Free Republic

The concept here is that all Americans are “entitled” to the services these programs provide. Once considered the proper and humane thing to do, entitlements are now ripe with fraud, excess, and are now underfunded despite the continual increases in the federal budget. Even by the liberal standards of PBS, entitlements cannot be sustained - (Frontline Investigation)

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Johnny Ray Noble is pastor at Second Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia. He said he wasn't surprised by President Barack Obama's stance on gay marriage. "I was somewhat disappointed," said Noble. In an interview this week, the President said he supported same-sex unions. "At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," said President Obama. "I thought I'd never hear those words from him being a Christian," said Noble, "Him being happily...

When asked if average Americans should receive the same quality health insurance as that of their elected officials, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told a group of South Florida healthcare workers that she “earned” her benefits, implying that her constituents had not. “Yes, she really said that,” related Dr. Norman Palgon, a Hallandale Beach-based internist who was in attendance at a forum the Congresswoman conducted last year to garner support for ObamaCare. The good doctor was non-too-pleased with what he clearly felt was the congresswoman’s imperious attitude. Wasserman Schultz, 45, who also is Chair of the Democratic National Committee, is...

Feingold rips Pelosi for willingness to consider entitlement cutsBy Russell Berman - 05/03/12 04:24 PM ET A liberal stalwart is making a surprise attack on Nancy Pelosi, accusing the House minority leader of signaling “a disturbing potential willingness” to slash entitlement programs that Democrats consider sacred. Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) on Thursday sent out an email through his Progressives United advocacy group criticizing Pelosi for saying she would support the Simpson-Bowles deficit plan, which called for using cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to close the nation’s budget gap. “Recently, Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has signaled a...

It's the nature of our politics that we allow our politicians wide latitude when they make promises about the future. More often than not, this is the triumph of hope over reason, but it's the small probabilities that sustain us in this optimism. It's because we know it's actually possible to solve problems — even if in our hearts we know certain individuals lack the courage or the competence to get it done — that we continue to give them some benefit of our doubt. But what are we to believe when our politicians start to make promises that are...

Class envy and entitlement at the ballpark

The country faces monumental problems — a national debt crisis, an entitlement crisis, an energy crisis, to say nothing of the lingering economic crisis. But on issue after issue, Democrats have absolutely nothing constructive to offer. Instead, they reflexively attack the Republicans who are actually proposing fixes.

A record 5.4 million workers and their dependents have signed up to collect federal disability checks since President Obama took office, according to the latest official government data, as discouraged workers increasingly give up looking for jobs and take advantage of the federal program. More than 5 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, nearly twice the previous high set in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since the recession ended in June 2009, the number of new enrollees to Social Security’s disability insurance program is twice the job growth figure. In just the first...

Keywanda is having the time of her life. Her job is raising her family of 10 children while dealing with the drama and stress of the children's fathers. Thanks to the great state of California, Keywanda can support her lifestyle of having fun, getting "Turnt Up" and the kids can even get to eat from time to time.

BEIJING — Order was being restored Wednesday after thousands of people clashed with police in a district of Chongqing that is struggling economically, a local official said. One witness from Wansheng, Liu Wei, said businesses and schools were closed Wednesday in the area. Liu said Wansheng residents were unhappy because some benefits, such as pensions and some teacher salaries, were reduced after the merger. On Wednesday, the Chongqing government posted a statement on its website saying the city would safeguard pensions and medical benefits for Wansheng residents. It also said Wansheng would enjoy the same favorable policies as it did...

The 2012 Farm Bill comes amid an increasingly fierce public debate over food and farming. The industrial model of agriculture and food production is continuing a decades-long drive toward fewer farmers, more factory-style meat production and more processed food—largely to benefit a handful of powerful agribusiness and food companies. At the same time, support is growing for a fair and sustainable food and farm system based on a different set of values: paying and treating farmers and food workers fairly, providing enough healthy food for all, integrating environmental sustainability, and more closely connecting farmers with consumers and communities.In the U.S.,...

Have blacks in America achieved the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and become truly “Free at Last?” This is the question recently tackled in the brave and powerful documentary Runaway Slave a new film which exposes the economic and social enslavement of the black community to the progressive policies of the US Government. Rev. C. L. Bryant hosts the movie revealing the “new underground railroad” and the mindset of a cultural acceptance of entitlements and big government. Bryant’s own life provides unique insights into the racial and political issues of the day. A former Chapter President of the...

We in America today live in a country circumscribed by entitlement policies devised by an America that has steadily been disappearing. Those policies established over a generation ago cannot possibly in mathematical or demographic terms support the America of the present much less the America of the future. That is the stark reality. We need to reform those policies or we shall go bankrupt, and raising taxes on the so-called rich will not fix things. Even raising taxes on the middle class will not fix things. Nor will spending a trillion dollars more than we have on hand fix things....

House Speaker John Boehner distanced himself on Friday from Rush Limbaugh, calling the conservative radio host's words toward a women's rights advocate "inappropriate." Amid a growing media firestorm over comments Wednesday by Limbaugh toward Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown Law student who testified before a Democratic panel on the use of contraception, Washington's top Republicans said through a spokesman that Limbaugh was wrong. "The speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement.

The United States announced a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea Wednesday. Under an agreement reached in direct talks in Beijing last week, North Korea has agreed to allow the return of nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, and has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile tests, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities, the State Department said. In return, the United States will provide North Korea with a large food aid package.

The share of Americans’ income that comes from government benefit programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, more than doubled over the last four decades, rising from 8 percent in 1969 to 18 percent in 2009.

This is just plain sad. These kids are in for a rude awakening. For some it's too late...they've already been indoctrinated into socialism, Marxism et al......

  Unrecoverable Stall: Air France 447, America David C. Stolinsky Feb. 16, 2012 The closest I ever came to flying a plane was sitting next to a colleague who was piloting a small plane. But even I know that what enables a plane to fly is lift. As the plane moves forward, the angle and shape of the wings cause the air rushing by to produce an upward force. This lift must exceed the drag caused by the friction of the air, and still be enough to counter the plane’s weight. Unlike balloons or blimps, airplanes are heavier than...

Nearly half of U.S. households receive government benefits. We’ve reached record highs of those relying on government-paid benefits, which is to say, benefits paid for by taxpayers, which is another way of saying redistributed wealth. Which is another way of saying socialism....

After Obama released his disastrous budget yesterday, I was looking through some of the historical budget data and came upon something interesting which really hit the importance of entitlement reform home.  If you look at outlays as a % of GDP, you see that discretionary spending (everything from wars to the Department of Education) has actually fallen over the last 50 years and is clearly not the source of government largesse, at least in terms of spending (regulations are a different story).  What really is busting the budget are the "mandatory" items like social security and medicare.  Just take a...

In the Fair Sex Act, yankeerino humorously attacks the left wing notions that entitlements are open ended, that equality is the absolute goal of a just society. Beginning as an open letter to "fellow" liberals, the Fair Sex Act imagines a world where economic equality has been achieved, and liberals now need to figure out what else to make equal, so as to stay employed. Complete with a faux history of Karl Marx's stages of society reworked as sex, scientific studies extolling the virtues of equality in sex, and even a sample sexual tax return, the Fair Sex Act is...

Washington - Republicans should base their 2012 campaign on an agenda so bold and ambitious that victory would hand the party a transformational governing mandate, House budget chair Paul Ryan told a gathering of conservative activists here Thursday. "This election cannot be just a referendum on President (Barack) Obama's failed leadership," said Ryan, of Janesville. "Americans deserve a choice - a choice between two dramatically different visions for our country's future. As conservatives, we owe Americans that choice." The Conservative Political Action Conference kicked off its annual event Thursday, a mecca for presidential candidates, leading lawmakers, conservative celebrities and the...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24nH03NccI&feature=player_embedded

Worth watching.... and thinking about. But do so soon, because if we don't the system will collapse, and then there will be no benefits at all. Bill puts into graphs in a couple of minutes what I've been writing about for the last five years. Your choice is to either act on it or go to the store, right now, and buy all the vasoline you can find -- because if you don't act you're going to need it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24nH03NccI&feature=player_embedded#!

It was predictable that President Barack Obama would pander again to entitlement sentiments. This time involves the misguided belief that everyone is entitled to homeownership, even at the government's – the taxpayers' – expense. But the president's audacity is a bit much to take, even for an election year. Mr. Obama wants to effectively bail out borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth by having taxpayers assume the risk of borrowers defaulting. . .

I saw an article a little while ago that I believe said the state of Maine had more people on the dole than there were taxpayers. I have been trying to figure out how many of the 19,378,102 persons living in New York are pulling the cart verse riding. I have tried all sorts of searches and all sorts of sites but I can’t seem to get the numbers for my state (New York). I am sure these numbers were figured on the last census and I have searched the census site and can’t seem to get up to date...

Is Obama turning the country into a welfare society and away from one focused on opportunity? While it's true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years — with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population — Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend. Examples:

While politicians may debate whether or not America is the most "generous" (with other generations' money of course) socialist welfare state in the history of mankind, the undoctored numbers make the affirmative case quite clear and without any chance for confusion. The single most disturbing statistic: in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit, which in turn accounted for 65% of total federal spending, or $2.5 trillion, and amount to 15% of GDP. And yet some people out there still think these people, long since indoctrinated to do little but...

A third of Florida's nearly 3 million retirees, 65 and older, now rely entirely on Social Security, according to an analysis by AARP. "Folks have spent down their assets," said Jeff Johnson, AARP interim director in Florida. More Floridians are likely to end up only on Social Security than retirees in the rest of the country: A quarter of U.S. retirees, 65 and older, have only their monthly checks as income, Johnson said. Many of the most strapped are Florida's oldest, he added. Florida seniors, 80 and older, are about three times as likely to depend

The poem “Democrat Dialog” (below the fold), allegedly by a prominent Georgia Democrat and referred to as an ‘Ode To The Welfare State’ by Clarence J. Brown (R-Ohio). Who inserted it into congressional record, in response to Harry Trueman’s November 3, 1949 “pie for everybody” speech: Excerpt: The policies we advocate are based on these convictions. We maintain that farmers, like businessmen, should receive a fair price for the products they sell. We maintain that workers are entitled to good wages and to equality of bargaining power with their employers. We believe that cooperatives and small business should have a...

Ann Coulter's criticism of Rick Santorum for being "more of a Catholic than a Conservative" makes me want to do even more to help people come to understand his positions. ...Coulter's comments help explain why Catholics like me consider ourselves to be 'reluctant Republicans." She was derisive of Rick Santorum's concern for the poor. She mocked his insistence upon the connection between moral, social and economic issues. She was condescending and dismissive of his integrated campaign message. ...Santorum understands that freedom is a good of the human person. Further that he sees that the market economy, as promising as it...

So it continues, this scrutiny under which Santorum now happily campaigns. (Yes, “happily.� He sounded ecstatic to be able to legitimately target Barack Obama and Mitt Romney as his competition at his first event in New Hampshire yesterday.)So far, most of the criticisms sound like this: Santorum is of the big government, compassionate breed of conservative — and as much a part of the Republican establishment as Mitt Romney. Santorum’s earmark-laden voting record from his time in the Senate is an easy piece of evidence to prop up this idea.But, if these excerpts from an appearance at a Press Club...

Washington is engaging in a game of chicken over the payroll tax holiday, but this likely won't be the last time Congress and the White House try to extend it. Some say it will become a "permanently temporary" feature of American politics. And the consequences could be dramatic. "We could be having this conversation 15 years from now and talking about how President Obama, as a Democrat, was the president that started the path to killing Social Security," said Jason Fichtner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center.

Civil disobedience will only work until the people realize nothing has been done – and that nothing can or will be done. When they finally understand that politicians, bureaucrats and corporate interests have completely destroyed their way of life, then we can fully expect violent confrontations and mid-east style, potentially armed, riots in the streets of America. This isn’t going away. In fact, the frustration, anger and desperation will continue to build pressure. Whether its the Tea Party movement, Occupy Wall Street, or other third-party protests, the momentum is gaining speed and strength.

"I think the problem is that the poor children, keep in mind it's 42% of poor children who live at or near poverty, it's 25% in poverty. Our audience needs to keep that in mind." Cornel West said on MSNBC this afternoon. "Poor children need more than just a $1,000 for their family, they need a war against poverty to make it a major priority in the way which we have a priority for Afghanistan, and a priority to bail out banks, and a priority to defend corporate interests when it comes to environmental issues," West said about more and...

What should be done about income inequality? That basic question underlies the arguments hashed out in the supercommittee and promises to be a central issue in the presidential campaign. Supercommittee Democrats argue that income inequality has been increasing and can be at least partially reversed by higher tax rates on high earners. They refused to agree on any deal that didn’t include such tax increases. Supercommittee Republicans offered a plan to eliminate tax preferences and reduce tax rates, as in the 1986 bipartisan tax reform. They argued that high tax rates would squelch economic growth. They didn’t make the case...

For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully...

<p>PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. — The Navy's Blue Angels have been thrilling audiences for more than six decades with their acrobatic flying in fighter planes, but a new era of federal budget worries and proposed deficit cutting has some inside and outside the military raising questions about the millions it costs to produce their shows.</p>

It has become all too easy today to receive government assistance. Half of all babies born in the U.S. today receive food assistance, and half of all children live in a home that will use food assistance at some point during their childhood. 40 percent of the population in Washington, D.C. is on welfare. Between 2000 and 2010 the number of Americans receiving food assistance more than doubled, expanding to over 47 million, which is more than one-seventh of the population. Forty years ago, only 4.3 million Americans received food assistance. According to a Heritage Foundation study, means-tested welfare has...

Late last week, a group of 100 U.S. Representatives sent a letter to the so-called Super Committee urging the handpicked group of twelve legislators to consider “all options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues” in order to reach the committee’s goal of $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. In Washington speak, this is code for raising taxes. Among this list is 40 Republicans whose capitulation encouraging the committee to raise taxes is troubling. We shouldn’t be surprised to see 60 Democrats seizing on the opportunity to drive a wedge between conservatives intent on restoring economic...

Rep. Mike Simpson said Sunday that new revenues are central to Congress's efforts to reduce the deficit, but the Idaho Republican drew a line in the sand in his opposition to tax hikes. "The reality is you can't get to $4 trillion without including additional revenues," Simpson told Fox News Sunday. "We might have different ideas what those revenues would look like. I think you could get additional revenues by actually lowering the tax rates and eliminating all of the exemptions underneath. … More revenue is key to this." But Simpson was quick to make a distinction between new revenue...

MONTREAL - Over the past few weeks, leftist activists invaded public spaces in all major cities across Canada, beginning in downtown Toronto. Their actions were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) encampment in Zucotti Park. There are, however, a few differences. American protesters are outraged by: The widening gap in wealth between the poor and the rich, to the benefit of the 1% of the most fortunate. Bank bailouts with public money. The impoverishment of the middle class. The drop in the home values. Growing poverty. Increases in health insurance premiums. The phenomenal public deficit. None of these problems...

I Think She Is Upset! Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, called senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Wyoming ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is! "Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight.. 1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS. 2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15...

GRAY COURT, S.C. – Rick Perry, Republican presidential candidate and Texas governor, has released an economic plan full of long-held conservative goals, including personal accounts for Social Security, an optional flat tax, major spending cuts and a series of tax cuts. The plan would reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, eliminate taxes on dividends and many capital gains and essentially cap individual tax rates at 20 percent. Perry argues these tax cuts will spur economic growth by creating a more favorable environment for wealthy people and corporations to start or expand businesses. But without significant...

I expect Gov. Perry’s flat tax plan to give him a significant boost in the polls. Many conservative and Republican voters who were initially attracted to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan were likely enthused with the idea of bringing simplicity, transparency, and fairness to our tax system. Still, as details of Cain’s plan – and the additional consumption tax – unfolded, voters have been looking for an alternative. In fact, despite Cain's recent surge, his tax plan is likely the reason there’s still so much uncertainty surrounding him as a candidate. By putting forth a promising – and more realistic tax...

Las Vegas - In a brief speech this morning at the Western Republican Conference, Texas governor Rick Perry announced that in six days he would reveal an “economic pro-growth package that will create growth” and encourage investment in America. The plan will involve major tax reform, entitlement reform, a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, an abolishment of earmarks, and a recommitment to energy exploration in the United States. “Our long term growth requires a fundamental tax reform,” Perry said. Therefore, his plan “starts with scrapping the three million words of the current tax code—starting over with something simple: a...

An utterly shameless sense of entitlement can  justify just about anything, apparently... ________________________________________ Judge Judy: (you receive) $437/mo from "the government"- which government? 20-something welfare sponge/'music student': (laughs) The, uh, the Ramsey County -uh-  Aid Office, that's where I live, in St. Paul.  You know, they got an aid office where- you can't find no job and you're a student- they give you money to live on -youknowwhatI'msayin... JJ: Well, if you were getting money, why didn't you give Miss Reid any money for rent (Plaintiff/fat roommate chick)? 20sWS: Because our agreement was I didn't have to pay any rent... JJ: What...

It’s a simple concept that’s been around since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden: Get a job. That’s how all the stuff you have is paid for, even if you live in a socialist country. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return - Genesis 3:19 KJV Of course capitalism produces more bread, more efficiently, and there is more innovation and surplus than in socialist countries. Out of that surplus bread come things...

On September 12, the pioneering Rep. Thaddeus McCotter introduced trailblazing legislation providing workers the freedom to choose personal savings and investment accounts to finance half of their future Social Security benefits. This legislation would completely solve the future Social Security financing problem, without cutting benefits or raising taxes, as officially scored by the Chief Actuary of Social Security. Indeed, because standard, long-term market investment returns are so much higher than what Social Security even promises, workers with personal accounts will enjoy higher rather than lower benefits. Moreover, the legislation would result in the greatest reduction in government spending in world...