Free Republic

Hayhoe submitted her climate science chapter in mid-2009 but never heard back from the authors. Maple said the book has been delayed because he has been too busy to focus on it. He said Gingrich is still interested in doing the book and has not asked him to slow walk it. The Gingrich campaign did not answer emails seeking comment about the project. At this pace, Maple said, his new book with Gingrich would probably be out in 2013, after the presidential election.

Who do you think is most to blame for the US losing its stellar credit rating? 6.8% Congress 111 votes 18% Obama administration 295 votes 26.4% Republicans 433 votes 4.3% Democrats 71 votes 19.5% Tea party 320 votes 25% All of the above 410 votes

A class action settlement announced Friday between the federal government and a group of disabled veterans will award lifetime health-care benefits to more than 1,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were discharged from the service because of post-traumatic stress disorder. In a motion filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the National Veterans Legal Service Program and the government jointly asked the court to approve lifetime disability retirement benefits to 1,029 veterans with PTSD who were denied those benefits upon discharge from the military following their wartime service. “It’s getting your dignity back,” said...

The medical costs associated with VHA’s treatment of OCO veterans could, in CBO’s estimation, total between $40 billion and $55 billion over the 10-year period from 2011 through 2020, depending on the number of military personnel deployed to overseas contingencies in the future and the rate of growth of medical expenditures per person. That amount would be in addition to the $6 billion that VHA had spent on OCO veterans’ health care by the end of 2010. VHA is funded by annual discretionary appropriations (unlike Medicare, for example, which is funded by permanent appropriations); therefore, the estimated amounts would only...

Has anybody taken notice of Congressman Allen West's lapel pins? So if you don't advertise your accomplishments, are you any less of a politician or an American, as was the trend by Republicans during the Bush years? Back then, the Republicans staked claim to being the only true Americans because they sported American flag pins on their lapels when really they should have worn corporate sponsorship pins instead. Do other elected officials need to one-up West and carry around their diplomas or the ribbons they won at the yacht club summer swim meet when they were kids? Someone who has...

The dubious dream lives on. Two years ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry bruited the idea of a second Texas secession — the state left during the Civil War — to excitable Tea Party audiences. Now bruiting the idea of running for president, Perry has muted his anti-Constitutional proclamations.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced today that HUD will provide $46.2 million to public housing agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to supply permanent housing and case management for 6,790 homeless Veterans in America. This funding, from HUD’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH), is a coordinated effort by HUD, VA, and local housing agencies to provide permanent housing for homeless Veterans. Read a complete local breakdown of the rental vouchers announced today. “Over the past three years, HUD helped...

What do the deficit negotiations and immigration reform have in common? President Obama says thinks he’d have a much easier time getting what he wants if only he could do it all himself. “Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. I promise you not just on immigration reform. But that's not how our system works,”.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a fresh outbreak of brinkmanship, first Republicans, then Democrats drafted rival fallback legislation Monday to avert a potentially devastating government default in little more than a week.

Gov. Rick Perry has not jumped into the race for the White House, but Texans have started weighing in with their pocketbooks. Texas political donors have already sent nearly $4 million to presidential candidates, including Democratic President Barack Obama and more than a half-dozen Republican challengers ranging from Mitt Romney to Ron Paul. Obama has gotten the most so far, slightly more than $1.4 million. Those donations in no way mean that Texans, even those who have donated to declared presidential candidates, won't line up behind Perry if he decides to run, political analysts say.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is considering a run for president, is working from home in Austin after minor surgery on his back, a spokesman for the governor said on Wednesday. "According to our First Nurse - First Lady Anita Perry - the governor's recovery is going very well," said spokesman Mark Miner. The statement was only a partial quip - the governor's wife is a former nurse. Perry, an avid runner, spent two nights in the hospital after the surgery on Friday to "correct a reoccurring back ailment," Miner said. "The procedure included a small nerve...

Until their budget talks broke down Friday evening, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were considering including more than $1 trillion in previously-announced cuts in war spending in a new round of deficit reduction proposals, sources close to the negotiations said—a move some analysts called a “gimmick.” “Counting that $1+ trillion towards claimed deficit reduction would be taking credit for policies already in effect and would therefore be a gimmick,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in a June report warning of possible budget games in deficit talks. The step could have been part of a deal...

President Barack Obama's political arm at the Democratic National Committee is getting involved in the Wisconsin state Senate recall elections.

Rep. Jon Runyan, (R-N.J.), statement: H.R. 2349, the Veterans' Benefits Training Improvement Act of 2011, aims to improve benefit claims processing through focusing on individualized training and skills assessment. The bill creates an individualized training program for all employees and managers who process or supervise the processing of disability claims. Annually, these employees would take a test that assesses their skills relating to claims processing. Following this test, VA will create an individualized training program for each employee who took the test. This individualized program will focus on the areas of the test where the employee showed the greatest deficiency...

Thirty-four schools in New Jersey are being investigated for possible cheating after an examination of standardized test data revealed irregularities and raised questions, the state Department of Education said. State education officials said some schools showed especially high deviations from the normal amount of wrong test answers being erased and a right one marked. In numerous U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Philadelphia and Washington, accusations and findings of test cheating being condoned and organized by teachers to make their schools look better have put the issue in the national spotlight, and prompted education officials across the country to re-examine testing procedures...

The law firm of Fox & Fox filed three lawsuits today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin accusing Ken Black, the former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, of violating federal civil rights laws with regard to the hiring and retention of WDVA employees. Lt. Col. Tim Donovan, Randall Nitschke, and Col. Gary Wistrom, all charged Black with either discrimination or retaliation on the basis of race and sex or because they opposed race and sex discrimination. Donovan had applied for and been rejected as a candidate for the position as WDVA...

Just a glimpse at the American flag can sway voters, even Democrats, toward more Republican voting behavior, attitudes and beliefs, a new two-year study says. The authors, from the University of Chicago, Cornell University and Hebrew University, say the research proves the American flag has a powerful effect on voters. "A single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants' Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting eight months," reads the study titled, "Long-Term Effects of U.S. Flag Exposure on Republicanism."

WASHINGTON – The PTSD Coach smartphone application (app), launched in April by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), has already helped more than 5,000 users connect with important mental health information and resources. “This new tool is about helping Veterans and Servicemembers when and where they need it,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We are encouraged so many have already downloaded this resource and hope many more will utilize this convenient tool to access VA services.” Since its launch, the PTSD Coach app has been downloaded by thousands of individuals. While...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, (R-TX), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Armed Services Committees, today sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to proactively enforce the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to prevent further disenfranchisement of service members and their families. In the letter, Senator Cornyn wrote, “The November 2010 elections were marred by the Justice Department’s grossly inadequate enforcement of federal laws designed to safeguard the voting rights of our military service members and their families, including the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment...

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled VA's mental health care system and disability claims system remain badly broken, and veterans face long delays to see doctors and obtain benefits. The Court of Appeals ordered VA to fix what it descrbed "egregious problems." VCS believes now is the time for our President, VA Secretary, and Congress to fix VA. The lengthy bureaucratic delays our veterans face must end now. The Court of Appeals concluded, "VA's unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough; no more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails...