http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/robertbyrd/ en-us Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:52:12 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2473682/posts Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) is the Liberal Lion of the US Senate. The longest serving member of that institution, he has been a champion of big government and spending programs for years. He is also a philosophical ally of President Obama, an ally who has been at odds with that President. The Cypress Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2473682/posts#comment Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:52:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2469229/posts This year, 2010, is the fortieth anniversary of the premier of John Denver's musical tribute to West Virginia as "almost heaven." When I think of Denver's classic song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads", byrd.senate.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2469229/posts#comment Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:33:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2425867/posts In the early 1940s, a politically ambitious butcher from West Virginia named Bob Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the "Grand Dragon" for the mid-Atlantic states came down to tiny Crab Orchard, W.Va., to officially organize the chapter. As Byrd recalls now, the Klan official, Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, Va., was so impressed with the young Byrd's organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics. "The country... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2425867/posts#comment Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:45:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412733/posts On December 20, 2009 Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said before Congress: "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That's what they ought to pray. So that we can ... get the middle of America and the middle of the Senate a bill that can run through this country and actually do what we say we all want to do." Although no particular individual was named, it was an attempt to express disapproval for the overwhelmingly Democrat-supported H.R. 3590 Health Care Bill our Government wants to push through Congress before Christmas.... Examiner.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412733/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:07:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410297/posts An extraordinary recent statement by Sen. Robert Byrd has stunned his coal-dependent home state and left West Virginia politicians and business leaders scrambling to understand the timing and motivation behind his unexpected discourse on the future of the coal industry. In an early December op-ed piece released by his office — also recorded on audio by the frail 92-year-old senator — Byrd argued that resistance to constraints on mountaintop-removal coal mining and a failure to acknowledge that “the truth is that some form of climate legislation will likely become public policy” represent the real threat to the future of coal.... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410297/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:29:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391174/posts While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly... Foxnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391174/posts#comment Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:45:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2388934/posts Here is a video report on West Virginia Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd becoming the longest serving member of Congress in American History. Byrd was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1953, and was then elected to the Senate in 1958. He is now serving his ninth term in the Senate. The report says Byrd has a 98% attendance record over these nearly 59 years in Congress, and he has cast more than 18,000 votes. Byrd will turn 92 years old this coming Friday. . . . (VIDEO) Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2388934/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:32:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388094/posts When the clock strikes midnight tonight, Sen. Robert Byrd will become the longest-serving member of Congress ever — a capstone on a remarkable career in which the adopted son of a coal miner propelled himself from poverty to the pinnacle of legislative power, where he could, did and still does send billions of federal dollars back across the Blue Ridge to help build his home state of West Virginia. Byrd’s stat sheet speaks for itself: • Served 20,774 days — or 56 years and 10½ months — in Congress • Attended 18,582 Senate roll call votes • Elected to Senate... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388094/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:30:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345530/posts Ambulances race to Byrd's home By: Manu Raju September 22, 2009 10:16 AM EST Ambulances and fire trucks were dispatched to the Northern Virginia home of Sen. Robert Byrd Tuesday morning. A neighbor of the 91-year-old West Virginia Democrat said several ambulances were outside his residence in McLean, Va., and a Byrd spokesman said the senator suffered a fall in his home. An officer at the McLean Fire Department said that a unit was dispatched at 9:10 to the address where Byrd lives, but he declined to comment on the substance of the response. Byrd – the longest-serving senator in... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345530/posts#comment Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:57:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2340355/posts "I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.” — Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1944 Within the democratic party sits a former high member of the actual KKK. That's not taking a shot at someone, that's fact. The Congressional BLACK Caucus is saying that not punishing Joe... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2340355/posts#comment Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:35:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2333959/posts H.R. 3226, the Czar ACCOUNTABILITY and Reform Act of 2009, would bar the use of appropriated funds to pay either expenses or salaries of members of task forces, councils, or similar offices established by the president and headed by a person appointed inappropriately to such a post without Senate advice and consent. American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2333959/posts#comment Mon, 7 Sep 2009 15:57:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324821/posts Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only senator to have served longer than the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mourned his friend Wednesday, saying his "heart and soul weeps." Byrd said he hoped healthcare reform legislation in the Senate would be renamed in memoriam of Kennedy. "I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come," Byrd said in a statement. "My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy." Byrd's wistful statement focused on the work accomplished with Kennedy during decades together in the Senate, and called on... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324821/posts#comment Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:46:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2277517/posts The modern GOP was created in 1965 with a stroke of Lyndon Johnson's pen. If that is an exaggeration, it is not much of one. When Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, he made a prediction: In committing the unpardonable sin of guaranteeing the ballot to all citizens regardless of race, he said, he would cause his party to lose the South ``for a generation.'' And indeed Southern Democrats, who for a century had bombed schools, lynched innocents, perverted justice and terrorized millions in the name of intolerance, responded by leaving their ancestral party in droves. They formed the base... Miami Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2277517/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:33:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276287/posts Democrats in West Virginia are gravely concerned about the health of their senior U.S. senator, 91-year-old Robert Byrd, who has been hospitalized since May with a series of infections. "We are just praying for him to get back to the Senate real soon," said Nick Casey, West Virginia Democratic Party chairman. Byrd's absence has caused distress among supporters and speculation about who would fill his seat if he is unable to return to work. As the Senate president pro tempore, Byrd is third in the presidential succession line, behind Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He is... PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276287/posts#comment Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:46:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193733/posts Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch. In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obama’s decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change. Byrd said such positions “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.” While it's... POLITICO http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193733/posts#comment Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:15:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193735/posts Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch. In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obama’s decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change. Byrd said such positions “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.” Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2193735/posts#comment Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:16:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172884/posts Geithner still passes confirmation, sworn in Monday WASHINGTON -- West Virginia Senator Robert C Byrd (D-WV) voted against the confirmation of Timothy Geithner's Senate Confirmation for Secretary of Treasury citing the nominee's snafus with his own taxes. Despite the nay votes, Geithner confirmation passed the senate Monday night 60-34 with four not voting. Geithner came under fire earlier this month when it was revealed his 2002 to 2006 taxes were not properly filed. In all Geithner has paid already $25,000 in back taxes with more expected to be paid. Following the vote, Sen. Byrd issued his reason for voting against... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172884/posts#comment Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:08:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2169695/posts Hate groups and militias across the country, known to thrive on feelings of economic desperation and political impotence, are eyeing 2009 as a year of awakening. "Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country," said a recent posting on an Arkansas-based Ku Klux Klan Web site. "The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the rose garden." For all the racial optimism that comes with Barack Obama's presidency, there is concern in... Chicago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2169695/posts#comment Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:13:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2168258/posts Ted Kennedy was taken out of the Statuary Hall luncheon after suffering an apparent seizure -- a few minutes after Sen. Robert Byrd was removed in his wheelchair under the supervision of medical personnel. Byrd was conscious and had been having trouble eating, according to a witness. Kennedy, who underwent brain cancer surgery last year, was taken to the Rayburn room. A police radio picked up a call for paramedics to help someone stricken with a seizure, according to Politico's Patrick Kennedy. Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2168258/posts#comment Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:57:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2150300/posts New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson will go before the U.S. Senate in coming weeks as Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of Commerce. Will Democrats in that chamber remember his performance in 1999 and 2000 as Energy secretary, when secrets disappeared from nuclear laboratories, and one Democratic senator promised to oppose Richardson for any future nomination? In the January of 1999, the U.S. House Select Committee on Intelligence published ... the “Cox Report” -- which found that China had stolen and still was stealing nuclear weapons secrets from the U.S. The committee reported that “the primary focus of this long-term,... HUMAN EVENTS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2150300/posts#comment Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:42:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135343/posts Thursday November 20, 2008 It is time for Sen. Byrd to retire His 50 years are long enough HIS friends won't tell him this, so maybe the one guy in West Virginia who is not a fan of Robert C. Byrd should tell him: It is time to retire from the Senate. Fifty years is enough. His is a remarkable story. Byrd's rise from the hardscrabble of Sophia in Raleigh County to being a couple of heartbeats from the presidency is a story that should live on at least in West Virginia lore. After a nice run as Senate Democratic... Charleston Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135343/posts#comment Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:55:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2117330/posts Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quietly preparing to ease 90-year-old Sen. Robert C. Byrd from his perch as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democratic insiders tell Politico. Reid has not yet discussed his plans with Byrd. But in a recent closed-door meeting with his advisers in Las Vegas and a private conversation with Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Reid has laid out a scenario that would have Inouye — the committee’s second-ranking Democrat — taking over Byrd’s chairmanship by the time the 111th Congress convenes in January. Byrd — the longest-serving senator in U.S. history — would become chairman... The Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2117330/posts#comment Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:39:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101117/posts (CNN) -- During the Democratic primaries, I wrote a column for CNN.com about how easy it is for any candidate to tar and feather another about their associations with less-than-acceptable figures. Sen. Hillary Clinton tried to blast Sen. Barack Obama for unsolicited comments made by Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, and folks like Fox News' Sean Hannity were happy to run with it, saying it was evidence that the junior senator from Illinois was unfit to be president. But critics like Hannity never bothered to raise the issue of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp praising Farrakhan for... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101117/posts#comment Thu, 9 Oct 2008 04:53:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2059386/posts Those AP guys are soooo clever. They get to highlight ongoing organized racism in the United States, which, of course serves as a proxy for the rest of racist America, and they get to guilt whites into voting for Obama solely because he's black. The Patriot Room http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2059386/posts#comment Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:03:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018172/posts May 19, 2008 Categories: Barack Obama Sen. Robert Byrd endorses Obama The Charleston Gazette reports an endorsement deep with symbolism: West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd is endorsing Barack Obama. "Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support," Byrd says. He said he has "no intention of involving myself in the Democratic campaign for President in the midst of West Virginia's primary election. But the stakes this November could not be higher." Byrd, 91, a master of Senate rules and Iraq war foe, has spent much of his political career repenting the... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018172/posts#comment Mon, 19 May 2008 17:35:40 GMT