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Former Boeing instructor pilot Anthony Keyter has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Boeing, alleging that the Chicago-based aerospace company plotted to murder him. Boeing test pilot Anthony Keyter says that Boeing plotted to kill him. The lawsuit indicates that Keyter lives in Gig Harbor and that he is representing himself. The suit, filed Monday with the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, charges that Boeing plotted to kill Keyter after Keyter filed another civil complaint against President George W. Bush. "President Bush, via his agents, contacted high level executives of The Boeing Company and initiated a criminal plot to...

High Hopes for Congress by: Daniel Allen, January 12, 2009 The Brookings Institution presented a study of the accomplishments of the 110th Congress last Thursday, part of a project called “Mending the Broken Branch.” The study includes expectations for the 111th Congress, which began its first session last week. Participants in the project emphasized that Congress and the public are hopeful about opportunities leaders of the 111th Congress will have to work across the aisle, crack down on corrupt and inappropriate practices, and begin to fix the problems of the “broken branch.” They also emphasize, however, that the repairs necessary...

Sen. James Inhofe Official Site:Sen. Inhofe Introduces Bill to Halt Handout of Bailout Funds (S. 3683) - - 11.17.08 ABSTRACT, Washington DC: Today, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced legislation to amend Section 115 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) to require an affirmative vote on the part of Congress to approve Treasury's plan for the remaining $350 billion and require a freeze on any remaining funds of the first $350 billion, stating, "It is imperative that we not allow that amount of money to be added to a deficit approaching $1 trillion this year without any input from...

Nancy Goes to Recess by: Rachel Paulk, August 07, 2008 Republican members met in the U.S. House of Representatives this week to protest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to call a vote on the American Energy Act—a bill with a bipartisan focus on both increasing the oil supply with additional drilling and increasing American alternative energy capabilities. Rasmussen Reports stated that in a recent poll for the month of June, “Over half the nation’s voters (52%) now say Congress is doing a poor job, while just 11% give the legislature good or excellent ratings.” Also of note was the fact...

The GOP is happy today about the approval of the $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill. Tactically, it does constitute a victory: the Dems caved once again, in spite of the fact that they hold both houses of Congress. Bush held strong, and as a lame duck, he's showing himself to be anything but lame. There are even videos being made, with symbolic representations of just how pathetic the 110th Dems are. However, there are some folks on our side who are not so happy about this victory, and arguably with good reason.For example, Redstate is unhappy that they didn't go...

Twelve years after conservative Republicans in Congress were blamed for shutting down the government, they are introducing legislation to ensure that government continues to function no matter what. Anticipating a showdown with Democrats that could force government offices to close, President Bush is backing the legislation. It’s quite a change from 1995, when Republicans took over Congress, vowing to slash government and even abolish the Departments of Education and Energy as excessive bureaucracy. Now conservatives say it is Democrats who want to force a government shutdown in order to coerce President Bush into accepting an additional $23 billion in spending....

WASHINGTON -- In the heat of their successful campaign last year to retake the House and Senate, Democrats made voters promise after promise. They promised to end the war in Iraq. They promised to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. They promised to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and raise the minimum wage. But six months after taking over Congress, Democrats find they have accomplished little of their agenda. Perhaps not coincidentally, Congress' job approval rating has reached a dramatic low, tumbling 13 points since February to 24 percent, according to the Gallup Poll. Republicans, damaged by...

The new Democratic majority's zeal for congressional investigations goes well beyond Alberto Gonzales and the fired federal prosecutors. Aided by a new investigative team including a former mob prosecutor and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Democrats have launched more than three dozen probes of the administration ranging from the White House to obscure agency heads. The House Oversight Committee alone has conducted 20 investigations. With few legislative accomplishments in hand -- and only a few prospects in the offing -- it seems plain the 110th is shaping up as "The Oversight Congress." This is troubling news for the Bush White House...

The Democrats Blink By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY May 22, 2007 Iraq: When Democratic leaders dropped their demand for a withdrawal timeline this week, it was more than being outmaneuvered in negotiations. They left the president in firm possession of the moral high ground. Only a short time ago, Democrats were cockily promising they would send the president a pullout bill as many times as it would take, until finally he would have to relent. Just last Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were insisting on a timeline in negotiations with the White House on a...

The Pentagon Cash Crunch War is a pay-as-you-go business. by Tom Donnelly 05/07/2007, Volume 012, Issue 32 The Senate majority leader's "position is irresponsible. . . . We won the war but we are in danger of losing the peace. [Our adversary] is counting on the United States and Europe losing interest--and losing our will--and not staying the course. . . . Funding in the supplemental would support . . . the only [friendly] government that now exists." George W. Bush criticizing Harry Reid? No--Joe Biden complaining about Trent Lott's slow-walk on the supplemental appropriation for Kosovo in April 2000....

The House of Representatives as Commander-in-Chief? By Paul Weyrich Friday, April 27, 2007 For the first time in American history the House of Representatives has informed the military that it knows more than the Commander in Chief about conducting a war. In doing so this Congress also has notified the enemy in our ongoing war in Iraq when the enemy should expect us to begin pulling out troops and precisely how many months it will take for complete withdrawal. If only the Congress had thought of this idea earlier - perhaps back in 1944 - we could have sent a...

WASHINGTON - Two East Coast lawmakers introduced a bill Friday with 73 co-sponsors that would designate as wilderness 23 million public acres in five Northern Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., wrote the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. It would give the government's strongest protections to areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They announced the measure along with songstress Carole King. Three co-sponsors are from Washington and three from Oregon. Both Montana and Wyoming's representatives condemned the bill and vowed to fight it. Similar measures have been introduced in...

How High Can You Stand for Your Taxes to Go? By Herman CainThursday, April 12, 2007 If you’re getting a tax refund this year, you’re probably excited. How will you use the money? Save it for a rainy-day pizza party? Upgrade your basic cable TV? If you didn’t get a refund, you’ll especially want to read on. Funny how big government has mesmerized us into believing it’s a treat to keep some of our own wages. It’s an illusion they have to protect so they can squeeze out more each year. And if we don’t put major pressure on...

Thank you, OXENinFLA for putting together the below comments and links!. Since "Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America.", I and others think it's a good idea to centralize what the goes on in the Senate (or House). So if you see something happening on the Senate/House floor and you don't want to start a new thread to ask if anyone else just heard what you heard, you...

Exclusive: Separation of Powers Geoff MetcalfAuthor: Geoff Metcalf Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc. Date: April 5, 2007Nearly a century ago, Teddy Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled.” FSM Contributing Editor Geoff Metcalf brilliantly uses an interesting historical perspective to demonstrate the malfeasance and diffidence of current congressional representatives in doing their prescribed jobs. Will this Congress continue to hog-tie the president, imperiling our troops and endangering the country? Read what Geoff concludes. Separation of Powers By Geoff Metcalf “Courage overrides self-doubt, but does not end it.” --Mason...

April's Fools: One Born Every Minute April 02, 2007 By Herman Cain An old and popular English proverb cautions us that a fool and his money are soon parted. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is taking us all for fools with some of his recent statements and votes. On January 4, 2007, Senator Baucus spoke on the Senate floor about the imperative need to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT was enacted in 1969 to make sure that a handful of millionaires could not take advantage of completely legal tax deductions and shelters. Because Congress did...

It's Not About Health Care March 12, 2007 By Herman Cain The caretakers of our three constitutional branches, plus their respective bureaucracies, go to great trouble to convince voters that this time they have stumbled upon the perfect government-mandated solutions for all our maladies. If a majority of us non-elites in the far flung hinterlands would just trust them this time, then wow, life in these United States would be nothing but a cornucopia of bliss. Of course, over 200 years of American history has shown us that our elected, appointed and career government employees are not motivated by the...

Pandering Their Way to Permanent Minority Status February 19, 2007 By Herman Cain Last week I discussed the testimony delivered February 8 by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson before the Senate Budget Committee on President Bush's fiscal year 2008 budget proposals. When asked by Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) about proposals to reform entitlement programs, Paulson said, "Let's take the politics out of this ... without prejudging outcomes, without trying to negotiate this in a public arena." Senator Conrad responded, "I think that is a very constructive statement." This smacks at an attempt to negotiate solutions to the nation's most...

No One's Guarding the Hen House February 12, 2007 By Herman Cain "The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C. And the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Election Night, November 7, 2006 What a difference three months – and a taste of power – makes. Speaker Pelosi may have banned smoking in the Capitol's corridors, but under liberal leadership the backroom is wide open for business. Members of the Bush administration are unconscionably collaborating. A February 8 Wall Street...

A Strange Way to Seek a True Leader January 22, 2007 By Herman Cain The next president of the United States of America may not be what we need. We need a real leader who will bring real solutions to the challenges facing our economic infrastructure and national security. We will get the candidate who can best manage the nomination process, party politics and public perception. Too many presidential candidates fail to truly grasp the process, party and perception dynamics. Many credible candidates from both major parties have faltered because they failed at one or more of these critical pillars...

Dangerous Democrats vs. the Free Market January 15, 2007 By Herman Cain The American public is about to once again witness the liberals' total disdain for, and ignorance of, the dynamics of capitalism and our free market economic system. Liberals in the House have already passed legislation to increase the federal minimum wage three times over the next two years. They have clearly voiced their economy-killing positions on issues ranging from tax rate increases to dictating what companies should pay their employees. Since Franklin Roosevelt's socialist New Deal policies, to Lyndon Johnson's budget-busting Great Society, through Carter's stagflation and Clinton's...

Phoenix Republican Congressman John Shadegg is criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats for exempting American Samoa and its tuna canneries from the House of Representatives' recently passed minimum wage increase. Del Monte Foods Co. (NYSE: DLM) subsidiary Starkist Tuna employs three-fourths of the work force in American Samoa. Del Monte is based in San Francisco, Pelosi's home district. The minimum wage is $3.62 per hour in American Samoa, and would remain so under the bill, Shadegg said. The House bill, which would raise the U.S. minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour, did include the...

The Stiletto was reading an article in The Washington Post about The House passing a bill that would ease President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research by a vote of 253 to 174 - short of the two-thirds majority needed to override an expected presidential veto. She then decided to check out which Republicans voted with the Dems in favor of H.R. 3 and vice versa. The Post broke the vote down by party affiliation, state, region, “boomer status,” gender and – get this – astrological sign. Though The Stiletto can’t quite figure out how this information could...

Control Does Not Fill the Leadership Void January 8, 2007 By Herman Cain Democrats are celebrating their new majority status in Congress with lots of speeches about bipartisan cooperation and a less-than-inspiring agenda for their first 100 legislative hours. Time will tell if they keep their word on working with Republicans, but the voters want leadership on the big issues, not platitudes about comity and meaningless political victories. Under the leadership of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Republicans in 1994 made progress on significant issues through the Contract with America. But under the last six years of Republican control, even with...

Today the President met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Oval Office and later made a statement to the press. Both the President and Vice President took part in a secure video teleconference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from the newly-renovated Situation Room at the White House. The President spoke with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) (L), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) (C) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh George W. Bush on a telephone conference call at the start of the 110th Congress Today Vice President Dick Cheney took part in the Senate re-enactment swearing-in...

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday the budget he presents to Congress next month will aim to balance the budget by 2012 and make lower tax rates permanent. "Next month I will submit a five-year budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012," Bush said after a meeting at the White House with top administration officials. Bush said the budget would address "priorities" like "the need to keep this economy growing by making tax relief permanent." Balancing the budget in the given timeframe would require substantial spending discipline, given that recent projections by the White House showed...

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking. House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans. But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm...

Many Newly Elected Democrats Ran on a Platform of Immigration Enforcement, Not Amnesty When the 110th Congress convenes in January it will be under new Democratic leadership. Angry and frustrated by a seeming lack of progress in the war in Iraq, a series of corruption and other scandals, skyrocketing energy costs, the erosion of the middle class, and historically low approval ratings for the president, the public chose to make sweeping changes in the elections of 2006. With both Houses of Congress now led by the Democrats there is likely to be a change in direction in how just about...

Article Launched: 12/22/2006 04:38:28 PM MST WASHINGTON -- Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi cited the need to preserve the ''dignity and decorum'' of the House as she rejected a request Friday that C-SPAN operate its own cameras in covering the chamber. The public service network has provided gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House proceedings since 1979. But the House leader has kept control of the cameras, with coverage generally limited to tight shots of the speaker or the podium. The situation is similar in the Senate, which C-SPAN has televised since 1986. C-SPAN's chairman and chief executive told Pelosi, D-Calif., that under this...

Rep. Mike Pence, candidate for House minority leader, delivered the following speech to the Republican Conference today. I know there are many traditions in this room but permit me begin by acknowledging God. He has given my family and my staff the health and strength to give our colleagues a choice: to endure this contest of worthy opponents with grace. I want to thank my supporters in this room, loyal friends who have stood at my side in this cause, wherever life takes my little family, I will always see you in this moment and admire your courage and your...

My Advise to the 110the Congress... I would really like to see the Republican minority give the Democrats WHATEVER they want..... GAY MARIAGE.. HIGH TAXES... DISBAND THE MILITARY... NATIONAL HEALTH CARE... BAN ALL WEAPONS....etc....etc.. now before you think I have gone off the deep end lets think about this... If the Democrats pass their LIBERAL agenda the American People will realize exactly what it is... Now this will take some proactive measures by the President to ensure that it does not become LAW... but it will in fact expose the LEFT for the what they are !!... The biggest complaint...

If Democrats win control of the House next week, Nancy Pelosi's first test as speaker will arrive long before the 110th Congress convenes. Her choice to head the House intelligence committee -- unlike other House committees, this one is left entirely up to the party leadership -- will speak volumes about whether a Speaker Pelosi will be able to resist a return to paint-by-numbers Democratic Party interest-group politics as usual. Pelosi is in a box of her own devising. The panel's ranking Democrat is her fellow Californian Jane Harman -- smart and hardworking but also abrasive, ambitious and, in Pelosi's...

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the longtime Democratic senator from Connecticut running for re-election as an independent, says the party leadership has assured him he would keep his seniority if he returns to Congress. Local Democrats are responding with irritation, political opponents voice disbelief, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) denies making a decision. But the strongest response is likely to come from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) who views Lieberman’s independent status as an opportunity to press Democratic leaders to restore seniority he lost four years ago. If Lautenberg retrieves seniority accrued during 18 years of Senate service before retiring in...

As Republicans have become increasingly nervous about whether they will be able to maintain control of the House in the midterm elections, they have resorted to the straw-man strategy of identifying a parade of horrors to come if Democrats gain the majority. Among these is the assertion that I, as the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush. I will not do that. I readily admit that I have been quite vigorous, if not relentless, in questioning the administration. The allegations I have raised are grave, serious, well known, and based on...

With the announcement of Bill Thomas’s retirement, many have begun to take closer notice of the number of open seats in 2006 – and how they seem to favor the Democrats. Most political observers have recognized that the number of open seats is a critical factor in the partisan composition of the House, and that this year the Republicans must defend more than the Democrats. However, few have correctly surmised that the Democrats enjoy little-to-no real advantage because of open seats.All political scientists agree that open seats are a key method of party changes in the House of Representatives. Only...

Two days ago, I began to discuss what I believe to be the best way to predict congressional elections. Developed first by Edward Tufte and later refined by Gary Jacobson, the “Tufte/Jacobson theory” is starting point I have chosen. It argues that we can predict the outcome of a congressional election based upon three factors: exposure, presidential job approval and changes in real disposable income per capita (RDI/cap). It is time to supply the details, supplement the theory with some extra concerns, and make a prediction for 2006.Exposure is the extent to which the party of the President is above...

Most political commentators remain ambivalent about the chances of a Democratic capture of the House. Most are willing to say that they cannot capture the Senate – especially now that Lott has decided to return. It would require them to run the tables on every vulnerable and “vulnerable” incumbent Republican out there: Santorum, Dewine, Burns, Chafee, Talent. This would be at a time when incumbents are, historically speaking, as invulnerable as they have ever been, and Republicans are as invulnerable as they have been since Hoover. Most think this is impossible.But what about the House? To take the House, the...

To lose control of the House of Representatives, the Republican Party, which is now in its 12th year as the chamber's majority party, would have to suffer a net loss 15 seats in the November midterm elections. By historical standards, that is not a very tall order. On the other hand, if historical trends played out during the 2002 midterm elections, Republicans would not have added half a dozen seats in the House. To be sure, midterm elections have not been kind to presidents or their parties. For example, since 1862, there have been 36 midterm elections held during the...

 January 18, 2006--Forty-six percent (46%) of Republicans say they will vote for a Democratic candidate in their Congressional race this year while 35% plan to vote for a Republican.In this Rasmussen Reports survey, Democrats have a 4 percentage point edge among men and a 17-point advantage among women.Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans voters say that the economy will play a "very important" role in determining how they will vote for Congress in 2006. Sixty percent (60%) consider the situation in Iraq a "very important" issue.When asked which of those two issues is more important, 54% named the economy and 33%...

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House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who has been publicly vague about whether he will give up the reins at the end of this Congress, told a group of supporters last week that he plans to run again and serve as speaker for the rest of President Bush's second term. Republican officials said they are relieved by the development because it postpones what is likely to be a brutal succession fight that would be a distraction from next year's midterm elections, which are historically tough for the party in power, and from Bush's domestic agenda, which is already having a...