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A Michigan congressman has released a report from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation confirming that the House Democrats' health-care bill could impose penalties of up to $250,000 in fines and five years in jail for failing to buy the proper insurance coverage. "This is the ultimate example of the Democrats' command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail," said U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich. "It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately," he said today. The letter of confirmation from the Joint Committee on Taxation was signed by Chief of Staff Thomas...

Any judgment of Barack Obama’s presidency based on a handful of off-year races is overstating the case. Trying to decipher the real meaning is something like reading tea leaves, and just as reliable. Still, they are clues and warnings, at least, for the national parties. My reading of the leaves: independents flexed their muscle and gave Obama a warning, passing health care reform is going to be a little harder but still in the cards, and New York voters deepened the Republican identity crisis. You could say this was in a part the opening blow of Obama vs. Sarah Palin...

How does one take a president seriously who preaches about a new era of transparency while sealing his complete birth certificate, college records, and passports? Why talk about transparency while hiding bare minimum information that past politicians have readily turned over? That’s not a new era of transparency; it’s a new era of secrecy. Why talk about transparency while rushing through thousand of pages of unread and un-analyzed law that will allow government control of health decisions? A 72-hour Internet posting is ridiculously insufficient in context of the mammoth power grab the federal government wishes to pull off. A person’s...

To this day I remain baffled and somewhat dumbstruck by the complacency of the public, the mainstream media, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court for their willingness to dismiss challenges to President Barack Obama's (aka Barry Soetoro) natural born U.S. citizen status. Yes, the election is over, and yes, I acknowledge that nothing likely will ever come of this, but it astounds me that we are in month nine of Obama, yet his eligibility to serve as president remains unresolved. The majority of challenges to Obama's natural-born status revolve around the fact he has refused to release his original, long-form,...

Congress recognizes no limits on its power. It doesn't care about the Constitution, it doesn't care about your inalienable rights. If this health care bill becomes law, America, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it and privacy as you have enjoyed it will cease to be. [snip] We do not have two political parties in this country, America. We have one party; called the Big Government Party. The Republican wing likes deficits, war, and assaults on civil liberties. The Democratic wing likes wealth transfer, taxes, and assaults on commercial liberties. Both parties like power; and...

Part 1: from the 12th essay by "Brutus" from the February 7th & 14th (1788) issues of The New-York Journal Part 2: Taken from the first half of the 14th essay February 28, 1788. In my last, I showed, that the judicial power of the United States under the first clause of the second section of article eight, would be authorised to explain the constitution, not only according to its letter, but according to its spirit and intention; and having this power, they would strongly incline to give it such a construction as to extend the powers of the general...

In his eagerness to please international opinion, President Obama has taken a small but significant step toward censoring free speech. It was nice to hear Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton say on October 26, "I strongly disagree" with Islamic countries seeking to censor free speech worldwide by making defamation of religion a crime under international law. But watch what the Obama administration does, not just what it says. I'm not talking about its attacks on Fox News. I'm talking about a little-publicized October 2 resolution in which Clinton's own State Department joined Islamic nations in adopting language all-too-friendly to...

On November 3, the fairy tale died. The election results in Virginia and New Jersey dismantled the self-satisfied, just-so story that Democrats have been telling themselves about last year’s election. The story goes like this: In 2008, Americans voted for change not just in the nation’s leadership, but in its fundamental political orientation. They wanted a shift to the left not seen since 1932. The nation’s political map had been utterly transformed. Barack Obama owned the suburbs and independents, and laid claim to formerly secure Republican states. An outdated GOP had been reduced to a rejectionist husk clinging to rural...

Apparently Rep. Deal knew he was going to stir up quite the proverbial hornet’s nest by seriously suggesting that he was going to ask the President to see his birth certificate. So, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (h/t PeachPundit), the castigations are now beginning. As you read through what I post from the article, below, I’m going to interject my own commentary into what the included public figures say, because I think most of them are seriously full of it; the idea that somehow someone is considered to be, essentially, other than rational for daring to question the President is,...

Romney, Huckabee, and Pawlenty must be thrilled. Gridiron Club President Dick Cooper told club members earlier this afternoon that Palin accepted an invitation to speak at the black-tie affair, according to a member of the club’s executive committee. Meg Stapleton, a spokeswoman for Palin, confirmed that Palin planned to address the dinner in an e-mail to POLITICO: “The Governor was honored to accept the invitation.” Also speaking at the dinner will be Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), whom the club invited to represent his party at the event. The dinner’s December 5th, which makes this even more of a no-brainer than...

Where is the loyalty of the RINOs?  Arlen Specter joins the Democrats.  Colin Powell endorses the Democrat.  Dierdre Scozzafava endorses the Democrat.  I'm not opposed to the Democratic Party out of some sense of style or family history.  I'm opposed to the Democrats because I think they are wrong.  I think the Democrats are wrong in their basic view on the role of government and my place in society as a citizen.  The government isn't there to solve all my problems. I changed my political affiliation to independent ten years ago.  Not because the Republican Party was too far to...

With a Westchester decision, the feds decree that neighborhoods must seek minority residents.___ The leafy towns and villages of central and northern Westchester County, New York, with their large-lot zoning, stone walls along winding lanes, and the wooden stables of horse country, are among the wealthiest in the United States. From Pound Ridge to Scarsdale, from Chappaqua to Bedford, they might seem remote and insulated from Washington policy disputes. But thanks to a legal settlement announced on August 11, they have become the testing ground for a federal social policy that seeks a dramatic change in the organizing principle of...

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Could the health care bill be in real trouble in the House? The Democratic defections are starting to pile up in advance of a vote scheduled for tomorrow on sweeping health reform efforts. (That schedule could slip to Sunday or beyond, if the votes aren’t there.) According to the National Republican Congressional Committee -- which, of course, has an interest in watching this vote particularly closely -- 15 House Democrats and counting are saying publicly that they’ll oppose the measure when it reaches a vote. Democrats can afford only 40 such defections to squeak the...

Tuesday night the plans of Barack Obama and the democrat/communist party took some severe blows in New Jersey and Virginia. A strong message was sent by the American people that we are not pleased with Obama’s perverted vision for America. That he and his democrat/communist party are on the wrong track. So who is the focus of White House greaseball David Axelrod? Sarah Palin! That’s right, Palin; the so-called supposed insignificant, washed up “quitter.” I mean that’s what the democrat/communists and their lap dogs in the media shout all day every day. For such an insignificant woman, Sarah sure does...

Democrats have some thinking to do after Tuesday's elections, but Republicans don't have time to think. They're too busy trying to survive the party's internal purge and avoid being shipped off to political Siberia. Will loyal members inform on others for harboring suspiciously moderate views? Will anyone judged guilty have to wear a sign saying "Republican In Name Only" as penance? Will there be re-education camps? Will deviationists face the Enhanced Interrogation Technique of being forced to listen to the wit and wisdom of Glenn Beck, at ear-splitting volume, for days on end? Or worse: When Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going...

Virginia --(AmmoLand.com)-We all have various milestones in our lives. I have had a number of them since May 2001 when I came to this country on the employment visa. November 18, 2009 will be another milestone in my life – I am required to take a two hour civics test and English language knowledge test as part of my naturalization process. I got a notice from USCIS in August 2009 that I am now eligible to apply for a U.S. citizenship. I jumped for joy, to say the least. The next thing I did was to ask my lawyer which...

Francheska Velez, 21, had just finished a tour in Iraq and returned to Ft. Hood three months pregnant. The Army granted Velez, a 2006 graduate of Kelvyn Park High School, a maternity leave of absence and she was set to return to Chicago in just two weeks.

<p>Sure, Election Day 2009 will scare moderate Democrats and make passage of Obamacare more difficult. Sure, it makes it easier for resurgent Republicans to raise money and recruit candidates for 2010. But the most important effect of Tuesday’s elections is historical. It demolishes the great realignment myth of 2008.</p>

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000...

This one’s a day old but still fresh. Think the chairman got the message from what happened to Scozzafava in NY-23? “You’re going to find yourself in a very tough hole if you’re arguing for the president’s stimulus plan,” he warns purple-state Republicans. Um, isn’t there a rather prominent purple-state Republican running for Senate right now who did exactly that? Ben Smith takes a trip down memory lane: And indeed, Crist’s own “Florida Recovery” website belies the claim. There, he links a “Dear Mr. President” letter he signed with 18 fellow governors, which begins, “We are writing to express our...

You know what? I think I can. I will continue to say what I’ve said before. You hear in this debate, you hear analogies, you hear references to, you see pictures about and depictions of individuals that are truly stunning, and you hear it all the time. People — imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11. Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler. Two possible explanations: (1) Gibbsy was trying to say something else and it came out very wrong; (2) Gibbsy was in a deep, deep coma for...

Over ONE MILLION copies sold! On the NYTimes Bestseller List for 19 weeks, 12 weeks at #1!Buy it… read it… live it!“Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

I just got through to my Congressman, Eric Massa (D-NY). I asked if he had made up his mind on Nancy Pelosi's health care bill and the staffer tole me he was voting NO, and was committed to that position.

Obama Officially Endorses Abortion-Funding Health Care Bill Washington, DC -- With a new statement released today from the White House, President Barack Obama finally officially put his imprimatur on the House health care bill that contains massive abortion funding. Obama has previously been criticized for saying he wanted no abortion funding but lobbying for the bill. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5626.html

ALBANY, New York, November 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gov. David Paterson has convoked an extraordinary session of the New York State Legislature to address the state's soaring budget deficit, as well as to pass legislation that would legalize same-sex "marriage."Paterson issued a special proclamation Thursday announcing the special session would convene on November 10 at noon. He said the legislature would take up consideration of the Governor's $5.2 billion "Deficit Reduction Plan" - a proposal which promises steep cuts in government spending - along with several other items including the same-sex "marriage" bill already passed by the Assembly.The fate of...

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Barney Frank took a dig Friday at the Republican lawmaker who organized a protest by conservatives against health care legislation. Frank, a Massachusetts liberal, told an audience: "Some of the people (at the rally) that wanted to engage me in conversation appeared to have been the losers in the 'Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest?'."

Since there was no clue on the website, I had to call. No screwing around and calling the locals here. I called DC.

Denver Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput will address parishioners on health care reform — and more specifically abortion — in a letter to be read at Masses this weekend. In his column in the Denver Catholic Register on Wednesday, Chaput said President Barack Obama has failed to keep his promise to not provide public money for abortion in his health care plan. Chaput said he is asking Catholics to demand their senators and representatives change congressional proposals "to respect Catholic and pro-life concerns." As it stands, federal law prohibits using federal funds to pay for abortions, except to save a pregnant...

Hidden in stimulus?

CNA STAFF, Nov 6, 2009 / 11:58 am (CNA).- Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, spoke to CNA about the victory of Question 1 in Maine, which repeals previous legislation legalizing gay ‘marriage.’ Gallagher said that the victory, which defies statistics and expectations, “is very heartening to marriage supporters and disappointing to gay ‘marriage’ advocates.” Noting that the supporters of same-sex marriage were surprised and upset by this victory, Gallagher analyzed the circumstances leading up to the election. “The gay marriage advocates,” she told CNA on Thursday, “had a three-year head start. They put millions into building...

Welcome To The Sean Hannity Show Thread! All Posters And Lurkers Are WELCOME! The Show Thread Between EL Rushbo And TGO'S Lounge. Be The First To Post And Win A Sean Hannity Show Thread High Power Blender. Listen To Sean Do Commentary, Talk To Guests And Take Calls From YOU! :)=^..^=

Abortion Business in Florida Closes After Operating Without License Pensacola, FL (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion business in Pensacola, Florida has closed after state officials determined it had operated for well over a year without a proper medical license. The Community Healthcare Center, one of two area abortion centers, closed its doors on Friday. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4552.html

(Washington, D.C.) -- Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) predicted on Thursday that there will be a constitutional challenge to the provision in the health care bill under consideration in Congress that would require all Americans to buy health insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government has never before mandated that Americans purchase any good or service. When asked by CNSNews.com on Thursday where in the Constitution is Congress given the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance, McCain said, “That is an excellent question and I’m sure that if they pass health care legislation, I think there...

As Tuesday’s vote revealed, Americans are strongly devoted to individualism, one happy aspect of which is that they are possessed of an abhorrence to being told what to think, a truth that explains why people are drawing their own conclusions regarding this question: Which Americans are behaving with anti-intellectual, hateful ignorance in the debate regarding the Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare bills making their way through Congress? To answer that question, common sense folks begin by stipulating some of what is currently known about the bills, for example — The final version will be advertised as costing $1 trillion over the next decade....

Ironically, in his latest book “Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie”, Cramer documents the fact that the decline of the visibility of the firearm in modern life has coincided with the rise of gun control. And yet he is asking us to conceal our firearms. Come on Clayton, you don’t hide apple pie.

The answer to the big question surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s scheduling of the ObamaCare vote this weekend has been answered. She didn’t schedule it for Saturday because she had the votes — and now Steny Hoyer has admitted as much this morning: A House leader says Democrats haven’t yet lined up enough votes to pass their health care overhaul bill. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland says the vote that House Democrats had scheduled for Saturday could slip to Sunday or early next week. Hoyer acknowledged to reporters Friday that Democratic leaders don’t yet have the 218 votes needed to pass...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. College students are facing a sea change in borrowing to pay for their degrees unfortunately, many would still be drowning in debt. The change, perhaps as soon as July, would end the Federal Family Education Loan program that has dominated the federal student loan pool for more than 40 years. Banks and other private sources would be cut out of the process by the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, passed in September by the U.S. House. The measure still must be considered by the Senate. Colleges that once kept a long list of lenders are converting...

Boycott List Shows Companies Backing Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Planned Parenthood watchdog has released an updated list of the corporations and companies that provide direct funding for the abortion business. Life Decisions International identifies corporations that are boycott targets due to their support for the biggest abortion company in the world. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5618.html

Practitioner Admits Yes I Am Killing Unborn Children in Abortions Dallas, TX -- The late-term abortion practitioner at the new abortion center in Dallas has admitted in a shocking interview that he kills unborn children during abortions. Curtis Boyd is one of the few abortion practitioners to admit what he is doing, but he has no qualms with his job. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4549.html

NBC's Luke Russert, reporting from the West Front of the Capitol, passes along this photo of a cartoon Pelosi with the words "UNAMERICAN MCCARTHYITE" scrawled across. The crowd, per Russert, is so far about 3,000 to 3,500, according to Capitol Police estimates.... *** UPDATE *** Three Capitol Hill police officers all guessed that the crowd numbered at about 4,000. (Here's a wide shot picture of the crowd.) At least 45 to 60 GOP members lined up behind the podium. Here are some of the more jaw-dropping signs seen at the rally: "Get the Red Out of the White House." "Waterboard...

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today (11/6/2009). The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade. Household Survey Data In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown...

  Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner   By James TillmanNovember 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to House Republican Leader John Boehner, the government-run health care bill being considered in Congress would include "a monthly abortion premium ... [to] be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan."On his blog Boehner states that this premium "will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services."He continues: "Section 213 [of the bill] describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has asked Tehran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced secret nuclear warhead design, according to a report published Friday. Citing what it calls "previously unpublished documentation" from an International Atomic Energy Agency compiled report, Britain's The Guardian newspaper said Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a "two-point implosion" device. The report said that even the existence of two-point implosion nuclear warhead technology is officially secret in both the U.S. and Britain. The technology allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads, making it easier to put a...

Both Montana and Tennessee have passed FFAs, and they are to be commended for their commitment to the right to keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, the FFAs passed in Montana and Tennessee have serious problems that make their probability for success in the courts highly unlikely. Both states' FFAs contain items regulated by the federal government not under its power of interstate commerce, but under the federal government's power of taxation. It specifically includes silencers and destructive devices (firearms over .50 caliber).

There are a handful of political poisons that conservatives fall victim to swallowing that inevitably lead to "death" at the polls. I could talk about the lack of political fortitude (call it like it is), or even the inability, to articulate a clear and concise message to the people in a world where cryptic political double-speak is considered graceful, but for today, the focus is placed on the importance of who should be, and who should not be, allowed to walk under the banner of the Conservative Movement. Liberals always hate the analogy, "birds of a feather flock together," because...

As a talk-radio host officially banned in Britain for "fostering hatred," Michael Savage has unearthed a greater story from the ooze -- revealed in the very title of his new book, "Banned in Britain: Beating the Liberal Blacklist." Indeed, Mr. Savage contends that some nefarious "trans-Atlantic occlusion" was afoot in the decision to place him on a list of undesirables that included terrorists and murderers. And the book is just the beginning. "A petition will be circulated in Congress next week by concerned lawmakers. They will demand that the U.S. State Department act on my behalf as an American citizen...

Tickets sales have been extraordinary for Governor Palin's February trip to Kansas to deliver the keynote address to the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. In fact, according to the Salina Journal, ticket sales have been suspended, at least temporarily, so they can sort through the systemic overload caused by the unprecedented demand: Because of an overwhelming number of requests, the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce has suspended the sale of tickets to its annual dinner, which will feature former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. "At this point, I am not saying that we're sold out," Chamber president and CEO Dennis Lauver...

A murderous rampage killing was carried out today at Texas' Ft. Hood Army base by American Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan. According to news reports, ten soldiers and two civilians were killed and thirty-one wounded in the attack. Initial reports said Hasan was also killed in an exchange of gunfire with a female officer, but it now appears he is in custody, and in stable condition. Reports also said two other suspects, who are also soldiers, were also apprehended, then later released. From the ABC News: [Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone] said there were "eyewitness accounts of more than one...

A New Grassroots Political Organization Makes Its Mark by Deal W. Hudson    11/06/09 The election results of November 2 were not merely the spontaneous reaction of Republicans to the bad economy and liberal excesses of the Obama administration. The four pro-life, conservative GOP candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were elected in a groundswell of religious and social conservatives, many of them independent voters who had voted for Obama only a year ago. A new grassroots organization played a major role in getting these voters to the polls -- the Faith & Freedom Coalition was founded by Ralph...

If we hadn't gotten inured to the relentless outpouring of "crazy" ideas from the extreme right, we would be forced to wonder what is going on - and what it means. By "crazy" I mean the birthers or those who see a fascist (or communist) take-over of the Federal Reserve Bank, or attempts to indoctrinate school children. In America, we have always had conspiracy theories and exaggerated suspicions of political or economic plots. Richard Hofstadter wrote "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" 45 years ago, but he was referring largely to fringe groups. Now, however, these paranoid ideas are mainstream,...