Free Republic

(Reuters) - The Obama administration will unveil a "more realistic" vision for the military on Thursday, with plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power at a time of fiscal restraint, officials familiar with the plans said on Wednesday. The strategic review of U.S. security interests will also emphasize an American presence in Asia, with less attention overall to Europe, Africa and Latin America alongside slower growth in the Pentagon's budget, the officials said. Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials...

Automatic cuts to defense spending could leave the Pentagon with its lowest share of the federal budget since before World War II, shrinking the Army and Marine Corps by some 150,000 troops and leaving fewer warships and combat aircraft to project U.S. power around the world, according to an analysis prepared for House Armed Services Committee Republicans. The analysis, distributed Friday as part of panel Chairman Buck McKeon’s efforts to lobby against deeper defense cuts by the deficit-reduction supercommittee, paints a dire picture of a “hollow force” unable to meet national security needs and forced to return to a draft...

A coalition of environmental and taxpayer groups have come up with $380 billion in savings over five years -- that is roughly three quarters of a trillion over 10 -- from programs they conclude both waste money and harm the environment.Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Public Citizen and The Heartland Institute all manage to agree that subsidies to corn, crop insurance, nuclear power, oil, timber, mining, flood insurance and the like should go. They are urging the new deficit supercommittee, which has to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by Thanksgiving, to take a look....

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Leahy, a Democrat and senior member of the U.S. Senate, wants assistance withheld from the Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit. (Snip) According to a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, Leahy began promoting the legislation in recent months after he was approached by voters in his home state of Vermont.

Obama tries to turn the tables on GOP with call for tax cut extensionBy Russell Berman and Bernie Becker 08/14/11 06:00 PM ET President Obama’s call for an extension of a payroll tax cut could upend the political dynamics in Congress heading into the fall, as Democrats adopt a trademark Republican tactic: warning against a looming tax hike. With the economic recovery stalled, the Obama administration is pushing aggressively to keep in place the payroll tax holiday that was enacted as part of the bipartisan tax deal Congress passed in December. Republican leaders have resisted that idea, preferring instead to...

The Ministry of Defence is investigating claims that a soldier sliced fingers off dead Taliban fighters to keep as souvenirs.

Cuts to Pentagon spending won’t be done in a “hasty, ill-conceived way,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a letter to reassure to his department’s staff Wednesday. Acknowledging that defense cuts “must be” part of the solution to trim the national debt, Panetta said military leaders will be able to make $350 billion in cuts over the next decade that were laid out in the compromise bill to raise the debt ceiling “while maintaining the excellence of our military.”

I just love Washington-speak which offers heartfelt phrases such as “baseline spending,” “debt ceiling,” “drop dead dates,” and my ultimate favorites, “the cut,” “to cut,” “a cut,” or just simply “cuts.” Like the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” a “cut” means different things to different people. Let me explain by first discussing common-speak, which is very easy to understand. When someone takes a cut in pay, it could mean going from $20 per hour to $15 per hour. Or, they’re paid $30,000 per year for a job that used to pay $35,000 per year. To most...

“The fact that the President comes out and threatens to take away our social security checks and not pay the veterans is despicable,” said David Hern, a veteran who fought in Korea.

This ain't rocket science. The country is going bankrupt because of big spending, big taxing, big government Marxists, socialists, liberals, progressives, moderates and RINOS!! We don't need a higher credit limit or higher taxes. We need to cut the damned government! Cut the spending! Cut the stifling regulations! Cut the taxes!! Cut it NOW!! Not ten years from now, not five years from now, not two years from now, CUT IT NOW!! Get the government out of our pockets, out of our faces, out of our business, off our backs and OUT of our lives!! Set our people free, turn...

With Friday's vote over, senators quickly moved to vacate the floor. Cars were waiting outside to whisk members to airports to take flights home. Though the Senate was originally scheduled to be in session, Reid, D-Nev., noted that would not be the case and no votes would be taken before Monday afternoon. Reid said that the session wasn't necessary because Obama and Boehner were working on a compromise measure. He said he understands the plan addresses both taxes and revenue, and therefore must originate in the House, giving the Senate no reason to work. Another person hot about the talks...

To listen to the president, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the mainstream media and even some of my favorite conservative pundits, you’d think the House of Representatives hadn’t passed “Cut, Cap and Balance� Monday. The plan, carefully crafted by the Republican Study Committee and then improved upon by various members of the House, is routinely dismissed as extreme — if it’s acknowledged at all.Reid yesterday actually said he’s waiting for Speaker John Boehner to inform him what kind of deficit reduction and debt limit increase deal would pass the House. RSC Chairman Jim Jordan quickly put Reid in his place,...

********************************************** (AP)  WASHINGTON — The next step in the weeks-long saga over how to increase the government's borrowing cap is to let House tea party forces try it their way. A Republican "cut, cap and balance" plan set for a House vote Tuesday would condition a $2.4 trillion increase in the so-called debt limit on an immediate $100 billion-plus cut from next year's budget and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. "Let's let the American people decide," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on "Fox News Sunday." "Do they want something common sense as cutting...

With the House poised to vote on a debt-ceiling increase tomorrow, the White House has released a threat to veto the bill if it reaches the President’s desk. This statement was just released by e-mail, emphasis in the original: The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 2560, the “Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011.” Neither setting arbitrary spending levels nor amending the Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility. Increasing the Federal debt limit, which is needed to avoid a Federal government default on its obligations and a severe blow to the economy, should not be conditioned on taking these actions....

With White House negotiations stalled and an Aug. 2 deadline looming, House Republicans will bring an alternative solution to rein in spending while raising the U.S.’s borrowing authority to the floor next week in a bid to break the debt-ceiling deadlock that threatens the U.S.’s credit and could spark a spreading fiscal calamity. -snip- The new plan isn’t new, exactly. Known as Cut, Cap and Balance, the three-pronged proposal would cut some $2.4 trillion from the federal budget, fulfilling Republican promises not to vote to raise the debt limit through 2012 unless they secure commensurate spending cuts. It would establish...

(CNN) – Republican Sen. Jim DeMint said he's "disappointed" Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has not signed the "cut, cap, balance" pledge to slash spending and balance the budget. "I am disappointed," DeMint said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning." "We have to stop spending more than we're bringing in." VIDEO at link

RUSH: I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's cut tax dollars for the rich right now. Let's defund what remains of TARP. If you want to talk about cutting taxes for the rich, whatever's not spent for stimulus, get rid of it. Who did it go to? It went to the rich, it went to unions. Let's defund what remains of TARP, let's return the money to taxpayers. Let's eliminate General Electric's special tax deals so it actually pays some income tax. No more subsidies for billionaires to promote phony green energy proposals. If you want to talk about defunding...

President Obama on Wednesday will call for a one-third cut in oil imports by 2020, part of a plan he says will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign petroleum. With rising gasoline prices at home and political turmoil throughout the Middle East, Obama will seek in a speech at Georgetown University to rally Americans — and bickering lawmakers — behind a program that draws about half of that import cut from energy savings and about half from greater energy production, according to Obama aides who briefed reporters Tuesday.

This short segment in a Washington Post story on President Obama’s interviews with local television stations is revealing: In some cases, Obama had a message he wanted to send directly to the people in particular states..... Notice the theme there? Here are three Republican governors of three states who face serious budget problems, and Obama — despite a lack of familiarity with the states’ financial circumstances, admitting that he hasn’t “followed exactly what’s happening with the Wisconsin budget” — weighs in on all three, all with the same theme: No, those spending cuts aren’t necessary.

This time, while Senate Democrats and the White House are touting another $6.5 billion in spending cuts in the midst of their fight with congressional Republicans over how best to reduce the deficit, CBO indicates in a 513-page report to Congress obtained by Fox that nearly $2 billion of that is emergency funding. That is - spending that is not included in the budget and, therefore, does not affect the deficit. An aide to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, did not dispute the analysis of his boss' bill but merely pointed out that the goal of the chairman...

Amazon.com has threatened to cut off more than 10,000 affiliates in California if state lawmakers pass legislation requiring the Internet retailer to collect sales tax from state residents. Seattle-based Amazon said four bills introduced in the state legislature are unconstitutional because they would require sellers with no physical presence in California to collect sales tax from its residents (Snip) "In no uncertain terms, Amazon has made it clear to me that the checks they send Californians will be cut off overnight if pending legislation aimed at regulating their operations becomes law."

NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command will cut 79 positions as part of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' cost-savings initiative to improve efficiency that he issued late last year. Commanders said 40 of the positions will be military and 39 will be civilian. Offices most directly affected include chaplains, history, surgeon general and control systems. Most of the people who lose their jobs will be transferred to other posts in the military, and in some cases the military will help individuals find new employment, a NORAD spokesman told Fox News. And some of the positions, which are currently vacant, simply will...

Behold Obama the Budget Barbarian! Tremble in terror, you government trolls, as Barack Obama wields his mighty ax, slashing spending without fear! “Painful cuts,” says CNN. “Tough choices and sacrifices” says the White House. “Deep cuts,” says ABC. How “painful, tough and deep?” I’ve got the numbers right here, and they are so shocking that you may want to stop reading now if you are elderly, infirm or an expectant mother. President Obama has proposed cutting an entire 1/40th of the budget! In just 10 short years! Bow before the awesome budget austerity of the Great And Powerful O! No,...

Up to 5,000 pupils attending weekend schools across Britain are being exposed to textbooks claiming that some Jews were transformed into pigs and apes, and that some offences could be punished with stoning. One book for six year-olds warns that those who do not believe in Islam will be condemned to “hellfire” in death. Another text for 15 year-olds teaches that thieves who break Sharia law should have their hands cut off for a first offence and their feet amputated for a subsequent crime. Teenagers are presented with diagrams showing where the cuts should be made.

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, has written in the Wall Street Journal that we should “un-surge” in Afghanistan. While arguing against total withdrawal, he says “the U.S. effort there should be sharply reduced.” Mr. Haass’s recommendation on Afghanistan sounds similar to his (flawed) recommendation on Iraq during the debate about the surge. In a November 13, 2006, interview with Der Spiegel, Haass said: “We've reached a point in Iraq where we've got to get real.

Repubs promised no tax bill, no other bills. Dems refuse to let it come to a vote in Senate.

(CNN) - Defying President Obama, House Democrats voted Thursday not to bring up the tax package that he negotiated with Republicans in its current form. "This message today is very simple: That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus. It's as simple as that," said Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen. "We will continue to try and work with the White House and our Republican colleagues to try and make sure we do something right for the economy and right for jobs, and a balanced package as we go forward," he said....

Despite President Obama’s suggestion that he’s willing to compromise with Republicans to extend all the Bush tax cuts at least temporarily, not all Democrats are willing to follow him down that path. Amid a liberal backlash against the president, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today that there isn’t “any way in the world” he would agree to extending the tax cuts for upper-income American – even if it’s only done so temporarily. “I would suspect most Democrats agreed with the president when he campaigned against allowing tax reductions for millionaires and billionaires -- took that...

THE DEPRESSION OF 1946 Historically minded readers may be saying, "There was a Depression in 1946? I never heard about that." You never heard of it because it never happened. However, the "Depression of 1946" may be one of the most widely predicted events that never happened in American history. As the war was winding down, leading Keynesian economists of the day argued, as Alvin Hansen did, that "the government cannot just disband the Army, close down munitions factories, stop building ships, and remove all economic controls." After all, the belief was that the only thing that finally ended the...

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — What if a president cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion and nobody noticed? It is not a rhetorical question. At Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’, a barbecue-fed rally organized here last week by a Republican women’s club, a half-dozen guests were asked by a reporter what had happened to their taxes since President Obama took office. “Federal and state have both gone up,” said Bob Paratore, 59, from nearby Charlotte, echoing the comments of others. After further prodding

smaller_textlarger_textprint_articleReuters, 15/10 14:30 CET By Catherine Bremer PARIS (Reuters) – French refinery workers cut off a fuel pipeline to Paris on Friday as protesters piled on pressure to derail President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular pension reform. Police broke up blockades at fuel depots in southern France but protesters blocked a terminal at Paris’s Orly airport and truckers were set to join the fray as momentum built for a day of street rallies on Saturday. A nationwide strike is planned on Tuesday, a day before the Senate is due to vote on a bill to make people work longer for their pensions....

LEOMINSTER — About 50 full-time jobs will be eliminated at the HealthAlliance Hospital — Leominster Campus, and one of two planned expansion projects may be cut back. Mary Lourdes Burke, chief communications officer for the hospital, said yesterday the job cuts do not mean 50 layoffs, because some were vacant positions that will not be filled, and some were positions that had hours reduced. Also, she said, some union contracts required moving employees into other posts. The cuts were made from the main Leominster Campus, the Burbank Campus in Fitchburg, and the HealthAlliance Homehealth & Hospice on Tucker Drive in...

This is the latest from the CBO that I could find that detailed the following information: Effective Tax Rate Share of Tax Liabilities Average Pre-Tax and Post-Tax income Share of Pre-Tax and Post-Tax income All of these are displayed in a table that categorizes by quintile (i.e. 0-20%, 20-40%, 40%-60%, 60-80%, and 80%-100%). It also provides this information for the top 10%, top 5%, and top 1%.

Senate candidate Maurice Ferré said it is wrong to spend thousands of dollars to prolong the lives of the dying for a short time. Senate candidate Maurice Ferré said it is wrong to spend thousands of dollars to prolong the lives of the dying for a short time. WEST PALM BEACH -- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Maurice Ferré says the United States spends an ``absurd'' amount on end-of-life care and should gradually move to a universal health system in which the government controls costs by setting prices for medical procedures and capping expenditures based on age and medical condition

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is scheduled to shutter its office in San Jose next week. But officials say the organization will maintain a local role in advocating for police accountability. Both employees who have been working at the office at 111 N. Market St. are being laid off. The ACLU, which works to protect constitutional liberties, decided to close the office, opened in 2006, due to budget cuts, according to associate director Kelli Evans. "San Jose and Santa Clara County are critical regions for ACLU work in Northern California,'' said Evans, a former civil rights trial...

An average sergeant in the Army with four years of service and one dependent would receive $52,589 in annual compensation, according to the paper. This figure includes basic pay, housing and subsistence allowances, as well as tax benefits. Meanwhile, a U.S. Postal letter carrier, with no supervisory or hazardous duty, makes approximately $80,000 a year when all benefits are factored in.

Hung parliament: parties have 15 days to cut deal or face election The major political parties have 15 days to try to thrash out a deal to form the next government before the country faces the prospect of a second general election. By By Andrew Porter, Political Editor Published: 11:30PM BST 09 May 2010 Under a new set of guidelines put in place by the civil service Gordon Brown could remain as Prime Minister until 25 May – the day of the Queen's Speech. By then either the prime minister, David Cameron or Nick Clegg has to show that he...

Despite his pledge last year to join other Oakland elected officials in taking a 10 percent pay cut, Mayor Ron Dellums has continued to collect his full $183,000-a-year salary, a spokesman for the mayor confirms. The spokesman, Paul Rose, declined to say precisely why the mayor took the extra $18,300 in pay this past year -- but there is speculation that he needed the money to help deal with his troubled personal finances.

The health care overhaul will cost U.S. companies billions and make them more likely to drop prescription drug coverage for retirees because of a change in how the government subsidizes those benefits. In the first two days after the law was signed, three major companies — Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Valero Energy — said they expect to take a total hit of $265 million to account for smaller tax deductions in the future. With more than 3,500 companies now getting the tax break as an incentive to keep providing coverage, others are almost certain to announce similar cost...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Russia reached a breakthrough agreement Wednesday for a historic treaty to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals, the most significant pact in a generation and an important milestone in the decades-long quest to lower the risk of global nuclear war. After long and trying negotiations, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are to sign the treaty in two weeks in Prague, once final technical details are worked out, officials in Washington and Moscow said. The accord is expected to cut the number of long-range nuclear weapons held by each...

Company plans to reduce sodium by 10 percent in its products over 2 years NORTHFIELD, Ill. - Kraft Foods says it will cut the salt in its products sold in North America by an average of 10 percent over the next two years as food makers try to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Kraft said Wednesday that the move will reduce the sodium in Oscar Mayer Bologna by 17 percent and Easy Mac Cups by 20 percent. This comes on top of other cuts it has made in sodium levels in recent years.

Maybe the congress and senate should take a closer look at their health care policy. Judging by sloppy work done by a doctor on at least one member of congress. It sounds like members of congress could use an upgrade from their current plan to the plan democrats want to impose on us all. Accidents happen. Carelessness should not.

Gov. Chris Christie's transition team has finished its review of state agencies and authorities and is recommending sweeping changes to shrink the size of New Jersey government and save money in the face of a projected $9 to $10 billion deficit for the 2011 budget year. Quantcast The review, consisting of 19 reports submitted Friday by the 21 transition team subcommittees, suggests consolidating several agencies and authorities and eliminating others. Among the highlights are suggestions that the state stop subsidizing horse racing and its public television station; that a sales tax holiday be enacted to spur consumer spending; and that...

Cocaine's a hell of a drug, and even more so when laced with another drug that's commonly used to deworm opossums. Federal agents have found that 69 percent of cocaine shipments seized entering the United States contain levamisole, a veterinary drug linked to serious weakening of the immune system in humans. Here's the real funny part: no one knows why. This comes from a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the immune system condition, known as agranulocytosis. The paper tracks 21 cases from New Mexico and Washington State linked to cocaine, including one death,...

Obama got this question last night at the presser in Pittsburgh on Afghanistan... Watch how hesitant he is with the answer, does this sound like a President who wants victory?...Listen Carefully

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The number of tanks belonging to the Russian armed forces will be cut to 2,000, a Russian Defense Ministry source told Interfax on Wednesday. "As part of the armed forces reform, the General Staff endorsed the organizational structure of the Armor Forces within ground brigades and the Navy's coast forces. The Armor Forces will include two independent tank brigades and over 20 tank battalions within permanent alert brigades," the source said. The independent tank brigades will be stationed in the Siberian and Moscow Military Districts, he said. "The overall number of tanks of various versions,...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's budget blueprint Thursday canceled plans to extend the border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border beyond the 670 miles already completed or planned, symbolically breaking with a much-heralded approach to border security advocated by President George W. Bush. The Obama administration's turnabout left limited funds for roads, lights and so-called tactical infrastructure – but not a dime to extend the pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers erected along roughly one-third of the nation's 1,947 mile border with Mexico. As a Democratic senator representing Illinois, Obama joined 79 other senators in 2006 to support construction of the barrier...

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama moved to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility in a roiling economy, vowing on Monday to slash federal spending on contractors by 10 percent and saving $40 billion. Urging members of his own party to be just as fiscally tough as the most conservative Republicans, Obama said the $700 billion economic bailout plan proposed by the Bush administration and congressional leaders is forcing a renewed look at federal spending. As president, Obama said he would create a White House team headed by a chief performance officer to monitor the efficiency of government spending.

Exactly 15 years ago this week the world first heard the story of John Wayne and Lorena Bobbitt. John Wayne, an ex-Marine, was accused of coming home drunk and raping his wife. Lorena was accused of retaliating by cutting off her husband's penis while he was asleep. Lorena went from anonymous to notorious - her story the subject of countless newspaper and magazine articles. Now in her first ever network morning show interview she discusses how she's using her notoriety to help others. "All of a sudden, my private life is out in the open and it's an open book...

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it will cut its U.S. hourly work force by 2,000, or about 55 percent, as a result of a new contract ratified last week by the United Auto Workers union.