Free Republic

Fresh off her national “Louisiana Purchase” outrage, Sen. Mary Landrieu has a full dance card back in New Orleans over the next few days. Her companions for the Crescent City one-night stands on the calendar are, shall we say, interesting. On Saturday, Landrieu is set to give the welcome speech at a rather out-of-the-mainstream event – this time, she’ll be addressing the New Orleans premiere of Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think. So as we can see, Landrieu is largely supporting a propaganda film in making her appearance and speech at Saturday’s premiere. And her neighbors at the...

There is a lesson here. KSM & Co. do not have to be brought to the United States — a move that would make it significantly more likely that other Gitmo detainees, trained terrorists, would be transferred here. Similarly, KSM & Co. do not have to be given a civilian trial — a move that would make it far more difficult to justify military commissions for lesser terrorists. This is not a fait accompli. It is still possible to block these developments and to induce the Obama administration to reverse itself. But doing so will require the same two things...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senators on Tuesday gave a boost to next week's global environmental summit in Copenhagen, with a senior Democrat advocating more U.S. funding of climate change efforts by poor nations and a key Republican calling for quick action on a U.S. climate bill. Democratic Senator John Kerry, a leading advocate of climate control legislation in Congress, recommended that the Obama administration include $3 billion in next year's budget to help fund efforts to address global warming. This year's funding is about one third that amount. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the few Republicans willing to negotiate with...

A libertarian conservative has declared his plans to "take out Nancy Pelosi" in the 2010 election to stop her from devastating the nation. John Dennis, a businessman and real-estate investor in California's 8th congressional district, told WND, "I've decided to run because the statist Pelosi agenda will destroy America." Rep. Pelosi's district covers most of San Francisco, and Democrats have held the seat since 1949. Since first winning the House seat in a 1987 special election, Pelosi, 69, has breezed to re-election 10 times. President Obama received 85 percent of the vote there in 2008.

Here is video of Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters tonight saying she is "saddened" that a "bright, articulate" President Obama has decided to send more troops to Afghanistan. Waters said Obama's strategy "doesn't work for me," and that she "will not support" Obama's efforts. Waters indicated Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee feels the same way. . . . (VIDEO)

"WASHINGTON -- The standoff between the White House and the Congressional Black Caucus dragged on into Tuesday night, continuing to cloud the prospects of a vote Wednesday morning to overhaul supervision of banks. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) has scheduled a 10:15 a.m. vote on a bill to rework financial regulation. The 10 CBC members of his committee have said they won't vote for it until their concerns on a range of other issues relating to the economy are met by the White House. One problem: it's unclear to many what their concerns are, and CBC...

(snip) The Washington Times Watercooler approached ranking member of the Senate armed services committee Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) about his thoughts about this issue. Senator McCain backed away from any direct comments only saying, “That’s a judicial issue and one that I have not drawn any conclusion [on]. The judicial process is moving forward.” A spokeswoman for Mr. McCain later followed up saying the Senator does not comment "on matters that are actively being considered by the courts." Mr. McCain is well known for being a Navy POW during the Vietnam War and endured five and a half years of...

Tennessee Democratic Rep. John Tanner will retire next November, creating an open seat in an area that strongly favors Republicans. Tanner's decision, according to those familiar with it, was made weeks ago and based on his desire to return to the Volunteer State after more than two decades in Washington. The decision was first reported by the Hotline. Tanner, first elected to the 8th district in 1988, has run without a serious challenge in recent years despite the fact that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won the seat with 56 percent in 2008. Tanner is the second House Democrat from a...

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, back to camera, talks to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, as Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, left, and Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, second from left, look on at an international conference on technology and climate change in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) (CNSNews.com) – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is calling on Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to conduct hearings on a possible conspiracy between some of the world’s most prominent climatologists to, among other things,...

Like a forgotten downtown billboard, Detroit proclaims a warning about the rest of America for any who will stop and look. If ever an American city was a warning for the nation, it is Detroit. Its crumbling mansions, overgrown boulevards and abandoned factories drive a message home to those who will pay attention. We cannot afford to ignore Detroit any longer. Why? What killed Detroit is killing America. Detroit used to be synonymous with wealth and prosperity. It was a city humming with big-finned cars and Motown rhythms. Factories churned out products that ended up on store shelves around the...

Cook Political Report House analyst David Wasserman notes a telling indicator that the political environment in 2010 is shaping up to be favorable for Republicans: Several Democratic candidates have decided to drop out of tough races, while Democratic members of Congress who rarely face serious challenges are finding themselves with their toughest re-elections in years. Over the last week, three Democratic candidates touted by national strategists abruptly withdrew from their races: Solano Beach Councilman Dave Roberts (running against California Rep. Brian Bilbray), state Rep. Todd Book (running against Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt) and Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers...

New $100 Billion Safety Net For Jobless In Works Bill includes $85B for emergency aid, $15B for health insurance subsidies WASHINGTON - As unemployment spikes, the cost of compassion is going up too. By as much as $100 billion. That's the potential price of a push by Democrats in Congress to continue providing extra help to the jobless beyond the core 26-week unemployment insurance package provided under permanent law. The numbers combine the approximately $85 billion cost of continuing emergency benefits through 2010 for the long-term unemployed — jobless more than six months — plus an estimated $15 billion to...

Nelson Sponsoring Stupak Amdt to Cut Abortion in Senate Health Bill Washington, DC -- Sen. Ben Nelson, a pro-life Democrat from Nebraska, confirmed today that he is working on an amendment to the Senate version of the government-run health care bill that would remove abortion funding from it. He said the amendment would be similar to language adopted in the House. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5718.html

President Barack Obama should be wary of committing the U.S. to any binding climate standards at a global conference this month without congressional input, one senator warned. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) sent a letter to the president late last week warning Obama against agreeing to any binding climate change agreement during a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this month. "I would like to express my concern regarding reports that the Administration may believe it has the unilateral power to commit the government of the United States to certain standards that may be agreed upon at the upcoming [conference]," Webb wrote to...

Democratic Rep. John Murtha — just back from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan — said Monday that he never got a clear definition of what constitutes an “achievable victory” for the United States and fears that American commanders are assuming more time for the war effort than voters at home will allow. “I am still very nervous about this whole thing,” Murtha told POLITICO. “If you had 10 years, it might work; if you had five, you could make a difference. But you don’t have that long.” A top Democrat on military matters, the Pennsylvania lawmaker captures the skepticism facing...

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struggles to pass a health care bill in Washington and his polling numbers in Nevada continue to tank, there’s another aggravation he can’t seem to escape — the Las Vegas Review-Journal and its publisher, Sherman Frederick. Frederick has called Reid a “political corpse,� said a visit by President Barack Obama to Nevada earlier this year “was only to try to stop Nevadans from bouncing their unpopular senior Sen. Harry Reid in 2010� and suggested that “Reid’s power so far has done more for Reid personally than it has for Nevadans as a whole.�...

Here is video of Dick Morris tonight on Hannity where he said he is ready to predict that Republicans will retake control of BOTH Houses of Congress in the 2010 Elections. Morris says this beginning at the 5:53 mark of the video. Morris names the seats he believes the GOP will take in the Senate: Six fairly easy pickups according to Morris - Dodd in Connecticut, Delaware, Reid in Nevada, Lincoln in Arkansas, Specter in Pennsylvania, and Colorado. He believes the Governor of North Dakota could run and beat Dorgan, and that Rudy Giuliani can run and beat Gillibrand in...

Prisoner-Abuse Photos: Supremes Reverse Disclosure Order [Andy McCarthy] The Supreme Court issued a brief order today vacating the Second Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that photos said to depict abuse of detainees must be disclosed. The high court remanded the case (Dept. of Defense v. ACLU) to the appellate court to reconsider its ruling in light of the Lieberman/Graham amendment in the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act. Lieberman/Graham empowers the Secretary of Defense to issue a certification preventing the release of photographs that "would endanger citizens of the United States, members of the United States Armed Forces, or employees of...

What can you say? How often does the United States stake out a clear, unequivocal position on a major foreign policy event and then, over the course of a few months, slowly walkback from their original position to come around and embrace exactly the opposite point of view? This is the Obama administration in all its amateurish glory. When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was invited to leave back in June, the administration took the same side as the thugs and dictators of the world, calling it a "military coup" even though the Honduran Supreme Court had ruled the action legal...

Sen. John McCain just offered the first Republican motion as part of the Senate health care debate, which would remove roughly $500 billion in Medicare cuts and send the legislation back to the Finance Committee. While Republicans don't have the votes to pass their amendments, the Senate floor debate gives Republicans the opportunity to highlight areas of the Democratic health care bills that are unpopular, and the proposed cuts to Medicare are a large reason why older Americans remain among the most opposed to the health care push. But even though it's true that Democrats should be called out on...

Sen. Jim DeMint has locked a "hold" on President Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration over concerns the nominee would undermine safety by allowing airport security screeners to unionize, the latest in a series of appointments stymied by Republican objections that are increasingly frustrating the Senate's Democratic majority. The South Carolina Republican single-handedly put the brakes on the nomination with a "hold" - an informal practice by which a senator can keep a nomination or legislation from going to the Senate floor. It is virtually the only weapon left in the minority's arsenal to affect the chamber's business...

Political analyst Charlie Cook says that the scandals enveloping Reps. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and John Murtha (D-PA) threaten to increase losses for their party in next year’s election. He writes: As House Democrats try to avert political disaster by limiting their 2010 losses to about 16 seats, the norm for post-World War II presidents' first midterm elections, dealing with their members' ethics problems may be one of their toughest tasks. The task is tough because of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reluctance to move against either one, notwithstanding her promise to “drain the swamp” of Congressional corruption and to  “create the most...

Is libertarian rock star and Texas Republican Ron Paul going mainstream? He’s got everyone from South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint to Minnesota moderate Democrat Collin Peterson to California liberal Barbara Boxer on his side in his audit-the-Fed crusade. He’s drawing liberal support in his push to rein in the cost of the war in Afghanistan. Senate candidates like Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes of New Hampshire are finding Dr. No’s populist economic anger to be useful in the campaign, echoing Paul’s criticism of the Federal Reserve. “This brought people together [from] the whole political spectrum, from progressives and liberals and...

(CNSNews.com) – The House health-care reform plan unveiled last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would do more than regulate insurance companies – it would even regulate vending machines. The bill, which is posted online, would require that vending machine operators either create new machines that allow the customer to view nutrition facts or post nutritional information for each product near “each article of food or the selection button.” The regulation could wind up costing vendors millions of dollars to make the changes, according to industry estimates. Section 2572 of the bill (H.R. 3962) says, “In the case of...

Washington, DC (AHN) - A new Senate report blasts the Bush administration's December 2001 effort to capture or kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Afghanistan mountains of Tora Bora. The report, written by the Senate Foreign Relations, says bin Laden was within reach on Dec. 16, but he and his "entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area." The report says most analysts believe he is still there. The report, requested by the committee's chairman, Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, blames the failure to catch or kill bin Laden on...

"Let the healthcare bill allow for one sterilization for everyone of these whacked out females who are so intent on killing babies . . . Then . . . if these Femme-a-Nazis want to have a child, they can rent one." Reader comment posted on my Nov. 25 column Incendiary e-mails are still rolling in on Wednesday's column. It proves you can't write about abortion, women and Catholic bishops and not get heavy heat. Add universal health care to the conversation? Kaboom! It's OK. I've had great role models in taking heat. Jack Egan, for one. In the winter of...

WASHINGTON – The 60 votes aren't there any longer. With the Senate set to begin debate Monday on healthcare overhaul, the all-hands-on-deck Democratic coalition that allowed the bill to advance is fracturing already. Yet majority Democrats will need 60 votes again to finish. Some Democratic senators say they'll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they'll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed overboard. Such concessions would enrage liberals, the heart and soul of the party. There's no clear course for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to...

Thankfully, Obama's inauguration illustrated (once again) that Americans are among the least racist and prejudiced persons on earth. Despite having to combat the presence of a radical ideologue in the White House, conservatives hoped our opponents would desist in their longtime passion for pretending that America is racially unchanged since 1959. Our fine country is no longer marred by the practice of slavery or segregation (no thanks to the Democratic Party), and the elevation of my former senator was yet another indication of how far society has evolved. However, for those who care more for fantasies of power and control...

The attorney general has suggested that those who oppose prosecuting these men here in New York City are afraid – that we somehow don’t have the courage to face Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in court. How dare this man, who didn’t have the decency to notify victims’ families of his decision to bring these monsters here, imply that we lack courage. Courage is carrying on after watching your loved ones die, in real time, knowing that they burned to death, were crushed to death, or jumped from 100 flights high. Courage is carrying on, even as we waited, in some cases...

The Obama Administration remains addicted to the "Chicago Way" of hardball politics. One of the clearest examples was last June's firing by the White House of Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the government service program AmeriCorps. Mr. Walpin complained at the time his ouster was due to his dogged investigation of misspent AmeriCorps money in a program run by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a major Obama backer. Mr. Walpin's firing by the White House was done in direct contravention of a 2008 law meant to protect inspectors general from political retribution. Mr. Obama himself co-sponsored the law as a Senator....

Democrats in Congress may need redemption with voters next year. But can President Obama save them? Some strategists believe replicating the model that produced Democratic gains in the past two election cycles--a combination of mobilizing new voters and independents, along with an energized party base--is the answer. Victories over the past four years even convinced some an enduring Democratic majority had emerged. President Obama's 2008 win only punctuated that ascendancy. Others believe dancing on the Republicans' grave is premature. Sinking the GOP was an easy target when the party had controlled the White House since 2001. Republican unpopularity--in an environment...

Rep. Tom Periello is holding a town hall via telephone next Monday, November 30, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. You can call in by dialing 1-877-269-7289. You will need to enter the PIN number “14581″ Feel free to let Tom know your opinion about his support of the 2 worst bills in United States legislative history: Cap and Trade and the so called Health Care Reform bill.

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama prepares to announce his long-awaited decision on Afghanistan, many war-weary Democrats in Congress are holding their tongues, uneasy about the possibility of a troop surge but wanting to give Obama space to make a defining decision of his presidency. San Jose's Mike Honda is not one of them. "I would oppose it," said the soft-spoken, unassuming Democratic congressman, who has emerged as a leading voice of progressives in Congress who oppose a troop buildup in Afghanistan. Though his position is consistent with his liberal bent on most issues, Honda does not relish standing in...

COP 15 - United Nations Climate Change Conference Senator James Inhofe, one of the most outspoken critics of the manmade climate change theory, announced he would go to the Copenhagen climate conference as a 'one-man truth squad.' (COP15) Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe announced on C-SPAN this morning that he would be traveling to the Copenhagen climate summit as a “on-man truth squad.” The senator is one of the most outspoken critics of the cap and trade legislation and a leading skeptic of the manmade climate change theory. * Video: Senator Inhofe says he will go to the UN Climate ConferenceThe...

Reporting from Washington - Troubled by the rising jobless rate, President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are assembling a new jobs package that would devote billions of dollars to projects meant to put people back on payrolls in 2010 and keep them working. Discussions over the scale of the bill are fluid, but lawmakers said the intent was to move swiftly and get a bill to Obama's desk as early as January. The renewed push to create jobs is driven by a recognition that the $787-billion stimulus program enacted in February is not a sufficient remedy for an...

Double-digit. That hyphenated adjective has been used most often recently to describe October's 10.2 percent unemployment rate. But it can also be used to describe the federal budget deficit as a percentage of the gross domestic product. That precise number is not yet known, but it may turn out to have a more dire effect on our national life than October's unemployment rate. In the fiscal year just ended, federal spending was nearly 25 percent of GDP, while federal revenues slipped below 15 percent because of the financial crisis and recession. We have not seen a budget deficit of this...

Is Howard Dean reclaiming the populist crown? The former presidential candidate and governor of Vermont appeared on Air America’s Bill Press radio show and blasted the ObamaCare bill — in both its House and Senate forms. During the interview, Dean insisted that the current efforts did nothing to control costs, and amounted to nothing more than a bailout for the insurance companies. He urged progressives in Congress to oppose the bill, especially if the public option gets stripped out. And he said, “Republicans are right about the rhetoric of this bill” (via Instapundit):

Two years ago, Congress ordered the nation’s gasoline refiners to do something that is turning out to be mathematically impossible. To please the farm lobby and to help wean the nation off oil, Congress mandated that refiners blend a rising volume of ethanol and other biofuels into gasoline. They are supposed to use at least 15 billion gallons of biofuels by 2012, up from less than seven billion gallons in 2007. But nobody at the time counted on fuel demand falling in the United States, which is what has happened during the recession. And that decline could well continue, as...

When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” High unemployment, the recession, and a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are bad enough. But there are a number of problems on the horizon that could dwarf President Obama’s first-year trials. Why the pessimism? In short, we are doing nothing to prepare for the crises to come. A global recession has led to low oil prices. Yet in this window of opportunity, America has not decreased its foreign-oil dependence. We are not encouraging domestic exploration. And we are still ambivalent on...

... Washington is more partisan than ever, and more polarized. Even on a purely procedural vote to begin Senate debate on health-care reform this past Saturday, every Democrat voted one way (yes), every Republican the other (no). With rare exception and with no objection from the president, Democrats draft bills with no input from Republicans. In return, Republicans vote in lockstep against Democratic legislation. Every House Republican voted against the stimulus, all but one against liberal health-care reform, and all but eight against cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House earlier this year. Why has the president's publicly expressed vision of...

American ThinkerNovember 26, 2009Senator Conrad's insulting defense of trying KSM in New York David Jeffers:Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else."  Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq.  I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts.  Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran?  Is it okay with...

VIRGINIA, Va. -- It's probably the last time that Timothy M. Kaine will step outside his house in the morning to find two dead deer and a turkey on his doorstep. But yesterday, the outgoing Virginia governor and his wife, first lady Anne Holton, stood outside the Executive Mansion in Richmond to preside over a Thanksgiving tradition that dates to the late 1600s -- Virginia's Indian tribes paying tribute to the governor. On a damp and gray but mild morning, Kaine welcomed about 200 people, including members of several generations of Indians in traditional garb, as well as Capitol Square...

When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet." High unemployment, the recession and a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are bad enough. But there are a number of problems on the horizon that could dwarf President Obama's first-year trials. Why the pessimism? In short, we are doing nothing to prepare for the crises to come. (snip) Finally, there is an array of taxes on the horizon -- increased federal income tax rates; promised hikes in health-care surcharge taxes; and even rumors of value-added federal sales taxes. These increases are...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Delivering a more forthright speech than is often seen from politicians on the issue, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer -- the third ranking member of the Senate -- told a homosexual group last week that "gay marriage" supporters "must not rest" until it is legalized in all 50 states. Schumer's comments came as Maine prepares for Tuesday's vote that will decide the future of "gay marriage" there. If Question 1 passes it would overturn a new state law that legalized "marriage" for same-sex couples. But if it fails it would be the first time any state will have approved "gay...

A specter is haunting America – the specter of a people rising. All across the nation Americans are waking up to the threat of a leftist elite determined to fundamentally change America, push through a socialist agenda, and make every citizen dependent on the state. The Obama machine is spending trillions of tax-payer dollars to finance their takeover of the American workplace and stifle the independence of the American people. But America is resilient nation, built on the principles of private property and individual freedom, and the resistance to their socialist plans has already begun.

Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the...

Before Media Matters starts hurling childish invective about how we here at Big Government aren’t “real journalists” because we don’t follow the ridiculous guidelines they set up and then fail to adhere to themselves, it brings me great pleasure to back-up today’s post about “Bon Bon” Hurd with a second source: None other than Roseanne Barr. Thanks to a tip from “Jim C,” a reader of Big Government, Rosanne’s interview from earlier this year at the Huffington Post reveals that it’s pretty common knowledge within the power structure of ACORN that they did, indeed, work to get President Obama elected:...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. debt that is topping $12 trillion is raising fresh questions about the cost of President Barack Obama's proposed healthcare overhaul, but those concerns are unlikely to sink the legislation. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan scorekeeper of federal spending, put the first 10-year cost of the Senate healthcare bill at $849 billion and said it would reduce budget deficits by $130 billion over that period. Republican critics of the overhaul, a top domestic priority for Obama, say those numbers reflect timing gimmicks that skew the bill's costs and that the price tag will be closer...

believe that Republicans are poised to cement their complete opposition to everything Obama and reap a huge political win by twisting their political principles to oppose further escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Unless, of course, Obama can be convinced not to send more troops. Obama’s decision about whether to send more troops in Afghanistan is expected on December 1st, and he may well be going with an increase of around 30,000 towards a war we don’t have a way to win. We’ve reached a crucial juncture. More troops to Afghanistan would be a disaster, both over there and politically over...

Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else." Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq. I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts. Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran? Is it okay with you if invoke my free speech rights?