Free Republic

Knowing that tomorrow the US House of Representatives will bring the HealthCare Bill to the floor for a vote, I have started calling all the DEMOCRAT members of the house to urge them to JUST VOTE NO. I also have told their phone aides who answer my calls that I will SPEND MY OWN MONEY and send campaign donations to their OPPONENTS in 2010 IF THEY VOTE YES on this hideous bill. PLEASE CALL THEM UP TODAY and let your voices be heard while we still can! ELECTIONS have CONSEQUENCES!!!

Dear Mr. Steele, It is with regret that I must decline to offer any financial support to the RNC at this time. Although I still consider myself a Republican I cannot support what I believe to be misguided leadership and a total disconnect with the core constituency. Most “career” Republicans would rather support the monster that is the Republican machine than serve their citizenry with honor, sacrifice and duty. Virtues this great constitutional republic so desperately need. America is truly at a crossroad as you have pointed out however, I believe that my targeted financial support of conservative, servant-minded candidates...

Everybody is saying no to the American president these days. And it's not just that they're saying no, it's also the way they're saying no. The Saudis twice said no to his request for normalization gestures towards Israel (at Barack Obama's meeting with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, and in Washington at meetings with Hillary Clinton). Who says no to the American president twice? What must they think of Obama in the desert kingdom? The North Koreans said no to repeated attempts at talks, by test-launching long-range missiles in April; Russia and China keep on saying no to tougher sanctions...

Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill. Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) failed to win any Republican backer despite weeks of intense negotiations behind closed doors to strike a deal.

Dr. Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute has a ringside seat of what is really happening in the ObamaCare negotiations and it is not anything like any of us would expect. Serious pressure is building and the momentum is on our side. However, without the knowledge of what is actually happening behind the scenes, the grave we are digging for ObamaCare could actually become our own graves. Our collective effort could all be for naught if we allow the construction of any scaffolding for a public option. Liberals are very patient about realizing their agenda. They will build upon...

In his 60 Minutes interview to be aired tonight, President Obama apparently says, "I intend to be president for a while and once this bill passes, I own it....I'm the one who's going to be held responsible. So I have every incentive to get this right." No, Mr. President. It’s not about you. If legislation passes, you don’t own it. We all own it. Any health care bill will become part of the U.S. Code, not simply an item on the Obama White House web site. We will all feel its effects. We are all responsible for the future of...

Would you allow an agency that had the compassion of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make health care decisions for you and your family members? Would you go to a hospital or doctor's office run by the employees of your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)? If the above scenarios don't upset you, then do nothing. If however, you believe that you should be able to make your own health care decisions... if you want quality and affordable health care... then the time to take action is now. At this very moment, three Republican Senators (Charles Grassley, Mike Enzi...

A Lubbock man took out his frustrations with the Obama health care plan recently by plowing his protest into a field of weeds. The plan could cost taxpayers trillions of dollars over the next several years, MSNBC reports. Sam Bates, a former art teacher cut down some weeds and left a large message visible from the sky: “Say no to Obama!” "I thought, maybe some pilots flying from here to Dallas would get a good chuckle," Bates said. But with the Internet and television, the message has reached far more than the few pilots and birds he expected. Bates had...

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -Mark Twain You know, they really don't get it. Just when you think the Obama administration couldn't possibly prove itself more out of touch with Middle America, some transcendent remark or policy issues from Washington, D.C, are proving that happy ignorance is the bulwark shielding this government from reality. Democrat politicians holding "town hall meetings" are being shouted down, escorted from the building by security and followed by seething crowds. At least one has been hung in effigy, and many future town hall...

Raleigh, N.C. — Americans are jeering and ranting at lawmakers' health care forums in North Carolina and across the country. Many of those raising their voices and fists at the town halls have never been politically active. Many opponents say their frustration was born earlier this year with government bailouts and big spending bills, and has simmered in the recession.

President Barack Obama's former Indian-American campaign adviser Raja Krishnamoorthi will be running for the post of Illinois Comptroller, the State's chief fiscal officer, in the 2010 elections. Mr. Krishnamoorthi said he will "fight to restore trust in state government and bring more transparency and accountability" at a time when the State has been plagued with scandals like digging and selling of grave sites at the Burr Oak cemetery and admission irregularities at the University of Illinois. "As so often happens in our capital Springfield, the special interests have won and our state government is broken.It is time to fix it....

Once again, the Obama administration has let the public that know its discontent about ObamaCare means nothing to them. Although 86 percent of Americans are happy with their health care, the White House and Democrats in Congress are determined to run roughshod over them.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, fresh off a rousing neighborhood meeting on health-care reform that ended with people chanting “just say no,” said this morning he’s more resolved than ever to seek congressional approval of health-care reforms. The Austin Democrat said people who attended the gathering Saturday morning at a South Austin grocery store first heard him talk about why he favors change and then he took questions. Doggett said he subsequently said he wanted to talk one on one with crowd members interested in other issues, but that proved impossible because of deafening chants of “just say no.” It was...

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote Friday on a sprawling climate-change bill, signaling the Democratic leadership's confidence that it can overcome objections from Farm Belt Democrats.

Do you support Ron Paul? Three categories: President Congressman Governor

In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina.

The time for universal health insurance coverage has come. Everybody seems to know that -- except for the Republicans, all too many of whom cling to traditional denunciations of universal coverage as socialism... The Republicans could instead offer a consumer-controlled universal coverage system, like that in Switzerland, in which the people, not the government, control how much they spend on health. There are no government health insurance programs. Instead, the Swiss choose from about 85 private heath insurers... This consumer-driven, universal coverage system provides excellent health care for the sick, tops the world in consumer satisfaction, and costs 40 percent...

State's future at stake in May 19 vote John Wildermuth,Matthew Yi May 9, 2009 If California voters reject a package of budget measures in next week's special election, it will set off a fiscal free-for-all that could set the state's course for years to come. Defeat of the measures on the May 19 ballot would chop nearly $6 billion in expected revenue from next year's budget, on top of a projected $8 billion deficit left by shrinking tax collections. Proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to close that gap are driving a wildfire of criticism across the state. Deep...

News that the Boston Globe could shutter its doors any day now, leaving the city without its most famous paper, prompted some reporter to ask White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs whether there would be a bailout for the newspaper industry. Gibbs said no: "I don’t know what, in all honesty, government can do about it.” But then he added that, "(Obama) believes there has to be a strong free press" and that the President has expressed "concern and sadness" over the state of the industry. Ding-Ding-Ding. Folks, a newspaper bailout is coming. Maybe not in time to save the...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding a study that seeks to discover a link between drinking and having sex among homosexuals in Argentina. The study will send researchers to six bars in Buenos Aires to interview both patrons and proprietors in an effort to discover what it is about those bars that may encourage the risky behavior. The study began on Sept. 30, 2008, and runs through Aug. 31, 2010. It already has cost taxpayers $198,776. By the time the project ends, it will have cost $403,902, according to NIH. The grant, awarded to the New York State...

Sarah Palin is a guest on TLC’s American Chopper tonight. The guys meet up with Palin to talk about a motorcycle they are building to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood. The preview, up on YouTube, shows Palin cozying up against a HUGE bear rug that’s about, oh, three times her size. We’d seen it in pictures before, but for some reason, it just looks bigger this time. Wow.

Economic development officials in Hardin are looking at the soon-to-close detention facility in Guantanamo Bay as a possible fix for the jail sitting empty in Hardin. President Barack Obama signed an executive order Jan. 22 to close the Guantanamo detention facilities in Cuba where hundreds of enemy combatants have been held since 2002. The closure is to occur in a year, during which time remaining detainees must be returned to their home countries or detained elsewhere. Meanwhile, a 460-bed detention facility sits empty in Hardin. Built by Two Rivers Authority, the city's economic development arm, the facility was meant to...

The US Capitol in Washington. President Barack Obama Monday asked Congress ... G-20 Leaders Agree to Dole Out $1 Trillion to IMF & World Bank President Barack Obama Monday asked Congress to back an expansion of an IMF emergency fund by 500 billion dollars in a move designed to expand its reach to big emerging market nations. Obama also asked lawmakers to approve a US contribution to the fund to 100 billion dollars, as part of the plan to swell International Monetary Fund reserves agreed at this month's Group of 20 summit in London. The president made the request in...

Advisers manning the “Frank” helpline are informing callers they believed to be children as young as 13 that alcohol is a “much more powerful drug than cannabis” and that using the illegal drug recreationally is not harmful because it “doesn’t get you that high”. Callers are also being told that taking ecstasy will not lead to long-term damage and that if they are in doubt, to “just take half a pill and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.” The advice, given to reporters who rang the helpline posing as young people, has alarmed anti-drugs...

ONE OF THE most pressing issues the Obama administration will face when it closes the Guantanamo detention center is what to do with the 63 detainees cleared for release or transfer who cannot return home. These men will require assistance from friendly democracies. Undoubtedly, a number of foreign nations will demand that some of these innocent detainees be resettled in the United States before they act similarly. Seventeen Uighurs are entering their eighth year of imprisonment at Guantanamo. The only realistic option is for the Uighurs to be resettled in the United States. There is no evidence the Uighurs plotted...

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund. In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”. Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy...

HOME SCHOOL MOMS QUESTIONAIRE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. DECLARATION OF NON-PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOL FORM FOR HOMESCHOOLERS-OUR RIGHTS 101 FY (SCHOOL YEAR - INDEFINITE) Can the school board guarantee my child’s safe return home from school each day. This includes the time that they are entrusted to your care during school hours. This includes but is not limited to safety in the rest rooms, in the hallways, on the stairways, in and under the bleachers, in the lunch room, in the class rooms, on the playgrounds, or on any school property. COMPLIANCECan the school board guarantee that a member of it’s...

From an Email I just received: Being the Republican nominee for President was one of the great honors of my life and an experience I will never forget. Some have wondered, after my hard fought presidential campaign, if I plan to run for re-election to the United States Senate. Join my re-election team I want you to know that I do intend to seek re-election. The magnitude of the financial crisis that many American families are facing makes it clear to me that I want to continue to serve our country in the Senate. The economic challenges currently confronting our...

No one gets the fascination with Michelle Obama, fashion plate, more than her husband. Invoking another president with a glamorous wife—that would be, maybe, John F. Kennedy? — President Obama told military guests at the Commander in Chief Ball last night, “I have the special honor of being the guy who accompanied Michelle Obama to the ball.” That got a big laugh, but it would be a few minutes before the first lady made her entrance, in an ivory chiffon dress. But when she did, oh, what a roar. It was an amazing day for Mrs. Obama — chic and...

Do you need Obama coverage 24 hours a day? In several markets, Comcast cable is launching an all-Obama, On Demand channel. (In D.C., it's channel 963). Leading up to Inauguration, the channel will offer a number of Obama-related programs, according to a release: "Barack Obama’s most famous speeches to date, from his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 through his election night victory speech in Grant Park; Barack Obama biography; Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech; a tour of the White House; and the history of Air Force One."

Maybe I'm just being too cynical, but somehow I doubt that Rep. Jose Serrano introduced HJ Res 5 in order to allow George W Bush to run for a third term in office. One week ago, the New York Democrat introduced a measure to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which provides the only term limit on federal office - the Presidency. The amendment, added in 1951, restricts anyone from seeking a third term in office, and Serrano wants that repealed. Why now? Apparently, the notion of Hope and Change has overwhelmed Serrano to the point that he just can't stand to...

Bobby Jindal talks too fast. That, both admirers and detractors agree, is the most noticeable flaw in the impressive presentation he offers as the first Indian-American governor and perhaps the best prospect for revitalising a Republican Party that has just started its tour of the wilderness, with little else to keep it going other than the sustenance provided by occasional caribou kills by its new folk hero, Sarah Palin. "He still speaks too fast," says Roy Fletcher, a Republican strategist in Jindal's unlikely proving ground: Louisiana, a state with a minuscule south Asian community, and where a white supremacist tried...

DELMAR BOULEVARD is an arterial road running through some of the poorest and richest, and most racially divided, neighbourhoods of St Louis, Missouri. Some city aldermen are now trying to rename the street after Barack Obama before he takes office.

Wow! I never knew spiders would hve these reactions.Link

WASHINGTON: The US administration is now asking Pakistan to ensure that those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks are punished inside the country instead of being extradited to India, US sources told Pakistan daily Dawn. (Watch)According to the Pakistani paper’s sources, the Bush administration has informed the government of Pakistan that it would like it to initiate “prosecution with sufficient efforts to ensure conviction”. This indicates a clear change in the US attitude which previously backed the Indian demand that some of the suspects be extradited to India, the Dawn reported. On Thursday external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters...

World reaction to Israel's sudden, massive strike against terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip ranged from immediate condemnation and a call to halt all attacks to cautious acknowledgement of Israel's right to defend its citizens. Some international powers spoke against Hamas's bombardment of communities in southern Israel since the cease-fire ended last week; others wrung their hands over the humanitarian suffering in the Strip. In a statement released Saturday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate halt to all violence in both Gaza and southern Israel. "While recognizing Israel's security concerns regarding the continued firing of rockets from Gaza,...

Bobby Jindal is seen by many in his party as the Next Big Thing, a political comer who at 37 offers competence, reform and a fresh face for a Republican Party in dire need of all three. But even as he basks in the media glow from his maiden foray to Iowa last month, Jindal is far from a sure thing in 2012. Jindal, only elected governor last year, said flatly this month he’s not interested in being president and is only focused on a 2011 reelection bid — perhaps not surprising at a time when few will admit to...

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush's foreign policies may be unpopular in the Middle East, but Arab leaders showered his top diplomat with jewelry worth far more than a quarter of a million dollars last year. While Bush himself didn't fare nearly as well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raked in at least $316,000 in gem-encrusted baubles from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia alone, making her one of top recipients among U.S. officials of gifts from foreign heads of state and government and their aides in 2007.

With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country's biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance. They're warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed into defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The reason: according to research firm Foresight Analytics LCC, $530 billion of commercial mortgages will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years -- with about $160 billion maturing in the next year. Credit, meanwhile, is practically nonexistent and cash flows from commercial property are siphoning off.

As president of Manhattan's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Bill White has managed the restoration of a World War II aircraft carrier. Now, some Congressional and former military leaders think the Long Island native should manage the entire U.S. Navy. They are touting the 41-year-old Manhattan resident as secretary of the Navy in the Obama administration. The appointment would make the former Point Lookout resident the first openly gay chief of a branch of the military. And that could make his selection tricky because the government and the country have not resolved the issue of gays openly serving in...

Russia will stop developing some strategic weapons if the United States drops plans for a missile shield in Europe, Interfax news agency quoted the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces as saying on Friday. "If Americans give up plans to deploy the third positioning region and other elements of the strategic missile defense system then certainly we will adequately respond to it," Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov said.

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- The parents of American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh are asking President George W. Bush to set their son free before Bush leaves office next month.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/India_asks_US_for_more_work_visas/articleshow/3837505.cms The Indian government has asked the US to increase the number of work visas (H1-B and L1) and ensure that there be no legislation to prevent companies from applying for such visas.

Detroit-area religious leaders convened by Detroit Cardinal Adam J. Maida emerged from a Dec. 4 meeting to call on Washington lawmakers to provide federal assistance to stabilize the American automobile industry. "There is great concern for the countless individuals and families who are under great stress because of the uncertainty of our economy," Cardinal Maida said at a media briefing following the meeting. "They need to hear words of hope and encouragement. This is a time to stand in solidarity with all who are suffering the loss of jobs or homes, and all those who are anxious about what will...

With sport-utility vehicles at the altar and auto workers in the pews, one of Detroit's largest churches on Sunday offered up prayers for Congress to bail out the struggling auto industry. "We have never seen as midnight an hour as we face this week," the Rev. Charles Ellis told several thousand congregants at a rousing service at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple. "This week, lives are hanging above an abyss of uncertainty as both houses of Congress decide whether to extend a helping hand." Local car dealerships donated three hybrid SUVs to be displayed during the service, one from each of...

I’m reeling, but that’s probably because I can’t get over his growing resemblance to Chevy Chase. Two sources close to Jeb Bush, including one who has spoken to the former Florida governor within the past few hours, say he is seriously considering a run for Senate now that incumbent Republican Mel Martinez has retired. “He is receiving a lot of encouragement from both in and out of the state,” an longtime Bush adviser said tonight. “He is going to take his time and approach this very methodically.” Bush will weigh, according to this adviser, how a run would impact his...

Last update - 02:22 23/11/2008 Candidate for U.S. security adviser wants NATO force in West Bank By Aluf Benn Tags: israel news, barack obama served as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian security issues over the past year. He was tasked in particular with formulating security arrangements between Israel and the future Palestinian state...

In his first real news conference since the week following his defeat for the presidency, Senator John McCain emerged today in Phoenix to talk about his own future. He said he plans to run again in 2010 — it may seem a long time from now for you but so many are already gearing up for the midterm elections that maybe it’s no surprise. The longtime Arizona senator — at age 72 — had already returned to the Senate earlier this month and tried to deflect media inquiries every time he ventured into one of its public hallways. At his...

Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total as much as $700 billion over the next two years. That amount, more than the nation has spent over the past six years in Iraq, would rival the sum Congress committed last month to rescuing the country's financial system. It would also be one of the biggest public spending programs aimed at jolting the economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Hints of a hefty new spending program began emerging last week. New...

An effort is afoot to have November 4 declared a national holiday. “A man from humble beginnings, born in a stable in Kenya, schooled in a madras in Indonesia, honed by the mean streets of Chicago, and has lifted himself and this nation to an ecstasy of hope for fundamental change, deserves the recognition of a national holiday in his honor,” said Reverend Ed Nauseam, chairman of the “Obama Holiday Committee.” “Only one other man has accomplished as much in so short a period of time and He has a national holiday every December 25. Justice demands as much for...