Free Republic

President "Smart Power" at work.  Oops:   As Obama stood next to the world's most recognized democracy icon, he mispronounced her name repeatedly. Ever gracious, Suu Kyi did not correct her American guest for calling her Aung YAN Suu Kyi multiple times during his statement to reporters after their meeting. Proper pronunciation for the Nobel laureate's name is Ahng Sahn Soo Chee. The meeting came after Obama met with Myanmar's reformist new President Thein Sein - a name he also botched. As the two addressed the media, Obama called his counterpart "President Sein," an awkward, slightly affectionate reference that would...

Mitt Romney didn't just pay too much in taxes. As Politico reported last month, he paid too much for his TV ads, too.(The following graphic represents early September media buys in Columbus, Ohio. It was provided to TheDC by a national media buyer with extensive background buying in America's most competitive state, and is representative of other examples we have seen):The cost differential is attributable to the fact that Team Obama bought "preemptable" or or "lowest unit rate" ads --- while Team Romney paid for "fixed," non-preemptable rates."Obama could deliver 1,000 points for a fourth as much as Romney," said...

...the electors... will meet on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. That is when the actual re-election of the president occurs. According to the 12th Amendment, for the Electoral College to be able to select the president, it must have a quorum of two-thirds of the states voting. If enough states refuse to participate, the Electoral College will not have a quorum... then the responsibility for selecting the president and vice president devolves to the Congress. The House of Representatives selects the president and the Senate selects the vice president. Since the Republicans hold a majority in the...

Then-defense secretary Robert M. Gates stopped bagging his leaves when he moved into a small Washington military enclave in 2007. His next-door neighbor was Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, who had a chef, a personal valet and — not lost on Gates — troops to tend his property. Gates may have been the civilian leader of the world’s largest military, but his position did not come with household staff. So, he often joked, he disposed of his leaves by blowing them onto the chairman’s lawn. “I was often jealous because he had...

For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, Orlando Health is reducing its workforce by up to 400 positions starting immediately, hospital officials announced this morning. The elimination of 300 to 400 jobs will occur in two phases, and represents a 2- to 3-percent decrease in the system's 16,000 employees, said Orlando Health spokeswoman Kena Lewis. The reductions affect all departments and all eight of its hospitals, including Orlando Regional Medical Center and Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. The first wave of employees affected by the "labor expense reduction" portion of the initiative received their notices Friday, said Lewis....

One good thing about President Obama’s re-election: It seems to have prompted some sober thinking by Republican Party leaders and allies. Oh sure, there’s been some loose talk of secession, but mostly what you’ve found is top GOP leaders trying to figure out how to broaden the GOP’s appeal and shed its reputation for anti-intellectualism while staying true to their conservative values. This is a good thing. One sure way for Republicans to blow it: If Sarah Palin runs for president. You might’ve thought Palin’s political career pretty much ended when she decided not to run for president against a...

The health-care law’s treatment of larger employers is almost laughably complicated. If you’ve got fewer than 50 employees, nothing is asked of you, and if you’re willing to provide insurance for your employees, you get a giant tax credit, at least for awhile. But if you’re a business with more than 50 full-time employees, matters become considerably more complex. If you’ve got more than 50 full-time employees and you already offer them health insurance, you can stop reading now. You’re in the clear. If you’ve got more than 50 full-time employees and you don’t offer them coverage and you don’t...

I just started reading After America by Mark Steyn which I highly recommend to anyone.  It is probably the most humorous book on the economic apocalypse you'll ever read.  Anyway, Mark Steyn refers to a paper called "Financing US Debt:  Is There Enough Money in the World - and At What Cost?" by US Treasury official (and former Chief Economist of the Office of Management & Budget) John Kitchen and Menzie Chinn of the Robert M. La Follete School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin.  Using estimates from the CBO, they calculate how much US Treasury debt foreign...

Illegal immigrants in Massachusetts will become eligible for in-state tuition at public universities and community colleges, based on an interpretation of a new federal law by Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. In June, Democratic President Barack Obama announced that the Department of Homeland Security will grant temporary relief from deportation to some illegal immigrants who immigrated as children and do not represent a public safety threat. The policy allowed the government to grant “deferred action” status to these immigrants, which means they would not be deported for two years and they would be granted work visas. The government has started accepting...

Free speech is kinda OK, if Allah and his vast Religion of True Peace are not offended. The mere existence of infidels is offensive, so Death to all Infidels! As I finished reading this article at PJ Tatler this morning, I came across a new YouTube video. First, the article. It deals with a meeting to be held today by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). [A] symposium [is] to be held today at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on “Defamation Acts Against Islam.” And one top U.S. State Department official will be in attendance: The headquarters of...

Nearly 100 House Republicans on Monday called on President Obama not to nominate Susan Rice as Secretary of State. In a letter to Obama, the 97 Republicans said the credibility of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has been gravely wounded by her account of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. "Though Ambassador Rice has been our Representative to the U.N., we believe her misleading statements over the days and weeks following the attack on our embassy in Libya that led to the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans caused irreparable damage...

Passing through the sometimes crowded aisles of the Washington Arms Collectors’ monthly gun show at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, there was no question that a lot of people were there doing some serious shopping in the wake of the Nov. 6 election. There was also no doubt that some people in that pavilion had voted for Obama, and were in a rather interesting quandry: how to engage in a conversation about the election while not necessarily being confrontational or combative. A couple seemed smug without daring to engage in a full debate. All of the "suspects" invariably spoke without looking us...

Video of a child facing his first political disappointment. I loved the child's face when his mother tries to explain that Obama is not a bad person. He doesn't say anything, but he has the expression of "Get Real"

Americans are confused. I realize that’s probably the understatement of the year, but I am referring not to the apparent insensibility of those who continue to support President Barack Obama, but to the perplexed state of those who are attempting to make sense out of the election outcome itself, as well as events that have taken place since. In short, it is mind-boggling that the man was re-elected considering the shape America is in, and his being the most dismal record of any President in American history. The craven but successful ploy on the part of the administration to defer...

Barack Obama promised his administration set a new standard in transparency: I will also hold myself as president to a new standard of openness .... Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. Obama even issued a memo My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government. He declared his to...

Big Guy took his FORWARD! campaign to Southeast Asia this weekend. At his presser in Thailand yesterday, BO explained how he’s planning to deport the American System to the Near East: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra: main reason Lady M did attend. Plus she hates Thai food. (snip)because Thailand I think is more successful economically than some of its neighbors, it's now in a position to be a donor country. Got that Thailand? You didn’t build that on your own! Somebody else made that happen! Now it’s time to spread your wealth around. Although the presser was in Bangkok,...

I live in Long Island and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy my home was without electricity, heat or lights for 14 days, 2 hours, and 30 minutes.  Sitting in the dark every night shivering in my living room (which hit a low of 49 degrees), I had plenty of time to brood over the disastrous 2012 election results, the way Catholics voted in particular, and why it happened. Here’s what I came up with:GOP internal tracking polls that had Romney winning were wrong because pollsters could not factor into their mathematical formulas the effectiveness of Obama’s Election Day ground...

At 11:45 a.m. last Tuesday, the editorial staff of The Washington Post was summoned on short notice to an announcement on the fifth floor of its building to hear something they already knew — that Marcus Brauchli would be leaving after four years as executive editor. After Mr. Brauchli spoke, Katharine Weymouth, the newspaper’s publisher, told employees that he would be replaced by Marty Baron, the editor of The Boston Globe. As the meeting was concluding, Valerie Strauss, a longtime reporter, asked Ms. Weymouth why she was making the change. Ms. Weymouth, perhaps because of employment agreements that limited what...

Even though there was simply too much evidence that demonstrated Obama’s deep-rooted belief in the Socialist based redistribution of wealth, he continuously tried to walk it back or deny it. That is, until he found a way to sell the snake oil of “economic justice” in a manner that rallied his troops behind him and, as a result, tore a deep divide within this country. He changed the language to demand that the rich “pay their fair share”...

Everyone came away from the initial summit meeting between Obama, Boehner and Reid with big smiles and a public air of confidence that Friday's kumbaya moment would lead to The Big Deal. Call me a cynic, but I'm still not buying it. Yesterday, AP touched on a part of this story, tossing out some ideas about how everyone --- particularly Democrats ... might walk away with relatively clean hands if no deal is reached on the fiscal cliff this year. It's all true, but for some of us there's a bit more to the story. The Democrats, for their part,...