Free Republic

Nearly every professional woman has had the experience of saying something in a meeting, receiving no response, and then listening as a male colleague offers the same thought or suggestion minutes later to great acclaim. The first time it happens, she feels slightly foolish and is a little unsettled. Did I say that out loud or just in my head? Maybe he made the point better than I did. The second time it happens, she gets frustrated. The third time, she gets angry. Look at the senior women meeting with Obama in this White House photo at a dinner they...

(CNSNews.com) -- While a federal appeals court ruled today that the mandate in Obamacare requiring individuals to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed a question in 2009 about Congress' constitutional authority to impose such a mandate. At the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 22, 2009, CNSNews.com asked Leahy, “Where, in your opinion, does the Constitution give specific authority for Congress to give an individual mandate for health insurance?” Leahy said, "We have plenty of authority. Are you saying there is no authority? … Why would you say there is no authority?...

Obama says U.S. is still a AAA country Photo 2:12pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday blamed a downgrade in the United States' credit rating on political gridlock in Washington and said he would offer some recommendations on how to reduce federal deficits. Obama said in a White House appearance that he hopes the Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt to AA-plus from AAA will give lawmakers a new sense of urgency to tackle deficit spending and said he did not believe the reductions could be carried out with spending cuts alone.

"Washington, We Have a Problem," proclaims Vanity Fair magazine. In an eerie echo of the verdicts passed during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, namely that the presidency was "too big for one man," Vanity Fair now declares, "The evidence that Washington cannot function — that it's 'broken,' as Vice President Joe Biden has said — is all around." The Vanity Fair piece is a long apologia for President Obama's perceived ineffectiveness, and reflects — no surprise here — the Obama interpretation of events.

Political analysts are predicting a huge win for Republicans in November's congressional elections, but some Democrats believe they have a secret plan to stave off a crushing Republican landslide. That’s the analysis from Newsweek magazine’s Andrew Romano, who writes that “the Democrats in charge are actually rather confident about getting their fellow Dems elected this year. The reason? They have a plan — a plan that they believe will produce much better results on Election Day than anyone expects.” The first element of that plan is the return of Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe, who left politics after Obama’s...

What an amazing night for progressives! In Pennsylvania, progressive challenger Joe Sestak defeated Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter in the primary! In Arkansas, progressive challenger Bill Halter is neck-and-neck with corporate Democrat Blanche Lincoln and firmly advances to a run-off election in 3 weeks. Lincoln only has 43% in a Democratic primary (unbelievable!) -- voters want change, and Halter promised tonight to "finish the job" in the run-off. Can you chip in an emergency $3 to help Halter "finish the job" in the upcoming run-off? Click here! Thousands of PCCC members contributed time and money to Halter's campaign. PCCC members chipped in...

Hon. James David Manning says Barack Hussein Obama was a CIA operative who used Columbia University as a cover up to go to Pakistan in 1981 when the United States and the Taliban worked together against Russia. "I am James David Manning, Senior Pastor of the Atlah World Missionary Church in Harlem, New York. I am also the originator of the Columbia Obama trial scheduled for the 14th of May, year 2010. Due to the growing threatening circumstances surrounding this trial, I must now release the full transcript we wish to present, document and prove at the Columbia Obama trial...

I usually don't go anywhere near my leftist hubby's reading material. While he subscribes to Mother Jones and Newsweek, I buy National Review. His emails are from moveon.org; mine from Newt Gingrich. However, after being home for three days with a bad cold, I was desperate to read something new. So I reluctantly picked up one of his Harpers. I was pleasantly surprised that the magazine carried an article, The Mendacity of Hope, critiquing Obama's first year. The author, Roger D. Hodge, even confronts Obama on the hypocrisy of eliminating water boarding yet supporting torture in the form of overseas...

Whether President Obama is suffering from some form of a delusional break down from reality or is just in a state of denial is something a qualified psychologist will have to determine. The question some Americans are beginning to ask: Does President Obama have the mental stability or is he competent enough to remain as Commander In Chief during a time of war?

There's no point in the White House saying this, so it won't. But an official predicted to me the other day that Obama's numbers would hit 60 after the health care bill passes, and Chuck Schumer seems to think roughly the same thing: that the public polling on the Democratic reform bill will turn around "soon." When people see what is in this bill and when people see what it does, they will come around," Schumer said. "The reason people are negative is not the substance of the bill, but the fears that the opponents have laid out. When those...

The nation's hospitals agreed last night to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources. The agreement that three hospital associations reached with White House officials and leaders of the Senate Finance Committee is the latest in a series of side deals that aim to reduce the cost of revamping the nation's health-care system and to neutralize influential industries that have historically opposed such reforms... Most of the savings -- about $100 billion -- would come through lower-than-expected Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals, said...

In 2007, the federal budget deficit was $162 billion (1.2% of gross domestic product). For 2009, the budget deficit is projected to be 11 times larger: $1.752 trillion. This World War II-like deficit (12.3% of GDP) is not all on President Obama. Much of it is due to policies put in place by President Bush, Hank Paulson and last year's Congress. President Obama's "stimulus" bill will certainly raise the deficit, but, to be fair, it is not the predominant digger of this year's large fiscal hole. Nonetheless, contrary to the spin of big-government types, these deficits are not just temporary....

Well folks Britney Spears, the queen of comebacks has done it again. After the previous years' meltdown which lead to her being hospitalized twice at UCLA as well as her being placed under emergency guardianship, Britney Spears is back again like a boomerang. Already there is talks of a movie deal and perhaps another sleazy album. But the road back up has been long and hard and although she is now seeking treatment for "Bipolar" disorder, psychiatrists in charge of her care may be doing more to undermine her mental health than promote it. Britney Spears was incarcerated in UCLA's...

CAVUTO: Let me ask you. This comes at a time when there are all sorts of rumors in Washington that you and the president, though you started hitting it off — he had this dinner for you, I think, the night before inauguration, and then he was talking about how crucial your support was on the troop drawdown in Iraq — and then it seemed like the wheels kind of came off the goodwill wagon. What has happened here? MCCAIN: Neil, I am the loyal opposition.I work with the president, as I did on the Iraq issue. I will work...

Sarah Palin will be elected President in 2012, no matter what happens two weeks from now. She will, most likely, rise up when John McCain declines to run for re-election or, failing that, on her own as a direct candidate. PALIN 2012, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST .... As endorsed by the Dodger!

PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru. Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children's Hospital say this delusion was a "previously unreported phenomenon". "A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."

CHICAGO (AP) -- Perhaps no one took greater comfort in the Republican Party's third straight loss of a long-held House seat this week than Barack Obama, who says the results point to clear limits in the effectiveness of attack ads he expects this fall. The Democratic presidential candidate played a prominent role in all three special elections to fill vacant GOP seats, and he landed on the winning side each time. In recent contests in Louisiana and Mississippi, Republicans or their allies ran TV ads linking the Democratic House nominees to Obama, warning that a vote for them was a...

The new year is only a couple of weeks old. This is 2008 an election year, yet the MSM is already calling it over for several candidates. Among them Fred Thompson. Why are they calling for him to drop out? It's because of his message. The only candidate that does not seem to have special interest backers or a huge war chest. One that speaks more common sense then the others and is smarter than the others. Fred did not spend 2007 stomping the nation drumming up delegates. This is the reason the MSM and many so-called right/conservative pundits are...

Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter OK, so you’ve got a thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket and you want to make a statement with it at the same time as getting 40X return on your “investment”, you want $40,000 for that $1000 bet, like Hillary did in her Pig Belly futures or whatever it was. You’re going to decide between putting it down on Hunter or Thompson over at Intrade because these are the 2 most conservative candidates in the race. https://www.intrade.com/ Which one do you choose? Let’s start with the guy who has 3...

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) whose bid for the presidency in 2004 was damaged by attacks on his vaunted Vietnam War record by a group called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” says he is now ready to refute their allegations. “We have put together a powerful and irrefutable rebuttal to the scurrilous charges made against me by these right wing fanatics,” Kerry asserted. Kerry declined to disclose any of his reputedly irrefutable proof at this time saying that “the American people have not yet shown a sufficient measure of regret and contrition for voting against me. They disrespected me—a decorated veteran—and...