Free Republic

He didn’t break into song, but Rep. Jay Inslee otherwise sounded like a character in “West Side Story” as he excoriated young supporters during a Thursday fundraiser at Nabob on Queen Anne Hill.“It is time to get out on that field of battle with the Tea Party: It is time to stop rumbling with ourselves and start rumbling with the Tea Party,” said the gubernatorial hopeful.Inslee has sought to tie GOP Attorney General Rob McKenna, his all-but-certain 2012 opponent, to the Tea Party: Polls show rising public disapproval of the right-wing movement.Inslee was ready to rumble with a lot of...

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd asked his colleague Jane Kim a worthwhile question at Monday’s Rules Committee meeting: “What is more important to [our] communities? Having dollars available for services? Or standing on a principle that has been deemed unconstitutional?” Kim, for the record, prefers the latter, but we’ll get back to that. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down part of Arizona’s system of publicly financing candidates for office. And it just so happens that San Francisco’s local public financing system basically has that same unlawful provision. So, Supervisors Elsbernd and Mark Farrell have proposed a perfectly rational solution: remove the...

I love the smell of bloodlust in the evening. Not every evening. Just the evenings that have Republican presidential debates. There have been five such debates so far, but only the last two of them have been considered major because they have featured Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is leading in the polls. Except the debates haven’t really featured him. They have featured the audience. If you have ever asked yourself how crowds could have gathered to cheer public burnings and beheadings in times past, tune in to one of these debates, and you will stop asking. At a Politico/NBC...

The final stop on President Obama's three-state Midwest bus tour was at the Country Corner Farm Market in the small town of Alpha, Illinois. The president was roughly an hour behind schedule due mostly to a visit with the Galesburg High School football team, and although the crowd showed some signs of fatigue from waiting in the hot sun, most left the event saying it was worth the wait. Although his opening remarks didn't change too much, the president did field one interesting question about the future of the estate tax that is worth looking at. I think it's the...

The healthy growth of mankind depends on continuously decreasing the cost of water and energy everywhere.Nice thought. Why mention it?Its a mission statement.For who?Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett — and through them America’s billionaires. Why Bill Gates? Why Warren Buffett?As to Bill Gates, his passion; According to a recent interview Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied. What I’m doing now involves understanding maths, risk-taking. The first half of my life was good preparation for the second half.’ Now in the context of the interview he was...

Washington's chronic overspending is just like a junkie's addiction to drugs. Unless the cycle of addiction is broken, our economic and unemployment situation will continue to suffer. Washington is out of time. To avoid hitting rock bottom, Washington must cut spending today.

DURHAM, N.C. — President Barack Obama promoted job creation in politically important North Carolina Monday, trying to assure Americans he's focused on their No. 1 concern — and his greatest political weakness — as his potential GOP presidential opponents prepared to target his economic policies in their first major debate. [snip] "I am optimistic about our future," the president said, even while acknowledging that "we can't be complacent." Obama announced details of a program to train 10,000 new American engineers every year, saying private companies will join the government to promote education in science, technology, engineering and math. They'll offer...

"The Associated Press reported that all train and ferry services were suspended, while a strike by air traffic controllers was expected to ground flights in the afternoon. Public transport workers in Athens also began walkouts... ...Radio and television programs were blacked out as Greek journalists joined the strike, The Wall Street Journal reported... ...European officials have been scrambling to address the renewed crisis. News reports on Tuesday said Greek officials expected an additional package of around €60 billion in aid through 2013. "

The new gallup poll out today has a chart on page 2 that breaks down the GOP candidates favs/unfav. Palin continues to be the most favorable candidate in the GOP field with a 69% favorable rating. She also continues to be the candidate with the highest strongly favorable ratings at 23%. This is good news as she continues to ramp up for a 2012 primary run.

irst lady Michelle Obama is on a five-day trip to a luxury resort along with a handful of friends, her younger daughter, Sasha, aides and Secret Service personnel. As the U.S. economy endures high unemployment and a jittery stock market, President Obama has preached sacrifice and fiscal discipline. But the pictures coming out of a sunsplashed Spanish resort this week may be sending a different message. First lady Michelle Obama is on a five-day trip to a luxury resort along with a handful of friends, her younger daughter, Sasha, aides and Secret Service personnel. Her office said the first family...

The streets of Athens became a sea of red earlier when the Greek Communist Party staged a huge protest.

I got a call from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry the other day. From the sound of things, the Senate clearly intends to take its holiday break Wednesday, no matter what. If so, President Obama is going have a tough time making his Christmas deadline for a health care reform bill to win Senate approval. At this point, it looks like the biggest winners when a bill finally does pass are going to be the insurance companies. They'll be getting millions of new customers - at government expense.

San Francisco's lowered home values and high unemployment rates have created another unwelcome side effect: far less revenue coming into city coffers than expected. A report released Monday by the controller's office shows that property tax revenues will likely be $35 million less than anticipated in the 2009-10 fiscal year that began July 1. Payroll tax revenues will probably be $24.8 million less than expected, the report said. To make matters worse, some city departments are going over budget, including shortfalls of $5.1 million in the Fire Department, $4 million in the Sheriff's Department and $3.2 million in Superior Court....

As he became California's state Senate leader last December, Darrell Steinberg gave a speech urging his colleagues to pass a bill – within 120 days – extending health insurance to every child in the state. Ten months later, after a season of budget slashing, Steinberg instead scrambled for votes and money to rescue the existing kids insurance program from collapse. "When I gave that speech, I don't think anybody realized the complete magnitude of what we were about to face," the Sacramento Democrat said in an interview, looking back on his opening year as president pro tem of the California...

New Jersey taxpayers will have to shell out more than $36 million in coming years to cover school administrator retirement payments as more than 30 school administrators are due six-figure retirement packages, according to a new state analysis. The state initiated the study, and new rules on retirement packages, after it was reported that retired Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski was due $740,876 in unused sick time and other buybacks. That led to lawmakers to place caps on new contracts. The state Attorney General's Office is trying to get a judge to nullify the payment to Trzeszkowski. Meanwhile, the new numbers...

A Gannett New Jersey study finds the number of government employees with two or more public jobs that paid more than $100,000 together swelled by 20 percent last year. Those multiple job holders had a collective salary of $107.8 million. My colleague James W. Prado Roberts reports there were 6,271 multiple job holders including one woman who had 12 jobs. Sen. Stephen Sweeney asks "Is it really right for part-time workers to be in the pension system?" Does the question really have to be asked? To take a look at the double-dippers click here.... http://php.app.com/NJpublicemployees/results2.php

Having a graduate in the U.S. Senate is not only a source of pride for colleges and universities, it can also mean wads of cash from the federal government. A major spending bill under consideration in Congress provides more than $70 million in earmarks for the alma maters of 30 senators, roughly 40 percent of the higher education money earmarked in the legislation, an analysis by The Examiner shows. The earmarks are tacked on to a $606 billion appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education that was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate last week and that now...

Big Paychecks for U2 Millionaires Oct. 26, 2007 The Associated Press U2 Ltd., the Irish band's music publishing company, raked in $30 million-plus last year — and $25.8 million of it went to five unidentified "employees," according to documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press. Those "employees" are suspected to be the band members and their longtime manager, Paul McGuinness. But U2's public relations firms in Dublin and London refused to confirm that. While Bono has won accolades worldwide for raising awareness of Third World poverty, he has been criticized for moving U2's corporate offices out of Ireland to avoid...

Watching how my kids spend money, I'm constantly reminded of something rather obvious, but still instructive: They are far less profligate with their own cash than they are with mine. What's 40 bucks for a concert if it comes right out of Dad's wallet? But that same concert is far less of a must-see event if they've got to spring for it out of their own piggy banks. My kids would explain this economic principle with one word: "Duh." People are much more careful with their own resources than with others' resources or with those resources that are publicly owned....

Study Links Hurricanes to Teen Smokers Jun 25 05:07 PM US/Eastern BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - Teenagers in a southeast Texas county were more likely to smoke cigarettes if they or their family members were affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, according to a university study. The study by the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston surveyed more than 5,100 middle school and high school students in Jefferson County six to nine months after the hurricanes made landfall. "The physical damage was easy to see, but the psychological damage from the hurricanes was pretty well hidden," said Alfred L....