Free Republic

Barack Obama likes to claim he believes in the free market, even as he lards his administration with what Hugh Hewitt has delightfully dubbed "Mickey Maoists" like Anita Dunn and Ron Bloom. But Ed Schultz has given away the game. On his MSNBC show this evening, Schultz said of ObamaCare: "this is the first step toward single-payer. I admit that." View video here.

"I wrote this song with the great Phil Springer. Take a moment to listen to the words. You don't have to agree with everyone's politics...none of us agree 100% of the time. But you have to admire a lifetime dedicated to public service and improving the lives of others -- and that is just one of the many things that made Ted great. I think this song captures a small part of Ted's legacy of service. Listen to it and see what you think." So wrote Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.) about his friend the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). CLICK...

Here is video from CBS This Morning where Sen. Orrin Hatch talked about the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died late Tuesday. Hatch often disagreed with Ted Kennedy, but counted himself a close friend of him. Hatch said Kennedy was a "great senator," and said Kennedy truly "love the day by day combat of the Senate." Hatch was also asked if Ted Kennedy's death could be the "impetus" to get Health Care reform passed, but Hatch said "not without "dramatic" changes. . . . (Watch Video)

America has lost a giant in politics and public policy. I have lost a close personal friend. People called us the “odd couple,” which was certainly true. There are few men with whom I had less in common. Ted was born to a famous patrician family of Boston. He attended private schools and Harvard University. He was politically liberal, and liberal in his lifestyle – at least until he married Vicki Reggie, who set him straight. I grew up in a poor, working class family in Pittsburgh. Where Ted was the affable Irishman, I was the teetotaling Mormon

Here is video of GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch and Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer duking it out over ObamaCare today on Meet the Press. Schumer flatly said that "We will have a Public Option." It is clearly a non-nogiatible to him and many of the Democrats. Orrin Hatch said it makes no sense to destroy the Health Care system working for 85% of Americans to cover the 15% who may not currently have coverage. Hatch maintains there are other ways to cover those who don't have Health Care by using subsidies for them, but leaving the current system in place. Hatch...

Here is video of Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch delivering the Republican Weekly Address, responding to President Obama's weekly address. Hatch talked about Health Care, and said he was "disappointed" at statements that Americans who are voicing their opposition to Obama's Health Care plan are somehow "Un-American." Hatch said the spending of more than $1 Trillion the Democrats propose spending on Government Health Care will not solve the problem and does not make sense. Hatch set forth key points that Republicans believe should be the focus on Health Care Reform legislation: Reforming the Health Insurance Market for every American to...

The Library of Congress > THOMAS Home > Congressional Record EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - August 04, 2009) [Page: S8745] GPO's PDF The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah is recognized. Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I enjoyed my colleague's remarks. I don't agree with him, but he is certainly a great colleague and we appreciate him. Mr. President, I rise today to explain why I cannot support the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I do so with regret because the prospect of a woman of Puerto Rican heritage serving on the...

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- Imagine that. The Senate confirmed this week, by a vote of 62-35, a gun banner who stays up at night thinking of ways to impose more gun control upon American citizens. Harold Koh is that gun grabber, and he was confirmed yesterday to be the Legal Adviser at the State Department. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans attempted to kill the Koh nomination with a filibuster — until eight of them crossed the aisle to help Democrats confirm Koh. The back-stabbing Senators are: Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Susan Collins (R-ME) Judd Gregg (R-NH) Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Richard Lugar (R-IN)...

U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both R-Utah, got polite receptions Saturday at the state GOP convention, but both also recognized that some of the rank-and-file delegates weren't pleased with them. Hatch, at one point in his speech, appeared upset when some delegates applauded as a way of blaming national Republicans, himself included, for the deficit and other problems of the Bush years. "Don't you believe that B.S.," Hatch said loudly. But some of the 1,800 delegates clearly did.

May 27, 2009, 4:00 a.m. What Kind of Judge?We need to know how Sonia Sotomayor views the role of the Supreme Court. By Orrin G. Hatch President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter puts the judicial-selection ball in the Senate’s court. We can serve America well by focusing on whether she is the kind of justice America needs, in a process that is both thorough and fair. The Constitution gives the power to nominate and appoint judges to the president, not to the Senate. The appointment power is discussed in Article II,...

The Interior Department's Web site links to a page highlighting key officials. It's blank. ... Part of the holdup stems from a clash with Utah's two senators [...]. ... "We have a lot of work to do and some of it is on hold simply because we don't have the personnel confirmed as of this point," Salazar said. ... Sen. Bob Bennett, for one, isn't sure he wants that team in place. Bennett has placed a hold on the nomination of David Hayes to be deputy secretary out of concern about Salazar's decision to pull back on 77 leases for...

God save us from bipartisanship, part 99,995,857. GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, co-sponsor of the $6 billion GIVE/SERVE boondoggle, has dedicated the Big Government Trojan Horse to Ted Kennedy: Sen. Orrin Hatch capped his decadeslong friendship with cancer-stricken Sen. Ted Kennedy on Thursday with a gesture that had Kennedy hugging him as other senators stood and applauded: Hatch renamed a bill they had just passed to expand national service programs the Edward M. Kennedy National Service Law. “It is a great honor to be able to add the name of a very good friend and senator, one of the most distinguished...

The former Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee will support Eric Holder's nomination for attorney general, giving him a major boost toward confirmation. Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), who chaired the panel for a decade beginning in 1995, told The Hill that he will support Holder. “I intend to,” said Hatch. His decision could undermine GOP efforts to stall or block the confirmation. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Friday that Holder would be the only Cabinet nominee to face a tough confirmation fight. Hatch said that Republicans should try to strike a cooperative tone with President-elect Obama during...

Obama pick faces questions over bombers' clemencyBy PETE YOST Associated Press Writer Originally published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM WASHINGTON — New York police detective Anthony S. Senft's life changed forever when a bomb set by Puerto Rican separatists exploded, blowing him 15 feet in the air and blinding him in one eye. Now, he's angry that Eric Holder, who played a key role in awarding clemency to the bombers, is in line to be attorney general. Holder, as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, worked closely with the Justice Department's pardon attorney to raise the possibility of...

A Grammy Award-winning rapper and music producer originally sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling cocaine is one of 16 people receiving pardons or reduced sentences from President Bush. John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents. Forte, 33, a first-time offender, was convicted of possessing the 31 pounds...

ELKO - The Nevada sky was clear and blue for the first time in weeks Saturday over the Nisbet Cabin in Lamoille, but the festivities on the ground were decidedly red as the Elko County Republican Central Committee held its annual steak fry with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on hand to stump for presidential candidate John McCain. “I've known John McCain for over 20 years,” said Hatch, the senior senator from Utah now in his 32nd year in the Senate. “We all know his story, his service to his country, the price he paid. I've seen him stand up to...

A letter from the top two ranking members of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, Democrat Herb Kohl and Republican Orrin Hatch, seeks to chill Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick on antitrust grounds: Antitrust regulators need to be wary to guard against the creation of a powerful Internet conglomerate able to extend its market power in one market into adjacent markets, to the detriment of competition and consumers. This might not have seemed like much of a threat, even a year or two ago, but as the online world increasingly merges with the offline world, the...

I don’t trust Orrin Hatch’s morals. No, I don’t think he’s got a girlfriend. But I don’t think he’s got a brain either. Yesterday, in Washington, Orrin Hatch said that increasing the sCHIP insurance program for kids by some $35 billion over the next five years was the “morally right thing to do.” Which means he doesn’t know anything about morals. Because taxing one group of people an extra $35 billion in order to buy votes from another group of people is only moral if you’re a snake. And if Orrin Hatch thinks that being forced by the government to...

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world - more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. Three companies have been chosen to lead the way. Test drilling has already begun Dear Reader, Five months ago, the U.S. Energy Department announced the results of a land survey It was conducted to determine the official amount of oil a thousand feet deep in the Rocky Mountains They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 31, 2006 Remarks by the President at Orrin Hatch for Senate Reception Grand America Hotel Salt Lake City, Utah 11:00 A.M. MDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. (Applause.) Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be here in Utah. Gosh, I landed at the airport last night -- a couple thousand people out there to say hello. I just had the honor of speaking to the American Legion; then come to a hall filled with great citizens concerned about the reelection...

Salt Lake City is preparing for at least five demonstrations the afternoon and evening of Aug. 30, but all five may miss their mark if President Bush doesn't come until later in the day. The White House said Tuesday that Bush will spend the night of Aug. 30 in Salt Lake City and then "on Thursday, Aug. 31, the president will have events in Salt Lake City" before traveling to Camp David for the Labor Day weekend. It is not known when he will arrive in Salt Lake City on Aug. 30, and rallies are scheduled beginning at 11 a.m....

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is pressing Senate leaders to open debate on a package of bills dealing with stem cell research in hopes that Congress could vote to expand the research by the end of May. Hatch and a bipartisan group of lawmakers back a bill that would loosen restrictions on government-paid research on human embryonic stem cells. He is lobbying Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to take action by May 24th, which would mark a year since the House passed the same bill. Hatch says Frist has promised to bring the bill up for a Senate vote this year,...

Judge Samuel Alito’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week confirmed his integrity and character. Patiently and clearly answering senators’ questions of all kinds, hour after hour, he also proved his judicial temperament. Now, as their hopes of defeating this nomination diminish, Judge Alito’s opponents are left trying to hype fake issues. One of these attacks focuses on Judge Alito’s initial failure to recuse himself in the so-called Vanguard case. It is time to set the record straight. Preserving both justice and judicial independence requires that judges avoid conflicts of interest. To that end, federal law requires that a...

If you can, turn-on the Alito Hearing. Senator Hatch is going down the list of Dem lies (Schumer, Kennedy, Moveon.org) and letting Alito answer their lies about his record. This is wonderful TV! I don't remember any other senate hearing when this has happened. Alito actually remembers the details of every case being discussed and is systematically crushing the Dem lies. Alito is being able to explain how all of the Dem lies about him are just that. I love watching Dem liars unmasked!

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak openly endorsed murdering other doctors at an animal-rights convention, we expected some skeptics to give Vlasak the benefit of the doubt. Not any more. A stunning piece of audio surfaced ... Listen to Jerry Vlasak at the "Animal Rights 2003" convention as a PCRM representative. We forgave Doubting Thomases for wondering if our notes were accurate, or if we were perhaps making the whole thing up, even after U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) closed a Judiciary Committee hearing by reading, out loud, a letter from the Center for Consumer Freedom...

A computer entrepreneur from Utah is launching a campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) next year -- in what may be the most heavily Internet-reliant campaign to date, using blogs, chats and the "Wiki" open-source model. Peter Ashdown is the founder of Xmission, Utah's oldest Internet Get Linux or Windows Managed Hosting Services with Industry Leading Fanatical Support. service provider (ISP). His Web site includes a blog and a monthly live chat session. But Ashdown's site takes public participation on his campaign Web site one step further -- opening his platform to all. The site is based on...

State Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, officially ended his challenge to the well-known and well-financed five-term U.S. senator Wednesday, saying he underestimated how popular Hatch is among Utahns.

A last-minute breakthrough in an immigration case helped four Phoenix students, including recent ASU graduate Luis Nava, escape the threat of deportation for the immediate future. U.S. Immigration Judge John Richardson threw out the federal government's case against the students on Thursday. He ruled that immigration officials unlawfully detained the students based on their ethnic origin during a school trip to Niagara Falls in June 2002. Prior to this decision, it had been widely expected that the students would request voluntary departure to avoid the potentially harsh consequences of forced deportation. This action would have required them to leave the...

Democrats said yesterday they will demand that the Bush administration hand over internal legal memorandums written by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. while he was a government lawyer -- something the White House has refused to do in the past. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said he broached the topic during a meeting yesterday with Judge Roberts, who replied that any decision about his writings as deputy solicitor general would be made by the White House. Republicans on Capitol Hill said the request is not likely to be granted. Demands for those same documents -- deemed...

The reality is that Urquhart is very seriously considering the prospect of challenging Sen. Orrin Hatch for the GOP Senate nomination. If Urquhart pulls the trigger, this would be the most serious intra-party challenge of a big-time incumbent in many years.

But there remain detractors, some in his own party, who argue he has lost touch with the state. And he angered some die-hard conservatives with his support for embryonic stem cell research and the expanded law enforcement powers in the Patriot Act. So it is not surprising that, as Hatch prepares to stand for re-election next year, there is a search - as there was in 2000 - for a dark-horse candidate willing to take on the Goliath.

The judicial filibuster agreement reached by a group of 14 Republican and Democratic senators may be a truce, but it is not a treaty.It remains to be seen if the Senate’s tradition of up-or-down votes for judicial nominations will be re-established. And make no mistake, every tool for returning to that tradition remains on the table. As Majority Leader Bill Frist and even some signatories to this agreement have acknowledged, this includes the constitutional option.Those who founded this republic designed the Senate without the minority’s being able to filibuster anything at all. After a rules change made the filibuster possible,...

Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ponders a presidential bid.YOU REMEMBER, OR PERHAPS you don't, Sen. Orrin Hatch's 2000 presidential campaign. The senator talks about it in soft inflections, recalling this event and that debate. But especially he talks about what motivated him to run. Hatch, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, cites polling data from 1999 suggesting that 17 percent of Americans wouldn't vote for a Mormon for president under any circumstances. "One reason I ran was to knock down the prejudicial wall that exists" against Mormons, he says. "I wanted to make it easier for...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch expressed support Wednesday for the controversial bill to expand federal support of embryonic stem cell research, making a clear break from President Bush who has vowed to veto the measure. "I respect President Bush's views on this issue, and I fully support his efforts to promote embryo adoption in this country ..." the Utah Republican said at a news conference. "But I know, as a long standing pro-life Senator, that it is possible to be both anti-abortion and pro-embryonic stem cell research. I am pleased that many Right-to-Life Congressmen reached the same conclusion when the...

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he will do everything he can to help ailing Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) overcome Democratic filibusters of President Bush’s judicial nominees, including use of the so-called nuclear option to allow an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Hatch’s reemergence as the top Republican on the committee — at least temporarily — places him back on the hot seat at a crucial time. Conservative groups, which strongly criticized Hatch at times when he headed the committee, are pushing Senate Republicans to press the nuclear button. Still, Hatch said he will be a placeholder for...

Stem-cell 911 By Robert Lanza and Wendy Goldman Rohm Worcester, MA, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- In an unprecedented move, the Royal Society -- Britain's National Academy of Science -- this week asked the United Nations to ignore President George W. Bush's call for a ban on all forms of human cloning, including stem-cell research. What hangs in the balance, on the cusp of the U.N. vote and the upcoming U.S. presidential election, is not only the plight of millions of patients, but also the future of one of the greatest medical advances in the 21st century. It is alarming that...

Oscar Rios Pohirieth dreads the conversation he's had again and again with some of Lincoln's Hispanic high school students. Lucero Satamaria, a UNL senior psychology major from Columbia, South America, shows her support for the DREAM Act at Broyhill Fountain Wednesday evening. They step into his office and ask how they can go to college. If his first question -- "Do you have a green card?" -- is met with a no, the Lincoln Public Schools bilingual liaison must tell them that high school graduation may be the end of the line.Not, mentioned are the ESL classes supported by the...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com The balance of powerBy Orrin G. HatchPublished September 17, 2004 On this date, 217 years ago in Philadelphia, the Constitutional Convention approved the new Constitution of the United States and sent it to the states for ratification.It remains the oldest operative written constitution in the world. Americans understand the importance of the nation's charter to our lives and our rights. But what we sometimes fail to recognize is that only by appointing the right kind of judges can we ensure the continued integrity of this cherished document.     Believing that the people would embrace the Constitution...

Just when you thought software licensing enforcement couldn't get any more fun, the copyright cops at the Business Software Alliance have enlivened the process with a spunky cartoon ferret. The BSA--a trade group supported by Microsoft, Adobe Systems and other major software makers to enforce software licenses and copyrights--revealed the new mascot Tuesday as part of a national campaign to scare kids out of using peer-to-peer networks. The "Play It Safe in Cyber Space" campaign will culminate with a four-page comic book, distributed in conjunction with tot journal the Weekly Reader, meant to impress kids with the idea that it's...

President Bush is just wrong to back an "intelligence czar" to oversee all U.S. intelligence/terrorist-fighting operations but not give that person ultimate budget authority, Sen. Orrin Hatch told a teacher seminar Monday. It's not often that Hatch, R-Utah, a GOP senator for 28 years, disagrees with his party's president. But Hatch told the Huntsman Seminar for Teachers at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics that naming an overall intelligence boss without giving him or her the final "power of the purse" -- as Bush has suggested -- would result in the "czar" having as little power as the...

Hang Onto Your iPods: Here Comes Orrin Hatch By Larry Katz 07/03/04 8:08 AM PT The key word here is civil. Unauthorized file sharing is already illegal, but right now the attorney general can only pursue criminal copyright infringement cases, which are much more difficult to prove than civil cases. The proposed PIRATE act would make it far easier to win suits against file sharers. Those convicted could be required to pay thousands of dollars in penalties. The Feds aren't coming to take away your iPod yet. But it could happen, according to critics of a piece of pending legislation...

College shouldn't be difficult for Joaquin, who mastered Advanced Placement classes in a language he learned only four years ago and recently graduated 12th in his high school class. But paying for it will be. The 19-year-old is an undocumented immigrant. He doesn't qualify for federal financial aid, which makes up 90 percent of the average Texas college student's aid package... Congress is considering the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which would make some undocumented immigrant students eligible for federal loans, but not grants. The bill would make students who immigrated here five or more years ago...

Arnold un-Reagan-like Posted: June 21, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Now that a decent interval has passed since the moving tributes and funeral of the late Ronald Reagan, maybe it's time to comment on something unseemly that took place before the late president was laid to rest. There was Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Great Britain, standing next to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thatcher recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America – not her own flag. Schwarzenegger, an American running the executive branch of government of the largest state...

Hatch fires back at his conservative critics By Alexander Bolton Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is firing back at conservative critics on and off the Hill who have lambasted him for not moving more judicial nominees out of his committee. The rift stems from Hatch’s handling of a Senate sergeant at arms investigation into the unauthorized access of close to 5,000 internal Democratic Judiciary Committee documents from committee computers. Hatch approved the investigation, which resulted in the resignation of Manuel Miranda, who organized the GOP strategy on judges when he served as an aide...

Watch What You Think by Chris Field Posted Jun 3, 2004 In one of his "Washington Updates" this week, Family Research President Tony Perkins alerted readers that Hate Crimes legislation may well rear its ugly head once again. Perkins wrote that there has been talk "of attaching an amendment to the Defense appropriation bill that would make so-called hate crimes into a federal offense." Not surprisingly, liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy is behind the move to force what is essentially "thought crime" legislation down the throats of the American people. Unfortunately, one of his partners in this effort, according to Perkins,...

Like a bad penny, the proposed federal "hate crimes" law just keeps coming back. It doesn't matter that there is no evidence that crimes against homosexuals are prosecuted any less vigorously than crimes against other victims. It doesn't matter that actual crimes against homosexuals have declined in recent years. Liberal GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch, Utah, and Gordon Smith, Ore., are planning to bring up a new version of the Kennedy-Smith federal "hate crimes" law, which has been filed as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. Proponents of the Hatch-Smith bill insist that their version seeks to empower state officials...

U.S. Hate Crime Bill Could Criminalize Biblical Truth, Pro-Family Spokesman Fears (AgapePress) - A controversial hate crimes bill has been resurrected on Capitol Hill -- this time under Republican leadership. The Culture and Family Institute (CFI) says the legislation is being pushed by the homosexual lobby, which is emboldened following the court-ordered legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Two U.S. Senate Republicans have introduced the new legislation, the language of which is virtually the same as that in an earlier attempt by liberal lawmakers to put a hate crimes law on the books -- an effort that was defeated. However,...

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Efforts at the top level of the Bush administration and the civilian echelon of the Department of Defense to contain the Iraq prison torture scandal and limit the blame to a handful of enlisted soldiers and immediate senior officers have already failed: The scandal continues to metastasize by the day. Over the past weekend and into this week, devastating new allegations have emerged putting Stephen Cambone, the first Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, firmly in the crosshairs and bringing a new wave of allegations cascading down on the head of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, when...

Army, CIA want torture truths exposed By Martin Sieff UPI Senior News Analyst Published 5/18/2004 7:16 AM WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Efforts at the top level of the Bush administration and the civilian echelon of the Department of Defense to contain the Iraq prison torture scandal and limit the blame to a handful of enlisted soldiers and immediate senior officers have already failed: The scandal continues to metastasize by the day. Over the past weekend and into this week, devastating new allegations have emerged putting Stephen Cambone, the first Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, firmly in the crosshairs and...

<p>In the debate over traditional marriage, the cultural dominoes are falling in the wrong direction. Activist judges, who specialize in taking issues away from the people and deciding those issues instead, intend to make traditional marriage a thing of the past. Their decisions, like the one that will allow Massachusetts clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this week, and the aggressive political and legal strategy driving them, make clear that protecting traditional marriage will require amending the Constitution.</p>