Free Republic

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), arguably the most prominent fiscal conservative in the Senate, is declaring his independence from one of the country's leading anti-tax groups, Americans for Tax Reform - and its fiery founder, Grover Norquist.

RUSH: We've only taken one phone call today, Mary Jo from Madison, Wisconsin. And just to remind you, I am not entirely comfortable with phone calls like that. I'm not into yelling and screaming with people, but it was required because she wouldn't shut up. (interruption) Well, compared to others, yes, I was polite. But I spotted the filibuster going on. The worst thing, though, about Mary Jo, our first caller, the most alarming and dispiriting thing is something that we're all fully aware of. Her thinking demonstrates just how far we have to go to roll all this back....

URL only as Bloomberg cannot be posted: Business Week: Foreign Banks used Federal Reserve Secret Lifeline at peak of CrisisBloomberg: Foreign Banks used Federal Reserve Secret Lifeline at peak of Crisis

Your tax dollars at work… The EPA is now paying the American Lung Association to attack Republicans The ALA put up four billboards like this one near Rep. Fred Upton’s office in Michigan. Upton is the House Energy and Commerce Chairman. (PlowShareGroup) The Environmental Protection Agency is paying the American Lung Association to run attack ads against Republican members of Congress. JunkScience.com reported: “The American Lung Association has targeted House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton for his efforts to stop U.S. EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions by placing billboards within sight of his district offices linking climate change...

For the past couple days members of my circle on facebook who are known to be not-so-conservatives have been whining and nashing their new crowns on the House of Representatives “de-funding” NPR and PBS. Any viable enterprise should be able to survive without government support. In the case of NPR spinning out on their own would not be a far stretch. NPR has its own programming and news bureau which is followed by a core of listeners. That’s the traditional business model for radio and if the powers that be at NPR can make it work as a non-profit, more...

An analysis of the propaganda campaign to get Al-Jazeera carried by more cable and satellite systems reveals an interesting fact. The terrorist TV channel is already available through something called MHz Networks. And it turns out that the MHz Networks is supported by the American taxpayers at the federal and state levels. MHz Networks is a division of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting and receives over $2 million a year from federal and state governments. In this case, because Commonwealth is based in Virginia, the culprit is the state of Virginia. However, Governor Robert F. McDonnell has proposed eliminating state funding of...

Planned Parenthood Spending 200K on Ads for Taxpayer-Funding Washington, DC -- The Planned Parenthood abortion business is rolling out a new television commercial designed to persuade members of the Senate to support the continuation of its taxpayer funding. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/02/28/planned-parenthood-spending-200k-on-ads-for-taxpayer-funding/

Need more poll freeping....Do you agree with efforts by some lawmakers to limit collective bargaining by unions in Ohio?

National Public Radio listeners are being inundated with warnings that they soon may have to drive to work every morning without the sonorous intonations of Morning Edition’s Corey Flintoff, Steve Inskeep, and Renée Montagne, and may be forced to drive home without the narrative drone of All Things Considered’s Robert Siegel, Michele Norris, and Melissa Block. Just this morning, I received a panicked e-mail from the director of broadcasting at an NPR affiliate in my home state, Michigan. You know, one of those state-based public-radio operations that just last October received a portion of George Soros’s $1.8 million Open Society...

This Valentine's Day, National Public Radio chose two curious ways to celebrate the holiday: It thanked President Obama for proposing an increase in its federal funding, then it used its taxpayer money to promote greeting cards for the homosexual lifestyle. During yesterday's "Morning Edition" program, Selena Simmons-Duffin shared a story on air – and expanded in an online article – titled "Greeting Cards that Celebrate a Rainbow of Loves." "It can be especially hard to find the perfect Valentine's Day card for your special someone if you're in a same-sex relationship," Simmons-Duffin writes. "That's because no major greeting card company...

This week, state Sen. Michael Rubio will introduce legislation that would prohibit food stamps from being used to purchase "junk food" or prepared meals at fast-food restaurants. "The question is what should we be using taxpayer funds to purchase," the Bakersfield Democrat said Tuesday. "In my opinion, we should be focusing on what people need, not what they want." Those needs include foods found in the traditional food pyramid, he said, including breads and cereals, meats, beans, nuts, dairy products and other protein sources, and lots of fruits and vegetables. Rubio's idea is not yet an official Senate bill. But...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal taxpayers should stop propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Congress will wean the country away from its reliance on the two huge but fiscally feeble housing finance companies, House Republicans said Wednesday. Democrats conceded that changes are needed in Fannie and Freddie, which have swallowed $150 billion in federal aid since the government took them over in September 2008. But they cautioned that care must be taken to avoid jeopardizing the popular 30-year fixed rate mortgage and the access to the housing market that the two companies have helped provide to millions of moderate-income...

In light of a Hizbullah allied Islamist becoming Lebanon's new Prime Minister, headlines in the media read "Clinton, Whitehouse Warn Lebanon Against Hizbullah".Well, we warned the Obama Whitehouse against anymore U.S. taxpayer money, or military aid, to the Hizbullah infiltrated Lebanese Army. See below articles:"No U.S. Money, and No U.S. Military Equipment For Lebanese Army!"-August 2010"Congress Must Stop Obama From Aiding Hezbollah/Lebanese Army"-Sept. 2010The warning did no good:"Key Congressional Democrats Unblock $100 mill for Hizbullah / LAF"-Nov. 2010 "U.S. Military Aid To Lebanon: Even While Hizbullah Has Veto Power"-March 2009To be fair, how our government has deal with this horrible Hizbullah/Lebanon problem did not...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched a program in 2010 called Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP). In this program they funded different opportunities to educate about climate change by giving funds (awards) to colleges who drafted proposals on how they would spend the money. One such proposal caught my eye. The program is entitled "Making the Global Local - Unusual Weather Events as Climate Change Educational Opportunities" and it is taking place at George Mason University (GMU). Here is the program description: This project will focus on establishing a national network of on-air broadcast meteorologists, climate scientists, university research programs,...

WASHINGTON, D.C -- A Channel 2 Action News investigation found that the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending.

Obama will be leaving 2 days after the election to tour around India... The trip will cost taxpayers 200 million a day for 10 days. The Obama's will rent the entire Hotel Taj, 570 rooms. There are two jumbo jets coming along with Air Force One, which will be flanked by security jets. The President’s convoy has 45 cars.” The Economic Times also reported that Mr Obama’s delegation is so large that another 300 rooms have reportedly been booked in other luxury Mumbai hotels. Except for personnel providing immediate security to the president, the US officials may not be allowed...

The U.S. government is stepping in with millions of taxpayer dollars to create affordable places for Americans to work and live. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week announced nearly $100 million in new grants "to support more livable and sustainable communities across the country." Forty-five regions will receive various amounts of the funding through the new initiative, which aims to connect housing with jobs, schools and transportation. “Regions that embrace sustainable communities will have a built-in competitive edge in attracting jobs and private investment,”

A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events. Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed. Ekins photographed about 250 signs, and more than half...

Sixty-six per cent of Vancouver’s pricey Olympic Village condos remain unsold — a total of 483 units at the massive False Creek development that served as athletes’ housing during the two-week 2010 Games. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose city remains on the hook for more than $1.03 billion of the cost of the project, predicts it will take a “full two-year term” to sell the remaining units. “There is some concern we’re going into another [economic] dip,” Robertson said last week. “[But] I have full confidence in the developer and the marketing taking place. “I hope the market kicks in...

What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today’s Obama administration were he alive today is anyone’s guess. But I would wager that the author of L’Ancien Régime and Democracy in America would be less than impressed with the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity. It is the kind of impunity that has been highlighted on the world stage this week by Michelle Obama’s hugely costly trip to Spain, which has prompted a New York Post columnist...