Free Republic

Perry made loser pays the law of the land in Texas by signing H.B. 274 in May. ... loser pays makes the legal system more objective and legitimate. “The procedural protections … go a long way toward ensuring that our judicial system dispenses justice according to the merits of the case rather than the size of the wallet,” ... This is not the first time Mr. Perry has tackled necessary pro-growth tort reform. (...) Perry’s landmark 2003 medical liability reforms, which established a burden of proof for punitive damages similar to criminal law by requiring a unanimous jury verdict and...

Fairfax County Police are investigating after a 34-year-old man with a gun was shot and killed in front of his Centreville, Va., home. The incident happened shortly after 1:30 a.m. in the 6100 block of Kendra Way. Fairfax County Police were called to the home for a disturbance Once at the scene, Fairfax County Police said the suspect approached them from his ground level garage armed with a gun. They say they told him to drop the weapon, but he refused and shots were fired.

Federal regulators have approved a new wireless technology developed to help underground coal mines meet safety standards set after a fatal 2006 blast in West Virginia. The Mine Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday it had approved the MagneLink technology from Lockheed Martin. It uses magnetic waves to overcome underground barriers to wireless signals that have left mines reliant on wired systems that can be damaged in a disaster. ... Mine safety officials said in April that nearly two-thirds of the nation's 529 underground mines had not yet fully installed the required equipment [to meet a new mine safety law].

... The freshman, a hard-charging Utah conservative named Jason Chaffetz, looked out at his new colleagues and said the first thing that came to his mind. “I am your worst nightmare.” He might as well have been speaking to the leader himself. ... Chaffetz sees an impatience in himself and his friends that separates them from older members. “We’re the generation that demands and wants things right now,”... The House has a freshman class of 87 GOP members, whose most impassioned supporters — outspoken conservatives and tea party loyalists who have long voiced suspicions about Boehner’s passion for their causes...

...a 64-year-old man in wire-rimmed glasses leaned forward and quietly raised his hand. Clarence Cammers had come to ask a question... A lifelong Republican, Cammers had studied all 73 pages of Ryan’s proposal, which aims to erase the $14 trillion national debt in part by minimizing popular entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He had punched Ryan’s numbers into a worn gray calculator, trying to decipher how those gigantic sums would affect his family’s income of hourly wages and the very entitlements Ryan had targeted. ... “I guess what I’m saying is, what are all these changes...

The District finished 2010 with 131 homicides — a 9 percent reduction from 2009 and the lowest number of killings in the nation's capital since 1963. ... Montgomery County saw an increase from 13 homicides in 2009 to 17 last year. ... Fairfax County also recorded a modest increase, from 14 killings in 2009 to 16 last year, while Arlington County recorded one killing last year compared with two in 2009. For the District, the continued declines in homicides during this decade to nearly half-century lows are impressive. The city less than 20 years ago recorded 482 killings, when turf...

... That's because under the federal system, disabled employees unable to return to work get to choose between receiving higher-paying workers' compensation benefits or the lower-paying federal retirement plan. ... The money is almost always better under the workers' compensation program, which pays up to 75 percent of the employees' salaries tax-free, compared with the 60 percent they would receive under the retirement system. Across government, more than 7,000 injured employees continue to collect workers' compensation after retirement age, and a few have even gotten payouts lasting decades well into their 90s, government records show. Recent legislation by Sen. Susan...

Sarah Palin tweets: Obviously Obama is so very, very wrong on the economy & spins GOP tax cut goals;so fiscal conservatives: we expect you to fight for us &......America's solvency

Freeper Poll, Please Not YOUR Opinion, SARAH PALIN ONLY! Which Republican former Governor of Alaska and Mayor of Wasilla who was also the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential Nominee and stars in her own TLC show in the last 4 years has done the most to help Conservative Movement? Sarah Palin only, Please!

(Palin within striking distance of Obama in a non-Rasmussen Poll; also has statistically insignificant lead for Republican Primary): "President Barack Obama does not deserve a second term, American voters say 49 - 43 percent, and he is in a statistical dead heat with possible Republican challengers Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. President Obama leads Sarah Palin 48 - 40 percent. .. "The Democratic base remains squarely behind President Barack Obama when it comes to his re-election, but his weakness among independent voters at this point makes his 2012 election prospects uncertain," said...

On November 2, 2010 Virginians will be faced with several seemingly innocuous but fatally flawed ballot questions, primarily dealing with various facets of taxation in the Commonwealth. At hand are three constitutional amendments, which appear on the ballot following a multi-stage approval by the Virginia General Assembly, as follows: A constitutional amendment, as established in Section 1 of Article XII, can be proposed in either house of the Virginia General Assembly. If a proposed amendment is approved by a simple majority vote in one session of the state legislature, it is automatically referred to the next session of the state...

An interesting and quirky story today, in which we find that President Obama has decided NOT to visit a Sikh temple while in India, supposedly because stupid Americans might think Obama is a Muslim: Revered by Indians of all faiths, it is a cherished emblem of India’s religious diversity. So it was no surprise when the gold-plated marvel was touted as the likely third stop on President Obama's visit to India, scheduled for early November. Religious diversity -- that was probably the first strike against them in Obama's mind. the plan appears to have foundered on the thorny question of...

9/11/2010. This is the day that our government surrendered to the radical Muslim hoardes. Those radical muslims threatened our armed forces, if we are to believe General Petraeus. In response, the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, the FBI (3 times), and General Petraeus all responded to the threat against our troops -- by actively and publicly intervening to stop the exercise of free speech (as defined by the Supreme Court) that was objected to by those who threatened us with war. In response to the overwhelming force of government threats and intimidation, the citizen of our...

Joe Biden makes a fool of himself again, trying to make a joke: THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Let me begin by saying, Mr. President, it’s great to see you again, and all of my friends; Mr. Minister. So many of you I’ve known for so long. I came once again with a distinguished American delegation, because they don’t trust me alone. (Laughter.) Because they know I like you too much.

El Reno police said they were forced to taser an 86-year-old El Reno woman last week who was threatening to kill herself and threatened officers with a knife. The incident occurred Dec. 22 at the Elizabeth Place Apartments, 1955 S. Shephard, said Police Chief Ken Brown. Brown said the woman's grandson telephoned police asking for help for his grandmother, who he said was threatening to overdose on medication. The chief said when officers arrived, they found the woman lying on a bed. He said when the woman saw the officers she ordered them out of her home and told them...

This week could be the last push to re-create Virginia's health care system in Barack Obama's image. The House Democrats plan to hold votes this week aimed at replacing the system that has made our country one of the best health care innovators in the world, with a new plan where government regulates prices and procedures, and citizens are required to buy government-dictated health insurance whether they like it or not. Virginians and Americans are outraged at the plan. Opposition is so great that a Republican won a Senate seat in Massachusetts. Democrats are so scared of public opinion they...

we need Congress to "give us permission" to collect state sales tax from out-of-state vendors. ... Everywhere you look, government collects taxes: sales tax, real estate tax, the car tax, and income tax are only the most obvious. For example, my last Verizon bill had over $18 in taxes and "fees." We don't need new taxes. But the bill being considered does not impose a new tax. Virginia has a 5 percent general sales tax. For most purchases, business collects the sales tax with the purchase. However, when a company has no state "presence," they don't have to collect the...

Last week, this paper ran an editorial attacking ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, saying "If there was ever any doubt that Sarah Palin is a fool, she has removed it." ... the paper's editorial was off base, short on facts, long on innuendo and did a disservice to her considerable achievements. ... The editorial said Palin was partisan and predictable when attacking Rahm Emanuel for using the word "retarded" as a pejorative. ... The editorial misses the bigger point. Rush is a private citizen commenting on a talk show. We may not like what he says, but he speaks for himself....

<p>Former Vice President Dick Cheney ducked answering whether former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, saying only that he has not decided whom he will back in 2012.</p> <p>Mr. Cheney also dismissed Mrs. Palin's warning that President Obama might declare war on Iran for political purposes, saying U.S.-Iran differences will not be resolved by "simple political calculations."</p>

If there was ever any doubt that Sarah Palin is a fool, she has removed it. Once the governor of Alaska and a vice presidential candidate, Palin has left the confines of public office for the more sympathetic offices of Fox News. She has also been acting as something of a de facto leader of the Tea Party movement. Unfortunately, her new roles have not lent her the gravitas she was lacking as a politician. ... Palin has consistently shown herself to be thoughtless, uninformed, impulsive and opportunistic. If these are the qualities people look for in a leader, then...