Free Republic

WASHINGTON – House and Senate Democrats intend to bypass traditional procedures when they negotiate a final compromise on health care legislation, officials said Monday, a move that will exclude Republican lawmakers and reduce their ability to delay or force politically troubling votes in both houses. The unofficial timetable calls for final passage of the measure to remake the nation's health care system by the time President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, probably in early February.

January 04, 2010, 0:00 a.m. Will the American People Finally Revolt?Federal indulgence and incompetence are too vast to catalogue. By Deroy Murdock Where is Nelson Mandela when we need him? In an especially memorable moment in Clint Eastwood’s fine new film Invictus, South Africa’s first black president (exquisitely portrayed by Morgan Freeman) inspects his first official paycheck. “This is terrible,� Mandela says. He decides he earns too much money and subsequently donates a third of his salary to charity. Thus was born the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Mandela’s humility and fiscal restraint would be as exotic in the nation’s...

With the state strapped for cash, a crew of about 20 private foundations has pumped $9 million into outreach efforts designed to help the Bay Area and all of California get counted properly in the 2010 U.S. Census. The charities say they have awarded grants to more than 125 community organizations that have intimate connections to people the U.S. Census Bureau had difficulty counting in the past. The list of hard-to-reach residents includes immigrants who do not speak English, college students, people who live in crowded or inaccessible housing, people who move frequently and those who might be wary of...

Socialism's greatest lie is that it promises the people something for nothing, services and programs of all kind that will either be "free" or more affordable than the free market variety. But just like the ads promising you a free iPod or a chance to make millions from home while you yawn, socialism is not something for nothing, instead more often it's nothing for something. The idea that the government will take care of you is appealing, entire nanny states have been built on that proposition. But the government can't take care of you, it can't even pay its own...

State Sen. Robert Hurt has proposed the 5th District GOP host five debates before the June primary for the seven candidates hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Perriello in November. In a news release sent Thursday, Hurt called on all 21 Republican unit chairs in the district to work together to sponsor, schedule and plan the debates across the district in the coming months. “I believe that by having the local Republican committees develop the plan for these five debates, Republican voters across the 5th District will be well served by increased debate attendance, greater participation by smaller units...

A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service said the agency is investigating an effigy of President Barack Obama found hanging from a building in the Georgia hometown of former President Jimmy Carter. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told The Associated Press that the large black doll was found Saturday morning along Main Street in the small town of Plains. According to footage from WALB-TV, the doll was hanging by a noose in front of a red, white and blue sign that says "Plains, Georgia. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th President." A witness told the television station that the doll...

...Barack Obama works in an ice cream shop and gives ice cream to his friends without paying for it: Ed Henry, on CNN with Candy Crowley: “CROWLEY: It is. And despite the fact that you’ve covered both the stories for us, you’ve had time for a little sleuthing into the background of—in the high school background, in particular, talking to some of the people who knew President Barack Obama when he was there. What did you find out? HENRY: ...He was on the basketball team that won the state championship. They knew him as Barry back then. And a couple...

More than eight years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York City authorities are demanding that developer Larry Silverstein fork over almost $35m in commercial rent taxes on the Twin Towers and two other buildings that no longer exist. The city's reasoning is that Silverstein continued to pay rent to the Port Authority after the towers fell. That, city officials claim, subjects his transactions to the 3.9 percent commercial rent tax ... On May 27, 2007, the city's finance department sent Silverstein a bill for $34,866,549 - including penalties and interest - on his four trade center buildings. City...

(The PPP quote/headline is too long) Headline: Andy Stern: “Health Care Bill is not about What the President Wants or Ben Nelson Wants, but What SEIU Members Need” During an interview with CNN on December 22nd. Andy Stern, President of SEIU, said that the Health Care Bill is no longer about what the President wants, or Ben Nelson Wants, But what SEIU Members Need. Really? I thought the Health Care Bill was to “Help” make Health Care affordable for All people, not just SEIU members. Then Again, it really won’t make it affordable for anyone, including SEIU Members. Also in...

The Future Of The United States, Systemic Fraud, Corruption And Financial Instability Politics / US Politics Jan 03, 2010 - 01:16 AM By: Global Research Craig Harris writes: As we close out 2009 and look forward into 2010 and beyond, this has been a year of near financial catastrophe and monumental change, none of which benefited America or ordinary Americans. Late in 2008 and throughout 2009, events have happened in the US which would have been labeled unfathomable just a few short years ago, and yet already these monumental changes are expected to be filed into the memory hole and...

As you start to read all this, you'll laugh at how incestuous it all gets. Let's start with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which as I've noted in the past is tied in with the Soros foundation. Together, the two worked on something called The Project on Death in America.(PDIA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2341083/posts And speaking of Mr Soros, he himself(his foundations) have given directly to NPR. Compared to some of the other numbers I'm seeing, it's a small amount of $250,000. But it doesn't matter. Soros money is soros money in my book. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2396058/posts Additional information about RWJF can be found here....

"Call off the dogs" is the message Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson (D) sent a coalition of Republican attorneys general examining the constitutionality of the Senate's healthcare bill, according to media reports. That request, made by Nelson's chief of staff to South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster on Thursday, arrives just days after 13 states' top prosecutors signaled they would examine the legality of the bill's Medicaid provisions, which in part won Democrats Nelson's vote. At issue is a condition in the bill's Medicaid rules that would essentially cover all of Nebraska's new program participants. The deal, referred to by many...

President Obama has been named to a "Top 10" list he'd likely be grateful to avoid: Judicial Watch's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians," for 2009. "The Obama White House believes," said the report from the organization that monitors government for corruption, and sues when it chooses, "it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability." The report released yesterday said Obama joined the likes of Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Attorney General Eric Holder; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.; and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., on the list. "Even...

The Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians for 2009 list has been announced by Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.

Several state attorneys general have been asked, or plan, to investigate the deal struck by Senator Ben Nelson to permanently exempt Nebraska from paying Medicaid expenses in exchange for his voting for Obamacare. An investigation of the Nelson deal would likely have two focuses. First, is the Nebraska exemption unconstitutional under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which requires “all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States?” Secondly, did the deal constitute a form of corruption?

I have obtained a copy of Bloomberg’s secret “Blueprint for Federal Action on Guns” which is really a blueprint for how the Obama Administration can screw gun owners without needing anything from Congress. Chuck Michel is responsible for filing to FOIA request to get this one out and public where it belongs, [UPDATE: If you want to get the exclusive on this kind of stuff, I would suggest heading over to calgunlaws.com and registering. Their law firm does a lot of cutting edge Second Amendment legal work. It's a great resource.] This was the infamous 40 recommendations that the Washington...

Two of our brethren were minding their own business, just publishing an internal-only TSA security directive, when all of a sudden Men with Badges & Subpoenas show up at their homes. The nerve, eh? Let's get the juicy part out of the way first. Here's the full text of super-secret directive: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Transportation Security Administration Aviation Security Directive Subject: Security Directive Number: SD 1544-09-06 Date: December 25, 2009 EXPIRATION: 0200Z on December 30, 2009 This Security Directive (SD) must be implemented immediately. The measures contained in this SD are in addition to all other SDs currently...

I know I've said it before, but unionism is antithetical to good government. It is impossible to have both unions and effective government in a democratic republic such as ours. Unions destroy good government, waste money at all levels and they move strictly against the best interests of the voters in all cases. Once again my axiom is shown as a truism with a report by Michael Barone with his Dec. 30 Examiner piece. Barone details the findings of a recent Rasmussen poll that reveals that Americans that aren't in government unions and government jobs feel that the economy and...

2009 was an extraordinary year in which ordinary people did extraordinary things not because they were the easy things to do, but because they were the right thing to do. The people ranged from young Hannah Giles who jump-started her journalism career by donning a hooker’s garb to bring down the racketeer influenced corrupt organization known as ACORN, to Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, who culminated the decades of his life that he worked toward airline safety simply by landing a engineless plane on the Hudson River. Michael Paul Mizzone, a carpenter’s business representative, pulled Josef R. Bruckuf, 82, out of...

During the 1980’s, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar built a global cocaine cartel of unrivaled power and influence based on a simple philosophy, Plato O Plomo. Translated literally that means “silver or lead,” but every Colombian knew what it really meant – “money or bullets.” Either you took Escobar’s bribe, or you dealt with Escobar’s wrath. Today, these thuggish tactics are alive and well in – of all places – Washington, D.C.,

Something has gone horribly wrong with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The 1.6 million local and state government workers and retirees who rely on the pension giant should be deeply worried. State taxpayers who are going to have to bail out CalPERS should be infuriated. In area after area, CalPERS has been a disaster. •Public policy. The 1999 state law that led to an orgy of retroactive pension spiking by government agencies only passed because of Cal-PERS’ insane assurance that a perpetually rising stock market would always cover the cost of sharply increasing benefits. CalPERS is thus directly culpable...

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE Faced with drug-cartel violence and signs of vigilantism against the gangs, ordinary people would argue that it doesn't pay to get involved. Reporting from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico -- The mayor had good news: A notorious thug from one of the drug cartels had been found killed. Hector "El Negro" Saldana would no longer menace the people of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico. Trouble was, Saldana's body hadn't yet been discovered when Mayor Mauricio Fernandez made the announcement with a flourish at his swearing-in ceremony in October. How did Fernandez know about...

It looks like the deeper we look into Harry Reid’s health care monstrosity the worse it looks. A new review of this pile of Marxist dung reveals that blatant racial discrimination is a central thread of this evil cloak. The bill directs the Health and Human Services Secretary (now THE most powerful person in our government surpassing even the Chicago gangster) to give “priority” in the sending $ billions of our tax dollars only to medical schools that discriminate against Whites or face being cut off. Depending upon which section of this bill one reads, it mandates “preferential” treatment for...

Typical of the morons in Congress, the delegate from American Samoa believes that HE is the one sending funds to help his people when indeed it is the American TAXPAYERS. The man, who is Samoan, is also taking a shot at one of his targets in American Samoa simply because he wants to introduce the Samoan people to other opportunities besides packing tuna. It is time to send ALL of Congress home regardless of party affiliation!

1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. 2. Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power.

The attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight has re-ignited debate in the Senate over President Obama's nominee for chief of the Transportation Security Administration, which has been without a permanent leader since Obama took office. It took the president eight months to nominate someone for the post, but that nomination has since been held up by objections from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who fears nominee Erroll Southers will unionize TSA screeners. Now that the administration is launching a full review of airport security procedures, some lawmakers are putting pressure on DeMint to drop the issue. But the South Carolina senator...

SAN JUAN — A 16-year-old Mexican girl was forced into household labor, deprived of food and shelter and raped six times by the man who smuggled her into this country, according to authorities. Benito Vargas, 17, is accused of raping the Jalisco native on several occasions while his mother ignored the girl’s cries for help, San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said. The girl, who was smuggled into the United States on claims she would have a better life here, was also beaten on several occasions, was rarely fed and was forced to sleep on a couch outside while she...

Taxes and cap and trade.....Happy New Year!

Less than 48 hours before Christmas, Keith Gladney was fired from his job as a St. Louis County (Mo.) Animal Control Officer, according to a BigGovernment.com article published the same day. Why is his firing important? Because, as you'll see in reviewing the points noted below, integrity of government is at stake:

Rasmussen's latest tracking poll shows 46% strongly disapprove of Obama's performance as president. That is compared to 43% who strongly disapproved of George W. Bush at the end of his presidency. But how much worse would Obama's numbers be (and how much better Bush's) if not for this Rasmussen finding: One bright spot in the numbers for the President is that 51% of voters still say former President George W. Bush is more to blame for the nation’s economic woes. Just 41% point the finger of blame at the current President. In fact, the mortgage meltdown was overwhelmingly a Democrat...

A new global currency should replace the US dollar as the international reserve currency, as the long-term deterioration of America's economy and the greenback is fuelling a "currency-regime crisis", says Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator of the Financial Times. Wolf, who has honorary doctorates from three universities, bases his argument in part on the Triffin dilemma, an economic paradox named after economist Robert Triffin. The paradox shows that the US dollar's role as a global reserve currency leads to a conflict between US national monetary policy and global monetary policy. It also points to fundamental imbalances in...

Think back to December 2008. Your governor was in handcuffs, accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat -- and of shaking down a children's hospital executive for campaign lucre. In response, Illinois politicians passed middling "reforms" that in some ways enhanced their power and diminished yours. For this, yes, they now praise themselves. Also in 2009, the political heirs of Rod Blagojevich surveyed the abyss of debt they've dug in Springfield and . . . dug deeper. They can't pay today's bills, yet continue to stick taxpayers with obligations to be paid in endless tomorrows. Their motto: "Splurge....

(snip) Sen. Lindsey Graham believes his fellow South Carolina Republican's verdict is too harsh. He plans to vote to confirm Bernanke, who just turned 56. “I remember what it was like in September 2008 when the stock market went down a thousand points, and we had one failure after another of major financial institutions,” Graham told McClatchy. “Bernanke and some others came up with a game plan to save us from another Great Depression,” Graham said. “I think he's been a pretty steady hand at the tiller.” DeMint also blasts Bernanke on the $700 billion financial bailout bill pushed by...

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.

A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport, and believes at least one other person from the flight was arrested on Friday at Detroit Metro Airport. Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday. Kurt HaskellLori and...

Fannie / Freddie - What Does Treasury Know? by: Karl DenningerDecember 25, 2009 On Christmas Eve one would think you could have a nice evening with your family. Little did I know what Timmy Geithner had up his sleeve: The two companies, the largest sources of mortgage financing in the U.S., are currently under government conservatorship and have caps of $200 billion each on backstop capital from the Treasury. Under the new agreement announced today, these limits can rise as needed to cover net worth losses through 2012. I see. But I thought housing was getting better? That's what I...

William Daley, brother of Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley has placed the equivalent of the head of a dead horse on President Obama's bed. In today's WaPo, Daley pens an op-ed where in part he writes: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come...Witness the drumbeat of ominous poll results. Obama's approval rating has fallen below 49 percent overall and is even lower -- 41 percent -- among independents. On the question of which party is best suited to manage the economy, there has been...

NEW YORK – The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department said Thursday it removed the $400 billion financial cap on the money it will provide to keep the companies afloat. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion to the pair, and a senior Treasury official said losses are not expected to exceed the government's estimate this summer of $170 billion over 10 years. Treasury Department officials said it will now use a flexible formula to ensure the two agencies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed...

The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department said Thursday it removed the $400 billion financial cap on the money it will provide to keep the companies afloat. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion to the pair, and a senior Treasury official said losses are not expected to exceed the government's estimate this summer of $170 billion over 10 years. Treasury Department officials said it will now use a flexible formula to ensure the two agencies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities they sell...

Gov Palin interview with Greta Van Susteren was probably one of her best interviews, in that interview Van Susteren asked Palin about resignation, quitting, ethic violations and the prospect of dealing with attacks in future political positions. This is to all of those hacks, the misinformed and the haters that hide their true intentions against Gov. Palin, and you know who I'm talking about.......here are excerpts. PALIN: Because it was the best thing for the state of Alaska to be able to progress the conservative agenda up there without the distraction that the new normal in Alaskan politics had become...

Dear Attorney General Holder: We write to demand an immediate investigation into the activities of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We believe there is an abundant public record which establishes that the actions of the White House have blocked any investigation into his activities while on the board of Freddie Mac from 2000-2001, and facilitated the cover up of potential malfeasance until the 10-year statute of limitations has run out. The purpose of this letter is to connect the dots to establish both the conduct of Mr. Emanuel and those working with him to thwart inquiry, and to...

No surprise here....the Senate passed their version of Socialism today: The Senate approved sweeping healthcare reform legislation by the narrowest of partisan margins early Christmas Eve morning, placing President Barack Obama just one step away from signing into law a longtime Democratic priority ~~~ The 60 to 39 tally split directly along partisan lines, underscoring not only the great divide between Democrats and Republicans but also the deftness with which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) at long last united his fractious caucus by offering key compromises to centrists but keeping liberals in the fold. Deftness me ass. This was bribery...

The top regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is expected to announce millions of dollars in pay packages for top executives at the government-run mortgage-finance titans, people familiar with the matter said. The Federal Housing Finance Agency approved compensation plans for Fannie Chief Executive Michael Williams and Freddie CEO Charles Haldeman Jr. Those packages are expected to be in a range of $4 million to $6 million, people familiar with the matter said. The companies are expected to spell out pay details for their top executives in securities filings Thursday morning. The Christmas Eve announcement is likely to provoke...

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.

Today, Grover Norquist and I are calling for an investigation into Rahm Emanuel’s activities at Freddie Mac, and the White House’s blocking of an Inspector General who would look into it. The letter follows: December 23, 2009 Attorney General of the United States of America U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Dear Attorney General Holder: We write to demand an immediate investigation into the activities of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We believe there is an abundant public record which establishes that the actions of the White House have blocked any investigation into...

The gist: With his antics, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson is making a mockery of his office and letting down constituents. * * * In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the 8th District Democrat asked that a Lake County woman behind a Web site critical of Grayson be investigated, prosecuted, fined and imprisoned -- for five years. * * * Being the target of rough criticism is an occupational hazard for public officials, especially those as high-profile as a U.S. congressman. Any politician who pursues legal action against critics, even critics who may not have followed the letter...

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...

Violating its own guarantee of unprecedented transparency, the White House is blocking an investigation into the controversial firing of an inspector general who exposed one of President Obama’s political supporters—a California mayor—for misusing federal funds. First Lady Michelle Obama was reportedly behind the contentious June dismissal of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin and congressional investigators want to interview the aide (Jackie Norris) who may have given the order. At the time Norris was the First Lady’s chief of staff but the White House counsel’s office has blocked investigators from interviewing her, according to a national news report. Norris is currently...

Much has been made about how Democrats are committing political suicide with the healthcare bill and all the other onerous legislation they have proposed and/or passed this year. There is no mistaking that these actions are extremely unpopular. The widespread uncertainty they have fostered in the business community by coupling job-killing legislation and talk of big tax increases with unprecedented, reckless deficit spending has kept our economy at a virtual standstill. And their insulting, arrogant, dishonest and blatantly corrupt behavior has brought citizen concern and anger to a fever pitch, while Democrat poll numbers plummet. But those who believe in...