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WITH ONE important exception, what we have learned about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family does not reflect badly on any of them. What the Palin family story does do is underscore the flaws in the political philosophy that was critical to her being selected by John McCain. The exception, of course, is the allegation that she tried to get the Alaska public safety commissioner to fire her former brother-in-law and fired the commissioner when he would not give in to her wishes. Public officials cannot use their official positions on behalf of family members in a domestic...

The despicable Barney Franks thinks going after Sarah Palin's family is just fine. What a lowlife. Here is the mocking response on YouTube. PAUL POTTS SINGS BARNEY FRANK Barney Frank: Sarah Palin’s family life is fair game Associated Press/Boston Herald ^ | 09/02/2008 | AP Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 6:27:02 AM by pjsbro WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank is among the first Democrats to publicly say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion. "They’re the ones that made an issue of her family," Frank,...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank is among the first Democrats to publicly say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion. "They’re the ones that made an issue of her family," Frank, D-Mass., said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank is among the first Democrats to publicly say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion. "They’re the ones that made an issue of her family," Frank, D-Mass., said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Barney Frank: Sarah Palin’s family life is fair game Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - Updated 5m ago WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank is among the first Democrats to publicly say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion. Republicans have stressed Palin’s conservative family values in announcing her selection as John McCain’s running mate. Frank says the disclosure about her daughter undercuts conservative claims that liberalism harms family life. Frank said Palin’s family is "in great turmoil." Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has said he considers family...

Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence. In a unanimous ruling...The Associated Press PORTLAND — Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to extend the temporary rules it put in place to restrict short-selling of a handful of financial stocks. The SEC commissioners didn't take additional steps opposed by Wall Street to expand the number of stocks affected by the rules or make them permanent. The temporary rules were set to expire Tuesday, and the SEC extended the order on the 19 stocks until Aug. 12. It won't be extended beyond then. In a short sale, a trader sells borrowed stock in a bet the price will decline and the stock can be profitably repurchased at...

Wall Street executives expect the Securities and Exchange Commission to extend the temporary limits it has placed on short-selling and expand them to cover additional stocks beyond the 19 financial companies it targeted two weeks ago. The limits are set to expire Tuesday, and executives, lobbyists and hedge-fund representatives of the Managed Funds Association, the biggest hedge-fund industry group, have been talking throughout the weekend, trying to come up with possible approaches to asking the SEC to reconsider expanding the rules, according to people familiar with the talks. A call with regulators on Friday gave the funds group "a fair...

As financial storm signals appeared the past 18 months, some Bush officials urged drastic reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, according to internal government sources, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson objected because it would look "too political." The Republican administration kept its hands off the government-backed mortgage companies that are closely connected to the Democratic establishment. Paulson is a Republican, but as head of the Goldman Sachs investment bank he had close ties with Democratic-dominated Fannie Mae.

| Permalink | Comments (0) Political fundraising firm BMW Direct raised about $731,000 for Massachusetts Republican Charles Morse, who in 2006 challenged Rep. Barney Frank, by targeting conservatives across the country who were eager to give a prominent liberal the boot from Washington. The only problem? Morse wasn't even on the ballot, and his campaign only saw 4 percent of that haul, the Boston Globe recently reported. Three-quarters of the money the firm raised came from out-of-state donors, and only 4 percent of the money was spent in Massachusetts, the Center for Responsive Politics has found. The rest went to...

Behold the Taunton River in Fall River, Massachusetts, pictured nearby. Congressman Barney Frank thinks your family would love to visit this scenic wilderness. Among its attractions are the fuel-storage tanks along the eastern shore. The container ships and piers are always a hit with the children looking for a place to romp. This could be America's next "wild and scenic river," if Mr. Frank gets his way. Last month the powerful Congressman pushed a bill through the House Natural Resources Committee that would give the Taunton River that designation under federal law. The bill could come up for a vote...

Seventy-one percent (71%) of American voters know that Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat, but most don’t know enough about other Congressional leaders to even hazard a guess. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that only 13% of voters had never heard of Pelosi, the first woman to ever serve as Speaker of the House and the highest ranking Democrat in government today. However, 32% have never heard of Pelosi’s counterpart in the United States Senate, Harry Reid. Another 20% don’t know if he’s a Republican or Democrat while 40% correctly identified him as belonging to the same party as...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Thursday said Congress should examine Countrywide Financial Corp's mortgage loans to Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad. "My view is that these allegations should be considered by the appropriate bodies, and I understand that the Senate Ethics Committee has already begun to look into the matter," Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.

Conservative and pro-family groups spoke of an outrage Friday after a coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers joined to create the House’s first Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus. Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin – the only openly gay members of Congress – were key backers of the new caucus and were successful in gathering bipartisan support for the new initiative. Altogether, 52 House representatives signed on as members of the new caucus, including two Republicans. House members and supporters of the new measure were optimistic of their future plans and what they said was...

The two openly homosexual members of the U.S. House of Representatives have recruited 50 of their colleagues to officially join them in promoting the homosexual agenda in Congress. Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin are the only open homosexuals serving in Congress. They have joined with Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and 50 other Democrats to create the House Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus. Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says it is a sad day when Congress enshrines official promotion of sexual immorality. "How interesting that...

An extremist Mexican "La Raza" group that annually gets millions of U.S. federal grant dollars will receive even more in the next few years thanks to Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank's multi million-dollar earmark to council Hispanics about housing. La Raza already gets millions from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for "comprehensive housing counseling" for Hispanics whether they are in the country LEGALLY OR NOT. Frank is giving the National Council of La Raza, which has raked in millions of taxpayer dollars over the year, $5 million dollars this year and $10 million over the next two years....

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told Cybercast News Service on Tuesday he will move to end the Iraq War with an immediate termination of funding if a Democrat becomes president next year. "I will move to cut funding immediately," said Frank. "I have already done that. I voted against the war and voted to cut the funding. I would hope a Democratic President would put in place a plan that would begin a total withdrawal."

According to an AP article which can be found at the WTTK.com website, and which cannot be cited here due to copyright issues: Barney Frank is complaining that the morgage industry isn't doing enough to make jumbo mortgages available. Seems he thinks that the interest rates they charge are too high.

Presumably because April 20 is a Sunday, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) today introduced his briefly anticipated marijuana decriminalization bill. Dubbed the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, it would eliminate federal criminal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams (about three and a half ounces) of marijuana and the nonprofit transfer of up to an ounce. This is similar to the change recommended by the Nixon-appointed National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (a.k.a. the Shafer Commission) 36 years ago. As in the case of online gambling, Frank sounds libertarian on this issue: To those...

With momentum building for some form of taxpayer-funded housing rescue, what better time to check in with one of the most ardent bailout opponents, Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas? Excerpts from an interview: What is the likelihood that Congress will pass some form o f large-scale government intervention aimed at stemming the tide of foreclosures? Oh, I think they will. [Rep.] Barney Frank [a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee] would support that. It's interesting. Barney Frank is a good friend of mine. He and I support things that allow and permit personal risk,...

Rep. Barney Frank said he plans to file a bill to legalize "small amounts" of marijuana. Frank announced his plans late Friday on the HBO show "Real Time," hosted by Bill Maher. "I’m going to file a bill as soon as we go back to remove all federal penalties for the possession or use of small amounts of marijuana," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Maher. Frank didn’t define "small amounts." Efforts to reach Frank on Saturday were not immediately successful. Frank said he’d filed a similar bill in the Massachusetts Legislature in the 1970s, but hasn’t tried since he was...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key House Democrat plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would allow the U.S. government to buy homes whose values have dropped below the cost of the mortgage, an aide said on Thursday. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank wants to provide about $15 billion over the next five years to let the government buy homes after investors holding the pool of mortgages write down the value of the mortgage. The plan would require a "federal entity," perhaps the U.S. mortgage insurance provider, the Federal Housing Administration, to buy owner-occupied primary residences and...

By nature, a crime against an individual or private property is an act of hatred and contempt. In our free society, the purpose of our system of justice is to mete out punishment appropriate to the crime committed. To quote Gilbert & Sullivan in The Mikado “To let the punishment fit the crime - The punishment fit the crime.” In a totalitarian society a crime is defined as an act that runs contrary to the perceived interests of the dictator, an act that threatens state power. In such a society, punishment is meted out at the whim of the government...

Gay rights advocates expect Congress will soon move closer to approving a federal ban on job discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender workers. Rep. Barney Frank, a leading proponent, predicts the ban will win House approval in coming weeks. But he and other gay rights supporters are less optimistic about the fight ahead in the narrowly divided Senate, where they would need 60 votes — rather than a simple majority — to overcome anticipated GOP stall tactics, such as a filibuster. "You don't know if anything can pass the Senate," said Frank, D-Mass., one of two openly gay members of...

On Monday, August 27, news services broke the story that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, pleaded guilty in early August to lewd conduct in an airport restroom... Craig is hardly the only member of the Senate with a propensity for dropping his pants at inopportune moments... Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, has allegedly sexually harrased or abused at least 10 women. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., reportedly engaged in a sexual affair with an engagd lobbyist, Ron Dotzauer,then gave him a personal loan to help him with his subsequent divorce and threw cash his way... Gerry Studds (re-elected six times after having sex...

Rep. Barney Frank says embattled Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is a hypocrite on gay rights issues, but he doesn’t think the Republican senator should resign. Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress and a prominent voice on gay rights, said Craig should serve out the remainder of his term.

Barney Frank is a busy guy, so we suppose it's no great surprise that he used a ghost writer for his recent Supreme Court amicus brief in a big securities tort case. Imagine our surprise, however, to learn that the ghost is none other than tort kingpin Bill Lerach's favorite lobbying outfit.

Democrat Congressman has solution for Mexican immigrants--Gay Bomb Mexico! WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressman is pushing a quick fix in the debate over illegal immigrants from Mexico: Gay Bomb Mexico! "A slower rate of growth of Mexico's population would improve the economy of Mexico. It would also reduce the environmental pressure on Mexico's ecosystem. But a slower rate of growth would also reduce the long-term illegal immigration pressure on America's borders," reasoned Rep. Barney Franks, who also supports stronger border security in the short-term. Franks, a Massachusetts Democrat, made the argument on Thursday during a heated debate in the House...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Rep. Barney Frank said Thursday he would start pushing to lift a U.S. ban on online gambling in the next few weeks, but said it was too early to make any concrete move to lift restrictions ruled illegal last month by the World Trade Organization. Frank, D-Mass., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters that the online gambling bill passed last fall was "one of the stupidest things I ever saw." "I want to get it undone. I plan to file legislation," Barney said, explaining that he would lay out his plans in the next...

If Rudy wins the "National" Primary next February 5th then who should he pick as his VP nominee. Dr. Regina S. Peruggi, President, Kingsborough Community College, http://www.kingsborough.edu/sub-administration/office_president.htmlDonna, a radio host for WOR 710, http://www.wor710.com/pages/46303.phpSomeone else?

Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, says it might be useful to "make it a misdemeanor to use metaphors in the discussion of public policy," such as "a rising tide lifts all boats." Against what he considers that too-complacent view of economic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy's), Frank says: A rising tide is wonderful "if you have a boat." Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing more inequality "than is either socially healthy or economically necessary." He favors much more government intervention in the economy to diminish inequality. Sometimes he means...

Who really wants to save a U.S. House seat for Massachusetts? You gotta be kidding. The best thing that could happen for America would be for the commonwealth to shed several districts, and it’s a damn shame we can’t cede one of our two Senate seats as well. But if the hacks truly want to inflate the state’s plummeting population by rounding up thousands of illegal aliens, it shouldn’t be difficult. First place to check is the hospital emergency rooms. They’re the ones with translators, and a lot of them will be wearing neck braces from the phony auto accidents...

You make too much money! And you make too little! Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., put it somewhat differently. But the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee vowed to tackle the growing, festering problem of "income inequality." "Government doesn't have to interfere with the free enterprise system," says Frank, "but we can work along with it to reduce inequality." Railing against Home Depot's $210 million severance package for its fired CEO, Frank called it "further confirmation of the need to deal with the pattern of CEO pay that appears to be out of control." What does Frank propose to...

There’s no other way around it: When you accuse someone of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing” in any way, shape or form, you are accusing them of genocide. Genocide. Let that word work its way around your mind for an moment. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Think about that. And then watch the most grotesque public statement made by any elected official in the United States in the last 100 years. No, I’m not kidding or reaching for the hyperbole. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in the video below accuses the Bush administration...

(AP) Dogged by criticism of his hefty pay and his company's poor stock performance, Bob Nardelli abruptly resigned as chairman and chief executive of The Home Depot Inc. after six years at the helm of the world's largest home improvement store chain, the company said Wednesday. But he didn't leave empty-handed: the Atlanta-based company said Nardelli would receive a severance package worth roughly $210 million, an amount decried by some lawmakers as a golden parachute that sends the wrong message to investors. "It's a sign of being totally out of touch," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the incoming chairman of...

Fannie Mae's stock price has been on an upswing since late summer, reflecting investor confidence that a Democratic Congress would make strict scrutiny of the mortgage giant less likely (see the nearby chart). And there's no doubt that with Barney Frank wielding the gavel in the House Financial Services Committee, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have a pal on Capitol Hill. Mr. Frank is already talking about expanding the companies' operations (and thus taxpayer exposure to any financial accident). Fortunately, James Lockhart is still running the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or Ofheo, and he's shown no appetite...

The House ethics panel has not released its findings into the behavior of Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who left Congress in disgrace, despite looming adjournment and an October promise that the probe would conclude in "weeks, not months." Speculation was raised that a report on the Foley scandal would be issued this afternoon, but staffers for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct did not respond to rumors sweeping through Capitol Hill. Mr. Foley resigned Sept. 29 when it was revealed that he sent sexually explicit messages to teenage boys who had served as congressional pages. That day, House...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

WASHINGTON--They won't take over congress until next year, but there are already signs that Democrats are abandoning any real effort at reforming the so-called "culture of corruption" in Congress. According to the New York Times: Sweeping change... may be a tough sell within the party. Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was embarrassed by disclosures last week that he had dismissed the leadership proposals with a vulgarity at a private meeting. But Mr. Murtha is hardly the only Democrat who objects to broad changes.Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of...

Beginning Wednesday, November 15, the sometimes called "CNN of the Arab world," will be out to capture the rest of the world as Al Jazeera International debuts on TV screens globally - in English. The new satellite station will run 24/7, broadcasting 12 hours a day from Al Jazeera's home base in Doha, Qatar, with another four hours each from Washington DC, London and Kuala Lumpur. For star power it will have David Frost doing interviews, with Wednesday's "scoop" scheduled to be his talk with Tony Blair. In its decade on the air, Al Jazeera in Arabic has become the...

BOSTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Massachusetts' lawmakers on Thursday took a giant step toward killing a proposal to ban gay marriage in the only U.S. state where it is legal. With protesters on both sides of the debate rallying outside the gold-domed statehouse, lawmakers voted 109 to 87 to delay a decision on whether to back a constitutional amendment that would have given voters a chance to ban gay marriage. Gay rights advocates cheered the move, seen as a crushing blow to opponents of gay marriage who had gathered 170,000 signatures in a petition that asked lawmakers to put the...

Financial regulators on both sides of the Atlantic may not be able to resolve policy disputes through co-operation and the creation of a global regulator should be considered, according to Barney Frank, the senior Democratic congressman. The views of the man widely expected take over the chair of the House financial services committee if the Democrats retake the chamber stand in stark contrast to those of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial regulator that the committee oversees. Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, has been at pains in recent months to highlight stepped-up co-operation with foreign regulators such as...

In the most bizarre twist of a surreal campaign, Republicans could lose control of the House of Representatives due in part to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley's salacious e-mails to under-aged pages. If that happens, the beneficiary will be the party that has uncritically embraced the gay-rights movement -- which in turn embraces other things. Speaking of double standards: In 1983, Massachusetts Congressman Gary Studds (who passed away a few days ago) was found to have had sexual relations with a 16-year-old male page (No cyber-stalking for the Bay State perv.) He was censured by the House, then repeatedly reelected by...

There is something unusual bubbling in Democratic political waters these days: optimism. With each new delivery of bad news for Republicans — another Republican congressman under investigation, another Republican district conceded, another poll showing support for the Republican-controlled Congress collapsing — a party that has become so used to losing is considering, disbelievingly and with the requisite worry, the possibility that it could actually win in November. “I’ve moved from optimistic to giddy,” said Gordon R. Fischer, a former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. “I really have.” Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is in line to become...

Shreveport Police have arrested a man and charged him with an unusual form of animal cruelty. 56-year old David Powell was taken into custody Friday afternoon at his apartment in downtown Shreveport. Animal control officer Rick Quillen says witnesses say they saw Powell being "unusually affectionate" with a neighbor's dog and saw pictures on Powell's computer of him having sex with the animal. Powell was taken to Caddo Correctional Center and booked on one charge of simple animal cruelty. A misdemeanor. Officers also seized Powell's computer during the arrest. It's now being examined by a expert at the Caddo D.A.'s...

Not content with their hypocrisy on the Mark Foley situation (considering their responses to the Gerry Studds, Barney Frank and Bill Clinton escapades), the Democrats in Florida have launched a campaign to keep voters in the dark on November 7. Since the ballots are already printed with Foley’s name, a vote for Foley goes to the Republican substitute, Joe Negron.

The Pride Parade. That's what it's called in San Francisco when the community gathers for a parade during the annual San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration. It is, by all accounts, a wingding of a celebration, too. As the San Francisco Chronicle, the media sponsor of the Pride Parade, put it in their special section devoted to the celebration in 2001, the parade is "the granddaddy, grandma and grandtrannie of 'em all." (That would be trannie as in "transvestite.") The paper, bursting with civic pride, was also pleased to publish the marching order of the parade and all...

Hopefully, I can finish writing this column today before it is OTBE. That's slang for the phrase "Over Taken By Events" On Wednesday, I had cranked out a piece for Sunday on two topics: Reaction to the Amish school murders and the nasty Mark Foley flap that has gripped the halls of power. The first part expressed outrage because members of the Westboro Baptist Church had announced they planned to protest at the funerals of the Amish girls killed Monday in Lancaster County, PA. In case you don't remember them, they're the bunch out of Kansas that pickets the funerals...

Gobie's dream has come true. His accusation that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) knew that Gobie had operated a prostitution service out of Frank's Capitol Hill apartment became national news after it was first reported Friday by the Washington Times. Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, confirmed Friday that he paid Gobie for sex, hired him with personal funds as an aide and wrote letters on congressional stationery on his behalf to Virginia probation officials, but Frank said he fired Gobie when he learned that clients were visiting the apartment. Frank, a leading House liberal, likened himself to...