Free Republic

During Hillary Clinton's 1993 visit to Capitol Hill to testify about her proposed health-care plan, she was asked by Virginia Rep. Norman Sisisky what could be done to ease the burden of the plan's mandates on small businesses. The former first lady responded in her best let-'em-eat-cake style: "I can't go out and save every undercapitalized entrepreneur in America." That it was precisely her plan that could cause an otherwise sufficiently-capitalized entrepreneur to become "undercapitalized" wasn't acknowledged by Mrs. Clinton. The message from central planning, from Hillary and her 500 hand-picked health-care advisers, was loud and clear: Go out of...

FROM THE SPECIAL REPORT TRANSCRIPT. ROSEN: Well, the Vermont Democrat issued only a paper statement today dismissing the Fielding letter as an example of, and I quote, Nixonian stone walling. However, Senator Leahy took quite a different view of these kinds of matters back when there was a Republican Congress seeking documents from a Democratic president, namely Bill Clinton. In September of 1999, Senator Leahy told the Judiciary Committee, and I quote, in the context of a Congressional investigation, executive privilege would be more difficult to overcome. He added, the executive privilege may also be construed broadly to permit the...

An outraged Pakistani lawmaker is demanding that the title "Sir" be bestowed on the world's most wanted terrorist, Usama bin Laden, claiming it's only fair since Queen Elizabeth II has already done the same for the Muslim world's most hated author, Salman Rushdie. "Muslims should confer the 'Sir' title and all other awards on bin Laden and [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar in reply to Britain's shameful decision to knight Rushdie," Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement. Rushdie, 60, was on the list last Saturday of those to be knighted as part of the...

The Senate's immigration bill will cut annual illegal immigration by just 25 percent, and the bill's new guest-worker program could lead to at least 500,000 more illegal aliens within a decade, Congress' accounting arm said yesterday. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in its official cost estimate that many guest workers will overstay their time in the plan, with the number totaling a half-million in 2017 and reaching 1 million a decade later. "We anticipate that many of those would remain in the United States illegally after their visas expire," CBO said of the guest-worker program. In a blow to...

THE controverisal citizenship test being introduced by the Federal Government has been branded "biased" and "unAustralian" by the nation's key Muslim body. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils today released a statement strongly questioning the proposed test, saying members "share the serious concerns" it has raised in "the wider Australian community". "While AFIC does not oppose regulated immigration, it believes that a test with biased questions targeting particular cultural or ethnic groups goes against the very values of democracy and a fair go that the government is trying to inculcate," said President Ikebal Adam Patel. He agreed that would-be migrants should...

This is a more detailed version of a column that was published in The New York Post on May 24, 2007. Since he left office in 2001, former president Bill Clinton has been paid by InfoUSA, an Omaha, Nebraska company that has been identified as a key provider of specially designed databases that are sold to criminals who use the detailed information to defraud the unsuspecting elderly. Because Senate financial disclosure rules do not require Hillary Clinton to reveal exactly how much — or for what — the company has paid her husband over the past five years, we don’t...

Sources on Capitol Hill tell me the Senate may be very close to a deal on comprehensive immigration reform. But as the immigration deal comes together, Senate conservatives are growing uneasy about the state of the negotiations, fearing that Republican leadership will sell out to the Bush Administration and liberal Democrats to give amnesty to illegal aliens. The issue boils down to whether Senate Republicans leaders, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.), will give Democrats a free pass to bring up the bill without ever giving Republicans a chance to review it. Sen. Teddy...

A bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate is pushing legislation to protect Americans from being sued for reporting to authorities suspicious activity that may lead to a terrorist attack. "If you see something, you should say something, and not have to worry about being sued," said Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican. The measure was introduced in the Senate late Friday and is sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with Mr. Kyl and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the panel's ranking Republican. "Since 2001, when we were struck...

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of...

Not that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was out for revenge or anything. But he sure did seem to enjoy at least a wee measure of satisfaction in making mega GOP donor Sam Fox squirm during Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to consider Fox's nomination to be ambassador to Belgium. Fox, a Bush "Ranger" whose generosity has likely helped him on his way to the Land of Beer and Chocolate, contributed $50,000 to help fund the infamous 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a "527" group that ran ads aimed at smearing Kerry's Vietnam record. So it was no surprise...

We all know what the demoncrats are but if you want to find out more about them, click on the picture. It's important to know who the terrorist Collaborators are.

Should Congress repeal the 2002 resolution authorizing the war in Iraq? Yes 79% No 21% Total 1969

By endorsing the Petraeus and Fallon appointments, Congress has by extension also endorsed the mission they've been dispatched to accomplish. Undercutting the effort with wrongheaded resolutions is at once dishonorable and cowardly. Bottom line: Congress sent Petraeus and Fallon off to war. Does it now mean to shoot them in the back?

The Foreign Relations Committee rejected such a binding measure, offered by Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry, of Massachusetts, on a voice vote. “How do you ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake?” Kerry said, reprising the question he asked of the panel as a young antiwar veteran of Vietnam in the 1970s. The question is just as relevant today, he said.

WASHINGTON — Some journalists who made careers out of questioning government officials and bearing witness to history may soon find themselves answering questions from prosecutors as key witnesses in the CIA leak case. Ten or more reporters from some of the most prominent news organizations could be called to testify in the perjury and obstruction case of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. It's rare enough for reporters to become witnesses. But the Libby case is even more unusual because journalists will be dueling witnesses -- some called by the defense team, some by prosecutors. "It will be...

In 1987, Biden quit the Democratic primary race early after the revelation that he had delivered, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also hammered Biden's image: a serious plagiarism incident from his law-school years, boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event, and the discovery of other quotations in Biden's speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians.

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed. The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital. "He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily. "I said, ’Well son, as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family -...

WASHINGTON — When the House passed a massive spending bill last November, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi made sure her constituents knew what they were getting. "Pelosi Secures $115 Million for San Francisco Transportation, Housing, Science and Arts," she proclaimed in a news release. It wasn't an unusual announcement. Like many of her colleagues in Congress, Pelosi for years has celebrated bringing home the bacon to her district. But now — as Pelosi prepares to take over the House after an election in which scandal helped drive Republicans from power — she is promising changes to the controversial practice of earmarking....

This is for Republicans who have decided not to vote or to vote for a democrat, I have a few things for you to think about. While a number of us are angry with the Republicans because they have not done many tings we wanted them to do we still need to vote. Yes, we hold the majority, but the democrats and few RHINO’S have continually thrown road blocks in our way. The consequences of not voting or voting for a democrat are enormous for this country. The next two years will consist of hearings, higher taxes and the loss...

Attempts to put limits on wartime behavior have been around since the beginning of recorded history and there have been numerous attempts to codify the rules of appropriate military conduct. In the sixth century BCE, Chinese warrior Sun Tzu suggested putting limits on the way that wars were conducted. Around 200 BCE, the notion of war crimes as such appeared in the Hindu code of Manu. In 1305, the Scottish national hero Sir William Wallace was tried for the wartime murder of civilians. Hugo Grotius wrote "On the Law of War and Peace" in 1625, focusing on the humanitarian treatment...