Free Republic

The NYT published a press release from Oxfam claiming that the richest 1% control more than half the world's wealth. I don't know if that's true, but if it is... who cares? Even if it is true, where exactly is this money being held? Investors with interests in finance, insurance and health saw the biggest windfalls, Oxfam said. Using data from Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires, it said those listed as having interests in the pharmaceutical and health care industries saw their net worth jump by 47 percent. Oh, they're being held in businesses. Businesses, that, you know, employ...

Democrats love to dog-whistle how the Republicans are the party of the one-percenters.  Projection of your own agenda onto others is the hallmark of an insecure soul; the false bravado, nervous laughter and deflecting conversation—“this is just a normal midterm swing”—marks the Democrats stunned awakening to truth.  Yeah, a midterm swing.  Democrats, just keep on saying that, and maybe even you’ll believe it. The one-percenter accusation applies all right, but not to the Republicans.  It’s the Democrats who have been co-opted by the far-Left fringe promoting the one-percent.  Look at all the battles we conservatives have been fighting for years: ...

Forbes magazine has published a list of the 185 richest families in America Each family is worth collectively a minimum of $1 billion The collective worth of the 185 families on the list of billionaire families is $1.2 trillion The richest family in America is the Walton family who are worth $152 billion Other famous names on the list are the Hearsts, Mars and Rockefellers Of the 50 richest families, 28 are Republicans and only seven are Democrats

The shear hypocrisy of the Hollywood elite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxRlpRcorEU

A liberal is a man who will give away everything he doesn’t own.Frank Dane While I have a tendency to swear like a sailor at times, I refrain from utilizing vulgar language when I write. I think it demeans me as a writer and increases the possibility that I will offend some readers. Since I seek the largest audience possible, I would only be engaging in selfish and self-defeating behavior. But sometimes the subject demands that sort of language. This is just such a time.As I read a wide variety of news sources, conduct my own research, explore and develop...

Hollywood wants a $500-million blockbuster out of Sacramento. In the final days of the legislative session, the industry is seeking a five-year extension of a tax credit for producing films and television shows in California. It has assembled a powerful coalition of moguls and unions, who argue that failing to re-up the program risks losing film jobs to states offering even more generous rebates.

NEW YORK, January 30, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After years of renting the property, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has purchased its headquarters in New York City for $34.8 million. The nation’s largest abortion provider has rented the commercial condominium where its headquarters are situated since 2002, and had reportedly originally signed for a 20-year lease for 104,000 square feet of the property at around $35 per square foot, according to The Real Deal, a local real estate news source. Although legally a nonprofit organization, Planned Parenthood reported over $1 billion in net assets in 2009-10 according to its...

President Obama echoes the Occupy Wall Street Movement in demonizing the top 1 percent—suggesting that prosperous people somehow create painful problems for the rest of us. But the president never bothers to answer a basic question: who makes up the top 1 percent? Economists Joe Bakija, Adam Cole and Bradley Heim have completed authoritative research on leading earners—some 1,400,000 taxpayers in 2010, each of whom earned more than $380,000.

President Obama's fundraising swing through Los Angeles made for a tougher afternoon commute for some motorists on Monday. The traffic problems were most intense in Hancock Park and Mid-City, with east-west commuters facing some delays. A portion of Wilshire Boulevard and adjacent 6th Street were shutdown for several hours, jamming other streets linking downtown and the Westside. On top of that, Obama made an unscheduled stop at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles on Pico Boulevard. Booths full of early-dinner diners craned their necks to see Obama, who was at the counter ordering for himself and nearby aides, including Valerie Jarrett, Jay...

Outside of Republicans, she’s not popular at all. According to our NBC/WSJ poll, just 29% view her favorably, compared with 43% who view her unfavorably (not far from George W. Bush’s 29%-50% score). In addition, the poll shows that 52% have problems with a candidate who has been endorsed by Palin, versus only 25% who are comfortable with that attribute. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Palin is more of a political celebrity than a political figure. ~First Read This is true, but there is nothing here about Palin that we know now that we didn’t already...

After a stretch in which an endorsement from Sarah Palin was considered a rarity, the former Alaska governor has become something of an endorsement machine as of late. In the past week alone, she has endorsed four candidates, ranging from a tea party contender for Senate in her home state of Alaska to the GOP establishment favorite for Iowa governor. Palin has backed both clear winners and decided long-shots; she's weighed in on behalf of "mama grizzlies," but an extra X chromosome doesn't necessarily mean an automatic endorsement (see Hutchison, Kay Bailey). Some candidates (such as former Redskins tight end...

Sarah Palin's Political Bandwagon Is wobbling Under The Weight of Contradictions The Sarah Palin phenomenon is finally beginning to fade as contradictions mount up, says Alex Spillius in Washington Alex Spillius 15 May 2010 We are seeing the first signs of wobble on the Sarah Palin bandwagon. This may seem a strange thing to say about a political superstar who has earned at least $12 million in the past 18 months from a publishing advance, personal appearance fees and a television punditry contract, not to forget a reality show about life in Alaska. Palin is such a boon to the...

Sen. John McCain, the man who brought Sarah Palin to national prominence, is being challenged for re-election in the GOP primary by former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Palin recently announced that she plans to travel to Arizona to campaign on McCain’s behalf, but posters on her Facebook page are not at all happy with their Sarah: “Sarah, it was fun, but now you are done.” “Sarah, your support of McCain shows bad judgment and brings into question the validity of your words. You can forget any political ambition if you support Amnesty – which John McCain does. Conservatives don’t forget.”...

For the past few days, movement "conservatives" and GOP cheerleaders have been ecstatic that Fred Thompson, former senator from Tennessee, may form an exploratory committee to seek the GOP nomination for president. "Now we'll have a conservative in there," said one person, who, I assume, has no idea what a real conservative is. There already are two fine conservative candidates seeking the nomination: Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. And Fred Thompson does not even come close measuring up to them. Fred Thompson is a neocon globalist. First and foremost, let's look at immigration. A third-world invasion of the USA is...

As Hillary Clinton begins her own preparations to run for the presidency, the deciding factor of who will be the next commander in chief may have less to do with whomever is chosen as the Democrat or Republican nominee, and more to do with the choice of the Constitution Party. This weekend at a national committee meeting in Manchester, N.H., Howard Phillips and the Constitution Party he founded set in motion the plans to launch its own third party candidate for president. "The time has never been better for a third party dark horse candidate to grab the White House,"...

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) -- Biker gangs have made the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a violence-marred affair in the past. The rally, which draws about half a million people each August to the Black Hills in western South Dakota, has since gotten older, laid-back and more diverse. But this year, gunshots about 75 miles away reminded attendees about the gangs. Authorities said two men affiliated with the Hells Angels shot and wounded five Outlaws Motorcycle Club members in Custer State Park earlier this week. Suzanne Church, who has ministered to biker gang members at Sturgis since 1997, said she hopes there's no...

As the "Big Tent" collapses, make way for the true "third" party According to research that I conducted in 1998, there were more than 400 political parties in America. (That number has grown smaller in recent years, but is still over 200 — far larger than the "mainstream" media admits.) According to research by Richard Winger, the publisher of Ballot Access News, the third-largest political party in the United States is the Constitution Party. Thus, the CP is the true third party. Statistically, the CP has more members than any political party other than the Big Two. And, statistically, there...

Are foreign countries and companies using the "Wal-Mart model" to undermine American industry? US economic incentives and trade policies encourage foreign producers to invest in this country. While the nation may be experiencing short-term benefits from foreign investment, the long-term harm may far exceed expectations, as is the case when Wal-Mart has invested in some local communities. Undermining American Industry The result of these US economic incentive and trade policies seems to be dramatic erosion of American industry through predatory competition and utilization of cheap overseas suppliers, analogous to the displacement of many local merchants that sometimes follows the introduction...

Playing to the demands of their Christian-right base, Republicans chose to abandon even the slightest notion that they support states' rights in the case of Terri Schiavo.

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...