Free Republic

A letter sent today from Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa to B. Todd Jones, Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, asked how “a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious…can remain on paid leave while simultaneously drawing an additional six figure salary from a major financial services company,” a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform release announced. “Given [former Assistant Director William] McMahon’s extensive involvement in the leadership failures of Operation Fast and Furious, Grassley and Issa sought a detailed explanation of why the Justice Department would approve this special...

Two men have pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal beating of a 59-year-old San Francisco man on a downtown Oakland street, attorneys in the case said Tuesday. Lavonte Drummer, 20, and Dominic Davis, 19, both of Oakland, had been charged with murder in the 2010 death of Tian Sheng Yu, which came after what authorities called a random, unprovoked attack on his son, Jin Cheng Yu, then 27. Drummer and Davis pleaded no contest last month to voluntary manslaughter and are expected to serve 11 years in prison if Judge Carrie Panetta of Alameda County...

A tragedy is presently unfolding in Iraq that makes a mockery of the boast by US defence secretary Leon Panetta that American forces are leaving it a “free, independent and sovereign country”. And in two weeks’ time it seems set to come to a bloody climax. For some years this column has been drawing attention to the horrible threat that hangs over Camp Ashraf, the once neatly-ordered town on the Iranian border which has, since 2001, been home to 3,400 Iranian exiles, members of the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), the leading group opposed to the tyranny of the mullahs...

So far I haven't been impressed with cyber Monday. None of the specific items I've been "shopping" (watches, kitchen appliances, household linens) are available for anything better than free shipping.Thought maybe we can share any good deals here.

Yesterday, a friend of mine called me on the phone. He told me McDonalds had a special (for Florida and Southeast Georgia) for Buy a Big Mac, get the second Big Mac free. I took advantage of that so I ended up eating 2 Big Macs for supper for a total of just $3.50.Anyway, it occurred to me that there are a lot of Fast Food restaurant deals out there but we don't know about a majority of them until it is too late. Therefore, please post your fast food restaurant deals on this thread when you find them for...

A while back, I mentioned a secret place where true treasures can occasionally be found. Maybe this is the time to clue you all in on this place (and places like it). Most people have stuff they’d like to get rid of. And not everyone has access to a Good Will or Salvation Army drop box. And while most churches still do run thrift shops, they can be a pain about the merchandise they’ll accept as donations. But our town, here in our little slice of heaven in New England, has a dump. Only we call it a “transfer station”...

WASHINGTON -- One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's top lieutenants demanded yesterday that Rep. Charles Rangel quickly settle the swirling ethics charges against him rather than face a trial tomorrow that could embarrass Democratic candidates across the country -- but the disgraced pol isn't going without a fight. "I think it's best that he settle," Rep. George Miller, an influential California Democrat who helped engineer Pelosi's rise to power, told The Post. "Because I just said so, that's why. That's my feeling," he added. Amid mounting pressure on Rangel, Miller's blunt statement is the most direct message from any member...

The White House has refused to provide information about President Obama's negotiations with organizations such as Planned Parenthood over his impending nationalization of health care, saying he has a "privilege" to keep such communications concealed. Among other arguments, a letter from Marcia Berman, a senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, told a lawyer who sued Obama over the "back-door" deals, said, "Defendants object to the subpoena on the grounds that it seeks information that is protected by various recognized privileges, such as the deliberative process privilege and the presidential communications privilege."

Struggling to salvage health reform, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have begun considering a list of changes to the Senate bill in hopes of making it acceptable to liberal House members, according to sources familiar with the situation. The changes could be included in separate legislation that, if passed, would pave the way for House approval of the Senate bill — a move that would preserve President Barack Obama's vision of a sweeping health reform plan. But the move comes with political risk, because it would open Democrats up to charges that they pressed ahead...

Just read a small story about Netflix. Netflix just cut a deal with Time Warner, not to rent Time Warners new releases for a month after release. This will give Time Warner the ability to sell more copies of their new movies for a month, to customers who "just can't wait" to see the new shows. In exchange for this concession, Time Warner, will sell the DVDs to Netflix at a dicounted rate at the end of that month. And here comes the point that most interests *me*. They (Rime Warner) will allow netflix a greater level of access to...

The ‘Coupon Mom’ went on the Today Show this morning and showed the hosts how she was able to purchase $100 worth of groceries for only 25 cents. Her handy tips will help you save money every time you go to the supermarket.

President Obama claims Democrats "scored a big victory for the American people" with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's latest compromise health bill. That's only true if you believe petty bribery and protection money are the road to useful reform. There are scores of provisions in the 383 pages of changes Mr. Reid made to the $871 billion Senate bill that benefit only a handful of states, sometimes even a single institution. Lawmakers facing tough re-elections and those who held out their votes fared particularly well, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in pork. What Mr. Obama hailed as a victory...

This is my first attempt at a post so everyone be nice:) Earlier this week I was interviewed for a segment on the CBS Early Show. It will air tomorrow morning (Monday the 16th) at about 7:40am Eastern time. They invited me to do it because of my deal, coupon, frugal living blog, www.mylitter.com. I teach classes and help people learn how to coupon and save money in all areas of their lives. Kelly Wallace, the reporter, asked some questions about the economy and I tried to mention FreeRepublic! It will be interesting to see how it was edited, what...

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce Wednesday that three major hospital associations have agreed to provide as much as $160 billion in savings to pay for a health care overhaul, according to sources close to the negotiations. The timing of the announcement is aimed at sustaining momentum for health reform as Democratic congressional leaders embark on a critical five-week period in which they hope to pass bills out of the Senate and House by the August recess.

Iran offered to stop attacking troops in Iraq if the West dropped opposition to its nuclear programme, a top British official said in comments to be broadcast on Saturday. Sir John Sawers, Britain's current ambassador to the United Nations, told the BBC that Iranian officials had privately admitted their role in roadside bomb attacks on British and US troops. But the proposed deal, floated in teatime meetings at London hotels, was rejected by the British government.

Former President Bill Clinton's globe-trotting business deals and fundraising for his foundation sometimes put his activities abroad at odds with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and could cause complications if President-elect Barack Obama picks her to be secretary of state. During her own White House campaign, the New York senator criticized China for its crackdown on protesters in Tibet and urged President George W. Bush to skip the Olympics in Beijing. Her campaign was embarrassed by reports that her husband's foundation had raised money from a Chinese Internet company that posted an online government "Most Wanted" notice seeking information on Tibetan...

Researchers from three universities worked on the project and have said Obama has produced vague proposals compared to other candidates. U.S. and Canadian researchers say voters respond to Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama's abstract notions of hope, change and judgment. Hakkyun Kim of Concordia University, Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota and Angela Lee of Northwestern University said that while Obama was providing abstract messages, rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and other candidates presented detailed, concrete proposals on many topics, which did not resonate as well. The researchers said Obama's reliance on lofty rhetoric succeeded thus far, because...

The Recording Industry Association of America suffered a legal setback this week in a music piracy case where a judge ruled that the sole act of making a music file available in a "shared folder" does not violate copyright laws. In Atlantic v. Howell, the RIAA made the legal assertion that a "sound recording" that is ripped to a computer and stored in any kind of a shared folder is unauthorized. This was an interesting statement because a shared folder can be a very broad category that wasn't entirely made clear by the RIAA.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it is in talks with US firms on securing nuclear power plant contracts, as a report said it was set to clinch the 13.7-billion-dollar deals. "It is true that our subsidiary Westinghouse is holding negotiations with the aim to get final contracts but no decision has been made at the moment," Toshiba said in a statement. The comment followed a report by the Nikkei economic daily that the group was set to win deals worth a combined 1.4 trillion yen (13.7 billion dollars) to build four nuclear power plants in the United...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's cabinet has given the green light to the Oil Ministry to sign agreements with international oil companies to help increase the nation's crude output, a ministry official said Wednesday. The two-year deals, known as technical support agreements, or TSAs, are designed to develop five producing fields to add 500,000 barrels per day to the country's 2.4 million barrels per day output. Last December, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. submitted technical and financial proposals for the five fields and received counterproposals from the Iraqi side. In January, representatives from the companies and...