Free Republic

Today in Washington, First Lady Michelle Obama announced dictates of Obamacare and her Healthy Kids Initiative will require pork, bacon, ham and other non-kosher, non-halal foods be served the nations’ schools, including those operated by Jewish or Muslim organizations. “Everyone understands the benefits of chicken in a diet, but pork is often called “The Other White Meat” said the First Lady. “Lean pork is a great alternative to fatty beef” added Second Lady Jill Biden who joined Mrs. Obama for the announcement, held at the new Mother Seaton – Christ the Redeemer Birth Control Pill Distribution Center. The only hitch...

House Republicans late Thursday night adopted an amendment that would prohibit California from receiving any high speed rail money in a huge five-year transportation bill headed to the House floor next week. The $270 billion bill also eliminates bicycle and pedestrian programs and detaches urban mass transit funding from its traditional revenue source. The underlying bill did not include any high speed rail funding to begin with, and indeed would cut Amtrak by 25 percent, so the prohibition serves mainly as a stick in the eye to California’s plan for bullet trains. The action is part of a continuing effort...

California's redevelopment agencies officially are out of business, effective today. But that doesn't mean that the future of affordable housing is wiped out in the state. The loss of new tax funds will make the process of providing future low- and moderate-income housing for the state's residents much more difficult – but not impossible, experts say. The end of redevelopment money for housing "has everybody in the affordable housing community working to figure out how we continue to do the projects that we've been doing," said Steve Gall, senior vice president in Roseville for USA Properties Fund, "especially since economic...

California has a huge state debt and Washington has a huge national debt. But that does not discourage either Gov. Jerry Brown or President Barack Obama from wanting to launch a very costly high-speed rail system. Most of us might be a little skittish about spending money if we were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. But the beauty of politics is that it is all other people's money, including among those other people generations yet-to-be born. The high-speed rail system proposed for California has been envisioned as a model for similar systems elsewhere in the United States. A recent...

Roelof van Ark, chief executive officer of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, announced this afternoon that he is quitting, the latest setback for the state's beleaguered campaign to build a nearly $100 billion rail network in California. His resignation, announced at a board meeting in Los Angeles and effective in two months, comes at a critical point for the project, with rail officials bidding for Legislative approval to start construction in the Central Valley this fall. Public opinion about the project has fallen sharply, according to a recent Field Poll, and the Legislature is highly skeptical. Minutes after van Ark's...

(CNSNews.com) - Federal spending bills approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have increased the national debt by more than $1 trillion dollars in just 10 months. Republicans won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 2010 elections and took control of the House on Jan. 5, 2011, when the chamber convened and elected Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio) as speaker. But the Republican-controlled House did not gain a veto power over federal spending until March 4, 2011. That was the expiration date of the continuing resolution (CR) that the lame-duck Democrat-controlled Congress approved in December 2010....

n March of 2005, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and its Pennsylvania counterpart (PPTA) honored Senator Rick Santorum for his dedication to public transportation. APTA president William W. Millar noted Santorum’s “tireless advocacy” and contributions on “both the national and local level.” This recognition came shortly after Santorum appeared on Meet the Press with Joe Biden and vowed to oppose President Bush in his efforts to cut Amtrak funding. “Without substantial government funds or other intervening action, Amtrak would quickly enter bankruptcy and shut down all of its services, leaving millions of riders and thousands of communities without access...

In another setback for high-speed rail in California, the project's peer review group told lawmakers today that it could not recommend bond funding for high-speed rail construction until its prospects for long-term funding are clearer. "The fact that the Funding Plan fails to identify any long term funding commitments is a fundamental flaw in the program," the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group said in a letter to legislative leaders. "Without committed funds, a mega-project of this nature could be forced to halt construction for many years before additional funding could be obtained." The peer review group, chaired by former...

A court in the northern German town of Osnabrück has ruled that a farmer is allowed to feed his pigs vast quantities of raw onions, despite complaints from neighbors about their eye-watering gaseous emissions. The farmer has been feeding his 1,500 pigs several cubic meters of onions every week for the past 14 years, but city authorities ordered him to stop, and threatened to fine him €2,500 (US$3,267), after locals complained of the resulting pungent porcine farts. The council justified its decision on the grounds that planning permission for the pigsty forbade “strong-smelling foods, e.g. kitchen waste.” But the court...

Backing off claims that the bullet train would create more than 1 million jobs, California's high-speed rail leaders acknowledged on Thursday that their "shorthanded" definition used to describe jobs has been "imprecise and potentially confusing." In a statement responding to an investigation by this newspaper, the California High-Speed Rail Authority clarified that the 1 million job figure does not refer to the number of workers. . . .

Results from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling poll of likely GOP caucus goers: Newt Gingrich (22 percent), Ron Paul (21 percent), Mitt Romney (16 percent), Michele Bachmann (11 percent), Rick Perry (9 percent), Rick Santorum (8 percent), Jon Huntsman (5 percent), and Gary Johnson (1 percent). The poll’s margin of error is 4.2 percentage points. Down in the weeds, PPP notices a couple of factors that might be contributing to these numbers: He’s [Gingrich] also seen a significant decline in his favorability numbers. Last week he was at +31 (62/31) and he’s now dropped 19 points to +12 (52/40). The...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has an obvious financial problem as it seeks to build a statewide bullet train system. Its latest "business plan" says that it would cost nearly $100 billion to build the backbone of the system, but so far it has only $9 billion in state bonds and a little more than $3 billion in federal money. The CHSRA also has a political problem. The Legislature, which first proposed the bullet train bond to voters, is turning sour on its prospects, which means that it may not give the agency any more bond money to spend. Meanwhile,...

Apparently, people have been leaving Brooklyn for areas with better opportunities in the ice-skating industry. The Prospect Park Alliance got $2.6 million in economic-development funding to build a state-of-the art rink. The Gay Men’s Health Crisis Inc. won $49,842 to train current employees in writing, budgeting and public speaking (skills needed to lobby for more government funding). I can’t even manage a sarcastic excuse here. Yes, retaining jobs makes some sense as a goal of economic development, but where were these GMHC workers going to go? They already have jobs. Queensborough Community College scored $1 million to “retrofit” a parking...

Building the California high-speed rail system won't be a free ride. It will require spending money that could otherwise fund education and health care. Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of bond financing is that it's a loan. It must be paid back. When the state borrows, the repayment usually comes from the general fund. While the legislative analyst warns that balancing the state budget in coming years presents daunting fiscal challenges, high-speed rail advocates want us to take on more obligations. Think about it: If you were struggling to cover your mortgage, pay bills and feed the family, would you...

State budgets used to be fairly simple documents, fundamentally allocating whatever financial resources the state might have at the moment among its various, well-delineated responsibilities. No more. Proposition 13, enacted in 1978, had the indirect effect of centralizing major financial decision-making affecting local governments and schools in the Capitol. Those decisions were affected by subsequent ballot measures, and volatile revenue swings put the budget in a more or less permanent deficit condition. Today's budgets are complex packages not only of appropriations but of legislation to legalize, or so it's assumed, the political decisions. And that inevitably means that after budgets...

Israel's chief rabbi is bringing home the bacon. Yona Metzger's office says it is primed to allow import of an organic goose grown in Spain that tastes like pork. Metzger says three non-Jewish chefs confirm its swinish flavor. Jewish dietary law strictly forbids eating pork. Metzger's office says there is no Jewish injunction against eating goose, no matter what it tastes like, as long as it is slaughtered according to Jewish ritual.

The Center for Health Transformation, founded by Newt Gingrich, released a statement Monday outlining some of the think tank’s activities, its membership fees and the money it has generated. The disclosure from the center, which Mr. Gingrich left earlier this year, comes amid a flurry of inquiries about the former House speaker’s financial ties. A number of news stories last week listed clients such as the American Hospital Association and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the main trade association for pharmaceutical houses. The Washington Post reported that Mr. Gingrich’s center had collected $37 million over the...

Since leaving office in 1999, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has spent much of his time convincing conservatives to support government subsidies for large corporations, reports the Washington Examiner. In addition to his work as a “strategic consultant” for government-sponsored mortgage lender Freddie Mac, the Examiner reports that tax filings show Gingrich received money from the ethanol lobby. Green Energy, a lobbying group that works to secure and create government subsidies for the much-criticized ethanol industry, paid the Gingrich Group more than $300,000 as recently as 2009. Unlike most conservative experts on the industry, Gingrich is a staunch advocate of...

(CNN) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not release more Freddie Mac-related documents, according to campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond. Though the contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination said Wednesday that his campaign would "do what they can" to release more information about payments he received as a consultant from the government-backed mortgage group, Hammond backtracked later in the evening. When asked via email whether the campaign would release more Freddie Mac-related documents or if a fact sheet it released in the afternoon was the last word on the issue, Hammond responded to CNN, "last word."

During an interview with CBS News Radio, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on Wednesday fended off questions about the hefty sums he received to give advice to mortgage company Freddie Mac.

According to a new Iowa State University Poll, Herman Cain is still in first place in Iowa, with Ron Paul coming in second. Here is how it stacks up: Cain: 24.5 Paul: 20.4

Rep. Michele Bachmann hit former Speaker Newt Gingrich hard on Wednesday for receiving consulting fees from mortgage giant Freddie Mac, but it turns out Bachmann herself received campaign contributions from The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation’s (Freddie Mac) political action committee during the 2007-2008 cycle. “While [Gingrich] was taking that money, I was fighting against Fannie and Freddie,” Bachmann said on Wednesday. It turns out that while she was “fighting” them, she was also taking their money.

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Now that Rick Perry and Herman Cain are seeing their stars fade, at least among the pundit class that shapes the popular news, some political observers are speculating that Newt Gingrich could be the next conservative hope for President. In the CNBC Republican Debate on Wednesday evening in MIchigan, Wall Street Journal Editorial writer John Harwood asked Newt Gingrich about his former consultant relationship with the mortgage facilitator Freddie Mac. Conservatives and Libertarians blame the Federal Government for the housing crisis that hit in 2007 and continues today. They believe the Federal Government created the housing bubble by mandating that...

A series of emails provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee from individuals tied to Solyndra offer striking characterizations about running strategy with the White House to secure assistance for the now-bankrupt solar energy firm. Emails among George Kaiser, head of the George Kaiser Family Foundation; Ken Levit, the executive director of the Foundation; and Steve Mitchell, who manages Argonaut Private Equity and was a member of Solyndra's board; show that Vice President Joe Biden's office were very gung-ho. "They about had an orgasm in Biden's office when we mentioned Solyndra," reads a Feb. 27, 2010, email from Levit...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Holy cow, look at this, folks. A random act of journalism from The Politico. Is it my imagination or are more of these random acts of journalism by mainstream media firms beginning to happen? It seems like I've been pointing out more random acts of journalism lately the top. Get this. "The Energy Department's inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal investigations related to 2009 [Porkulus] spending. In written testimony prepared for delivery to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the investigations have involved 'various schemes, including the submission...

In essence, the reporting of this simple data, whether using Biden's data or city data, does not describe changes in the incidents of homicides in Flint or any city. The Facts Flint is certainly a violent city, ranked number one in many categories. The website of the Flint Police Department only gives data through 2008, but both the FBI and the Michigan State Police have more recent figures that are provided to them by the Flint police. The numbers are not precisely the same because of different reporting requirements, but they are roughly the same—and show a different picture than...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well with the state's pork producers and processors. Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.

The House passed a bill to extend the allocation of electricity created by the Hoover Dam for another 50 years Monday afternoon without any objection, and well in advance of the deadline to divvy up the output from the regional power center.The deal under which Nevada, California and Arizona share power produced at Hoover Dam is set to expire in 2017; Monday’s bill would preserve it until 2067.It would also create a new category of power recipient: under the new contract, the participating states would agree to take 5 percent of their allocations -- for a total pool of about...

This is a tale of a government investment gone far awry. Favored by politicians promising jobs in a high-tech industry of the future, and fueled by political cronyism, it consumed untold amounts of taxpayer dollars, with little to show for it, despite warnings by experts that its business plan was flawed. No, it’s not Solyndra — it’s much worse, at least in terms of the amount of money proposed to be wasted on it, and in other ways as well. Let’s call it “Shuttlyndra,” aka NASA’s Constellation, then called the Space Launch System, aka the Senate Launch System. The Solyndra...

"Why did it take Bea, van Heerden, and Garzino to shed light on this story?The Army Corps of Engineers, as an institution, is not very receptive to criticism, from inside or outside. It dominates the market for engineering certain kinds of projects, mainly to do with water. So the engineering profession is filled with people whose attitude is, "Better not rock the boat." And inside [the corps], it's arguably worse. It exists in a bubble of impunity. Because, as we lay out in the film, Congress likes the corps the way it is, and it doesn't really give it effective...

Pigs in China are driving the world economy BY KEIKO YOSHIOKA CORRESPONDENT BEIJING--Of the 1 billion pigs being raised in the world, about half are in China, where pork consumption is increasing as the Chinese economy develops. As a result, pork prices are rising, a trend that is impacting the world economy. To ease the public's dissatisfaction with the price increase, which could lead to rioting, the Chinese government is increasing pork production. However, the move is causing a growth in demand for pig feed and raising feed prices in international markets. Around the Jiumu Professional Cooperation Society of Pig...

Last Wednesday, in the Senate office building where it was designed, NASA announced the latest impending programmatic disaster in the name of “space exploration.” For those interested, there is a detailed description of the technical and political issues over at the NASA Spaceflight web site. Many had thought (and many, though unfortunately not as many, had hoped) that the heavy-lift Ares V rocket had died last year with the cancellation of Constellation, the flawed Mike Griffin plan to implement George Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. But the howls from the space-pork trough were loud, and last year, Congress passed a...

Last Wednesday, in the Senate office building where it was designed, NASA announced the latest impending programmatic disaster in the name of “space exploration.” For those interested, there is a detailed description of the technical and political issues over at the NASA Spaceflight web site. Many had thought (and many, though unfortunately not as many, had hoped) that the heavy-lift Ares V rocket had died last year with the cancellation of Constellation, the flawed Mike Griffin plan to implement George Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. But the howls from the space-pork trough were loud, and last year, Congress passed a...

With the East Coast earthquake still a fresh memory, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing a bill designed to cut rates so more homeowners can afford quake insurance coverage, but the scope of the plan remains a big question mark with critics arguing that California would be the big winner at the expense of the rest of the nation. The nonprofit California Earthquake Authority is pushing the “Earthquake Insurance Affordability Act” that it says would cut rates by as much as 20 percent for homeowners. It also could leave the federal government on the hook for up to $5 billion...

But under Thursday’s agreement, Coburn will be allowed to insert language into a longer-term highways bill that Democrats and Republicans will negotiate before the new round of funding expires in six months. Coburn’s provision would allow states to opt out of a program requiring them to set aside millions of dollars for beautification projects like bike paths, sound walls and decorative highway signs. The conservative Oklahoma senator - known for singlehandedly holding up Senate business — had come under increasing pressure from his GOP colleagues, and eventually relented-. Earlier Thursday, they said he was demanding too much on a bill...

I feel like I finally get it--what is Washington? It is nothing but a huge kick-back machine. Insiders make contributions to their candidates expecting to get something from the public trough--the taxpayers money, that is. You make your contribution knowing that whatever you give will come back to you a hundred fold. It always comes back to the taxpayers money. Take Planned Parenthood, for instance. They get grants from the government, they take some of that taxpayers money and give it to the Democrats. It's a classic kick-back, Planned Parenthood gets it share of our money and the Democrat Pary...

Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced two grants totaling $7.5 million to reduce noise and improve safety at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. “I’m pleased that Nevadans will be back on the job increasing the safety of travelers and improving the quality of life for Nevadans as a result of these grants,” Reid said. “These upgrades will ensure the airport can support the many visitors who contribute to our economy by spending money in Northern Nevada."The two Department of Transportation grants consist of a $4.6 million grant that will allow for measures mitigating noise pollution for nearby residents...

Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today announced a $4,650,523 million grant for three electric buses in Reno that will travel from the Riverwalk District to the University of Nevada, Reno.  The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County will receive the funding for three 35-foot composite-body electric buses that will replace three diesel buses. “These clean buses will extend the life of Reno’s downtown bus system for years to come, which is good news for tourists, college students and Nevadans commuting to and from work,” Reid said.  “The electric buses are designed for efficiency in Northern Nevada’s high...

A coalition of environmental and taxpayer groups have come up with $380 billion in savings over five years -- that is roughly three quarters of a trillion over 10 -- from programs they conclude both waste money and harm the environment.Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Public Citizen and The Heartland Institute all manage to agree that subsidies to corn, crop insurance, nuclear power, oil, timber, mining, flood insurance and the like should go. They are urging the new deficit supercommittee, which has to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by Thanksgiving, to take a look....

President Obama is no doubt enjoying lots of delicious sea food in Martha's Vineyard -- lobster, scallops, that sort of thing. But when he's back in Washington, he'll be chowing down a favorite new meal prepared by the White House chef: gourmet-style Iowa pork chops! Specifically: "cinnamon brined grilled Iowa pork chops." (Snip) He loved the meaty chops so much that his staff requested the recipe from the hotel's chief, so that the chops could be added to the official West Wing menu.

Gov. Jerry Brown said this afternoon that California's embattled high-speed rail project should move forward, despite growing criticism about the project's management and cost. While the nation is in a "period of massive retrenchment," Brown told The Fresno Bee's editorial board, "I would like to be part of the group that gets America to think big again." The Democratic governor has said little publicly about the project since it came under fire this year in Sacramento, with cost estimates rising and lawmakers questioning its oversight. The project, to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, was once expected to cost about...

The Debt Panel’s Profligate Pork Patty Murray Problem By Michelle Malkin • August 12, 2011 10:34 AM House minority leader Nancy Pelosi rounds out the Super Debt Panel of Stupid today with her three hack picks. My column today focuses on the panel’s Democratic co-chair, my old Senator from Washington state: Profligate Pork Patty Murray. *** The Debt Panel’s Patty Murray Problem by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2011 Everything that’s wrong with the so-called debt “super-committee” can be summed up in the person, partisan hackery and policy ignorance of Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader...

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the top donors to election campaigns for the 12 members of the U.S. Congress named to a deficit-fighting "super committee." Known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the panel is expected to be the most heavily lobbied body in Washington ahead of its Nov. 23 deadline for making recommendations on $1.5 trillion in additional budget savings. Unless specified, donations below combine members' campaign committees and leadership PACs (political action committees). Data is from www.opensecrets.org. SENATE DEMOCRATS Patty Murray of Washington state * Software giant Microsoft Corp...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that it would be "short-sighted" to abandon high speed rail ambitions in California, even as Democratic lawmakers here show signs of concern over the multi-billion dollar project. On Tuesday, some of the project's supporters expressed reservations after seeing an environmental report estimating that the first segment of the rail line could cost between $3 billion and $6 billion more than expected.

When Jerry Brown began his first stint as governor in 1975, he soon became embroiled in an intense controversy over setting aside lanes in Los Angeles of the extremely congested Santa Monica Freeway . . . This bit of history is offered because Brown is once again occupying the governorship, once again he has a big, high-concept transportation project that may be a debacle in the making, and once again he has a way out.It's the high-speed rail project to link the northern and southern halves of the state. Voters have approved a bond issue for the project, which is...

Complete Proof of the $12 Trillion Republican Debt Just below you can see the calculation and the documentation links for the Reagan-Bushes $12 Trillion ($12,049 Billion) national debt as of September 30, 2010. You can download this as an excel spreadsheet by clicking: Download as XLS. Their debt has 4 parts, but the bulk of it is calculated from 4 inputs (yellow and tan) that you can check with the color coded links to the treasury at the bottom. This will verify the $3.4 Trillion Reagan-Bush debt and the $6.1 Trillion G.W. Bush debt. Together that's $9.5 Trillion. Now some...

As lawmakers dither about how to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, the Treasury Department on Wednesday announced the deficit for the first nine months of the budget year totaled $971 billion, marking the third straight year of a deficit of $1 trillion or more. The Associated Press reported the deficit will likely eclipse last year’s $1.29 trillion mark, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The record deficit was $1.41 trillion in 2009.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hope dimming for a broad debt-limit deal, Congress and the White House scrambled Wednesday to salvage deficit-reduction talks while top congressional Republicans said the nation cannot afford to default on its obligations — for economic reasons and their party's own good. Ahead of a fourth negotiating session at the White House in as many days, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell defended his proposal to give President Barack Obama new powers to increase the nation's borrowing limit without GOP support. "I refuse to help Barack Obama get re-elected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership...

There he goes again. More than six months after surrendering to Republican demands that this isn't the time to raise taxes in a weak, jobless economy, Barack Obama is peddling the same old snake oil medicine of higher taxes. Last December, after Republicans crushed the Democrats in the midterm elections, largely on economic issues, Obama suddenly changed his tune and agreed to extend all of President George W. Bush's tax-rate cuts for another two years, including the top rates for the richest taxpayers. The argument that raising income taxes when the economy was on life-support turned out to be a...