Free Republic

I just got a call from a pollster trying to push me toward supporting Brad Sherman in the Berman/Sherman Celebrity Death Match. I had to suppress my laughter as Sherman was described as a "fiscal conservative" at one point. Most of the questions were of the form: "Do you like Sherman more now that you know that he interfered in the free market on this issue?" I really don't think that they wanted my answers.

VAN NUYS - Immigration activists, officeholders and Christian leaders rallied at a San Fernando Valley church on Saturday, renewing angry calls for President Barack Obama to order a halt of deportations they say shatter the families of legal U.S. residents. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, and immigration-reform proponent Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., were among the speakers at La Iglesia en la Camino (The Church on the Way) in what was billed as a bipartisan town-hall meeting. "When communities are terrorized by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children...

SNIP The other lawmakers in attendance (beside Sen. Richard Lugar R-IN) were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-TX), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Rep. Buck McKeon (R-NY), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough held a conference call with...

Berman proposes law to criminalize enforcing federal healthcare billUpdated: Dec 08, 2010 7:49 PM EST TYLER (KYTX) -- A law proposed by an East Texas lawmaker would jail federal employees who enforce the new federal healthcare law. CBS 19 sat down with State Representative Leo Berman to talk about his proposed bill, and why he calls the law an assault on the U.S. Constitution. "Thomas Jefferson believed in nullification. I believe in nullification and I just wanted to try it," Rep. Berman said. It's dubbed the nullification bill, filed by State Representative Berman. "The nullification bill says we believe the...

A leading Democrat said something very intresting about President Obama yesterday, though few seem to have noticed. The Iran Sanctions Bill was finally passed by Congress and President Obama signed off on it yesterday. The bill has been long in coming and is meant to dissuade Iran from pursuing its nuclear weapons program. The Wall Street Journal has a fine report on the particulars of the bill, but the most interesting part of the column was what was said by Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The new U.S. law still provides the White House with waiver...

We hear a lot about the Constitution today. The “Tea Party” has been bringing up the Constitution along with many talk radio personalities like Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Lavin, and Sean Hannity. I have been writing, and speaking about the Constitution for years. But two questions must be asked; 1) Who cares? & 2) Why should we care? These are very important questions since it is clear that at least 50% of Americans are clueless (I am being generous, there are a lot more that are clueless) about the principles of liberty and the founder’s brilliance in forming our...

(CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced the “Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010” last week, which would allow homosexuals and bisexuals to openly serve in the United States Armed Forces. Lieberman told CNSNews.com that the bill would legalize homosexual and bisexual activity in the military. CNSNews.com asked Lieberman, “In the House version of the bill, sponsored by [Rep.] Patrick Murphy [D.-Pa.], the term sexual orientation includes bisexuality as well. Will your bill allow members of the military to engage in bisexual behavior? Will it be legalized?” Lieberman responded, “Well, of course it will be private behavior, but the bill...

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

Sarah Palin offered some tough talk on China at Obama's China policy at a Hong Kong investors' conference yesterday -- alleging, more or less, appeasement -- and today House Foreign Affairs Committee knocks her: In remarks before business leaders in Hong Kong, former Governor Palin urged China to ‘rise responsibly.’ As she continues on the lecture circuit, Ms. Palin would do well to take her own advice. Leaving aside the propriety of criticizing the president while on her first trip to Asia, the assertion that the United States is ignoring areas of disagreement with China is flat wrong. The Strategic...

The US should consider making concessions to Russia on the placement of a missile-defense shield in Europe, in order to get Moscow to back "crippling" concessions against Iran if the time comes, a leading US congressman said Thursday. Howard Berman, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview that one reason for a limited dialogue with the Iranians to get them to suspend uranium enrichment would be to encourage other countries to "buy into crippling" sanctions if Teheran failed to do so. Berman said the US-Iran talks should be of a set duration, somewhere...

The State Department’s letter to Congress said that the United States could immediately halt nuclear sales to India if India conducted any nuclear tests and that the United States planned to withhold technology that poses a security risk. The letter was released by Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, rival Barack Obama planned for the long haul. Clinton hinged her whole campaign on an early knockout blow on Super Tuesday, while Obama's staff researched congressional districts in states with primaries that were months away. What they found were opportunities to win delegates, even in states they would eventually lose. Obama's campaign mastered some of the most arcane rules in politics, and then used them to foil a front-runner who seemed to have every advantage — money, fame and a husband who had essentially run the Democratic Party for eight years as...

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), also known as Congressman Hollywood, is one of the most powerful members of the House when it comes to intellectual property issues, so when he muses aloud about "revisiting" the DMCA, people listen. Unfortunately, Berman wants to reform the DMCA because it doesn't go far enough, and his ideas sound like they're ripped right from the pages of the Big Content playbook. Berman chairs the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, and this morning oversaw a hearing on the PRO-IP Act, a bill that could boost statutory damages for copyright infringement and create...

Former Navy SEAL Chris Berman is building two versions of an armored combat vehicle competing for a piece of the MRAP pie. MRAP is a U.S. Defense Department acronym for the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle design that soldiers want and contractors are bidding on to build in great numbers. Mr. Berman, who operates Granite Tactical and Granite Global Vehicles, is one such contractor. But he'll argue, it's not about money. It's about saving lives on Iraq's deadly highways. On the morning of March 31, 2004, Mr. Berman -- then a SEAL Reservist and Blackwater security officer -- was driving in the...

Bills introduced in Congress to repeal 8-year restriction of 22nd Amendment WASHINGTON – One thing is certain about the 2008 presidential election campaign that begins in one year: It won't involve George W. Bush as a candidate. But bipartisan legislation to repeal the 22nd Amendment restriction of two terms for U.S. presidents could change that certainty for future presidents. Two of the most passionate congressional advocates of such a move – Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-MD, and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-WI – have teamed up to sponsor a resolution that would represent the first step toward that change in the U.S....

Sorry, folks, but we still can't quite get over the psychological ramifications of the Chris Berman story we ran earlier today. Our brains are fried, and we don't believe in an afterlife anymore. We also agree with one of our commenters; the first ESPN anchor to use the phrase "You're with me, leather" in reference to a great defensive play officially becomes our favorite anchor -- lo, human -- on earth. And hey: We now understand why he was hanging out with Huey Lewis all the time. Perhaps most surprising about this: Within an hour of posting that item, our...

FYI. The ad run on conservative talk radio by Bruce Berman offering a free business development book and CD is deceptive. He asks for your credit card to pay for shipping and handling ($3.95 or $5.95), then bills $99.90 unless the materials are returned unopened. If opened one may get a refund only with dogged persistence. I teach, design, and help implement ethical marketing techniques. This is a textbook example of a ripoff small enough that most people will just absorb the cost rather than fight for a refund. Guys like this give small business consultants a bad name. It's...

Under criticism for missing a rare chance to help secure $400 million for a coveted car-pool lane on the 405 Freeway, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped up Wednesday and promised to support the project -- if Van Nuys Rep. Howard Berman can deliver the federal money. Schwarzenegger came through none too soon for Berman, a Democrat, who has been lambasting the governor for failing to commit to the state's 20 percent in matching funds, which are needed to get the project eligible for consideration in the $300 billion federal highway bill now being negotiated on Capitol Hill. "We support your effort...

USOpen.Com has a live webcast showing some of the US Open.. Anyway, this morning at around 8am, it seems somebody left the mics on and they were doing show-prep. Anyway, Chris Berman of ESPN-fame was on there and he was swearing like a drunken sailor.. "F--- this" and "F--- that", etc. Duno why I'm posting that here, just thought it was amusing. These behind the scenes things interest me. I fired off an e-mail to USOpen.Com and here's what I got back: "We apologize for any offensive language on the broadcast. The broadcasters were unaware that their microphones were on...