Free Republic

Democratic efforts to include a special $50,000-per-year journalist tax break within President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending package have sparked accusations of “media collusion.” Sen. Ron Johnson argued the tax credit would create an improper relationship between the federal government and the nation’s leading media outlets.... ...The tax credit would allow “local news” outlets to receive a quarterly tax credit, “equal to 50%” of a journalist’s wages up to a cap of $12,500-per-quarter....

Oops! That didn't go according to plan.

This bill has been passed in the House. The bill now goes on to be voted on in the Senate. Keep in mind that debate may be taking place on a companion bill in the Senate, rather than on this particular bill.

It's time we let our Senators and Representatives know that there's a line and they are dangerously close to crossing it. Call, or write your Representative and both your Senators and let them know, if they don't vote NO on healthcare we will vote YES for their opponents come November.

A lot of people see doom on the Democratic Party's horizon this fall. Respected political analyst Charlie Cook has even said he believes Republicans will recapture the House this year. But Howard Dean, the former governor who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee until last year, believes things might not be as bad as they seem. "I think what you're going to see in the fall is not so much an anti-Democratic vote, I think you're going to see an anti-incumbent vote, and I think that's going to include Republicans," Dean said in an interview with Salon on...

Please forgive the vanity. Below is the text of the e-mail I have just sent to my two Democrat Senators. Sen. Warner, President Obama has signaled that he is prepared to use reconcilliation to pass his healthcare bill. I, along with a clear majority of your employers, have expressed our opposition to this legislation. If the President pursues this course of action, I want to make it clear that I expect you to vote "NO" on any form of the bill; and if the bill passes, to tender your resignation in protest over your party's arrogance and disregard for the...

As I listened to the same tone-deaf talking points from the congressional Democrats at the White House health care summit last week, I was reminded of the classic excuse politicians use about their comments being taken out of context. In this case, and many others, the Democrats are suffering from the exact opposite problem--their arguments and actions are not taking in the context of the times. Indeed, over the past 14 months they have continually been trying to jam a square political peg into a round historical hole. The result has been a disastrous fit with the public mood and...

It’s a testament to how arcane a procedure reconciliation is that we haven’t heard this before. Remember, if Obama and Reid go nuclear in the Senate, that’s not the end of the story: The GOP can still try to block the progress of the bill, either by challenging the individual provisions on parliamentary grounds — in theory, only parts that are related to the budget can be passed via reconciliation — or by proposing an endless numbers of amendments to stop the process in its tracks. Keith Hennessey wrote about the latter strategy this morning:

The inevitable partisan ending to today’s bipartisan kabuki. I know you’re bored with summit vids by now but the baldfaced lie told here makes it must-viewing. Quote: “I think most Americans think that a majority vote makes sense.” That’s simply flatly untrue and there are not one but two polls posted in the last 24 hours to prove it. Ed already flagged Gallup’s finding of a 39/52 split opposed to reconciliation; Fox News followed up a few hours ago with even worse numbers. If President Obama is unable to reach a deal with Republicans at the summit, 59 percent think...

Whether or not a reconciliation bill on health care meets the intent of the legislative procedure is certainly a matter for legitimate debate. But Reid said reconciliation has been used 21 times since 1981, and that most of the time, it's been Republicans who have initiated it. We find that there have been 22 reconciliation votes, 14 of them by a Republican-controlled Congress, and that it makes more sense -- in light of the debate over making an end-run around the 60-vote threshold -- to focus on the reconciliation bills that passed without a supermajority. But even then, Republicans have...

LOL!! Hoist by their own petard! "This nuclear option is an example of the arrogance of power...": Anti-reconcilation quotes video (not who you might think!). Loved Chucky Schumer's the best!!

I thought you might be interested to see how reconcilliation was used in the past. Twenty-two reconciliation bills were passed between 1980 and 2008, although three (written by Republican majorities in Congress) were vetoed by President Clinton and never became law.

Ths isan amazing collage of Democrats arguing the death of Democracy if reconcilliation is ever to be used. It is very eye-opening. A must watch.

Brig. Gen. Robert Brown (right), deputy commanding general (support), Multi-National Division - North, and Lt. Col. Stephen Myers, deputy commanding officer, Command Post - North, lay a wreath on the wall that surrounds the grave site of Mustafa Barzani, the most prominent political leader in Kurdish history, during their visit to Barzan, Iraq, April 20. Photo by Spc. Daniel Nelson, 145th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. MOSUL — When most people think of Iraq they probably don't think of lush, green valleys, twisting ravines, rushing rivers and snow covered mountaintops. Usually, people think of miles and miles of empty desert, with...

MOSUL — The Commander if the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC), Iraqi Maj. Gen. Hassan Karim, hosted a joint assessment briefing recently to discuss current operations in the Ninewa province and the removal of Coalition combat forces from Iraqi cities by June 30. Gen. Ray Odierno, the commanding general of Multi-National Force - Iraq, took part in the briefing, which took place here at Forward Operating Base Diamondback. Joining the general were his top commanders as well as representatives from the Iraqi government and Police. During the meeting, Minister of Defense Abd Al-Qadir expressed the need to defeat the terrorist's network....

This an excerpt is from Against False Union by Dr. Alexander Kalomiros (Seattle, WA: St. Nectarios Press, 1990 [1967]), pp. 53-55 as posted on www.orthodoxinfo.com /small> XXVIII. ECCLESIOLOGY The commotion about union of the churches makes evident the ignorance existing as much among the circles of the simple faithful as among the theologians as to what the Church is. They understand the catholicity of the Church as a legal cohesion, as an interdependence regulated by some code. For them the Church is an organization with laws and regulations like the organizations of nations. Bishops, like civil servants, are distinguished as...

BARI, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI visited the eastern port of Bari on his first papal trip Sunday and pledged to make healing the 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox church a "fundamental" commitment of his papacy. Benedict made the pledge in a city closely tied to the Orthodox church. Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is considered a "bridge" between East and West and is home to the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-Century saint who is one of the most popular in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Benedict referred to Bari as a "land of...

It must have killed John Kerry to be up there on the stage, so close but yet so far. Nancy Pelosi showed up only because she had to, all the while the talking heads were spewing forth terms such as unification and reconciliation. My question is, do we really want Bush to patch things up with the likes of Kerry and Pelosi? It is a fact that our country is divided, and I for one like it that way. I have no problem with Nancy and her flunkies preaching hate against the free market economy, and all whe benefits from...