Free Republic

The pastor of a North Carolina megachurch has built a $1.7-million-dollar mansion for himself and his family which he told his congregation at Sunday's sermon is a 'gift from God.' Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick, 33, is unapologetic about his ostentatious new seven-and-a-half bathroom, 16,000-square-foot home built on 19 acres in Weddington. He spent the first part of his sermon talking about the controversy surrounding its construction and apologizing to his parishioners for any 'uncomfortable conversations,' they may have been forced to have about it.

(Watch Dog) – The federal government’s dream of a renewable energy empire hinges on a scrubby outpost here, where scientists and executives doggedly explore a new frontier. If you live outside Colorado, you probably haven’t heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – NREL for short. It’s the place where solar panels, windmills and corn are deemed the energy source of the future and companies who support such endeavors are courted. It’s also the place where highly paid staff decide how to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars. And the public pays those decision-makers well: NREL’s top executive, Dr....

The world's 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide four times over, Oxfam has revealed, adding that the global economic crisis is further enriching the super-rich. “The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process,” while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said. For example, the luxury goods market has seen double-digit growth every year since the crisis hit, the...

In the week since news surfaced that a Chicago man was poisoned to death with cyanide just before he was to collect a lottery payout, surprising details about his convoluted family saga have trickled out daily. Urooj Khan's widow and siblings fought for months over the businessman's estate, including the lottery check. His father-in-law owed tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.

President Obama cut a video, distributed by his reelection, to reiterate his belief that the wealthiest Americans still aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes and to outline a second-term agenda ranging from environmental policy to gun control. Obama started by celebrating the tax increases — “making our tax code more progressive than it’s been in decades,” he said — that will take place because of the fiscal cliff deal. “Obviously, there is still more to do when it comes to reducing our debt,” Obama said in the video. “And I’m willing to do more, as long as we do...

What is going to happen to our 401 (k) accounts and IRA’s after January 1? Will the retirement accounts which many Americans have sacrificed so much to accumulate be rolled over into federally issued and guaranteed bonds in order to prop up notoriously under-funded, union pension funds across the country? Getting an answer will prove to be daunting, especially as media attention seems focused on little but the impending “fiscal cliff.” Listening to a poignant, impromptu speech given by Linda from St. Lucie County during the Allen West recount makes clear just how hard she worked to raise three daughters...

The president and CEO of conservative group American Majority Action (AMA) is demanding Republicans band together to fire House Speaker John Boehner. “Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives,” AMA’s Ned Ryun said in a statement. “Boehner has never won a negation battle with the White House or Senate—and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the Conservative Movement. It’s time for him to go.” Ryun pointed out, too, that if conservatives want to unseat Boehner, they’d only need 16 members to abstain from...

Bad mortgage loans, obscured through complex and unregulated investment instruments, cost taxpayers billions WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy is slowly making a recovering from a near-collapse and the worst recession since the Great Depression. But what brought on the subprime mortgage crisis that led to huge financial losses, a decline in wealth for much of the country, a GDP drop of 5 percent for the period from Dec. 2007 to June 2009, and an official unemployment rate that peaked at 10.0 percent in Oct. 2009? “Very few people understand [what happened],” said University of Maryland Professor Michael Greenberger at the Center for...

If the United States were a healthy meritocracy, where talent and hard work pretty much determined how far we go in life, fair-minded people wouldn’t be demanding that rich people pay more in taxes. The general feeling would be that the race is fair and the wealthy have earned all they’ve got. The rest of us just have to work harder and smarter. But by no honest reckoning is the United States the “land of opportunity” it once was, and the race looks less fair every day. Advantages and opportunities are skewed to the few against the many, as is...

Steve Jobs' yacht was unveiled in a Dutch shipyard on Sunday, where the unusual boat designed by Jobs and famed minimalist designer Philippe Starck was christened "Venus," after the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. According to Dutch website OneMoreThing, the finished ship was launched at shipbuilder Koninklijke De Vries in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. Jobs' widow Laurene and three of their children, Reed, Erin and Eve, were at the ceremony. The Jobs family gave each of the members of the shipbuilding staff an elegant thank-you note, along with a token gift of their appreciation ? an...

Sigourney Weaver, Cynthia Nixon and Geena Davis have been invited to perform in a presidential-themed stage show to raise funds for U.S. leader Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Director Mick Nichols is to helm the production, in which stars who have played the President, First Lady or a member of the White House-dwelling family onscreen, will perform for Obama's wife Michelle.

The University of California has agreed to pay about $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by UC-Davis students who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during an Occupy-style protest on campus last November.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday said Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and that President Barack Obama is rooting for the striking educators. Obama's top spokesman said the president has not taken sides but is urging both the teachers and the city to settle quickly. Chicago's mayor, Obama ally Rahm Emanuel, called Romney's statement "lip service"... .....Romney released a statement that promised to "side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed." He said he was "disappointed" with Chicago teachers, who walked off the job in...

... People have forked over up to $250 bucks for sneakers named after NBA stars. But now, if you want the latest LeBrons, which are set to debut this fall, you're going to have to lay down $315 to get them.

The Chicago Teachers Union made headlines a few months ago when it was revealed that the union was demanding a 30 percent raise in its new contract proposal. Such an enormous raise – regardless of the supposed justification – would be unthinkable in a district with a $665 million budget deficit and a 9.8 percent unemployment rate. The school board countered with an offer of a two percent raise, which would still be a burden on the district’s overstretched budget. As a result, both the CTU and Chicago Public Schools requested an “independent” fact finder to look at both sides’...

More relevant today than ever before- you listening, self-assured Obammunist boneheads? Phil Donahue Show (1979): Donahue:  When you see around the globe the maldistribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries, when you see so few haves and so many have-nots, when you see the greed and the concentration of power... did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism? And whether greed is a good idea to run on? Friedman: Well first of all, is there some society you know that doesn't run on 'greed'? Do you think Russia doesn't run on 'greed'? Do...

U.S. states and localities have more than $2 trillion of unfunded pension liabilities, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday, citing data on plans offered by 8,500 local governments and over 14,000 individual entities. The total liabilities for fiscal 2010 were more than three times the amount reported by local governments. "Pension liabilities are widely acknowledged to be understated," Moody's Managing Director Timothy Blake said. Most state fiscal years end on June 30. The rising cost of public pensions has strained finances for cities around the country. Stockton, California, which last week became the biggest U.S. city to file for Chapter...

"Truly, the behaviour of some of Britain’s banks has been beyond contempt. Firstly, through greed and monumental misjudgment, they plunged Britain into a recession that could last a decade and which threatens our children’s futures."

NEW YORK, May 30, 2012 (MeshPress) — Milberg LLP announces that class action lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) FB -2.29% common stock pursuant to the Company’s May 18, 2012 initial public offering (the “IPO”). Actions were also filed in the Northern District of California. The complaints charge Facebook, certain of its officers and directors, and underwriters of the IPO with violations of the Securities Act of 1933. The actions allege that the Registration Statement and Prospectus issued with the IPO were...

After the 2001 terrorist attacks, California lawmakers sought a way to channel the patriotic fervour and use it to help victims' families and law enforcement. Their answer: specialty memorial license plates emblazoned with the words, 'We Will Never Forget.' Part of the money raised through the sale of the plates was to fund scholarships for the children of California residents who perished in the attacks, while the majority - 85 per cent - was to help fund anti-terrorism efforts. But an Associated Press review of the $15 million collected since lawmakers approved the 'California Memorial Scholarship Program' shows only a...