Free Republic

THE SAD ROAD TO SOCLIALISM What happens When Private Property is No Longer a Right by John Loeffler Contributor, Steel on Steel Radio Program Co-host, Financial Sense Newshour July 18, 2008 “But if the government undertakes to control and to raise wages, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to care for all who may be in want, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to support all unemployed workers, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to lend interest-free money to all borrowers, and cannot do it; if .... ‘The state considers that its purpose is...

Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON -- Republican White House hopeful John McCain said Friday that his Democratic rival Barack Obama is further to the left than the only Socialist US senator. Asked by a reporter for the Kansas City Star newspaper if McCain, 71, believed Obama was an "extremist," McCain replied: "That's his voting record. All I said was his voting record... is more to the left than the announced Socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont," McCain said according to a video of the interview posted online. "Do you think he's a socialist, Barack Obama?" the interviewer asked....

At a town hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, had the "most extreme" record in the Senate. Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling later asked McCain about that comment. "Extreme?" Helling asked. "You really think he's an extremist? I mean, he's clearly a liberal." "That's his voting record," responded McCain. "All I said was his voting record, and that is more to the left than the announced Socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont." Asked Helling: "Do you think he's a socialist, Barack Obama?" "I don't...

An American congressperson wants to take your business away. Shocked that an elected legislator from California who swore an oath to defend the United States Constitution vows to do what the Constitution does not give her the authority to do? You shouldn’t be because Rep. Maxine Waters is a liberal. The following is but a glimpse of what occurred in late May when a Democrat-led Congress summoned “big oil” executives to Capitol Hill to be publically harassed in a Stalinist like inquisition on the rising cost of gas. John Hoffmeister (Shell Oil): “I can guarantee to the American people, because...

Eight days after the atrocities of September 11, 2001, Barack Obama wrote a piece for the Hyde Park Herald—and blamed the attacks on “a failure of empathy.” "Even as I hope for some measure of peace and comfort to the bereaved families, I must also hope that we as a nation draw some measure of wisdom from this tragedy. Certain immediate lessons are clear, and we must act upon those lessons decisively. We need to step up security at our airports. We must reexamine the effectiveness of our intelligence networks. And we must be resolute in identifying the perpetrators of...

A prominent journalist doesn't just want our air conditioners turned down. He wants them off. This is the sort of nonsense we're getting from the anti-energy, global-warming-is-making-us-sick left. Time's Joe Klein probably thought he was being clever when he wrote his late June essay on the evils of cooling headlined "Kill Your Air Conditioner." Instead, he wrote yet another chapter in the left's book of environmental silliness. "The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease," said Klein. "Air conditioning is bad for the planet, and for national security, and for our balance-of-payments deficit."

Democrats are getting desperate. Even with all their pomp and circumstance and rhetoric about their dominance of the political arena, they are taking the steps of a desperate party. Case in point, their leveraging of relationships with nefarious characters and out-of-touch liberals to raise money for fledgling Democrat Senate campaigns across the country. Last week Politico reported that, “Los Angeles’ top liberal female activists are planning the political fundraiser for Sept. 27 at a private home.” According to the article, “The idea started with alums of the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, a Reagan-era power PAC that included Jane Fonda, Kate...

Boris Johnson urged people to walk away if they see a crime committed rather than risk their own lives. The London mayor admitted he would tell his own children to "look after themselves" rather than play Good Samaritan to a victim. "Everybody is shocked by the level of violence we are seeing, particularly towards young people, and we must all work as hard as we can to reverse this dreadful trend."

Obama’s useful idiot minions on college campuses across America may have no clue what types of change Obama has in store for America. But every Marxist, Socialist and Communist around the globe, knows all too well… “We support Barack Obama because he knows what is best for the people!” (snip) I took this quote from a group on Obama’s official campaign web site, calling themselves, Marxists, Socialists and Communists for Obama” (snip) How can so many Americans be so easily duped into rallying behind the most unqualified man to ever seek the Oval Office, who also clearly represents the will...

As pressure builds to develop America's domestic energy resources, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now says it's a health issue. Coal and oil, he says, make us sick. So why does he oppose nuclear power? The Dr. No of the drill-nothing Congress tried to deflect the issue of rising gas prices Monday by telling Fox Business News that there are costs we should worry about besides those stemming from Democratic inaction. Our guilt is supposed to replace our anger. "Coal makes us sick," Reid said, "oil makes us sick, it's global warming, it's ruining our country, it's ruining our world,...

NY-24: Arcuri Tied to Spitzer Prostitution Scandal Former Fundraiser Under Federal Investigation By Bluey Posted in Congress | Freshman Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.) paid $44,000 to a political consultant who is under federal investigation as part of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. The story first broke on a blog in Arcuri's hometown of Utica, N.Y., and is now leading the news in the Upstate New York city.

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) have said in recent weeks that U.S. oil refineries should be "socialized" -- that is, nationalized and run by the federal government. But Waters apparently is now backing away from those comments...

Obama calls for oil crackdown By: Mike Allen June 22, 2008 12:39 PM EST With the cost of gas a top issue in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama on Sunday will announce a plan to crack down on oil speculation by tightening regulations on energy traders. The announcement is further evidence that an Obama administration would take an activist, populist approach to regulating business. Obama wants to close a loophole in federal law that exempts some energy traders from regulations that govern other exchange-traded commodities. Democrats call this “the Enron loophole” because it benefited the Houston energy-speculation firm that collapsed...

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker stepped off the idea of nationalizing oil refineries, telling FOX News on Thursday he only means to put "national pressure" on oil companies a day after he endorsed the idea of government refinery ownership. Following President Bush's call on Wednesday for the re-opening of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil exploration after a 27-year moratorium, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., endorsed the idea of national ownership of at least some U.S. oil refineries. [snip] But on Thursday, Hinchey avoided questions over his support for U.S. ownership of refineries in an interview with FOX News. He conceded,...

In fact, Representative Maurice Hinchey stated that “we (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

Partner: Emma Beal was reported to earn £96,000 as Ken Livingstone's administration manager   Job scrapped: Anni Marjoram, whose title was 'women's adviser'  Out: from left to right, planning chief Eleanor Young, creative industries adviser Emma St Giles, and events adviser Jude Woodward     Ken's partner axed as Boris Johnson purges City Hall 'wimmin'Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor 18.06.08 Boris Johnson continued his City Hall clear-out today as five senior staff known as "Ken's wimmin" lost their jobs. Ken Livingstone's partner Emma Beal, who was employed by the ex-Mayor as his "administration manager", was the most high profile...

House Democrats responded to President Bush's proposal to end the moratorium on offshore as well as Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by telling the president to drop dead, although they used a lot more words to make the same point. The Democrats' main argument was that the oil industry is already in possession of 68 million acres of oil leases and that Big Oil should drill away on those before they come around asking the federal government for any more land or ocean floor. At a Capitol Hill press conference following Bush's White House Rose Garden appearance, Rep. Ed Markey of...

Fox news alert that the House Democrats are calling to have all US refineries nationalized!!

PARIS: There is good news and bad news for President George W. Bush as he pursues his valedictory tour of Europe this week, according to a new worldwide study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. On the one hand, the image of the United States has improved slightly in many countries over the past year. On the other, the new optimism appears to be driven largely by the fact that Bush will soon be leaving office. In addition, while the prospect of Bush's departure and the excitement of the U.S. primary contest have helped the image of the United States,...

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama is far more popular around the world than Republican presidential candidate John McCain, according to a 24-nation poll released Thursday by the Pew Global Attitudes Survey. The Pew study finds that Obama is wildly popular among traditional U.S. allies in Western Europe and Australia, where people have become alienated by American foreign policy during the Bush years. Among the nations polled, Obama was most popular in France and Tanzania, where 84 percent of citizens said they had confidence in his leadership. Other hotbeds of Obama enthusiasm are Germany (82 percent), Australia (80 percent),...

Has anyone been to this site ? http://www.crooksandliars.com I got banned in less than 20 minutes. 4 posts and poof...I was out of there. This is without a doubt the biggest liberal viper pit I've ever found. And now I'm banned

Two weeks ago at RedState, we documented Obama’s 1996 endorsement by the New Party. A review of the New Party establishes that not only was the party an amalgamation of far left groups, but Barack Obama knew that when he sought the party’s endorsement. Most of the New Party’s history has been lost in the digital age. It was established in 1992 and started to die out in 1998, well before Google and the modern web were established. But through lengthy searches of the Nexis archive and microfilm at the local university library, I’ve been able to piece this together....

When a high-ranking U.S. senator sounds more like Karl Marx than Adam Smith over the issue of energy prices, it must be an election year. Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, appeared on CNBC’s June 10 “Squawk Box” pushing government control of corporate profits. Dodd said he considered a company to be “doing very, very well” with profits above $8 or $10 per barrel of oil. He said he advocated a windfall profits tax, where Congress would determine what amount of profit is fair and what isn’t. Co-host Joe Kernan called the Connecticut senator on...

The federal case against him is so strong that prosecutors had no interest in striking cooperation agreements with the ringleader of Spitzer's hooker-supplier, Emperors Club VIP, and his second in command, sources told The Post's Murray Weiss. Prosecutors have records of Spitzer's transactions, phone records and taped conversations with Emperors Club, and are confident they need little more to nail him on charges that could include violating prostitution laws and money laundering, sources said. Probers are also said to be looking into whether he used campaign funds to pay for his pleasures. The case against Spitzer includes the cooperation of...

If the official John McCain for President website featured an anti-Semitic article about the Jewish lobby, would media report it? Probably so much so that the Republican presidential nominee would be forced to issue an explanation and an apology. Well, on Saturday evening, a person representing Socialists for Obama published an article (link no longer operable) at Barack Obama's official campaign website with the disgraceful headline "How The Jewish Lobby Works" (disgusting content after the jump, h/t's to Larwyn, American Thinker, Doug Ross, and Israel Matzav): NO LOBBY IS FEARED MORE or catered to by politicians than the Jewish Lobby....

Activists who plan to protest at the Democratic National Convention this summer are splitting with the umbrella organization, Re-create 68, because of concerns over its rhetoric and tactics... The new coalition, called Alliance for Real Democracy, is a network of local and national groups, including Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice, the American Friends Service Committee, the Green Party of Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Colorado Street Medics, and Students for Peace and Justice. “We’ve separated ourselves; we’re not part of Re-create 68,” said Claire Ryder, chairwoman of the Denver Green...

LONDON, June 4 -- For much of the world, Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire the United States, at a time when the nation's image abroad has been seriously damaged. From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing "WE DID IT!" on the "Brits for Barack" site on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for the United States. "This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime," said Sunila...

To say that Europeans will welcome President George Bush on his farewell visit to Europe next week would invite a charge of verb-abuse. Welcome is hardly the word. But they will be glad to see the back of him. His two terms have been a bad time for relations between Europe and the United States. The question now is how much better those relations will get under a President Barack Obama or John McCain. My guess is: with Obama, it will be very different and an exciting ride, but still not easy; with McCain, a little better than with Bush...

A really interesting theory about the alleged Michelle Obama tape, which could explain a lot, from the liberal blog Booman Tribune. Michelle, offering a speech critical of President Bush, offers a refrain of "why'd he" — the words "why did he" mushed together — that sounds like "whitey" on the tape. Apparently, if the tape ever comes to light, her words will sound something like: Whitey cut folks off Medicaid? Whitey let New Orleans drown? Whitey do nothing about Jena? Whitey put us in Iraq for no reason? ...when the intended message is, Why'd he cut folks off Medicaid? Why'd...

Politics: Imagine an America where the government decides what profits are acceptable. Imagine our country with the oil industry nationalized. Impossible? Not with Democrats in control of Washington.One California Democrat, saying out loud what many on her side of the aisle have been thinking for some time, has threatened to seize the oil industry. "This liberal will be all about socializing, uh, uh . . . would be about . . . basically taking over and the government running all of your companies," Rep. Maxine Waters told oil executives on May 22 during yet another show-trial congressional hearing. Socializing, nationalizing...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The socialist and nationalist parties that will soon rule Serbia's capital Belgrade vowed on Wednesday to prove their pro-Western rivals wrong by making the city more attractive to investors and a better place to live. National and local elections on May 11 left Serbia split between nationalists, led by the Radical Party, and liberals led by the Democratic Party. The Socialists of late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic emerged as kingmakers in the elections and hold the key to coalitions at the local and national level. It is unclear if the Socialists' deal with the Radicals in the capital,...

magine that John McCain named a young running mate to campaign with him, and this national rookie suggested America had 58 states, repeatedly used the wrong names for the cities he was visiting, and honored a Memorial Day crowd by acknowledging the "fallen heroes" who were present, somehow alive and standing in the audience. How long would it take for the national media to see another Dan Quayle caricature? Let's raise the stakes. What if it was the GOP presidential candidate making these thoroughly ridiculous comments? This scenario is very real, except it isn't McCain. It's the other fellow. ABC...

... Democrat Representative Maxine Waters experienced a Freudian slip and uttered the secret fraternity password that identifies her Party. She spoke the word all members of her party know must be hidden from every rational thinking citizen. While addressing oil executives during a House hearing on May 22, 2008 Waters threatened to nationalize the oil industry if it failed to do something to stop the ever-escalating price of gasoline at the pumps. In a harsh exchange with Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, the California congresswoman demanded that oil companies guarantee consumer prices will fall if drilling is allowed off U.S....

"There is no problem that is not so bad that it cannot be made worse by Congress fixing it." --REBierceRep. Maxine Waters(D-CA)is a modern, on-the-go Democrat! Here, she takes time out of her busy day calling for a commie-styled take-over of U.S. oil companies, to indulge her compulsion to blame America for 9/11. Where does she find the time? She must wear roller skates! The heads of U.S. oil companies completed the second stage of their Congressional Big-Oil-Bash-Athon yesterday by answering questions from largely-economically illiterate congressmen--and women. Congress took time out from pandering in person to pander in front of...

Befitting the catastrophic stupidity of this idea, she doesn’t even know what the proper term for it is. I’m sitting here telling myself that Shep and the Foxies must have taken this out of context somehow since it would seem rather newsworthy and yet there’s not a single article about it on the wires that I can find. Go figure. But here you go, one of the most alarming collectivist ad libs by a mainstream American politician since the last creepy thing Hillary said, whatever that may be. Viva Chavez!

Did you hear that Obama criticized us for driving big SUVs and eating our foods? I heard it on Fox News' 'Special Report' a few minutes ago. Mr. Barak Hussein Osama Bin-Laudin Obama, I do not want my GOVERNMENT to tell me either: a)What kind of car I can drive or b)What food I can eat. I live in a FREE COUNTRY -- so I don't need a NANNY STATE to tell me what to do. That is SOCIALISM you JACK@SS!!

Obama: Stealth Socialist? By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Friday, May 16, 20008 Election 2008: After his blowout win in North Carolina, Barack Obama crowed that it's time "to perfect this nation." What does that mean? He won't say — perhaps for good reason. As this long primary season drags on, the presumed Democratic nominee for president still won't bring his vision for "change" into focus. He continues to speak in glittering generalities, providing few details. The reticence, combined with Obama's radical ties, begs the question: Is he hiding an un-American agenda? ......

George Soros talked about domestic and international financial markets, and the impact of a recent mortgage crisis on other sectors of the economy. In his remarks he said the worst of the financial crisis might be over but the effects of he crisis might be felt for some time to come by various sectors of the economy. Mr. Soros is the author of The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crash of 2008 and What It Means, published by PublicAffairs.

Is Obama taking a page out of Hugo's book or vice versa. The stories are astoundingly similar. May 1 -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said. The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance...

MAY DAY 2008 Unity grows among immigrants, Black community and labor By Teresa Gutierrez Published Apr 30, 2008 9:47 PM May Day press conference, April 28, New York City. Third from the left is Teresa Gutierrez. WW photo: Deirdre Griswold April 27—On April 25 when the not guilty verdict against the cop killers of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old African American was announced, immigrant rights activists and many immigrants spontaneously joined the progressive movement in a demonstration in Queens, N.Y., to protest the racist verdict. ... (big snip) "Workers World Party Secretariat members Teresa Gutierrez and Fred Goldstein will deliver papers...

You'll recall the name Michael Pfleger. He's, you know, the white Jeremiah Wright. Now, it appears the radical, hate-preaching Pfleger is playing therapist and go-between for newly-divorced couple Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright. Seriously. You almost can't parody this mess. But Iowahawk can and does so again brilliantly with "Advice for the Lovelorn." Can this campaign be saved?

Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell's firm that eventually totaled $112,000. A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.

Barack Obama is calling for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, becasue it’s the “right” thing to do.. Yesterday, he said: It isn’t right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt... . This is the second time Obama has defended one of his economic proposals with redistributionist justifications... . It is not clear just how deep Obama’s redistributionist thinking goes...However, Obama has shown intense interest in his father’s extreme redistrbutionist's views...

Lessons from Jefferson - America is politically divided down the center line between individual freedom and a so-called greater common good. Half of the country is trying desperately to protect and preserve a maximum level of individual freedom and liberty for themselves and future generations, while the other half is desperate to take from those according to their means in order to fill the perceived needs that they have failed to fill on their own. Many American voters are struggling to escape the reality that freedom isn’t free and never was. They try to hide from the fact that freedom...

The NYTs seems to be posed on the brink of a new crusade. They have "uncovered" the fact that the Department of Justice, has - in a time of economic uncertainly and possible contraction - decided to forgo proceedings that might prove as ruinous to companies now coping with the difficulties of the current economic circumstances as were the legal actions that closed the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson in 2002 - leaving 28, 000 of its employees without work as a consequence. Apparently - to the staff of the Times - another "fix" is called for. Perhaps a really...

It occurs to this poster - for the election of 2008 each of the parties - has fallen under the control of the caricatures, each is accused of by the other: Democrats, really are becoming the far-left bug eyed Marxists, they're accused of being by Republicans. Republicans, really are beholden to a few big businesses, to which they pledge open borders and so-called "free trade".

We have commented before on Greg Ransom’s fascinating article, Obama Hid His Father’s Socialism From Readers. The article details the extreme socialist leanings of Barack Obama’s father and the seeming journey Barack Obama II has taken to explore the socialist thought that his father held so strongly. Has some of the father’s redistributionist thinking rubbed off on the son?...

In Part II, I want to take a closer look at Obama’s international support, their idea of “change” and what role the international community expects Obama to play in serving their agendas in the world. Who’s Agent of Change? ”We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections.” – a sentiment shared by many American Obama supporters, however this statement was made by Middle East terror organization, Hamas’ top political adviser in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed Yousuf. In an interview with WorldNetDaily, the isolated Hamas terrorist organization expressed “hope” Sen. Barack Obama will win the presidential...

PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts." Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim...

Huge, perhaps historic, victory for Berlusconi's "Popolo della liberta' " (which translates a bit awkwardly as "the people of liberty;" maybe it's better to call it "the freedom folks"). It's considerably worse than AP lets on. Berlusconi defeated Walter Veltroni's "Democratic Party" by a full 9 points in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. And since the Italian electoral system gives a bonus to the winning side, the margins are very big and stable: 340 to 241 in the Chamber (with another 36 for a couple of small parties), and 167 to 137 in the Senate (with 5...