Free Republic

WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - When the feds whack New York, you usually hear Chuck Schumer lead the outrage. But on health care, he's been practically mute about some mighty hits headed our way. Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson both slammed the Senate bill Monday, charging it would cost the city more than $500 million and rip a $1 billion-a-year hole in the state budget. Schumer, a veteran streetfighter for federal cash, has been suddenly recast as a defender of Washington - and a deal he helped cut that shafts New York. "He's being uncharacteristically quiet in part because the numbers...

The internal threat from Muslim extremists in the military extends to high-level Defense Department aides who have undermined military policy. In fact, one top Muslim adviser pushed out an intelligence analyst who warned of the sudden jihad syndrome that led to the Fort Hood terrorist attack. An honored guest of the Ramadan dinner at the Pentagon this September was Hesham Islam, who infiltrated the highest echelons of the Ring despite proven ties to U.S. terror front groups and a shady past in his native Egypt. As senior adviser for international affairs to former deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, Islam ran...

Detroit's (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the nation and it takes some doing to be worse than Washington, D.C. Only 3 percent of Detroit's fourth-graders scored proficient on the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, sometimes called "The Nation's Report Card." Twenty-eight percent scored basic and 69 percent below basic. "Below basic" is the NAEP category when students are unable to demonstrate even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level. It's the same story for Detroit's eighth-graders. Four percent scored proficient, 18 percent basic and 77 percent...

All details and information, including info on buses and hotels, will be found on the primary planning hub at http://www.TaxDayTeaParty.com

An American Airlines plane crashed and broke in two after landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to local reports. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Details were not immediately available, however, passengers on the plane told local media that flight 331 had just arrived from Miami in pouring rain when the accident occurred. The flight apparently originated in Washington, D.C.

The White House has named yet another unaccountable appointee to oversee information technology. We already have shady Vivek Kundra as Federal Chief Information Officer. Then we have Aneesh Chopra as US Chief Technology Officer. Now, meet the new Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt. Which one of them will protect us from White House snoops sifting through Facebook and Twitter and the next Internet Snitch Brigades?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Times says it will publish its last Sunday edition this weekend. The newspaper made the announcement Monday, saying it will produce Monday through Friday editions that focus on its "distinctive news and opinion content." The new print edition will be sold for $1 at retail outlets and newspaper boxes in the Washington area. The current weekday edition is 50 cents and Sunday's paper costs $1.

Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are OPEN under an UNSCHEDULED LEAVE policy. This Means . . . Employees who cannot report for work may request unscheduled leave for their entire scheduled workday. Employees must notify their supervisors of their intent to take unscheduled leave. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The federal government was closed Monday after a record-breaking snowstorm swept across the northeastern United States and put a damper on one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Just days before Christmas, the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to New England was digging out from the worst blizzard in years, which closed train and bus service, paralyzed air traffic, crippled motorists and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power in some areas. Americans pining for a white Christmas got more than they bargained for, with local officials urging residents to hunker down indoors as...

A group called Americans for Prosperity in Nebraska gathered a crowd for a rally in Omaha to press Sen. Nelson on the reform bill. Anger over senator Ben Nelson's support of health care reform. Nearly 2,000 people rally in Omaha, hoping he's listening. The group's message is two fold -- reconsider your vote Senator Nelson and remember your decision when elections roll around. With their signs in hand, Nebraskans filled Omaha's Music Hall, rallying against the senate health care bill and Sen. Nelson's support for it. "I think that's why we're all here. To get him to listen to us,"...

The Washington Post reports that yesterday’s record snowfall resulted in an impromptu mass snowball fight in downtown Washington DC. While some may have been celebrating an upcoming white Christmas, it appears that the Metropolitan Police Department may have already received the best from Santa. A plainclothes detective was stopped at the intersection when his burgundy Hummer (a $40k+ vehicle) was hit with snowballs. Video shows him get out of his stylish ride and draw his service sidearm. He then drops his comm unit and bends to pick it up out of the snowy street, all while holding his handgun pointed...

“Arrested Americans show no remorse about their terror plans” PTI Monday, December 21, 2009 14:44 IST SNIPPET: “Lahore: Five American Muslim youth arrested by Pakistani authorities on suspicion of terror links have shown no remorse about their plans to commit terrorist acts and one has even said they should be hanged so that they could become martyrs, a senior police official said today.” SNIPPET: “Zamzam, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24, were arrested in Sargodha, located 200km from Islamabad, on charges of planning terror attacks in Pakistan and abroad.” SNIPPET:...

Deep in Health Bill, Very Specific Beneficiaries ROBERT PEAR December 20, 2009 WASHINGTON — Buried in the deal-clinching health care package that Senate Democrats unveiled over the weekend is an inconspicuous proposal expanding Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards.” The intended beneficiaries are identified in a cryptic, mysterious way: individuals exposed to environmental health hazards recognized as a public health emergency in a declaration issued by the federal government on June 17, 2009. And who might those individuals be? It turns out they are people exposed to asbestos from a vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont. For a...

Walter Reed, Week 244, 12/18/09 T’was the Friday Before Christmas Santa Arrives at Walter Reed FRONT GATE NOTES T’was the Friday Before Christmas and Santa joined the DC Chapter in Supporting the Troops and their Families.This past Friday night saw the beginning of what the lame stream media is now calling the great Blizzard of ’09. It began during our Support the Troops Friday night rally and ended early Sunday morning leaving 21 inches on the ground. But it didn’t scare the DC Chapter of Free Republic away from its 244th consecutive Friday night at the front gates of Walter...

Subject: DO NOT GIVE UP! Senate Watch TONIGHT with NATIONWIDE Virtual Vigil Greetings Patriots,It is five days before Christmas and it looks as if the Scrooges in DC aren't packing it up and going home.  Instead, they have decided to call Ba-humbug and pass this legislation that 61% of Americans do not support.  This past week, even Howard Dean came out and said it was not good for this country because it is a bailout for big insurance companies.  On Thursday, MoveOn.org sent a message to their members that they do not want the legislation passed either and that...

Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED.

Well, as it turns out, Washington DC residents know exactly how much of a joke 911 is in their own town, after a cop. Pulled a gun. On kids. Throwing snowballs. Yeah, and they're reading this cop the riot act.

According to an eyewitness, a D.C. Police detective went nuts after kids pelted his Hummer with snowballs at 14th and U streets NW this afternoon. The cop got out of his car and started waving his gun around. He did not immediately identify himself as a police officer. He calmed down once his fellow police arrived. Apparently, someone called 911 to report a man with gun. The snowball fight had been well hyped on Twitter. The news of the incident first broke there. We caught up with an eyewitness moments ago. Photos and video to come.

A major winter storm was moving up the Atlantic Coast on Friday night, with forecasters expecting accumulations of one to two feet of snow in some areas by Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service. President Obama returned from Copenhagen early Saturday, landing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland amid a major winter storm. Winter storm warnings were in effect from Tennessee and North Carolina to the southern New England states, and the storm was expected to affect Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities. A blizzard warning was in effect for Long Island. The National Weather Service said...

Yesterday a friend and I were discussing the fact that President Obama allowed the public funding of abortions in Washington DC, and what our response should be. My friend suggested that instead of an all out refusal to pay taxes, and instead of individuals doing this on their own - which the IRS would salivate over - he suggested a massive tax protest held over a certain period of time. If the signers of the Manhattan Declaration are serious about refusing to pay taxes over the public funding of abortion via health care legislation, let me say there is no...

D.C. mayor signs same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation Unitarian Universalist pastor Rob Hardies poses for a picture with Mayor Adrian Fenty. Credit: All Souls Church. Washington D.C., Dec 19, 2009 / 06:57 am (CNA).- Mayor Adrian Fenty of Washington, D.C., has signed a measure recognizing same-sex “marriage” in the District. The law has been criticized for redefining marriage and also for its lack of strong religious freedom protections for those who do not approve of such unions.Fenty signed the measure at the Unitarian Universalist All Souls Church in the northwest part of the District.In his remarks at the signing, provided to CNA...

The stars have aligned about as perfectly as they can for D.C. area snow lovers. No rain/snow line, probably little to no sleet, and no last-second wobble in the storm track. Snow is falling, already accumulating and making roads treacherous, and confidence is high that it will fall fast and furiously through much or most of tomorrow. Some parts of the metro area will very likely pick up close to or even more than two feet of snow before all is said and done. This storm will almost certainly break local December snow records, and could very well rank with...

...the 18½ foot Douglas fir in the Blue Room – is decorated with recycled ornaments that Mrs. Obama's team dug out of the warehouse where old White House decorations are stored. "We took about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations, we sent them to 60 local community groups throughout the country, and asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House," said Mrs. Obama.

A major storm was expected to bury the Washington region Saturday with what forecasters said could be the largest snowfall to hit the area in six years and the greatest December accumulation in more than 70 years. Accumulations of 15 inches or more in the city and up to 24 inches in parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains were possible, according to the National Weather Service. The snow was expected to cause significant disruptions for shoppers, travelers and revelers on the last weekend -- and biggest shopping day -- before Christmas. Especially large amounts of snow could accumulate southeast of...

Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency Friday as a winter storm expected to pummel the East Coast this weekend began dumping snow in Virginia and North Carolina. The storm is forecast to blast a narrow corridor from Richmond, Virginia, to Fredericksville, Pennsylvania, leaving interstates 95, 81, 64 and possibly 80 covered in significant snow, CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers said.Meyers said areas like Charlottesville, Virginia, may rake in some of the highest snowfall accumulations, depending on how quickly the storm moves and whether it remains on course. In Lenoir and Caldwell counties in North Carolina, especially heavy snow was causing...

Copenhagen (CNN) – In a strange twist, a Washington snowstorm is forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to make an early departure from a global warming summit here in Denmark. Pelosi told CNN that military officials leading her Congressional delegation have urged the 21 lawmakers to leave Copenhagen several hours earlier than scheduled on Saturday.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 AM EST SUNDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT. * PRECIP TYPE... SNOW. * ACCUMULATIONS... HEAVY SNOW WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES THROUGH SUNSET SATURDAY. LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE... MAINLY IN OR NEAR SOUTHERN MARYLAND. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED SATURDAY NIGHT. * TIMING... SNOW WILL BEGIN LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. * TEMPERATURES... UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S THROUGH THE EVENT IN THE BALTIMORE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA......

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty will sign legislation Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in the District at a bill-signing ceremony so historic that his staff scrambled to find the perfect location Thursday. Would it be All Souls Unitarian Church, a Northwest house of worship known for its diversity, liberalism and welcoming of same-sex couples? Would it be Covenant Baptist Church, a predominantly black church in Southwest where husband-and-wife team of Dennis and Christine Wiley serve as co-pastors and support gay marriage? Or would it be a secular site? Late in the day, Katie Loughary, executive director at All Souls, said it...

...The protest, dubbed "Code Red" due to the urgency of stopping health-reform legislation, may not have been their biggest. But if you looked closely, there were signs that the group—or, in this case, a motley collection of groups called High Noon For Healthcare—is gaining steam. For one thing, Republicans are increasingly trying to associate themselves with the movement. For another, more Democrats seem willing to hear them out. The most prominent politician to speak at the first official D.C. tea party on April 15 was Alan Keyes. Glenn Beck's 9/12 protest featured a smattering of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Tom...

WASHINGTON – The estimated time when whites will no longer make up the majority of Americans has been pushed back eight years — to 2050 — because the recession and stricter immigration policies have slowed the flow of foreigners into the U.S. Census Bureau figures released Wednesday update last year's prediction that white children would become a minority in 2023 and the overall white population would follow in 2042. The earlier estimate did not take into account a drop in the number of people moving into the U.S. because of the economic crisis and the immigration policies imposed after the...

Trust funds that support Medicare and Social Security have eroded due to the recession and will run out of money earlier than expected, government officials say. Medicare, the government health care program for seniors, is projected to run out of money in 2017, two years earlier than previously predicted, according to the 2009 annual report by program trustees. Social Security, the government assistance program for seniors and the disabled, is projected to become insolvent by 2037, four years earlier than trustees predicted a year ago.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2009 – Despite a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan that entails sending 30,000 additional American forces, the more important operation for the Marine Corps is Iraq, the service’s top officer said today. Gen. James Conway, the Marine commandant who returned recently from visiting troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, called the Afghan mission more dangerous but less vital than Iraq. “What I told the troops in Iraq is that the most dangerous thing that our corps is doing today is happening in Afghanistan,” he told Pentagon reporters. “The most important thing we're doing today is happening in Iraq....

With Congress phasing out the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, D.C. parents and students are looking to President Obama/administration to step in and save the federal initiative, which has given hope for a brighter future to thousands of families. However, Mr. Obama has been silent on the issue.... Asked ...why he didn't support the Opportunity Scholarship Program -- given that the Department of Education's own evaluation found it was benefiting participating students. Duncan explained that he was focusing on reforms to turn around the entire public school system, not just save a few children: "As a country, we like to save...

The SEIU needs more dues-paying members. The open-borders lobby needs something to do. Voila! Meet the new illegal alien shamnesty push ... The bill would torpedo the joint federal-local deportation program known as 287(g) and opposes beefing up our land borders with more Border Patrol agents or fencing. SEIU has been lobbying for illegal alien amnesty as a massive membership booster all year. In May, the Purple Shirts held a pro-illegal immigration rally from Malcolm X Park to the White House to put pressure on homeland security officials to call off workplace raids (not that Janet Napolitano needed any convincing):

The Washington City Council voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in the nation's capital. The bill will be given to Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has expressed his support and vowed to sign the bill. If the mayor signs it, Congress will have 30 days to intervene before it would take effect. It is considered unlikely that the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill will block the bill Tuesday's second vote was needed to send the measure to Fenty. The council passed the bill in an 11-2 vote December 1. If the measure becomes law, Washington will join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and...

The D.C. Council on Tuesday passed a same-sex marriage bill on a final vote of 11-2, prompting public witnesses in the Council chambers to erupt into cheers and extended applause. D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray allowed the applause for several seconds, then banged his gavel as the noise subsided and reminded the crowd that demonstrations are not allowed in the chambers. He chuckled as the crowd laughed in response. The bill, which could be signed by the mayor as early as tonight, must go to Congress for a review period of 30 legislative days before it becomes law. "Today...

WASHINGTON — Washington D.C.'s City Council has voted to legalize gay marriage in the nation's capital. Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign the bill, which was co-sponsored by 10 of the council's 13 members. The final vote Tuesday was 11-2. The bill now goes to Congress, which has final say over the district's laws. Opponents say they'll try to get Congress or voters to overturn it. Passage of the bill is a victory for gay marriage supporters, who have been dealt a recent string of defeats... Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. New Hampshire will...

Last week's federal report card on math achievement was a welcome piece of good news for D.C. public schools. Although the District still lags far behind the country's top-performing systems, the report card showed fourth- and eighth-graders making strides at a faster pace over the past two years than cities including Atlanta, Chicago and New York. But what remains embedded in the latest numbers from the National Assessment of Educational Progress is the persistent achievement gap between African American and white students both locally and nationally. The average scores of white D.C. fourth-graders over the past two years grew from...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says the White House gate-crashers got in through a "screw-up," he's unhappy with everyone involved and it won't happen again. "What I know is what everybody knows, which is that these people should not have gotten through the gate," Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview airing Sunday night. "I was unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process," Obama said in the interview. "And so, it was a screw-up."

Congress opens door to medical marijuana in D.C. By: Gabriel Beltrone December 13, 2009 05:36 PM EST The Senate passed legislation Sunday that opens the door to the District of Columbia legalizing medical marijuana after over a decade of Congress blocking the issue through budget restrictions. Nestled in the $447 billion omnibus spending bill approved Sunday by a vote of 57-35 is language that frees up Washington D.C. to use local money to implement a medical marijuana measure approved in a referendum by nearly 70 percent of voters in 1998, resurrecting an effort that has been stalled since Congress imposed...

Congress appears likely to keep the D.C. voucher program closed to new students but open to current ones, curtailing the hopes of advocates who had pressed for a full revival of the controversial program. The news is buried deep within a thousand-page omnibus spending bill released Monday by a joint conference of House and Senate Appropriations Committee members. The proposal allocates $13.2 million to vouchers and would tighten accountability measures for schools that participate in the program, which provides low-income D.C. students with up to $7,500 to attend private schools. Bringing further upheaval to the program, the Washington Scholarship Fund,...

Hundreds of protesters have gathered near the White House to try and start a new anti-war movement. Saturday's demonstration closely follows President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech, in which he said war is sometimes needed to establish lasting peace. Demonstrators in Washington opposed this view, as well as the president's request for 30,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan. "Make it personal, make it personal, because killing is personal. It's immoral. It's personal," chanted protesters. Former Democratic Alaska Senator and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Gravel led protesters in anti-war chants, while calling for a mass movement to help end U.S. wars...

In 1979, Robert Bartley's editorial writing at the Wall Street Journal not only garnered a Pulitzer Prize, but also exposed a pernicious threat to free enterprise. In a piece titled "Down With Big Business," which focused on how General Motors was using its muscle and government connections to squeeze out competitors, Bartley concludes we ought not rely on big business to defend free markets. It's up to the American people--innovators and entrepreneurs, small business owners, Bartley's "XYZ Bumperlight Lens Company"--to take a stand. Thirty years later, this crony capitalism is back with a vengeance, accelerated by an aggressive program by...

House Approves Bill That Funds Abortions in Nation's Capital Washington, DC -- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an omnibus spending bill that would overturn a decades-long policy preventing taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation's capital. One pro-life group suggests overturning the policy could increase abortions by as much as 1,000 a year. The Senate will vote on this bill as soon as this weekend! Full story and action alert at: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5762.html

Even as federal employees' salaries are growing robustly, the president's pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has imposed new limits on executive compensation at AIG, Citigroup, General Motors, and GMAC, all recipients of government bailouts. Salaries will be limited to $500,000 in cash, and bonuses will be tied to "real achievement of objective goals." Chris Edwards at CATO—who has done quite a lot of independent analysis of federal pay—puts this story in context and adds some juicy details from his own data. Most remarkably, there are fully 383,000 federal workers earning six-figure salaries and 22,000 earning salaries of over $170,000. And these...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. House Democrats, without a single Republican vote, passed a $447 billion appropriations bill Thursday to fund several government agencies next fiscal year. The House approved the conference committee report on a 221-202 vote, over GOP concerns about spending increases. Senate Democrats and Republicans were at odds over when to vote on the conference report that combines six of the seven remaining 2010 appropriations bills.

The county still has no approved Nativity scene or Christmas tree, more than a week after Loudoun's Board of Supervisors reversed a committee's decision to ban public displays. The supervisors will probably change that at a special meeting Thursday by ironing out details about who can set up displays...The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the school administration building in Ashburn, an hour before a scheduled public input session on the budget. On Dec. 1, supervisors voted, 7 to 1, to allow community groups "equal access" to the grounds. A decision last month to bar any structures, religious or...

D.C. officials Wednesday said they would proceed cautiously if Congress lifts a federal roadblock to implementing a voter initiative approved more than a decade ago that called for legalizing medical marijuana. Congress is poised to pass an omnibus spending bill that will not include a rider known as the Barr Amendment, which has blocked the District from legalizing medical marijuana. The Barr Amendment has banned the city from funding legalization efforts since 1998, when 69 percent of voters cast ballots approving the use of medical marijuana in the District. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray called the removal of the ban...

Rep. Grayson tells Cheney to 'STFU' By Eric Zimmermann - 12/09/09 06:02 PM ET Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) has done it again. Appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball" Wednesday night, the Florida Democrats used a colorful acronym to respond to Dick Cheney's criticisms of President Obama. "You know, on the internet there's an acronym that's used to apply to situations like this. It's called 'STFU.' I don't think I can say that on the air, but I think you know what that means," Grayson said. That acronym is short for "Shut the f**k up." Last night, Cheney had lashed out at President...

<p>Laura Ingraham supports this Rally so hope that is good enough for everyone. The Tea Parties are also on board.</p>