http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/socialism/ en-us Fri, 1 Jan 2010 23:37:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419228/posts STEVE INSKEEP, host: Arnold Schwarzenegger begins his final year as governor of California in 2010. It&#x27;s another year that begins with another multibillion-dollar state budget deficit. Schwarzenegger is looking to the federal government for help. John Myers of member station KQED has more. JOHN MYERS: At an event just a few miles from the state capital in Sacramento, Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked whether he had any New Year&#x27;s resolutions in mind. ... State Senator DARRELL STEINBERG (Democrat, California): We give billions of dollars in business tax credits and nobody really knows whether or not they&#x27;re really creating jobs, and I&#x27;m... NPR http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419228/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 23:37:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419095/posts Several state attorneys general have been asked, or plan, to investigate the deal struck by Senator Ben Nelson to permanently exempt Nebraska from paying Medicaid expenses in exchange for his voting for Obamacare. An investigation of the Nelson deal would likely have two focuses. First, is the Nebraska exemption unconstitutional under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which requires &#x93;all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States?&#x94; Secondly, did the deal constitute a form of corruption? biggovernment.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419095/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 19:49:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419010/posts KAILUA, Hawaii -- Before heading to a Wednesday luau, President Barack Obama did something much more somber, his aides said: he called CIA director Leon Panetta to discuss the deaths of seven agency officers in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. On Thursday morning, before taking his family to a private viewing of the movie &#x22;Avatar 3-D,&#x22; Obama called his counterterrorism and homeland security advisers for updates on an attempted airline attack a week earlier. And on New Year&#x27;s Eve, after more than five hours of golf, the president &#x22;cleared the decks&#x22; for work, aides said -- sequestering himself for several... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419010/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 17:09:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418985/posts A Pew poll this month (Dec.) found that only 30% of respondents believed Obama&#x27;s policies had made the economy better. A president who made his name as a gifted speechmaker has fallen into a spectacular failure in communicating. He might have served himself better by making fewer trips to Scandinavia and more to construction sites in Middle America. By historical standards, Obama&#x27;s first year wasn&#x27;t bad at all. He stopped an economic free fall and got most of the way to a healthcare plan of historic proportions. In foreign policy, he made credible starts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffered... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418985/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 16:27:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418969/posts As is traditional, our first wish is for even more wishes to come true. We also wish for: * Global warming deniers to have a banner year as the Arctic ice pack returns to its normal size. Unfortunately, we&#x27;re not holding our breath on this one. * The U.S. Senate to pass a climate bill that puts a price on carbon emissions, a critical step in preventing a catastrophic rise in global temperatures. * California&#x27;s Legislature and governor to finally get real about the prison crisis and approve a sensible plan for reducing the inmate population without endangering the public.... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418969/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 15:55:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418925/posts One of the most important things to remember about socialism &#x96; or coercion of any kind &#x96; is it fails eventually because human beings have an innate desire for liberty and a strong need for personal property rights. In fact, the origins of government lie in the need of agricultural communities to protect themselves from violence and theft. So it is particularly ironic that in more recent times, it is government itself that has more frequently played the role of bandit. When you start taxing people at extreme rates to pay for socialist &#x93;benefits,&#x94; when you start telling them which... Whiskey and Gunpowder http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418925/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 14:18:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418516/posts Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Taxpayer losses from supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will top $400 billion, according to Peter Wallison, a former general counsel at the Treasury who is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. &#x93;The situation is they are losing gobs of money, up to $400 billion in mortgages,&#x94; Wallison said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The Treasury Department recognized last week that losses will be more than $400 billion when it raised its limit on federal support for the two government-sponsored enterprises, he said. Business Week http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418516/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:53:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418302/posts WASHINGTON -- The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in the latest week to its lowest level in 18 months, a sign the labor market may have turned a corner. Meantime, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday that the number of people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week also continued to decline. Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000. Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418302/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:49:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418285/posts Let&#x92;s get it straight, behind all the hubbub and noise, the international trips and summits, the TV specials and constant addresses to the nation and any other nation that would let him in, the huge spending plans and the photoshoots&#x97;Barack Hussein Obama has accomplished only one thing in his first year in office. Obama&#x92;s only real accomplishment is that he took hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money, and directed them to his donors on Wall Street, in the unions and the insurance industry. Barry Hussein took in nearly 15 million dollars in donations from securities and investments companies,... Canadian Free Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418285/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:33:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418282/posts In 2009, LA city workers saved the City of Los Angeles. Next year the hard work begins: figuring out how to provide the quality of public services the citizens of Los Angeles deserve without the hearts, hands and minds of the 2,400 workers retiring&#x97;stepping down so that their younger brothers and sisters can keep their jobs and support their young families. This will be difficult, but it will impact city services less than the 3,000 layoffs and up to 43 furlough days CAO Miguel Santana projected if the Early Retirement Incentive Plan hadn&#x92;t passed. Those 3,000 would have been the... City Watch LA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418282/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:28:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418251/posts CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela&#x27;s President Hugo Chavez scoffed on Wednesday at U.S. magazine Newsweek&#x27;s predictions that he would be toppled by a military coup and his Cuban mentor Fidel Castro would die in 2010. In a list of 10 predictions for the world next year, Newsweek foresaw in Venezuela a year of soaring inflation, power blackouts, food shortages, spiraling crime and tumbling popularity for Chavez, with the mood on the street turning &#x22;mean&#x22; even among the poor who put him in power. &#x22;The military steps in to depose Chavez and restore order, as 21st-century socialism spins toward the familiar 20th-century... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418251/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:03:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417713/posts With the healthcare battle still unfinished, the Obama administration has been laying plans to take up an issue that could prove even more divisive -- a major overhaul of the nation&#x27;s immigration system. Senior White House aides privately have assured Latino activists that the president will back legislation next year to provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. In a recent conference call with proponents, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, political director Patrick Gaspard and others delivered the message that the White House was committed to seeing... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417713/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:45:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417665/posts The only thing healthy about Congress&#x27; health insurance legislation is the healthy skepticism about it by most of the public, as revealed by polls. What is most unhealthy about this legislation is the raw arrogance in the way it was conceived and passed. In short, this is not about improving the health of the American people. It is about passing something &#x96; anything &#x96; to keep the Obama administration from ending up with egg on its face by being unable to pass a bill, after so much hype and hoopla. Politically, looking impotent is a formula for disaster at election... Orange County Register (CA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417665/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:43:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2417559/posts It is always difficult to distinguish &#x22;real leftism&#x22; from &#x22;fascist or faux leftism&#x22;. This brings up the question of how do you define the former. Secondly, any definition must yield to history. What has been done in the name of the left to date? It should be judged by results. The left has accomplished many good things such as workers rights. But at the same time it denies rights. In ways, it fights for group rights over individual rights. This points out the clash between the two. Never easy to negotiate. A balance must be found. This clash has been... ISRAPUNDIT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2417559/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:10:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417266/posts Joe Friday and Bill Gannon take the socialist manchild downtown for a little chat. Unfortunately, there was no police brutality. &#xE2;&#x98;&#xBA; Here&#x27;s The Link vs. YouTube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417266/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:50:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417257/posts I am always amazed how liberals always seem to deny that which they support.&#xA0; Often times they will go so far as to state that the organizations they support only care about the good of society.&#xA0; Take the NEA and what they support for instance.&#xA0; I have heard liberals claim that the NEA only uses their member union dues to support education initiative drives across the nation, and that the dues are not used to support federal legislation in Washington.&#xA0; Well, it is time to open the eyes of the blind and shine the light of truth on what... Enterprise Record Post Scripts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417257/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:37:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417123/posts A series of videos of RONALD REAGAN exposing the errors in Barack Obama&#x27;s socialist policies. What is amazing is that nothing has changed. Reagan warned as early as 1967 of exactly what Barack Obama, Nancy Pelsoi, and Harry Reid are doing today. It&#x27;s the same old scam. CLICK ON THE LINK: http://www.paulschiffer2010.com/videos.html Schiffer for Congress http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417123/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:53:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416348/posts At a huge rally in the capital, Cardinal Antonio Rouco, the leader of Spain&#x27;s Roman Catholics, told protesters the birth rate in Europe will be depleted unless Christian values are maintained.Catholics attended a huge open air mass beside Real Madrid&#x27;s Bernabeu stadium.The mass marked the Feast of the Holy Family. But Catholic leaders from across Europe joined their local counterparts and members of the Spanish centre-Right opposition to castigate the socialist government&#x27;s policies.&#x22;Europe will be practically without children,&#x22; warned Cardinal Rouco, 73, the conservative Archbishop of Madrid. &#x22;Who denies to defend a human being so innocent and weak, already conceived... Telegragh http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416348/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:08:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416829/posts Friends, it is important for me to keep harping on this issue because we have really been betrayed in the Senate by the Republican leadership. It is abundantly obvious now that the Senate GOP played to beat the spread, not to beat the bill. Yesterday, I noted Jake Tapper asked Mitch McConnell a plainly worded question: &#x93;[W]ill that be one of your first items should you regain control of the Senate, repealing what you guys call Obama-care?&#x94; McConnell refused to say yes or no. In fact, he never answered the question. There was, however, another nugget in the interview with... Redstate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416829/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:51:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416931/posts President Obama has laid out a series of steps that should be at the heart of our continuing efforts to accelerate job growth, rebuild our economy for the long term, and bring American families relief during these difficult times. These proposals are an important steppingstone in our efforts to fix the economy - but they are only a part of our strategy. There is no single piece of legislation that will solve our problems. Our nation faces double-digit unemployment. Far too many Americans still are struggling to make ends meet. But to understand where we need to go, it&#x27;s important... SF Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416931/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:43:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416914/posts The door isn&#x27;t expected to slam shut on foreclosures here next year. Home foreclosures, which have pummeled many Chicago area neighborhoods, are expected to continue to mount in 2010, and high unemployment will be the driver, experts say. The problem, which has driven home prices down to bargain basement levels in some hard-hit African-American communities on the South and West sides of the city, will likely attract speculators. And that could be more bad news for those neighborhoods, predicts one local researcher. While the start of the crisis was linked to the subprime mortgage meltdown, today and going forward &#x22;it&#x27;s... Chicago Sun-Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416914/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:23:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416400/posts Great speech. A younger Sarah Palin. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416400/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:26:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416108/posts If you felt a frisson of fear on news that the Senate had passed Obamacare the day before Christmas, then you now know what it was and is like to live in a dictatorship. The voice of the People was ignored in a demonstration of raw political power. There was a time when Americans took Communism seriously. It challenged us in the form of the Soviet Union and we witnessed its takeover of China. In Europe, uprisings against Soviet rule were crushed in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Poland in the 1980s gave proof... CFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416108/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:09:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2415709/posts In Britain, government-licensed pall-bearers are sometimes required to carry coffins on shopping carts rather by hand, thanks to regulations from the Department of &#x92;Ealth and Safety. In France, people are conditioned not to pick up garbage they accidentally drop on the ground. It would steal work away from public street sweepers, complete with government-issued brooms. In Hawaii, public schools are forced to be closed several Fridays out of the year, which means (because Wednesdays there are half days) children sometimes get 3&#xBD;-day school weeks. Why? The state doesn&#x92;t have enough money to keep schools open every Friday of the school... Vocal Minority < Mark Steyn http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2415709/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:53:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415666/posts See video at source Youtube, Glenn Beck Show, Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415666/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:28:00 GMT