Free Republic

With the Census Bureau's release today of its annual population estimates for the 50 states, the final projections of next year's decennial census reveal further details of the likely winners and losers. Here are some highlights based on the analysis by Polidata, a demographic and political research firm. • Of the 11 House seats that would switch among the states as a result of the projections, Texas would gain four. The remaining seats would be distributed one each to seven states -- four in the West (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Washington) and three in the South (Florida, Georgia and...

An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D. Mich.) coordinated opposition to a Senate compromise on the place of abortion in health care legislation this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, the Conference Catholic Bishops, and other anti-abortion groups, according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO. The emails show that Stupak — who has so far remained silent on language accepted by Senator Ben Nelson (D. Neb.) and faces intense pressure from the White House to accept it — is already working behind the scenes to oppose the compromise. They also demonstrate a previously unseen...

Liberal outrage over the Senate's health care reform bill is reaching a boiling point, with a number of organizations, unions and House Democrats warning that the watered-down version they see creeping toward a vote will not survive in its current form. - snip - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer complained Tuesday about the "psychology of one" in the Senate -- a not-so-veiled shot at Lieberman. He said the House would not rubber stamp the Senate bill once it returns to his chamber without changes.  "That's not going to happen," he said. "There are significant differences."  Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.,...

Washington (CNN) - A new national poll suggests that Americans think the health care reform proposals moving through Congress would bring higher costs and a lower quality of care. According to a ABC News/Washington Post survey released Tuesday evening, 53 percent of the public see higher costs for themselves if the proposed changes become law than if the current health care system stays the same. The poll also indicates that only 37 percent say the quality of their health care would be better under the proposed changes. The nearly one in five adults in the country that are currently...

The nonprofit conservative group Judicial Watch has sued the U.S. Secret Service after the Obama administration again denied a request for copies of the list of visitors to the White House. The records are being sought by journalists and public interest groups to help determine who is influencing White House policy on health care, the economy and a host of other issues.

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ VETERANS NOT READY TO SUPPORT OBAMA STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTANUsually supportive of administration, largest progressive veterans group in America has serious questions about future of War in Afghanistan following Obama speech WASHINGTON -- Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are not ready to support the strategy for the war in Afghanistan, laid out by President Obama this evening, saying they had serious reservations and questions about it.  The veterans of VoteVets.org, the largest progressive group of veterans in America, said that the strategy left unanswered too many questions regarding strain on the Armed Forces, and...

WASHINGTON - Senate Finance Committee Democrats have just rejected a GOP amendment that would have required a health overhaul bill to be available online for 72 hours before the committee votes. Republicans argued that transparency is an Obama administration goal. They also noted that their constituents are demanding that they read bills before voting. Democrats said it was a delay tactic that could have postponed a vote for weeks. The Democrats say that unlike other committees, the Finance Committee works off conceptual language that describes policies — instead of legislative language that ultimately becomes law, and which the GOP...

Has anyone heard of this before? I did a search but came up negative.Very interesting and if you list to the tape the man sounds very genuine.Here’s his written confession which happened to a physicist when he was in Russia:The leader of the Communist Party USA may not be the only one doing Communist cartwheels. Brace yourself for what I’m about to say next. Last fall, prior to the presidential election, a friend of mine, Dr. Wiley Drake, former second vice president for the Southern Baptist Convention, sent me an e-mail on which I didn’t report. It just seemed too...

Happy Birthday, US Constitution! On September 17, 1787, the supreme law of the United States was adopted by its people. Signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the US Constitution was ratified by conventions in each state, in the name of “The People”. So durable are its words that it is the oldest written constitution in the world. This preordained parchment laid forth the three branches of our government: a bicameral Legislative Congress; an executive branch led by the President; and a judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. Of the 4,543 words in the Constitution, perhaps none are more powerful or...

Capt. Connie Rhodes, who claimed her superiors had prevented her from attending her previous, emergency court hearing, finally stood before a judge today to question the constitutional eligibility of her commander in chief. ... But when Judge Clay Land – the same judge who earlier dismissed a similar case filed by Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook – ordered Rhodes to appear and testify before him in an emergency hearing last week, Rhodes didn't show. She claims she had requested leave, but her superiors denied it, meaning she would be considered AWOL – and therefore subject to court martial and imprisonment...

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination> – and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year. >Fascinating article by Simon Parry in the Daily Mail this evening on the Ghost Fleet of Singapore — 100s of empty container ships sidelined by the recession.Excerpt: Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and...

The Travel Promotion Act that SC Sen. Jim DeMint called "Fannie Travel" in a Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday has passed, 79-19. Bill's statement of purpose: A bill to establish a non-profit corporation to communicate United States entry policies and otherwise promote leisure, business, and scholarly travel to the United States. The legislation would levy a $10 fee on foreign visitors to the U.S. That money would, in turn, be used to fund an advertising campaign trying to lure international tourists to the U.S. DeMint's beef: "Proponents of the bill say that it's not a tax increase because only...

Back in 2005, Judicial Watch uncovered a Border Patrol survey, also exposed on Free Republic, conducted by the Bush administration in 2004 to determine what impact amnesty would have on illegal immigration. Want to take a guess at the outcome? Even the rumor of Bush's amnesty program led to a sharp spike in (additional) illegal immigration. Here are some of the particulars: 45% crossed illegally based on rumors of a Bush administration amnesty.63% received Mexican government or media information supporting the notion of a Bush administration amnesty. 64% previously entered the United States illegally.80% desired to apply for amnesty.66%...

U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare speech Wednesday earned a big bump in support for his reform plans, a poll indicated. Among Americans who watched the address to a joint session of Congress, the percentage favoring his plans rose from 53 percent before the speech to 67 percent after, a national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found. Whether the bump will last remains a big unknown, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Bill Clinton got similar numbers after his 1993 (healthcare) address to Congress, but five months later, a majority of the country no longer supported his plan," Holland said. CNN...

Some might find the following a benignly public-spirited initiative. In April, the White House signed legislation [1] that established September 11 as an “annually recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance.” A regretfully [2] bipartisan bill, the measure [3] was passed as part of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and was promoted as a means to “encourage and facilitate community service across the country.” Yet the reality behind this legislation is quite different. As Matthew Vadum reported at the American Spectator [4] on Monday: The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to...

U.S. regulators are set to buttress their defenses this week against a slew of sick banks still facing closure and the risks to the dwindling fund that protects depositors.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has been looking at expanding the pool of potential bidders for distressed banks, providing some capital relief for troubled assets that will soon be brought back onto banks' books, and charging further industry premiums to replenish the insurance fund.All of these moves are geared to get the banking industry, and the agency charged with ensuring the industry's safety, through a financial crunch that is coming to...

U.S. regulators are set to buttress their defenses this week against a slew of sick banks still facing closure and the risks to the dwindling fund that protects depositors.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has been looking at expanding the pool of potential bidders for distressed banks, providing some capital relief for troubled assets that will soon be brought back onto banks' books, and charging further industry premiums to replenish the insurance fund.All of these moves are geared to get the banking industry, and the agency charged with ensuring the industry's safety, through a financial crunch that is coming to...

Why would anyone call Mr. Obama the “S” word – Socialist? The media would rather not cover it. Mr. Obama hopes you forget. Oh, and it certainly not about skin color -- although there are Race Baiters who would like to guilt you to make you think it is. But while charting his political future in 1996, Mr. Obama turned to the "New Party" in Illinois. HINT: “New Party” are codewords for Socialist (Wiki) Still doubtful? Well, look no further than Obama's 1996 New Party (Socialist) Candidate questionnaire, when he first ran for office 13 years ago: Ban the...

My first take is that the dates DO match up for 1964 events surrounding the Obama's 1964 divorce.Here we go:Ann filed for Divorce Jan. 20, 1964 (Inauguration Day – what are the odds?), and the date was set by the presiding judge for the trial to commence 30 days after Obama SR would have responded to his notification, sent to Cambridge, Mass (Cambridge – what are the odds? ). Judge Samuel P. King who granted the divorce – last I heard was retired and alive (for now) in his 90s in Hawaii -- MAY or MAY NOT have asked to...

Directly from the stock exchange floor. They said it's a "clean" number, some were expecting 600K (worst case).