Free Republic

Democrat Representative Louise Slaughter is actively trying to revive the Fairness Doctrine. She is not alone, she has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with Senators Dick Durbin, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, and Dianne Feinstein. What is the Fairness Doctrine? It is archaic rule that forces television and radio stations to air both sides of controversial issues. If this is reenacted, conservative and Christian talk radio programs are unlikely to be aired due to the demand for equal time, which the station is forced to provide - free of charge. Proponents in the past have admitted that the...

We now have incontrovertible proof that the Democratic Party is a party whose leaders are liars and scoundrels. This week the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed an Iraq War Funding bill that, for the first time in years, contained no restrictions or pull-out dates. That same House also passed a FISA bill covering the electronic surveillance of suspected foreign terrorists communicating with domestic accomplices.

While last year's sagging economy hit the financial fortunes of millions of Americans -- and most lawmakers -- two Senate leaders did pretty well for themselves, according to a new analysis. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saw his wealth grow by as much as $1.2 million last year, according to a review of lawmakers' new financial disclosure reports by the Hill newspaper. And Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saw his assets increase by at least $600,000, according to the paper. Aside from their $183,500 salary, the two men reported little other income outside of the increase of their investments....

You must have seen or heard it. It's been repeated ad nauseum by Democrats on floors of both houses of Congress, before TV cameras and radio microphones and at recent campaign events. "We can't drill our way out of this." The donkey party's latest mantra has been hammered home by the usual suspects from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to Barack Obama. Like most Democrat talking points, it's a falsehood. Yes we CAN drill our way out of this. Just the announcement of our intention to drill in any one of the Big Three Forbidden Zones (off the Continental Shelf,...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 06/17/2008 Pelosi: The President Continues to Slow Walk Americans on Energy Independence Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement tonight in advance of President Bush’s speech tomorrow on energy: "The President's proposal sounds like another page from the Administration's Energy Policy that was literally written by the oil industry: give away more public resources to the very same oil companies that are sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands they've already leased. "In just the last year, Congress has promoted energy independence by raising efficiency standards...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2008 – Last month marked the fewest attacks in Iraq in four years, a reduction one military official today attributed to improved security tactics and personnel and an increase in tips from Iraqi citizens. The number of bombing attacks involving deadly, armor-piercing charges and homemade explosives decreased in May and continues to fall, Army Brig. Gen. John Campbell, deputy director for regional operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference. “Both EFP and IED numbers continue to go down; the trend is looking very well,” Campbell said, referring to armor-piercing explosively...

Nancy Pelosi(D-San Francisco) is the third in line for the Presidency. How is it that she gets away with such nonsense as crediting the goodwill of the Iranians for the surge in Iraq? This woman is Not too swift, illinformed , dangerous and a very loose unite. (Audio Included)

In a year when Democrats are expected to roll over Republicans in the Congressional races, two issues are certain winners for Republicans if they can avoid wimping out to liberal threats and RINO nonsense: energy and immigration. The nation was treated to a raw demonstration of the power of the illegal immigration issue when a liberal governor of liberal New York state proclaimed the issuance of drivers licenses to illegals. Governor Spitzer, now retired in disgrace, had to reverse his order, and Hillary Clinton lost all her momentum by hemming and hawing over this issue. Now also $4.00 gasoline may...

WASHINGTON — The Texas Department of Transportation, long viewed as hyperpartisan and arrogant by some members of the state's congressional delegation, has been trying to soften its image by reaching out to lawmakers of both parties in the nation's capital. But while state transportation officials are having some success in easing the personal animus, they still face a stiff challenge in selling their policy agenda to the state's elected officials in Washington. Many Texans on the Potomac cringe at the agency's embrace of toll roads, the controversies surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor and TxDOT's resistance to many of the highway earmarks...

Operating outside public view, the House Democratic majority is taking extraordinary steps to maintain spending as usual while awaiting a Democrat as president. Remarkably, the supine House Republican minority hardly resists and even collaborates with its supposed adversaries. There has been little or no public Republican protest over seizure of the appropriating process by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her clique. For the second straight year, no appropriations bill other than defense is scheduled for passage. Instead, spending details are crafted in the Speaker's Office, negating President George W. Bush's veto strategy. In a little-noticed maneuver April 23, Pelosi won...

For more than two months, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has denied members of that chamber the opportunity to vote on one of the most important pieces of national security legislation before Congress this year. That legislation is a bipartisan bill passed by the Senate in February that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies which helped the government monitor terrorist communications after September 11. So, House Republicans, led by Reps. Vito Fossella and Peter King of New York, are seeking to get around this obstructionism by employing a "discharge petition." If 218 House members sign the petition, the House would...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 04/28/2008 Pelosi Statement on Supreme Court Decision on Voter ID Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision today on Indiana’s voter identification case: “The Supreme Court’s decision is disappointing. The Court’s decision today places obstacles to the fundamental rights of American citizens—especially the poor, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities—to participate in the electoral process. Requiring American citizens pay for underlying documents needed for an identification card and travel to distant motor vehicle locations for processing hinders—and diminishes—their right to...

Republicans are howling over what appears to be Nancy Pelosi’s plan to bypass the House Appropriations Committee on the upcoming Iraq war supplemental, complaining that the move will be the beginning of the end of the usual appropriations process and will further consolidate power in the hands of a speaker who already has a lot of it. Democrats will meet throughout the week to hash out their strategy, and they insist that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not yet made any final decisions about how to handle what’s likely to be the last Iraq funding debate of the Bush...

[Printable source] When Democrats swept the 2006 midterm elections, several freshman House Democrats won on conservative platforms. A number of these so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats hail from districts that President Bush carried at least once. But the House belongs to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not to Bush, and the Blue Dogs have caught on quickly. On almost every issue, the freshman Blue Dogs have failed to advance their campaign agendas, which were carefully tailored to their moderate constituencies. From the war on terror, to taxes and the budget, to immigration and free trade, the Blue Dogs may talk tough, but they're...

This year commemorates the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the ottoman empire under the auspices of the young turks carried out the first genocide of the 20th century and set a precedent for all future genocides. One and a half million Armenians were systematically massacred as they were evicted from their homes onto the merciless deserts of eastern turkey and into the darkness of the Black Sea.

This is an excerpt from an e-mail we received from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on why he participated in an ad for WE. Many of you have written to me to ask why I recently taped an advertisement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for The Alliance for Climate Protection, a group founded by former Vice President Al Gore. I completely understand why many of you would have questions about this, so I want to take this opportunity to explain my reasons. First of all, I want to be clear: I don't think that we have conclusive proof...

I just saw a TV ad starring Newt Gingrich and his pal Nancy Pelosi pitching their bipartisan solution to the nonexistent "climate crisis". You can join Newt and Nancy at http://wecansolveit.org/, if you wish to join their delusional bipartisan crusade. "The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance." Michael Crichton

Bristling at criticism in the run-up to the Summer Olympics, China is lashing back at its foreign critics — by name. Earlier this week, the state Xinhua news agency called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “disgusting.” And on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu lambasted a CNN commentator, Jack Cafferty, for his “vicious” commentary on China. “We solemnly request that CNN, and Cafferty himself, take back the malicious remarks and apologize to the Chinese people,” Jiang said at a news briefing.

Should Hillary make it to the White House, don't look for Bill to be taking an early turn on the Inauguration Ball dance floor with Nancy Pelosi. Appearing on today's Face the Nation, Madame Speaker made a nasty joke at the former president's expense. Host Bob Schieffer [who might have experienced some schadenfreude this week with all the talk of Katie Couric being pushed out of the Evening News anchor chair he kept warm for her], asked Pelosi what might have prompted Bill Clinton to resurrect the issue of Hillary's tussle with the Tuzla truth. He had famously chalked it...

Even as the rest of the Democratic Party around him takes sides in the epic struggle of Clinton vs. Obama, Al Gore remains inscrutable, silent, above the battle. His gigantic but unspoken presence is raising rumors and fueling speculation. Joe Klein, writing in Time Magazine, even suggested a scenario where a deadlocked convention turns its lonely eyes to Al. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson comes out for Obama, and so do Ted Kennedy and Bill Bradley. Govs. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Jon Corzine of New Jersey back Hillary. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while avoiding an endorsement, speaks out...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

Cindy Sheehan barely fits into her "campaign limo," her sister's blue Hyundai Tiburon. She ducks low to avoid hitting her head on the way in, and her knees are nearly at her chest when she sits, even with the seat rolled all the way back. Traveling over the Oakland Bay Bridge, her campaign manager at the wheel--steering with one hand and scrolling through e-mails with the other--the 6-foot-tall antiwar activist turned congressional hopeful tries in vain to stretch out in the passenger seat. It's raining when they pull into a parking spot near Berkeley City College, where Sheehan is about...

Researchers at Harvard say that publicly voiced doubts about the U.S. occupation of Iraq have a "measureable effect" on insurgents there. Periods of intense news media coverage in the United States of criticism about the war, or of polling about public opinions on the conflict, are followed by a small but quantifiable increases in the number of attacks on civilians and U.S. forces in Iraq... The increase in attacks is more pronounced in areas of Iraq that have better access to international news media, the authors conclude in a report titled "Is There an 'Emboldenment' Effect? Evidence from the Insurgency...

Maybe, just maybe, it’s now worth at least asking whether Hillary Clinton might wind up as the Democratic candidate for vice president. When the chatter about a Democratic “dream ticket” began last year, it was easy to dismiss. Either Clinton or Obama would win a clear victory in the primaries and, after what inevitably would be a contentious campaign, each would want as little to do with the other as possible. Clinton, if she emerged victorious, would instead choose some kind of national security graybeard to her political right, a retired general perhaps, or maybe even a Republican. Likewise, Obama...

Top Democrats on Monday reacted to the 4,000th U.S. death in Iraq by calling for a change in policy.Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) called the event a “grim milestone” and advocated a new course on Iraq. “It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future,” Obama stated.His rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), said at the onset of a speech on the economy that the news of the 4,000th U.S. death in Iraq is...

When Democrats contemplate the apocalypse these days, they have visions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton slugging it out à la Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter at the 1980 convention. The campaign's current trajectory is, in fact, alarmingly similar to the one that produced that disastrous affair. Back then, Carter had built up a delegate lead with early wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, and several Southern states. But, as the primary season dragged on, Kennedy began pocketing big states and gaining momentum. Once all the voting ended and Kennedy came up short, he eyed the New York convention as a...

It is a tribute to Hillary Clinton that even though, rationally, political soothsayers think she can no longer win, irrationally, they wonder how she will pull it off. It's impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she'll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama's wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams. "It's like one of those movies where you think you know the end, but then you watch with your fingers over...

Whatever her official posture, Nancy Pelosi is not neutral in the Democratic primary. Typically, for instance, someone who is neutral wouldn’t say that victory by one of the candidates would be “harmful.” That’s essentially how Pelosi, the supposedly impartial House Speaker, has characterized the prospective nomination of Hillary Clinton. “If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what happens in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party,” Pelosi said in an interview for ABC’s “This Week” that was taped late last week. That just so happens to be the only plausible scenario under which Clinton could still get...

SAN FRANCISCO, Actor Sean Penn and Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan will headline "Iraq: 5 Years Too Many", an event marking the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Also featured will be Reverend Gregory Stewart, Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Matt Gonzalez, former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; and Justin Raimondo, Editorial Director of Antiwar.com. The program will begin at 5pm on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street (near Geary) in San Francisco. After the speakers finish, attendees will march to the War Memorial Auditorium on Van Ness...

Energy: If there's anything more dumbfounding than the House's imposition of higher taxes on oil companies, thereby guaranteeing higher prices at the pump, it's the exemption voted for Venezuela's state oil firm. It goes to show that Congress is more willing to empower dictators than to get serious about America's energy supply.

John Armor, who is challenging Dr. Carl Mumpower and Spence Campbell in the 11th Congressional District GOP primary, has a little story: "I knew Nancy Pelosi when her name was D'Alesandro, and she was the daughter of one Baltimore Mayor and the sister of another. "The D'Alesandro Machine in that City, then, was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Under no circumstances would I ever vote to make someone as politically defective as Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And that is just the first great difference between me and Heath Shuler." Armor also told Katy's...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked for a grand jury investigation into whether White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. Pelosi is demanding that misdemeanor charges be pursued against Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the 2006 firings of federal prosecutors, and against Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the purge.

For months, leading Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chief Rahm Emanuel have tried to talk tough on illegal immigration. Mr. Emanuel told The Washington Post last year that immigration is "the third rail of American politics," adding that "anyone who doesn't realize that isn't with the American people," earning himself angry denunciations from the far-left fringe. Last month, Mrs. Pelosi joined House Minority Leader John Boehner in announcing that the House-passed economic stimulus bill would "not allow any taxpayer funds to be distributed to illegals." The Democratic leadership's efforts to sound tough on illegal...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 02/22/2008 Pelosi Statement on FISA Negotiations Washington, D.C – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on negotiations on a new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): “The House and Senate met again today to produce a strong new FISA bill and once again, Republicans and the White House refused to come to the negotiating table. Despite the Republicans’ apparent insistence on turning this into a partisan issue, Congressional Democrats will continue to reach out in a bipartisan way to finalize a strong FISA law that protects our national security...

Many of you who read these columns know I ran for Congress in 2006. It was in the primary against a 16-year incumbent named Charles Taylor. Given just that information, you’re not surprised that I lost, getting just 20% of the vote. I was not surprised, either. But 2008 is a different kettle of fish. I was right, by the way, about the end of Taylor’s career. I said he was at the end of the line. He was. He got beaten soundly by a Democrat whose claim to fame was that he once played football. Heath Shuler’s the name....

In deciding whether or not to vote for John McCain for president, conservative Republicans as well as independents and disaffected Democrats must consider the antics of leading Democrats on the subject of the War on Terrorism. Senator Clinton, remembering full well the Clinton Administration’s concerns and policies, was for the pre-emptive strike into Iraq before she was against it. Shades of Senator (flip-flop) Kerry. Senator Obama is for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, but wants to invade Pakistan, a complex Muslim country that has been as staunch an ally to us as possible.

One morning last August in San Francisco, six women in pink sweaters marched up a hilly boulevard towing pink roller bags full of shoes. They unzipped the bags in front of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's house, dumped the shoes on her lawn, and went on to arrange loafers, pumps, and pink glittery sandals like hawkers at a yard sale. Anchoring their display was a pair of combat boots, placed on Pelosi's doorstep. The boots, like the other shoes, had been pulled from a dead body in Iraq—the body of Casey Sheehan, in fact, whose mother, Cindy, is running as an Independent...

After watching the events of the last few days I would have to say that there might be a real possibilty of Obama and Clinton heading into the Democratic Convention with neither having enough delegates for Nomination. Is there a real possibility of a "Brokered Convention"? Here is a real wild card for discussion. In a brokered convention could there be a compromise candidate other than Obama and Clinton? If so would Nancy Pelosi be considered for such a compromise candidate? Interesting that Pelosi did not run for President because she is everything and has everything Hillary does not. A...

Congressional Democrats, trying to have the first word on President Bush's State of the Union speech, challenged him Friday to renounce use of waterboarding in interrogations, close Guantanamo Bay to detainees and outline new policies toward Pakistan and Iran. Domestically, Democrats said they expect Bush to invest more in the development of renewable energy and to support any compromise Republicans and Democrats strike to renew a law governing the president's secretive surveillance program. At the National Press Club, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched into a tightly coordinated pair of speeches in which Pelosi...

President George W. Bush's administration is considering an individual tax rebate of up to 800 dollars as a short term measure to help boost the sagging US economy, a media report said Friday. The Republican leader was to unveil a fiscal stimulus plan later Friday, amid grim economic news that has united lawmakers and the Federal Reserve chief on the need to revive flagging US growth. The White House has said Bush would propose policies, not dollar amounts, because details of the plan must be hammered out with the Democratic-controlled Congress. "Privately, the White House has discussed its support for...

MANCHESTER, N.H. – It is the historic mission of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to give us the establishment candidate in each party, and then the insurgent candidate. The two pairs then battle it out in South Carolina to give us the probable nominees for November. Year 2008 looks no different, with this exception: The insurgents, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee, swept the first contests and now have the momentum. And both establishments are reeling. Twenty-four hours before New Hampshire, the GOP establishment has not even settled upon a champion. If Mitt Romney wins the Granite State, he...

One current permathread on Big Orange is that Krugman and Obama are feuding or having a vendetta. Which, when you take a step back, is bizarre. That movement conservatives and Villagers like stone Bush enabler William Kristol, like David Brooks, Broderella, and Andrew Sullivan are all good with Obama isn’t even mentioned in passing by Obama’s fan base. And yet those same enthusiasts spend inordinate amounts of time vilifying Paul Krugman, a true progressive who was there for us from the earliest dark days of the Bush regime. Curious. What’s really happening? Krugman doesn’t have a problem with Obama; Krugman...

Republicans were accustomed to cutting deals to pass their agenda during the dozen years that they ran Congress but have made few concessions this session as the minority party. "Our members went home happier than they have in the 11 years I've been here," said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican. "Our members went home happier than they have in the 11 years I've been here," said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican. "Our members felt like we've taken the weak hand you're dealt in the minority ... and got the maximum impact." Democrats conceded to the Republicans'...

Congressional Democrats have finally tired of fighting for surrender and will pressure Nancy Pelosi to end the battles over Iraq war funding. The Politico reports that Pelosi and Harry Reid haven't gotten the message yet, even with the fatigue clearly showing in their latest efforts to block war funding without strings attached: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, “pocketbook” issues in the upcoming election year. Junior Democrats describe an “Iraq fatigue”...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., admitted Thursday that she had underestimated the willingness of Republicans to stand behind President Bush’s Iraq policy despite the drubbing the GOP took in the polls in 2006. “The assumption I made was that the Republicans would soon see the light,” she said. Instead, the minority stuck to the president’s war policy in the face of unrelenting pressure from congressional Democrats and powerful lobbying campaigns by anti-war groups. Bush has consistently refused to accept any limitations on his authority to direct military operations in Iraq, or on funds destined for the war effort. Democrats...

Check out this video for some great laughs. Leftwing Air America radio host, Cenk Uygur, goes completely berserk while slamming Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi for "surrendering" to Republicans. The level of frustration on the part of Uygur is something to behold. He even declares that he would never trust Reid or Pelosi to be president since they would immediately surrender to our enemies. I guess all that leftwing jubilation when the Democrats won the House and Senate last year has worn off fast. Anyway, it is FUn to watch the complete demoralization of the Left due to their...

NEWARK — The fourth annual American Muslim Voice peace convention brought many speakers of various backgrounds to provide a blueprint for protecting civil rights in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era. Visitors at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark on Sunday evening cheered and listened to guest speakers, such as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield and Ron Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at University of California,Berkeley. The conventions theme was building a beloved community, which included topics such as Fighting for the American Constitution and America, One Nation under God? These topics were discussed by a group of panelists...

Across the ideological spectrum, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dashed expectations. On the right, the hope was that Pelosi would be the tallest lightning rod in Washington — playing to type as a “San Francisco liberal” and handing the Republican minority all manner of ideological openings to exploit. For the most part, that has not happened. On the left, the hope was that Pelosi would lead the newly empowered Democrats to hijack President Bush’s agenda on the issue that matters most to party activists — ending the Iraq war. To Pelosi’s regret, that has not happened either. Appraisals of Pelosi’s...

Liberal Washington Post refugees Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris, now working for the multi-media Politico slathered bright red lipstick on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's kisser then engaged in a heavy session of tongue-wrestling with the San Francisco Democrat in an interview about her first year of leadership. For those aghast at the title of the article and the photograph, please know that the porcine reference is to Pelosi's record of achievement or lack thereof and not the "elegantly styled Speaker, a grandmother of seven." As the Democrats' first year of House rule since 1994 comes to a close, Pelosi...