Free Republic

Howard University student to Sen. Rand Paul: ".... You say you want to provide a government that leaves us alone. Quite frankly, I don’t want that. I want a government that is going to help me. I want a government that is going to help me fund my college education. I want a government that won’t define me by my FAFSA or by my family’s income. I’m a dollar sign with a heartbeat in this nation. This society is a mirror image of Capitol Hill. Do you, Senator Rand Paul, have a solution to come up with new American values...

I received a comment the other day from "Beechgirl1953." It was a very powerful comment, a testament to what CAN be accomplished without the government. (Note: I edited the comment.) "Back in the 60s, when I was divorced, had two young children to support, house and car payments, and all the other usual expenses, I put myself through college working three part-time jobs. I got NO assistance of any kind. I also managed to stay on the Dean's list throughout with a 3.8 average. You can imagine how I feel about all the government entitlements the 'do nothings' get today.......

No wonder it's taking so long for Barack Obama to send his budget proposal to Congress. The budget is almost two months overdue, but Republicans may find it worth the wait. The Washington Post reports that Obama will offer cuts to Social Security in exchange for tax hikes to close the deficit --- in effect, the grand bargain he and John Boehner nearly made two years ago: President Obama will release a budget next week that proposes significant cuts to Medicare and Social Security and fewer tax hikes than in the past, a conciliatory approach that he hopes will convince...

I've seen this photo on my Facebook news feed with no text, which is fine because thinking people know how idiotic this sign is.The problem is there's more of them than there are of us, so it's good to see it modified to educate. From Super Conservative.

President Obama's openness to Social Security cuts as part of a sweeping budget package has put Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a tough spot. The minority leader is straddling the gulf between a Democratic president who's been willing to shrink pay hikes under the popular retirement program for the sake of a bipartisan deficit deal, and numerous liberals in her caucus who are fighting tooth-and-nail to prevent that change. The issue has left Pelosi with at least three balls in the air. First, she wants to keep a united front in the high-stakes budget battle with Obama, who has backed...

So I go in for an interview, everything is going good. It was for an IT help desk in an office. The interviewer asks me a lot of questions, and asks do you smoke? I said yes. She immediately says, I can't give you the job then. This is in Oregon. I looked up laws and there is a statute where companies cannot use smoking as a consideration when hiring, they can only ban smoking at work. Any advice would be great. Thanks! Ooops, almost forgot. Long time Lurker, looking to meet some new FRiends.

Democrats in Washington declare that they will absolutely, positively allow no changes whatever in the nation’s unsustainable entitlement programs — Social Security and Medicare. But out in the states, politicians of both parties aren’t averting their gaze from impending fiscal crises. They are working to change policies that have put state governments on an unsustainable trajectory. The most obvious example was the passage of a right-to-work law last week in Michigan, the birthplace of the United Auto Workers union. Passage of the law was retaliation for an attempted power grab by both the UAW and public-sector unions — Proposition 2,...

While we meddle on the margins and stay safely ballparks away from anything that might actually tackle our deficit and debt problems: The Government Accountability Office warned in a report Monday that if cuts are not made to mandatory spending — including Social Security and Medicare — there will be a fundamental gap between spending and revenue as more baby boomers retire.“Significant actions to change the long-term fiscal path must be taken,” the GAO warned. Strangely, the Government Accountability Office does not headline this report with the $800 billion we can raise over 10 years from tax hikes on those...

When Monti Price arrived for work at the Hope Center in Woodstock Wednesday morning, she was struck by what she did not see. “I noticed a big empty space in our parking lot where our trailer used to be,” she said. Inside that trailer, five brand new cribs intended for needy mothers like Angela, who earned them by attending parenting classes. Angela arrived at the ministry for pregnant women and new mothers on Thursday afternoon, hoping to pick up the crib for her three-month old son, David. “Just to find out this,” she said, shaking her head in sad surprise,...

Dr Wayne Dyer describes people as eagles and ducks. With a majority of Americans voting to give the undeserving Obama a second term, I felt like the odd-man-out voting against him. It occurred to me that I have a history of being odd-man-out, not in sync with the thinking of my family and friends. When I was in junior high school, my dad acknowledged my artistic talent and encouraged me to pursue a career in that field. Dad said, “You could be a great black artist someday.” While I appreciated Dad's support, I thought, “ Why can't I simply be...

<p>Hurricane Sandy brought out the worst yesterday in some sleazy New Yorkers, who looted stores and homes across the city.</p> <p>Some posed as Con Ed workers to dupe their victims.</p> <p>Police arrested more than a dozen looters in the Rockaways and Coney Island, which had been evacuated, and stood guard outside ravaged stores at the South Street Seaport. “This morning when they told us the water receded, I walked back to the house to feed [my pets],” said Eric Martine, 33, a cabby who lives in Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach. “Guys were looting, pretending they were Con Ed and holding people up. It was sick.” Residents said police warned them to beware of crooks pretending to be utility workers...</p>

It's all anecdotal at this point, but if crime reports following hurricanes Katrina and Irene are any indication, the East Coast is in for a crime wave, post-Sandy. No reports of looting or Hurricane Sandy-related crimes have been reported yet but that doesn't mean we won't see some soon. Following Hurricane Katrina, the most devastating hurricane in modern memory, New Orleans was besieged with reports of looting, rape, and murder, causing delayed troop deployments, delayed medical evacuations, and police department mutiny, The New York Times reported in 2005....(excerpt)

Putting Paul Ryan on the GOP ticket ensured that the presidential campaign would focus some attention on Medicare's fiscal challenges. But that debate barely touches the scope or depth of the entitlement challenges facing the U.S. economy. The fiscal cliff coming at the end of the year pales vs. the entitlement cliff forced on us by a multitude of entitlement programs that we can't afford. Most people think of entitlement programs as Social Security and Medicare for seniors, Medicaid and perhaps some other means-tested welfare programs. But there are many more: veteran benefits, unemployment, the children's health insurance program, disability...

Amanda Clayton made the news last fall for winning $1 million in Michigan’s ‘Make Me Rich’ lottery game. The reason she made the news was that even after winning the lottery she continued to receive public assistance. Now Clayton is back in the news after she was found dead this past weekend in a Detroit suburb. Clayton, 25, was at home with her daughter in Ecorse when she died of an apparent drug overdose. “Her daughter was right next to her sleeping. They were watching a movie together. She started crying, and that’s when Rachel walked in and she tried...

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got into trouble this week for a leaked video of his remarks at a private fundraiser, where he indicted (and wrote off electorally) roughly half the country as government dependents subsisting on entitlements. The video prompted a hue and cry from media observers that Romney has (once again) blown the election. Their judgments are mitigated slightly by their multiple previous claims that Romney had already said something to blow the election. But the politics of Romney’s remarks may not be as bad as many in the media suggest. Here’s the portion of Romney’s statement that...

Mitt Sees the Emperor Without His Clothes. Will the Rest of America Listen? There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing ... Mitt Romney In our relatively short 200+ year history, America has experienced a handful of watershed events. The Civil War was probably chief among them,...

Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of buying votes by promising FREE STUFF to potential voters according to the dictate of Karl Marx: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." This has led to a Polarized America. This polarization has increased as the number of those with ability has decreased and the number of those with needs has increased. Romney is correct that 47 % of voters pay no Personal Federal Income Tax. Romney is probably correct that these same 47 % will vote for Obama no matter what. The Liberal Agenda Media, (LAM), supports...

'I wouldn't do all this nonsense  if the government gave us more money' Hopenchange + Don King = this? There's clearly something wrong with 82-y.o. klepto/Angelino Doris Thompson: first off, she's got a 20-page criminal record dating back to the Eisenhower era, primarily due to the fact that nothing else seems to interest her nearly as much as stealing money. Alas -since she's not particularly clever- Thompson displays a consistent propensity to get caught. She also seems to be missing the guilt chromosome, and mistakenly believes -like so many other losers these days- that the world owes her a living. The...

(Just Asking) Is the entitlement class the oligarch and puppet master of an unsuspecting and diverse liberal plutocracy? Is the entitlement class the ultimate oligarch and puppet master of an unsuspecting and diverse liberal plutocracy manipulated into providing free cable TV, free money, cheap illegal drugs and politically connected corporately produced Scooby Snacks? Or does something else drive the entitled where they are going? Most economists say there is but one variable to the economic equation of the United States: the three letter word “jobs”. Without jobs we are without the gluttonous want that needs to be taxed to keep...

PENN HILLS, Pa. — Police said a 14-year-old stole a car on Sunday then led officers on a chase that ended in a crash on a Parkway East ramp. . . Channel 11's Dave Bondy spoke to the mother of the 14-year-old accused of stealing the car. She said what her son did was wrong, but the owner of the car made it too easy for her car to be stolen. "My son was wrong for taking that vehicle but someone jumped out of their car and a 14-year-old seen the opportunity to take the car. He didn't break the...

On the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk harbor, a coatless Mitt Romney named a tieless Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee. Romney's choice was not much of a surprise after he told NBC's Chuck Todd on Thursday that he wanted someone with a "vision for the country, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country. I mean, I happen to believe this is a defining election for America, that we're going to be voting for what kind of America we're going to have." This arguably describes some of the others mentioned as possible nominees, but...

We, the liberals of the United States, clearly knowing what’s best for you, have declared that the following rights to be indisputable for a truly progressive and enlightened society. These rights shall be implemented immediately, without argument or qualification, to ensure that America will be a better place for US to live in. So, we present to you – Your Liberal Bill of Rights.

'I deserved it' Shocking it is that millions of handout-junkies could be so shameless, even contemptuous while sponging off you their whole sad life... alas, it seems they learned it from their 'progressive' masters- such as with Michelle Obama and her permanent vacation... Both then go to great lengths to defend each other's privilege and benefits while vilifying those who are forced to underwrite it all, perfect example being the recent case of disgraced Washington DC City Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., forced to resign in January when faced with federal charges for theft and filing of false tax returns- the first such resignation in DC Council...

A convenience store clerk who was fired recently for refusing to sell cigarettes to a customer trying to pay for them with state welfare benefits has been fired, but her story has gained traction in local and national media. According to press reports, Jackie Whiton was working at a C.N. Brown Big Apple convenience store recently when a man in his 20s attempted to purchase cigarettes using an electronic benefit transfer card, which is issued to families in New Hampshire and Maine who are on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF program. Whiton, a six-year employee of the...

More than one in seven Americans are on food stamps, but the federal government wants even more people to sign up for the safety net program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been running radio ads for the past four months encouraging those eligible to enroll. The campaign is targeted at the elderly, working poor, the unemployed and Hispanics. The department is spending between $2.5 million and $3 million on paid spots, and free public service announcements are also airing. The campaign can be heard in California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and the New York metro area. "Research...

We’d been hearing good things over the weekend about Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, Jr.’s faculty speech to the Class of 2012 last Friday. Here it is, in its entirety, courtesy of Mr. McCullough: Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you. So here we are… commencement… life’s great forward-looking ceremony. (And don’t say, “What about weddings?” Weddings are...

......I've often thought that God has a particularly acerbic wit. After all, FriedrichNietzsche, who famously proclaimed God is Dead, badly wanted to be known as a famous writer. He was granted his wish -after he became too insane to enjoy his fame. Obama seems to have wanted to become an uber-celebritycumpolitician in the worst possible way. How fitting it would be if presides over the bankruptcy of both systems. ..fabulists rising to some of the most esteemed positions in our society have potential impact far beyond what people suspect. They lay bare a rottenness at the heart of academia, the...

Are you getting your money’s worth when you buy dinner? Probably, or you wouldn’t keep paying that price, and go somewhere elsewhere to eat out. The same applies to clothing and shelter. Almost no one continues to pay more for something than they feel it is worth. In fact, that’s the meaning of un-affordable – something that doesn’t give you equal value for what you are able to pay. The Tax Foundation has a report that might open your eyes. It says Americans are paying more in taxes than they pay for food, clothing and shelter combined...

Public education is something best done privately. Then you can pay for what you get and if you don’t get what you pay for, get your money back. But public education doesn’t work that way. You get what you get, and you keep paying and paying. And the process not only turns out what it turns out (sigh), but it engenders attitudes like the Harford Courant recently reported...

An obscure federal agency may have set a new benchmark for lavish conferences on the taxpayers' dime. Lawmakers are voicing outrage following a government report that found the General Services Administration held a blowout $820,000 conference near Las Vegas which grossly exceeded what the planners were allowed to spend. The employees dropped thousands of dollars on luxury items and convention giveaways -- including more than $6,000 on commemorative coins, $8,000 on a "yearbook," and $3,200 for an in-house mind reader. "It's unbelievable that red flags didn't immediately go up well before this junket," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said. In the...

Romney backers in Massachusetts were feeling some frustration yesterday over the long primary slog their candidate still faces after Super Tuesday. Some said his campaign is not getting enough credit for primary wins so far. “They continue to say he has to do this or that. He does it and they say he still hasn’t closed the deal,” said state Rep. George N. Peterson Jr., R-Grafton. “It seems as though he clears one hurdle and they put up a new one. He clears that and they say he didn’t clear it by enough.” The Romney campaign won six of 10...

What new information can be learned from what Andrew Breitbart was talking about? Further insight into President Obama’s radical philosophical awakening is what we are learning. Derrick Bell is one figure getting a closer look at. Here is Bell saying that our society may not be able to exist without racism and that white people feel entitled because they are white. Obama got the academic version of Jeremiah Wright before he was fed the theological version. I found this with just a simple search, so who knows what else is out there. Blaming white people for all of societies ills...

A group of protesters who said they were illegal immigrants created a commotion Wednesday night in Raleigh as the N.C. House Select Committee on Immigration Policy spoke about recent arrests of illegals in Rockingham County. Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page was present during the protest. Earlier, Page had provided information to the committee dealing with recent arrests regarding drug trafficking in his county, and also supplied further information on the National Sheriff’s Association’s stance on immigration issues, immigration reform and border security. This was the group’s third meeting, and much of the focus was on the business side of immigration....

Douglas Kennedy and his wife Molly with their son Boru. The petite, Brooklyn-born nurse who tussled with Robert F. Kennedy’s son in a hospital maternity ward was stunned that she fought with a member of Camelot, her husband said Saturday. Steve Luciano, 57, said his 5-foot-tall wife, Cari, was just doing her job when she tried to stop Douglas Kennedy from leaving the hospital with his 2-day-old baby boy. “Her comment to me that night was, ‘I was assaulted tonight and could you believe it, it was a Kennedy who did it?’” Luciano told the Daily News on Saturday in...

This cartoon best answers the question "What's the difference between the Tea Partiers and the Occupiers?" DO-ERS VS LOSERS

Woman Tasered in Front of Daughter After Cutting McDonalds Drive-Thru LineBy Olivia Katrandjian | ABC News Blogs – 17 hrs ago **SNIP** Employees at the McDonalds in Hope Mills, N.C., refused to serve Evangeline Lucca and told her to go to the back of the line. Lucca, 37, refused to move, and blocked the drive-thru for 20 minutes before police arrived on the scene, authorities said. When deputies arrived, Lucca was "defiant," "would not get off McDonalds property," and was "threatening the deputies," according to Debbie Tanna, a public information officer for the Cumberland County Sherriff's Office. **SNIP** "Two or...

Rep. Dr. Ron Paul is the only Candidate now running who: 1.) Has a comprehensive platform that will cut BASELINE Federal spending. 2.) Insists that all of the planks in his platform are consistent with the US Constitution. 3.) Accepts the fact that the USA can no longer financially afford to be the World’s policeman. 4.) Fully understands how to dismantle the disastrous Federal medical “entitlements” of Medicare, Medicaid, and the illegal Obama”care.” 5.) Has a comprehensive plan to abolish or dramatically shrink 5 Federal Departments, or Bureaus. These positions set Dr. Paul apart from the rest of the Candidates...

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Thursday slashing nearly $1.4 billion in welfare and child care aid for the poor while holding voters liable for $5 billion in education funding with a November tax measure. The Democratic governor announced his January budget plan this afternoon after his proposal was inadvertently leaked on his Department of Finance website. He estimates the state faces a $9.2 billion general fund deficit through June 2013, which he proposes to bridge with mostly cuts and taxes. Brown will ask voters to pass a $6.9 billion ballot measure in November that raises taxes on sales and income starting...

We Stand for Principle Over Politicsand the Establishment Can't Stand It December 21, 2011 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "House Democrats tried Wednesday to force a vote on the Senate’s two-month extension of the payroll-tax cut, but Republicans gaveled the House closed to prevent them from having a chance, as top GOP leaders huddled down the hall to try to figure a way out of the mess. The House was set to hold a pro forma session, but two top Democrats, Reps. Steny H. Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen, demanded to be recognized to try to force a vote on the...

The U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing report Monday that chronicles what it says are numerous violations of the civil rights of Latinos by the police department in East Haven, Conn. The rebuke of East Haven police was released just a week after the Justice Department blasted the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona for unlawfully discriminating against Hispanics. The federal government also said last week that it has concerns about discrimination in the Seattle Police Department in a report that found its officers have engaged in a pattern of unconstitutionally using excessive force during arrests. The Justice Department's report...

The video of the savage beating at Dean College in Franklin, MA has not yet been scrubbed from this site. It's already being scrubbed from YouTube and, of course, the edited versions seen on the news do not convey the full story.

Nearly half of registered voters in California say they personally identify with the Occupy movement and an even larger number said they agreed with the reason behind the protest, according to a Field Poll released today. The poll found that among registered voters in the state, 46 percent said they identify with the movement while 58 percent said they agreed with the reasons that are fueling it. Pollsters did not ask about specific reasons, leaving respondents to decide those themselves. But California voters also have negative feelings toward the movement, with 49 percent answering "not much" when asked how much...

My father once told me a story about when he was a boy. He said there was a certain man who every now and again would visit his family and give him 10 cents for an ice cream soda each time. Well, one day this fellow came ‘a callin’, but for some reason, on this occasion the dime wasn’t offered. Being a little tyke who had become accustomed to the gift, my dad asked, “Where’s my 10 cents?” He never got that dime again. The man taught my father a moral lesson: Don’t develop a spirit of entitlement. It’s one...

...In the 19th century, even though capitalism had only existed for a short time, and had just started putting a dent in pre-capitalism’s legacy of poverty, the vast, vast majority of Americans were already able to support their own lives through their own productive work. Only a tiny fraction of a sliver of a minority depended on assistance and aid–and there was no shortage of aid available to help that minority. ... “Those in need,” historian Walter Trattner writes, “. . . looked first to family, kin, and neighbors for aid, including the landlord, who sometimes deferred the rent; the...

HONG KONG — Chinese political and business leaders are increasingly triumphant after two decades of rapid economic growth that lifted unprecedented millions of people out of poverty and turned the nation into an economic superpower, saying their success proves its political and economic system is superior to the Western model. In extensive talks with a series of Chinese leaders, an oft-cited point of criticism is the gridlock and “dysfunction” they see in Washington. They say fawning by U.S. political leaders seeking re-election has created an “entitlement culture” where the public has grown dependent on government largesse. Now, with the United...

The six weeks allotted to save monetary union have expired. The G20 has come and gone, yet no workable firewall is in place as the drama engulfs Italy and threatens to light the fuse on the world’s third largest edifice of debt. As of late Friday, the yield spread on Italian 10-year bonds over German Bunds was a post-EMU record of 458 basis points. This is dangerously close to the point where cascade-selling begins and matters spiral out of control. The European Central Bank has so far bought time by holding a series of retreating lines but either it has...

Prime Minister George Papandreou will press forward with a referendum on the European Union's financing package and will win a vote of confidence, reports Bloomberg. "We’re not retreating and we haven’t retreated... http://www.breakingeconomics.com/2011/11/papandreou-will-press-on-with.html

Greece's startling decision to call a referendum on last week's EU summit deal has set off wild tremors across the eurozone, pushing Italy to the brink of a perilous downward spiral. The country's ruling Pasok party appeared to be splintering on Tuesdsay night, leaving it unclear whether the governent of premier George Papandreou can survive a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday. Signs that the EU's pain-stakingly negotiated Grand Plan is unravelling within days has been a profound shock to confidence. A frantic search for safe havens led to the second biggest one-day fall ever recorded in Europe's AAA bond...

The family of a disabled Ugandan drug lord who had his carer killed because they feared he knew too much are threatening to sue the health service after the gangster died. Clifford Denty was given round-the clock treatment on the NHS after he was left paralysed in a nightclub shooting. No expense was spared for the Ugandan immigrant. Thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money was spent converting his council property and he was provided with a team of carers and given a converted Mercedes under a Government scheme. But, although he was confined to a wheelchair, Denty continued his drug...