Free Republic

The Republican field in California’s competitive 7th District is poised to grow after Labor Day, with two prospective candidates planning to make announcements about the race. Former Rep. Doug Ose, a Republican who represented a large portion of the redrawn 7th District from 1999 until 2005, is expected to make an announcement on his plans for the race after Labor Day, according to a source close to Ose’s campaign. The source would not confirm whether Ose plans to run, but other operatives in the Golden State say Ose is likely to enter the race. Another Republican, Igor Birman, who currently...

I got to re-live an old childhood memory this week. Growing up in the Soviet Union, all three TV channels would cease regular programming from time to time to breathlessly announce a new five-year plan of government-imposed price controls, production quotas and intricate regulations. Despite the promises of plenty, only poverty followed, until national bankruptcy forced the five-year plan onto the ash heap of history, saving its future TV mentions only for late-night comedy shows. Or so I thought, until the House of Representatives took up the Farm Bill, in which it tied a reauthorization of the food-stamp program, itself...

What possibly could inspire someone to leave behind the comfort and familiarity of home and the warmth of friends and relatives to seek the unknown alone in a foreign land? It’s a question Republicans should ask as a panicked posse presses us to leave behind our principles in order to appeal to the growing immigrant vote. Here’s a hint: The motivation is not a longing for big government. I arrived in the United States as a refugee from Russia in 1994 with my family, a few bags and a dream of life in liberty. After Russian police had torn apart...

One of the most haunting impressions of my Soviet childhood was stories my grandparents told about the Black Raven. As a small boy, I was terrified of this polished and poised creature of the night, usually sighted as it crouched to swoop upon an unsuspecting victim and carry him away, never to be seen again. The Black Raven, however, was no avian figment of the human mind. Rather, this secret-police sedan — named for the Russian symbol of death — was a very real fixture of life in the Soviet Union of the 1930s. Those who saw the Raven stop...

But in the 17 years since I became an American, we’ve been averting our gaze as these sacred assurances slowly have waned. With passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, we look away again as Congress exposes Americans to the specter of prison without charge or trial and smothers that basic right of free citizens to invoke the law against their government. ... But Americans should know that to eyes familiar with tyranny by experience, congressional consent to these broad new powers marks a major milestone on the road to serfdom. Before it’s too late, let us resolve to renew...

I have to confess a little bit of envy. I find myself in the company of the very fortunate, for you have known freedom all of your lives. Upon further reflection though, I must admit that fortune has been very kind to me as well, seeing how I've come to know freedom against all odds — thousands of miles away from the United States as a boy in the heart of the Soviet Union. I remember vividly the week before my parents, my brother, my grandmother and I left Moscow for the United States. As we went to say good-bye...

Oregon State Senator Doug Whitsett is a strong conservative who is fighting dam removals on the Klamath River against a throng of environmental lunatics. Now the local paper is trying to run a "poll" to undermine his efforts. Let's fix that! http://www.heraldandnews.com/#vmix_media_id=103574561

Thank you for your invitation to be here today and I am very honored that you should ask me not only to join you in the observance of Constitution Week, but also permit me to express my respect and admiration for Hillsdale College and to thank each of you for everything you have done to make their tireless efforts possible. Now, I confess that I am not able to call myself a Hillsdale graduate nor can I lay claim to any formal affiliation with you. But, nonetheless, I come here as a very great beneficiary of your commitment to the...

Federal spending has ballooned 28 percent during the Obama Presidency while the government has amassed more debt than it acquired from the first day of George Washington’s administration to the last day of George H. W. Bush’s. Our nation is racing toward a fiscal cliff. Yet, as Sen. Jim DeMint noted, instead of hitting the brakes, Congress and the President just set the cruise control. “The Budget Control Act of 2011” offers an object lesson in exactly the sort of empty compromise that has gotten our nation into its present mess. Faced with the devastating consequences of unprecedented and unsustainable...

Congressman Tom McClintock issued the following statement in response to the President’s State of the Union Address to Congress: “The President missed the message of the 2010 election. It is not government that creates prosperity. It is freedom. We cannot bring about prosperity by locking government spending at unsustainable levels, wasting billions of dollars on subsidies for outrageously inefficient industries, increasing taxes on energy, managing our local schools from Washington and usurping the countless decisions made every day by families, consumers and businesses. “These policies are squandering our wealth, impoverishing our nation and mortgaging our future. “After the Republican sweep...

Thank you for inviting me. It is an especially high honor for me to pay tribute to those whose devotion to the greatest country in the world gave me and my family the greatest gift of our lives: freedom. Sixteen years ago, we left the former Soviet Union for the United States to seek refuge from a cruel and despotic government, not unlike millions of others who risked their meager possessions and indeed their lives, because the ills they have suffered at the hands of their governments have become insufferable and because they were all bound by a common cause,...

Dear All: The local enviro-nazis in the Klamath Basin (southern OR, northern CA) are attempting to tear down 4 perfectly good dams on the Klamath River and have the power generation replaced with solar, simply because dams are displeasing to these folks. The local news is running a poll at http://www.localnewscomesfirst.com (lower right-hand corner of the screen) and the enviro side is winning. PLEASE PLEASE help turn the numbers our direction. Please vote against dam removal. It will destroy this region. Thanks.

Response to President Calderon House Chamber, Washington, D.C. May 20, 2010 M. Speaker: I rise to take strong exception to the speech of the President of Mexico while in this chamber today. The Mexican government has made it very clear for many years that it holds American sovereignty in contempt and President Calderon’s behavior as a guest of the Congress confirms and underscores this attitude. It is highly inappropriate for the President of Mexico to lecture Americans on American immigration policy, just as it would be for Americans to lecture Mexico on its laws. It is obvious that President Calderon...

Fifteen years ago, my family and I arrived in the United States, having fought for two decades to escape the dictatorship of the Soviet Union. We left behind a tyrannical system, determined to control every aspect of its subjects’ lives. Now, the same forces appear to be at the forefront of our national debate on health care. At the heart of this debate lies a very simple question: will we preserve the freedom of every individual to determine his or her best interests, or will government seize for itself control over the health care of every American? Having experienced and...

M. Speaker, The last time our unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent was in 1983. Ronald Reagan responded by cutting taxes and reducing regulatory burdens on the economy, producing the biggest peacetime economic expansion in the nation’s history. Today, President Obama is doing exactly the opposite. Obamacare and Cap and Trade and many other bills promise the biggest tax increases and heaviest regulations our country has ever seen. Over the last 100 years, three presidents responded to recessions by reducing taxes and regulations: Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan – and all produced rapid and dramatic economic recoveries. Two...

M. Speaker: I rise in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the underlying bill. And to explain why, I’d like to walk through a little history and a little math. Let’s begin with history and two important years: 1978 and 1839. In 1978, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: “Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 percent of Needs by 2000; Carter May Seek Outlay Boost.” Oddly, the same paper carried a headline in 2006 making the same promise this time for all renewable fuels – only this time by 2025 – but I digress. (view newspaper headlines) Billions...

BREAKING: The House will adjourn by Friday without voting on a health care bill, according to planning memo obtained by POLITICO.

McClintock to take Oath of Office January 6th Announces Staff Appointments Congressman-elect Tom McClintock will take the oath of office and be sworn in as the U.S. Representative from California's 4th Congressional District at noon Eastern Standard Time January 6th. A ceremonial swearing in, open to the media, will be held in the Rayburn Room H-207 in the Capitol at 3:15 EST. A reception for constituents and guests will begin at 11:30 a.m. that day in room 508 of the Cannon House Office Building. The District Office, located at 4230 Douglas Boulevard, Suite 200, Granite Bay will open and constituents...

Likely voters gave Republican Tom McClintock an eight point advantage over Democrat Charlie Brown in the race for the congressional seat in the 4th Congressional District. The poll was conducted by veteran pollster Val Smith, Ph.D. A telephone survey of high-propensity registered voters within the 4th Congressional District was conducted between the dates of Sept 22 and Sept 24, 2008. The sample size of 400 yields a sampling error of less than +/- 5.0%. McClintock’s lead rose to a 53% to 39% margin when respondents were read campaign messages from both Brown and McClintock. McClintock has strong support among Republicans...

New video emerged today ending years of controversy over whether or not Charlie Brown attended an anti-war protest dressed in a military uniform. The video clearly shows Brown standing with anti-war demonstrators in front of a home where a soldier had been hanged in effigy. Deborah Johns, mother of a Marine who served three tours of duty in Iraq, saw Charlie Brown that night (February 15, 2005). Brown's campaign told Politicker that “Brown attended the rally in a camouflage jacket and spoke with people on both sides of the rally before leaving.” “Deborah Johns said she saw Brown clearly on...