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This is the second installment of a Monday series excerpting the chapter on political implications from Thomas Sowell's latest book, "The Housing Boom and Bust."IBD Exclusive Series: Thomas Sowell on The Politics of the Housing BoomIn recent times, government officials have increasingly pressured banks and other lenders to lend to people whom they would not lend to otherwise. One of the first federal government efforts to change the process of mortgage lending by private financial institutions was the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. Like many government policies or programs, it began small and grew in scope and severity over the...

Here is video of Arianna Huffington telling Keith Olbermann that Glenn Beck should be exempted from free speech. Huffington said about Glenn Beck, "there is a good reason why we have an exemption to the free speech protected by the first amendment, when we say that you can't shout fire in a crowded theater, and he's doing that every night, he's basically using images of violence every night." Huffington said Glenn Beck and Fox News are "morally liable" if "any violence ensues from what he says." Read more...

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants awaiting trial for serious crimes in one major U.S. county were instead deported by federal immigration authorities and freed in their home countries. The released offenders include at least 128 murderers, more than 400 child rapists and molesters, some 300 charged with aggravated assault and dozens more accused of sexual assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and other grave felonies. The offenders’ newfound freedom came courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that provided a one-way ticket home after bail was posted in their state criminal case. This sort of voluntary deportation to...

Senate Health Care Bill Raises Taxes on Special Needs Children Washington, DC -- The statistics are scary when it comes to the percentage of unborn children born with special needs who become victims of abortion. One fiscal conservative group says the task for parents raising such children is made more difficult by extra taxes found in Harry Reid's new Senate health care bill. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5694.html

Sen. Harry Reid Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2009 / 02:36 pm (CNA).- Catholic political analyst, Deal Hudson, said yesterday that pro-life forces will face an uphill battle over the health care bill expected to reach its peak of discussion in the Senate over the weekend.Hudson, director of InsideCatholic.com, explained that the Senate Health Care Bill “contains federal funding for abortion, and many other unmentionables, e.g., so-called ‘end-of-life’ care.”“In spite of Sen. Reid's explicit promise, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment was rejected,” Hudson wrote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill would permit abortions in a government-run plan if it receives the approval...

Clergy members oppose legislation; gun rights groups endorse it HARRISBURG - Some of Pennsylvania's clergy say a state house bill being considered will increase gun violence and deaths, while supporters contend the bill simply expands your right to self-defense.Dozens of clergy members crowded the steps in the Capitol rotunda Thursday morning to rally against House Bill 40. The group had gathered at the Capitol to watch a House Judicial Committee Public Hearing on the bill.The piece of legislation eliminates the "duty to retreat" if you are confronted by an attacker. It also expands the so-called "castle doctrine." That's a piece...

A UKIP petition demanding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU has been launched in the biggest-ever call to arms on the right to have a say over Europe. People will be given the chance to sign up to the petition online, by post or in the street at UKIP stalls run by party supporters. UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: "This is a real chance for the people of Great Britain to show whoever forms the next Government that they are sick of being lied to and that they want a say over our continuing membership of the European...

Senate Democratic leaders, having negotiated critical last-minute commitments, Friday stood on the verge of achieving the 60 votes they need to begin consideration of the most expansive healthcare legislation to go before the Senate in nearly half a century. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who was among three Democratic holdouts, announced that he would back an all-important procedural vote set for Saturday that will allow the chamber to take up the wide-ranging bill unveiled this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). And Democratic leaders expect Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana to support a cloture...

Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Schmidt, Air Component Coordination Element airspace planner, observes while Iraq Civil Aviation Authority members discuss the new Iraqi airway structure, Nov. 18. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Johnny Saldivar, U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team. BAGHDAD — The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) opened several new north to south routes within Iraqi air space, Nov. 18. In addition to the ICAA, members of the U.S. Air Force Air Component Coordination Element (ACCE), Washington Consulting Group (WCG) and various other agencies played a crucial role in opening these airways.According to Ali Khlil Ibrahim, Iraqi director...

The response on this book tour has been overwhelming. We are truly humbled, and I thank you. I've been told that yesterday there were supporters in Noblesville who stood in long lines for hours in the cold and rain, and the book signing event ended without a chance to say hello to everyone who showed up. I am so sorry. We are working on a solution for those who were left behind. I apologize. - Sarah Palin

Will mammograms sink the Health Care Bill in the Senate? The 16-member U.S. Preventative Services Task Force released its new recommendations on mammograms a few days ago. Talk about some outrage by its recommendations! It said they wanted to change the standard of once a year screenings for women over 40 every other year. Boy did the stuff hit the fan! Please allow me give you some quotes to aid in your evaluation of the situation; Dr. Daniel Kopans, head of breast imaging at Massachusetts General, “I think it is outrageous to reduce costs by taking away a test that...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009 – Though the National Guard has a role in reconstruction missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s a temporary one, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told an audience at the Joint Senior Leadership Conference at the National Harbor yesterday. Left to right: Army Col. Eric Grimm, commander of the California Army National Guard's 40th Infantry Division agribusiness development team; Pedro Torres, a U.S. Agriculture Department representative; Army Sgt. Jeff Johanson, team leader for the agribusiness team; and Ted Wittenberger, U.S. Agency for International Development senior civilian representative, speak with Gulrahaman, chief of police, in Asmar, Afghanistan, Nov....

Can't post a link to Tennessean stuff here so copy-n-paste http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091120/NEWS03/91120031/Guns-in-bars+law+unconstitutional++rules+Nashville+judge

Glenn Beck, the controversial Fox News television host, is planning on becoming more active in the populist conservative movement he spawned, according to sources familiar with his thinking. At a rally Saturday at a massive retirement community in central Florida, Beck is planning to unveil what he has billed as a “big plan” for 2010, which is expected to involve the 9.12 Project, the group he started earlier this year and named for the day after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when he says the nation was unified. “Coming this January, my whole approach changes on this program,” he...

Hundreds of private e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who say they show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change.

 Obama's Forty Third Week in OfficeLatest Additions to "The List""The List" for 11/20/20 Obama administration moves to block restitution from Iran for Beirut Marine barracks bombingFull list of taxes in Senate Obamacare billVIDEO: The National Football League has become an arm of the Obama administration with its partnership with Obama's "United We Serve" program.A video posted by the Obama administration to YouTube this week that is planned to air during broadcasts of the NFL's Thanksgiving Day games shows Barack Obama playing football on the White House lawnSenate Obamacare raises taxes on families with special needs childrenACORN got 200K worth of...

On 20 November 2009, emails and other documents, apparently originating from with the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. If real, these emails contain some quite surprising and even disappointing insights into what has been happening within the climate change scientific establishment. Worryingly this same group of scientists are very influential in terms of economic and social policy formation around the subject of climate change.As these emails are already in the public domain, I think it is important that people are able to look through them and judge for themselves. Until I am told otherwise I...

With Sarah Palin in the spotlight as she continues her nationwide media and book tour, the Democratic National Committee is suggesting to its supporters that the former GOP vice presidential candidate could pose a real threat to the Democratic agenda. In a fundraising e-mail sent out Friday, Organizing for America -- the community organizing component of the DNC founded in the wake of Barack Obama’s inauguration -- said it is aiming to raise $500,000 in the next week "to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies."

A healthcare policy expert says there are details in the Senate healthcare bill that will frighten everyone. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has unveiled his more than 2,000-page healthcare bill with an estimated price tag of $849 billion. However, as Grace Marie Turner of the Galen Institute points out, one of the reasons the bill was scored under President Obama's $900 billion cost goal is because no one gets any benefit from the program until 2014. "So they start collecting taxes and fees now, and...the first ten years of full implementation of this bill is $2.5 trillion, and that's...

Over ONE MILLION copies sold! On the NYTimes Bestseller List for 19 weeks, 12 weeks at #1!Buy it… read it… live it!“Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

A GOP congressional report accuses the White House of doing favors for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and prominent ally of President Barack Obama. The report was spearheaded by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The investigation also found evidence that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled “damage control” after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct against Johnson, her now-fiance. The probe was launched after an AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, was abruptly fired in...

Just called my Senators, Lemieux and Bill Nelson Re: healthcare. Lemieux will vote no and Nelson's office says he has not decided. Keep calling.

GLOBAL WARMING JUNK SCIENCE PROVEN A CONSPIRACY—- ManBearPig Is Finally Dead! I’m serial! Recently “discovered” classified emails and files prove that the junk scientists behind the global warming movement knowingly perpetrated a fraud on the global community. The files were posted on the internet– HERE. The Telegraph reported: If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka...

A trio of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation that would impose a surtax to pay for the war in Afghanistan. Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. Dave Obey (Wis.), Defense Appropriations Subcommittee John Murtha (Pa.), and Democratic Caucus chairman John Larsen (Conn.) say that the bill woild end the practice of paying for the war with deficit spending. "Regardless of whether one favors the war or not, if it is to be fought, it ought to be paid for," the lawmakers said in a statement. "Now the president is being asked to consider an enlarged counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, which proponents...

It seems the voices of the folks back home are beginning to register with their representatives, especially with midterm elections coming up. The fear of being replaced finally strikes home on both sides of the aisle. Angry Congress lashes out at Obama The Washington Post Fri., Nov . 20, 2009 Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration. Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw nerves of lawmakers flooded with stories of unemployment and...

Climate researchers at the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit may have intentionally and artificially skewed temperature data in studies The field of global warming is a fascinating facet of atmospheric science. Unfortunately, few are approaching the topic from an unbiased perspective -- the majority is dead set on proving it, while other are equally passionate about disproving it, or at least removing the implication that man may play a role in global warming. Both sides have been found to falsify data, withhold information, or otherwise distort views on the topic, reportedly. Notably internal investigations found that the Bush...

As the economy drifts listlessly going into this holiday season, thoughts of sugar-plumbed call options and zombie companies (Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), and Citibank (C)) are dancing in the heads of day traders, fund managers and CNBC. Hooray, hooray, everything is OK! Well, not quite. While Wall Street is feasting on the greatest secular bear market bounce in history, Main Street is experiencing persistent and formidable economic famine, the likes of which, have not been seen the Great Depression – which recorded the second greatest secular bear market bounce in history.

In a fast-paced world, life can sometimes be daunting. Fortunately, the state of Michigan has online advice for almost every aspect of life, from shopping to gardening, eating to driving. Sure, some of it may be painfully obvious, nitpicky or bizarre, but just remember: The state knows what's best for you.

The Obama Justice Department is having problems prosecuting terrorist cases because top department attorneys have conflicts of interest. According to documents obtained exclusively by The Washington Times, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, No. 3 official in the Justice Department, had to recuse himself on at least 13 active detainee cases and at least 26 cases listed as either closed or mooted....

David Farr, CEO of Emerson Electric Co., said federal governmental policies are hurting U.S. manufacturing. He cited cap and trade, health care reform and labor rules as undermining the industry and its ability to expand and grow jobs domestically. He said that his company will continue to focus on growth overseas. Emerson, the maker of electrical equipment and InSinkErator garbage disposals with $20.9 billion in sales for the year ended September, will keep expanding in emerging markets, which represented 32 percent of revenue in 2009. About 36 percent of manufacturing is now in “best-cost countries” up from 21 percent in...

News is spreading across the internet like wildfire today that emails from the East Anglia Climate Research Unit in England (not too far from where I used to live) have been hacked by someone and released on the web. An Australian publication called Investigate Magazine says it has spoken to the head of the organization, Dr. Phil Jones, who has confirmed that his organization was hacked and that these emails appear to be genuine. If that is indeed the case, the material contained in these emails seem to constitute an astonishing acknowledgement of what I and many others have been...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- There are 18 separate tax hikes in the Reid-Obama healthcare bill. One of them caps the amount that can be deferred in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) at $2500 per year (a similar provision was included in the Pelosi-Obama health bill and written about by Congressman Cathy McMorris-Rogers, R-Was., for National Review Online). There is currently no limit to how much can be saved, though all monies must be used by the end of the year. Employers may put a cap in place for their employees, but this would put a cap in federal tax law...

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has completed its investigation of Sen. Roland Burris, and his office is trumpeting its finding that he committed no "actionable violations of the law." What his press release didn't mention is that the committee also found he had provided "incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information" about his appointment to the Senate. Which is senatorese for, "Pants on fire!"

The files leaked Wednesday that are spreading around the world at the speed of Internet are genuine files from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia--and should they prove to be accurate, they paint a clear picture of a group of scientists intent on message discipline, enforcing the party line--to the point where they changed presentations, colluded on peer review and tried to get uncooperative editors fired and boycott journals which didn't adopt a sufficiently alarmist position. If you're just coming to this story, Part 1 and Part 2 are here. Examiner.com has examined these documents and...

Gold prices, which have already soared to record levels in recent weeks, could get a further boost from a new investor: central banks. Several central banks are joining average investors in betting that weak currencies—particularly the US dollar—could be a friend to the gold trade for quite some time. AP After a weak summer, gold has rallied strongly over the past three months on the belief that that the dollar will continue to fall until the US economic recovery is on more solid footing. For Rob Lutts, CIO of Cabot Management in Salem, Mass., bull markets such as gold's run...

A top Senate Republican lashed out against lawmakers of both parties for supporting legislation that would audit the Federal Reserve, accusing the bipartisan group of “political pandering” to populist anger. Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, says he’s worried that politicians on Capitol Hill are sacrificing the Fed’s historic independence because the Fed has become unpopular during the economic crisis. “This move to bring the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy under the control of Congress is a grave threat to our economy. Congress has demonstrated time and again its inability to manage the nation’s fiscal...

Andrew Stern is a close friend of President Barack Obama. That's hardly a revelation. His organization, the Service Employees International Union, spent more than $60 million to get him elected. And President Obama has made clear that he is fully committed to promoting the political goals of organized labor. But Stern may have gone outside federal law in his nearly two dozen documented White House visits through this mid-September. The SEIU president is a former registered lobbyist, but has been acting as though he is still one. A prominent Washington, D.C. nonprofit group and one of its affiliates recently sent...

Geithner Pushes Back, Blames Bush Administration for Problems Echoing comments made by a Democratic lawmaker Wednesday night, two Republican members of the Joint Economic Committee today called for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to resign. "It's been a year since the president was elected," the panel's ranking Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, said at a hearing this morning featuring Geithner. "It's appropriate for the American people to assess how well the administration's economic policies are working. They are not. They have failed." "Unemployment has skyrocketed far past the White House's projections and promises. America continues to shed jobs: More than...

Two months ago, there was the "Dog Ate My Global Warming Data" episode. As noted at NewsBusters and at BizzyBlog (original source: National Review Online), we learned that important raw data forming the underpinning of global warming alarmists' claims about the earth's temperatures heating up has vanished. It is longer available and apparently can't be reverse engineered. Today, e-mails hacked from a UK climate research facility appear at a minimum to indicate a willingness by scientists to fudge the data to make alleged warming trends more clear and convincing. At worst, the whole enterprise could be totally discredited. Important and...

Read the full billRead the tax revenue score from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) Read the budget and tax score from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) PDF of this DocumentIndividual Mandate Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/$8 bil): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the following schedule (capped at 8 percent of income): ==============> Check out this important piece, at ATR.org...

The National Football League has become an arm of the Obama administration with its partnership with Obama's "United We Serve" program.A video posted by the Obama administration to YouTube this week that is planned to air during broadcasts of the NFL's Thanksgiving Day games shows Barack Obama playing football on the White House lawn.The one-minute-thirty-second propaganda video is entitled, President Obama, United We Serve, and the NFL Team Up for Fitness and Service and is described by the administration on the site:In support of his United We Serve initiative, President Obama and NFL stars Drew Brees, DeMarcus Ware, and Troy...

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...

The IntercontinentalExchange is probing trades in U.S. dollar index futures that briefly showed a massive 9% jump on Friday morning. The lead contract surged as high as 82.18, up from a 75.38 close on Thursday. Such a move was improbable given that in spot markets, the dollar's moves against major currencies such as the euro were limited to about 1%. See Currencies. The ICE agreed, and according to an exchange official, all trades above 76.50 were being cancelled. The ICE was still investigating the cause of the incident, the official said. Dollar index futures were still elevated after the incident,...

Scientists at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia are facing a fierce attack from climate sceptics following the hacking of the university's computer. The hacker stole thousands of e-mails and data. Much of it has been posted on the web. And some of the e-mails are causing acute embarrassment. My contacts at the CRU tell me the e-mails are being taken out of context and insist they are part of the normal hurly-burly of conversations between scientists working on some of the most complicated questions of our times. They ask how many of us would feel...

Members of the Project 21 black leadership network have risen to condemn Jesse Jackson for saying of Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), "You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man," calling Jackson's statement divisive and likening it to the mental tactics of a antebellum slaveowner. Declining to respond in kind, Rep. Davis told The Hill newspaper, "The best way to honor Reverend Jackson's legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race." Project 21 members were less restrained. "Shame on Jesse Jackson for using the race card in an...

It's about damn time. Yes, it's a first step - but an important first step, and it happened yesterday. Here's what Representative Grayson said at the time of debate: Bloomberg wasted no time giving the "loyal opposition" to transparency all the digital ink they desired: “It’s going to be seen as weakening the independence of monetary policy with consequent negative implications,” Frank told reporters after the vote. “People are going to be worried about the impact on the dollar, on the interest rate.” Go listen to Mr. Grayson's statement again. Now tell me how The Fed's move to dilute our...

The most recent ACORN tape of the L.A. ACORN office is far from the last tape sting Andrew Breitbart has. Attorney General Holder keeps refusing to investigate what is an obvious nationwide criminal endeavor. Breitbart now threatens that if Holder does not investigate the rest of the tapes will be released just before the 2010 election when they will do most damage to the administration: Breitbart: There's a lot of hypocrisy and the dust has settled for ACORN and at the end of the day they've recognized that Eric Holder, the Attorney General, has not initiated an investigation into...

So when I heard about the latest release from the government task force not recommending mammograms until age 50, I shuddered to think what would have happened if my mom waited to have a mammogram until she was 50...

Ask yourselves why the price of gold is headed to $1500. The answer is that this government has lost control of the currency and therefore the economy. Normally price appreciation is great except when it comes to gold. It means our political leaders have no idea what they are doing and there are going to be very severe consequences. Very! Last November gold was at $700. Now it is at $1100 on its way to $1500. We will all have third rate health care with no jobs. What a future.

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....