Free Republic

The theme President Obama gave to his State of the Union address was “An America Built to Last.” But his vision would be better described as an “An America Built to Be Last.” As the president asked us to be patient and keep drinking the same kool-aid he’s been serving up for three years, the New York Times reported that the Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of our economy is that “…a full recovery is years away.” Even his most loyal constituency, black Americans, is losing patience. In Gallup’s latest tracking poll, black approval rate for Obama was 79 percent. This...

Rick Santorum has announced his “Faith, Family, and Freedom” tour in Iowa. Santorum may be dragging up the rear in the line-up of Republican presidential candidates, but I am grateful to him for being the only candidate who insists that the so-called “social issues” remain an integral, explicit part of his agenda. That’s not to say that the other conservative candidates disagree with Santorum’s take on these issues – traditional values, abortion, marriage – but Santorum has been the only one to insist that you cannot consider the economy independent of the way the individual human beings that make up...

I wouldn't think it would be worthwhile to draw attention to the Occupy Wall Street "movement," or its list of demands that wouldn't pass muster in an average kindergarten class. But if America's president and vice president choose to talk about it, and give it credibility, then it's news. According to Vice President Joe Biden, demands such as free college, pay independent of work, a $20 minimum wage (why not $100 or $1,000?), and a nation with open borders have legitimacy and "a lot in common with the Tea Party movement." President Barack Obama sees these demonstrations against corporate America...

Two names loom large in today’s news. Two names that ordinarily we wouldn’t think about together. But, in the great struggle now unfolding before us for our nation’s future, it seems to me these two quintessential Americans are worth thinking about in light of each other. One is Steve Jobs. The other is Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Jobs, of course, is in the headlines because of his decision to step down and retire from Apple, the company he co-founded, from which he later got fired, and to which he subsequently returned and resurrected. Dr. King is in the news...

Who can forget that rare moment of honesty during the campaign to pass Obamacare when Nancy Pelosi said, "We have to pass the bill in order for you to find out what's in it"? Now we have it, and almost daily there are new revelations about the staggering extent to which our private lives and individual freedoms have been stomped on. We learn now that free birth control in the form of contraceptives, morning-after pills, and sterilization is part of the grand Obamacare socialist dream-come-true. The health insurance that Obamacare mandates that all employers provide and that all citizens acquire...

Unionized government workers who have taken to the streets to protest moves in Wisconsin and Ohio to limit their power are doing us all a favor. How? Our great nation today is sick and badly in need of therapy. The screams and protests of these government union workers should help all Americans identify these public unions as a major symptom of the sickness that is dragging us down and what we need to do to fix it.

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been an annual gig for me for years. But this year I concluded it was not my place and I declined to participate in the various venues at the event for which I was invited. Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event. And it’s the reason why some of the nation’s most important conservative organizations – the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Media Research Center,...

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been an annual gig for me for years. But this year I concluded it was not my place and I declined to participate in the various venues at the event for which I was invited. Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event. And it’s the reason why some of the nation’s most important conservative organizations – the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Media Research Center,...

Again, this January 22, hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans will converge on Washington for the March for Life. The March has taken place every year since 1974 to protest the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision on January 22, 1973, which legalized abortion. Good news for pro-lifers is that 2009 showed evidence of turnaround in national sentiment toward tolerance for abortion. Two Gallup polls, one done in May and one done in August, showed higher percentages identifying as "pro-life" than "pro-choice." The opposite had been true in all previous years since Gallup first started doing this survey in 1995....

Our 111th congress, in its lame duck session, has given America a Christmas present in the way of repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law. Signing the repeal into law, President Obama said he’s “never been prouder.” From my point of view, I’m feeling increasingly like a minority in our country. Not because I’m black, but because I am a Christian. As a Christian, I believe in the truth of traditional morality as transmitted to us through our biblical sources. And I believe, along with George Washington, who stated clearly in his farewell address to the nation, that religion...

The Bowles Simpson deficit cutting commission is more Washington theater. Another show with an impressive cast designed to give the appearance of being serious. This kind of theater, unfortunately, not only accomplishes little or nothing, but it makes things worse. Under the guise of doing something, it obfuscates our real problems. Our federal budget did not explode over a few short years to sucking up a quarter of our economy because we didn't have politicos with green eyeshades looking at it. It exploded because we have government in Washington that can do practically anything it wants. Without clarity about the...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2010CONTACT: Levi Russell at (509) 979-6615 or Levi@FrontLineStrat.com Tea Party Express Press ConferenceFights Back Against Attempts to Discredit the Tea Party MovementNational Black Conservatives Rally to Take Back AmericaThe Tea Party Express, (website: http://www.TeaPartyExpress.org) one of the nation’s largest tea party organizations with over 400,000 members, is conducting a press conference regarding the unrelenting attacks on the tea party movement in an effort to dissuade Americans from rebelling at the ballot box in the November 2010 elections.“From the very beginning when Rick Santelli’s famous on-air rant helped rally millions of Americans to the tea party...

Can anyone tell me why suddenly race is the hot topic of national discourse? According to Gallup polling of last week, the issues most on the minds of Americans are the economy and jobs followed by dissatisfaction with all aspects of government. I didn't notice racism on the list anywhere. The NAACP says it was "snookered" by Fox News on the Shirley Sherrod story. I say we've all been snookered by the NAACP. The NAACP has shown that those who have written this organization off as irrelevant are wrong. It demonstrated this past week that if it so chooses it...

A cab ride in Washington, DC on a weekday afternoon in June gives you a feeling of the national mood. It’s oppressively hot and humid and the traffic is horrible. By the time you reach your destination, you feel strangled and oppressed and just want relief. Amidst the current lethargic economic recovery, with unemployment still just under 10%, the one growth stock remains government. Washington, DC is a boom town today as the answer our current administration proposes for every single problem and challenge facing us is more government. Government spending is now 25% of our GDP. This is five...

(June 17, 2010) -- Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is backing Star Parker for Congress. In a dispatch on her Facebook page on June 17, the 2008 GOP VP candidate likens Ms. Parker to a "Mama Grizzly" in her run against Dem incumbent Congresswoman Laura Richardson (D., Carson-LB). The endorsement isn't exactly a shock; Gov. Palin is a Repub and Ms. Parker is the Repub candidate...but Palin has made a point of lending her support to conservative Republicans. "Star has an incredible story and a passionate commitment to her community and our great nation," Gov. Palin writes on her Facebook...

Palin on Star: She's a dynamic leader who is committed to building a more prosperous environment for the families in her district and ushering in positive change. On June 17th, Sarah Palin, former Vice Presidential candidate, announced her endorsement for Star Parker for Congress. Below is her endorsement that she posted on her Facebook page: I’m proud to endorse Star Parker for California’s 37th Congressional District. Star has an incredible story and a passionate commitment to her community and our great nation. Rising up from being a single mom on welfare, Star worked hard to build a non-profit network that...

I began with an inner city Christian newspaper that I founded, moved on to start my current organization CURE -- Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education, wrote three books, and have written a weekly opinion column for the last five years. I've spoken at over 200 universities and in 49 of 50 states. All of this effort has been aimed to deliver one basic message. That the barrier between America's chronically poor and the American dream is the welfare state socialism which was supposed to be our answer to poverty. As a young woman I was on welfare myself. I...

Just about to call it a night, when I noticed this interesting bit of news by La Shawn Barber (posting at Malkin) that black conservative Star Parker is considering a run for Congress in California district 37 in south/east L.A. Star Parker Running for Congress?By La Shawn Barber • March 23, 2010 02:07 PMI’ll admit my bias up front: I really dig Star Parker.When I first met the former “welfare queen” back in 2004, it was like meeting a rock star. I shared a panel with her at a conservative student conference. I was so nervous, my voice shook. She...

This year's campaign for Congress looks to be the liveliest since 1994's "Contract with America" explosion. And, unless she has a last-minute change of heart and mind, Star Parker, president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, is announcing this month her candidacy to represent a poor, heavily Democratic, majority-black congressional district just east and south of Los Angeles. Parker, born in 1956, is a Republican who hasn't held political office before, but we joked last month that she had a ready reply if attacked on grounds of inexperience: You're wrong. I've stolen. I've lied. I know how to...

Yes, of course, brave young Americans are in those far off lands defending our country. God bless them. But the war's front is here at home – the war we are having with ourselves. After the horrendous attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a few Christian pastors stepped up to say that the unprecedented violation of America's homeland was a sign of weakness within our nation. They weren't talking about how we gather intelligence or how we check travelers at the airport. The management best-seller from the 1960s, "The Peter Principle," points out that one sign of an organization or an...

At a time when our country is sick, it shouldn't surprise that one our sickest places is our nation's capital. The poverty rate of Washington, DC, almost 20 percent, is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nation's highest. DC's public school system, with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent, is one of the worst in the country. According to DC's HIV/AIDS office, three percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is "...higher than West Africa...on par with Uganda and...

The latest installment of "change we can believe in" is sweeping reform of the financial services industry. Central to proposed Democrat reforms is the establishment of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. This agency would have broad authority to oversee and regulate financial service products like mortgages and credit cards and will be responsible to protect consumers from "unfair" and "abusive" products.

The ACORN scandal shows that if Congress wants to act, it can.Within weeks of Fox airing videos of a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute being advised by ACORN “community organizers” on how to evade taxes and set up a prostitution ring, our stalwart Washington legislators voted to cut off federal funds to the organization.But similar publicized abuses at Planned Parenthood — workers agreeing to cover up rape or earmarking funds to abort black babies — all captured on video and audio — produced no similar action in Washington to cut off funds.Why?Of course, the scope of...

The Democrats have lost the health care debate. For months now, polls have been showing that Americans don't want the massive new government controls, regulations, taxes, and spending that Democrats are pushing. Latest Gallup polling shows 60 percent saying that President Barack Obama's proposal will not expand health coverage without raising taxes on middle class Americans and without affecting the current quality of health care. Forty three percent approve of how Obama is handling health care and 52 percent disapprove. You would be hard pressed to find a Democrat or Republican who does not agree that we can improve how...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin missed a great opportunity to personally kick off an issue of enormous importance to her state and to the nation.She was scheduled to appear with me at an Alaska Family Council event in Anchorage to launch Alaska’s Parental Involvement Initiative, which will require parental notification of teenage girls under age 18 before they can get an abortion. But, the schedules of we mortals cannot retard the imperatives of history, so, despite Mrs. Palin’s absence, we’ve gone to war with the army we have.Currently 35 states have laws that require either parental consent or notification in...

President Obama took his case for what he now calls "health insurance reform" to the faith community. He made his pitch in a phone call, also broadcast over the Internet, to clergy who called in and logged on from around the nation. In his remarks, the President ticked off points of contention that dissenters have with his proposals -- "government takeover of healthcare...government funding of abortion...death panels" -- and dismissed these concerns as "fabrications." In one swipe, Mr. Obama reduced his opposition to liars. And why, according to the President, are dissenters supposedly making all this stuff up? Because, he...

President Obama took his case for what he now calls "health insurance reform" to the faith community. He made his pitch in a phone call, also broadcast over the Internet, to clergy who called in and logged on from around the nation. In his remarks, the President ticked off points of contention that dissenters have with his proposals – "government takeover of healthcare...government funding of abortion...death panels" – and dismissed these concerns as "fabrications." In one swipe, Mr. Obama reduced his opposition to liars. And why, according to the President, are dissenters supposedly making all this stuff up? Because, he...

Barack Obama won the presidency under the persona of healer. He promised to unify a divided nation and said how he would do this. He'd put ideology aside and solve problems. And he'd bring new open, bipartisan governing to Washington, devoid of special interests. Now, six months into this presidency we have exactly the opposite. Rather than temperatures dropping, they have steadily risen to their current fever pitch. Rather than becoming more unified, we've never been more divided. According to the Pew Research Center, the gap between approval rates for the president from Democrats (85 percent) and Republicans (19 percent)...

Barack Obama billed his White House beer summit Thursday to discuss the altercation between the black Harvard professor and the white policeman as a "teachable moment." But, unfortunately, I'd doubt that the real lesson to be learned ever came up over those beers and pretzels. Can we appreciate that what seems to be an endless conversation about race in America is really a conversation about America, period? http://magazine.townhall.com/malkinhttp://magazine.townhall.com/malkin I wish I could believe that the conversation in the White House garden was about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. That they talked about "self evident"...

When I've been asked whom I thought could be the individual to lead the Republican Party out of the wilderness, my answer has always been Mark Sanford. His vision for his party and his country -- traditional values and limited government -- has always been clear, consistent, and, in my view, correct. And he has always pursued that vision, as a congressman and as a governor, with a boldness and courage rare among politicians. The Cato Institute publishes a bi-annual report card of the nation's governors, ranking them according to fiscal responsibility. In the most recent report, three governors out...

The Democrats' healthcare initiative reminds me of the joke about the Boy Scout fighting on a street corner with an old lady. When a passerby asked what was going on, the scout said, "I'm trying to help her across the street but she refuses to go." Health insurance, so far, is not mandatory by law, and we've got 16 percent of the population -- 47 million or so -- without it. Auto insurance is mandatory by law, and according to the Insurance Research Council, 14 percent of drivers nationwide still don't buy it. Government can't make people do what they...

The Democrats' health care initiative reminds me of the joke about the Boy Scout fighting on a street corner with an old lady. When a passerby asked what was going on, the scout said, "I'm trying to help her across the street but she refuses to go." Health insurance, so far, is not mandatory by law, and we've got 16 percent of the population -- 47 million or so -- without it. Auto insurance is mandatory by law, and according to the Insurance Research Council, 14 percent of drivers nationwide still don't buy it. Government can't make people do what...

President Obama wants health care reform this year. He said at a town hall meeting the other day that he won't tolerate "endless delay" and that we probably won't reform health care if we don't do it this year. Now why is that Mr. President? Will Congress be on vacation for the remaining three years of your term? Consider that it's not unusual to take a full session of congress -- two years -- to pass legislation a fraction of the size and consequence of health care reform. Yet our president is demanding that a bill to overhaul a $2.5...

Listening to Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, we get a sense of the "new capitalism" our new Democratic leadership tells us America needs. Frank recently praised Bank of America chairman (now ex-chairman) Ken Lewis for acting in "the public interest" for caving in to bribes and threats from former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke regarding B of A's takeover of Merrill Lynch. Lewis wanted to back out the deal last year when he discovered the massive scope of Merrill's losses. But Paulson and Bernanke decided that Merrill shouldn't fail, so...

Barack Obama's obvious comfort level with leaders of unfree countries shouldn't surprise anyone. He is not only our first black president. He is also our first president who doesn't like the free country he was elected to lead and feels his job is to change it. Obama's cordial encounter with Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez and his bow of deference in London to the Saudi Arabian king are extensions of behavior we have always seen on the black left. Jesse Jackson openly embraced Chavez, as well as having maintained relations with the likes of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and Yasser Arafat....

The National Urban League has just issued its annual State of Black America report. It provides a troubling statistical snapshot of where blacks stand today in our country. Like Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, I'm concerned. But after concern, we part company. We have very different ideas of what it is we should be concerned about. Morial, I am sure, sees his organization as part of the solution. From what I see, it is a well-funded symptom of the problem. Shouldn't it embarrass black Americans that one the nation's largest and most prestigious civil rights organizations offers...

March 16, 2009 From what I see, the Republican National Committee representatives who picked Michael Steele as their new chairman made a mistake. I think Steele ought to step aside. It pains me to say it, but it pains me more to watch the opposition party, the Republican Party, spin aimlessly and leaderless, while the Obama administration shreds to pieces, with ruthless focus and discipline, everything this country stands for. Yes, of course, the defining moment for me is the recent GQ magazine interview in which Steele sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican. Does a woman have a...

It says something about the dismal state of affairs in our country today by what outrages folks. Sure, if we want to portray business as the root of our economic ills, outrage about executives getting bonuses at a company that received taxpayer bailout funds has political sex appeal. Or perhaps that some company that got bailed out sent their managers to a fancy retreat somewhere. Or that maybe a bailed-out company sponsored a golf tournament. But where's the outrage about the circumstances that allow this all to happen to begin with? Where is the outrage about the ease with which...

From what I see, the Republican National Committee representatives who picked Michael Steele as their new chairman made a mistake. I think Steele ought to step aside. It pains me to say it. But it pains me more to watch the opposition party, the Republican Party, spin aimlessly and leaderless, while the Obama administration shreds to pieces, with ruthless focus and discipline, everything that this country stands for. Yes, of course, the defining moment for me is the recent GQ magazine interview in which Steele sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican. Does a woman have a right to...

I share President Obama's concerns about education. We certainly need to do a better job, particularly in our low-income communities. But, from what I see so far, we're on very different pages regarding how to think about the problem. For Obama, the solution to everything seems to be government and spending. But in improving education, more of neither seems to work. According to Department of Education data, reported by the Cato Institute, K-12 spending per student, adjusted for inflation, went from $5,393 in 1970 to $11,470 in 2004. Over the same period, there were tiny increases in math scores among...

As our new political leadership leads us into the fiscal twilight zone, is it too much to ask for a little honesty as they do it? The day after President Obama unveiled his plan to bail out distressed mortgage holders, Treasury Secretary Geithner and Housing Secretary Donovan wrote an op-ed in USA Today explaining it. "Ordinarily, American homeowners don't need government help ... But these are no ordinary times," they say. But practically every American homeowner does get government help by being able to deduct mortgage interest from their taxes. ... A failure of capitalism? This could never happen in...

A travesty of justice has occurred in Oakland, California. But realities surrounding this local issue point to how the economic crisis in our nation is symptomatic of and flows from a deeper fundamental moral crisis. A black pastor awaits sentencing, which could amount to two years in prison and $4,000 in fines, for standing outside an inner city abortion clinic holding a sign saying "Jesus Loves You & Your Baby, Let Us Help You," and offering pro-life literature. Walter Hoye, founder and chairman of the Issues4Life Foundation, was found guilty of "unlawful approach" under the "Access to Reproductive Health Care...

Six years ago, I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it. I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism. I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing and Food Stamps. A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all...

On Monday, January 19th, America commemorated the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. His dream of an equal America is in many ways personified in Barack Obama, whose inauguration as our first African-American president took place the following day. Obama's triumph is a monumental achievement for black Americans. It is also a watershed for America as a whole, a final repudiation of an era when black men and women were not afforded the inalienable rights endowed to all persons by God as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. But while Obama's ascendance to the White House has been almost uniformly...

Obama has little in common with Lincoln Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist - 1/19/2009 9:35:00 AM It's ironic that Barack Obama chooses to infuse these opening days of his presidency with the imagery of Abraham Lincoln. I don't think there could be two more different men. Understanding why may help us think about what to expect in the days ahead. Beyond his trademark "change we can believe in," Obama's defining theme has been unity and inclusiveness. "...There's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America....We worship an awesome God in the Blue States...and...

The first Gallup poll out on the Obama stimulus plan shows a divided country, with Republicans in a distinct minority and in opposition. Democrats support the three-quarters of a trillion dollar plan (67 to 19 percent) as do Independents (54 to 37 percent). But Republicans stand in opposition (56 to 34 percent). But taking a look at Republican Party reality inside the Washington beltway, we see a rudderless ship, out of touch with the grass roots of its own party. Our Republican president – yes, he is still president – has taken himself out of the discussion. And on Capitol...

Last August I wrote a column critical of Rick Warren's decision to host a presidential candidate forum at his Saddleback Church. My reasoning then was that America's crisis is moral ambiguity. I argued that Pastor Warren would only contribute to this ambiguity by hosting candidates with opposing views on issues such as abortion and homosexuality and presenting himself as a neutral moderator. Only Barack Obama would gain, I felt, being showcased as an acceptable candidate by one of the nation's best known evangelical pastors. If John McCain had wanted to clarify his social conservative credentials, he didn't need to go...

So what exactly is the common political ground that Kennedy bluebloods share with the 90 percent of America's blacks who vote for Democrats? A careful look shows the deep internal contradictions of the Democratic Party and the complexity of the political psyche of black Americans. Ironically, despite Democratic Party rhetoric about economic inequities and wealth and income gaps in America, those gaps are more pronounced inside the Democratic tent than inside the Republican one. According to exit polls from November's election, Barack Obama captured the vote of America' richest and America's poorest. Fifty-two percent of those with incomes over $200,000...

Now that Democrats have won the White House and have widened their margin of control in Congress, does this signify that American voters have moved to the left? Many Republicans question this claim. And a new report from the Pew Research Center seems to verify that America is still a right of center as a country. But the picture gets murky when you look at the details. And this murkiness presents a considerable challenge for Republicans who are trying to figure out where to steer their party. According to the just published report, more Americans today call themselves conservative than...

As John McCain tries to salvage his presidential campaign over the few weeks he has left, he ought to think about the Coca Cola Company in 1985. That was the year that Coca Cola, based on what the company thought was good internal market research, introduced a new, sweeter formula to replace the taste that American consumers had always associated with Coke. The result was disaster. Consumers were unhappy with the new flavor that replaced a product that was more than a drink. It was a time tested American tradition. In short order, Coca Cola brought the old traditional Coke...