Free Republic

NEW YORK – Get over it, America. Wall Street bankers make too much money. The latest example: Goldman Sachs says it has set aside $16.7 billion so far this year for compensation — or about $530,000 per employee. Not bad for a company that a year ago received $10 billion in federal money as well as $12.9 billion from the government's bailout of American International Group Inc. Maddening? Sure. But forcing Goldman or any other Wall Street firm to pay employees less won't help a single unemployed American find a job. It won't help a single homeowner who can't afford...

Today Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev told students at Pittsburgh University that he did have input on the president's decision. What's important is Barack Obama listened to my position. Perhaps it was part of the basis for his decision. We are learning to listen to each other. This is a change from the previous administration. I think these are bold, courageous decisions, to change decisions of previous administrations concerning foreign policy. This was a complex decision. I tried to put myself in his shoes. It would not have been easy for me.

For an uneducated, unsophisticated rube and former governor from a backwater state, Sarah Palin sure can drive a debate. With prospects for passage of his sweeping overhaul of the American health care delivery system fading with every speech, President Barack Obama is making it increasingly clear that Palin will be recognized, for good or ill, as perhaps the most prominent single political figure responsible for stopping it in its tracks. It’s a remarkable story. A failed vice-presidential candidate and resigned governor — unfairly viewed by many as a cruel joke – reached from beyond the political grave her elitist critics...

After a month without Lines -- on Friday or any other day -- Fixistas need their, um, Fix. And, of course, we aim to please. So this week we are doing two Lines -- one today looking at the ten most influential Republican leaders in the party and then one tomorrow ranking the ten Senate races most likely to switch parties in 2010. Republicans have seen something of a reversal of fortune since we last penned a Line looking at their relatively meager list of leaders. (snip) 10. John Cornyn 9. Sarah Palin 8. Mitch Daniels 7. Mike Huckabee 6....

At least in part due to Glenn Beck's influence, Obama administration aide Yosi Sergant was asked to resign today. Beck attacked Sergant and the NEA on his Fox News talk show, accusing the agency of propaganda efforts similar to those used by Nazi Germany. And now Sergant has been tossed overboard, making him Beck's second victim in his campaign to rid the administration of perceived radicals, socialists, communists, fascists, anarchists and all other manner of nefarious influences. Conservatives are considering this an opportunity to attack the N.E.A. I hate to evoke this name, because it has a tendency (like Hitler's)...

The Obama Administration announced it was officially abandoning use of the phrase "global war on terror", as well as references to "jihadists". In fact, the only terminology now accepted by the Obama Administration is a reference to fighting Al-qaeda. As if no other "jihadist" terror organizations exist. Wonder why? Last February Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's "Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, [CMCU], held a panel discussion on the Middle East. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D., reported on this panel discussion in an article posted to his minaret blog entitled "Advising Obama on the Middle East" A few excerpts: "The panelists were Aaron David...

Kennedy’s Comrade: Hunting a KGB Mole in the Democratic PartyBy Fedora With thanks to those who helped Profile of an Agent In 1999, espionage author Christopher Andrew revealed that Soviet archives smuggled by defector Vasili Mitrokhin described an unnamed KGB agent recruited from California Democratic Party circles in the 1970s: Though [Gus] Hall tended to overstate the influence of undeclared members of the CPUSA within the Democratic Party, there was at least one to whom the [KGB’s] Centre attached real importance during the 1970s: a Democratic activist in California recruited as a KGB agent during a visit to Russia. The...

First Lady Michelle Obama, about to round out the summer with a stay on Martha's Vineyard, perhaps packing those shorts for the trip, debuted on the Forbes list of 100 Most Powerful Women -- at No. 40. Given that the list is heavily tilted to CEOs and world leaders, it seems a reasonable slot. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was No. 1 and Sheila Bair,

Oddly enough, Andy Ostray of The Huffington Post, had nothing but almost great things to say about Governor Palin. Are we starting to see even the left seeing the power of Palin? Simply posting notes on her Facebook page and she is changing national policy and putting the White House on the defense. Imprerssive to say the least, according to Andy Ostroy. As the debate over Obama's health-care overhaul intensifies, one thing has become quite clear: it took former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin just three weeks into 'retirement' to prove that when it comes to major domestic policy, she is...

On the eve before the Back of the Yards Council's founding convention, the Chicago Daily News announced that "something new in community organization is about to happen in the Back of the Yards. The council is the conception and individual project of Saul D. Alinsky. The residents of the district are almost completely stockyard workers and Catholics, and on this basis the sociologist Alinsky has enlisted churchmen and the CIO leaders to form the main pillars of the neighborhood council." At the CHD's 25th anniversary, Cardinal Bernardin would have been more historically precise if he had stated that the great...

The sad news of the death of former correspondent and newscaster Walter Cronkite gripped the entire nation last week and continues to do so. Many generations are grieving for the man who brought the truth of living history into our homes and into our lives. Each generation has its own vision of the man who became affectionately known as “Uncle” Walter. To the older generations, born during the Great Depression and prior, he first gained national attention by reporting firsthand on the struggle of World War II. His coverage of the war included North Africa and Europe, where he participated...

In January, the Congressional Budget Office reported that healthcare legislation drafted by the Senate would add $1 trillion to the federal deficit and only reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 16 million. Then in July, the CBO reported that healthcare legislation drafted by the House would add $239 billion to the federal deficit and actually increase healthcare costs. Now, Barack Obama wants a meeting with the director of the Congressional Budget Office. After these CBO numbers .. which some Democrats have described as "devastating" .. it's time to pull out the big guns. Get this guy a meeting with...

Katharine Weymouth, the relatively new publisher of The Washington Post, is a lawyer who worked for the company for 12 years and was educated at the Harvard School of Business, so she is hardly a naïf in running a business. But she has never worked in a newsroom, a gap in her résumé that may have contributed to her current problems. As first reported in Politico, The Washington Post had sent out a brochure offering sponsorships — a fee of $25,000 for one, or $250,000 for an entire series — for an exclusive “Washington Post salon” at Ms. Weymouth’s home...

Is the right responsible for inspiring murder, such as that of late-term abortionist George Tiller by Kansas native Scott Roeder?  Some certainly seem to think so.  For instance, the Friday before last Bill O'Reilly had as a guest on his show Joan Walsh, the editor of leftist news site Salon.com.  She appeared because she had criticized O'Reilly for engaging in what she called a "jihad" against Tiller.  Her thesis is that O'Reilly and, presumably, the rest of us who are passionately pro-life are culpable Tiller's death. Of course, this isn't a novel idea among the left.  If there is any...

Update on Recovery Act Lobbying Rules: New Limits on Special Interest Influence Another update from Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, in the spirit of transparency as always: I am writing with an update on the President’s March 20, 2009 Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds. Section 3 of the Memorandum required all oral communications between federally registered lobbyists and government officials concerning Recovery Act policy to be disclosed on the Internet; barred registered lobbyists from having oral communications with government officials about specific Recovery Act projects or applications and instead...

NEEDHAM, Mass. – A Massachusetts man may wish he had breakfast in bed instead of in his car. Police said a man who was stopped for erratic driving on Central Avenue last week was eating a bowl of cereal and milk while he drove. He told officers he was hungry. ... Schlittler didn't know what kind of cereal the driver was eating.

According to Newsweek's Ramin Setoodeh, "American Idol's" Adam Lambert could "be heading home" due to those homophobic Christians that watch every week. Lambert, Setoodeh wrote in a May 12 blog post, "has been called the best ‘Idol' singer in the history of the show, thanks to his Celine Dion-like pipes. But he's also one of the most controversial, thanks to his Marilyn Manson-like wardrobe and his (not-so) ambiguous sexuality." Despite the fact that Randy, Simon and Paula all like Lambert, and he's garnered enough votes to compete in the semi-finals of "Idol," Setoodeh warned of a "possible roadblock" to a...

The World's Most Influential People In our annual TIME 100 issue, we do the impossible: name the people who most affect our world. Leaders & RevolutionariesBuilders & TitansArtists & EntertainersHeroes & IconsScientists & Thinkers

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- First Lady Michelle Obama is visiting New York City.</p> <p>Obama will speak Tuesday evening at a celebration for Time magazine's issue of what it considers the world's 100 most influential people.</p>

A group called Wall Street Watch is out with a report that finds that “Wall Street investment firms, commercial banks, hedge funds, real estate companies and insurance conglomerates made $1.7 billion in political contributions and spent another $3.4 billion on lobbyists” between 1998 and 2008. The report, "Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," concludes that the contributions were “aimed at undercutting federal regulation” and ultimately “led directly to the current financial collapse.” The two men behind the report are California lawyer Harvey Rosenfield of the nonprofit Consumer Education Foundation and Robert Weissman of Essential Information, a Washington...