Free Republic

The Wall Street Journal uses the following reasoning to support the bailout bill: "Our point isn't to absolve Wall Street or Washington -- far from it. The point is that credit manias are by their very nature societal, which is why the panics that follow can do so much damage to Americans outside the financial arena. They are part of a larger psychology that sweeps everyone up in euphoria for a time, only to send everyone into a defensive crouch when the credit stops. The challenge at such a moment is to prevent a panic from becoming a crash that...

Republican Senators that vote for socialism should be defeated just like the Democrats.

Joining five Democrats to make up the Gang of Ten, five Republican senators tossed Sen. John McCain under his Straight Talk Express Energy bus. The five Republican senators (Graham, Thune, Chambliss, Corker, and Isakson) should be renamed the Gang of Sellouts. The Gang of Ten is a bipartisan group of senators who recently offered an energy policy -- intentionally or stupidly otherwise -- that can only benefit Senator Obama, whose energy policy up until this point was to tell us to keep our tires just as liberals prefer Fedzilla: properly inflated.

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate have freed GOP members to go against the traditional party platform if it will help them get re-elected, aides say. The Politico reported Tuesday that the GOP leadership set their members free amid fears they could lose five or more seats to Democrats in November. Republican leaders have told senators in tough re-election bids to side with Democrats on anything but energy and national security issues, a leadership aide told Politico.

BASRA, Iraq – A congressional delegation visited the Multi-National Division – South East headquarters in Basra, Iraq, July 21 while on a fact-finding mission during a trip through the area.  Senators Jack Reed, D-R.I., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrived at Basra Air Station on an Air Force C-130. They were escorted by Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph R. Allen, command sergeant major, MNC-I.   The senators met with MND-SE leaders and Iraqi Army leaders, Lt. Gen. Mohammad, commander, Basra operations, and Maj. Gen. Aziz, commander, 14th Iraqi Army...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the Senate sought on Thursday to pass bipartisan legislation to more than triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa and other countries, but some Republican foes vowed to block it because of its cost. President George W. Bush had called for a doubling of U.S. funding to help fight a global battle against AIDS. There are indications his administration would go along with more aggressive spending, according to congressional aides. But he has had difficulty convincing some fellow Republicans in Congress to go along. Supporters of the proposed $50 billion in U.S. funds over five...

Malicious Legislation Watch Climate Security Act is about NeitherOnly US Senators would have the overbearing arrogance--think Al Gore--to think that they can vote to change climate. But the Senate votes tomorrow on a piece of Buffoonery called the Climate Security Act. Maybe the Senators attach a rider outlawing tornadoes and floods, while they're at it. Tomorrow's Senate vote, which will cost every American THOUSANDS of dollars more--while accomplishing NOTHING. Instead of filing this under "Legislative Mischief", this bill needs to go into the "Malicious Legislation" file. The Climate Security Act will affect neither climate nor security. It will, however, affect...

Worried about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon and beyond? Imagine if they were $6, $7 or even $8 a gallon. Those levels are a certain possibility should Congress pass cap-and-trade legislation, which could face a vote in early June. Oil is trading at record levels, in excess of $120 a barrel. Leading Republican Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) both told the Business & Media Institute (BMI) energy prices would drastically increase if the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 2191) is signed into law. “The studies show it would be directly affected, would be a $1.50 a...

YOUTUBE MOCKING OF BARBARA WALTERS AND HER ADMISSION OF SLEEPING WITH SENATORS

We have heard during this presidential election cycle – ad nauseam – how our country is in dire need of “change.” We are promised by each of the candidates that they are the ones – the only ones – who can bring about this much needed change. Of course, this is all disingenuous politicking. The fact of the matter is this: the office of the presidency is quite limited in its power to affect any change at all. The real entity capable of affecting immediate and dramatic change in government, the governmental branch with the real power, is the Legislative...

Vermont senators call for investigation of oil pricesThe Associated Press 4/4/2008 MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont state Senate called Thursday for Attorney General William Sorrell to launch a criminal investigation of major oil companies to see if recent petroleum price increases might involve price-fixing, consumer fraud or other violations of law. "At the same time that we are paying $3 and $4 a gallon for gas and oil, the oil companies are making record profits, billions and billions of dollars," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham. "It's puzzling to us that so few politicians both on a state...

Senator John McCain, of Arizona; Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division; and Senator Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut, check out a fruit stand in the marketplace in Iskandariyah, Iraq, March 17. Senators Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, McCain and Lieberman were in Iraq to meet with Iraqi leaders and senior U.S. military officials. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tami Hillis, 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO. JOINT SECURITY STATION ISKAN — A congressional delegation consisting of Senators John McCain, of Arizona; Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut; and Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, visited Iskandariyah, Iraq, March 17 where...

5 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — A helicopter carrying three senior U.S. senators has made an emergency landing in Afghanistan. Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft., according to Jon Summers, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The lawmakers are on a trip this week that includes stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan. Kerry and Biden are Democrats from Massachusetts and Delaware, respectively, and the Republican Hagel is from Nebraska.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A team of US senators who monitored Pakistan's parliamentary elections said Tuesday the vote was credible and legitimate, representing a historic moment for the country. Senators John Kerry, a former US presidential candidate, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel observed the vote held Monday in which President Pervez Musharraf's allies were facing a rout, according to unofficial results. Kerry said that "even if the election was not meeting the highest standard," it "meets the basic threshold of credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the Pakistani people" as well as observers. Opposition figures had alleged massive rigging in...

Sometimes the truth just has a way of coming to light. A public information officer with the Texas Department of Transportation this week wrote a column in the Herald-Press describing the financial woes facing TxDOT and how because of those problems the state’s transportation department doesn’t have the money to deal with many of the state’s transportation issues. Apparently, several of the state’s senators do not feel that is the case at all. David Dewhurst called out the state’s interim chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Hope Andrade, on this very issue, according to a story from the Associated Press....

In the 38 elections since the first Republican convention chose John Charles Frémont to carry their 1856 presidential campaign, only 3 Republicans who served in the Senate ever got elected to the Presidency. And only Warren Gamaliel Harding won every Presidential election in which he contested. Elected in 1920 on a platform of content-free Senatorial blather, he perished before the unraveling of the incredible scandals of his Administration and thus didn't bear the consequences personally. No other Senator boasted his perfect record (1-0) in Presidential elections. Senator Benjamin Harrison narrowly won election in 1888 and thereby became the only Senator...

WASHINGTON: Eight US senators have asked President George Bush to take quick and decisive action to help ensure that Pakistan moves in the right direction. In a letter addressed to the president, the senators have asked for an immediate, thorough, and credible investigation to be conducted under the aegis of the UN into the murder of former Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. They have also asked for the reinstatement of sacked Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, as well as that of other dismissed judges for the sake of a functioning independent judiciary. All those arrested during the emergency, they...

In last week's column I highlighted comments made to the Financial Times of London by U.S. Comptroller General David Walker in which he compared the current political, social, and economic situation in the United States to that of the Roman Empire shortly before its collapse. I heard from a number of readers in response to the column… Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. While a couple of folks used the opportunity to plug a particular presidential candidate or legislative issue, almost all were in agreement that things in our nation must change drastically and quickly. Despite a booming economy, low unemployment, and...

There are very, very few things about the Constitution that I would just outright change. There are lots of very important areas where reasonable people can differ, with enormous consequence, and I would certainly like to see those clarified, but that's not what I mean here. Here I'm talking about things in the current Constitution, as amended, that are just plain wrong. The first and foremost among these is the 17th Amendment. If I could change one thing about the Constitution, it would be to clarify the meaning of "general welfare". If I could change two, though, the second would...

Preacher Rebuffs Senate Spending Inquiry Dec 5 09:13 PM US/Eastern By ERIC GORSKI and RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writers Write a Comment View larger image One of six Christian ministries under investigation by a Senate committee is rebuffing inquiries into its spending, challenging the panel's watchdog role over religious groups, The Associated Press has learned. A lawyer for preacher Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in suburban Atlanta has asked Sen. Charles Grassley to either refer the matter to the IRS or get a subpoena, according to a letter from Dollar's attorney obtained Wednesday by the AP. Grassley, the...

Napoleon resident John F. “Jack” Green is 78 years old and runs about three miles every morning. He also is running for Congress in the 5th District special election as a write-in candidate. “I’m running because I can’t lose. I can only win,” Green said. “How can you lose something you never had?” While Green’s name will not be on the ballot, the names of State Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, and Democrat Robin Weirauch of Napoleon will be. Green said he ran for the same congressional seat six or eight years ago, when no Democrat candidate was running. Green,...

Many people with whom I talk about politics with are stunned by my constant assertions that America is not supposed to be a democracy. I credit public education for this. The fact is that most people are almost totally ignorant of history and completely brain-dead about the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers did not give us a democracy, nor did they intend to. They were very well-educated men (especially by today's standards), and they knew, historically, democracies had never worked, even on the small scales when they had been attempted. They knew if democracy wouldn't work on the small scale of...

Abstract: "The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy" analyzes the shift in the role of the Supreme Court following the movement towards a democratic Senate which culminated in the Seventeenth Amendment. The Supreme Court's shift is presented as the inevitable result of the system of mixed government that underlies the constitutional order, which orders American Government into democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical parts. While in the original conception of the constitution the Senate was the aristocratic part, the Senate would become part of the democratic part with the Seventeenth Amendment and prior procedural changes. Into...

With respect to states' rights, it should be readily apparent to all that state governments cannot exert any meaningful influence or control over the federal government, judiciary, or any other federal institution. Let us state the problem precisely. At the present time, there are no checks and balances available to the states over federal power or over Congress itself in any area. However, in the history of our country, it was not always this way. In the original design by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, there was an effective check on Congress through the state legislatures' power to appoint...

This weblog calls for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and addresses the abusive hegemony committed by the U. S. Senate. If Americans want to remove some corruption from government, the first significant step is to repeal the 17th Amendment. Americans should fear the steady growth by the oligarchy in the Senate. We should fear the oligarchs more because our Constitution cannot be spoiled by bombs, the courts, or the President; only through legislation.

The Senate annoys you, wouldn't it be sweet to annoy them back? Here's how to tick off... Harry Reid: In his presence, drink that popular 90s beverage, Surge Ted Kennedy: Hold a beer bottle just out of his reach John Kerry: Always wear flip-flops in his presence, and ask him if he wants a Purple Heart the next time he gets a paper cut. And while you're at it, ask him if the paper was made from wood in Bush's timber company. Barack Obama: Ask him how the President of Canada is doing Barbara Mikulski: When she gets up to...

Brilliant and handsome, ambitious and arrogant, New York Republican Roscoe Conkling was one of the most compelling and colorful members of the late-nineteenth-century Senate. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) has described him as “a veritable bird of paradise amidst a barnyard of drabber fowl. While his colleagues favored black,” Byrd writes, “Conkling sported green trousers, scarlet coats, gold lace, striped shirts, and yellow shoes.” Soon after his arrival in 1867, this flamboyant orator became one of the Senate’s principal Republican leaders. Conkling built a strong state political machine through his control over New York City’s patronage-rich customshouse. When an investigation uncovered...

Welcome to Arlen Specter, the B side. One week after standing up for the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick, a Bush appeals court nominee being stonewalled by Democrats, the mercurial Republican from Philadelphia has come up with a strange new quest. On Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican announced his plans to "review" the confirmation hearing testimony of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito to see how it matches their decisions on the bench. "There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it," Senator Specter said of the Chief...

The soldiers think they can win. Some Senators lose their nerve. Richard Lugar of Indiana, George Voinovich of Ohio, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, and John Warner of Virginia have together served more than a century in the world's greatest deliberative body. Historians will remember their time in public office for Reagan's challenge to the Soviet Union, for the success of pro-growth economic policies, for welfare reform, for the reinvigoration of a constitutionalist approach to the courts, for the framing of a foreign policy for the post-9/11 world. None of these men played a leading role in any of these...

Who are the Senators that think 70% of you, don't know anything First off, CONGRATULATIONS, nothing, and we mean nothing has affected the Legislature branch of government than you did about immigration this past month.  You shut down the phone system for all of the capitol building on Thursday.  You emailed, faxed, wrote, and relentlessly phoned your Senators that this amnesty (immigration) plan was horrible.   In keeping with our great philosophy of providing you with the facts, consider this a reminder when you vote for these Senators at their next election.Immigration VoteGrouped by Home State (June 26th 2007) If they voted...

I had a chance to interview Bob Bennett today while in Boston. He had some interesting things to say about Romney and those Senators who "support" him:Click for video.

We thank the following Senators for doing the work that no other American Politician would do.

Name Email Fax Telephone * Alexander (R-TN) http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home 202-228-3398 (202) 224-4944 Bennett (R-UT) http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/emailmain.html 202-228-1168 (801) 524-5933 * Cochran (R-MS) http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm 202-224-9450 (601) 965-4459 * Coleman (R-MN) http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm 202-224-1152 (612) 645-0323 * Collins (R-ME) http://collins.senate.gov 202-224-2693 (207) 945-0417 * Cornyn (R-TX) http://cornyn.senate.gov/contact/index.html 202-228-2856 (512) 469-6034 * Craig (R-ID) http://craig.senate.gov/email/ 202-228-1067 (208) 342-7985 * Domenici (R-NM) http://domenici.senate.gov/contact/contactform.cfm 202-228-3261 (505) 346-6791 Gregg (R-NH) http://gregg.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.cfm 202-224-4952 (603) 225-7115 Hatch (R-UT) http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Offices.Contact 202-224-6331 (801) 524-4380 Hutchison (R-TX) http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.html 202-224-0776 (214) 361-3500 Kyl (R-AZ) http://kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm 202-224-2207 (602) 840-1891 Lott (R-MS) http://lott.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Email 202-224-2262 (601) 965-4644 * McConnell (R-KY) http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm 02-224-2499 (502) 582-6304 Murkowski (R-AK) http://murkowski.senate.gov/contact.cfm XXX...

Happy Tuesday! This is going to be one hell of a day people! We need to energize, organize and FIGHT. Today is VERY important, today is the day Bush plans to try and revive the ILLEGAL immigration senate bill #1348. He is desperate to shove this bill through. PLEASE continue to call your senators and congressmen, we have to continue fighting this! Here are a few numbers along with a link you can cut and paste to find your senator’s own personal number!!! Wooohooo!! 1-800-417-7666 Senators numbers Here is a number for congress: 1-202-224-3121 We stopped it before, we can...

WASHINGTON --When Sen. Patrick Leahy wants privacy, he heads down one of the Capitol's marbled hallways and through a locked door next to a hulking, white marble statue. Then, through another locked door, into a hideaway secure from the bustle outside. Many of the 100 senators have these coveted, hard-to-find nooks scattered around the Capitol, a cherished perk on top of their official suites in the nearby Senate buildings where the staff works and constituents drop in. Hideaways have been popular places for legislative dealmaking -- even a little monkey business, too.

WASHINGTON — Trent Lott usually doesn't answer his Senate phone himself, but when angry callers are burning up the lines — as they are over this week's debate about revising the nation's immigration laws — the Republicans' No. 2 Senate leader has picked up to hear what they have to say. A lot of the talk is misinformation, he says. Talk radio and the blogs were blasting the compromise bill, which includes a guest-worker program and a path to legal status for many illegal immigrants, well before the bill's text was ready for senators Tuesday. "We talked for 15 minutes,"...

The Iraq funding bill has triggered an all-out battle of words between presidential candidates from both parties after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) compared the “no” votes of Democratic frontrunners Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) with surrendering to al Qaeda. Clinton and Obama were among the 14 senators who opposed the funding bill, which Congress sent to President Bush late Thursday. “This vote may win favor with MoveOn and liberal primary voters, but it’s the equivalent of waving a white flag to al Qaeda,” McCain said, regarding the vote of his Democratic opponents. Obama returned fire, saying...

RYE, N.H. - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) opened a two-day offensive against Republican Sens. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record) and Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record), telling New Hampshire voters on Friday their senators should do more to end the war. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told a town hall audience in Rye that Sununu, Gregg and 14 other Republican senators are the main roadblocks to ending the unpopular war in Iraq. Obama backs a plan that would give the Democratic-controlled Congress more control over the war's finances and begin a troop redeployment before President Bush...

Sen. Isakson and Sen. Chambliss stand with Kennedy for largest amnesty in history DEAR GEORGIANS, Your two Senators stood at the press conference this afternoon and lent their support to the worst immigration bill in history -- and there have been some disastrous ones. After months of promising the voters of Georgia that they would never participate in full legalization of the 12-20 million illegal aliens, these two Senators are embracing a bill that will allow more than 98% of them to remain in your communities and job markets forever. And your Senators didn't even get the trigger they talked...

WASHINGTON - Congress can stage one heck of an immigration debate, as senators have shown. But writing new immigration law? That's the real test. Starting as early as Monday, the Senate revives an immigration overhaul drama that still lacks a coherent ending. The cast is familiar and the lines well-rehearsed, but the plot is a work in progress. "We've studied this enough," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno, Calif.-based Nisei Farmers League. "Now, it's time to move it through." Negotiators were meeting throughout the weekend, seeking a big compromise before public debate begins. On Friday, hinting at progress, Senate...

 These men and women were willing to take a risk.When the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to lift the president's restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research, it failed to reach the number of votes necessary to overturn a promised Bush veto. That’s because 34 Senators resisted a bipartisan tide and said “No” to the destruction of preborn humans. Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics for Focus on the Family Action, said pro-life senators who stood their ground will be criticized in some circles because of it.   “Some of these senators have watched as the composition of the Senate has shifted away...

WASHINGTON — Three senior Democratic lawmakers are demanding that the Department of Justice provide clean copies of all documents relating to the U.S. attorneys investigation, including previously produced copies that had portions blacked out and others that may have been withheld.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic senators introduced legislation that would bar US use of cluster bombs in or near civilian areas or that have a "dud rate" of one percent or greater. Human rights groups urged speedy action on the bill sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record) of California and Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont. Dropped from aircraft or fired by artillery, cluster munitions open above ground and disperse dozens to hundreds of tiny bomblets over a wide area. Although designed to stop armored assaults, bomblets have fallen on civilian areas and littered fields long...

Tom Coburn doesn’t care about the midterm elections. Sure, he’s a senator. Sure, he’s a Republican. And sure, that means his party lost control of both houses of Congress last fall and will be out of power until at least 2009. But what difference does that make to Coburn? “I don’t think it matters,” he said on a warm day in December, sitting in his office on the first floor of the Russell Senate building as the annual session came to a close. “It will be my first time in the minority party, but I’ve been in the minority the...

Bill Kristol writes bluntly about the choice facing Republican senators next week. It is a piece that will circulate throughout the Beltway this weekend, hopefully to good effect. But even Kristol understates the fury that is building among party regulars towards senators who have thrown in with Carl Levin to, as Howard Dean put it, "repudiate the president's policy." (The same anger is building towards the House leadership's embrace of me-too defeatism embodied in Republican Leader Boehner's resolution, though there the error is a blunder, not a purposeful one, and might yet be corrected by the withdrawal of the resolution.)...

WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic senators warned Tuesday against a drift toward war with an emboldened Iran and suggested the Bush administration was missing a chance to engage its longtime adversary in potentially helpful talks over next-door Iraq. "What I think many of us are concerned about is that we stumble into active hostilities with Iran without having aggressively pursued diplomatic approaches, without the American people understanding exactly what's taking place," Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., told John Negroponte, who is in line to become the nation's No. 2 diplomat as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's deputy....

Destroying a president is not much of a strategy to win a war, but it's all the Democrats have. The churls of the left don't seem to care whether their country wins the war, the important thing is to "keep hate alive." If hate worked in '06, maybe it will work again in '08, when the stakes will be considerably higher. Sometimes it's not only hate, but a bit of schadenfreude, too, taking pleasure in the woes of the enemy. "Partisan pleasure in George Bush's pain dates to the anguish of the contested 2000 election loss," observes Daniel Henninger in...

I know they think they are already the President,how many and who are they?I've lost track.

California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are embracing two different approaches to fighting global warming as the new Democrat-led Congress prepares to take action on the issue. Feinstein has attracted industry support with a bill targeting the electricity sector that would allow trades of pollution credits. Boxer, who chairs the Senate's environment committee that will hold hearings on the issue, has signed onto legislation aiming for more dramatic cuts of heat-trapping emissions. Both Democrats are citing California's landmark anti-global-warming law, passed last year, which imposed the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. They're also both optimistic about the...

<p>THE DEC. 1 appearance of US Senator Barack Obama at the World AIDS Day summit signals one possible, and hopeful, future for American politics. The summit, hosted by best-selling evangelical preacher Rick Warren, was itself significant; who would have thought 20 years ago that evangelicals, who then barely acknowledged the existence of AIDS, would now be leaders in calling public attention to its ravages -- particularly in Africa?</p>