Free Republic

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's health care overhaul cleared its first hurdle in Congress on a partisan vote Wednesday as his campaign organization rolled out television ads to build support for his top domestic priority. Obama met with Republicans at the White House in search of an elusive bipartisan compromise on his call to expand coverage to the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans as well as restrain spending increases in health care. But the 13-10 party-line vote in the Senate health committee signaled a deepening rift in Congress. While Democrats respond to Obama's call for action with renewed determination, Republicans...

WASHINGTON – Sonia Sotomayor has decided advantages as she begins the most important trial of her long legal career, a nationally televised consideration of her nomination to be the first Hispanic and just the third woman on the Supreme Court. Beginning Monday, she will tell her compelling up-from-poverty personal story to a jury tilted strongly in her favor — Democrats hold a comfortable majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a filibuster-resistant 60 votes in the Senate. Still, Republicans signaled that they will press the 55-year-old New Yorker and veteran federal judge to explain past rulings involving discrimination complaints and...

DETROIT – General Motors completed an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy protection on Friday with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy. Once the world's largest and most powerful automaker, new GM is now leaner, cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans. But GM, whose 40 days under court supervision was far shorter than anyone predicted, faces the worst auto sales slump in a quarter-century. At a news conference, CEO Fritz Henderson said the revamped automaker will be faster and more responsive to customers than the old...

ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) -- President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. The president hugged her -- she's a volunteer for his political operation -- and called her "exhibit A" in an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans. Smith, of Appalachia, Va., is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic...

WASHINGTON – Hours after the House passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to show courage and follow suit. The sharply debated bill's fate is unclear in the Senate, and Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to ratchet up pressure on the 100-seat chamber. "My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this," he said. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there...

The House churned toward a showdown vote Friday on historic legislation to reduce pollution linked to global warming and power the nation with cleaner but more expensive energy. Democrats struggled to solidify a fragile coalition needed to pass the bill -- firmly opposed by Republicans who called the measure a "job killer" that would push families' energy bills higher and drive businesses overseas. The White House and congressional Democrats argued the bill would create millions of "green jobs" as the nation shifts to greater reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and development of more fuel efficient...

One doesn't have to look much further than that to see that this is nothing but another ObamaBoondoggle that we cannot afford and do not need. There is NOTHING, I repeat "NOTHING" in our constitution or the bible for that matter that says anyone anywhere is entitled to health insurance, especially FREE health insurance for people who smoke all day and night, slop up next to bars day in and day out, shove fast food down their fat gullets everyday of the week and refuse to take care of themselves as most of America does or has done. Like this...

MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) - Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries said Tuesday. Major emitters are pushing for greenhouse gas emissions cuts that are too low to prevent devastating sea rises, representatives said at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia's Manado city. "Dealing with environmental refugees will have a much more serious impact on the global economy and global security in fact than what wars have ever done to this planet," said Rolph Payet, a presidential adviser from the...

LONDON -- On the eve of a global economic summit, President Barack Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. "We can only meet this challenge together," he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction. The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. He met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese...

Vince Shlomi, an infomercial salesman with a penchant for slanging in the vain of Ginsu, The Clapper, Life Alert and other such time and money (or life) saving multi-purpose device slicksters was involved in an incident involving a hooker he courted at a nightclub in Florida, February 7th. The Smoking Gun was first to report this story March 27th. Best known for his sales pitch for the Shamwow, the product which claims to be able extract large quantities of liquid spills created by common accidents around the home (or wherever accidental spills occur), Shlomi has created a dubious reputation promoting...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday offered a fresh package of aid to small businesses — "the heart of the American economy" — in an aggressive push to get big banks that got federal bailout money to do more lending to these struggling entrepreneurs. "You deserve a chance. America needs you to have that chance," Obama told small business owners gathered in the White House East Room as the administration detailed various steps to get credit flowing to small businesses. With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner by his side, Obama said the nation has small businesses to thank for many...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A fired-up Barack Obama ditched his TelePrompter to rally House Democrats and rip Republican opponents of his recovery package Thursday night – at one point openly mocking the GOP for failing to follow through on promises of bipartisanship. In what was the most pointedly partisan speech of his young presidency, Obama rejected Republican arguments that massive spending in the $819 billion stimulus bill that passed the House should be replaced by a new round of massive tax cuts. “I welcome this debate, but we are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies...

The Democrats’ stimulus bill is a “sham” that could pass unless enough angry voters besiege Congress with calls and e-mails, Sen. Jim DeMint, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, tells Newsmax. Citing a new Gallup poll showing that three out of four Americans oppose the stimulus in its present form, the South Carolina Republican says Americans are beginning to understand what the stimulus bill is: a grab bag of spending measures that Democrats lusted after for years and will do little to stimulate the economy. “When people see bike trails and hiking trails and golf courses, they know this is...

WASHINGTON – We may never know whether the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry worked, according to a new report from congressional auditors. That's because it will be impossible to sort out which of the government's spending and other tinkering has made a difference, according to the report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office. The report covers Treasury's administration of the bailout, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, through Jan. 23. Nearly $294 billion had been released by that date — almost $200 billion of it through a program to inject capital directly into financial institutions. The...

WASHINGTON – The recession is killing jobs at an alarming pace, with tens of thousands of new layoffs announced Monday by some of the biggest names in American business — Pfizer, Caterpillar and Home Depot. More pink slips, pay freezes and other hits are expected to slam workers in the months ahead as companies desperately look for ways to survive. "We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg — the big firms," said Rebecca Braeu, economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "There's certainly other firms beneath them that will lay off workers as quickly or even quicker." Looking ahead, economists...

Jim Hansen is the 'grandfather of climate change' and one of the world's leading climatologists. In this rare interview in New York, he explains why President Obama's administration is the last chance to avoid flooded cities, species extinction and climate catastropheRobin McKie, science editor The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009 Article historyAlong one wall of Jim Hansen's wood-panelled office in upper Manhattan, the distinguished climatologist has pinned 10 A4-sized photographs of his three grandchildren: Sophie, Connor and Jake. They are the only personal items on display in an office otherwise dominated by stacks of manila folders, bundles of papers and...

<p>Barack Obama's inauguration address will stress "responsibility" by calling on Americans in government and business to embrace a new era of proper behavior.</p> <p>"Getting our country back on track," is the core theme of the speech, said Obama Press Secretary Rob Gibbs, adding that the president-elect wrote the bulk of it as it is now.</p>

WASHINGTON – The economic crisis that will dominate Barack Obama's first 100 days as president, and beyond, will give him a rare chance to enact big portions of his agenda that otherwise might have languished for months or years. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt has a new president been poised to pack so many ambitious, costly — and, under more normal circumstances, highly contentious — projects into one fast-moving bill. As in 1933, a frightening economic collapse makes the quick political work possible, choking off longer debates and possible opposition that many of the initiatives would have faced in better...

Slideshow: President-elect Barack Obama Play Video Barack Obama Video: Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich AP Play Video Barack Obama Video: Web only: Obama names intelligence team WRAL Raleigh Reuters – President-elect Barack Obama arrives to make a speech on the economy at George Mason University in Fairfax, … WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama said Friday that he and Congress will "hone and refine" his nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan, as he seeks to patch fissures with senior Democrats over key features of the still-emerging plan. The job was made more urgent with the release of a Labor Department...

How lame is the energy bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had her House Democrats pass through the House on Tuesday? Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said before the vote that Pelosi's handiwork would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate. This from a Democrat who's up for re-election in an oil-and-gas state that would seem to gain from the bill's much-ballyhooed expansion of offshore drilling? What gives? For starters, Landrieu knows that the limited drilling the House leadership allows in principle -- it opens up waters 50 miles from shore with state approval -- is made next to impossible in practice....