Free Republic

The embattled government trimmed income taxes for 22 million people on Tuesday, as soaring food and fuel bills sent inflation rocketing and dented hopes for more interest rate cuts soon. Higher household bills are creating a headache for increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the tax handout came after Labour came third in this month's local elections -- its worst post-war performance on record. "This family tax cut provides support this year for those on middle incomes at a time where they face increased bills," Chancellor Alistair Darling told parliament as he unveiled the surprise tax cuts. Ordinary tax...

Law: Attorneys suing a gun dealer on behalf of the city of New York want any references to the Second Amendment barred from the trial. Has our judicial system fallen down a rabbit hole and landed in Wonderland? It is a statement that, outside of fiction, we thought we'd never see: "Any references by counsel to the Second Amendment or analogous state constitutional provisions are likewise irrelevant." The line is from a legal brief filed by attorneys for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ahead of a May 27 federal trial in which they will try to prove that Adventure Outdoors,...

Dems, GOP together nix Murtha earmark By Susan Crabtree Posted: 05/12/08 06:52 PM [ET] Democrats and Republicans joined together to strip a pet project of Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) from the 2009 intelligence authorization bill — the same project Democrats defended last year. The Murtha earmark, $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), was one of a handful of pet projects eliminated from the bill in a lopsided 17-4 vote. Several Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee joined with Republicans to support the amendment, which was sponsored by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), the panel’s ranking Republican.

Our Progressive Generation? by: Bethany Stotts, May 13, 2008 Are young American voters becoming increasingly progressive? That’s what Campus Progress, a liberal activist group, is arguing in their newest study, “The Progressive Generation.” The reports’ authors, David Madland and Amanda Logan, base their analyses on the General Social Survey (GSS), the National Election Study (NES) and Pew Research Center data. Defining the “Millennial Generation” as Americans age 18-29, they conclude that this group: - believes the government should ensure them good jobs and fair wages (45%); - believes that the government should provide more services (61%); - is less likely...

The Senate has given critical approval to legislation to give all police, firefighters and other first responders the right to collective bargaining. The 69-29 procedural vote proves the bill would survive any possible filibuster attempt. The Senate will vote to send the bill to President Bush later this week. . . . Cabinet secretaries say they will suggest he veto the bill. . . .The bill would guarantee public safety officers the right to join unions and bargain over wages, hours and conditions of employment. It also would ban them from going on strike.

McCain Economic Plan Across America, families are facing economic challenges. Gas prices are rising, mortgages are threatened, and thousands have lost their jobs. Now is the time to act and John McCain has outlined several near-term, tangible plans to address some of the challenges confronting Americans today Helping Americans Confront Higher Living Costs: John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline And Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices. John McCain Believes We Should Institute A Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American...

It is unfortunate when major media discuss constitutional issues yet exhibit zero understanding of why we have a Constitution and what it means. The latest example is the cover story in USA Today on 12 May, 2008, entitled “Reagan's influence lives on in U.S. courts.” The general premise of the article is absolutely true. The influence of judges appointed by any President extends far beyond his term and often beyond his lifetime. However, the article gets lost in discussing why that’s so, and what it means. In 1,572 words about the interpretation of the Constitution, the article never even uses...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 05/13/2008 Pelosi: President Should Push OPEC for Increased Production, Abandon His ‘Drill and Veto’ Policies Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement prior to President Bush departing today on a five-day trip to the Middle East, including a stop in Saudi Arabia on Friday: "The White House has indicated that President Bush will push Saudi officials for OPEC to increase production in an effort to bring down prices for American consumers. As the largest oil producer and exporter, Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to influence the price...

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has an indicted, Syrian-born Chicago shyster named Tony Rezko for a financial mentor. He has a screwball, race-baiting, America-hating pastor named Jeremiah Wright for a spiritual mentor. He has an unrepentant domestic terrorist named William Ayers for a political mentor. And he has one of the angriest wives ever to aspire to the position of First Lady. Obama refuses to wear a flag lapel pin because he thinks it is more patriotic to criticize his country than to support it, or even to wear a symbol of its support. Obama thinks those of us out here...

PHOENIX: A human smuggler who caused the death of 10 illegal immigrants when he crashed a sport utility vehicle while fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents has been sentenced to life in federal prison. Adan Pineda Doval, 22, a Mexican citizen, was convicted by a Phoenix jury in October of 10 counts of transporting illegal immigrants causing death and two lesser charges. Pineda was driving a Chevrolet Suburban packed with 20 illegal immigrants outside Yuma, Arizona, on Aug. 7, 2006 when Border Patrol agents spotted him. He fled, ignoring pleas of the passengers to stop, then swerved to avoid a...

In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country’s poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even a name for these electoral soldiers of fortune: politiqueras. So when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against Senator Barack Obama, Ms. Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and...

How did a freshman nobody senator from Chicago, with little more on his résumé than a 20 year membership in an anti-American church of racism, derail the Clinton juggernaut to become the undeniable front-runner for the Democrat Party Presidential nomination? Who is funding Obama? - Who is voting for him and why? – What does he really believe in? - And why do Hillary Clinton supporters swear they will never support him in a general election? Is Obama an unstoppable locomotive or a train wreck barely clinging to its track? Answers to all of these questions exist. But do any...

The Texas megachurch pastor whose past comments about the Catholic Church have caused headaches for John McCain for over two months will issue an apology to Catholics later today, according a top Christian conservative. John Hagee, pastor of San Antonio's Cornerstone Church, will send a letter to Catholic League President William Donahue expressing "deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful." "After engaging in constructive dialouge with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved understanding of the Catholic Church, its relation to the Jewish faith, and the history of anti-Catholicism," Hagee wrote in a letter running...

WASHINGTON - The Senate has rejected a Republican energy plan that calls for opening an Alaska wildlife refuge and some offshore waters to oil development. Supporters of the measure couldn't get the needed 60 votes to overcome a Democratic-led filibuster threat. Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said more domestic oil production is needed to keep prices in check and to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. Opponents said areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and coastal waters that have been off limits to drilling for 25 years ought to remain that out of bounds to oil companies....

WASHINGTON -- Centuries before Iraq and Afghanistan, George Washington created the Purple Heart to honor troops wounded in combat. But with an increasing number of troops being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the modern military is debating an idea Gen. Washington never considered -- awarding one of the nation's top military citations to veterans with psychological wounds, not just physical ones. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered cautious support...

Democrats' Budget Agreement Assumes Bush Tax Cuts Will Expire By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press CNSNews.com May 13, 2008 Washington (AP) - Democrats controlling Congress are leaving grim decisions on automatic tax increases to the next president and the newly elected Congress under a freshly negotiated House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year. The fiscal 2009 budget plan worked out in private talks between House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt Jr., D-S.C., and his Senate counterpart, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., awards an approximately 4 percent increase on average to nondefense Cabinet budgets passed by Congress each year. But it makes no effort...

California has always been looked upon across this country and around the globe as the state that leads – in its diversity of communities, its beautiful coastline, its commitment to protecting the environment from the ravages of climate change, its world-renowned public universities and the innovation by its best and brightest minds. However, California's luster has tarnished, today boasting the highest gas prices in the nation, consumers paying top-dollar for groceries and being among the top five states in home foreclosures last year. As if this weren't enough, Californians are about to be sucker-punched again from the effects of an...

May 13, 2008, 0:30 a.m. McCain’s Assault on ReasonAnother Al Gore for president. By Roy Spencer John McCain’s global-warming speech on Monday made it clear that there will be no presidential candidate this year willing to question the assertion that global warming (a.k.a. “climate change�) is manmade, or the assertion that we can fix global warming by passing a few laws. Along with Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal to attack global warming now gives voters three choices for a car color — as long as it is black. Like Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal involves a “cap and trade�...

This is the story of educational romanticism in elementary and secondary schools —its rise, its etiology, and, we have reason to hope, its approaching demise. Educational romanticism consists of the belief that just about all children who are not doing well in school have the potential to do much better. Correlatively, educational romantics believe that the academic achievement of children is determined mainly by the opportunities they receive; that innate intellectual limits (if they exist at all) play a minor role; and that the current K-12 schools have huge room for improvement. Educational romanticism characterizes reformers of both Left and...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

Sen. John McCain's Portland-based global warming manifesto now puts all three presidential candidates -- and both major parties' leaders -- firmly in favor of aggressive cuts to greenhouse gases. McCain's goals, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, are less aggressive than those of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his potential Democratic opponents. But they're a quantum leap from the goals in his home state. Under Arizona's plan, the state's emissions would still be 35 percent above 1990 levels by 2020. And they're a bit tougher than the combined efforts of the Western Climate Initiative, a...

Under current law, the power to govern public employees and unions is left to the states, including rules for collective bargaining, Right to Work protections, etc. In 23 states, workers have the right to work even if they do not wish to join a union, which is, of course, as it should be. That could all change, however, if the so-called, “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007,” is enacted into law. The bill – which does anything but promote “employer-employee cooperation,” and actually would endanger “public safety” – has already passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 314-97...

GOP consultant Stephen Marks, on going negative against Obama: "Here's the problem, I've been doing negative politics all my life. ... But this is the first candidate that I've seen that nothing negative is sticking. And I'll tell you why. ... His white supporters, as you know, they're young people, and they are middle-class and upper-middle class wealthier white folks, and nothing appeals to them. They're getting something from Barack Obama that they've never gotten from any other candidate before. They're getting moral superiority, they're getting self-esteem. ... I'm serious."

FRED BARNES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": I think there are a couple of good reasons for not doing it now. One is Hillary Clinton still has this tiny chance of winning the nomination. It's 99 percent Obama's, but only 99 percent . . . HUME: . . . my question though is why even more of them haven't broken and gone over to him? KRAUTHAMMER: Because there is small chance that it could be Hillary Clinton. It is small but it exists. KRAUTHAMMER: . . . they want to see what's going to happen tomorrow night. If she wins...

Charges of racist and demonstrations by groups such as the anti-semitic Nation of Islam continue to harass local Marietta, Georgia bar owner Mike Norman over his Curious George Obama t-shirts. Norman claims he’s saying out loud what everyone else in town whispers while Rich Pellegrino, director of the Cobb-Cherokee Immigrant Alliance says it’s “time to put an end to this”. He says “there’s no place for these views, not in this day and age”. Politically CorrectJust what would Pellegrino be putting an end too? Norman’s right to Free Speech and to publicize his views? Would Pellegrino take the time to...

Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama. Here's the worst:...

Otis Moss, the man slated to become the new chief pastor at Barack Obama's Chicago church, subscribes to the ideology of retiring pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and is expected to continue Wright's legacy, according to Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black panther Party... Obama, however said this past weekened he will continue his membership in Trinity. He referred to Moss as "wonderful." "Well, you know, the new pastor - the young pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor. And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community," Obama told the New York...

I'm sure the Democrats are trying to convince people who voted in the Democrat Primary on March 11th that they can't vote Republican today. This is the general and you can vote for anyone on the ballot. Need to vote for Greg Davis (R) to keep the Dems from using another Democrat who is campaigning as a Conservative Travis Childers from adding to Pelosi's stable of reliable votes.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The outcome of West Virginia's primary Tuesday may best be foretold by where Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plan to spend the day. West Virginia appears to be a perfect demographic fit for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton is expected to be in Charleston, West Virginia, to celebrate what should be her large victory. Obama has no plans Tuesday night, but he is spending the late afternoon at a campaign event in Missouri. That state has already voted this primary season but is considered a swing state that Democrats and Republicans have in their sights this November....

Follow that fish -- threespine sticklebacks that were used in the experiments For animals that live in social groups, and that includes humans, blindly following a leader could place them in danger. To avoid this, animals have developed simple but effective behaviour to follow where at least a few of them dare to tread – rather than follow a single group member. This pattern of behaviour reduces the risk of imitating maverick behaviour of an individual as the group recognise that consensus is better than following someone that goes it alone. Love personal electronics? Link up with the like...

If Barack Obama gets his way, the Oxford English Dictionary will have updated its definition of "distraction" by the end of the campaign: "Diversion of the mind, attention, etc., from any object or course that tends to advance the political interests of Barack Obama." After his blowout win in North Carolina last week, Obama turned to framing the rules of the general election ahead, warning in his victory speech of "efforts to distract us." The chief distracter happens to be the man standing between Obama and the White House, John McCain, who will "use the very same playbook that his...

In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country’s poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even a name for these electoral soldiers of fortune: politiqueras. So when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against Senator Barack Obama, Ms. Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and...

WASHINGTON -- Now that the presidential contest is looking ever more like a two-man race, the country can't help but marvel: John McCain, once a longshot, wouldn't lie down. Barack Obama, the new kid, charmed voters. And Hillary Rodham Clinton, an early favorite, has yet to surrender. But Arlyn J. Imberman would say clues to the nomination fight were in plain sight, every time a candidate wrote a thank-you note, inscribed a memoir or autographed a pair of boxing gloves. "Obama is very much his writing -- fluid, graceful. McCain's is angular and intense; he's a pit bull. And look...

Douglas Feith, the former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, has embarked on that most difficult and worthy of voyages: to set the record straight on the run-up to the War in Iraq. Yesterday, his voyage brought him to the Daily Show, deep into the heart of uninformed territory...

Some people think that the reason the public misunderstands so many issues is that these issues are too "complex" for most voters. But is that really so? With all the commotion in the media and in politics about the high price of gasoline, is there really some terribly complex explanation? Is there anything complex about the fact that with two countries-- India and China-- having rapid economic growth, and with combined populations 8 times that of the United States, they are creating an increased demand for the world's oil supply? The problem is not that supply and demand is such...

WASHINGTON - Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama. Here's...

Plea Expected in Ring Tied to SpitzerBy WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and IAN URBINA Published: May 13, 2008 The woman accused of being the primary booker for the prostitution ring patronized by Eliot Spitzer is expected to plead guilty this week to charges related to her role in the ring, people involved in the matter said Monday. The woman, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, is expected to plead guilty in federal District Court in Manhattan to charges of money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit interstate travel in aid of racketeering, one of the people said. She would be the first of...

Asked during the question-and-answer period following his National Press Club speech on Monday [April 28, 2008] why he charged the U.S. Government with manufacturing the AIDS virus to kill black people, Barack Obama’s “former” pastor Jeremiah Wright cited a 1996 book by Leonard Horowitz, Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola. This rang a bell. I had exchanged correspondences with Horowitz several years ago because I caught him promoting an old Soviet disinformation theme that has been disavowed by former Soviet and KGB officials.

Barack Obama sported a flag lapel pin and talked up patriotism Monday as he campaigned in blue-collar West Virginia. He also shot a solid game of pool. The Illinois senator concedes he will lose Tuesday’s West Virginia primary to Hillary Rodham Clinton, probably by a wide margin. But the coal-mining state might be a good backdrop for some of his longer-range goals nonetheless, such as battling claims that he’s insufficiently patriotic and, more frivolously, that he’s lousy at sports beyond basketball. Clinton herself made four stops in West Virginia , hoping for a huge win that can sustain her waning...

Today's most widely accepted political belief is that because an unprecedentedly high percentage of Americans -- 81 percent -- believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the Republicans are headed for a major defeat this coming November. If this is the case, it can only be because the American voter translates "headed in the wrong direction" as "because the Republicans have had their way, so it's time to let the Democrats have theirs." That should not be the case. I count myself as one of the 81 percent who believes America is headed in the wrong direction, and...

Don't even think of a Democratic "dream ticket" that includes Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. There is too much animosity and bad political karma between the two contenders to make it work. Still, as he begins to turn his attention to plotting strategy for a national general election, Mr. Obama may be advised to seek a female running mate with the same appeal as Ms. Clinton. There are basic rules of thumb that can be applied to selecting a vice-presidential running mate, says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "The Veep should be disciplined, relatively...

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m getting a little tired of George Bush. Maybe it’s the cumulative effect of eight years of “Bush Derangement Syndrome” in the mainstream press. Maybe it’s the high gas prices, the stories of economic woe, the fear that anger over Bush’s mistakes might encourage people to vote for (God help us) Barack Obama. I don’t know what it is…but I’m just tired of the guy. It’s the same feeling I had back in 2000 with Clinton. It was hard enough looking at Clinton’s face during the 1990s: by 2000, I would turn the...

While Senator Clinton tries to prove that in counting delegates, 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2, the rest of us are already weighing the choice between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama. Obama has, however, learned a valuable Clinton trick from this protracted primary -- how to obliquely reference the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” to misdirect people’s attention away from glaring, personal deficiencies. During his victory speech in North Carolina on Tuesday night Obama said, “We know what’s coming…the same names and labels they (Republicans) pin on everyone who doesn’t agree with all of their ideas.” Actually, we have some new...

"His True Name Is Barak Hussein Muhammed Obama" No Muhammed or Mohammed in Obama’s name A chain e-mail that originates with a letter from American missionaries working in Kenya warns about Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to Kenya and its opposition party, encouraging readers “not to be taken in by those that are promoting him.” Among the many allegations is one about Obama’s name: “By the way. His true name is Barak Hussein Muhammed Obama. Won’t that sound sweet to our enemies as they swear him in on the Koran! God bless you.” The e-mail reads like a bad game of...

Behind-the-scenes negotiations are under way at the State Capitol to scuttle a proposal that would gradually eliminate the state income tax, lawmakers said Monday. As an alternative, the Jindal administration and the legislative leadership suggested a $302 million tax break, said state Sen. Buddy Shaw, R-Shreveport. The suggestion is identical to the way Shaw originally drafted Senate Bill 87 with one distinction. The alternative proposal is to phase in the tax break over two years beginning in 2009, a delay that Shaw opposes. Shaw said he does not want taxpayers to have to wait until 2010 — when they file...

I am writing to complain about an interruption of my privacy. Recently I sat down to watch "Saturday Night Live." I figured that after a long day of studying I might be able to lay back on my couch and laugh a little bit. There's just one problem: every 10 minutes, the show was interrupted by one of your grandstanding political ads. My free time was disturbed by your babbling about change and your claims about fixing Washington, D.C. A majority of my peers might accept intrusions of this nature, as they are captivated by you like toddlers listening to...

MIDI - COUNTRY ROADS

Officials from four labor unions that endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, say they will continue to lobby for her candidacy regardless of the daunting delegate math. One union is even hoping Clinton takes her battle against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, all the way to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in August. Rick Sloan, communications director for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers says the union is rallying its members to support Clinton in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oregon. "We're not slackening off at all -- this is full speed ahead for us," he says. "We deal...

As the Democratic nomination contest slouches toward a close, it's time to take stock of what I will not miss. I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan "Bros before Hos." The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton (the Ho) and they are widely sold on the Internet. I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won't miss television and newspaper stories that make light of the novelty...

You have to admit it takes guts. Audacity, even. Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee of the Democrats, has in essence just defeated the heiress of the Clinton era by campaigning as the heir-apparent of the Carter era. The question for the rest of the year is this: Are there enough voting Americans who survived the disastrous odyssey through the late 1970s that was led by blessedly now ex-president Jimmy Carter? While Ronald Reagan is rated in poll after poll by Americans as a great president, (most recently he rated second only to Lincoln), are there enough people who recall...