuts for every $1...

It has been a Junius Horribilis for President Obama. Job growth has stalled, the Democrats have been humiliated in Wisconsin, the attorney general is facing a contempt-of-Congress citation, talks with Pakistan have broken down, Bill Clinton is contradicting Obama, Mitt Romney is outraising him, Democrats and Republicans alike are complaining about a “cascade” of national-security leaks from his administration, and he is now on record as saying that the “private sector is doing fine.” Could it get any worse? Early Monday morning, Obama learned that it could. His aides delivered the news to him that his commerce secretary had been...

Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer (R) could upset his party-backed opponent in the Tuesday primary for North Dakota’s open at-large seat, a new poll suggested. Cramer led fellow Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk, 60 percent to 21 percent with 19 percent undecided, in a Mason-Dixon poll sponsored by the local Valley News Live/KFYR-TV. The poll surveyed 625 likely voters from June 4 to 6. It had a margin of error of 4 percent.

California voters threw a wrench Tuesday into fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi's plans. The former House speaker from San Francisco, once third in line for the presidency and architect of the key legislation of President Obama's first term, is making a longshot bid to regain House control this year.The minority leader was counting on California, home to an increasing number of Democratic Party voters and where new legislative district maps forced four veteran GOP lawmakers into retirement, to deliver half a dozen of the net gain of 25 seats she needs. After the results of last week's primary election in the...

It hasn't been an easy road for several GOP 7th Congressional candidates, but some remain upbeat and even hopeful about their chances in Tuesday's primary. Three of the five "fringe" Republican candidates – Randal Wallace, Jim Mader and Katherine Jenerette – were among those who spoke at the Elephant Stampede, held Saturday at the Carolina Forest Recreation Center and hosted by the Myrtle Beach Republican Women's group. While the event featured several of the "big four" GOP contenders (Andre Bauer, Tom Rice, Jay Jordan and Chad Prosser), Wallace, Mader and Jenerette had a chance to speak, too, unlike some events...

(CNSNews.com) - Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the Federal Reserve’s holdings of U.S. government debt have quintupled, according to the Fed’s official monthly balance sheet. On Jan. 28, 2009, a week after Obama’s nomination, the Fed owned $302 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. On April 25, 2012, the latest date reported, the Fed owned five and a half time that much in U.S. Treasury securities--$1.668 trillion. That is an increase from January 2009 of $1.366 trillion—or 452 percent. Under Obama, the Federal Reserve has become the single largest owner of U.S. government debt. When Obama entered...

Dr. Robinson is an internationally renowned scientist and also the author of a popular home-school curriculum that he developed from home-schooling all six of his children by himself. FreedomWorks has called Dr. Robinson "the poster boy for uniting the GOP establishment and the Tea Party." The American Spectator magazine called him "not only a scientist but also a warrior." Dr. Robinson is the founder of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, and the author of "Self-Teaching K through 12 Home-School Curriculum," which he developed while home-schooling his six children. He ran for OR-4 in 2010 and lost to the...

Following close on the heels of the latest dismal jobs report this week is a House vote to repeal the Medical Device Tax. The Protect Medical Innovation Act, or H.R. 436, was introduced by Representative Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and thanks to bipartisan support, including 233 co-sponsors, was approved by the Ways & Means Committee by a vote of 23-11 last week. H.R. 436 will now go to the House floor for a vote sometime this week. H.R. 436 seeks to repeal the Medical Device Excise Tax included as part of Obamacare legislation. As part of the Obamacare bill, a 2.3...

Facing a slew of economic bad news, President Obama said Friday the private sector is doing just fine but blamed Republicans for not helping out-of-work teachers and other public-sector employees – an analysis pounced on by GOP leaders. “The private sector is doing fine,” the president said during a White House press conference. “Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. … If Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is how do we help state...

Question: What about the Republicans saying that you're blaming the Europeans for the failures of your own policies? President Obama: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. Oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, Governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same...

Free speech is under fire. Online thugs are targeting bloggers (mostly conservative, but not all) who have dared to expose a convicted bomber and perjuring vexatious litigant who is now enjoying a comfy life as a liberally subsidized social justice operative. Where do your elected representatives stand on this threat to our founding principles? On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, bravely stepped forward to press this vital issue. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Chambliss decried the "harassing and frightening actions" of Internet menaces who recently have gone after several conservative new media citizen journalists and activists....

K Carl Smith, The Conservative Messenger, Promoting a new kind of 'FDR': http://www.thehopeforamerica.com/play.php?id=11635

Anyone heard of him? What do you think? He's running for Michigan's 11th Congressional District, Thaddeus McCotter's seat.

Pete Stark's days in Congress might be numbered The nearly four-decade reign of Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, is about to end. Stark finished first among three candidates in the 15th Congressional District, but the message of discontent with his boorish and increasingly erratic approach to his job as a public servant could not have been louder. Nearly 59 percent of voters in the freshly realigned district preferred someone other than Stark: 36 percent for Eric Swalwell, a 31-year-old prosecutor and Dublin City Council member, and 22 percent for Chris Pareja, an independent who ran a spirited low-budget campaign. In years...

--Fitch would likely downgrade U.S. debt if the government does not get its fiscal house in order --Fitch sovereign group managing director Ed Parker says the firm is looking for a fiscal plan after the elections --The firm rates the U.S. at triple-A but put it on negative outlook last November A Fitch Ratings executive said Thursday that the firm would likely downgrade U.S. debt if the federal government does not get its fiscal house in order. Speaking at the firm's global banking conference in New York, Fitch sovereign group managing director Ed Parker said " the U.S. does not...