Free Republic

Two video interviews here: http://www.birthersummit.org/news/in-the-news/81-atlanta-georgia-interviews.html

If you would like to read the article with the embedded links, please visit http://www.birthersummit.org/news/80-georgia-hearings-two-out-of-three-aint-bad.html Author's Request: If you are not going to read the conclusion of this article, please do not read any of it. Those whose critical thinking skills are limited, either genetically, or willfully, are required to read the conclusion at least three times before sending me your zombie hate mail. Once again, in the days following the hearings that were conducted in Georgia on January 26, there has been a lot of spin and misinformation coming from our side; while much of it comes from simply...

Late yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s office sent me an email with a copy of a letter the Congressman had sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on December 15 — a letter to which the A.G. has yet to respond. In it, Issa informs Holder that the Committee would like him to appear for more testimony on January 24, 2012. In other words, Fast and Furious isn’t going away any time soon. Issa wrote: The hearing will examine flaws in the management structure of the Justice Department as demonstrated in the genesis and implementation of ATF’s Operation Fast...

When it came time for Attorney General Eric Holder to make his opening comments, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) requested that the A.G. be sworn under oath. Issa had already noted that Congress had been lied to and that in previous hearings, Holder & Co. displayed the “unheard of” habit of redacting their letters and testimony to the Congress. Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said that it wasn’t necessary for Holder to be sworn under oath because it was understood that he was already under oath by virtue of the purpose for which he was appearing. Issa then asked Smith if he...

epublican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed arms-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin said impeachment is an option if Holder does not "clean up this mess" quickly. Sensenbrenner and other Republicans hold the attorney general responsible for the operation, in which federal agents failed to track hundreds of illicitly obtained weapons that were later recovered in Mexico and the U.S., many of them at crime scenes. "If you don't get to the bottom of this," there is...

Once Lamar Smith (R-TX) opened the hearings with comments on Fast and Furious and then passed the baton to Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), it seemed the hearings would be a wash. That’s because it was evident from the start that Conyers was there to carry water for Holder. For example, Conyers used his opening comments to highlight the “life and contributions” of Holder, and to highlight the need for more gun control in the United States. He particularly supported the new requirement for border state gun stores to file special reports on customers who make multiple long gun purchases. (Conyers...

It's time for Congress to impeach Attorney General Eric Holder. Congress may remove from office "all civil officers of the United States" if they are convicted of "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors," the Constitution says (Article II, Section 4). Only the House of Representatives can impeach, which is comparable to indictment. The official is then tried by the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required for conviction. The Constitution doesn't say what constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors," but perjury surely is among them. So is obstruction of justice.

King said: “In our first two hearings, the Committee has examined radicalization of Muslim-Americans generally and focused on the problem of radicalization in U.S. prisons. “At this hearing, the third in a series, we will examine Somalia-based terrorist organization al-Shabaab’s ongoing recruitment, radicalization, and training of young Muslim-Americans and al-Shabaab’s linking up with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). “In Minnesota, Ohio, and other states, dozens of young Muslim males have been recruited, radicalized, and then taken from their communities for overseas terrorist training by al-Shabaab. In a number of cases, the men – including both Somali-Americans and other converts...

Several top ATF officials will testify Tuesday before a House committee investigating the controversial “Fast and Furious” weapons program and likely will be asked whether they were ordered not to tell Mexican authorities that guns recovered at crime scenes in that country had been illegally purchased in the U.S. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, called in the wake of acting ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson’s closed-door testimony that the Justice Department sought to shift blame for Fast and Furious away from its political appointees, also will get its first opportunity to question ATF supervisors who have defended...

According to a release from Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled new hearings into the on going Operation Fast and Furious scandal — this time they’ll be talking to ATF agents based in Mexico: “Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border” will examine accounts of agents based in Mexico Washington DC– On Tuesday, July 26th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene a hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious, a tragically flawed effort that is connected to...

Congressional Hearings on Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Possible Washington, DC -- The day after a national pro-life organization released a new comprehensive report showing the numerous abuses at Planned Parenthood abortion centers as reasons for a Congressional investigation, one top Republican says that's possible. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/08/congressional-hearings-on-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz-possible/

At a congressional hearing on Muslim radicalization in U.S. prisons, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said that investigators needed to analyze Christian militants in America because they too might try to “bring down the country.” In an exchange with witness Patrick Dunleavy, the former deputy inspector of the criminal intelligence unit, New York Department of Correctional Services, Rep. Jackson Lee mentioned the case of a man who blew up an abortion clinic and proposed that this perhaps was an attempt to undermine U.S. law that allows a woman to procure an abortion. Rep. Lee then said, “As we look to...

WASHINGTON — Knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious, a controversial border security strategy that allowed guns to be shipped illegally into Mexico in an effort to track them to drug cartels, went to the top of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, according to evidence released on Wednesday at a House Oversight Committee hearing. Witnesses at the House hearing included three relatives of a Border Patrol agent killed in Arizona and three A.T.F. agents, right. The operation, which began in 2009, came under fire after two guns linked to it were found at the scene of the killing of...

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released copies of redacted emails on Wednesday that detail the involvement of the head of the ATF in a controversial gun-tracking program as early as March of 2010. The emails strike a stark contrast to letters the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) have sent to lawmakers in which they denied selling assault weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for drug cartels and claimed that they made every effort to prevent weapons from going to Mexico. In one of the emails, released by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),...

Mid-June could potentially bring the first of what may be several hearings on Capitol Hill over Project Gunrunner, but that is not confirmed nor is it presently on the Congressional calendar, a House source said today. "It might not happen," the source said via e-mail. Mike Vanderboegh, the Sipsey Street Irregulars blogger who broke the initial Gunrunner stories with National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea almost six months ago, first reported the possibility of a hearing earlier today. That hearing would be before Congressman Darrell Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Issa did recently indicate that hearings into the...

An open letter to Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester Senators Baucus and Tester: You’ve both led in actions in the past to merit gun owner support (see "On the Issues" links, below), notably your letter to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson opposing expansion of reporting requirements for long gun purchases, your leadership in ensuring that spent military cartridge cases remain available to the civilian market, and your warning to Attorney General Eric Holder that you “oppose reinstating the ban on the sale of assault weapons.” Good job on those. Unfortunately, you...

Five executives from America’s leading oil companies were marched in front of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday morning for a public scolding, and told to defend industry tax breaks while Americans are being charged $4 for a gallon of gas. In other words, Thursday was judgment day the CEO’s of the country’s five largest oil companies. And because most of the committee’s Republicans were attending a budget meeting at the White House, the executives were left to face a very partisan, very unhappy panel of Democrats. Representing the scorned oil industry was John Watson of Chevron, Marvin Odum of Shell...

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the Justice Department is assembling a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation" in oil markets that might be contributing to $4 a gallon-plus gasoline prices. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.84 on Thursday, about 30 cents higher than a month ago and almost a dollar...

In what is likely a response to Rep. Peter King's relatively tame hearings on Muslim extremism and homeland security earlier this month, Senator Dick Durbin will be holding a hearing this Tuesday to investigate the supposedly growing problem of anti-Muslim bigotry in America. USA Today reports: "Our Constitution protects the free exercise of religion for all Americans," said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who will chair the hearing. He said it follows a spike in anti-Muslim bigotry over the past year. Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy organization based in San Francisco, said...

Opponents of New York Republican Rep. Peter King’s hearings on domestic Muslim extremism have tried to make the controversy into a civil rights battle. The more the left obfuscates the issue, the more dangerous the threat becomes. One line of argument is that the House Homeland Security Committee hearings are unfairly discriminatory because they don’t address other domestic terror threats, such as from purportedly violent militia groups. Rep. Al Green, Texas Democrat, bizarrely contended that failing to investigate the Ku Klux Klan somehow amounted to a defense of that organization. “Over a hundred years of terrorism, why not investigate them...

Today’s Homeland Security hearing investigating the issue of radicalization of American Muslims was decried by the leftist media as a supreme attack on the civil rights of Muslim Americans. The most serious drama that came out of the hearing today, however, was provided by Sheriff Leroy Baca of Los Angeles County who took issue with Congressman Chip Craavack‘s concerns regarding Baca’s unequivocal support for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Sheriff Baca exhibited marked defensiveness toward CAIR when it was suggested by Congressman Craavack that CAIR might be using him to advance a pro-terrorism agenda. The exchange between Congressman Cravaack...

Radical Islam, Little Rock shooting spotlighted in congressional hearingUpdated: 3/10 5:37 pm WASHINGTON D.C. - - Melvin Bledsoe is one of the people testifying in a controversial hearing on Capital Hill in Washington D.C. His son, Abdulhakim Muhammad, 25, is charged with capital murder in Pulaski County for the attack on two soldiers. "If we knew our serious his extremism had become we could have put in every effort to prevent the tragedy in Arkansas from even happening," Bledsoe says. Melvin Bledsoe offered testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee about the supposed radicalization of his son Abdulhakim Muhammad. Describing...

The congressman told a teachable story this morning. One problem: It’s untrue. This morning, Rep. Keith Ellison (Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, Minn.) appropriated a hearing on Islamic radicalism by weeping his way through a speech about whata-buncha-nasty-bigots Americans are. He chose as his case in point Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-born Muslim American who rushed to lower Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, to assist in rescue efforts, and died in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Here’s how Representative Ellison tells the story of the aftermath of his death: ((snip)) Does Ellison’s account check out with reality? No....

H.R.3162 Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TITLE I--ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY AGAINST TERRORISM SEC. 101. COUNTERTERRORISM FUND. (a) ESTABLISHMENT; AVAILABILITY- There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a separate fund to be known as the `Counterterrorism Fund', amounts in which shall remain available without fiscal year limitation-- (1) to reimburse any Department of Justice component for any costs incurred in connection with-- (A) reestablishing the operational capability of an office...

Is there such as thing as "must-see" C-SPAN3? If so, set the DVR for 6:30 a.m. West Coast time for Thursday's Homeland Security Committee, where as we told you the other day, GOP Rep. Peter King is planning to look into the radicalization of U.S. Muslims. San Mateo's own Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier is a member of that committee and told us Wednesday that she is planning to "call out" King Thursday: "This is one member's bias that he is now putting forth as the policy of this country and there are going to be many of us who will...

King hearings should probe imams whose teachings threaten AmericansDespite opposition from the usual Muslim Brotherhood offshoot "advocacy" groups in the United States, Rep. Peter King is forging ahead with hearings Thursday on what he terms domestic "Muslim radicalization." ~snip~ I believe direct cross-examination of clerics from the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), including a frank discussion of their public "fatwas" (Islamic religious rulings), is essential to the congressman's critically important goal of understanding Muslim radicalization in America. ~snip_ Finally, another Arabic-language fatwa from Salah Al-Sawy, secretary-general of the AMJA, leaves open the possibility for offensive jihad against America...

Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American -Denis McDonough The White House is quick to defend the only religion liberals recognize as legitimate in preparation for congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization in America. Liberals show no such tolerance toward Christianity, but tirelessly defend the rights of terrorists as long as they remember to shout “allahu akbar” at some point during their killing rampages. Rep. Peter King of New York wants to study the reasons why young people are turning themselves into jihadis at such a terrifying rate. Rather than applaud King’s efforts to combat extremism, those much...

CAIR says Peter King doesn’t think American Muslims are real Americans. CAIR director Corey Saylor is angry at Republican Peter King for his intention to drag members of the American Muslim community before his House Homeland Security Commission, which he chairs. So what does Saylor do in his role as representative of the “religion of peace?” Why, start to cast aspersions on the good Republican. That’s what. He also accused King—who just wants to help the American Muslim community by finding the radicals there—of misrepresenting the number of Muslims in the US who do not report on the bad apples...

Hill Hearing to Focus on Radical Islam; Muslim Groups Want Broader ScopeRep. Peter King Vows Not to Bow to "Political Correctness" Amid Backlash By John R. Parkinson Feb. 8, 2011 **SNIP** On Wednesday, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and Michael Leiter, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center are set to testify at a hearing before the committee titled "Understanding the Homeland Threat Landscape - Considerations for the 112th Congress." Last week, a collection of more than 50 Muslim organizations wrote a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy...

There have been some real characters elected to Congress over the years. Davy Crockett, for instance, served one term in the House of Representatives, then told his constituents to go to hell and headed for Texas where he died defending the Alamo and became an American icon. And who could ever forget those delightful violin concertos delivered so frequently by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia? Fortunately, the current Congress is not without its share of fascinating personalities. Take Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who must be moonlighting at the Comedy Club. Seems he had folks rolling in the...

House Republicans drove home the new political reality on Capitol Hill on Wednesday by convening a series of hearings aimed at scrutinizing President Obamas first two years in office and sending a message against what they see as his expansive government agenda. With two hearings examining the implementation of the health care law and another dissecting the administrations handling of the Gulf oil spill - some of the first oversight hearings under the new House majority - the Republicans signaled that they would make up for lost time by shining a light on issues that they say Democrats have tried...

Congressman Peter King (R-NY) told Politico Tuesday that in his upcoming hearings on radicalization among American Muslims, he was "not planning to call as witnesses such Muslim community critics as the Investigative Project on Terrorism's Steve Emerson and Jihad Watch's Robert Spencer,who have large followings among conservatives but are viewed as antagonists by many Muslims." Based on this, it appears that this will be a show trial. Between Emerson and Spencer, the whole of it is covered. Emerson knows who all the players are and what groups and cells they are affiliated with. He knows who everyone is and what...

Lawmaker Plans Controversial Hearings on Islamic ThreatMuslim Groups Fear ‘Show Trial’ from Former Backer of the IRA By Larry Cohler-Esses and Nathan Guttman Published December 28, 2010, issue of January 07, 2011. New York Rep. Peter King has long railed against a “wall of political correctness” blocking out his warnings about the mass threat he sees coming from the mosques of America. Now, as incoming chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Long Island Republican is poised to do something about this. King, who has vowed to make hearings on this perceived threat his first order of business...

GOP's Darrell Issa Plans Hundreds of Oversight HearingsPosted by Lucy Madison November 9, 2010 12:00 PM California Rep. Darrell Issa plans to greatly expand the scope of federal oversight upon his likely election to chair the oversight committee in the new Congress, he told Politico in an interview. "I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks," Issa said. Issa's election to chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform would herald a significant increase in the committee's activity, and not just from the past two years. California Rep. Henry Waxman, the committee's Democratic chair during the final two...

Disgraced Congressman Charlie Rangel attempted to escape reality by diving into a crowd of adoring lefties at the “One Nation Working Together” rally at the Lincoln Memorial. The Harlem Democrat is about to stand trial to defend against 13 counts of ethical charges by his colleagues in the House, but you wouldn’t know it if you saw him being treated like a rock star on Saturday. Rangel sported enormous black sunglasses and delved into the crowds, who cheered “Charlie, Charlie!” A happy-go-lucky Charlie hugged the fans, glad-handed and yelled “I love you!” Well, Charlie tried to escape reality, but HUMAN...

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the Supreme Court opinions in McDonald v. Chicago was the dissenters' assault on District of Columbia v. Heller. Not only did Justice Stephen G. Breyer vote against extending the Second Amendment to state and local governments, he also argued forcefully and at length for overturning Heller and, therefore, for turning the Second Amendment into a practical nullity. Ominously, Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the Breyer dissent - contradicting what she told the U.S. Senate and the American people last summer. Regarding the key issue in McDonald - whether the 14th Amendment makes the Second Amendment...

The confirmation hearing for Gen. David Petraeus to be ISAF commander began a few minutes ago. The second day of the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination hearings began around 9 a.m. They're on the cable networks for the most part. FOX, CNN and MSNBC are dipping in and out of the hearings depending on who's speaking.The Kagan hearing is being shown live on C-SPAN 3 and online at C-SPAN here.The Petraeus hearing can be viewed online at the Senate Armed Services Committee Web site here.

I have no desire to rehearse all the ways in which Bork was mistreated by Ted Kennedy and the usual liberal interest groups. Bork was the last Supreme Court nominee to give serious answers to serious questions. Consider Monday's thunderclap from the judicial Mt. Olympus: The 2nd Amendment right to own a gun extends to state and local government. The newsworthy opinion came from rookie Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She concurred with Justice Stephen G. Breyer's dissent, which held that there is no fundamental right to bear arms in the U.S. Constitution. But when Sotomayor was before the Senate Judiciary Committee...

Oversight and Investigations?by: Larry Walker, Jr.Only one constructive question came out of the Congressional hearing with BP's CEO, Anthony Hayward. The question was, "Why aren't relief wells drilled at the same time as the main well, and would it make sense to drill one or two relief wells along with the main well in the future?" That was a valid and constructive question. It is, however, really a regulatory question and not so much the responsibility of BP. No other question posed during the rest of the hearing was even valid. I can't believe that the present Congress is anywhere...

After his boss made such so many friends the day before, my boss found some small people to meet today, Day 59 -- members of Congress. Yesterday the bosses met with even smaller people, the BO Regime. Naturally, all the small people had really big things to say. They're really good at making big talk.

WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Monday that he would seek to slow Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's path to confirmation unless senators get full access to her files as a Clinton administration aide. "We're heading to what could be a train wreck," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said. "I don't believe that this committee can go forward with an adequate hearing" without all records from Kagan's tenure as a White House counsel and then domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, last week set hearings to...

Hearings on Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Pick Elena Kagan Start June 28 Washington, DC -- The Senate Judiciary Committee will start hearings on pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on June 28. Kagan is the second pro-abortion judicial activist President Barack Obama has selected for the nation's highest court following Sonia Sotomayor. http://LifeNews.com/nat6346.html

What If They Held a Hearing and Nobody Came? by John F. Di Leo Flush with the victory of passing their nationalization of the health insurance industry in March, the Democratic leadership in Washington was interrupted in the middle of their celebratory bacchanalia by some stuffy businessmen filing unpleasant forecast revisions with the SEC. Yup, without so much as a “By your leave,” well-known corporations started announcing their formal assessments of what Obamacare was going to cost their shareholders, their employees, and especially, their retirees. A hundred million dollars here, a half billion there… and the surprise of them all,...

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today released the guidelines and parameters of a Defense Department review of the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in preparation for its potential repeal. The 10-month review should include input from service chiefs and all levels of the force and their families, Gates said in a memo to Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, who was chosen to head the effort along with Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer. Gates established the review Feb. 2, saying it would be critical to ensuring a smooth transition...

REP SUTTON: Mr. LaHood, what are we to make of these rumors that Toyotas are ... sexual predators? SEC. LAHOOD: Ah, allow me to clarify that, Congresswoman. Let's be clear. It's only certain newer models that have been accused of sexual harassment, and in one case the on-board GPS made very inappropriate comments. That's why we're recommending that single women, or women who are going to be driving alone much of the time, take a look at the 2010 Buick Lucerne, with it's reliability and safety features ... Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-philbin/2010/02/25/essay-real-toyota-hearing-transcript#ixzz0gf0otK6o

Washington D.C. Snow Storm Opens Window of Opportunity in "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Fight The largest snow storm in the history of Washington D.C. has caused the cancellation of the next hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. The hearing had been scheduled for Thursday, February 11th. But on Wednesday, February 10th, the committee schedule indicated that this hearing had been canceled. No tears please. This cancellation has given us a window of opportunity to contact all of the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to communicate to them...

Top military brass caving in after Obama declares support. Radical social agenda would bring terrible consequences. But Congress must change law before it happens. The change would be a crown jewel of the homosexual movement. By repealing this law, homosexuality would be officially recognized as normal. But more than that, it would be affirmed and even celebrated as it is in public schools, government and many corporations. There are few places in life where one individual holds such absolute power over another as in the military. Or where young men are forced to live in extremely close quarters day and...

The White House has asked the top Senate Democrat on military affairs to postpone announcing a hearing that would explore repealing the controversial law that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was expected to have Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen testify before his committee on recent calls to end the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The hearing was expected at the end of January. Sources tell The Hill that even though it has not been...

The top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee called for an investigation into the botched terrorist attack on-board a plane to Detroit, saying that various counter terrorist agencies are “reverting to their pre 9/11 ways.” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that recent events have “exposed a sobering reality that the very failures that made us vulnerable before 9/11 still threaten our homeland security today.” “There was a breakdown in communication that impacts numerous government entities and this committee should investigate and hold hearings immediately,” Issa said in a news release. Issa said he called Chairman Ed Towns...