Free Republic

With the Census Bureau's release today of its annual population estimates for the 50 states, the final projections of next year's decennial census reveal further details of the likely winners and losers. Here are some highlights based on the analysis by Polidata, a demographic and political research firm. • Of the 11 House seats that would switch among the states as a result of the projections, Texas would gain four. The remaining seats would be distributed one each to seven states -- four in the West (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Washington) and three in the South (Florida, Georgia and...

Oklahoma has the unwanted distinction of having the largest revenue shortfall of any state, according to a new report. That reality is illustrated by the state's revenue collections, which are down by more than 25 percent from a year ago. The state last week ordered yet another round of cuts, this time instructing agencies to cut 10 percent from their budgets. A November state budget report by the National Conference of State Legislatures says Oklahoma's 18.5 percent shortfall for the current fiscal year edges out Arizona's 18 percent, with Illinois in third at 16.5 percent. State agencies appeared to be...

The South has risen again, at least in terms of belief in God. Mississippi is the America's most religious state, according to a Pew Forum study on the levels of devotion in America, which asked respondents whether religion is important in their lives. Eighty-two percent of Mississipians said yes. "That is not too surprising," said William F. Lawhead, chairman of the religion and philosophy department at the University of Mississippi. "This is the Bible Belt. We are primarily made up of small towns - not many urban areas like Dallas and so on, where there's a lot of people coming...

Red Neck Rampage. Darn, it makes me feel good to watch this video...!!!

Full County Results for New Jersey with results for most towns.

This section of the 14th Amendment. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Repealed under this provision of Article V of the Constitution: “the Application of the...

...In a fusillade of pique, Ohio Sen. George Voinovich charged that Southerners are what's wrong with the Republican Party... Alas, Voinovich was not entirely wrong...

his list is based on responses to a Gallup Poll that asked a cross-section of Americans if religion is an “important part” of their lives. 1. Mississippi 85% 2. Alabama 82% 3. South Carolina 80% 4. Tennessee 79% 5. Louisiana 78% 6. Arkansas 78% 7. Georgia 76% 8. North Carolina 76% 9. Oklahoma 75% 10. Kentucky & Texas (tie) 74% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HUMAN EVENTS is the news source President Reagan called his "favorite newspaper" and we still hold high the Reaganesque principles of free enterprise, limited government and, above all, a staunch, unwavering defense of American freedom.

Haley Barbour emerged victorious this past week. While states nationwide were issuing IOUs, the Mississippi legislature actually passed a balanced budget albeit kicking and screaming from the pressure levied on them by Governor Barbour. This may be viewed historically as Governor Barbour's second greatest accomplishment of his term (the first being of course the response to Katrina). It will likely further serve to raise his stock among conservatives in the 2012 Presidential conversation. Remember where we came from before the Special Session. The Billy McCoy-led House wanted $0 hospital assessment on Medicaid. Governor Barbour got $60M that will increase to...

Having had the pleasure of living several years in Houston earlier this decade, I was constantly amazed at the many things that Texas gets right that other states routinely bungle (see here, for starters). Friends' eyes have been known to glaze over as I tell them that cities like Houston and Dallas are poised to be the powerhouse cities of the 21st century, and in tandem, that Texas is going to blow away most, if not all, other states in economic performance in the next few decades.

Southern States Poach Businesses Amid Downturn By ANSLEY HAMAN When NCR Corp. started looking late last summer to move from its hometown of Dayton, Ohio, economic development agencies in the South pulled out all the stops in a bid to lure the 125-year-old company best known as a cash-register manufacturer. Georgia quickly offered more than $100 million in tax and training incentives. State officials connected NCR with six Georgia research universities willing to license new technologies and train workers. View Full Image Bloomberg News NCR and other companies are moving operations to the South. A Volkswagen plant is seen under...

Video - Rep. Ted Poe

  William P. Ruger - assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University. He is currently on military leave, serving in the U.S. Navy in Afghanistan. Ruger earned his PhD in politics from Brandeis University and an AB from the College of William and Mary. Jason Sorens - assistant professor of Political Science at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He received his doctorate in political science in 2003 from Yale University, and his research focuses on secessionism, ethnic politics, and comparative federalism. His work has also appeared in Regional and Federal...

snip... "On the other end of the spectrum, it was traditionally Democratic states that earned the title of "least free," according to the study. Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York-all of whom voted Democratic in the past three presidential elections-came in at 48th, 49th and 50th, respectively. However, it is important to note that the study's findings do not all fall along these predictable party lines. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, for example, all fall in the bottom eleven among states with the most Personal Freedom. Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri, meanwhile finish fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively in...

More Hope and Change... ** Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors. ** Last night it was discovered that a Big Dem Donor Group was allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... And, their local competitors were eliminated by Obama's task force. ** The closings also tend to be in "Red" Counties where Obama lost. ** Even Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla) lost his Chrysler dealership in Florida and found out from a colleague on the House floor. Now this... Doug Ross says...

** Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors. ** Last night it was discovered that a Big Dem Donor Group was allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... And, their local competitors were eliminated by Obama's task force!! 2008 Red and Blue Counties (Flickr) Now here is the latest on the Chrysler closings-- I was sent this earlier today: I have obtained two pdf files from the bankruptcy court. One is the list of dealers to close and the other is the...

Gallup has set up a very cool site that breaks down data from its "well-being index" by congressional district -- and you can browse by map or in list form. So, I decided to take it out for a spin. And there seems to be a partisan pattern. Seven of the 10 most content districts were represented by Republicans -- nine of the 10 unhappiest were represented by Democrats.

On most days, freight trains rumble past vacant storefronts in the center of town, seldom ever stopping anymore. The rail spurs leading to a shuttered grain elevator are brown with rust, the buildings closed off by a chain-link fence. Along nearby U.S. Highway 301, the gutted remains of a half-dozen motels recall the days four decades ago when 17 million motorists passed through each year on their way to Florida. That ended when Interstate 95 opened to the east, bypassing Allendale altogether. Allendale has been suffering for a long time, but now the recession has worsened its woes, and the...

In Hopewell Township, N.J., the veterans of American Legion Post 339 have put their building up for sale. "Today's vets don't come out," 82-year old Jim Hall told The Times of Trenton last month. The post is down from 425 paying members in the 1960s and '70s to 202 this year; only about a dozen regularly attend. But it's America that has changed, not vets. Since 1970, the population of the United States has grown by about 50 percent, from roughly 200 million to 300 million. Over the same period, the number of active-duty armed forces has fallen approximately 50...

From the Executive Summary: "This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. (snip) ...defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individual’s ability to do the same." Freedom in the 50 States

Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography. A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states. "When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different," says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School. However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious...

A recent poll of more than 350,000 Americans on the importance of religion revealed that the nation is separated into enclaves of widely divergent viewpoints on faith, with some states and regions clearly religious and others significantly secular. Gallup conducted a telephone poll of 355,334 U.S. adults, asking the question, "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" As one might suspect, states from the "Bible Belt" scored the highest, with 85 percent of Mississippians and 79 percent of Tennesseeans, for example, answering yes. The poll also revealed, however, that in addition to the Bible Belt, the U.S. also...

Top Ten Conservative American Cities 10. Cincinnati, Ohio Home of GOP Rep. Steve Chabot (ACU lifetime: 98%; 2005: 96%) who won his seat by campaigning for the balanced budget amendment and against abortion. 9. Boise, Idaho Boise's 2nd District is described as "one of America’s most Republican districts" by The Almanac of American Politics. 8. Mesa, Ariz. Founded by Mormons. Republican Jeff Flake (ACU lifetime: 94%; 2005: 96%), who led the fight for Arizona's charter school law and favors eliminating the income tax and creating a national sales tax, represents Mesa’s district. 7. Clarksville, Tenn. Home of Fort Campbell (though...

NEW YORK – Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care. Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama's spending priorities. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, scheduled meetings in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state's share of the...

Integris Says Cuts Not Among Doctors, Nurses POSTED: 6:32 pm CST January 19, 2009 UPDATED: 6:46 pm CST January 19, 2009 OKLAHOMA CITY -- A major Oklahoma employer is cutting its work force, company officials announced Monday. ntegris Health said the job cuts would come among support personnel and managers, not doctors and nurses. Company officials said that out of its 9,000 employees, the number of people affected by layoffs is relatively small. Integris offered early retirement to those who qualified and severance packages to others. In some rural hospitals -- instead of cutting a position -- officials cut back...

Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, Nebraska, Kansas, and Alabama, and the last two are barely red. Total combined electoral votes: 35. The news isn’t quite as dismal as it seems — Texas is technically a blue state by this measure, even though it’s reliably red at election time — but eyeball the map at the link and note how many southern states are suddenly leaning Democratic. Jay Cost has a long, thoughtful post on how Republicans have traditionally overcome the ID advantage (hint: superior turnout and an uneasy coalition in the broad Democratic base), but toss a galvanizing figure like The...

BRINKLEY, Ark. - Wayne Loewer's truck reveals a lot about his life. A 12-gauge shotgun for duck hunting rests on the floorboard. A blue thermal lunch bag containing elk meat is shoved under the seat, left in haste that morning by his teenage son rushing to catch the school bus. Binoculars in the console help Loewer scan his 2,900 acres of rice, soybeans and corn. The dashboard radio is set to classic rock, playing the same Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes from Loewer's high school days, when Brinkley was still a thriving small town with stores and a movie theater. His muddy...

BRINKLEY, Ark. - Wayne Loewer's truck reveals a lot about his life. A 12-gauge shotgun for duck hunting rests on the floorboard. A blue thermal lunch bag containing elk meat is shoved under the seat, left in haste that morning by his teenage son rushing to catch the school bus. Binoculars in the console help Loewer scan his 2,900 acres of rice, soybeans and corn. The dashboard radio is set to classic rock, playing the same Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes from Loewer's high school days, when Brinkley was still a thriving small town with stores and a movie theater. His muddy...

THE CITY HAS always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 18th-century coffeehouses of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and radical politics, to the Left Bank bars of modern Paris, where Pablo Picasso held forth on modern art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare or James Joyce; even Einstein was inspired by commuter trains. (Yuko Shimizu for the Boston Globe) And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city...

ATLANTA – Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report released Wednesday. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The teen pregnancy rate in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher. ------------- Snip

Liberals love to spend other people’s money to make themselves look, and feel, compassionate. But it is conservatives who actually donate more of their own funds than leftists to charitable causes. According to a study cited this weekend in The New York Times by uber-leftist hagiographer Nicholas Kristof, households headed by conservativs give 30 percent more to charity than households led by liberals. The study was by Arthur Brooks, called, “Who Really Cares?” Another study was even more astounding — Google found an even greater disparity: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals. What’s more,...

This holiday season is a time to examine who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but I’m unhappy with my findings. The problem is this: We liberals are personally stingy. Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates. Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, “Who Really Cares,” cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an...

Idaho Republicans are jockeying for a chance to try and retake one of the nation’s most conservative House districts next cycle — even before the new Congress is sworn into office. After a series of missteps and controversies, Rep. Bill Sali (R) narrowly lost his 1st congressional district seat to Rep.-elect Walt Minnick (D) in November. Minnick squeaked by with 50.6 percent of the vote to Sali’s 49.4 percent. The Cook Political Report ranks the district, which covers western Idaho, the 14th most conservative in the country, and it’s a top target for Republicans. President Bush won it with 69...

The Lone Star State is the last big GOP bastion where Hispanics are a sizable voting bloc. Houston When President Bush says so long to Washington on Jan. 20, he’ll return to a much different Lone Star State from the one he left eight years ago. Pickup trucks, Big Oil, and barbecue brisket still reign supreme, but this red state that helped deliver the presidency to Mr. Bush twice and his father once, and that catapulted GOP strategist Karl Rove to the national stage, is suddenly spotted with big pockets of blue. Dallas is controlled by Democrats; Houston is in...

Job seekers are better off looking in such cities as Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Rapid City, South Dakota. All of these cities registered the lowest unemployment rates in July 2008. Low unemployment rates seem harder to come by in today's economy. Jobless rates were higher in 338 of the 369 U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed this July, which means 92 percent of cities have seen an increase in their unemployment rates. Only 25 areas reported lower rates, while six areas had no change. The national unemployment rate in July, 6 percent, was up 1.1 percent from 4.9...

Andrew Gelman, in Chicago for an earlier scheduled academic conference, couldn't score a ticket to Grant Park to see Barack Obama claim victory election night. He thought of joining friends for their own party, but something was nagging at him. "I went back to my hotel room and started making graphs," says Gelman, a physicist turned statistician and political scientist who once worked for Bell Labs in Murray Hill. "I wanted to see if Obama's victory fit." If the election of an African-American fit the elaborate statistical models he had created for a book just published by the Princeton University...

Democrats gained two US Senate seats in the South this year, three if Jim Martin (D) defeats US Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in the December 2 runoff. In two years, however, the GOP will have little opportunity to reverse the Democratic trend in Dixie’s senate delegation. Of the nine Southern members of the US Senate up for re-election in 2010, eight are Republicans, only one, Arkansas’s Blanche Lincoln, is a Democrat. So numbers alone indicate that the Democrats have a major advantage going into the next election two years from now. The political battlefield may have a set of issues...

It looks like John McCain has won Missouri — the last state not marked in either red or blue on the electoral map. The Missouri secretary of state’s office said Tuesday night the Arizona Republican led President-elect Barack Obama by 4,355 votes out of 2,923,496 cast. Assuming the state certifies the count, it will place the overall electoral vote at 365 for Obama and 173 for McCain. The office said 3,159 provisional ballots remained to be added to those totals, but even if Obama won them all, McCain had a big enough margin to win the state’s 11 electoral votes....

Win or lose, some liberal pundits seem constitutionally incapable of civility toward conservatives. Four years ago, the people and states that reelected George W. Bush were branded en masse as “dumb” and as ignorant denizens of “Jesusland” — the kind of stereotyping supposedly only Republicans engage in. Bush won 31 states in that election, encompassing most of the interior of the continental U.S., over intense — some might say deranged — liberal opposition, and so perhaps their being sore losers was somewhat understandable. But even in victory liberal commentators can’t seem to show any class; now the slander of the...

In a nation turned blue, the South remains largely red. That's the takeaway from the 2008 election, and the Republicans' best hope for resurrecting their party. John McCain — for all his political waffling and personal idiosyncrasies — still held on to the South. Except for Virginia and Florida (two states heavily infiltrated by Northerners) and North Carolina (a race so close it couldn't be called until three days after the election), the South remained solidly in the GOP column. From Florida's Panhandle to Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, McCain actually garnered a higher percentage of votes than George W. Bush...

PERRYTON, Texas -- In this thriving corner of the Panhandle, "change" is a political message residents don't much believe in. Who needs change, voters here say, when the economy is booming, thanks to strong prices for oil and wheat? Unemployment is still under 3%. New businesses are still sprouting along the wide Main Street, where most storefronts are filled and parking is free Perryton and surrounding Ochiltree County last week handed John McCain 91.7% of 3,109 votes cast. The lopsided result reflects that "a lot of things that have been going on here we like, and we're not ready for...

Erick Urickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, knew he had arrived in politics two years ago when Tony Snow, the then White House press secretary, invited him to visit. Not wanting to presume, Erickson showed up at the Old Executive Office Building, where most staffers work. But when he arrived, the 33-year-old native Louisianan recalls, "they said, 'No, your appointment's at the West Wing.' At that point I knew Red State was kind of unique." [snip] That community network is where Red State's real power lies, and its organizational clout is why Erickson's latest—and most controversial—gambit has...

Mormons Targeted; 'No on 8' Messaging CriticizedA week has passed since 52% of voters in California voted to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. But the issue is far from dead. Instead of silencing gay marriage supporters, the vote has served as a rallying cry -- resulting in rallies and protests across the state that have grown in size and number with each passing day. I've avoided discussing the battle over California's Proposition 8 in this blog because I considered it more of a political issue than an advertising, marketing or communications issue. But clearly it's taken on...

The only place where Republicans are flourishing in national elections is the Deep South. There is reason to fear that if Republicans do not alter their present course they will be relegated to a permanent minority in Congress and be stuck below the 200 electoral vote mark in presidential elections. Emphasis on social conservatism does not appear sufficient to affect votes for federal offices, even in states where voters approve of socially conservative policies (e.g., Florida voted overwhelmingly against a gay marriage proposal but for Barack Obama). The challenge for Republicans is to maintain a distinctive alternative to liberalism but...

When voters consign political parties to minority status, circular firing squads usually follow. But Tennessee Democratic leaders and campaign operatives aren't blaming each other for the party's stunning losses in last week's legislative elections. They're blaming racism. Barack Obama changed the political map with the biggest Democratic victory since LBJ, but the election made a different kind of history in the alternate universe known as Tennessee. John McCain not only won the state by 15 points, he took some rural counties by 40 points or more, and those mind-boggling margins poured down the ballot to give Republicans majorities in both...

TUSCALOOSA | Don't tell Bill Maher, but the vote among the white electorate in Alabama for president elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the county at only 10 percent. From an analysis by MSNBC: "We took a look at Obama's performance with white voters in all 50 states. In 13 of them, Obama received less than 35% of the white vote. His three lowest performing states: Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%). The other 10: GA (23%), SC (26%), TX (26%), OK (29%), AR (30%), UT (31%), AK (32%), WY (32%), ID (33%), and TN (34%). On the...

I see the following states trending away from Republicans: AZ NM TX CO NV (all because of immigration) FL NH The only state I see which has trended towards us is WV. What do you think?

Tennessee Republicans served notice Wednesday that the legislature is under new management, all but promising to replace the three state constitutional officers and challenging Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to open talks on state budget issues. Although Republicans won a one-vote majority in the state Senate two years ago, they built it to a 19-14 margin Tuesday and, unexpectedly, won a 50-49 majority in the House, which Democrats held 53-46 until Election Day. Legislative historian Eddie Weeks confirmed it's the first time the GOP has held a majority of both chambers since 1869, during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Both parties...

Tennessee Republicans won a 19-to-14 state Senate majority in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial voting totals, while House Republicans appeared to have gained a 50-to-49 margin in that chamber, giving them control of it for the first time since 1971. For the first time since post-Civil War Reconstruction, the GOP holds majorities in both chambers, Republicans said. House and Senate Republicans also have enough votes — 69 — to capture the three constitutional offices of secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer. The state’s 132 legislators elect the constitutional officers, and it takes 67 votes to win. Unofficial returns showed Republican...

Everybody knows Barack Obama will be the next president, but it might be a week before they find out whether he won one of five electoral votes from Nebraska. Republican John McCain had a 569-vote lead over Obama in the state's 2nd Congressional District early Wednesday. The number of votes it takes to force a recount is based on a formula that takes 1 percent of the top vote-getter. If the tally stands, a recount would occur if the final margin is less than about 1,260 votes, because McCain had 126,303 votes.