Free Republic

If you thought the health care bill was just about, well, health care, guess again! It's about income redistribution as much as anything: For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago. Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The No. 2 Senate Democrat accused Republicans on Wednesday of refusing to accept the finality of health care changes, a day after President Barack Obama signed the most sweeping medical system remake since Medicare. "This is a political exercise for too many on the other side of the aisle," said Sen. Dick Durbin. "We're going to tell our people back home, 'It's time to govern. It's time to lead.' "

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the Dean of the House of Representatives for being the longest serving member of the body (he was first elected in 1955, succeeding his father, Rep. John Dingell, Sr.), made an amazing admission during a live telephone interview with Detroit WJR News/Talk 760 radio talk show host Paul W. Smith on Smith's show Monday morning, March 22, 2010. The night before, Dingell had been a featured speaker at the Democrat Congressional leadership victory press conference after Obamacare passed the House. In response to a question posed by Smith, Dingell said: Let me remind you this [Americans...

ORLANDO, FL -- Moments after Congress voted to approve President Obama's health care legislation, Florida's Attorney General announced he will file a lawsuit to declare the bill unconstitutional. Bill McCollum will join Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota to file a lawsuit against the federal government. "The health care reform legislation passed by the U. S. House of Representatives this evening clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state's sovereignty," McCollum said in a statement distributed late Sunday night. "If the President signs this bill into law, we will...

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: Their candor about O-Care being a starting, not an ending, point for “fixing” American health care is simply astounding. Given public angst about the on cost and effect on quality of care and conservative objections to the bill as an irreversible, transformational lurch towards statism, you would think Obama and Pelosi would be scrupulous about selling the bill — even privately within the caucus lest their comments leak out — as something self-contained and modest in scope. Instead we’ve seen The One winking at House progressives about a public option down the...

President Obama made another stop on his health care road show in Strongsville, Ohio this afternoon, making the rather odd case that the American people don't want their representatives to look at polls measuring what people want. Wrapping up his speech, Obama said: “The American people want to know if it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests. For their future. So what they’re looking for is some courage. They’re waiting for us to act. They’re waiting for us to lead. They don’t want us putting our finger out to the wind. They don’t want us reading...

<p>When Glenn Beck told listeners of his radio show on March 2 that they should "run as fast as you can" from any church that preached "social or economic justice" because those were code words for Communism and Nazism, he probably thought he was tweaking a few crunchy religious liberals who didn't listen to the show anyway. Instead he managed to outrage Christians in most mainline Protestant denominations, African-American congregations, Hispanic churches, and Catholics...</p>

WASHINGTON — Still seeking votes for his proposed health care overhaul, President Barack Obama appears ready to reverse his position and allow unpopular deal-sweetening measures in the hopes of finding Democratic support for legislation whose future will be decided in coming days. Increasingly eager to finish work on his top domestic priority, Obama was set to head to northeast Ohio on Monday with a final sales pitch for health care legislation that the top Democratic vote-counter in the House said lacked support to pass. Obama's top political adviser, David Axelrod, said he was "absolutely confident" the measure would pass during...

Just as the healthcare drama in the capitol reaches a grand finale, congressional officials are warning employees to avoid the DRUDGE REPORT! The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.' The committee ordered hill staff: 'Try to avoid' the DRUDGE REPORT 'for now'. On Monday DRUDGE served over 29 million pages with NOT ONE email complaint received about 'pop ups', or the site serving 'viruses'. The site was seen 149,967 times since March 1st from users at senate.gov and...

Now, Yvonne may not be able to bear to read this blog or watch this video that someone sent me in an email, so my sympathies to her in advance. However, the good news is that the American People have woken up (those that choose to not hide their heads in the sand), to realize that the America they once knew, is almost gone. The question is though, "Is it too late?". Many Americans today believe that there has been a communist infiltration into the White House, and if they are correct, it is certainly a huge 'change' one can...

An influential voice on Capitol Hill has unexpectedly called into question the safety of investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, raising the specter that investors who have lent money to the two firms or bought their mortgage-backed securities could one day suffer losses. The comments by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, come despite the assumption of many investors that investments in the two mortgage finance giants are risk-free. Until now, federal officials -- who took over Fannie and Freddie two years ago to save them from collapse -- have signaled to the market...

Just before Thanksgiving of this year, a report was issued by Congressman Issa and Senator Grassley contending that the Obama White House was politically motivated when it fired AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin after his 2008 investigation of Kevin Johnson, friend of the Obamas, and now Sacramento's mayor. The report criticizes the White House ethics counsel for not examining what Walpin had been investigating at the time of his dismissal, including the allegations of sexual misconduct by Johnson and hush-money used to cover up the misconduct. The report asserted that Michelle Rhee, now Johnson's fiancee, made the payoffs. The firing...

It figures. Michelle Obama stocked the White House Library with books on socialism.

Legacy of Boston Tea Party Sullied by Sensationalist Politics By: Chloe Jenkins-Sleczkowski Posted: 2/3/10 The past year has brought on an inreased exposure of tea - not Earl Grey. I am speaking of the Tea Party Movement, the grassroots and conservative-minded (dis-)organization that has been making headlines with its latest shenanigans to reclaim the country for the intellectually lazy. Although some political diversity is a nice change, it does not need to be in the form of griping conservatives who are only making it harder on a president who has more than enough on his plate. The Tea Party...

In a brief op-ed in USA Today, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan charges that critics who question the Obama administration's decision to grant Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are "serv[ing] the goals of al Qaeda." "Too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points," Brennan writes. "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

The lead story at DrudgeReport.com as of 11:30 a.m. this morning was "**REUTERS: Backdoor taxes to hit middle class." But Reuters withdrew the article last night. Drudge noted the change and wrote: "**REUTERS pulls tax story..." then added another link to the top left margin: "Largest-ever federal payroll to hit 2.15 million employees..." So what happened? According to a Reuters rep, the was withdrawn "due to significant errors of fact." "The story was wrong on multiple points and should not have gone out," she emailed us. A formal withdrawal will issued will address specific points that were incorrect later today....

On Friday, January 29th, 2010, Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, traveled to Chicago to endorse Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate, Adam Andrzejewski. We were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to sit down with the President and Mr. Andrzejewski. Our video from that visit is below. Items that stand out: 1) Lech Walesa tells his American Audience that the United States no longer leads the world politically or morally 2) At least one of your Founding Bloggers asks President Walesa if he thinks America is slipping toward Socialism. His Answer? Yes! 3) Andrzejewski is running on a platform of forensically...

Anita Dunn may be gone from the White House but her successor feels the same way she did about Fox News. From TVNewser The White House has a new communications director -- Dan Pfeiffer -- but the message is the same when it comes to Fox News Channel. During a video interview today with The New York Times' The Caucus blog, Pfeiffer was clear about the White House position on Fox News: "I have the same view of Fox that Anita [Dunn] had, which is that Fox is not a traditional news organization. They have a point of view. That...

Republican senators have accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of violating new transparency requirements during the Senate healthcare debate. The 23 Republican senators sent a letter to Reid on Tuesday raising concerns over a nearly 400-page manager’s amendment Reid unveiled days before the Senate adopted the language and passed the healthcare bill. The group ranged from the most conservative to the most liberal GOP senators. “Though your office has referred to these provisions as a ‘normal part of the legislative process,’ we are concerned that the inclusion of these items without appropriate disclosure may violate the Honest Leadership and...

There are those who are fooled some of the time. There are those who are fooled all the time. And there are those who want to be fooled because it’s easier. Softened by a decade of desensitising PC regulations and definitions used by governments, many are indeed fooled all of the time, but most prefer self-imposed ignorance. Voting for Obama was one indication. Believing Interpol is only an external police database and that the recent EO giving them immunity is ‘nothing’, is another. Blast From the Past It is a long while back, but these were the claims about Interpol...