Free Republic

Last night’s cloture vote on the Obama-Reid Big Government Healthcare Bill brought an end to any discussion of fiscal conservative or “moderate” Democrats. Two so-called moderate Democrats Ben Nelson and Arlen Specter betrayed taxpayers by violating their Taxpayer Protection Pledges and voting along with 58 other Democrats in support of the healthcare bill. (For a comprehensive list of all the tax hikes in this bill, click here.) They were the only remaining Democrat Pledge Signers not to have violated their Pledges on at least one occasion. House Democrats including Brad Ellsworth, Ben Chandler, Rob Andrews, and Gene Taylor have all...

The health-care-reform bill has passed in the Senate, but it has fallen short of the real reform President Obama promised on the campaign trail. The bill is now headed to a conference committee where it will be amended further. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans (55 percent, according to recent polls by Rasmussen Reports) disapprove of the Democrats' reform efforts. From its inception, the movement toward health-care reform has suffered from a dearth of leadership. The powerful Obama campaign machine that once gauged the pulse of the young, Internet-savvy generation has broken down, leaving in its wake the hordes of young...

As my brother Kevin headed off to Christmas Eve Mass in the Maryland suburbs, I asked him how he thought the first year of Barack Obama had gone. He didn’t have to pray long over that one. “Fine,” he replied, “if you like unmitigated disasters like the Hindenburg and the Redskins season.” If it’s Christmas, it must be time for my conservative brother to take over my column and turn it a blazing shade of red. So without further ado, here is Kevin unplugged, offering a perspective from “the real America,” as one of his favorite Republican philosophers, Sarah Palin,...

Federal health care legislation could add hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to Georgia’s state budge... Pages A1 (Front Page) & A15 in the Sunday December 27th edition in, and online at, The ajc.

LOS ANGELES – A sign inside the Humming Motors auto repair shop says, "We do the worrying so you don't have to." These days, owner David Baur spends a lot of time worrying in his full-service garage near downtown Los Angeles. As cars become vastly more complicated than models made just a few years ago, Baur is often turning down jobs and referring customers to auto dealer shops. Like many other independent mechanics, he does not have the thousands of dollars to purchase the online manuals and specialized tools needed to fix the computer-controlled machines...

Prior to the 2008 Presidential election, I had my McCain/Palin plastic slip and piano wire sign stolen by some local socialist thugs. I replaced it with a 3x4' two sided wood sign set in concrete, using the official McCain/Palin design. After the election I scraped McCain off the top, and replaced him with a pink and sparkling "2012". This sign has remained in place on our back country road until a few weeks ago. Once again, a team of local socialist thugs stole my sign, smashing and pulling the sign out by the roots, despite the ground being frozen solid....

“It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” -- Winston Churchill In the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve the United States Senate skulked into their chambers under the darkness of night and passed Obamacare, a legislative nightmare that might be the most intrusive bill in American history. It not only gives the Congress complete control of one sixth of the American economy, it forces Americans to purchase health insurance under penalty of law and is a major step toward removing individual choice from healthcare. It...

Baucus is drunker than a skunk, but I'm just as upset as him railing on the Republicans not being "Bi-Partisan" on healthcare. Other than that, funny (and sad sad sad) stuff.

Thanks to contributors David Donar at Political Graffiti, Curtis D. Tucker at Curtoons.com and "Michael" at the now-defunct My Personal Litmus blog, I was able to share a great number of fantastic editorial cartoons. Below, I share the first five of my Top 10 favorites of 2009 in no particular order. Click on any image below to read the posts in which the image appeared.

Santa came early on Christmas Eve 2009 for the embattled Democrats of the Senate who passed the Obama Healthcare bill as expected. Being forced to buy healthcare by the U.S. government will hardly be seen as a gift from Santa by the citizens of this country and even now, some republicans are planning to test the constitutionality of the bill. Special sweetheart deals for Florida and Connecticut are overshadowed by what may be the most expensive and openly public bribe in U.S. history for the state of Nebraska. The Corn Husker’s are mostly insulted by Sen. Nelsons last minute deal...

One might expect Democrats to be euphoric during this holiday season. After recapturing control of Congress in 2006, and last year taking back the White House by electing America's first African-American president, Democrats are now on the verge of passing a historic health care reform law. But instead of celebrating, they are bitterly divided. Former Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean and liberal bloggers are urging the Senate to defeat the health care bill. Many are criticizing President Barack Obama for compromising too much, saying the proposal doesn't go far enough, while more moderate and conservative Democrats are petrified the bill...

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that Congress has the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance and that there is no constitutional limit on Congress’ power to enact such mandates, adding that this unlimited authority stemmed from the Commerce clause of the Constitution. And apparently 59 other Democrat senators agree with her. It is my understanding that the intent of the commerce clause is to assign the responsibility of regulating commerce (the transportation and trading of goods with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes) to the central government, taking the law-making responsibility for...

WASHINGTON -- The spirit of Christmas seems to have escaped Congress, maybe even the country. Have you ever encountered such mean spiritedness and political conniving as are now on display on Capitol Hill? In the past, we have had great philosophical divisions in the struggle for civil rights, especially when southern legislators ran the show. In praise of democracy, fortunately they lost. And of course there also was the "red scare" fomented by Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., in the 1950s when he led the commie-hunting movement that ended up victimizing government officials, academia and Hollywood. We recovered from that, too....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have really screwed up. First of all, the two congressional Democratic Party leaders discounted the black perspective that clearly saw white nationalism working through their leadership as they, and others, attempted to restrain President Barack Obama via an extension of the politics of containment. Along with other “corporate Democrats,” including the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – all of whom are dependent on corporate contributions and are thereby controlled by corporate interests – Reid’s and Pelosi’s intention is to keep the first black president from leadership of the Democratic Party. President...

Sarah takes on Big Oil: The compelling story of Governor Sarah Palin's battle with Alaska's 'Big 3' oil companies, as told by the state's top oil and gas editors, Kay Cashman and Kristen Nelson (Hardcover) Product Description Sarah takes on Big Oil illuminates Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's rise to power, along with her successes and failures in dealing with the industry that is the lifeblood of the state's economy. This book is a must read for those seeking to understand Palin's qualifications for national leadership. Purchasers of Sarah takes on Big Oil qualify for a free, two-year, online subscription to...

Rep. Jim Carney, D-Pa., says he’s rebuffed efforts by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to switch over to the GOP. Meanwhile, some seemingly tough Republicans plan to take him on next year. Or as one person told National Review’s Jim Geraghty, “We are more interested in beating Democrats than flipping them.” It’s no surprise that Republicans would prefer a longtime Republican in office in 2011 over Carney or other potential party switchers. And in a normal year that might be the smart play. But right now the GOP needs just a few votes to block the Democratic health care plan, the...

I don’t see any indication Mr. Steele has got off his ass relative to my December 15th post “Michael Steele – A Simple Task For You” I am constantly reminded by my friends of the failing history of third party attempts to seek power in our government. And any suggestion of mine to throw all the bums out is often met with the typical response “why throw the baby out with the bath water?”. Third Parties lose, they lose, they lose – Trust me I get it. Third Parties siphon votes from the republicans – Trust me I get that...

Our clueless federal government is intellectually, morally, and financially bankrupt I have three thoughts on this health care bribery and corruption porktacular slouching through senatorial Gomorrah, but they all involve long strings of profanities, so I'll share these three instead: Constitutional Buffoons Crapping Down Our ChimneysEd Morrissey at Hot Air has written an excellent summary on the constitutionality of this stinking heap of communist excrement Harry and the Pelosicrats are crapping down our chimneys just in time for Christmas.  Too much to summarize here.  Go read the whole thing; it is rich with links to smart people who are...

It’s no cause for celebration, and Sarah Palin’s not the type for schadenfreude, but she was right about the death panels. So right, in fact, that the death panels are receiving some very special and probably unconstitutional protection in the Senate health care bill. The creation of the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board – the panel that decides who goes without coverage so costs can be cut – cannot be repealed, according to language Harry Reid has inserted into the bill, without a supermajority vote of two-thirds. Death panels? There are no death panels! Stop listening to that crazy cackling...

because of the Senator DeMint’s objection, unless the House votes for the Senate bill unchanged — which is highly unlikely (see below) — then the Senate ObamaCare bill must be amended on the House floor to gain the votes they need to pass it on the House floor. And because of Senator DeMint’s objection to the appointment of the conferees, there will be no conference, or conference report. If the House amends the Senate bill, they then have to send the amended bill back to the Senate — where all the 60 vote margin cloture votes still apply — cloture...

Santa, you listening? Could you please give us some sanity in Congress this Christmas? After rushing headlong to approve a healthcare bill that many Constitutional experts say is blatantly unconstitutional, the chief idiots of the insane asylum that we call 'Congress' are now frantically attempting to show that the measure doesn't run afoul of clear Constitutional provisions. Perhaps the Einsteins among the Democratic leadership should listen to a statement made by their own President--that's right, Barack Hussein Obama.

In nearly its final act of the year, the US Senate on Thursday approved a $290 billion increase in the nation's borrowing limit, a move that sets up a contentious debate about the federal government's largesse early in 2010. The additional $290 billion in borrowing ability lifts the total public debt the federal government can hold to around $12.4 trillion and will allow the government to keep borrowing through February. The House passed the measure last week. The Senate vote was 60-39, and was almost exclusively along party lines. Generally a vote on raising the debt limit requires only a...

Self-Evident Truths: Sen. Dianne Feinstein says it comes under the Commerce Clause. Rep. Steny Hoyer says it's mandated by the "general welfare" clause. Despite liberal wishes, health care is not a right. The "living Constitution" that Democrats and their court appointees have given us may be the death of our freedoms. Their constitution adapts to the times and serves the whims of the elitists. The Constitution is supposed to limit government powers. It does not allow government to do anything it feels like doing. Cass Sunstein, the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is the author of...

Attention Fox Network....My Christmas Wish

By Michael P. Tremoglie Tremoglie's Tea Time Blog The past several years there has been a proliferation of football bowl games with sponsors of one sort or another that lead to awkward sounding names. For example, the Menicke Bowl, the Chick-Fil-A Bowl or - my personal favorite- the GMAC Bowl ( shouldn't this really be called the Stimulus Bowl or the Bankrupt Bowl). Since our esteemed Congress has assigned importance ...

-snip- For the first time in two years, a measure billed as "comprehensive immigration reform" has been introduced in Congress. The bill — HR 4321 — filed Tuesday by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., incorporates most of the provisions of a measure introduced in June by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Campbell. At last count Tuesday night, it had 89 co-sponsors. Honda's bill focused on legal immigration issues such as eliminating visa backlogs and giving green-card holders the same rights as citizens to bring their spouses and children to the U.S. But Gutierrez's bill is much more sweeping. It includes a provision that...

This current administration in Washington has managed to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye on the general populace of the country. With Obama's approval rating flying south for the winter, you would think some attention would be given to the polling data on his job approval and current issues of the day. Not so with this current group of Democrats. Their vision has become myopic, they're oblivious to whats going on in the streets, or they simply choose to ignore it. The liberal left ideology is the language of the day and has shut out the majority voice....

What's happening with ObamaCare this week in the Senate is raw, rank politics at its worst. PASSING LAWS has been compared to making sausage. But in the case of the mammoth health care bill expected to pass the Senate on Christmas Eve, that's an insult to employees at the Jimmy Dean plant. It's also a slap at Americans who want Congress to take its time to make thoughtful changes that will affect one seventh of the U.S. economy. President Obama campaigned on "change we can believe in." Most voters believed him. Yet many polls show that only a minority of...

The final Senate vote on the "Health Care Bill" is tomorrow (Christmas Eve). It is imperative that you contact your Senators and tell them to vote against it, particularly if your senator is a Democrat up for re-election in 2010! Let them know you will campaign tirelessly against them during the 2010 election cycle if they vote for the bill, even let them know you have (or will) sign the Liberty Petition and boycott their campaign donors. It is a last ditch effort, but still worthwhile.

We all sicken at the thought of the trillions of dollars being wasted by the Obama administration under the pretext of economic stimulus (18 million dollar websites, etc.) And we all have to restrain ourselves from throwing our shoes through the television as we watch the openly defiant nefarious dealings by the arrogant corrupt mental midgets in congress rush passage of their ill fated health care plan. But we should take a moment to regress a little. Two months prior to the 2008 election President Bush, under the reprehensible misguided advice of Hank Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury), rushed to...

First of all, SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE. You sir, and I say that with VAST qualification, are a SCOUNDREL and a BALD FACED LIAR. The people of your state will challenge you in 2012. Don't think, you smarmy RAT, that you will be forgotten. 2012 just gives us more time to prepare to oust you. This paragon of virtue put on his best TRIAL LAWYER'S FACE and spewed enough venom to wipe out a small city, saying that we AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES are desperate to `break' Barack Obama. No Senator, we are not desperate because Barry Hussein is breaking himself and he'll...

The struggles of the Democrats and the Republicans are making news. The Democrats are learning that it is far easier to make campaign promises than it is to govern. As for Republicans, the party that loses the Presidential election often spends the off-year attempting to refine its message if not find a new message and new messengers. In the watchful eye of 24/7 cable news channels and the Internet, however, such political soul searching can appear rather untidy. As the calendar turns, the process remains unresolved for Republicans to say the least. Worse than mere overexposure, according to Rasmussen polling,...

Congressional Democrats, after all their faux wrangling, open bribery and bully tactics, are poised to reach agreement on a massive makeover of the American health system. This makeover will bankrupt the insurance companies, raise premiums, and eventually lead to the full nationalization of health care. That's what it is intended to do. By forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, the Democrats destroy all profit margin for the insurers, expecting that the healthy insured will pay for the unhealthy insured. To prevent the healthy insured from opting out of the system, the Democrats levy the threat of fines and jail...

Republicans have been accused of setting a new low for etiquette in the US Senate by forcing a 92-year-old wheelchair-bound Democrat to appear three times in four days to ensure the passage of a contentious health care reform bill. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was wheeled in to cheers and backslaps from colleagues at 1am on Monday, then 7.30am on Tuesday and was due to make his final – and crucial – appearance this on Thursday morning at 8am. His fragile health has caused him to miss 40 per cent of this year's roll calls, and he has been...

Marbury v. Madison - First time SCOTUS proclaims power to decide constitutionality of laws. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison Relevant law “ In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned [within the judicial power of the United States], the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. ” — U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 “ The Supreme Court...

Conservative primary voters "have to yield" to reality, Senate Republicans' campaign chairman said Wednesday. Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), suggested that conservatives need to have a more realistic sense of which races are winnable and with which candidates. "Folks on the right, and frankly I'm one of them in terms of voting record, have to yield to the world as it is and not necessarily how they wish it would be," Cornyn told Reuters for a story about centrist Rep. Mike Castle's (R) bid for Senate next year in Delaware. Belying Cornyn's...

Although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to allow Democrats to move up the vote on the Senate version of ObamaCare so that Congress could go home for Christmas, Republicans are far from giving up the fight. Even before Congress has a chance to work out a successful compromise between the House and Senate versions of the bill after the holidays, Congressional Republicans and conservative organizations are preparing legal challenges to the bill should it reach Obama's desk.

Allahpundit: Via Weasel Zippers. The money line: “Are you going to keep building your party with Dixiecrats, ex-Democrats, who think the Democratic party is too mainstream?” Savor that last word, as it suggests that a party pushing a signature bill that’s now -20 in net approval in some polls is the one that speaks for the great “mainstream.” The idea of a liberal silent majority goes hand in hand with the idea of the GOP as a radical collective, which is where the confederacy meme comes in here. Nothing new for “Hardball”: Kathleen Parker pushed that smear herself back in...

She took on a corrupt mayor of Wasilla. And won. She took on a corrupt governor of Alaska. And won. Now she takes on a corrupt Speaker of the House, a corrupt Senate Majority Leader and as corrupt president. My money is on Sarah Palin. On her Facebook this morning was this post: Last weekend while you were preparing for the holidays with your family, Harry Reid’s Senate was making shady backroom deals to ram through the Democrat health care take-over. The Senate ended debate on this bill without even reading it. That and midnight weekend votes seem to be...

With the Census Bureau's release today of its annual population estimates for the 50 states, the final projections of next year's decennial census reveal further details of the likely winners and losers. Here are some highlights based on the analysis by Polidata, a demographic and political research firm. • Of the 11 House seats that would switch among the states as a result of the projections, Texas would gain four. The remaining seats would be distributed one each to seven states -- four in the West (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Washington) and three in the South (Florida, Georgia and...

The Medicare savings in the Senate health care bill was double-counted by Democrats and the legislation will increase the deficit -- not decrease it, a a senior Republican senator said Wednesday, citing a letter from the CBO's chief.

Just for laughs and giggles...here is a reposting of my predictions (abbreviated) from last year. You can see the entire previous post here. You can also see my 10 resolutions for Obama here. 1. Barack Obama will have the longest honeymoon of any U.S. President in recent history. Nailed this one on the head. Obama was over 60% well into his presidency...until he plummeted to earth late in the summer.

America is no longer “standing at the crossroads” of decision-making – wondering which way we ought to go. We are standing near the edge of an abyss, and there are those among us who are trying to push the entire nation over that cliff into an oblivion of chaos, confusion, and an eternity from which there will be no return. If we continue down that path you will have no values, no freedom and NO liberty whatsoever.

Who says that President Obama hasn't achieved anything in the past year. Just before he took office in January, the President's Democratic party had a six point 42%-36% lead in Rasmussen's Generic Congressional Ballot, today Rasmussen has the GOP with an 8 point 44%-36% lead, a trend which, if it continues spells bad news for the President's party a little more than ten months from now. Most impressive is that amongst the key group of political independents the GOP has a 24 point 43% to 19% margin.

Last weekend while you were preparing for the holidays with your family, Harry Reid’s Senate was making shady backroom deals to ram through the Democrat health care take-over. The Senate ended debate on this bill without even reading it. That and midnight weekend votes seem to be standard operating procedures in D.C. No one is certain of what’s in the bill, but Senator Jim DeMint spotted one shocking revelation regarding the section in the bill describing the Independent Medicare Advisory Board (now called the Independent Payment Advisory Board), which is a panel of bureaucrats charged with cutting health care costs...

I just kept patiently waiting for the television camera to widen its angle so I could once again see my favorite ventriloquist Paul Winchell. I watched in amazement as the expressionless face of the aged Jerry Mahoney flapped his mouth with only occasional eye movement. There was no doubt in my mind I was witnessing the resurrection of Paul Winchell with Jerry Mahoney his favorite dummy on his lap. The camera angle widened and then I realized, sure enough, I was watching a dummy, but this dummy was not sitting on anyone’s lap, this dummy was standing behind the podium...

Sen. Ben Nelson's, D-Neb., abandonment of his alleged "pro-life" commitment brought Harry Reid within reach of a Christmas Eve vote to approve a Senate version of Obamacare. When that happens, the political battles over the future of American medicine and especially the care of seniors will shift to the conference committee and then to the House. Though many conservatives are demoralized, they should instead be gearing up to peel off enough votes from among the 220 who voted for Obamacare when it passed the lower chamber. If the 215 who voted "no" on the first round stay firm, only three...

President Barack Obama told Congress Wednesday the public option would be part of an insurance exchange for last resort...

All details and information, including info on buses and hotels, will be found on the primary planning hub at http://www.TaxDayTeaParty.com

It was serendipitous to have almost simultaneous climaxes in Copenhagen and Congress. The former's accomplishment was indiscernible, the latter's was unsightly. It would have been unprecedented had the president not described the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit as "unprecedented," that being the most overworked word in his hardworking vocabulary of self-celebration. Actually, the mountain beneath the summit – a mountain of manufactured hysteria, predictable cupidity, antic demagoguery and dubious science – labored mightily and gave birth to a mouselet, a 12-paragraph document committing the signatories to ... make a list. A list of the goals they have no...