Free Republic

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...

You've heard it before, how the pharmaceutical industry has a giant "revolving door" through which corporations and government agencies frequently exchange key employees. That reality was driven home in a huge way today when news broke that Dr. Julie Gerberding, who headed the CDC from 2002 through 2009, landed a top job with Merck, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Her job there? She's the new president of the vaccine division. How convenient. That means the former head of the CDC was very likely cultivating a relationship with Merck all these years, and now comes the big...

At least 10 states are now raising questions about the legality of the deal that Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, cut for his home state of Nebraska during the health care negotiations. Under the agreement, which is on the verge of being approved Thursday by the Senate, Nebraska is permanently exempt from paying for its expansion of Medicaid, shoving that cost onto taxpayers in every other state. Mr. Nelson was able to exercise such leverage because in exchange, he was providing the magical 60th vote that Democrats needed to advance their health care bill. The deal has enraged other Senators,...

A Congressional Research Service report commissioned by the House Judiciary Committee says ACORN hasn't violated any federal regulations the past five years. The report, released by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers's, D-Mich., staff Tuesday evening, also reports that the undercover filmmakers that allegedly caught employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now breaking the law may have violated state law in their filming operation.

  Exhausted senators are eager to go home for the holidays and get as far away from Washington as possible. You just wouldn’t know it by watching the Senate floor. Senators are still talking virtually nonstop — even though they’re voting on very little. By the time they vote on the Democrats’ health care bill on Christmas Eve, senators will have been in session 25 days straight — one day short of a record that’s stood since World War I. But in all those days of talking, they held roll-call votes to kill or approve just 20 amendments to the bill before...

Alaska’s two U.S. senators are offering conflicting views on the merits of the health care bill under consideration by the U.S. Senate this week. SNIP: The bill reauthorizes the Indian Health Care Improvement Act for the first time in 21 years- a major accomplishment pushed for by Begich and eight other senators. It also protects Alaska Natives from penalties for not acquiring insurance and expands coverage to other public programs.

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...

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...

A retired Florida couple would appear an unlikely source to have given $83,000 in campaign donations over a five-year period to members of Congress from all over the country. Both in their 80s, they lived in a $118,000 Daytona Beach house they didn't own; they each voted only twice since 1992; and they seemed to lack the financial means to make the contributions. Yet, both were listed as having given dozens of donations to lawmakers, nearly half of which went to members of the House Appropriations Committee - legislators who were especially important to their then-son-in-law, superlobbyist Paul Magliocchetti, who...

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.

Vote buying—the exchange of money or goods for a voter’s support—is viewed as reprehensible and corrupt, yet openly survives in some nominating caucuses and conventions. Although vote buying is banned on both the state and federal level, some vote buying laws apply to primary and general elections only. On the federal level, and in select states, “non-election” forums, meaning nominating caucuses and conventions, remain excluded. “Non-election” vote buying, however, creates the same policy problems as in elections. This Note argues for the extension of currently inadequate federaland state vote buying laws to fully cover these “non-election” nominating events. Part I...

DETROIT - General Motors Co. and Chrysler L.L.C., took dramatically different stands yesterday on repaying the billions each received over the last year in federal bailout funds. GM plans to pay all of its $6.7 billion in government loans by the end of June, chairman and chief executive officer Ed Whitacre Jr. said. The quarterly installments will begin this month with a $1.2 billion payment, he said. But Chrysler, now known as Old Carco L.L.C., filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan in which the company said it planned on giving nothing back to the government for its $3.7-billion claim,...

Before reading this thread, try clicking this link or reading the excerpt below, from a post by FReeper littlejeremiah:HOW COLLECTIVISTS USE THE DIAMOND TACTIC TO SWAY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND HOW TO THWART THEM by G. Edward Griffin In the 1960s, I came across a small training manual distributed by the Communist Party that showed how a small group of people – as few as four – could dominate a much larger group and sway the outcome of any action taken by that group. It was called the Diamond Technique.The principle is based on the fact that people in groups tend...

Liberal arrogance was on full display when Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), in an appearance on CBS, described the $1.2 Billion of the taxpayers money that Harry Reid used to bribe his fellow Democrat Senators to buy their votes on the health care bill as “small stuff.”

Pa. House majority leader implicated in corruption By: Jackie Massott HARRISBURG (AP) - The majority leader of the Pennsylvania House directed illegal campaign activities by legislative employees and raised campaign funds from inside the Capitol, according to witness testimony in transcripts obtained by The Associated Press. The witnesses in the widening probe, which has reached top levels of the state General Assembly, allege conduct similar to that for which 25 others have been charged. Todd Eachus has not been charged. John Paul Jones, a $62,000-a-year legislative research specialist until December 2007, told the grand jury that Eachus, D-Luzerne, brought him...

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Whore)- "It's been a very unjust criticism. The fact of the matter is, and I know people don't believe this, but I can't be bought."

Levi Hill for the News Sun---Hobbs--The nation is facing an energy crisis where rolling blackouts, gas hoarding and high energy prices will become everyday occurrences. That was the message Tuesday from former Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister during a one-hour talk titled “Affordable Energy in the 21st Century: Enablers and Disablers” at Tydings Auditorium.

COLUMBIA, SC (WMBF) - U.S. Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham are hoping to turn the tables on health care in Washington, after requesting an investigation into special deals being made to secure votes for successful reform. A letter addressed by the two South Carolina lawmakers was received by State Attorney General Henry McMaster Tuesday morning, detailing concerns over funding arrangements negotiated with Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. "The language of the Nelson provision appears to give Nebraska a permanent exemption from paying the Medicaid expenses all other states in the nation will be required to pay," McMaster said in...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 22, 2009 CONTACT: J.P. Duffy, (866) FRC-NEWS Senator Landrieu Closes Office: Constituents Turned Away at the Door, Callers Reach Only Busy Signals December 22, 2009 FRC's Tony Perkins Calls Closure the "Height of Arrogance" Baton Rouge, LA - This afternoon, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins attempted to deliver a letter to Senator Mary Landrieu's Baton Rouge office only to be told by a federal marshal that her offices were "closed for the holidays." Over 150 concerned citizens joined Perkins at a rally in front of Senator Landrieu's office to urge the Senator to oppose the...