Free Republic

The White House's chief spokesman used a press briefing yesterday on world affairs to -- of all things -- mock Sarah Palin. Clearly tickled with himself, Robert Gibbs showed up with a shopping list scrawled across his left hand. Included in the list of supermarket staples, like "eggs" and "milk," were two of President Obama's favorite themes, "hope" and change" -- a clear swipe at Palin, who was caught with crib notes scribbled on her palm at the Tea Party Convention in Tennessee. Palin -- who calls Obama the "guy with a TelePrompTer" -- had "energy," "tax cuts" and "lift...

Immutable law of Beltway political physics: The only real jobs that a government stimulus stimulates are government jobs. A year after President Obama signed his first almost trillion-dollar economic-stimulus package into law, the federal workforce is at an all-time high. The nation's unemployment rate has swelled to 9.7 percent, but Washington's economy is thriving. More than 2.1 million government workers will be on the federal payroll by the end of 2010. The lobbying industry is booming. USA Today reports that 14 federal agencies have hired 3,000 workers to oversee stimulus spending and have spent nearly $190 million so far on...

Obama's top counterterrorism aide John Brennan has come out and claimed that Americans who criticize Obama's anti-terror policies serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Writing an opinion piece in USA Today that can only be described as being all at once hyper-defensive, angry and whining, John Brennan clearly wanted to pen a defiant defense of Obama's thus-far inadequate, anti-terror policies. However, what emerged instead was an almost paranoid harangue which not only stretched the bounds of reason, but, more importantly, also called his fellow Americans, essentially, abettors of al-Qaeda's goals of killing Americans and destroying the US homeland. This is the...

A bill before the Tennessee General Assembly could have a chilling effect on a community’s relationship with local law enforcement, according to several law enforcement officials contacted by The City Paper, among them Metro Chief of Police Ronal Serpas. State Rep. Chad Faulkner, R-Luttrell, who is also a Knox County Deputy Sheriff, has introduced legislation that, if enacted, would require that a copy of any complaint registered against police and other law enforcement officials be shown to the person accused in the complaint prior to any investigation. The complaints would include personal information about those requesting relief. According to Serpas,...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor. Wilder wrote of Kaine, in a column for the Politico news Web site, that "the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him." In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilder cited Republican victories in last month's Senate election in Massachusetts and in gubernatorial races last fall in New Jersey and Virginia. "I'm just disappointed in his leadership," Wilder told the AP. "And there are a lot of people...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee's unemployment trust fund could be out of money in just a few months. That is the account the state uses to writes checks to the unemployed. "We're dealing with three times more claims then we have in past years," said Department of Labor and Workforce Development spokesman Jeff Hentfchel. The money for the fund comes from the unemployment insurance the state's businesses pay, but that money is quickly running out. "In a very short time frame we're looking at a negative balance in the unemployment trust fund," said Hentfchel. To make sure there is enough money...

A perverted Transportation Security Administration employee's alleged plot to turn a 15-year-old girl into his "sex slave" was foiled after his arrest for abusing the teen, according to cops in Florida. Charles Henry Bennett was arrested Friday after the girl came forward claiming she'd been molested by the suspect when she was 12, Orlando TV station WKMG reports. The 57-year-old Bennett acknowledges he "groped" the girl, according to the station, citing a police report. But the girl's version of the encounter is reportedly more graphic. On a MySpace page that apparently belongs to Bennett, he says he is a S&M-oriented...

State-linked Dubai entities have started talks to divest Asian assets as the emirate steps up the pace of its overseas asset sales to help ease its debt ­burden. Dubai-based Emaar Properties is talking to potential buyers of its majority stake in Singapore-based distributor and retailer RSH, according to people familiar with the matter. RSH, which works with brands including Zara and Mango, operates across Asia and the Middle East. A unit of Dubai Holding, which is looking to sell its 40 per cent stake in Malaysia’s Bank Islam, has appointed Rothschild to seek potential buyers. Dubai Holding is owned by...

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / AP) ― The state controller's office on Tuesday found that California taxpayers are on the hook for more state government retiree health benefits than previously thought. Controller John Chiang's office issued a report showing the growing divide between what the state owes retirees for health and dental benefits and what it has saved so far. The gap has grown to nearly $52 billion, about $3.6 billion over last year's estimate. ... "Even as we try to claw our way out of the recession and provide needed cash to the state's coffers, we cannot ignore the promise...

Obama hints at troublespot, saying China’s crucial vote is not assured. The United States is developing a "significant regime of sanctions" after Iran apparently spurned an offer to negotiate over its suspect nuclear program, US President Barack Obama said Tuesday. In his most extensive remarks on Iran in some time, Obama said Iran appears to have spurned his offer of engagement. He said Iran is still pursuing a nuclear program that would lead to nuclear weapons. "They have made their choice so far, although the door is still open," Obama told reporters at the White House. Obama said work to...

SEATTLE - The KING 5 Investigators have uncovered a disturbing video-tape captured on five different security cameras underneath downtown Seattle.  It shows the graphic beating of a teenage girl in Seattle's Metro bus tunnel, while uniformed security guards simply look on. (edit) The video shows the two girls hitting each other for a few seconds. Then, the scene gets vicious. The young attacker punches the victim in the head and face 10 times. "It looks like a very egregious assault, which in fact it was," said Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the...

How should we characterize the economic period we have now entered? After nearly two brutal years, the Great Recession appears to be over, at least technically. Yet a return to normalcy seems far off. By some measures, each recession since the 1980s has retreated more slowly than the one before it. In one sense, we never fully recovered from the last one, in 2001: the share of the civilian population with a job never returned to its previous peak before this downturn began, and incomes were stagnant throughout the decade. Still, the weakness that lingered through much of the 2000s...

An index that measures the health of the US economy by analysing real-time diesel consumption of trucks has cast doubt on the strength of the economic recovery after recording a sharp decline in January. The Pulse of Commerce Index was created by Ceridian, which processes electronic card transactions, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. It receives data every time a commercial driver fills up a truck with diesel, generating a picture of manufacturing and retail traffic. The index, which launches on Wednesday, has data going back to 1999. Its performance closely tracked rises and falls of gross domestic product....

Warnings about potential hepatotoxicity risks associated with use of diclofenac have been added to the labels of all products containing the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, the Food and Drug Administration said. A notice posted on the FDA's MedWatch site said that the manufacturers—Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Novartis Consumer Health Inc.—had revised the “hepatic effects” section of the diclofenac topical gel label to include new warnings and precautions about the potential for elevated liver function tests (LFTs) during treatment with diclofenac products, including the topical gel formulation marketed as Voltaren Gel 1%. There have been postmarketing reports of severe hepatic reactions, including...

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- One in five housing markets entered a second leg of home price declines in late 2009, after showing price increases for nearly half of last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Zillow.com, a real-estate Web site. In 29 of the 143 markets tracked by the site -- including Boston, Atlanta and San Diego -- prices flattened or began to decrease again in the second part of last year, after five or more months of consecutive monthly increases, according to the site's fourth quarter real-estate market report. Home prices in another 29 markets, including Los Angeles...

For all of the wonderful things life in the Internet age provides us, there are some notable drawbacks. One of them is that email and popular social media tools like Twitter and Facebook provide powerful launching pads for unchecked rumors and popular myths. Often these rumors and myths are proven false by websites like Snopes.com and FactCheck.org, but not this time. The Internet has been abuzz with rumors that if you drive down Interstate 35 near the town of Wyoming, Minnesota, you'll see a billboard bearing the image of a smiling George W. Bush accompanied by the question "Miss me...

Terrified passengers were left stranded between floors in the world’s tallest building after a lift broke as they were descending in the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. Visitors queueing to descend from the observation deck on the 124th floor of the recently opened 828-metre (2,717ft) tower heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass from the lift shaft. Dust then billowed back into the room through the small gaps in the lift shaft doors. The 15 passengers inside the lift were left stranded for 45 minutes before they were rescued by staff who dropped a ladder into the shaft...

The relationship between the US and the European Union is cooling. By declining to come to Spain for a trans-Atlantic summit, President Barack Obama made it clear that Brussels is far down on his priority list. The reasons for that can be found in Europe. The US president is traveling a lot these days -- and a clear pattern has emerged. The deeper into the United States it takes him, the better -- be it Nashua, New Hampshire or Tampa, Florida. The issue is always the same: How can Barack Obama create more jobs?

INTENT OF THE LAW What seems equally clear is that Warren and the town of King have misapplied the law; however, broad its language, Article 36A is entitled “Riots and Civil Disorders.” According to a local blogger who personally investigated the incident and described it at saradactyl.com, no such civil disorder existed. The Youtube video she produced on the incident is below.

Columbus has spent about $1.9 million to buy 150 homes with federal money designed to shore up city neighborhoods ravaged by foreclosures and vacant housing. The city bought the houses in Linden, Franklinton and the Hilltop and on the South Side. Purchase prices averaged about $12,666; officials say they expected to spend twice as much, another stark reminder of how bad things have become in some neighborhoods. "We've been shocked at the values," said Donna Hunter, administrator of Columbus' land-redevelopment office. The lenders that sold the foreclosed houses to the city "perceived the neighborhoods as so challenged they were willing...

Ayn Rand couldn't have imagined it any better: a government with a majority ownership stake in a car maker lobbing sound bites that damage the "competition." While it's not Ray LaHood's fault that the U.S. government got into the car business, his comments suggesting that Toyota drivers should stop driving their cars did a nice job of underscoring the folly of this type of government intervention.

Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor... snip. "Don't let yourself believe that Massachusetts and Virginia and New Jersey were some aberration," Wilder said, "and I hope Tim and the president will take it in the constructive way it was intended."

With 96 percent of districts reporting in the special election for the 89th State Assembly seat along Westchester County eastern corridor, Republican Bob Castelli has received a landslide 56-44% landslide victory against Democrat Peter Harckham. For New York, for Westchester, for Republicans and for taxpayers exasperated with business as usual in Albany -- tonight was the game changer. "It's a shot across the bow to people like Sheldon Silver and entrenched bosses," said Castelli in his victory speech. Joining Castelli as a big winner tonight is Westchester County Republican Chairman Doug Colety, whose winning streak in this former Democratic bastion...

A case that is beginning to get more attention, and is quickly becoming another thorn in Mr. Geithner’s side is Murray v. Geithner, CV 08-15147, which is in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. Having lost a Motion to Dismiss the plaintiff’s case based on a lack of standing, and also under a failure to state a claim, as well as subsequently losing a motion to obtain a certificate of appealability for an interlocutory appeal, Mr. Geithner now faces the possibility of a deposition as well as discovery in a case that perhaps was seen as...

Riverside's police chief is being investigated in a hit-and-run crash with his city-issued car early Monday morning, raising questions of drunken driving and an alleged cover-up. Russ Leach was placed on medical leave following the 3 a.m. single-car wreck near Central and Hillside avenues, though officials acknowledge he was not injured. His own patrol officers stopped the chief at Arlington Avenue and Rutland Street, more than three miles away. His black Chrysler 300 had blown multiple tires and suffered heavy fender damage, officials said. On Tuesday, after allegations that police supervisors had ordered an initial report that omitted officers' suspicions...

Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI 03) will announce his retirement at a 10 a.m. presser tomorrow morning, according to a MI-based source.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is suggesting that critics of his controversial tenure could be closet racists, according to an interview published Tuesday.

Memphis Police are investigating one of their own for charges of rape. A Fairley High School student says she was raped by a cop who was also a school resource officer. Students at the Whitehaven school say they aren't surprised by the allegations. As Ashley Ratliff, a Fairly High School junior, left campus on Tuesday, she shared her thoughts regarding allegations of a Memphis Police school resource officer being sexually involved with a female student. "I'm really not surprised 'cause I done seen a lot of stuff with my own eyes, but I really don't want to say, but I'm...

Mr. Obama said he "won't hesitate to embrace a good idea from my friends in the minority party." But he wants his way. He wants his energy policy enacted along with his jobs bill, his financial regulatory reform and his health care plan. And if the opposition continues to block his objectives, he said he "won't hesitate to condemn what I consider to be obstinacy that's rooted not in substantive disagreement but in political expedience."

Software-designed cars don't always behave as expected in the real world. As Toyota dealers begin to repair sticky gas pedals on 2.3 million recalled vehicles, one question lingers: How did engineers miss the potential for friction in the pedal assembly--identified as the root cause of the problem--during the design process? One possible answer is that the simulation software widely used by automakers, aerospace companies and others to design and test products is only as smart as the humans who program it. To save money and speed development time, carmakers today design their vehicles virtually, using computer-aided design software, rather than...

So reports Reuters: BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan. Oh really? Our President can, with the wave of a pen, reduce our outstanding Federal Debt by a trillion dollars. He can issue an executive order that declares that every bond the Chinese Government holds is worthless. What are you going to do about it? You don't seem to have any of these: We have a bunch of 'em. That's because...

LYNNWOOD — Lawns with grass taller than 8 inches are now illegal in this city. Placing the restriction on unsightly yards was one of several steps the City Council took on Monday to tighten up its nuisance ordinance. Provisions also were added to rules governing overnight parking of trucks in residential areas and “mother-in-law” apartments. “It is unfortunate that this ordinance has been tagged as the ‘grass ordinance,’ since there is only a couple of lines in the whole ordinance addressing lawns,” Councilman Loren Simmonds said. “This is not government weighing in on little people. We are simply trying to...

ROCKPORT--A Rockport man said he plans to file a lawsuit after he's mistakenly arrested. The warrant was for fishing without a license. During the arrest, this 68-year-old retired police officer said he was roughed up by officers and suffered a severe back injury. The man said the arrest happened more than two months ago at his home in Rockport. He told officers they had the wrong person, but they still put him in cuffs. "It's painful,"that's how Loyd Garcia describes the pain he suffered from his November 30th arrest. A deputy walked up to his front door, saying they had...

Two weeks ago, on a near party line vote, a huge Democratic majority in the House agreed to spend $50 million to buy the former cotton plantation on the island of St. Croix.

On February 6, 2010 Sarah Palin gave a speech at the National Tea Party Convention. True to her style, she had quite a few zingers against the current administration and their policies. I have tried to capture the best zingers for you in this boiled down version of her speech.

Hoaxes: Despite failures at Copenhagen, the fraud of the IPCC and the farce of Climate-gate, the administration wants an agency to monitor climate change. Why must we fund one-stop shopping for climate charlatans? As the climate freezes, there's no freeze on federal employment that will grow even more with the establishment of a new agency, the Climate Service office. The new agency was announced Monday by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This ministry of climate change propaganda will operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean...

We don't need to study lawsuit reform for one minute longer. 'If you have a better idea, show it to me." That was President Barack Obama's challenge two weeks ago to House Republicans regarding health-care reform. He has since called for a bipartisan forum, not to start over on health reform but to "move forward" on the "best ideas that are out there." The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy. If the president is serious about building a system...

Yesterday morning Barack Obama held a meeting at the White House which included both Democrats and Republicans. The purpose of the meeting was to supposedly encourage bi-partisan cooperation on a range of issues such as job creation, healthcare reform and deficit reduction. Following the meeting, Obama noted that he felt that the meeting went well and further stated, “The people who sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics.” Most Americans would agree with that statement and do indeed expect that type of behavior from their elected officials. However, apparently White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs...

Rick Synder: Is He MI's Revenge Of The Nerds?

The Tenth Amendment Town Hall Special Event: Tenth Amendment Town Hall Exploring Solutions to Restoring Texas' Constitutional Rights February 15, 2010 - 8:30am to 1:30pm - Plano, Texas You are invited to a very special event hosted by the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC).    Trillion-dollar bailouts, record deficits, a proposed government takeover of health care, job-killing environmental regulations, and looming tax increases.  The excessive power being wielded over states and individuals by the federal government must stop.  The Tenth Amendment Town Hall hosted by TCC will serve as forum to explore solutions to both restore the constitutional rights of the...

http://duffyforcongress.com/ http://obeystimulus.com/ Sean Duffy is running for Congress in Wisconsin's 7th District and is looking to retire current Democratic congressman, David Obey, who helped author the 787 billion dollar stimulus passed last year. Sean is currently getting nationwide exposure in such venues as Time Magazine, National Review Online, and the Wall Street Journal. Is he the next Scott Brown? Show your support Free Republic! http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1958119_1958112_1958125,00.html http://article.nationalreview.com/422186/could-obey-be-coakleyd/kathryn-jean-lopez http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704130904574644672185089720.html

GOP may skip health-care talks if Dems won't dump billsBy Michael D. Shear The Washington Post Posted: 02/09/2010 01:00:00 AM MST WASHINGTON — Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they may decline to participate in President Barack Obama's proposed health-care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over. In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia expressed frustration about reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for...

The New York Times is doing their best to cover the spending tracks left by President Obama. The op-ed, titled "The Truth About the Deficit" could win gold in mental gymnastics. They bend, twist and contort the facts into a pretty little ball of "blame Bush." I showed you yesterday that George W. Bush was part of the problem, but Obama is pressing the accelerator. The Times claims that the deficit is the result of cutting taxes on the wealthy and they offer this stern warning: "The last thing the government should do is slash spending." History tells us that...

Voters appear to have soured on embattled New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter after a series of bizarre antics have made her the subject of widespread derision in Washington and New Hampshire. According to a new poll by the University of New Hampshire only 35% of likely voters approve of the job Shea-Porter is doing in Congress. 40% disapprove. 24% are neutral or don’t know for sure how they feel. Even worse, all potential Republican candidates for Congress – even the lesser-known candidates – would defeat her if the election were held today. Former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta performs best against...

Washington Rep. Norm Dicks, shown here shaking hands with actor Chris Klein, has effectively taken over control of the House defense appropriations subcommittee and is expected to be voted its next chairman following the unexpected death of John Murtha, a democratic house leadership aide told The Cable. "Mr. Dicks is now acting chair of defense appropriations and likely will be approved by the caucus for it permanently, should he choose that over [his current chairmanship of] the interior subcommittee," the aide said. That confirms the somewhat less definitive statements by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD, who told reporters Tuesday,...

The changes must go much deeper. Obama’s West Wing is filled with people who are in their jobs because of their Chicago connections or because they signed on with Obama early during his presidential campaign. One problem is that they do not have sufficient experience at governing at the executive branch level. The deeper problem is that they are not listening to the people. Hearing is one thing; listening is another.

The Daily Beast has a piece from Mark McKinnon and Myra Adams musing on the possibility that Barack Obama could nominate Hillary Clinton for a Supreme Court seat this year. It's obvious why Clinton might want the seat; few think her ambitions end with the secretary of state gig, but it would be awhile before she could run for president again. And the authors posture that Obama is concerned enough about his legacy that he wants to wipe away the wounds caused by stepping over her on the campaign trail. Plus, "she's as smart and as qualified as any prospect...

In the absence of any explanation from the cops who beat him, local artist Eric Winfield has turned to social media to pose a simple question about the events of October 27, 2007: Why? That was the night the Boston Red Sox shelled the Colorado Rockies 10-5 on their way to a pitiless sweep of the World Series. It was also the night Winfield and two friends tried to make their way through the post-game crowds in LoDo -- and Winfield was badly beaten by Denver police officers. According to Winfield, he was threading his way through a crowd outside...

Federal Government Operating Status in the Washington, DC, Area the following message applies only to Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED. This Means . . . Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Nonemergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This does not apply to employees on leave without pay, leave without pay for military duty, workers' compensation, suspension, or in another nonpay status. Telework employees may be expected to work from their telework sites, as...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2010 – Noting signs that the new strategy in Afghanistan “is beginning to bear fruit,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates also said during an interview aired last night that the effort to build up Iraq’s security forces and move forward with the U.S. drawdown plan there remains on track. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates speaks with Greta Van Susteren, host of the Fox News program "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," during an interview in Rome, Feb. 7, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates spoke with Fox News Channel’s...