Free Republic

As conservatives from around Idaho prepare to rally Monday at a “Tea Party Convergence on the Capitol,” they have won the backing of the senior member of state’s congressional delegation, GOP Sen. Mike Crapo. -- SNIP -- Crapo said the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress “are simply not listening to the American people. This sad truth has spawned deep frustration around the country, among many Members of Congress like me, and, of course, the Tea Party movement.” Added Crapo: “The people of this movement come from every income level and background. They are in the majority in their opinions...

Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who marshaled health care reform through the Senate, has been accused in an anonymous Web posting of being drunk during a floor speech last week. Baucus denies the claim, and his spokesman says the story is a "smear" and a "slander" that never should have been picked up by other media. Idaho GOP Sens. Mike Crapo, a leading critic of the Baucus bill, and Jim Risch declined to comment on whether their colleague might have been drunk on Dec. 22, when he blasted GOP senators for not bargaining in good faith on a possible bipartisan...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   BATFE Reform Bill Introduced In U.S. Senate   Friday, May 01, 2009   Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced S. 941 --  the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act" -- on April 30.  Senator Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to which S. 941 has been referred. S. 941 represents the first time such BATFE Reform legislation has been introduced in the Senate.  However, the House passed similar legislation (H.R. 5092) in the 109th Congress by a 277-131 vote.  A majority...

LEWISTON, Idaho - Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick says gun owners don't need to worry about their gun rights being eroded in the current U.S. Congress. "There is no possibility there is going to be any gun control in this Congress," Minnick told the Lewiston Tribune. Minnick said he's one of 52 conservative "blue dog" Democrats in the House who oppose further gun control. "Nothing can pass in the House without some blue dog support," he said. "The support (for Second Amendment rights) goes far beyond the blue dogs. It's not just fiscally conservative Democrats. I would warrant it's a solid...

CRAPO: BUDGET INCREASES BOTH SPENDING AND TAXES Says bipartisan efforts needed for better path forward Contact: Susan Wheeler Thursday, February 26, 2009Washington, DC – Noting that President Barack Obama’s new budget proposals seek an increase in both federal spending and taxes, at a time when Idahoans are having to cut back on their family budget, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo called for new bipartisan efforts to find a path forward that will be better for the economy and taxpayers. Crapo, a member of both the Senate Budget and Finance Committees, said the Fiscal Year 2010 proposal would double the debt owed...

Legislation will protect families, charities and small businesses from regulations and lawsuits that could kill thousands of jobs. Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) announced the introduction of a bill protect small businesses, charities and families by reforming the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Senator DeMint’s legislation would stop the most overreaching and burdensome aspects of CPSIA, slated to take effect February 10. Unless reformed, the new law will demand onerous testing for anything geared towards children age 12 and under. This mandate would fall on books, toys, clothing, hair bands, board games, sporting equipment, backpacks,...

A national private property rights groups is urging its members to “deluge” Republican Sen. Mike Crapo’s office with calls and e-mails urging him to back off of the Senate bill that would protect wilderness and public land ranchers in Owyhee County. But Fred Grant, president of another national private property group and one of the leaders of the collaborative group that negotiated Crapo’s bill says the claims of the American Land Rights Association that Crapo has sold out private property rights “is not right or truthful.” The American Land Rights Association sent out an alert Monday urging its members to...

A push by Idaho’s two senators to point out that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws could keep President Bush’s pick to head that agency from being confirmed under the current administration. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, who has been the acting ATF director for more than two years. In that time, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has been consumed by that latest entry on his resume: acting chief of the ATF. The Republican has been balancing both...

October 2, 2008 Complex and complicated issues make for difficult votes; this was never more true than the vote in the U.S. Senate on H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. On October 1, 2008, I voted against the legislation for the very reason that I’ve publicly stated ever since Administration presented its initial proposal to Congress a little over a week ago: After exhaustive research and review of multiple analyses, I remain unconvinced that this legislation adequately protects taxpayers against as yet unknown financial losses. While it is indeed very true that we are facing a severe economic crisis...

Nearly half the Senate is pushing the Bush administration to let gun owners carry handguns and other firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges. Forty-seven lawmakers, including Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, have signed a letter asking Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to lift Reagan-era restrictions that prevent citizens from carrying readily accessible firearms onto lands managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In a letter drafted by Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, the senators say current regulations, developed in the early 1980s, quote, "infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners who...

Associated Press Idaho's senators are blocking President Bush's nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, the acting ATF director for more than a year. Crapo's spokesman, Lindsay Nothern, said the senator's office has heard from a number of gun dealers, gun owners and others in Idaho who "have concerns about ATF policies regarding gun sales and even (gun) ownership. Maybe the federal government is getting a little...

WASHINGTON -- After Congress recessed for Thanksgiving with urgent unfinished business that included facilitating income tax refunds and providing veterans benefits, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left on an eight-day government-financed trip through Latin America. Reid was scheduled to leave the Sunday after Thanksgiving and return the following Sunday. His itinerary included Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay. His staff told this column Reid made the trip because of "stagnant" U.S. policy in Latin America under the Bush administration. Although congressional recesses supposedly are "home work periods" enabling lawmakers to deal with constituents, many travel abroad on "codels" (congressional delegations)....

Microsoft "Argo" Pic (The iPod Competitor) Our hombres over at Engadget got their hands on a pic of one of the possible designs of the Microsoft Argo/iPod Rival. The display is 4:3 and not 16:9, unfortunately, and there seems to be a big wheel like button on the front along with a "back" and a "play/pause" button. We wonder if it's going to get slapped some more Xbox branding and loads of buttons as they get closer to the final design. This thing's too clean to be a Microsoft product! *wink* *wink* – Jason Chen

Article Last Updated: 7/29/2005 12:18 AM Artist, Provo at odds over washing machine statue Dangerous? The city made him take it down; he and his lawyer say it's a First Amendment issue By Todd Hollingshead The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune PROVO - A Provo man wants to take city officials to the cleaners over a 20-foot-tall religious sculpture he created by fusing together eight old washing machines. Artist Grant Alma Wolsey refuses to dismantle the 33-year-old yellow Maytag machines that lie in the parking lot of the All-Star Laundromat at 220 S. 700 East, saying the T-shaped sculpture...

...Justice O'Connor sounded the alarm against what she's termed "the increasing, and on many levels frightening, overlegalization of everyday life in our country today." The Supreme Court's first female justice is best known in tort circles for her long crusade to bring punitive damage awards under constitutional due-process scrutiny, a position for which she eventually assembled a majority that includes several of her liberal colleagues (though not conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas). Quoting a Ninth Circuit opinion, Justice O'Connor has expressed concern at the way demands for punitive damages can be "limited only by the ability of lawyers to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid suggested on Tuesday that four of his Republican colleagues be considered by President Bush if a vacancy occurs on the U.S. Supreme Court. Seeking a possible consensus nominee, Reid recommended Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Mike Crapo of Idaho. Reid described them all as bright and able lawyers who would be strong additions to the nation's highest court. "We have had approximately 10 members of the Supreme Court that came from the United States Senate over the years," Reid told...

Senators from both sides of the aisle competed on Monday to extol the humane treatment of detainees whom they said they saw on a weekend trip to the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. All said they opposed closing the center. "I feel very good" about the detainees' treatment, Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said. That feeling was also expressed by another Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska. On Monday, Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, said he learned while visiting Guantánamo that some detainees "even have air-conditioning and semiprivate showers." Another Republican, Senator Michael D. Crapo of Idaho, said...

DEMS SCORE A "FIRST" IN IDAHO. Candidate filing closed Friday in Idaho, and the result proved an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. For the first time in state history, the Democrats failed to file a candidate for US Senate. In fact, Senator Mike Crapo (R) appeared to win re-election without opposition when no one -- not even a third party candidate -- filed to oppose him. Former State Senator John Peavey (D) was going to oppose Crapo, but changed his mind at the last minute. When that happened, a Democratic Party aide rushed to the Capitol and tried to file...

By Associated Press November 14, 2003, 12:39 PM EST HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich -- Ever hear about creating a pen name out of your middle name and the street you live on? You wouldn't do it if you lived on Crapo Street. Although the Oakland County street is pronounced 'Kray-po', most people call say 'Krapp-o' and the embarrassment has been enough to prompt the residents to ask for a change.