Free Republic

LIBERAL LIES ABOUT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE, PART 5September 23, 2009 (15) Democrats lost Congress in 1994 because President Clinton failed to pass national health care. I'm not sure if this is another example of the left's wishful-thinking method of analysis or if they're seriously trying to trick the Blue Dog Democrats into believing it. But I gather liberals consider the 1994 argument an important point because it was on the front page of The New York Times a few weeks ago in place of a story about Van Jones or ACORN. According to a news story by Jackie Calmes: "In...

NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back against the US military's blunt warning that the battle against insurgents in Afghanistan would likely be lost within a year without more US troops. Clinton's comments in an interview with PBS television late Monday came amid reports that the Pentagon has asked General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, to delay a request for more troops. Clinton expressed "respect" for McChrystal's assessment that the United States would likely lose the war in Afghanistan within a year without more US forces. "But I can only tell you there...

Michelle Obama put the final nail in the coffin in the idea of Hillary Clinton becoming her husband's vice-presidential nominee, according to a new book. Author Christopher Andersen reported that Mrs Obama favoured Joe Biden, the president's eventual choice. "Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House?" she reportedly told her husband. "Could you live with that?" Mr Obama later thought of the masterstroke of appointing the woman he narrowly defeated as his secretary of state. According to the New York Daily News , Mrs Obama was "fascinated" by the choice...

TEGUCIGALPA - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge inside the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, Telesur television network reported Monday. Zelaya had announced Monday he returned to Honduras almost three months after he was toppled in a coup, despite warnings he would be arrested. The U.S. State Department confirmed that Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, was back in Honduras but the Central American country's de facto ruler denied Zelaya had returned. "I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue." Zelaya told Honduras'...

"The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State, to adjudicate and enforce judgments, and to request the assistance of the public forces to enforce its rulings." —Congressional Research Service, August 2009 Ever since Manuel Zelaya was removed from the Honduran presidency by that country's Supreme Court and Congress on June 28 for violations of the constitution, the Obama administration has insisted, without any legal basis, that the incident amounts to a "coup d'état" and must be reversed. President Obama has dealt...

Shift of expenses to workers likely. The state’s major health insurers plan to raise premiums by about 10 percent next year, prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers. The higher insurance costs undermine a key tenet of the state’s landmark health care law passed two years ago, as well as President Obama’s effort to overhaul health care. In addition to mandating insurance for most residents, the Massachusetts bill sought to rein in health care costs. With Washington looking to the Massachusetts experience, fears about higher costs have become a stumbling block to passing a national...

It occurs to me that the last person in the whole wide world that I'd like to talk to at three in the freakin' morning would be Hillary. On a bunch of different levels. As the SecState, well, she's probably not going to tell you what a great job you are doing. As the professional woman, she's going to loudly speculate about the anotomical deficiencies of all of these foriegn policy czars running around on her turf. As the liberal idealogue, she'll be bitching about policy wonk details and staying on message. And, almost worst of all, her screech meter...

Secretary Clinton Presents Awards to Inaugural Class of Democracy Video Challenge WinnersOffice of the Spokesman Washington, DC September 17, 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver brief remarks and present the six global winners of the Democracy Video Challenge with their awards at 1:35 pm on Friday, September 18, 2009 in the Department of State’s Treaty Room. The Democracy Video Challenge, an online competition, asked people around the world to create short videos that completed the phrase, “Democracy is….” The Secretary will be joined by senior representatives from partner organizations and Hernando de Soto, President of the Institute...

A new Marist poll does not bring good news for Gov. David Paterson, who can't seem to get his approval rating to budge, no matter how hard he tries. Just one-fifth of the electorate thinks the governor is doing a good job, while 34 percent rate his performance as "poor." Paterson was at 21 percent in a June Marist poll and 19 percent one month prior to that. He continues to score poorly with voters across the board - even members of his own party. Only 24 percent of fellow Democrats say he's doing well as governor. As for 2010,...

Well once again, our court system is going to be asked to interpret the constitution in light of today's seemingly more important political correctness and race sensitivities to determine if Hillary has legally been appointed as Secretary of State. The 3 Judge Panel, has the unenviable task of...

SNIPPET: "The United States government's stepped-up courting of Islamist groups is on display at the State Department web portal www.america.gov. The site bills itself as a place to "meet the people" and "explore the values and ideas that define the character of the United States." But when it comes to American Muslim organizations, that often means providing a U.S. government stamp of approval to organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) or apologists like the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)." SNIPPET: "Shea said this discrimination...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 15, 2009 Statement by the Press Secretary on the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty The President has asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lead the U.S. delegation and deliver the U.S. national statement at the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), to be held on September 24 and 25 in New York City. Since...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - Washington has revoked the visas of Honduras' interim president and 17 other top officials to pressure the Central American nation to reinstate ousted leader Manuel Zelaya, Honduras' government said Saturday. The interim government expects the United States to revoke the visas of at least 1,000 more public officials "in the coming days," Information Minister Rene Zepeda told The Associated Press. Interim President Roberto Micheletti said losing his diplomatic and tourist visas would not weaken his rejection of the return of Zelaya, who was toppled in a June 28 military-backed coup and flown into exile. Micheletti said...

Hillary Clinton is said to be frustrated with her lack of authority as secretary of state and resentful of the glacial pace of the White House vetting process. President Obama's picks fly in even if they didn't pay their taxes. But her picks take forever," noted one Democrat. "Plus, she has no real clout over Holbrooke or Mitchell. Richard Holbrooke is Obama's "special representative" for Afghanistan and Pakistan. George Mitchell is "special envoy" to the Middle East. Clinton is said to be considering quitting to retake her old US Senate seat now held by Kristin Gillibrand-- or running for governor,...

From the Weekly Standard: The boss hears from two sources that Hillary Clinton is considering stepping down as Secretary of State this fall in order to run for Governor of New York.

The Supreme Court will weigh First Amendment rights against campaign finance law when it holds a rare September argument Wednesday to review a case that started as a dispute over an anti-Hillary Clinton movie a conservative group wanted to air during the 2008 presidential primaries. The politically hot case will also be the first Supreme Court case for new Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The court will, as is customary, convene its next term on the first Monday in October, but this case originates from arguments it first heard in March. Instead of issuing a decision, the justices announced they wanted additional...

UK sources: Obama knew about the Lockerbie bomber every step of the wayObama seems to have screwed up really big (Again!) British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.

RADICAL Islamist al-Shabaab militants linked to al-Qa'ida and based in Somalia plotted to kill US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Africa last month, it was disclosed yesterday. A planned series of bomb attacks set to take place in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya, while Mrs Clinton was there - one in the hotel where she was staying - was foiled at the last minute, media reports, citing senior security officials, said. "Al-Qa'ida wanted to strike at the heart of Nairobi (while Mrs Clinton was here)," the senior security official was quoted as saying, adding that...

A radical Islamic sect based in Somalia and linked to al-Qaida and based in Somalia plotted to kill US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Africa last month, according to The Australian newspaper. The plot was to be carried out through a planned series of bomb attacks set to take place in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, while Clinton was there - one in the hotel where she was staying. The plot was foiled at the last minute, media reports, citing senior security officials, said. According to yesterday's reports, al-Shabaab, which is viewed as increasing regional...

London (AHN) - A British playboy who once hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his Florida home has been convicted in the 2000 murder of a caretaker who stood in the way of a multi-million property deal. Thanos Papalexis, 37, was found guilty of murdering Charalambos Christodoulides at a warehouse in northwest London in March 2000. The jury failed to reach verdicts on two Albanian men, Ylli Xhelo and Robert Baxhija, who also had been charged in the murder, Christodoulides, 55, was a caretaker at the warehouse, where he lived in an apartment. Prosecutors alleged that Papalexis killed the...

True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within. Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties.... Many leftists view Hillary as a sell-out because she claims to hold moderate views on some issues. However, Hillary is simply following Alinsky’s counsel to do and say whatever it takes to gain power.

...Obama's advocacy of what he called "direct diplomacy" became a prime feature of his campaign; the suggestion was that this energetic and eloquent man could bring about breakthroughs in some of the toughest foreign policy problems through his personal diplomacy. So it seems worth noting that as Obama heads into the homestretch of his first year he has yet to meet with any of the enumerated rogues -- a passing handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at an inter-American summit notwithstanding. Nor is he likely to have any such meetings in the foreseeable future. In fact, one of the emerging...

Here is video of a discussion on CNN about the possible implications of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a case on "Hillary: The Movie," which was put out during the 2008 Election by Citizens United. The FEC held that the movie could not be distributed on demand because it constituted a "campaign contribution," since it is highly critical of Hillary Clinton. This case could have lasting implications for Campaign Finance laws, and just how active organized groups such as corporations and labor unions can be in political campaigns. It will be the first case heard by new Supreme Court Justice...

British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen. ‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide. ‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though...

Rush and Malloy’s Gossip column in the New York Daily News reports today that Bill Clinton’s offices are infested with bed bugs, and employees have been evacuated during treatment: "Bedbugs have sent Bill Clinton and his staff fleeing the former President’s offices, a source tells us. No word on whether WJC actually has a bed in his Harlem suite, but the infestation is said to have been so bad that exterminators told Clintonistas to take a few days off." That’s all we know so far. I do not wish bed bugs on anyone, but one positive outcome is that high...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appears poised to wipe away limits on campaign spending by corporations and labor unions in time for next year's congressional elections in a case that began as a dispute over a movie about Hillary Rodham Clinton. The justices return to the bench Wednesday — nearly a month early — to consider whether to overrule two earlier decisions that restrict how and when corporations and unions can take part in federal campaigns. Laws that impose similar limits in 24 states also are threatened. The court first heard arguments in March in the case of whether...

Americas: The U.S. hit Honduras with harsh new sanctions last Thursday, slashing $30 million in aid. Nothing new, but the timing's strange, given that the rest of the world is starting to normalize ties with the tiny state.The June 28 ouster of Honduran President Mel Zelaya is rapidly shaping up as a never-ending crisis for the Obama administration. The more it tries to punish Honduras for getting rid of its would-be dictator, the more the freedom-loving Hondurans dig in to keep their democracy. That isn't going to be good for us in the long run. Back in June, Zelaya launched...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is upset about abortion. Well, not abortion per se. But some abortions. Of girls. Apparently killing boys is okay. Abortion is one issue never likely to disappear. It sets protection of life and liberty in apparent conflict and raises challenging issues such as responsibility and privacy. But the issue can't be avoided. The bottom line of abortion is a dead baby. No amount of obfuscation and euphemism can hide the obvious. And if abortion is a legal right, beyond regulation by government, then motivation is irrelevant. If you have a right to kill all babies,...

A fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who was charged last week with defrauding Citigroup also defrauded other banks, U.S. prosecutors said. The allegations against fund-raiser Hassan Nemazee—arrested last week on a bank fraud charge and released on $25 million bail—were not formal charges but were in a letter dated Tuesday from prosecutors to a Manhattan federal court magistrate judge handling the case. Nemazee, 59, head of a private equity firm, was accused on Aug. 25 of one count of bank fraud for seeking a fraudulent $74 million loan from Citigroup's banking unit. He said after his...

CHELSEA Clinton is not getting married this year, despite constant rumors of impending nuptials. Maybe the former first daughter or her fiancé, Marc Mezvinsky, just isn't ready yet.

THE Supreme Court seems poised to reshape cam paign-finance law, affirm ing fundamental First Amendment rights by overturning restrictions on corporate political speech when it rehears Citizens United v. FEC next Tuesday. At issue is whether the government can ban distribution of a political documentary, "Hillary: The Movie," produced by Citizens United, a conservative group that received some corporate funding to make the film. The government argues that it can -- relying on a 1990 case, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, that upheld a state law banning corporate political spending, and McConnell v. FEC, the 2003 case that upheld...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to hear a new argument in a momentous case that could transform the way political campaigns are conducted. The case, which arises from a minor political documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” seemed an oddity when it was first argued in March. At issue is whether the court should overrule a 1990 decision, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which upheld restrictions on corporate spending to support or oppose political candidates. The court’s order calling for re-argument, issued in June, has generated more than 40 friend-of-the-court briefs....

Conservatives 4 Palin put together an excellent video on the famous 3:00 AM phone call Obama has been getting weekly.

First Lady Hillary Clinton, in 1994, displays a pamphlet about her health care plan bearing an image of the "health security card" every American would supposedly receive.

This would be the same “coup” that was ordered by the country’s supreme court pursuant to its constitution and carried out with the support of the legislature, including members of Zelaya’s own party. Hillary’s held off on using that terminology until now because by law she’ll have to cut funding to Honduras once the formal assessment is made, but it looks like the moment of truth is at hand. It’s a travesty, but what do you expect? Obama’s hot to prove to the world’s tyrants that, unlike his cowboy predecessor, he’s a man they can do business with. And he’s...

In recent days, I’ve been expressing dismay at Hillary Clinton: in this column, for instance, and in this Corner post. Can you stand some more quotation of her? In an interview, she said, “There are some days when we’re dealing with very difficult security issues when you kind of wish, ‘Oh man, I wish I didn’t know that.’” Yeah, it’s terrible when the world does that to you. Say you want to come to terms with the Iranian regime — want to reason with them. But you find out that, really and truly, they’re bent on acquiring nuclear weapons —...

Hillary Clinton likes to remind people, including her husband, that she's the secretary of state, but her role has now expanded to became the hotel booking agent for screwy Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy. The State Department was desperately trying to avoid an international incident by finding Khadafy a place in the city so he doesn't put down stakes, literally, by pitching a tent in Englewood, N.J. "We are involved in discussions" on the Khadafy dilemma, said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. "We, of course, are sensitive to the concerns" of whoever might have to share the neighborhood with Khadafy, Kelly...

Hassan Nemazee, a multimillionaire Iranian-American investment banker and top Democratic Party fundraiser, was arrested today by federal law enforcement authorities in New York City and charged with engaging in criminal fraud for his role in arranging a $74 million dollar loan from Citibank, Bloomberg reported. U.S. Attorney Prett Bharara in New York City and FBI investigators told Dow Jones Newswires the 59-year-old Namazee applied for the Citibank loans for Nemazee Capital Corp. by giving Citibank "numerous documents that purported to establish the existence of accounts in Nemazee's name at various financial institutions containing many hundreds of millions of dollars." According...

I've read all I need to read of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. It's a cute book, in the same manner in which a ferral cat at a distance is cute until it gets closer and you see the froth dripping from its mouth and the odd stare in its eyes, when the limp you thought was a war wound from living in the woods turns out to be a unscathed rear leg it is dragging because its synapses ain't firing like they used to. Your conclusion is immediate and without emotion: Everyone and everything will be better if you...

HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday. In an unusually conciliatory column in the state-run media, Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was trying to resolve them. But the "powerful extreme right won't be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way." Obama does not want to change the U.S. political and economic system, but "in...

NEW YORK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney in New York on Tuesday charged a New York investor and major Democratic fund-raiser with a $74 million scheme to defraud Citigroup Inc (C.N). Hassan Nemazee, 59, was charged with one count of bank fraud, and faces up to 30 years in prison plus a fine. His lawyer Marc Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Nemazee was a national finance chair of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and a supporter of John Kerry's run for the White House in 2004....

Millions of Americans are enjoying their stay-cations at home while listening to the erudite stylings of their Harvard-educated leaders “elevate the discourse” with “The Greatest Hits of Summer ’09.” 1)“All Wee-Weed Up”—Barack Obama. The follow up to his breakout smash “Stupid Cops, Greedy Docs,” has confounded listeners who 1) don’t know what he’s talking about or 2) don’t want to know what he’s talking about. If you had eight months in the over-under pool for Obama’s first public bodily function reference, congratulations—you win.

We will not be joining the official “I’m Sorry I Voted For Obama” group, because we didn’t vote for Dr. Utopia or the Ice Cream Bandit in the first place. We voted for the grown-ups in the 2008 race, the ones who aren’t socialists, the ones who didn’t want to destroy the country with Alinsky methods and make America “just one of 190 countries in the world”, as Dr. Utopia so loves to say. We voted first for Hillary Clinton…and then for John McCain and Sarah Palin. So we don’t have any regrets. Not only did we vote for them,...

The Hillary Clinton Zero dollar is now out, available for download, printing and passing out. 'The smartest woman in the world' tried to get universal government healthcare passed 14 years ago, and thank God it failed. Interestingly a lot of Obamacare is exactly what Hillary's 2008 proposal for universal healthcare is, especially the individual mandate and punishments for not having insurance. She isn't directly involved in the whole healthcare issue, but Obamacare borrowed a lot (or mirrored) her plan, and I just wonder what she must be thinking watching this clown try to do something that even SHE could not...

A discreet subtext of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's seven-nation tour of Africa was the unspoken fact that she is struggling to assert her primacy in conducting American foreign policy -- with, so far, mixed results. The tone of what she had to say had already been set by her boss, President Barack Obama, when he made his inaugural African stop in Ghana in June. Obama's speech before Ghana's parliament, to which the entire continent listened keenly, dictated the theme for Mrs Clinton's follow-up lectures on governance and democracy to the countries she visited on her 11-day itinerary. Yet...

Could Hillary Clinton have been right about Barack Obama? Could she have been right when she said that he was the candidate of lofty promises -- "the skies will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect" -- and not the candidate of real leadership? In her former life as a presidential candidate, Clinton warned voters that Obama would let them down. She warned them that when the going got tough, he would fold up. She said it was not just...

In the last few weeks, a former president traveled to North Korea to negotiate the release of two imprisoned Americans; a U.S. senator flew to Burma to bargain for the release of yet another American; and envoys of the reclusive North Korean regime have come to the U.S. for talks with America's former ambassador to the United Nations. And throughout all of it, one question grows: Where is America's top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? The missions by former President Bill Clinton and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to secure the release of Americans held in North Korea and Burma...

Saul Alinsky's name comes up constantly in condemning statements concerning Obama's "real agenda." We've heard endlessly that Hillary's undergrad senior paper was written about Alinsky and his philosophy. It seems that the Beautiful People revere this guy. Paraphrasing Arlo Guthrie at the end of "Alice's Restaurant," I can write about anything - "I've got no pride." I come from coal cracker roots displaced onto a farm. I can shoot pool and milk a cow without the automatic pumpers; I can play shuffleboard and deal an honest hand of poker. I have no idea who this guy is, and my life...

"In just the first three months of this year, her campaign—still existing, though in skeletal form—brought in $4.7 million by renting and selling the addresses on the email list to groups ranging from President Obama’s inaugural committee to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s campaign for California governor to her own Senate committee, not to mention EMILY’s List, which seeks to elect female abortion rights supporters, and Media Matters, a progressive organization that monitors the media...To them, Clinton’s vaunted list—estimated to include as many as 2.5 million email addresses— is a virtual license to print money for Democratic pols and causes."...