Free Republic

California U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer is lambasting what she calls a Republican "vendetta" against Planned Parenthood, saying that efforts in the House Republicans' proposed budget to entirely defund the organization will impact millions. In California alone, hundreds of thousands of women, the Democratic Senator said, use the organization's "life-saving" services -- including cancer screenings, mammograms, day-to-day health care, OB-GYN services as well as contraception and family planning. Boxer made the statements this week at a San Francisco press conference, where we asked Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific President and CEO Heather Estes about the controversial question of the organization's providing of...

With lawmakers of both major parties increasingly critical of President Obama over his move to involve the U.S. military in Libya, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer stood behind the president Wednesday, saying his decision was necessary to prevent a humanitarian crisis. The statements from Pelosi and Boxer, who strongly back Obama's support of the U.N.-supported no-fly zone in Libya, underscore a growing split among liberal Democrats from California - some of whom have said Obama should not have made the move without congressional approval. Boxer, at a San Francisco news conference Wednesday, said Democrats were not...

I’m old enough to remember when scientists issued alarms over a coming Ice Age that would wipe out life on Earth on a massive scale. Senator John Barrasso’s memory holds up pretty well, too, and he reminded everyone of the consensus in the 1970s that the climate had begun to cool so significantly that, er, the world needed massive government interventions in energy production and consumption to survive it. Barrasso quotes from Newsweek and Time articles of the period. Senator Tom Udall attempts to ride to EPW Chair Barbara Boxer’s rescue by introducing an article that claims the global-cooling consensus...

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee members sparred Wednesday over whether there existed a consensus in the 1970s that the earth was cooling.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have a "vendetta against Elmo." Boxer made the comments during a floor speech where she made the case for her bill that would ensure that the president and lawmakers are not paid if a government shutdown occurs. Boxer said that the cost of four hours of the Iraq war would be enough to keep PBS funded — and the popular fire-red children's character on the air. Boxer believes that the GOP has more than just a vendetta against Elmo. She added that...

(CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on Tuesday that providing individuals with subsidies under the health care law to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion services is not considered federal funding of abortion. VIDEO 2:16 minutes “It’s not federal funding,” she said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “We’re saying people have the right to get insurance, whatever insurance they want, and they get a tax credit for providing insurance. We’re not spending federal funds on abortion. So, what they are doing is twisting and turning what the meaning is of federal funds that has never...

Hercules, a five year old boxer, saved his family from a roof collapse in their Long Island home after severe snow cause the roof to come crashing down. In the wake of severe snow storms that have struck the New York area, authorities are now urging property owners to clear the snow off their roofs to prevent possible harm and injury. The event began Saturday night when the normally quiet Hercules began to bark as the Hatzis family slept reports Newsday. His barks alerted the family to ominous cracking sounds from their garage, prompting the family to rescue their car...

This is a Guest Post by Dr David EvansThe big temperature picture. Graph and insight from Dr Syun Akasofu (2009 International Conference on Climate Change, New York, March 2009).The global temperature has been rising at a steady trend rate of 0.5°C per century since the depths of the little ice age in the 1700s (when the Thames River would freeze over every winter; the last time it froze over was 1804). On top of the trend are oscillations that last about thirty years in each direction:1882 – 1910    Cooling 1910 – 1944    Warming 1944 – 1975    Cooling 1975 – 2001   ...

Dear Friend: This week I introduced the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, a bill to permanently prohibit new offshore drilling along the Pacific coast

Who would have thought something seemingly as juvenile as having a so-called prom date would give an aura of maturity? At Tuesday’s State of the Union address, according to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, it did. Boxer appeared on MSNBC’s special State of the Union night edition of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” O’Donnell asked Boxer and her “date,” Rep. John Mica, Florida Republican, if this seating arrangement made a difference.

Washington, D.C. January 22, 2011 – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today announced that next week she will introduce the Common-Sense Concealed Firearms Act of 2011, which would require all states that allow residents to carry concealed weapons in public to have minimum standards for granting permits. Senator Boxer said, "The tragic events in Tucson earlier this month are a reminder of why we need common-sense gun laws. This measure will establish reasonable permitting standards for Americans who wish to carry concealed firearms. According to a recent poll, more than 60 percent of respondents believe there should be a reasonable...

Missouri has had a "shall issue" concealed carry law (meaning that qualified applicants for a permit to carry a defensive firearm cannot be rejected on some government functionary's arbitrary whim or bias against armed self-defense) since 2003, although St. Louis residents had to wait another year-and-a-half, due to the anti-self-defense mindset of St. Louis officialdom (but hey--at least we're #1 at something!) As for across the river, Illinois bans defensive handgun carry for private citizens, although efforts are being made to correct that, with two bills already filed in this legislative session. California, unlike Illinois, does not ban defensive firearm...

n the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, today Sen. Barbara Boxer called for federal regulations on concealed weapons permits, according to the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. Arizona law allows any U.S. citizen 21 or older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. “The kind of gun laws we have here in California that give people their gun ownership rights while also preventing the sale of guns to criminals, to people with serious mental illness and people who may abuse a spouse or partner,” said the California Democrat at a press conference in Riverside.

Shy of her first anniversary on the federal bench, an Obama-appointed judge known for promoting “racial tolerance” has ordered U.S. taxpayers to provide criminally convicted immigrants with “diminished mental capacities” lawyers to fight deportation. The ruling is believed to be the first ordering government-financed legal representation in an immigration case. Foreign nationals embroiled in deportation proceedings must pay for their own attorney, unlike criminal defendants who get court-appointed lawyers—financed by American taxpayers—as part of due process when they can’t afford it. In this case a southern California federal judge, Dolly Gee, ruled that two area immigrants who are “mentally disabled”...

California Democratic Rep. Barbara Boxer said Monday that Democrats will need to “play defense” against efforts by Republicans to question climate science in the next Congress. “We will have to play some defense. I’m not blind to that,” Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told reporters at a Capitol news conference. “There are going to be a lot of moves to turn back the progress we’ve made.” Boxer’s comments come as some Republicans, particularly those emboldened by a new GOP majority in the House, have said they’d like to hold hearings on climate science as...

Citing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy governing homosexuals in the military, Senator Barbara "Don't call me Ma'am" Boxer (D-CA) recently compared the United States to Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan.According to an article at Fox News, the recently re-elected Senator from California said: “We now stand -- with this rule -- with countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan in banning gays and lesbians from military service ... Now our brave young men and women fight alongside allies like Australia, the United Kingdom and others who allow gays and lesbians to serve openly," she said. "Let's not stand with...

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif., at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in San Diego on June 13, 2010. (CNSNews.com) - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) today likened the United States of America to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan because those nations also do not allow homosexuals in their militaries.Boxer likened the U.S.A. to the Communist regime in North Korea, the Islamic regime in Iran and the Pakistani government at a press conference in which she called for repealing the ban on homosexuals in the military during the lameduck session of Congress, which is taking place now before the new members elected on Nov. 2 can arrive in Washington, D.C. and replace...

Sen. Barbara Boxer, no stranger to controversy, compared the United States to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan this week, saying America's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy puts it on a par with those three countries. -excerpt- California Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was stunned when he was told about Boxer's comments. "Wow," he told FoxNews.com. "I can probably think of few people less qualified to comment on our military than Ms. Boxer." He said Boxer's comments perform an "extreme disservice to our men and women" in the armed forces and "our military tradition, which...

(CNSNews.com) - During a news conference on Thursday pushing for repeal of the law that bans homosexuals from serving in the military, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) compared the United States with Iran, North Korea and Pakistan. According to Boxer, the United States is similar to those regimes because of a federal law (10, USC 654) that does not allow homosexuals to join the U.S armed forces. “We now stand with this rule with countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan in banning gays and lesbians from military service,” said Boxer. “Our brave young men and women fight alongside allies like...

Silicon Valley, once synonymous with productivity-enhancing innovation, is now looking to make money on feel-good government handouts. California officials acknowledged last Thursday that the state faces $20 billion deficits every year from now to 2016. At the same time, California's state Treasurer entered bond markets to sell some $14 billion in "revenue anticipation notes" over the next two weeks. Worst of all, economic sanity lost out in what may have been the most important election on Nov. 2—and, no, I'm not talking about the gubernatorial or senate races. This was the California referendum to repeal Assembly Bill 32, the so-called...