http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/rapeofliberty/ en-us Wed, 6 Jan 2010 19:57:53 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422424/posts Democratic leaders in Congress have apparently shunned a request from C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb to open up the health care negotiations process to their cameras and therefore to the American people. Emerging from yet another closed door meeting on health care, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) denied at a press conference that Democrats had in any way been secretive in their negotiations, asserting that they have been perfectly transparent throughout the legislative process. “There has never been a more open process for any legislation,” Pelosi actually said with a straight face. In December, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) compiled a... Current Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422424/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 19:57:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421096/posts Just a year and half ago this would have seemed like a paperback fiction text, now its is merely a matter-of-fact editorial in a respected publication... "But now socialist, socialism and neoMarxist are terms used frequently to describe the president's income redistribution schemes, government spending nostrums and shadow Cabinet full of radicals."... "By funding and by fiat, we have empowered unelected global bureaucracies to influence American lives as never before. These include greater deference given to U.N. decisions, handing Interpol unprecedented operating power on U.S. soil and a desire to bolster the world court at the Hague." Investor's Business Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421096/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 03:45:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422214/posts Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats with no apparent concern for their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats are committing political suicide and will be swept from one or both houses of Congress with unprecedented electoral losses next November. But since Democrat politicians rarely do things that will not ultimately benefit themselves, this column asked two weeks ago, "What do they know that we don't?" We may have found out. It's called universal voter registration. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund described the Democrat plan recently... www.americanthinker.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422214/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 15:48:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420977/posts Not only does the Democratic health care bill include tax hikes, as reported by Americans for Tax Reform, it also would expand the role of the Internal Revenue Service. From Kaiser Health News: Under the proposed health care legislation, they would get another assignment: checking to see whether Americans have health insurance. The House and Senate bills require most Americans to have health insurance and to prove it on their annual federal tax return. Those who don’t would pay a penalty to the IRS. The Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420977/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 00:34:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421048/posts Barack Obama famously promised -- and is now delivering -- "fundamental change" to America by expanding the role of the federal government more than any president since FDR. Like Rahm Emanuel, FDR never let a crisis go to waste, using the Depression to accomplish a restructuring of the political economy. He knew how ambitious was his program. From his 1934 State of the Union speech: It is to the eternal credit of the American people that this tremendous readjustment of our national life is being accomplished peacefully. The revolution overcame America, and it passed without the typical bullets and blood... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421048/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 02:11:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422046/posts The health bills in Congress rob you of your constitutional rights. Here are five provisions (of many) that fail the constitutionality test and reveal Congress's disrespect for the public: * Section 3403 of the Senate health bill, establishing a commission to cut Medicare spending, says the law can't be changed or repealed in the future. This whopper shows that Congress thinks its work should be set in stone. Wrong. The people always have the right to elect a new Congress to change or repeal what a previous Congress has done. * A Senate health-bill amendment mysteriously allocates $100 million to... NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422046/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 11:35:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422157/posts When CNSNews.com asked Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) where the Constitution authorizes Congress to force Americans to buy health insurance, Leahy would not directly answer the question he claimed that "nobody" questioned Congress's authority to do this. Obviously he hasn't been listening. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was equally dismissive of the question of where the Constitution authorized Congress to force Americans to buy health insurance. When reporter Matt Cover asked her the question, she said: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs similarly dismissed the issue without directly saying where the Constitution authorized the federal government... The Lid/NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422157/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 14:40:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422238/posts Now that the tax-hungry Maoists we call 'Congress' makes its way back to Washington after the Christmas break, the charlatans who supposedly 'represent the people' are set to ram through government-controlled healthcare. The fact is these people do not represent the citizens at all. Citizens have made it abundantly clear in poll after poll, in Town Hall meetings, and in Tea Party protests that they do not want this 2 trillion dollar government takeover of 1/3 of the nation's economy. Yet the charlatans pretend they are not aware of citizen ire. In fact, they continue to spout the nonsense that... Columbia Conservative Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422238/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:13:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422374/posts There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States that authorizes Congress or any other branch of the Federal government to force anyone living in the United States to buy anything by virtue of their citizenship or residence. There are no U.S. Supreme Court decisions that allow this under either the “Commerce Clause” or the “General Welfare Clause” of the Constitution. Yet that is exactly what both the House and Senate versions of the Bills contain, a mandate requiring everyone to buy health insurance. This is not just a bad law; it is a direct assault on the Constitution... The New Media Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422374/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 19:03:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422060/posts President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders agreed Tuesday to bypass a conference committee and keep negotiations to reconcile the Senate and House health care reform bills a closed-door affair. They concluded that the House will work off the Senate's version, amend it and send it back to the Senate for final passage, according to a House leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private meeting. Obama held an Oval Office meeting Tuesday evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his No. 2, Sen.... Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422060/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 12:18:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422379/posts President Obama gave his blessing Tuesday for congressional Democratic leaders to bypass formal House and Senate talks to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources. The two sources told CNN that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will instead hold informal negotiations to sidestep possible Republican delays of the process, likely shutting out Republicans from talks on the final health care bill. CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422379/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 19:07:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422267/posts President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders agreed Tuesday to forgo a formal conference committee for reconciling the Senate and House health care bills, according to three Democratic congressional aides. The decision means that the White House, Senate Majority Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will attempt to reach an agreement through private negotiations with key lawmakers. Once a deal is struck, the bill will go back to the House for passage, then to the Senate and on to the president’s desk — a legislative path that has been described as “ping pong.” The decision to bypass the conference... The New Media Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2422267/posts#comment Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:46:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421515/posts THE CRISIS CREATORS Exposing Barack Obama's secret strategy for transforming America The American electorate has watched in amazement for a year as the Obama administration has created unprecedented havoc and outrage throughout the nation. And yet, the actual result of 2009's non-stop crises has been not just the dramatic transfer of wealth and power away from citizens and small businesses and into the hands of government, but also the beginnings of a profound transformation of America's economic and governmental system. Is it possible that the Obama administration is intentionally creating crises for the purpose of converting America into a full-fledged... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421515/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 18:21:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421487/posts Welcome to the wailing wall of broken Democrat promises. Evan Thomas and John Meacham of Newsweek got it wrong. We are not “all socialists now.” Even in most socialist countries, at least two political parties are involved in the legislative process. What the Democrats are doing more resembles Soviet-style one-party rule than European socialism. Political Lore Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421487/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 17:54:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421373/posts It’s that time again: the 2010 census has begun. The Constitution requires Congress to take a count of all Americans and legal aliens in each district of every state every ten years. The reason: to ensure that all American Citizens and legal aliens are properly represented in Washington by electorates. In 2000, I was sent the “long form” census asking what the household income was, how many bedrooms there were, what my race was, am I paying rent or buying, etc. No question other than how many people legally reside in a home is constitutionally required to be answered, so... MyFreePress http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2421373/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 15:28:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421159/posts Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats while seemingly unconcerned by their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats are committing political suicide and will be swept from one or both houses of Congress with unprecedented electoral losses next November. But since Democrat politicians rarely do things that will not ultimately benefit themselves, this column asked two weeks ago: "what do they know that we don't?" We may have found out. It's called universal voter registration. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund described the Democrat plan recently at... DC Independent Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421159/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jan 2010 06:12:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420877/posts WASHINGTON – House and Senate Democrats intend to bypass traditional procedures when they negotiate a final compromise on health care legislation, officials said Monday, a move that will exclude Republican lawmakers and reduce their ability to delay or force politically troubling votes in both houses. The unofficial timetable calls for final passage of the measure to remake the nation's health care system by the time President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, probably in early February. AP via Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420877/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 22:22:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420868/posts Digital News Report – Besides collecting taxes and going after tax cheats, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be going after Americans who do not purchase private health insurance. The new health care legislation being debated in Congress will put the IRS in charge of making sure Americans purchase a health insurance policy. Those who don’t pay will be penalized because all Americans will be forced to purchase a policy. Besides making sure citizens do buy insurance, the IRS will assess penalties on those who do not. They will also collect new fees from businesses and oversee enforcement. Already understaffed... Digital News Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420868/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 22:00:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420817/posts January 04, 2010, 0:00 a.m. Will the American People Finally Revolt?Federal indulgence and incompetence are too vast to catalogue. By Deroy Murdock Where is Nelson Mandela when we need him? In an especially memorable moment in Clint Eastwood’s fine new film Invictus, South Africa’s first black president (exquisitely portrayed by Morgan Freeman) inspects his first official paycheck. “This is terrible,” Mandela says. He decides he earns too much money and subsequently donates a third of his salary to charity. Thus was born the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. Mandela’s humility and fiscal restraint would be as exotic in the nation’s... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420817/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 20:51:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415357/posts More than six months after government officials seized his rare vintage military aircraft, Claude Hendrickson said he is still in the dark about why the airplane was confiscated and when and if it will be returned to him. Until the 1952 airplane -- believed to be one of only a handful of Douglas AD-4N Skyraiders in the U.S. -- is released from federal custody, Hendrickson said the aircraft will slowly deteriorate because he can't maintain it. ---- Virginia Dabbs, spokeswoman for Customs and Border Patrol, said she could not comment on Hendrickson's claims. "We don't harass people," Dabbs said. Birmingham (AL) News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415357/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:15:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2190050/posts New Hampshire fired the first shot. Although 7 other states have similar pending resolutions and bills, Oklahoma is the first to actually pass one. Another 27 states are expected to make similar moves in the coming months. That’ll leave the country split 71-29. Now, before you get too excited, bear in mind that all of this was likely Obama’s goal. Boiled down, all of these state measures are threats of secession. Recall, if you will, Obama’s obsession to be the 21st Century Abraham Lincoln, and his ominous calls to recreate and rebuild America. Who was Lincoln? Why, he was... Pat Dollard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2190050/posts#comment Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:49:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411020/posts Why some environmentalists believe the president has the power to sidestep the Senate and commit the US to a global pact. In 1997, in the Japanese city of Kyoto, the Clinton administration agreed to a groundbreaking treaty to combat global warming. And that's when the trouble started. The Senate had unanimously refused to approve the Kyoto Protocol, and in the end the Clinton administration didn't even submit it for a vote in the upper chamber. This made the US both the world's biggest polluter and, ultimately, the only industrialized nation to reject the accord. Now, as world leaders attempt to... motherjones.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411020/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:07:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411829/posts The United States has finally reached a pinnacle where the radical-left are cheering. With the complete domination of main-stream media, education, welfare, the unions and the Democratic Party we now have a group of liberal socialists that have moved from subliminal attack against humanity to full frontal assault against all people who stand in their way. Their final conquest was the United States government with its ability to tax, control, ruin and, in general, subvert the Constitution. Did the people in this country see it coming? Apparently not soon enough! Are these radicals destined for immortality? Absolutely NOT! Socialism never... American Grand Jury http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411829/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:09:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410453/posts As the Congressional Budget Office explained: "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States." Yet, all of the House and Senate health-care bills being debated require Americans to either obtain or purchase expensive health insurance, estimated to cost up to $15,000 per year for a typical family, or pay substantial tax penalties for not doing so. The purpose of this compulsory contract, coupled with the arbitrary price ratios and... The Heritage Foundation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410453/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:12:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411823/posts The United States Civil Rights Commission, an eight-member agency that investigates accusations of discrimination, has launched a new offensive against a most unusual target: the Justice Department. The commission is investigating why the Justice Department dropped charges in May against three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in a voter intimidation case that the government won. The Justice Department has defended its actions, saying it obtained an injunction against one member while dismissing charges against the others "based on a careful assessment of the facts and the law." But that explanation hasn't satisfied the commission or Republican... Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411823/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:02:08 GMT