Free Republic

Michelle Berry runs a private day-care service from her home on the outskirts of this city, the birthplace of General Motors. "The Berry Patch," as she calls the service, features overstuffed purple gorillas, giant cartoon murals, and a playroom covered in Astroturf. Her clients are mostly low-income parents who need child care to keep their jobs in a city that now has a 26% unemployment rate. Ms. Berry owns her own business—yet the Michigan Department of Human Services claims she is a government employee and union member. The agency thus withholds union dues from the child-care subsidies it sends to...

[You may have to play around a bit to get the video to operate. Make sure you click "Full Program" or you might just get a 2-minute clip.] This 30 minute video (including about 17 minutes of Q & A) from several months ago is Richard Epstein's analysis of the bill proposed by the House. But the main regulatory features of that bill are the same as the one just passed by the Senate. The gist of Epstein's lecture is that the total effect of these insurance regulations is to kill private health insurance, so we will eventually all end...

If ever the people of the United States rise up and fight over passage of Obamacare, Harry Reid must be remembered as the man who sacrificed the dignity of his office for a few pieces of silver. The rules of fair play that have kept the basic integrity of the Republic alive have died with Harry Reid.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee approved legislation Thursday to impose tighter regulation of the rates that freight railroads charge shippers to transport goods, but the bill doesn't include the tough antitrust provisions pushed by some Democrats.

In a related development, secret documents were leaked today indicating that the United Nations has been plotting to form an international environmental governing body which almost certainly would infringe on U.S. sovereignty.

Bloomberg's Billions Buy Opinions Friday, December 11, 2009 Understanding the Latest Anti-Gun "Poll" This week, anti-gun New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released the findings of a poll conducted by a political consulting firm called "The Word Doctors," whose slogan is "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." Word Doctors' president is a pollster who has been reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research and censured by the National Council on Public Polls, and who says that the key to polling is "to ask a question in the way that...

Brushing aside tradition, the Obama administration is pushing for federal authority to regulate the nation's subway and light commuter rail systems following last summer's subway crash in Washington, D.C., that left nine people dead. Next week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will formally ask Congress to give his department authority to regulate and oversee those rail systems, a move that some Republicans on Capitol Hill worry is another alarming example of an ever-expanding federal government. "In this case, it sounds good, safety and enforcement over transit systems, but it may not be that effective," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told Fox News....

Senator Inhofe: Well, on this thing, it is pretty serious. And since, you know, Barabara Boxer is the Chairman and I’m the Ranking Member on Environment and Public Works, if nothing happens in the next seven days when we go back into session a week from today that would change this situation, I will call for an investigation. ‘Cause this thing is serious, you think about the literally millions of dollars that have been thrown away on some of this stuff that they came out with. Melanie Morgan: So what will you be calling for an investigation of? Senator Inhofe:...

GLOBAL WARMING JUNK SCIENCE PROVEN A CONSPIRACY—- ManBearPig Is Finally Dead! I’m serial! Recently “discovered” classified emails and files prove that the junk scientists behind the global warming movement knowingly perpetrated a fraud on the global community. The files were posted on the internet– HERE. The Telegraph reported: If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka...

http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ What use is history if we refuse to learn from it? If we are doomed to repeat the past mistakes of civilizations before us, why bother to teach and study history at all? But, if you believe as I do that our Founders took great pains to construct a government unlike any before them, inspired by the Enlightenment thinkers and determined to learn from the mistakes of failed governments, then you must ask the question as I have, what if our current leadership refuses to learn from history? This weekend I pondered two diametrically opposed health care views I...

http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ In the Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Emperor's New Clothes, the emperor hires two phont, swindling tailors who promise to make him a set of remarkable new clothes that will be invisible to anyone who is incompetent or stupid. Of course, there aren't any clothes and the sycophantic mob that surrounds the emperor will not admit they cannot see the clothes for fear of being labeled as ineffectual idiots. Even the emperor himself is held hostage by his new wardrobe. For, he sees nothing but is afraid to admit it. As he parades through the streets in his "next...

After moving to take control of just about every aspect of your life, the Obama-Pelosi regime is about to clamp-down on all conservative thoughts and expressions by applying the so-called Fairness Doctrine to the Internet. A few days ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the leadership of Barack Obama's recently appointed Chairman, Julius Genachowski, voted to move forward on what is commonly and deceptively called "Net Neutrality." Genachowski, incidentally, is the man who appointed Barack Obama's Diversity-Czar Mark Lloyd (need we say more). In addition to the FCC action, Congress may be poised to move very soon on so-called...

Today the FCC is set to begin drafting new rules and legislation on how broadband companies must manage access to the internet in an effort to provide you with more government controls over the citizens of the United States while providing exemptions to some companies. The whole net neutrality issue comes along to fix a problem when no problem exists. Many have come to believe that this effort to further regulate the internet is driven solely by political agenda as a way of suppressing opposition to the current administrations agendas. With much weight given to this concept as closed door...

Obama declares swine flu emergency 9 mins ago WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a "national emergency," the White House said Saturday, as the United States reels from millions of cases of infection and over 1,000 deaths.

First Amendment: Diversity czar Mark Lloyd's FCC votes Thursday on the issue of net neutrality. Advertised as providing access to all, it will do to the information superhighway what Lloyd proposed for talk radio. Not much was said when $7.2 billion was included in the stimulus bill "to accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits." The administration has big plans for the Internet — like controlling it. Susan Crawford, the so-called Internet czar, told the Wall Street Journal in April that the broadband billions...

Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.” House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option. The strategy could benefit Democrats struggling to bridge the gap between liberals in their party, who want the public option, and centrists, who are worried it would drive private insurers out of business. While much of the public is foggy on what a public option actually is, people understand Medicare. It also would place the new public option within the rubric of...

NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A United Nations panel says the global economic crisis shows the need for new institutions and replacement of the dollar as reserve currency. The commission, headed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, said a global reserve system should not depend on a single currency. At a news conference Thursday, Stiglitz called for a new global lender to complement the International Monetary Fund and a coordination council broader than the Group of 20, comprising countries with the 20 largest economies.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said he is confident Congress will pass "a good health care bill," as months of rancor over reforming the nation's health care system seemed to be easing Sunday, with the White House playing down an immediate role for a government insurance option. At the same time, Obama was critical of Republican opponents who he said were trying to block an overhaul of the nation's heath care system for political gain. "I believe that we will have enough votes to pass not just any health care bill, but a good health care bill that helps the...

In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises. -snip- "Replacing the dollar with an artificial currency would solve some of the problems related to the potential of countries running large deficits and would help stability," said Detlef Kotte, one of the report's authors. "But you will also need a system of managed exchange rates. Countries should keep real exchange rates [adjusted for inflation] stable. Central banks would have...

By way of "Net Neutrality," the federal government is preparing to do to the Internet what it has done to the auto industry, public schools, the home mortgage industry, the postal service and the financial industry bailout. The Obama administration now seeks to regulate the Internet as well. "Net Neutrality" refers to the dangerous movement to have government dictate Internet providers' business models, and the manner in which they can transmit data. Obama's infamous "stimulus" package includes a $7.2 billion grant to expand broadband services that require carriers accepting government money to adhere to FCC Net Neutrality guidelines that empower...

We stand at a crossroads in our nation's history. Barack Obama and his minions are attempting an unprecedented power grab. If they are allowed to succeed, it will forever change our country, and it will definitely diminish the rights of every American citizen. Obama has appointed no less than 37 czars that answer only to him. Even the House and Senate have no power over them. These czars have very radical backgrounds. John Holdren, the science czar, advocated population control and mandatory abortions. Van Jones, the environmental czar, was profiled byGlenn Beck extensively last week on his popular Fox News...

A few months ago the Obama Administration floated the idea of federal control of the internet during certain emergencies so as to protect the national interest. Now there is a real bill to do just that, promoted by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-NY). The bill would, among other things, give the federal government authority to shut down private internet services.

Details of a revamped version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 show the Senate bill could give the president a "kill switch" on the Internet and allow him to shut out private networks from online access.

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CBSNews.com has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773, which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. The new version allows the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency"...

A Senate bill would offer President Obama emergency control of the Internet and may give him a "kill switch" to shut down online traffic by seizing private networks -- a move cybersecurity experts worry will choke off industry and civil liberties.

Boys and Girls, Can you say "Brown Shirts?" Senate Bill S.773 introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, would allow the POTUS to seize temporary control of the internet in an emergency of his choosing. The bill would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. This is the same President who has tried to stifle dissenting opinion from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Talk Radio, American Citizens in Town Hall meetings, American Citizens at Tea Parties. He even created a spy on your neighbor program. And we want...

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer...

Every 10 years, the federal government undertakes a constitutionally mandated count of the American population to determine the apportionment of elected representatives among the 50 states, and, given the political stakes, it has always been a lodestone for controversy. In recent decades, the blasts and the blows have been mostly about the counting - or undercounting, as the case may be - of minorities. The squalls this year are blowing in from three different directions, and two of them are based on constitutional complaints. First fury up, a charge that President Barack Obama has made a power grab by transferring...

President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation, senior administration officials said Sunday. Obama signed off late last week on the unit, named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG. Made up of experts from several intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the interrogation unit will be housed at the FBI but will be overseen by the National Security Council -- shifting the center of gravity away from the CIA and giving the White House direct oversight. (snip) Holder...

August 01, 2009, 7:00 a.m. A Liberty IssueGovernment health care would be wrong even if it “controlled costs.” By Mark Steyn My conservative friends — and even a few media liberals — are agreed: The bloom is off the Obama rose. He’s not the Obamessiah, just another 50-percent president. He tried to do too much too fast, and his numbers are sinking. The Europeanization of health care is dead. Fuhgeddabouddit. I wouldn’t be so sure. President Obama has no choice but to move fast, in part because the image he presented during the campaign — a post-partisan, post-racial, post-anything-unpleasant-and-controversial,...

Listening to President Obama explain "his" health care plan, I can't help but wonder if he actually believes his own words. Maybe it's been so long since the adoring press corps has held him accountable for his innumerable exaggerations, omissions and misstatements that he believes he can create a new reality simply by speaking it into existence. However, for anyone who's been paying attention, the President's recent health care pep rally disguised as a press conference was littered with statements that just don't square with reality: - Obama: "So let me be clear: if we do not control these costs,...

A business colleague of mine commented recently that he supported Communism. He stated it would be fine if he were at the top and thus in control of money and decisions. He mentioned Fidel Castro’s supposed $6 billion that he has in foreign bank accounts. This gentleman understands that not everyone has the same results under Communism. I make this point to show that the goals of a communistic government were not to solve the problems of the masses as much as to shift control from the existing leaders to the new leaders of the country. The leaders of the...

The Obama administration on Thursday submitted a detailed proposal to Congress to subsume the Office of Thrift Supervision into a larger national bank regulator. The White House also released more details about its plan to unwind systemically significant and interconnected financial institutions so their collapse does not cause collateral damage to the financial system.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told the nation Saturday that his health care overhaul is financially sound and Congress should not squander the chance to make meaningful change. Republicans didn't relent in their criticism of his plan as a costly burden unwisely on a fast track. For a sixth straight day, Obama sought to keep the focus on his chief domestic priority in the face of mounting resistance on Capitol Hill, including conservative Democrats. White House officials are worried they face a tougher road to passage than anticipated. "This is what the debate in Congress is all about: whether we'll...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's health care overhaul cleared its first hurdle in Congress on a partisan vote Wednesday as his campaign organization rolled out television ads to build support for his top domestic priority. Obama met with Republicans at the White House in search of an elusive bipartisan compromise on his call to expand coverage to the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans as well as restrain spending increases in health care. But the 13-10 party-line vote in the Senate health committee signaled a deepening rift in Congress. While Democrats respond to Obama's call for action with renewed determination, Republicans...

Krauthammer's take from last night's All-Stars Panel on Special Report with Bret Baier: On Eric Holder possibly appointing a prosecutor to investigate Bush-era interrogation techniques: If he does this, it is a terrible mistake. What we heard today, that [the special prosecutor] will only be for rogue interrogators who went outside the law—presumably, you know, [for] sadists who wanted to have a good time out of the rubric of interrogation. I'm not sure there are a lot of those. What will happen is once you appoint a prosecutor, as we know from past history, he's out of control. There are...

Sources say White House cadre bypassing agencies, jeopardizing security JERUSALEM – A small group of officials working mostly from the White House are tightly controlling U.S. foreign policy, bypassing other government agencies and making decisions without employing the expertise of those agencies, according to diplomatic sources speaking to WND. The sources said some of the decisions may be jeopardizing U.S. security. A senior Middle East diplomatic source said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently apologized to a Mideast leader, explaining to him U.S. policy regarding his country is being dictated by the White House and not her agency. The diplomatic...

WASHINGTON – A defiant President Barack Obama sought Monday to revive his faltering plan to overhaul health care, delivering a full-throated promise to get comprehensive legislation and summoning lawmakers crucial to his effort to the White House. "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this thing happen," Obama told a news conference intended to focus on his nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin. The appearance in the Rose Garden was the president's first public outing since his weeklong overseas trip — and the first after an up-and-down week in Congress. Consensus on his top domestic priority has...

President Obama’s friend and his nominee for the vacant Chairmanship sailed through this afternoon’s Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing. Most of the attention was on issues like a national broadband policy and making the agency more consumer-friendly. He answered Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s question about a possible return of the Fairness Doctrine by saying “I don’t support reinstatement…I believe strongly in the First Amendment. I don’t think the FCC should be involved in censorship of content based on political speech or opinion.” The Senate committee had frosty relations with previous Chairman Kevin Martin, a Bush appointee, and everyone at...

Broadcasters are vowing to fight legislation requiring radio stations to pay royalties to performers, even as the recording industry and artist coalitions say the effort is gathering steam. The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a modified version of a performance royalty bill that gives some exemptions to small broadcast stations. Broadcast radio stations now pay song royalties to songwriters and ...

The chairman of a key committee in the House of Representatives said on Tuesday he was determined to have a new climate change bill passed by the end of this year and stuck by a May 31 deadline to advance it. "We are determined to pass a bill by this year," Representative Henry Waxman told reporters after a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. But in an indication of how difficult it is proving to craft a bill that can attract enough Democratic support, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said there is "not a consensus at this...

The embattled Republican National Committee chairman angrily returned fire in his fight with current and former officers over control of the GOP's purse strings. Under attack from conservatives since taking office on Jan. 30, Michael S. Steele on Wednesday blasted a group of members pushing for new checks and balances on the chairman's spending powers, accusing them of a power grab "scheme." "I have just returned from an overseas trip to learn that the five of you have developed a scheme to transfer the RNC chairman's authority to the treasurer and the executive committee," Mr. Steele wrote in an e-mail...

Some experts say the government needs to step into Cyberspace to protect the Internet and its users from security threats. A bill is working its way through Congress that would give the government final control over fundamental Internet infrastructure. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco group advocating maximum freedom on the web, thinks the proposed legislation goes too far. “The bill as it exists now risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security in the ways that matter most,” the group argues in an editorial on its web site. “It should be opposed...

Bill seeks to give president power over private networks Provision that enables the White House to shut down critical infrastructure networks for security reasons may be a hard sell A wide-ranging cybersecurity bill [1] introduced in the U.S. Senate this week would give the president unprecedented new powers to disconnect government and private-sector networks from the Internet in the event of security emergencies. But that provision is expected to be a hard sell in Congress. The proposed bill, formally known as the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, was filed on Wednesday by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) [2] and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)...

"And where the government has acted, like in Fannie and Freddie or like in AIG, where we've had to do exceptional things to stabilize them, we have replaced the management and the board," Geithner said. Asked if chief executives of big banks such as Citibank and Bank of America should worry about their jobs if their companies don't improve their performance, Geithner said the government would not shy from such a restructuring. As part of the new administration's overhaul of the $700 billion bailout effort, banking regulators are requiring stress tests for the 19 largest banks to see whether they...

...an Op-Ed, but a good piece... There's a reason he refuses to accept repayment of TARP money. I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back? My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as...

A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared "cyber emergency." Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what's being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack. A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells...

When Mother Jones and Jules Crittenden agree, isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse? Both take a hard look at the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, S.773 sponsored by Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill addresses the need to protect vital networks from cyber attack, but it gives a lot of power to the executive branch — perhaps too much power. Mother Jones reports: The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF) gives the president the ability to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any “critical” information network “in the interest...

I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. [...] So why no cheering as the cash comes back? My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP-stuffed is the key to control. And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough. The White House wants to...

When Mother Jones and Jules Crittenden agree, isn’t that a sign of the apocalypse? Both take a hard look at the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, S.773 sponsored by Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill addresses the need to protect vital networks from cyber attack, but it gives a lot of power to the executive branch — perhaps too much power. Mother Jones reports: