http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/taxdollarsatwork/ en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:50:50 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417880/posts ...Mayor Bill White on Tuesday announced a 21-member commission to study Houston's term limits and make recommendations by July 1. Any changes to the current limit of three, two-year terms for Houston's mayor, controller and 14 City Council members would be subject to approval by the council and by voters... In November 1991, after Kathy Whitmire had completed 10 years as mayor and some council members had served continuously for decades, 56.9 percent of Houston voters approved term limits that took effect in 1993. The panel appointed by White represents the first serious effort to change this system. “Houston has... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417880/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:50:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408157/posts WASHINGTON — Washington D.C.'s City Council has voted to legalize gay marriage in the nation's capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which was co-sponsored by 10 of the council's 13 members. The final vote Tuesday was 11-2. The bill now goes to Congress, which has final say over the district's laws. Opponents say they'll try to get Congress or voters to overturn it. Passage of the bill is a victory for gay marriage supporters, who have been dealt a recent string of defeats... Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. New Hampshire will... Google AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408157/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:18:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398477/posts The Obama administration might think Climategate is a nonevent, but on Monday, Pennsylvania State University announced it was launching an investigation into the academic conduct of Michael Mann, director of the school's Earth System Science Center. Yesterday, it was announced that Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, would step aside while his university conducts an investigation. With so much fraud being exposed in the academic community that studies and promotes global-warming theories, an example has to be made of someone. There are dozens of researchers at other institutions involved in this... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398477/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 16:05:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392916/posts Following the release by Breitbart's Big Government website of a video showing employees at ACORN's San Diego County office offering to assist in the transportation and exploitation of underage prostitutes from abroad, the Attorney General of California announced an investigation into ACORN's operations. Nights before the visit, ACORN dumped thousands of documents in a dumpster. Breitbart obtained them, says they are shocking evidence of ACORN's illegality and promises to release them bit by bit over time: Documents shared with BigGovernment.com include information exposing not only the inner workings of ACORN in California, but also personal, sensitive information belonging to employees,... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392916/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:07:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388751/posts FORT BELVOIR, Va. - A Soldier successfully shoulder-fired a "smart" High Explosive Airburst, or HEAB round for the first time Aug. 11 from the XM-25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center, Md. The Army plans on purchasing more than 12,500 XM-25 systems starting in 2012, which will be enough to put one in each Infantry squad and Special Forces team, according to officials at Program Executive Office-Soldier. At first glance, the XM-25 looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. It features an array of sights, sensors and lasers housed in a Target Acquisition Fire Control unit on top, an... Army News Service via Military.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388751/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:01:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388360/posts Here's a stimulus success story: In Arizona's 15th congressional district, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that's what the Web site set up by the Obama administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says. There's one problem, though: There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state has only eight districts... ABCNews. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388360/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:22:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387724/posts American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens, U.S. researchers reported Monday. Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States. "Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated," said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world," Douglas added in a... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387724/posts#comment Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:02:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387508/posts Obama Will Remove Abortion Funding Ban From Health Care Bill Washington, DC -- Top Obama advisor David Axelrod on Sunday confirmed what pro-life advocates already suspected would happen. He said President Barack Obama will work with congressional Democrats to remove the abortion funding ban the House approved in its version of the government-run health care bill. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5659.html LifeNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387508/posts#comment Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:54:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2380287/posts Move over abortion. Here comes sex-change operations. Republicans may call for a vote on an amendment that would keep Obamacare (Pelosicare) from covering sex-change operations. Don Surber blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2380287/posts#comment Fri, 6 Nov 2009 21:03:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2373764/posts Rather remarkable ways in which millions of dollars were passed out. no wonder no jobs were created. I thought "shovel ready" meant something. The Patriot Room http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2373764/posts#comment Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:58:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373188/posts Rocco Landesman, the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) chairman, said, in part: "This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists."... The Woodward Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373188/posts#comment Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:47:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352794/posts The past haunts Richard Nixon's library/h2> Once privately run, the Yorba Linda presidential museum is making a transition to government operation. And that has turned statues of Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai into political footballs. The statues depict two old men relaxing in easy chairs. As others mill about the drawing room, the men engage in conversation, one gesturing at the other to underscore a point. For nearly 20 years the likenesses of China's communist leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai have sat perfectly still in the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda. Now, they are creating... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352794/posts#comment Thu, 1 Oct 2009 20:47:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2344493/posts On August 25th 2009, Big Hollywood’s Patrick Courrielche broke the story of a conference call he attended with other “rising artist and art community luminaries”: On Thursday August 6th, I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to attend a conference call scheduled for Monday August 10th hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how... www.bighollywood.brietbart.tv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2344493/posts#comment Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:24:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336597/posts New website (biggovernment.com) with complete video footage of ACORN investigation. Biggovernment.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336597/posts#comment Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:16:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2334843/posts Must go to the site for audio and see the Glenn Beck links too. http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/sep/01/official-dishonesty-national-endowment-arts/ Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2334843/posts#comment Tue, 8 Sep 2009 20:28:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2330637/posts A photo of two Democratic legislators playing solitaire has ignited controversy at the state Capitol and in the blogosphere. The Associated Press picture has appeared in any number of venues, and it shows two lawmakers sitting in the back row of the historic Hall of the House in Hartford during the lengthy debate over the two-year, $37 billion state budget. On the left is Rep. Barbara Lambert, a freshman Democrat from Milford who won her first legislative election in November 2008. She replaced longtime Milford Democrat James Amann, who ended his legislative career as the House Speaker and is now... CAPITOL WATCH http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2330637/posts#comment Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:50:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328791/posts Since launching three weeks ago, the White House Reality Check website on healthcare reform has been updated several times to debunk a growing number of alleged myths about the Democrats' plan. But the site is still silent on conservatives' charge that the plan will use taxpayer money to cover abortions. It's a stunning omission, given how much the government-funded abortion allegation has dominated this month's congressional town hall meetings on healthcare reform—and given that President Obama himself has called the charge a myth. "You've heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion," he said recently. "Not... US News & World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328791/posts#comment Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:27:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328217/posts State officials are examining whether public money has been improperly used to pay for Islamic mosques on charter school campuses in Blaine and Inver Grove Heights. Chas Anderson, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education, said officials will study Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy's (TiZA) use of state "lease aid'' grants, which were created more than a decade ago to help charter schools rent adequate facilities. "If it is subsidizing a mosque, in our view, that would be a violation of state and federal law,'' Anderson said. The probe is the latest in a series of church-vs.-state conflicts involving TiZA... Star Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328217/posts#comment Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:18:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2315367/posts NASA needs more cash in order to meet its goal of finding nearby space rocks that could hit Earth in a devastating impact, a new report says. Congress ordered NASA in 2005 to find and track 90 percent of the large asteroids near Earth by 2020, but did not set aside the necessary funds required to do the job, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Academy of Sciences. Without that funding, NASA will not be able to build the new facilities and telescopes required to track potentially threatening asteroids down to the size of about 460 feet... SPACE.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2315367/posts#comment Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:41:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2314553/posts Kennedy's Daughter Accepts His Medal Of Freedom 'Lion Of The Senate' Will Not Attend The D.C. Ceremony Sen. Edward Kennedy was among 16 people scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on Wednesday. The medal is the nation's highest civilian honor. wbztv.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2314553/posts#comment Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:47:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2314321/posts When President Obama today awards a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk, it may mark the first time in history that the nation's highest civilian award has been granted primarily on the basis of someone's sex life. As the White House announcement explained, "Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977." Yet Milk served in that office for less than a year, so that hardly qualifies him for the Medal of Freedom. Milk was also assassinated... WorldNetDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2314321/posts#comment Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:59:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2299527/posts It's now more than 50 years since the revolution began. Sexual "liberation" has been endlessly ballyhooed by the national media, promoted in the movies, embraced by Playboy guys and Cosmo girls as a freedom more delicious than Eden's apple. No American under 40 can honestly remember a time when sex on TV was taboo, when "living together" meant married, when "gay" meant happy, and when almost every child lived with both parents.   If truth be told, the revolution has been a disaster. Before the push to loosen America's sexual mores really got under way in the 1950s, the... ic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2299527/posts#comment Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:05:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2298431/posts In an effort to gauge the overall condition of blacks in contemporary America, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman turned yesterday to a pair of longtime haters of the United States: (a) Carl Dix, a founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist vanguard dedicated to promoting civil unrest in the United States; and (b) Princeton University professor Cornel West, an avowed Marxist with close personal and ideological ties to the racial arsonist Al Sharpton and the Jew-hating leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan. NewsReal Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2298431/posts#comment Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:52:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297490/posts Stung by a string of embarrassing personnel moves at the outset of the administration, President Obama has significantly beefed up the number of lawyers working in the White House compared to previous administrations. Administration officials insist the bulking up of the Office of White House Counsel is temporary, but some lawyers from the George W. Bush administration said they suspect one reason for the personnel shift may be a bid to centralize power. Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297490/posts#comment Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:25:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2288753/posts (AP Photo/El Monte Police Department) It all started out with a kick to the head. True, the suspect was not exactly one to elicit sympathy, but that's not the point. A free society cannot tolerate police acting outside the law to administer physical punishment. Except Dean Scoville, "Associate Editor of Police Magazine and a retired patrol supervisor and investigator with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department," disagrees with that: There was a time when post pursuit ass-kickings were obligatory. Cops knew it, suspects knew it, and there are enough old timers on both sides of the fence that will verify the... Gun Rights Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2288753/posts#comment Thu, 9 Jul 2009 12:06:25 GMT