Free Republic

<p>A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago alleging that church officials discriminated against African-American victims of sexual abuse by trying to silence their claims and proposing smaller settlements than those offered to white victims.</p>

I can not post anything from this news organization. Read the article. The teacher's union is about to get their heads handed to them. They have a bad choice and a worse choice to make. They will make the worst choice. Unions meet reality. http://detnews.com/article/20091207/SCHOOLS/912070343/Detroit-teachers-cry-out-against-contract

Seeking to deflect a rising frequency of calls for his resignation, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested that “the root source of our current troubles can be traced back to the Reagan Administration. Remember, it was the tax cuts and deregulation pushed by President Reagan that unleashed an abnormal expansion of economic growth. The American people became accustomed to an unhealthy pace of increasing material prosperity that is incompatible with the more socially conscious restraint President Obama is trying to bring to this country.” “Rising home values, rising investment values, rising salaries all stimulate a sense of greed that is...

President Barack Obama is expected to inform Asian leaders that they should not count on American consumers to supply the demand that will help pull the global economy out of its current recession. “The era of material greed must come to an end,” Obama declared. “I can’t directly affect the phenomenon of avarice in other countries, but I can try to set an example in my own.” The President acknowledged that the unemployment rate in the United States “has already taken a bite out of the consumer gluttony traditionally manifested in American life. But we must not lose what we...

CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says selling a prison in the state's rural northwest is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create jobs...

Lest we forget, Reverend Wright reminds us that a presidential acorn doesn't fall too far from its anti-Semitic, hate America, Marxist preacher.

AMERICAN.COM A Magazine of Ideas Greed Is Not Good, and It’s Not Capitalism By Jay W. RichardsThursday, October 15, 2009 Filed under: Big Ideas, Culture, Economic Policy, Public Square Capitalism doesn’t need greed. What capitalism does need is human creativity and initiative. After months of hearing the media and pundits pronounce the untimely death of capitalism, it did my heart good to see a recent Newsweek cover story challenge the familiar trope. The author, Fareed Zakaria, noted that this pessimistic pronouncement gets air time in the wake of every financial downturn. But in reality, capitalism, over the long haul, has...

If you pressed a rifle into the hand of the man in the street and asked him to choose between two targets – an MP or a banker – who do you think would get the bullet? Tricky, eh? It is hard to know which of these two formerly respectable professions has fallen further in public esteem. Some people might hesitate, like Buridan's ass, the rifle barrel weaving indecisively between two such luscious hate-objects. Most people would simply call for two bullets. But then let me ask you a slightly different question. Which of the two species has managed to...

Inevitably, the crisis on Wall Street has revived the never-ending notion that markets undermine morality. Oliver Stone, ever restless to recapture the days of former glory, has begun production on a sequel to the 1987 movie Wall Street, which immortalized Gordon Gekko as the symbol of markets and greed. But the debate on how markets affect morality has not always been a slam dunk for capitalism's naysayers. Matthew Arnold, especially in his influential 1868 book, Culture and Anarchy, might have been spectacularly critical, but Voltaire's passionate defense of markets, most eloquently stated in his 1734 Philosophical Letters, made him the...

The answer may be greed. The AARP has been a strong supporter of Obamacare for the last several months. This position is not held by most of their membership. Many AARP members have resigned over the leaderships position. So, why is the AARP supporting the Democrat's health care overhaul? It isn't concern for providing coverage to their membership. Most seniors have insurance or are covered under Medicare. The reason the AARP supports Obamcare appears to be money. Under the Democrats health care reform plan, $162 billion in payments to privately-administered Medicare Advantage will be cut. This will force many seniors...

As read on “The Rush Limbaugh Show”: So far CNN has only reported on the breaking story on blatant ACORN CORRUPTION from angles that attempt to extricate the government funded “community organizing” enterprise from the extreme crime we caught on videotape. First CNN pushed the false ACORN line that “[t]his film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed.” To set that record straight please check the Washington D.C. tape we dropped today at BigGovernment.com, which is also being aired on your cable news competitor with curiously higher ratings. Now that ACORN lied to you, Jonathan Klein,...

The sweeping sense of opulence, majesty this 4,000 square foot penthouse,one of many numerous residences Madoff had once called home, is all the more breath-taking when you realize the sort of wrenching dichotomy Madoff will be made to endure within the agonizingly bare, spartan surroundings of the last place he'l ever get to call home. It's vitally important to bear in mind that it was not capitalism. the free enterprise system that was impugned , only that of sinister, contemptuous excuse of a human being.

Everyone’s analysis of this financial crisis is far too complicated. The simple facts are that it was created by complete and utter greed on the part of various regulators and financiers. In simple terms, the banks (investment and otherwise) lobbied Congress, the SEC, and other regulators to let them engage in business practices that were neither sensible nor responsible (excess leverage, financial wizardry that turned junk subprime assets into “AAA” rated entities, and more). They did this under the pretence that these practices would be good for the market and US economy as a whole. The reality is that these...

Why is the battle for greed winning over the battle for USA? How can there be a united states of american citizens if only handful hold power over everything we learn, read, see,...the laws by which we must abide? I swear,...it's like this whole nation has turned into a century old coal-mining town where,...us common folks are given the means merely to give back to the company that pays for our labors and takes all the money OUTSIDE our own resources. Oh,...*shrug*,...I forgot that, those companies still do that to this day: steal the labor, TAKE AND PROFIT off the...

On December 9, 2008, $65 billion of investor money was at peace. On the fear-greed seesaw that is said to characterize investor emotion, fear was down on the ground, while greed was high in the sky, having all the fun. Greed was earning a steady 1% per month, making fear look like an over-cautious fool. On December 10, 2008, six simple syllables transformed that greed into lead, sending it crashing to earth while launching fear to the moon. The syllables were these: "It's all just one big lie," and they were spoken by Bernard Madoff. It was an admission that...

One of the reasons we’ve reached a tipping point between freedom and welfare statism is because much of the country pays no taxes and increasingly the burden of taxes is being shifted to a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Now I’m not a tax advocate by any stretch. But it is obvious we’re not going to be able to avoid them, especially with this new crowd in town who wants to tax just about everything. But back to the point – if you’re not paying taxes, but the government is taxing others to your benefit, why wouldn’t you...

HONG KONG: Dust clouds generated by a huge dust storm in China's Taklamakan desert in 2007 made more than one full circle around the globe in just 13 days, a Japanese study using a Nasa satellite has found.

JACKO'S nanny told how she was stunned by his family's money-grabbing reaction to the star's death. Grace Rwaramba, the woman closest to Jackson and his three children, was in London when news of the tragedy broke on Thursday. As she prepared to board a plane to fly home and comfort the orphaned kids Grace got the call from one of the Jackson family which shocked her to the core. She told interviewer Daphne Barak: "The relative said, 'Grace, you remember Michael used to hide cash at the house? I'm here. Where can it be?' "I told them to look in...

Rural upstate New York, where I grew up, offers unique evidence these days about some shifting demographics of the Seven Deadly Sins. Fifty years ago, the area was dominated by family farming, an Air Force base, and copper manufacturing. Today, the growth industries are prisons and casinos -- the former, big gray teeming boxes of all the Deadly Sins tied up and bowed with barbed wire; and the latter, pleasantly humming hives of the Deadly that is our subject for today: Greed.Of course some readers might dispute the idea of linking Greed to gambling. We now call gambling an "entertainment,"...

While Governor Palin is doing her part to progress the largest private sector energy project in the world, there are those who still lack the vision to fully grasp the significance of an Alaska gas pipeline that would deliver natural gas to the Lower 48 states. In her recent interview with CNN, Governor Palin was asked to react to the claim that Alaska gas may not be needed, due to what the Wall Street Journal called a "natural gas glut." She correctly labeled this view as "short sighted," and noted that natural gas demand is projected to increase significantly by...

he Wall Street Journal is reporting the following about GM's sort-of sale of Hummer to the Chinese: “While many believe the deal will have difficulty garnering regulatory approval in China, others said they wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the government will support the deal so that Hummer’s technology could be used to improve China’s military vehicles. Andrew Chen, an investment manager for Foreopen.com in Pittsburgh, who has been following the deal closely, said Sichuan historically has been a home for production of Chinese military automobiles. He speculated that the government may be encouraging the deal and might even help...

-China has installed a secure operating system known as " Kylin" on government and military computers designed to be impenetrable to U.S. military and intelligence agencies, The Washington Times reported on Tuesday. The newspaper said the existence of the secure operating system was disclosed to Congress during recent hearings that included new details on how China's government is preparing to wage cyberwarfare with the U.S.

President James Madison, considered by many to be the "Father of the Constitution" and author of over a third of the Federalist Papers, wrote that legislators should be "called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short period of office." President Abraham Lincoln stated during the Gettysburg Address "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." No honest person would argue that both these presidents were not only brilliant statesman, but also possessed an intellect rarely matched. They would also agree that...

GLENN:  From Radio City in Midtown Manhattan, hello, you sick twisted freak.  Welcome to the program.  I'm glad you're here.  Ashley is with us from Oklahoma and KTOK.  Hello, Ashley.  CALLER:  Hi.  GLENN:  What is ‑‑ where do you go to school, Ashley?    CALLER:  It's a very conservative Christian university in Oklahoma.  GLENN:  A very ‑‑ is it the one with the big praying hands?    CALLER:  No.  GLENN:  You don't want to say?  Okay.  It's a very conservative Christian school in Oklahoma.    CALLER:  Yes.  It's a Baptist College.  GLENN:  Got it, okay.  So what happened with you and your professor?    CALLER:  Well, I'm in...

First Lady, Michelle Obama urged young people to forego career choices focused on making money. Instead, she counseled them to dedicate their lives to “giving money.” “The days of grubbing for the almighty dollar are past,” she declared. “A new age of giving has dawned.” The First Lady held out her husband and herself as the best models for emulation. “Barack and I have spent our lives working toward a more equitable distribution of wealth in this country,” she boasted. “Achieving this goal will be the main theme of our administration. Those who come onboard with us will be amply...

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm lashed out at three of the nation’s leading hedge fund companies saying their holding out for more in negotiations with Chrysler were leading the car company down the road towards bankruptcy. “I m strongly urging those who are hedge fund managers to ensure that Chrysler is not forced into bankruptcy because they are holding out,” she said. “The hedge funds, those are the ones that have been previously charged with having made a lot of money by flipping paper, they are holding out as we speak–right now. The future of Chrysler is in the hands of...

Large corporations prefer to use H-1B visas to hire foreign engineers and computer technicians. H-1B workers increased threefold during the Clinton administration, and CEOs are constantly demanding that the number be raised or even unlimited. Large corporations prefer H-1B foreigners because they work for lower wages with fewer rights. A recent study by researchers at top business schools reported that H-1B visas depress wages for software engineers and programmers by as much as 6 percent. The cumulative effect, as described by another study, depresses wages even more. Many U.S. engineers even lost their jobs just after they were required to...

At the conclusion of the week-long hearing on “cap and trade” legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, the Democrats’ headline witness was none other than Mr. Global Warming himself, former Vice President Al Gore. One member of the panel, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), took the opportunity to ask her fellow Tennessean a multi-million dollar question on behalf of “some of his former constituents.” Throughout Gore’s earlier testimony, he had questioned the integrity of scientists and studies that found the opposite conclusions of his personal view: there is no smoking gun either proving or disproving that the...

Vatican City, Apr 22, 2009 / 12:11 pm (CNA).- Today at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope focused his attention on the monk Ambrose Autpert. Drawing on the monk's teachings, the Pope pointed to greed as the root of the global economic crisis. Continuing his series of teachings on the great writers of the Eastern and Western Churches in the middle ages, the Holy Father explained that Ambrose Autpert "is a little-known author of the eighth century.  Born to a high-ranking family in Provence, France, Autpert was tutor to the future emperor Charlemagne before traveling to Italy...

The Communist Party of India (CPI) claims it is dedicated to the spread of socialism (an economic system based on state ownership of capital), but its leaders have been merrily investing in private companies. A scrutiny of I-T returns filed by CPI reveals functionaries have been regularly buying equity shares of at least eight private firms using party money. The fact has been stated in the auditor's report but has been overlooked by taxmen, perhaps because it does not directly concern them. Pune-based M/s PG Bhagwat Chartered Accountants has stated in its report that private equity shares worth lakhs of...

Click to watch video poem. Gift wrapping paper's barely off. Toy plane's lost its appeal. The boy demands a rocket, now. His brother's he might steal. Struggling to fill my void With crap I'll never need. You won't enjoy what I can't have. More envy piled on greed. Video viewed a million times; Our Youtube star's arrived. She frowns at her subscriber count, And barely feels alive. Struggling to fill my void With crap I'll never need. You won't enjoy what I can't have. More envy piled on greed. Gold custom diamond insets for Discerning clientele. His five million dollar...

It seems like everybody is beating up on greed these days. In the wake of the AIG bonus scandal, pompous members of Congress, the Obama administration and the media are disparaging the very concept. It's time someone stands up for greed because without it, there would be no United States of America.

The Little Red Hen A Little Red Hen lived in a barnyard. She spent almost all of her time walking about the barnyard in her picketty-pecketty fashion, scratching everywhere for worms. She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they were absolutely necessary to the health of her children. As often as she found a worm she would call "Chuck-chuck-chuck!" to her chickies. When they were gathered about her, she would distribute choice morsels of her tid-bit. A busy little body was she! A cat usually napped lazily in the barn door, not even bothering herself to scare the rat...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the federal government has to look at raising the gasoline tax to pay for public works improvements if the public supports paying for them, according to a "Meet the Press" interview that aired Sunday. The Republican governor appeared on the NBC show with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to advocate for more federal public works spending as part of a coalition they formed last year. The interview was taped Friday. Host David Gregory asked Schwarzenegger whether an increase in the federal 18.4-cent per gallon gasoline tax is an appropriate way...

Social Security is now in greater danger than before. It was thought that we would not have to worry about losing the Social Security trust fund for at least a hundred years. When I was much younger, I was told that Social Security would last at least until 2040 under the current situation at that time. Then after 9/11 and the recession we had, I was told, 2025. Now, we are in a worse mess than ever. A war that has dragged on for almost a decade and that has not produced enough results, a broken down housing market, ten...

When easy money is waved in front of people, many partake. It looks like Enterprise rent-a-car lobbied for TARP funds and may have laid off people to give the look of a struggling company. However, the literature on their website proves contrary. Did they dupe the U.S. Government? Full Story: http://www.butasforme.com/2009/02/25/alert-enterprise-rent-a-car-may-have-fired-employees-as-fake-evidence-when-lobbing-for-bailout-money/

Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles' most enduring liberal politicians, has come under scrutiny because of bailout funds that went to a bank in which her husband had owned stock and served on the board. Waters was a senior member of the congressional committee dealing with the financial crisis when OneUnited Bank -- one of the nation's largest minority-owned institutions -- received $12 million in bailout funds. Her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000 in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for which public...

In a clinic Dr. Hans Wolfert (Sig Ruman) complains that Dr. Paul Ehrlich (Edward G. Robinson) does not follow rules. Ehrlich tells his wife Hedvig (Ruth Gordon) he wants to quit, but his daughters need milk. In a laboratory Ehrlich shows Dr. Emil von Behring (Otto Kruger) his dyes. Ehrlich is warned he may be fired if he does not conform, but he leaves work to tell Dr. Robert Koch (Albert Bassermann) that a dye could make the tubercle bacillus he discovered visible. Ehrlich loses his job and experiments, coughing. Hedvig heats his room, making a stain work. Behring has...

Beck ridiculed the AFL-CIO, after it was reported on Fox News the organization was holding its winter meetings at the newly refurbished Fontainebleau Hotel luxury resort in Miami Beach, Fla. He also mentioned the organization's efforts to enact the card check system, also known as the Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation is controversial because it would allow workers to join unions by signing cards rather than through secret-ballot elections in which companies can campaign against the union. "These workers have united at their winter gatherings in Florida to improve life for you, the average worker," Beck said. "Oh, it's...

Bank of America’s request for $20bn of government money to prop up its acquisition of Merrill Lynch was a “tactical mistake” that made the bank appear as weak as Citigroup, Ken Lewis, BofA’s chief executive told the Financial Times on Monday. But Mr Lewis said he would stay on as CEO of the North Carolina-based bank until it paid back the $45bn of government money it received under the US Treasury’s bank recapitalisation programme, possibly within two to three years. This is the first time he has signalled his plans to leave the company. However, he expressed regret that an...

A travesty of justice has occurred in Oakland, California. But realities surrounding this local issue point to how the economic crisis in our nation is symptomatic of and flows from a deeper fundamental moral crisis. A black pastor awaits sentencing, which could amount to two years in prison and $4,000 in fines, for standing outside an inner city abortion clinic holding a sign saying "Jesus Loves You & Your Baby, Let Us Help You," and offering pro-life literature. Walter Hoye, founder and chairman of the Issues4Life Foundation, was found guilty of "unlawful approach" under the "Access to Reproductive Health Care...

Measures in a $789 billion U.S. stimulus package that favor American goods are a "poison" that will hurt efforts solve the financial crisis, an editorial by China's official news agency said. Provisions in the U.S. stimulus bill approved Friday favoring American steel, iron and manufactured goods for government projects are protectionist measures that could trigger trade disputes, said the editorial issued late Saturday by the Xinhua News Agency. "History and economics have told us, facing a global financial crisis, trade protectionism is not a solution, but a poison to the solution," the editorial said. U.S. labor groups that pushed hard...

« next » Cutting CostsHow A CEO Can Live On $500K A Year By Chris Walters, 2:50 PM on Tue Feb 10 2009, 11,256 views The New York Times breaks down the annual expenses of your average Fancy Pants Executive Type who lives in Manhattan. Private school: $32,000 a year per student. Mortgage: $96,000 a year. Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year. Nanny: $45,000 a year. We are already at $269,000, and we haven't even gotten to taxes yet. As relatively poor people, we think we can help. Here's the Times-supplied expenses and our suggestions on where to cut...

It's bad enough that the White House has surrounded itself with liars and tax cheats, but now comes word that the Associated Press is accusing Obama of a copyright violation. It's based on a copyrighted photo of Obama that was taken by Manny Garcia. Garcia was on assignment for AP when she took the photo. Then comes an artist named Shepard Fairey who recreated the likeness onto posters, campaign buttons and everything else Obama. No mention that the photograph was owned by the Associated Press, nor any credit for the photographer who shot the photo. So now, to tax cheats...

$5000 is not enough for some US Air passengers. I would think being given you life back would be plenty.Here's a good example:Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte who suffered a bloody nose and bruises, says he "would like to be made whole for the incident.""Like to be made whole"? What the hell does that mean? Boo Hoo! My plane fell out of the sky and all I got was a lousy bloody nose and 5000 dollars!How is it that every tragedy (or now, miracle pulled out by a heroic pilot) gets turned into a cash cow?Fox was touting Geraldo...

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked. "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have...

The Wall Street Journal reports on what everyone already knows: the federal bailout serves as nothing more than a political payoff machine. As long as lenders have friends in Washington, they’ll get TARP funds, regardless of how they’ve run their bank or their current health as a lender. Barney Frank leads the pack in the new version of pork: Troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston didn’t look much like a candidate for aid from the Treasury Department’s bank bailout fund last fall. The Treasury had said it would give money only to healthy banks, to jump-start lending. But OneUnited had seen...

By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down. Proverbs 29:4 It's not an accident that we see leaders in the news who want to make a little extra cash on the side, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois comes to mind. Unfortunately, he's not alone; he's the one who got caught and it happened to be associated with the current President of the United States' former Senate seat. You can see how it happens: millions of dollars in Federal, State, and local budgets. Why shouldn't someone who makes a mere $150K...

I am a middle aged, middle income, traditional Catholic female and I don’t belong here anymore.The nation I have loved all my life has rebelled, like some arrogant teenager who smugly tells his mother and father that he knows more than they do. It’s been coming on for some time, but I’ve always comforted myself with the thought that I stood with a silent majority that was just too busy working and striving and living and dying to voice their concerns about where the culture of our nation was headed.Forty years or so after the cultural and sexual revolution began,...

HUNDREDS of people queued at a cashpoint machine after it began dishing out extra money - and the giveaway lasted SIX hours. It spewed out £60 every time it was asked for £30. Customers used several debit cards more than five times - and then phoned pals to tell them to join the queue for the Nationwide machine at the BP garage on Barton Road, Stretford. Shan Cliff, 21, said: "Most people have taken out hundreds of pounds. No one's going to turn down free money. I don't know whether it will show in our accounts but it's their mistake...