Free Republic

Despite being heckled and shot at by members of the Occupy protests that have sprung up in various locations around the country, President Obama says they “are the reason I ran for office.” “I can’t dispute the view that corporate greed is what is dragging this country down,” the President said. “And I can’t really blame these protesters for their opposition to the current economic system. But I’m asking them to take a broader perspective.” The president acknowledged that “my taking money from Wall Street for my campaign looks bad. Surely, though, this has got to be the lesser of...

BOSTON–Chanting “hands off” and “no cuts,” hundreds of seniors rallied here to warn Congress’s deficit-cutting supercommittee to stay away from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. “When you get older, you need help, not cuts,” said Steve Ciardi, a former pipe fitter who has multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair being pushed by his wife, Patty. “That is what the country is about – helping people,” she said. AARP Massachusetts, the SEIU and AFL-CIO labor unions, and several senior activist groups are organizing the event, which kicked off this morning with a rally at the historic Wang Theatre in downtown...

On Monday, U.S. stocks racked up their best month in 20 years in October. Greek Premier George Papandreou said he will put Greece's bailout deal through a referendum, potentially undoing a long-awaited agreement struck just last week and sending European stocks down 4.4 percent. The region's bank shares fell 7.9 percent to $16.25. Greek opposition parties said the referendum was putting Greece's European Union membership at risk and instead called for a snap election. U.S. bank shares were expected to follow European lenders lower. The Financial Select Sector SPDR fell 4 percent with Bank of America down 5.9 percent and...

It's very frustrating to see so many radical ministers, priests, and "spiritual leaders" climbing aboard the ideology of redistribution. There are many who have recently alluded -- if not outright stated -- that the OWS movement is Christian at its core. Some suggest that Jesus himself would be among them. I might agree with that last part, but for different reasons from what they suggest (Jesus sought out the crippled, blind, prostitutes, tax collectors, poor in spirit, demon-possessed, etc., to redeem them...so perhaps he would have been among the OWS crowd, in an effort to save them). Jesus would not...

The hard-right conservatives who dominate the Republican Party claim to despise the redistribution of wealth, but secretly they love it — as long as the process involves depriving the poor and middle class to benefit the rich, not the other way around. That is precisely what has been happening, as a jaw-dropping new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office demonstrates. Three decades of trickle-down economic theory, see-no-evil deregulation and tax-cutting fervor have led to massive redistribution. Another word for what's been happening might be theft. The gist of the CBO study, titled "Trends in the Distribution of Household Income...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann criticized a directive by President Barack Obama to ease student loan debt as an "abuse of power" that will give people incentive to dodge debt. The candidates reacted Thursday to a decision Obama announced a day earlier to cap required payments for some college loan borrowers at a lower percentage of their income and forgive payments for others after 20 years. He used executive authority to accelerate a law that wasn't supposed to go into effect until 2014. "I believe it is abuse of power from the executive to impose...

A few years ago I swore off of writing on political topics. The frustration level just got to be too much to bear. But the recent advent of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests and the attack on capitalism has prompted back into political action. Those who know me well know that gardening is one of my passions and I’ve found over the years, and used, gardening as a fantastic metaphor for so many things in life. I want to relate a conversation I had nearly 20 years with an old neighbor of mine when I lived in the rich low-country...

In an interview with former White House press secretary and Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer fretted over a report showing "the rich are getting richer" and pleaded: "So what responsibility does President Obama have in terms of dealing with income distribution in this country?" [Audio available here] Lauer began his push from the left by explaining: "Some of these young people are the same young people who are occupying parks across the country and they're out there protesting Wall Street. They're also protesting the White House."

As President Obama continues to base his reelection hopes on resentment toward the “1 percent” who are supposedly not “paying their fair share,” the latest evidence suggests that his attacks are still off-target. According to data just released by the Tax Foundation, the top 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans earned 16.9 percent of all adjusted gross income in the United States. While no doubt that’s a lot of money, it actually represents a decline from 2008, when the rich earned 20 percent of all income. That’s right; the rich are earning a smaller proportion of U.S. income. In fact,...

Exodus 20:17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbor’s.” No. I am not about to turn my collar around and climb back into my pulpit. If this piece turns out to be a sermon, then – so be it. The Bible verse above is, in fact, the Tenth Commandment. Those of the Judeo-Christian faith understand covetousness to mean: reprehensible acquisitiveness, excessively and culpably desirous of the possessions of another, or — just plain envious...

With the OWS movement leaving many Americans confused as to whether they should support or stay away, one thing is for certain, Americans are aware of a certain truth that is happening in our country.  We have a certain combination of events that is leaving many people struggling and asking very good questions. The truth is this; We have structurally high unemployment, salaries are stagnant, debt burdens are rising, costs for education, health and energy are on the rise and we are increasingly overwhelmed with clear and present danger coming from every corner of the earth. To make matters worse...

If you enjoy a little Jack in your Coke, you may be paying more for it soon. The tax man and the "fair share" screamers have a new target: Jack Daniel’s and Lynchburg have been inseparable since a young man named Jack Daniel came there more than a century ago to learn the art of distilling corn mash into whiskey. He set up shop on the northeastern end of town and the company has never looked to go anywhere else. It produces 23 million gallons of amber gold – about a billion dollars worth, every year.

Comrade Chairman You Lie Obama has a section in his current buy-the-union-vote "Jobs" bill to send US Federal money, ( borrowed 60 % from our grandchildren and 40 % from China and other countries ), to various financially irresponsible States, Cities and Labor Unions. Talk-the-talk-but-couldn't-walk-the-walk G. W. Bush in 2008 sent a TARP full of Federal money to all big banks, whether they were financially irresponsible or not. This Jack-booted style was seized upon by You Lie Obama to send even more Federal money to financially irresponsible businesses such as General Motors, and many financially irresponsible State and local governments....

CLEVELAND, Ohio (CBS Cleveland) – An “Occupy Cleveland” protester tells police she was raped in her tent over the weekend. Cleveland police are investigating an alleged sexual assault incident Saturday at the “Occupy Cleveland” rally involving a 19-year-old female student from Parma. According to police reports, the 19-year-old student was instructed by “Occupy Cleveland” personnel to “share a tent with the suspect due to a shortage of tents.” The suspect identified himself as “Leland” to the woman. The woman told police that after she had thought the suspect went to sleep in his own bed, she slept in a sleeping...

Like so many people, in so many countries, who started out to “spread the wealth,” Barack Obama has ended up spreading poverty. Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catchphrases. It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe, whether it bears any resemblance to reality or...

It seems there is a lot of thievery going on at Zuccotti Park. I guess the "comrades" down there only respect private property when it is their own property. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/criminal_occupation_oh3CnKANUqYHrGPCaZaLRK NY Post ....... "It’s a den of thieves! Occupy Wall Street protesters said yesterday that packs of brazen crooks within their ranks have been robbing their fellow demonstrators blind, making off with pricey cameras, phones and laptops -- and even a hefty bundle of donated cash and food. “Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment,” said Nan Terrie, 18, a kitchen and legal-team volunteer from Fort Lauderdale. “I had...

Cantor: Republicans agree there is 'too much income disparity' By Julian Pecquet - 10/16/11 11:15 AM ET House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said repeatedly Sunday that Republicans agree that too few people control too much wealth in America. "We know in this country right now that there is a complaint about folks at the top end of the income scales, that they make too much and too many don't make enough," Cantor said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, toning down his earlier criticism of the Occupy Wall Street protests. "We need to encourage folks at the top...

It shouldn't come to anyone's surprise when I state that the most attractive members of our society seem to attract the most attractive members of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, those less fortunate... those stuck with dumpy bodies or faces that could look like they "got hit with the ugly stick" a few times... are doomed to spend their lives with those much like themselves. After looking at this situation, I've decided that it just isn't fair that only those men who take the time to work on their social skills, spend hours at the gym, and adopt careful grooming and...

Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former National Security Advisor to President Carter and a frequent guest on his daughter Mika’s MSNBC program, made a series of strange statements during his segment on “Morning Joe” earlier today. Talking with the MSNBC crew about the concentration of wealth in America as motivation for “Occupy Wall Street,” Dr. Brzezinski seems to believe that publishing the names of people who make a lot of money would be helpful in redistributing wealth: Brzezinski wants anyone making a lot of money to be pointed out, but a short time later he says he does not want Wall...

Thanks, Reverend Al. Really. Sure, we know that the left is all about the redistribution of wealth rather than its generation. Still, it's instructive to hear a leading lefty say it in such stark terms. As clear a statement of the manifesto since candidate Obama told Joe The Plumber that "spread the wealth around" is the way to go. On his MSNBC show this evening, Sharpton declared that his view of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it should be about "really, how we distribute the wealth in this country." View the video here.