Free Republic

Republicans in Congress better wake up and start freezing some of their own targets against the left if they hope to see a GOP victory in November. The level of corruption, from murdered federal agents to looting taxpayer monies got green companies like Solyndra to the war on religion should be enough to have our elected representatives up in arms. Yet, there are still legislators who remain squeamish in the face of our constitutional republic's impending demise. Sarah Palin got it right on Monday while on Fox News' "Hannity." "This phony, hypocritical, one-sided call for a cease-fire by the left...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) might not have the votes in his own committee to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. A number of Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are wary of moving forward with Issa’s proposed measure, putting the powerful chairman in an awkward position as he attempts to build support for the move. Two of the committee’s 23 Republicans have declined to support the measure at this point, while five other GOP panel members did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the last two weeks. When compared with the 16...

No more slow-walking Fast and Furious probeJustice has waited long enough. It’s time to pull the trigger on contempt charges against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for withholding documents from Congress in the Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal. Allowing further delay would only confirm what many Americans suspect: There is one set of laws for bureaucrats and another for the rest of us. Congress has been waiting since October 2011 for Mr. Holder to comply fully with a subpoena seeking records in 22 categories of information about the federal firearms-smuggling operation. The attorney general has provided some material...

A spokeswoman for House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder could still avoid the contempt of Congress proceedings on the horizon — if he cooperates with the congressional subpoena he's thus far failed to comply with. "The Justice Department can still avoid contempt," Issa spokeswoman Becca Watkins told TheDC. "They need to pledge their cooperation and stop stonewalling on critical documents outlined by the committee in the draft contempt report."Watkins said those "critical documents" include "what high ranking officials knew about Fast and Furious and when they knew it, information about...

May 3, 2012 6:32 AM * Print * Text House GOP to distribute draft contempt citation against Eric Holder over "gunwalking" By Sharyl Attkisson Topics Congress Attorney General Eric Holder Attorney General Eric Holder (Credit: AP) (CBS News) Republicans on the House Oversight Committee were to take the first formal step Thursday toward contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" operation, CBS News has learned. The case for a citation declaring Holder in contempt will be laid out in a briefing paper and 48-page draft citation distributed to Democrats and Republicans on the committee....

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld.

Washington (CNN) -- The Justice Department late Friday provided hundreds of pages of internal documents to the House committee looking into Operation Fast and Furious and related programs. The documents sent to Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who heads the committee that subpoenaed them, focus heavily on other Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operations in which weapons were trafficked from Arizona gun dealers through straw purchasers across the border to Mexican drug cartels. Most of the documents deal with a 2007 operation involving Fidel Hernandez, who the ATF believed would be prosecuted for gun violations in Mexico...

WASHINGTON. D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, wrote that the Justice Department's request of an extension for completing its document production on Operation Fast and Furious again "demonstrates a lack of good faith" and a Department "more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress." "The Justice Department's request for additional time has, unfortunately, not been followed by efforts to bridge the significant differences between its legal obligation to Congress and the reality of its stonewalling," said Chairman Issa on...

[snip]...Jablonski remained true to his word -- neither he nor Obama showed up for the January 26 hearing. I noted last week that Obama was not scheduled to be anywhere near Atlanta on the date of the hearing, although I had wondered if still, perhaps, Georgia might be on his mind. According to reports in the blogosphere, the president's schedule on the morning of the 26th was open, and according to an unnamed source, Obama watched the live feed of the hearings. Perhaps Obama, as well as the several mainstream media news outlets I spotted at the hearing, were merely...

After hearing evidence with neither President Barack Obama nor his lawyers in attendance, a state administrative law judge on Thursday did not issue a ruling as to whether Obama can be allowed on the state ballot in November. Lawyers for area residents mounting "birther" challenges told Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi that Obama should be found in contempt of court for not appearing when under subpoena to do so. But Malihi did not indicate he would recommend that and cut off one lawyer when he criticized Obama for not attending the hearing. "It shows not just a contempt for this...

Committee Weighs Contempt Citation Against White House Over SolyndraBy James Rosen Published December 02, 2011 | FoxNews.com Members of Congress investigating the $535 million loan guarantee that the Obama administration gave to now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra are considering suing the White House to obtain access to documents relating to the case, Fox News has learned. For close to a year, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has been probing the circumstances surrounding the loan and its subsequent restructuring, which subordinated taxpayers to private investors in the recovery of the company's assets. Solyndra's chief investor, billionaire George Kaiser, is a...

“Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice” Senate Judiciary Committee Full Committee View a webcast of this hearing DATE: November 8, 2011 TIME: 10:00 AM ROOM: Dirksen 226 OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST: October 31, 2011 NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing entitled “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice” for Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. By order of the Chairman. Witness List Hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary On Tuesday, November 8, 2011 Dirksen Senate Office Building,...

I would like to believe that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder – no matter how much they oppose our Second Amendment rights – would never break the law and endanger human lives in their mission to score political points against gun owners. I’d like to believe operation “Fast and Furious” is just another example of the Obama administration’s gross incompetence, albeit this time with tragic and deadly results. I’d like to believe that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had nothing but good intentions when it illegally helped transfer thousands of guns to violent drug...

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are going to call for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is sending a letter to President Obama arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself and will request a probe by a special counsel. The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing in May. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known...

St. Thomas More “speaks critically of certain clerics who deliberately refrain from warning a rich and powerful man of the peril his soul is in out of fear of angering him and on the false premise that admonitions will do him no good.” -James Monti, “The King’s Good Servant But God’s First” “The saints have not been made saints by applause and honor, but by injuries and insults.” -St. Alphonsus Liguori, “The Spouse of Christ” Leading up to the problem: Recently, in the news, Christians are learning, a little bit every day, that Secular-liberalism is becoming increasingly intolerant of religious...

Border: A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying "the president has directed us," including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed. This tape has no 18-minute gap, and while it does not feature the president himself, the March 24, 2009, video may rival the tape that turned a "third-rate burglary" into a presidential resignation. No one died at Watergate. Agent Brian Terry lost his life in the administration's obsessive pursuit of gun control. In addition to Agent Terry, Immigration Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was also killed in...

A chief critic of ATF's gunwalking operation was reportedly briefed on the program last year --- but didn't object. That's according to unnamed sources speaking to the Washington Post about the classified briefing. The sources said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was given "highly specific information" in an April 2010 briefing, attended by members of Congress from both parties. The operation called "Fast and Furious" is now under fire by Issa and others for allegedly allowing thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. CBS News first broke the story in February. "All...

Kenneth Melson is expected to resign from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: The Chicago ATF field office head is to meet with Holder, sources say The sources say the resignation could occur in the coming days The operation allowed illegal gun purchases Some weapons ended up in the hands of Mexican cartels Washington (CNN) -- Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is expected to resign under pressure, perhaps in the next day or two, in the wake of the ongoing controversy over Operation Fast and Furious, two...

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) told CNSNews.com in an interview that he believes the Justice Department is covering up information relevant to a congressional investigation of an operation in which the department knowingly allowed intermediaries of Mexican drug cartels to purchase guns at licensed firearms dealers in the United States and then get away without being arrested or the guns being retrieved. Last December, two of those guns ended up at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed by alleged agents of the Mexican drug cartels. Issa pointed to...

Operation Fast & Furious Hearing:Obama Justice Dept. Obstructing Justice/Contempt They are Swearing In: Shown on C-Span 3 NOW. WATCH LIVE

I believe the hearing is at 1:30 today.It is suppose to be LIVE HERE Does anyone know if it will be televised on TV? Any of the C- SPAN'S?

The MSM and their liberal politician friends revel in proclaiming their admiration for average Americans. But scratch a liberal, and find condenscending contempt for the people they pretend to glorify. Take Larry O'Donnell. On his MSNBC show this evening, discussing President Obama's problems in convincing voters that the economy is on the road to recovery, O'Donnell denigrated most Americans. Declared O'Donnell: the majority of voters "don't really know anything about the economy." View video here.

Getting inside the mind of Barack Obama has been a challenge for journalists since the 2008 presidential campaign. But during the last two and a half years, as the public has gotten more familiar with the president, the picture is becoming a bit clearer. On Thursday’s syndicated “Hugh Hewitt” radio show, columnist and National Review Online contributor Mark Steyn offered some thoughts. After host Hugh Hewitt referenced a Wednesday interview with Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, in which he wondered aloud about what motivated Obama to make grand policy gestures, Steyn suggested that perhaps this was the first time Obama...

Congressman Darrell Issa (R. CA) threatened Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives has threatened acting head Kenneth E. Melson with a contempt citation for his failure to comply with a Congressional subpoena. "Let me be clear ... we are not conducting a concurrent investigation with the Department of Justice, but rather an independent investigation of the Department of Justice – specifically, of allegations that the reckless and inappropriate decisions of Department officials have created a serious public safety hazard." Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, in a letter yesterday to...

There's a psychologist who can predict with 91% accuracy whether a relationship will live or die. His name is Dr. John Gottman, and he runs something called The Marriage Clinic. Gottman uses several factors to determine which marriages "will succeed or fail. But the main one is this: contempt. If a spouse mocks the other, talks down to him, rolls eyes, or sneers, that marriage is a goner. Gottman's seminal research reminds me of my friend, Laura, and her relationship with boyfriend, Justin. On the surface, the couple seemed perfectly matched: they were both teachers, runners, and avid skiers. But...

Embattled tax attorney Roni Deutch Thursday said she will close her law firm of 20 years and surrender her license to practice law. Deutch, the self styled "tax lady," struck a defiant tone in a brief press conference held at her law firm's North Highlands headquarters. Deutch said she employed 200 people. She said her firm has a debt of about $10 million. With personal debt of $5 million, she said, she is unable to defend herself against state charges that could land her in jail. Asked what she would do next, Deutch responded, "cry." In August 2010, then-Attorney General...

On Monday, as Attorney General Eric Holder stood at the podium at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington to announce that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists would be tried by military commissions at Guantanamo, he still insisted that he'd much prefer to try them in civilian courts. The guy just doesn't get it -- and because he doesn't, he should resign forthwith. Almost a year-and-a-half ago, when he announced at the same podium that he'd decided to try KSM and four of his co-conspirators in lower Manhattan, Holder did so with complete disregard for the security and day-to-day-activities...

Wisconsin Democrats still not allowed to vote even after returning to the stateMarch 14th, 2011 7:30 pm ET The Wisconsin Democratic state senators have now returned to the state, but they are still not having their votes counted in committee. Today Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald sent a letter to his members telling them that the Democrats' votes should not be counted since they are still in "contempt." It is the Republicans who passed a resolution officially holding the Democrats in contempt. Fitzgerald's letter can be seen below. "Please note that all 14 Democrat senators are still in contempt of...

A resolution passed by all 19 Republicans authorizes that Senate Dems be taken into custody for being in contempt of the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said the GOP majority has been "overly reasonable" with the missing 14 Dems to this point, but "they have pushed us to the edge of a constitutional crisis." The resolution passed without any remarks from the other 18 Republicans. Fitzgerald said the Democrats have insulted their constituents and "the very fabric of our representative democracy" with their actions. "This is not something we have taken lightly, and it is not something any member...

House GOP to push administration on offshore drilling amid unrest in LibyaBy Andrew Restuccia - 02/23/11 12:03 PM ET Key House Republicans plan to argue next month that the Obama administration should act swiftly to issue offshore oil-and-gas drilling permits amid the political unrest in Libya and other countries. The House Natural Resources Committee said Wednesday it is holding two hearings in March on what Republicans have termed the administration’s “de facto moratorium” on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration has issued no deepwater permits since the last year's BP spill, and has slowed the pace...

Federal Court Orders Obama Administration to Act on Stalled Deepwater Drilling Permits Calls permitting delays "unreasonable, unacceptable and unjustified" WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Obama Administration's de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was once again struck down in Federal Court. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman granted a preliminary injunction requiring that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) act within 30 days on five pending permit applications from Ensco. "The court has now clearly found that the Obama Administration's refusal to act on permits is causing irreparable harm to companies, families and people of...

A Louisiana federal judge critical of Interior Department offshore drilling restrictions on Thursday gave the department 30 days to decide whether to issue five deepwater drilling permits for Gulf of Mexico projects. Judge Martin Feldman’s order features his latest attacks on drilling restrictions imposed after the BP oil spill, alleging that permitting delays have “become increasingly unreasonable.” Interior lifted a formal ban on deepwater permits in October but has yet to resume permitting. Thursday's order mandates decisions on five permit applications in which Ensco Offshore Co. – one of the companies that has sued Interior over drilling restrictions – has...

Democrats look to close lucrative Gulf drilling loopholeBy Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 8:00 AM Some House Democrats say Republicans who want to reduce the federal deficit should look at closing a 1995 loophole that allows oil companies to drill without paying royalties at some locations in the Gulf of Mexico. Changing the drilling rules, three House Democrats said Wednesday, could save $1.5 billion this year and $53 billion over the next 25 years. They are proposing to accomplish that with an amendment to a pending House Republican bill that would cut $60 billion in federal spending...

I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president [George W. Bush] I actually respect the Constitution.- Sen. Barack ObamaReally? For years, the left beat the drum that President Bush was shredding the Constitution with the USA Patriot Act, Guantanamo detainments, rendition and execution of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. When President Obama adopted those policies as his own, the left suddenly went as silent as Al Gore during a blizzard.Mr. Obama infamously said the Constitution is “an imperfect document … a document that reflects some deep flaws … [and] an enormous blind spot.” Evidently, the...

On January 31, [Federal] Judge Vinson. . . held the mandatory insurance provisions of ObamaCare unconstitutional . . . . Finding that key part of the law inseparable from the rest, he held the whole thing void. He declined to grant an injunction to bar its continued enforcement:There is no reason to conclude that … [the] presumption [that the federal government will not ignore a federal court decision and proceed as though it had not been issued] should not apply here. Thus, the award of declaratory relief is adequate and separate injunctive relief is not necessary.Senator Durbin . . ....

Complete title: White House Says It Will Implement ObamaCare Despite Judge's Declaration that His Ruling Against It Is 'Equivalent of Injunction' Washington (CNSNews.com) – White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com today that the administration will "rightly" continue to implement the Obamacare law even though the federal judge who sided with 26 states in declaring it unconstitutional said that his ruling was “the functional equivalent of an injunction” against the law.In his ruling last week, Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida wrote that in his opinion an injunction is an extraordinary measure, particularly when a ruling is...

The federal judge (Judge Martin Feldman) who struck down the Obama administration's moratorium on deepwater drilling… chided the department for its "dismissive conduct"

Link only - Wisconsin proceeds with health care law despite 'dead' declaration

OMSA Praises Ruling Holding Obama Administration in Contempt for its Moratorium on Gulf Oil DrillingPress Release Source: Offshore Marine Service Association Wednesday February 2, 2011, 11:54 pm EST NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Offshore Marine Service Association today praised a federal judge's ruling holding the U.S. Interior Department in civil contempt and called for the Obama Administration to end its de facto moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. "The ruling highlights the disparity between President Obama's stated policy objectives -- to grow jobs and promote American energy independence -- and his actions, which instead...

Not Since President Andrew Jackson defied the Supreme Court has a president of the United states ignored a judicial ruling. Federal Judge Vinson ruled this week that the entire Obamacare law was unconstitutional, yet the Obama Administration is continuing to implement the law. Unless Obama applies for and is granted a stay, Obama is in contempt of court, and we have a dictatorship in America. If this were not bad enough, today another federal court found the Obama Administration in contempt for its continuing ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf:

TheDC Exclusive – The Obama administration snubbed top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa on his first major document deadline as new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sending a short letter promising to comply in response to a major information request that was due Saturday at noon. But Issa is hitting back Tuesday with a demand key documents be sent in two days. The Obama snub is the first sign of how the administration will respond to demands for documents and testimony by key officials from Republicans in control of the House

Levin makes an interesting point that the Federal Judge today declined to issue an injunction because he didn’t need to. ObamaCare has been declared unconstitutional and the only thing Obama can do at this point is appeal it. And if chooses not to respect the court’s decision from today and continues to implement the law, Levin says the litigants should go right back in front of the Judge and file a contempt order: (Audio at Link)

In yet one more pathetic, wrong-headed bit of sophistry from fat-headed know nothing, Jonathan Martin at Politico, we’re supposed to believe that his insipid blathering passed off as wisdom means the recent tragedy in Arizona is about former Governor Sarah Palin, not some delusional lunatic too confused to have any consistent political beliefs. If silly targets drawn on basically rhetorical maps for political purposes, or otherwise, had the capacity to remove contemptible bastards from our nation’s political discourse, a large X marks the spot over this moron Martin’s image would be a good place to start. Tragedy marks turning point...

"Boule de Suif" is a famous short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant about a group of passengers in a horse-drawn coach trapped behind Prussian lines during the Franco-Prussian War. The passengers include two nuns, an upper-class factory owner and his wife, a petty bourgeoisie couple who own a small shop, a politician, a wealthy aristocratic couple, and of course the prostitute named Elizabeth Rousset. The name "Boule de Suif" translates to "Bowl of fFat," a reference to the prostitute from a time when fat women were considered very attractive. Before their detention, the passengers enjoy each other's company,...

History tells us that organizations, movements, even entire nations can go mad in much the same way an individual does, with the same expression of irrationality, frenzy, and violence. Recent evidence suggests that the American left is going through precisely such a breakdown. In his memoir Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung, the psychiatric pioneer who was smarter than Freud, discussed a particular case history in which a patient told of a troubling dream: he was repeatedly confronted with the image of a howling feces-covered baby. Jung had no immediate explanation, and thought about little else for several days. At last...

Boiling Mad: A surprising and revealing look inside the Tea Party movement—where it came from, what it stands for, and what it means for the future of American politics They burst on the scene at the height of the Great Recession—angry voters gathering by the thousands to rail against bailouts and big government. Evoking the Founding Fathers, they called themselves the Tea Party. Within the year, they had changed the terms of debate in Washington, emboldening Republicans and confounding a new administration's ability to get things done. Boiling Mad is Kate Zernike's eye-opening look inside the Tea Party, introducing us...

My favorite moment in every episode of the V television series is when the flesh veneer of the aliens peels away and the lizard beneath shows through. The truth comes out at last.

At the end of June, the nation witnessed firsthand the behavior of California Congressman, Fortney "Pete" Stark, towards what he clearly regards as the commoners in his district. This video received over 259,000 hits from a populace tired of being told by elected officials across the land to "talk to the hand." Stark's contemptuous behavior just reared its ugly head once again this past Saturday, July 24th at another town hall meeting in his district. (video link) As evidenced by the endless repertoire of snarky comments and silly hand gestures, Fortney "Pete" Stark is consistently contemptuous of the good people...

One of our leaders took an oath and confessed he disregards it on video. "When you take an oath, you hold your soul in your hands and if you break that oath, you open up your fingers and your soul runs through them and is lost." -- Sir Thomas More: These words echoed through my consciousness as Representative Phil Hare from the 17th district of Illinois uttered the amazing words "I don't worry about the Constitution on this," when referring to the recently passed health care bill. The question put to him was: where in the Constitution does it give...

ORLANDO, Fla.- A Florida juvenile court judge went too far when he found a woman in contempt because her cellphone rang in the courtroom, an appeals court ruled. The appeals panel in Daytona said Michelle McRoy's ringing phone was "annoying" but that does not justify a finding of contempt, The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Thursday. The court said Circuit Judge Anthony Johnson provided no evidence for his contempt finding and a order that McRoy's phone should be confiscated. "Contempt is an act tending to embarrass, hinder, or obstruct the court in the administration of justice, or to lessen the court's...