Free Republic

After months of Tea Parties, town hall meetings, marches on Washington, and millions of calls, letters, and faxes, the Pelosi House of Representatives still passed the most comprehensive control of American lives to date. On the C-SPAN broadcast of the live vote, several citizens who supported the bill called in to tell their stories. Some had pre-existing conditions. Some were elderly and on Medicare. Some just wanted things to be “fair.” All of them, whether they believe it or not, were simply making the statement that they were willing to trade their freedom for financial security. I, on the other...

November 7, 2009 Lawmakers Detail Obama’s Pitch By JACKIE CALMES In an odd coincidence, the House debate on Saturday to overhaul health care took place on the third anniversary of the 2006 election that gave Democrats majority control after 12 years of Republican dominance. It fell to President Obama and to Congressional leaders to persuade those Democrats still sweating the final vote that it would not prove the party’s undoing in next November’s midterm elections. Both Mr. Obama and the House leaders showcased Democrats’ newest colleague, Representative Bill Owens, who last Tuesday won a special election in an upstate New...

"Like many Americans, I’m very concerned about the efforts underway to rush through the 2,000 page Pelosi health care bill this weekend. Why the rush? That’s a lot of pages to read. Why not give everyone the chance to read it and debate it?

Healthy eating, curbing the obesity epidemic—it's hard to find much of anything Mr. Mackey says that's controversial. But the health-care reform lobby continues to attack Whole Foods as if he were an apostate. In response to the hullabaloo, Mr. Mackey has been understandably defensive. In early September, he wrote about the op-ed on his blog: "I gave my personal opinions. Whole Foods has no official position on the issue." So I ask him, does he regret writing the article? "I regret the controversy that it caused for Whole Foods, but I don't regret writing it, because I think what I...

With less than half the doses estimated to be needed likely to actually be available, the government has set rules aimed at directing short supplies to those deemed most vulnerable. As expected, children and pregnant women top the publicized priority list. Unexpectedly, though, it has been disclosed that Wall Street bankers and brokers have also been allocated a share of the scarce supply. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explained that “ordinary people can’t be expected to understand the strategic need for us to keep Wall Street up and running. Missing a single day’s trading because of the flu could cost...

Palin remains a potent force in national politics even after her abrupt resignation as Alaska's governor. Her future political plans - including the possibility of a presidential run in 2012 - remain unclear. She has kept in touch with tens of thousands of her admirers through online social networking tools. She used President Barack Obama's mantra of change to make her political points. "Let's talk about change we can believe in," Palin said. "Friends, a majority of Americans identify as pro life, and thank God for that." She called health care reform a "government takeover" and called on House Speaker...

Trying to see what Freeper employment numbers are. How do they compare to SNObama's numbers.

The disaster is a muslim. His own words.

November 7, 2009 House Jumps One Hurdle By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN The House approved the rule governing debate of the big health care legislation by a vote of 242 to 192, suggesting but not guaranteeing that Democrats would have the votes to pass the bill itself later on Saturday. The House Debate Fifteen Democrats joined all 177 Republicans in opposition. One Democrat did not vote. As a result the Democrats seemed to have a comfortable margin, with 24 more yes votes than they need for final passage of the bill. The speaker pro tempore, Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of...

The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) House Republican staff, which earlier this year created a chart mapping the bureaucratic complexity of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s original health care proposal (H.R. 3200), has combined similar analysis by the House Republican Conference with the earlier chart. The analysis details new additions to the health care bureaucracy contained in the new version of the Speaker’s bill (H.R. 3962) that were not previously listed. Let’s just say the Speaker’s vision for government-run health care hasn’t gotten any simpler.

President Obama's health care speech in September was the announcement, explanation, and promotion of his health care bill, his health care plan, his proposal. There's only one problem. President Obama lied. He has no plan.

<p>FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ― Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, visited wounded soldiers and their families near the site of the worst mass shooting on an Army post in the United States.</p> <p>The Bushes made their private visit to Fort Hood's Darnall Army Medical Center on Friday night. Bush spokesman David Sherzer said in an e-mail that the couple thanked Fort Hood's military leaders and hospital staff for the "amazing care they are providing."</p>

Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn is an old-school conservative, and an old-school Senator. How traditional can Dr. Coburn get? Politico reports that Coburn wants to read Harry Reid’s ObamaCare bill before he casts a vote on it — and to make sure he has the time to do it, Coburn plans to force the bill to be read in its entirety on the Senate floor: Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who developed a close friendship with President Obama when they served together in the Senate, is threatening to have the entire health care bill read on the Senate floor.Senior Senate Democratic...

With plenty of money to invest from the interest owed to it by the United States, China continues reaching out its tentacles to grab more natural resources from Africa.

A look at the numbers inside the unemployment report including a report that claims 190,000 job losses while also reporting an increase of more than 550,000 unemployed americans. The numbers are staggering. 27 million Americans without full-time work, real unemployment tops 17.5%

Like many Americans, I’m very concerned about the efforts underway to rush through the 2,000 page Pelosi health care bill this weekend. Why the rush? That’s a lot of pages to read. Why not give everyone the chance to read it and debate it? How much will this bill cost us? It’s unclear because the figures coming out of Washington keep changing – and always in the direction of costing more, not less. The latest numbers show it will cost more than a trillion dollars over the decade, but when has a government program ever come in on or under...

Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years. According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

During the campaign, Obama made a definitive promise not to raise any taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year: “I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes” (September 12, 2008, Dover, NH) "No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised," Joe Biden said, "whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment...

Do you believe there should be immediate racial profiling in the military or should we continue on as usual with political correctness?

— Getting the news from Fox: Sarah Palin learned from Fox News that she and John McCain wouldn’t win last year’s presidential election. When she heard anchor Brit Hume announce that Barack Obama had won Ohio, “Palin swallowed a mouthful of air. ‘Oh, well, that’s it,’ she said.” — No concession on the concession: Palin wanted to give a concession speech, but that was nixed by McCain and his aides. It had been written by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, and would have had her say, “when a black citizen prepares to fill the office of Washington and Lincoln,

Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships. After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for...

Eline van den Broek, founder of the European Independent Institute, a Netherlands-based free market think tank, presents a video for the Center for Freedom & Prosperity, discussing why less government, not more, is the solution for fixing healthcare. Enjoy!

For months he had warned it was coming but that didn't ease the political shockwaves for President Barack Obama when unemployment topped 10 percent. A year after his election Obama finds it increasingly difficult to blame the sour economy on George W. Bush or offer reassurances that jobless Americans will soon find work.

When Barack Obama became president on Jan 20, the nation's unemployment rate was 7.2%. Using "crisis" and fear to pass their ridiculous "stimulus" plan (which was designed to stimulate Obama's parties' favorite constituents) the Obama administration promised that if the stimulus bill was passed, then unemployment rate would not go above 8%. By February, the unemployment rate had exceeded the Obama administration's unemployment projection for the entire year.

There's not much that union supporters and I can agree upon. But here is one incident where I can wholeheartedly support the aggrieved members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who have found themselves victims of their own union. The SEIU wanted to renegotiate a contract with officials of Sonoma County, California for its in-home healthcare workers supported by county funds. SEIU representatives met with and crafted a new contract with the assistance of County officials. This was all done behind closed doors without the general knowledge of or the assistance of the workers themselves. But that isn't the...

Unemployment rate in the U.S. soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast.

11.03.09- Part 4 in HD- Glenn Beck's Warning: Buckle Up, America- Prepare For A Crash Landing..This plane is going down..the pilot is intentionally steering us into the trees.

10.2% in October! Remember that Obama claimed the stimulus bill would save or create millions of jobs. It didn't. Remember that the Obama Administration said that the stimulus bill would keep unemployment from rising above 8% and that the bill was too important to take the time to read it? Remember that after a slight dip in unemployment in August Obama claimed that he had "rescued our economy from catastrophe?" Well now reality is starting to set in. As Obama's chief White House economist testified before Congress last month the stimulus that was to be the cornerstone of Obama's economic...

Future-oriented industries, such as those manufacturing solar panels, are being held back by shortages because of China's control of essential metals.

The U.S. Jobless Rate Hits 10.2% on the way to who knows where. With Manufacturing Jobs all but gone, America is being relegated to a low-end 3rd world service oriented country. At what point do Americans become so weak (financially) that they have no other option but to submit to the Community Organizing Administrations agenda?

10.2% and Rising. http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ "Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty." --Ronald Reagan I miss Ronnie. Don't you? Frankly, I am sick and tired of being told American is no longer great. That our only hope is for the government to take over every part of our lives. That we must pay for past sins and successes. I am tired of the finger wagging. And the somber faces. Tired of the incompetence and the arrogance. And I am tired of the lies. Especially Obama's. The Chief Fiddler speaks and acts without experience to support the veracity of his...

The economic for October predictions were 175,000 non-farm jobs lost, and an unemployment rate at or just below 10%. Just based on initial unemployment filings, I think you’d have had to count on people continuing to drop out of the system to get numbers that low. So what actually happened? As of this morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that we lost 190,000 non-farm jobs, and that the unemployment rate has risen to 10.2%. So let’s have a gander at where that puts us on the “OMG Christine Romer and Jared Bernstein Are Teh Suck” chart: That’s pretty...

Yow. The BLS employment report is out and it's not good. [snip] Our government, by choosing to protect the oligarchs and banksters instead of allowing the market to force the bad debt out into the open where it defaults has chosen to saddle our nation's citizens with unconscionable and unsustainable debt loads, both at a government and personal level. This was a critical error and, as I expected and predicted, it is now being reflected directly into the employment situation.

Politicians keep telling us that the rich need to “suck it up” and throw in well beyond their share. They tried this in Maryland and it has resulted in a drop in revenue that is comparable in their tax rate increases. A recent study from the Empire Center for New York State Policy is showing that the state is suffering from a similar fate. The authors of the studies — E.J. McMahon and Wendell Cox — point out that between the years 2000 and 2008, there was a departure of 1.5 million people, mostly from New York City, with destinations...

IBD has a very important article on the fool Biden and how Governor Palin could not be more correct on US energy needs and reserves. This is the most significant security issue facing America and demonstrates why the left is so dangerous and anti-American. Leadership: As Palin jousts with Biden on energy independence, the government reports that we lead the world in energy reserves. From oil to gas to coal, we are sitting on prosperity. So why are we importing anything? One of the interesting sidelights of the NY-23 race was an exchange on energy independence between Vice President Joe...

"She wants to be unconventional. She is unconventional," HarperCollins spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said Wednesday. "She feels like this is where her fans are and Harper feels this is where she'll sell the most books." List so far (more cities expected): Grand Rapids, MI Nov 18th Barnes & Noble Mall of America, MN Dec 7th Washington Co, PA Nov 21 Sams Club, Trinity Point Drive (WA) etc.....

Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat, is calling on the Obama administration to block the use of stimulus funds for a utility-scale wind farm in West Texas that would make use of turbines manufactured largely in China.

Each of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) costs for Obamacare released by the leaders of the Senate and House respectively were totally honest, and totally full of crap ! Its all a matter of timing. In their efforts to gain support for the government take over the health care industry Ms Pelosi and Mr Reid are Running a scam on the American People. Here's how it works, each plan starts the taxes in year one, but they back loaded costs. The house bill for example doesn't start spending real money until 2013, year 4 of the plan. The CBO measures...

There are far too many military breaches going on in this country! Interesting to note that the FBI has already ruled out any Terrorism related activity in the massacre at Ft.Hood. Five protestors associated with an international peace movement were arrested Monday after cutting through three security fences to reach an area where nuclear missiles are stored at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Somebody better address the security breaches in this country real quick!

Only a few months ago, Representative Mark Kirk voted for Cap and Tax… er, I mean Cap and Trade. Conservatives and Republicans in general lit into Kirk with a vengeance. Then he started running for the Senate and at a subsequent September 5 campaign stop he reversed himself and decided he wouldn't support Cap and Trade. Kirk is not a strong pro-life supporter, he is bad on the Second Amendment, Kirk is only middling on free trade, and he has drifted back and forth on sometimes support for Obama's left-wing, big spending agenda in Washington… though he is sometimes good...

Only video I could find, CSPAN 3 and Foxnews.com carried it, but the Foxnews.com live stream had no volume.... Mark Levin Speech At Health Care Tea Party Washington D.C. "You see that building, you own that building...they are taking a wrecking ball to this magnificent society and that's just the first 9 months" Fox News article As a crowd of protesters shouted "kill the bill," House Republicans on Thursday rallied opposition against the Democrats' health care legislation, decrying the bill on the steps of Congress in a last-ditch bid to derail or at least delay the legislation heading toward a...

The perception of American voters and other nations around the world toward the United States Government is the United States is currently operating under a weak and indecisive leader. With every day that passes the Congress,...Read full article http://wwwstateofamerica.blogspot.com/2009/11/leader-position-open-united-states.html

After more than a decade of public health care with mandatory coverage, so many Canadian doctors have left the practice and so many young people have entered other fields that Canada ranks 26th of 28 developed nations in its ratio of physicians to population. Once, Canada ranked among the leaders in the number of physicians — but that was before government health care drove doctors out of the practice in droves.

Word's Still Mean Something http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ "Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill. " --Buddha Since White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn revealed her fascination with Mao Tse Tung and his "can do" attitude that wiped some 40-60 million people off the map, I have been searching for common ground with these people. It is clear they do not value the "so-called Founders" (as President O calls them) and it is obvious to even the simplest and most trusting mind that Nancy Pelosi doesn't give...

It’s On and IT’S MASSIVE– “Kill the Bill Rally” In DC! [Pics in URL] Thursday, November 5, 2009 Jim Hoft Ed Schultz sends these photos from the steps of the US Capital—–

A personal report. Last night (Wednesday, 11/4/2009) I attended a discussion with former senator Tom Daschle, now advisor on health care to President Obama. The event was held at the Reagan Library in California. What was unique about this event was that the audience was largely comprised of insurance agents who market and service health insurance in California. Also represented at the event were the major insurance companies selling health insurance to Californians, Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Humana, Health Net and others. I am sure that a transcript of the event will be made public, but in general...

Yesterday we noted a blog entry from local geological consultant Art Berman, saying he resigned from his monthly column-writing duties for World Oil magazine after they spiked his November column. Berman says he was told to back off on his posts that cast doubt on claims about natural gas shale as the country's energy saviour, to take a one month hiatus on the topic. He did for the month of October but claims World Oil spiked the November column when he returned to it. John Royall, president and CEO of Gulf Publishing told me the column wasn't pulled due to...

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway upped its stake in Burlington Northern yesterday, paying about $26 billion for the rest of the big railway system. Is the purchase all about playing with trains? Not really. Buffett said it's a bet on the U.S. economic recovery, that moving goods around will surge when things pick-up again. It's also seen by some as a big bet on coal. B&N's system goes through Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which is the primary source for a lot of the low-sulfur coal many U.S. power plants rely on these days to keep down their emissions (including the W.A....

In the corporate world the first and most critical item for anyone taking over a troubled institution is determining where that company stands financially. Identifying and assessing cash on hand against negative cash flow, sorting out divisions that are hemorrhaging badly from those making a profit, and items such as outdated inventories that need to be written off against the costs of the products that are still selling—all of that is crucial information, needed immediately if not sooner. What the educated executive is looking for is where the company really stands on that given day. Only then can a baseline...