Free Republic

President Obama and Democrats have been talking up the Buffett Rule (a minimum 30% tax on people making over $1 million per year) for some time now. So what kind of difference does the Buffett Rule make? I've seen revenue estimates between $30 billion and $40 billion over 10 years, but what kind of difference would that make in the scope of government finances? Not too much.

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued? Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

My Fox News reception is frozen, its at a standstill, all other channels 200+ channels are functioning normally. Any body got a clue as to what is happening?

Reporting from Washington— Texas Gov. Rick Perry, faulting much of what the federal government did in the 20th century, has called Social Security a "failure" and "an illegal Ponzi scheme" and also cast doubt on the constitutionality of federal laws on food safety, minimum wages, bans on child labor, environmental protection and Medicare.

To the editor: As of three days ago I was a diehard liberal Democrat. I followed the trumpet call and marched in lockstep with whatever was declared to be true by the liberals in my family, all my friends and particularly my professors in college. There was no other choice a sane person could make and those who were "conservative" were no more than bible thumping fascists and greedy capitalists who just wanted to exploit all of us.

When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics. Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions. "Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

When you think of the Obama administration and Texas, think of Walter Peck. He was the churlish Ghostbusters character from the Environmental Protection Agency who barked orders and warned, "If he tries that again, shoot him!" It'd still be funny, except now the EPA man is President Barack Obama's regional administrator in Texas. Activists called Al Armendariz the new sheriff in town, and it wasn't long before he was taking names and kicking Texas. His top target is the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, which ensures that big employers abide by the Clean Air Act.

It Can't Happen Here was a best-selling satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935. It aroused considerable controversy when published and in the years leading up to World War II. The plot featured the account of a crusading newspaperman Doremus Jessup, struggling against the newly elected fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a populist leader whom some observers on the political Right assumed was a parody of FDR while others, particularly on the political Left rejected the possibility that a “popular” leader of the Democratic Party could possibly lead the country into a Fascist regime.

While the ever-helpful Jurassic media is trying to force-feed conservatives and Republicans groupthink analysis of Rick Perry's thumping of Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH), the GOP had better heed the main lesson: The "new tone" era is over.

Iran has charged three detained US citizens with espionage, the Islamic republic's judiciary has told reporters.

Does anybody know what happens to the 'banked' assets that are programmed to fund union retiree's health plans? What will happen to those programs if the health care plan package is passed? Are these contracted out to private insurance companies? Maybe those assets will have to go to the govn't to pay for health care? I have never been a member of a union but I would think those members would be concerned about this. Or, maybe for their support of the gov't health plan they get to keep their plans (which I understand are really excellent). I hope this...

Job opportunites working on urgent grassroots campaigns This summer we have the opportunity to make huge gains on critical issues, from repowering America with clean, renewable energy and reducing our dependence on oil, to fixing the high cost of health care, to winning the battle for equal rights. America’s leading advocacy groups are gearing up to meet these challenges this summer. In order to win, they need citizen support and grassroots action. That’s where we come in.

Rivalry between normally polite banks is getting down, dirty and very public with some using the government's TARP program as a handy target. Just ask Alan B. White, the entrepreneurial founder-president of Dallas-based PlainsCapital Bank, who is lashing back at competitors who slam his participation in the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, aimed at jump-starting the economy. PlainsCapital received $87.6 million from TARP.

Teens Pledge Alligiance to Obama. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUEQz5dltmI

I have been missing this Today's Toons. Is Pookie alright? Has he been booted?

A day after thousands of schoolchildren began reciting the revised Texas pledge honoring "one state under God," an atheist couple asked a federal judge in Dallas that the language be immediately removed. TEXAS PLEDGE The Texas pledge revised by legislators this year now reads: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible." case.

Cactus Mayor Luis Aguillar, describing the Swift & Co. plant in Cactus. Aguillar entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico 30 years ago and now owns the town's only grocery store, numerous rental properties and a nearby 575-acre ranch. Under an amnesty program, he gained citizenship about 10 years after arriving. Randy Ford, who with wife Betty have lived in Dodge City, Kan., for 35 years but have stopped attending the city's Independence Day events because they can't understand what the Spanish singers are singing.

The show was an instant success. It lured would-be child-sex predators to a public shaming, delivered by a handsome host. Ratings, awards and even praise from members of Congress followed. But now Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator" series is taking heat. And so is the police chief of the Collin County town that hosted it eight months ago. The troubles stem from the show's visit to Murphy, where more than 20 people were arrested but escaped prosecution because of evidence problems. Also a former district attorney ensnared in the sting shot himself.

<p>CLEVELAND — A city councilman fed up with crime told a teenager with a record that goes back two years to "go to jail or the cemetery," prompting the young man's mother to complain that the letter was threatening.</p> <p>Was the letter from Councilman Michael Polensek a threat or a warning from a public official to a thug to get out of the neighborhood?</p>

Days like this it's difficult to know where to start. My initial instinct was to send up the whole business and turn the column into a spoof Great Buy-Ups In History. You know the sort of thing: Churchill - My Battle With The Bottle. Boadicea - I Feared I Was Going To Be Raped By The Romans. Nelson - Hardy, and The Truth Behind That Kiss. The Light Brigade - We Apologise To The Russians And Thank Them For Their Kindness. To be honest, when I tipped a bucketload over all concerned in Friday's Mail, I did wonder if perhaps...