Free Republic

March 13, 2012 (Thelifeinstitute.net) - Ireland’s experience in banning abortion is hugely important for the global pro-life community. That’s because our record proves that we best serve mothers and babies when our laws protect unborn human life. Ireland is the example pro-life activists the world over can point to, because the Irish experience shows that abortion is never necessary. The abortion industry is, of course, particularly discomfited by the fact that, according to the United Nations, Ireland, without recourse to abortion, is the safest place in the world for a mother to have a baby. And Irish medical experts have...

Well, this should give Forbes—known for their annual "rich lists"—a run for their money. Last night, Bloomberg released the "Bloomberg Billionaires Index," the first daily global ranking of the richest people in the world as part of their coverage of wealth. The index is available here, and its most noticeable characteristic is that it is built to change daily depending on stock fluctuations and economic/company news. From the methodology— The index is a dynamic measure of the world’s wealthy based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net-worth figure is updated every business day at 5:30 p.m....

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- Michael Jordan's longtime personal residence in suburban Chicago is for sale for $29 million. The sprawling estate is in Highland Park, along Lake Michigan, and has more than 56,000 square feet of living space. That includes nine bedrooms, 15 baths and five fireplaces. There's also a three-bedroom guesthouse, pool area, outdoor tennis court and three climate-controlled multi-car garages. An indoor basketball complex features a full-size regulation court with specially cushioned hardwood flooring and competition-quality high intensity lighting. It has a sound system set up to provide perfect acoustics within the court space. The property was put...

Ron Paul revels in the fact that he is the presidential candidate of America's small donors, receiving more contributions under $200 than any other Republican seeking the White House in 2012.But, like every other GOP presidential contender, he also has a mega-millionaire "sugar daddy" helping to fund a super PAC that is promoting Paul's candidacy.Yet while Newt Gingrich underwriter Sheldon Adelson and Rick Santorum super-supporter Foster Friess have shared the campaign stage - and the national political spotlight - with their candidates, Paul's benefactor, San Francisco entrepreneur Peter Thiel, has never met the Texas congressman he's aiding.Who is this mystery...

Mr. Adelson, by some estimates worth as much as $22 billion, presides over a global empire of casinos, hotels and convention centers whose centerpiece is the Venetian in Las Vegas, an exuberant monument to excess with canals, singing gondoliers and acres of slot machines. That fortune is a wellspring of financial support for Mr. Gingrich, who has benefited from $17 million in political contributions from Mr. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, in recent years, including $10 million in the last few weeks that went to a “super PAC” supporting him.

Abraham Foxman, the amiably chatty director of the Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, has a story to tell about his friend, the 78-year-old multi-billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Adelson, who is America's eighth richest man and has given millions of dollars in support of Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, was having dinner with Foxman in Las Vegas several years ago. Foxman let slip that he was having to miss an invitation to the White House from the then president, George W. Bush. Foxman explained it was impossible to get a commercial flight. Adelson replied: "If the president of the...

On the one hand, there is the former community organizer Obama. This Obama has made it clear in recent weeks that he is at one with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, for example, when ABC asked how he viewed the demonstrators, that "the most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side. ..." Obama coming down on the side of demonstrators carrying signs demanding the arrest of investment bankers and other "masters of the universe" shouldn't come as a surprise...

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- According to Forbes Magazine, there are 397 BILLIONAIRES in America now. A billion dollars is ONE THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS. Chew on that for just a moment. Few of us can even fathom the sum. Go here to see the list: http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/ Gun prohibitionist George Soros made #7. The Walton Family (Walmart) made #9, #10, and #11. Yes, Walmart sells rifles and ammo, but is also a major contributor to the lying cabal of authoritarian elitists knows as “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” (MAIG), an organization which is completely controlled by billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC. Bloomberg drops...

Amid accusations of misleading the public, J-Street website reveals George Soros has donated money to organization. US Jewish billionaire investor George Soros, who is known for his support of leftwing causes and occasional criticism of Israel, is a major J Street donor, it emerged on Friday. Tax forms obtained by The Washington Times’ Eli Lake revealed that over the past three years, the Budapest-born Holocaust survivor and finance guru has given $750,000 to the organization. ...For years J Street had repeatedly denied having any connection with Soros.

Zbiginew Brzezinski, national security adviser under Jimmy Carter, told the "Morning Joe" program he thinks the names of the rich "should be known publicly" so the masses can "pressure some of those people to give some of it back to society." "You know, how many Americans are really fully aware of how many other good people, that’s like Warren Buffett and others, who really donate a lot of their earnings to charities, to philanthropy?" Mr. Brzezinski said. "But how many more are there in the hedge funds? In the banks? In a variety of other places who on the basis...

I heard a Commentator say that Steve Jobs created a Trust before his liver transfer to avoid Estate Taxes to his children. He wasn't sure that he had to pay a Gift tax on the transfer of 3 homes, 30 Million Shares of Apple and 120 Million shares of Disney.

The US Senate just voted to defeat Harry reid's 5.6% added income tax on "billionaires" (those making over $1M/year). Two Dems joined 46 Repubs to kill the bill that needed 60 votes to continue.

(CNN) – If you're dissatisfied with the economy, or unemployed, Herman Cain thinks you should take a long, hard look in the mirror. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted Wednesday, the up-and-coming GOP 2012 contender and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza summed up his bewilderment about recent demonstrations on Wall Street.

Video at Gateway Pundit

While defending his call for the rich to pay more in taxes, the president said he didn’t mind people calling him a class warrior for merely asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew. Whoops! The president meant to say “janitor” instead of “Jew,” and he immediately corrected himself. After all, he doesn’t need any more problems keeping Jewish voters enthusiastic about his re-election bid.

The billionaire backer of a wireless company accused of using White House connections to interfere with a Pentagon commander’s congressional testimony last week emphatically rejected that and other charges relating to the embattled firm on Monday. In an exclusive interview with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, private equity titan Phil Falcone – the chief investor in LightSquared, a Virginia-based firm aiming to establish a new wireless broadband network – rejected as “absolutely false” allegations that LightSquared had obtained in advance the written testimony of Air Force Gen. William Shelton.

Billionaire Obama fundraiser George Kaiser visited the White House 16 times over the past 3 years, and is caught in the middle of the Solyndra scandal as the company’s chief investor and prime beneficiary of the debt restructuring approved by the Obama Administration earlier this year. This has lead to the obvious question of whether Kaiser leveraged his political connections to obtain federal stimulus funding, and preferential treatment, but surely there might be a less nefarious explanation for Kaiser’s White House visits, right? Nah…

Warren Buffett, having already joined the billionaires’ club, enlists the president in restricting membership so it doesn’t get so crowded in there… Sometime around the tenth century A.D., probably in the southern Tang dynasty of China, a practice grew popular that horrifies us today. They called it foot binding. One story has it that young dancing girls were considered so lovely and talented that all women, even when full-grown, would be prettier if only they had the tiny feet of dancing children – so they arranged it. Another story has it that a popular empress had a club foot, and...

Upper-income Americans' economic confidence was badly shaken in August, with 80% saying the economy is "getting worse," up from 66% in July. This is the first month since the financial crisis of late 2008 and early 2009 that upper-income Americans are more pessimistic about the future direction of the U.S. economy than other Americans.

Warren Buffett will host a fundraiser for President Obama next month in New York City, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO told CNNMoney on Thursday. With the 2012 election season just around the corner, the campaign to put Obama back in the White House for a second term is well underway -- and it's not unusual for the campaign to boost the president's drawing power by allowing him to share the stage with a well known benefactor. Billed as an "Economic Forum Dinner with Warren Buffett," the fundraiser will be held at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York and moderated by...