Free Republic

THE UNITED STATES WILL NOT APOLGIZE FOR DEFENDING & PROMOTING LIBERTY: We do not say we're sorry to other nations, organizations, or individuals for our involvement in world affairs in defense of our citizens' life and liberty, and in defense of our national and vital interests. We count interfering with and bringing down tyrants and dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin, Mao, Noriega, Hussein, the Taliban, Al Quida and others as an honor. We bow to NOONE in this regard and demand that our elected and appointed officials not do so. If similar individuals, nations, or groups threaten our...

When Mac Taylor, the Legislature's chief budget adviser, declared this week that the state budget enacted just four months ago is already billions of dollars upside down, no one in the Capitol should have been surprised. Anyone with half a brain and a hand calculator could figure out that many assumptions on which the budget was based, both spending and revenues, were unrealistic, some of them conjured out of thin air to "balance" an inherently unbalanced budget for political reasons. Taylor told legislators that the current budget is $6.3 billion out of balance and the 2010-11 budget has another $14.4...

As if hyperactive Washington politicians haven't already grabbed enough power by taking over banks and car companies and trying to control everybody's health care, now they are getting closer to centralized bureaucratic control of the entire consumer credit market. Pending legislation to create a superpowerful Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) would take an ax to financial freedom and significantly increase consumer costs. That's not what most people would call "protection." The bill already has made it through the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat. It is expected to reach the House floor shortly after Thanksgiving....

A few weeks back, the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, said of Barack Obama, "This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln." Landesman was not alone in his praise. This month's GQ has a faux-exhaustive article on "the untold story of the first man since Teddy Roosevelt to serve as author in chief." In truth, however, if Teddy Roosevelt came back to life today, he would find that he would have much more in common with Sarah...

Sarah Palin haters will stoop to just about anything to malign the woman they most fear – including lying. That's what Huffington Puffington Post columnist Max Blumenthal did Sunday when he claimed the former vice presidential candidate cited an "urban legend" in a speech when she said the Treasury Department had moved the phrase "In God We Trust" from presidential coins. Blumenthal and his pseudo-news organization characterized Palin's statement as a "rumor" that "most likely originated with a 2006 story on the far-right website WorldNetDaily." Actually, it wasn't "a rumor." It was, what we call in the news business, a...

To try Mohammed in a criminal court is to treat his act as criminal, and coming from a young administration that has already ceased using the phrases ‘terrorism’, ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ and ‘war on terror’ this serves as confirmation for many who, like myself, view the struggle against terrorism and against the oppressions of fundamentalism as the most important international (and moral) task facing our nation. Trying Mohammed in a criminal court is not necessary, and one could argue that he does not deserve to be treated as even the least respected criminal by the United States. He is by every...

Our interest in a single Supreme Court case has perhaps never been as high as it is in a case currently being briefed. The issues are fascinating on several levels, and the potential impact of a ruling is big. The case is McDonald v. City of Chicago, for which the court granted cert on Sept. 30. The petitioners in the case, a group challenging a gun-control ordinance in Chicago, filed their brief with the court earlier this week. Were the court to adopt their position — something well within the realm of possibility — we could be looking at a...

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of 'Anthropogenic Global Warming'? Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.[snip]

Why the Greg Craig debacle matters By: Elizabeth Drew November 19, 2009 11:58 AM EST President Barack Obama is returning from his trek to Asia Thursday to a capital that is a considerably more dangerous place for him than when he departed. While he was abroad, there was a palpable sense at home of something gone wrong. A critical mass of influential people who once held big hopes for his presidency began to wonder whether they had misjudged the man. Most significant, these doubters now find themselves with a new reluctance to defend Obama at a phase of his presidency...

With less than a year until Election Day, the stakes for this country could not be higher. Nancy Pelosi and her puppets have put our country on a path for bankruptcy and rationed healthcare.   With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an exciting project - Reverse the Vote. This site is a tool that allows concerned Americans to directly support the challengers of 24 vulnerable Democrats who voted to take your healthcare away and put it in the hands of federal bureaucrats.This project will hold these 24 Democrats’ feet to the fire for voting...

If there was ever a more irresponsible decision by a U.S. attorney general than Eric Holder's decision to try the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack and four others as common criminals in a civilian court in New York City, I can't recall it. He is gambling with the nation's security and providing a platform that will give aid and comfort to the enemy at a time of war. And he is doing so with no discernible benefit, least of all to showcase the strength of our judicial system. Does Eric Holder remember the most infamous criminal trial of the...

Sarah Palin arouses venom from the left like Hillary Clinton from the right. On the day after her Oprah interview, Richard Cohen in The Washington Post said it was time for "Palintolgy," punning ungallantly on the study of fossils. In the New York Times, the television critic, writing about her appearance on Oprah, said "she still had the hunted look and defensive crouch" she demonstrated in the campaign. This is pretty much politics as usual. The dominant liberal media can't see beyond their stereotypes. Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC put Sarah Palin's face atop several female bodies, one in a red,...

It is amazing how a phrase can emerge seemingly out of nowhere to become the statement du jour -- used, overused and ultimately abused. Last year, there was "low-hanging fruit" everywhere. Today, everyone's being "thrown under the bus." Sometimes, it's just one word. "As a writer, you're always reaching for a more potent way to call somebody a jerk," Dan Harmon, the creator of the new NBC sitcom "Community" told The New York Times. In a surprisingly controversial front-page story Nov. 14, Times reporter Edward Wyatt tried to identify the zeitgeist by one hot "potent" word for jerk: "douche." In...

Last Saturday night Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) forced through a vote on her 2,032 page health care bill only a few days after releasing it to the public. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is poised for another Saturday night cram down, forcing a Senate cloture vote mere days before his 2,074 page bill was given to Senators. Yet again, Congress will be forced to vote on a bill that none of them have actually read. More importantly, as we pour through the details, it becomes obvious that none of them even believe the plan will do what the...

Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and saw the Soviet Union falling apart. He first announced a vague reform plan that proposed increased productivity, technological modernization, and some reform of the Soviet bureaucracy. That achieved little, so in 1986 he moved on to perestroika, designed to encourage initiative and reduce inefficiency. That didn't do much so in 1988 he introduced glasnost, which brought in some freedom of speech and a new law that encouraged private ownership of businesses. That good idea came too late to keep the Soviet evil empire from disintegrating in 1989 and collapsing in 1991. The...

By the looks of things at Guantanamo no one is shutting the place down. McDonald's this month has advertised a job opening at Gitmo: an assistant manager willing to relocate to the fast-food chain's only outlet on the communist island of Cuba, and one within sight of the razor-ribbon guarding the terror detainees' camp on the 45-square-mile U.S. naval base. In case you're wondering, McDonald's brings in frozen fries and burgers by barge from Jacksonville, Fla., in spite of the lingering U.S. trade embargo with Cuba, and feeds not only military and civilian government personnel stationed there but the 215...

Despite San Francisco Bay Area bookseller claims that Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue" is "not for thinking people", the Amazon numbers say otherwise. On a mission to show that Palin's book is selling much worse than, say, the idea of reading Osama Bin Laden his Miranda rights, the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed several local booksellers to find out how well sales of "Going Rogue" were not going: "Our customers are thinking people," said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. "They're not into reading drivel." "Anything like that we wouldn't carry," said clerk Emily Stackhouse at Cover...

Attorney General Eric Holder adopted a tough-guy pose when he announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court for the most heinous terror attack on Americans in history. “After eight years of delay,” he intoned, “those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally face justice. It is past time to finally act.” Where to begin? The claim that the Bush administration was somehow dilatory sets a new standard for gall, particularly coming from Eric Holder. As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy points out, “The principal reason there were so few military...

Tuesday, the national debt hit a record $12 trillion. Wed-nesday, the Obama administration said Medicare and Medicaid fraud in 2009 accounted for more than half of the $98 billion in government waste it is willing to admit to. Wednesday, after claiming for months that huge government debt was good for America, President Obama admitted his profligate borrowing and spending threatens the nascent economic recovery. Wednesday evening, Senate Democrats wheeled out their $849 billion version of Obamacare, which would cost many times what they say it will, kill untold thousands of jobs (see Aetna), impose hundreds of billions in new taxes...

Losing your 65% COBRA subsidyThe government discount only lasts 9 months and it may not be extended. Here's some health insurance options. November 19, 2009: 11:17 AM ET NEW YORK (CNN) -- Thousands of people will begin to lose a major discount on their COBRA health care premiums in as little as 10 days. Here's what you can do: 1. What's happening First, let's briefly go over what COBRA is. It's a health care plan that allows you to continue group health care coverage after you've been laid off. Back in February, the government provided a 65% subsidy for COBRA...

US President Barack Obama is an extremely intelligent man surrounded by equally intelligent advisers, many of whom have years of experience dealing with the Middle East. His continued misreading and misunderstanding of the Israeli public is, therefore, somewhat baffling. This misread was evident again in the past few days by the US objection to the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee's approval of a plan to build some 900 new units in Gilo - not in a far-flung settlement overlooking Nablus, nor even in one of the settlement blocs like Gush Etzion, nor even a Jewish complex in one of the Arab...

Asked by Fox News in China what he thought of Israel’s plans to build 900 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem, President Obama responded: “The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I’ve said repeatedly and I’ll say again, Israel’s security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure. I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security. I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could...

As George W. Bush famously asked, "Is our children learning?" Apparently not in the twin capitals of liberalism, D.C. and New York. In a ranking of 50 states and D.C. by how much each spent per pupil in public schools in 2005, New York ranked first; D.C. third. The state spent $14,100, and New York City just a tad less. And the bountiful fruits of this massive transfer of taxpayers' wealth? In D.C., nearly half of all black and Latino students drop out. Of those who graduate, nearly half are reading and doing math at seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade levels....

Should we add to the deficit or pay doctors less? That’s the question Congress is contemplating after coming up $200 billion short for Medicare providers’ reimbursement this year. he $200 billion “Doc Fix” issue is controversial because Democrats are trying to separate it off from the larger health care bill snaking its way through Congress. By separating off doc fix, they can maintain that Obamacare is budget neutral, because that’s the way it was scored by the Congressional Budget Office. They can’t maintain the bill’s budget-neutrality after a doc fix is added into the mix. “Let's be clear, House Republicans...

The Boy Scouts' motto is: Be prepared. Who knew it meant preparing to defend themselves against purple-shirted union thuggery over community service? Kids, pay attention. This is a teachable moment for all of you on power, politics and Big Labor's culture of corruption. Last week at a city council meeting in Allentown, Pa., a top official of the local Service Employees International Union chapter ranted about 17-year-old Scout Kevin Anderson's park cleanup work. Anderson devoted some 200 hours to the job in order to earn an Eagle Scout badge. He picked up trash and helped clear a 1,000-foot walking path...

Slate magazine is just one of the countless media outlets convulsing with St. Vitus' Dance over that demonic succubus Sarah Palin. In its reader forum, The Fray, one supposed Palinophobe took dead aim at the former Alaska governor's writing chops, excerpting the following sentence from her book: "The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn't work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around...

Sarah Palin -- the Associated Press wants folks to believe -- is so pat ently unqualified as a political leader that no one, absolutely no one, could possibly take her seriously. Except, it seems, the Associated Press. Indeed, the latest example -- in which the AP sent 11 (count 'em: 11) reporters to "fact-check" Palin's new book, "Going Rogue" -- suggests that the agency is pathologically obsessed with the former Alaska governor and '08 GOP veep candidate. Gee, what on earth are they afraid of? AP didn't send 11 reporters to fact-check President Obama's two books (it didn't bother to...

WASHINGTON -- For late-19th-century anarchists, terrorism was the "propaganda of the deed." And the most successful propaganda-by-deed in history was 9/11 -- not just the most destructive, but the most spectacular and telegenic. And now its self-proclaimed architect, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, has been given by the Obama administration a civilian trial in New York. Just as the memory fades, 9/11 has been granted a second life -- and KSM, a second act: "9/11, The Director's Cut," narration by KSM. September 11, 2001 had to speak for itself. A decade later, the deed will be given voice. KSM has gratuitously been...

Sarah Palin's book tour is underway, and she's hitting all the major spots -- Oprah, Barbara Walters, Hannity and The Factor. It's been more than a year since she and her running mate lost to the Obama/Plouffe/Axelrod public relations machine, yet she still finds herself front-and-center in the national spotlight, even despite stepping down as governor of Alaska months ago. Her influence and allure are practically unprecedented among failed vice presidential candidates. (Can anyone imagine Lloyd Bentsen, Jack Kemp or Joe Lieberman selling People magazine covers or sitting down for an hour with Oprah?) Even though she was skewered by...

One of the strongest factors promoting recovery from our 10 post-World War II recessions was an unshakable conviction that, regardless of the immediate trouble, the American economy is fundamentally strong. Based on this underlying confidence, recessions and recoveries roughly conformed to the principle of the bigger the bust, the bigger the boom, and vice versa. Thus real growth in the four quarters following postwar recessions averaged 6.6% and 4.3% over the following five years. As the chief economist for Barclays, Dean Maki, said in this newspaper on Aug. 19, "You can't find a single deep recession that has been followed...

In the prophetic 1984, George Orwell described the purpose of Newspeak, the language of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. Newspeak was designed not only as a medium of expression for the Ingsoc worldview, but also "to make all other modes of thought impossible." Once Newspeak was fully adopted, "a heretical thought ... should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent of words." The ability to control the political vocabulary bestows enormous power on the possessor. For decades, progressives have had a monopoly in this sphere. It is unlikely that they will be able to make "heretical thought"...

Health care by finesBy Jay Nerger Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 Do not pass go, do not collect $200. There is no escaping the fact of having to shell out $15,000 for the new yet-to-be-passed-in-both-houses health care bill, H.R. 3962. Plus, you must do this regardless of any pre-existing insurance plan whether you like it or not. To me, this seems a bit on the side of authoritarian rule, where the ruling party says “jump” and you have to jump. I could have sworn that I live in the United States of America and not 16th century France. And if...

Coburn Backs Off Threat to Read Health Care Bill in Senate The Oklahoma lawmaker says there's uncertainty about whether reading the bill during Thanksgiving week would be productive. WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is backing off his threat to require that the Senate read the 2,074-page health care bill because some GOP colleagues aren't supporting the effort. The Oklahoma lawmaker said there's uncertainty about whether reading the bill during Thanksgiving week would be productive. He also said that if the Republicans do decide to tie up the Senate for the dozens of hours it would take, six GOP colleagues...

This week, while "the most traveled president in history" was on his latest foreign adventure and bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito, the rest of the O-Team was busy kowtowing to political correctness. The headlines tell the story: "(Defense Secretary Robert) Gates Condemns Leaks on Fort Hood Investigation," and "Gates Says 'Shut Up' About Fort Hood." "Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Terror Trials in New York City for 9-11-01 Plotters." "Guantanamo Detainees to Illinois Prison." All three of these actions -- the Gates outburst, the Holder decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 conspirators in a Manhattan federal...

Now that every nut in America is equipped with a laptop computer, you're likely to run afoul of a nut on the loose almost anywhere. I observed in this space earlier this week that Barack Obama's curious need to travel the world to make endless apologies for America might stem from his spending the most formative years of his childhood growing up in the Third World. I mentioned two observable facts, neither in any way accusatory or rude, that his father was a Kenyan (Marxist) and the mother who raised him was obviously attracted to men of the Third World,...

Representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are scheduled to meet today in Brussels to discuss future steps to dissuade Iran from developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons. Our message to the world leaders: If you want peace, prepare for war.

THE ONLY REAL SURPRISE in the latest disastrous batch of data on housing is that anybody is surprised. With the $8,000 tax credit originally set to expire, housing starts plunged nearly 11% in October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529.000 units. That put new home construction back to the dismal levels of last spring before a temporary blip lifted housing activity during the warm-weather months. Even though the home-buying subsidy was extended through next March and expanded beyond first-time buyers, there's little evidence that these giveaways are working. Applications for mortgages for home purchases, for instance, fell to...

Maj. Nidal Hasan’s Actions Are Not Justifiable in Islam By Mukhtar Voss Posted: 11/16/2009 The story about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is sad and shocking. When I first learned of it, I could not stop reading about it, particularly once I found out he is Arab and Muslim. Since 9/11, there have been an innumerous number of suicide bombers, beheadings and many more acts of violence that were all done by Muslims and under the name of God, but it sincerely puzzles me to see such heinous crimes being committed by Muslims. In practicing my religion, I have never found...

Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to bring the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and four other accused terrorists to New York for trial can't seriously believe the city will have trouble handling the expected "Trial of the Century" hoopla. The critics can't really think a judge is going to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed an open microphone to spew his jihadist views, or fear that a jury — sitting just blocks from ground zero — will look for reasons to let an accused mass murderer off on some technicality. Everyone knows that the bloodthirsty blowhard — whom officials...

For late-19th-century anarchists, terrorism was the "propaganda of the deed." And the most successful propaganda-by-deed in history was 9/11 — not just the most destructive, but the most spectacular and telegenic. And now its self-proclaimed architect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has been given by the Obama administration a civilian trial in New York. Just as the memory fades, 9/11 has been granted a second life — and KSM, a second act: "9/11, The Director's Cut," narration by KSM. September 11, 2001, had to speak for itself. A decade later, the deed will be given voice. KSM has gratuitously been presented with...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

Health Care: That thump in Washington was the 2,047 pages of the Senate overhaul bill landing on the chamber floor. The ripping noise that followed is the sound of money being yanked from Americans' wallets. No question, most Democrats like to tax, and this legislation, unveiled Wednesday by Majority Leader Harry Reid, provides them a grand opportunity to indulge that urge. According to Americans for Tax Reform, Reid's Senate bill uses the word "tax" no fewer than 183 times, "taxable" 164 times, "taxes" 17 times, "fee" 152 times and "penalty" 115 times. The repeated references are clear indications of how...

State Budgets: California's slide into fiscal oblivion continues, with no end in sight. Despite lots of budget cuts this year, a $21 billion deficit looms. The politicians' solution? Stop selling high-definition TVs in the state. It's starting to become routine. Last February, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new spending plan with "real, lasting reforms" that would help close its $36 billion-plus deficit and ensure the state never got so out of fiscal whack again. And just four months ago the Governator and California's worst-in-the-country legislature agreed to a plan to close a $24 billion budget gap by cutting spending amid...

Nuclear Terror: After years of blindness, the International Atomic Energy Agency warns that Syria is concealing nuclear activity and Iran is hiding atomic facilities. Has the "watchdog" just been polishing its Nobel? The diplomats just love Mohamed ElBaradei, who is about to step down as director general of the United Nations' IAEA. He's the recipient of Georgetown's prestigious Raymond "Jit" Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy. Also on his crammed mantelpiece can be found the Delta Air Lines Prize for Global Understanding, the Golden Dove of Peace award from the president of Italy, the Gandhi Prize for...

WASHINGTON -- The Nobel Peace crown lies uneasy on President Barack Obama’s head as he ponders the next U.S. move in Afghanistan, with hints and leaks showering down to tell us that he will eventually send thousands more troops there. His decision -- which could be announced soon -- was triggered by the request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal for 40,000 more troops to secure the cities and protect the citizens of Afghanistan, in addition to the 68,000 U.S. troops there now. Obama has been reviewing the U.S. role in Afghanistan for months, a time-consuming study that has led to accusations...

The growing problem for the Obama administration is that the public has finally caught on that the president's tough rhetoric and soaring oratory don't match reality. "Considering all options" and "wanting more information" essentially mean dithering and voting present on Afghanistan, even after announcing the adoption of a new bold strategy. "Saving jobs" means conjecturing about the effects of massive borrowing and enhancing your figures through the creation of fictitious congressional districts and bogus employment reporting. "Punishing KSM" means giving the liberal community a world platform for legal gymnastics designed to repudiate the past administration and demonstrate that community's "tolerance"...

Violent Islamic Web sites pose a clear and present danger to the U.S. If it accomplished nothing else, the Obama administration's announcement last Friday to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in lower Manhattan blew the Nidal Hasan murders out of the news. The KSM fiasco deserves all the attention it gets. What Hasan represents, however, is a more immediate concern. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an old-school jihadi. They sit in far-off redoubts, assembling terror teams of foreign nationals who now must figure out how to get themselves and their plot inside the U.S. Not impossible, but harder than before...

David Michaels, a left-wing ideologue who supports junk science and seeks to restrict gun possession, has been approved by the Senate Health Committee to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Only two Senators -- both Republicans -- voted against Michaels, who was nominated by President Obama. The vote occurred with no discussion, and no hearing was even held on his nomination, although hearings have consistently been held on nominees in the past, even for far less controversial picks. Gun-law expert David Kopel explains how Michaels wants to ban guns in and near workplaces, and could use his...

“Conservative” pundit David Frum, new kid on the block at failing cable giant CNN, has outdone Liberal harpies like Heather Mallick and Rachel Maddow in Trashing Sarah Palin, Round Two. As thousands lined up in Michigan to meet Sarah Palin at a Going Rogue book signing last night, Frum was on News Hour with Jim Lehrer. “This is a woman who has got into a position of leadership by sending very powerful sexual signals,” Frum told reporter Judy Woodruff. “And we see that in the way that men like her much more than women do.” Incredibly Frum, draped in cobwebs...

About six weeks ago, I engaged in an exchange about Glenn Beck, arguing that he makes it harder to convert the unsaved to the cause of limited government, and got an earful in return, mostly in the form of thoughtful but forceful emails saying I hadn’t given him a chance. So I set up my Tivo to record his show and have spent many cocktail hours since then watching. Last night’s opening shot encapsulates everything that has driven me nuts about the experience. Beck was, as usual, standing in front of his blackboard. Chalked on it was: “The democracy will...