Free Republic

Climate Change: As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. Maybe Al Gore can Photoshop something before December. It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria. The collapse of the talks coupled with the decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to put...

Senator John Kerry described international terrorism as “primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation,’’ and urged voters to think of deadly jihadist violence as merely “a nuisance’’ that we need “to reduce’’ - akin, he said, to gambling or prostitution. Kerry lost that election, and the Bush administration’s very different approach - treating terrorist attacks as acts of war, not criminal violations - continued for four more years. Pre-empting terror in advance, not prosecuting it after the fact, remained the overriding priority. Counterterrorism efforts under George W. Bush were aggressive and they drew much criticism. But whatever else might be...

Senate bill includes the Botox tax The bill levies a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery. The provision raises $5 billion and was needed to make the numbers work, according to a Democratic Senate aide. The Finance Committee considered the tax but dismissed it, in part because it was a public relations battle that senators were not willing to wage. Page 2045 SEC. 9017. EXCISE TAX ON ELECTIVE COSMETIC MEDICAL PROCEDURES. (a) IN GENERAL.-Subtitle D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following new chapter: ''CHAPTER...

The daughter of Sen. John Kerry has been arrested in Hollywood for allegedly driving drunk. Los Angeles police say 36-year-old Alexandra Kerry was stopped by officers on a Hollywood street at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday and tested for driving under the influence. Officer Bruce Borihanh says she was booked at the Hollywood police station and was held for about five hours. She was released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail. Borihanh didn't immediately have other details. Alexandra Kerry is the eldest daughter of the Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. She has produced documentaries and has had...

One of Sen. John Kerry’s daughters was arrested early this morning for driving under the influence, Los Angeles police confirmed. Alexandra Forbes Kerry was pulled over in Hollywood for a traffic violation and was arrested for DUI at 12:40 a.m., Officer Sara Faden said. Kerry posted $5,000 bail at 5:20 a.m. Faden would not confirm Kerry’s blood alcohol level or what substance the senator’s daughter was under the influence of. Developing...

There are few organizations in the United States as steeped in tradition as the military. And one of the oldest customs is the giving of "challenge coins," privately made medallions stamped with a unit or service emblem. The ritual reportedly started during World War I, when new aviators were given coins from officers upon joining a squadron. According to one tale, a pilot was saved from execution in France after proving his identity with his coin. In a memorial ceremony this week, President Obama placed the commander in chief's coin in front of the photos of the 13 soldiers slain...

Nov200912 admin Comments Obama Sends Kerry on Swift Boat Mission to Find Lost Jobs As unemployment numbers continue to rise, and job losses mount, President Obama announced that he has assigned Senator John Kerry to go on a swift boat mission to find the missing jobs.“I am honored to be selected for this task,� said Kerry. “As a Vietnam veteran and swift boat commander, I am the right man for the job. Senator Kerry, reporting for duty! I can remember clearly on Christmas day in 2008 listening to the radio while sitting in Canada and hearing President Bush say...

Control: The House and Senate climate bills contain a provision giving the president extraordinary powers in the event of a "climate emergency." As chief of staff Rahm Emanuel says, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. If you thought the House health care bill that nobody read has hidden passages that threaten our freedoms and liberty, take a peak at the "trigger" placed in the byzantine innards of both the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill and the Kerry-Boxer bill just passed by Democrats out of Sen. Barbara Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee. As Nick Loris of the Heritage Foundation points...

Woah, what is Senator Lindsey Graham up to? And why has this Southern conservative joined hands with Northern liberals to get global warming legislation through the Senate? That’s a question that has most of the GOP and all of the global warming denier crowd scratching their heads and feeling betrayed on a hot emotional issue. Graham supports the Obama administration’s plan to create a cap-and-trade program to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recently, Graham joined with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in a New York Times op-ed article to propose a radical compromise that would merge environmental and energy policies...

WATCH VIDEO (1:43)chuckdevore.com - Nobody is really sure what Carly Fiorina really stands for. In the past year she has supported the bailout parts of the stimulus, cap and tax, and other liberal policies proposed by President Obama and Barbara Boxer. Can we really trust Carly on these issues?

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., flanked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, to discuss climate change legislation

Even as a Senate global-warming bill remained in limbo with Democrats refusing to delay a committee vote until an economic analysis was completed, hopes rose for a potential bipartisan compromise. The Senate, meanwhile, appears to be moving away from the bill, authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., which would require a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and would have the government sell the right to emit carbon dioxide. Even as Boxer conducted an unusual one-sided hearing on her bill in the Environment and Public Works Committee, Kerry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and...

You would think by now, Sen. John Kerry would have learned to avoid co-eds packing Instamatics! But nooooo. Our senior senator was captured in yet another embarrassing Kodak moment with a couple of Emerson College students, who popped by his posh Louisburg Square digs to trick or treat on Halloween night.

Earlier this month, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stirred up a tempest when they announced that they could overcome their political differences and agree on the critical need for a national policy that addresses the threat of climate change and moves the United States toward energy independence. Since the publication of their opinion piece, “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)” in the New York Times, pundits and policy experts alike have declared the Senators’ announcement a “game-changer” and possible tipping point that could lead to the passage of a bipartisan climate change bill — maybe even...

WASHINGTON -- The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees are asking the Law Library of Congress to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that they charge is flawed and “has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks” the country. The request, by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has sparked cries of censorship from Republicans who say the Democrats don't like what the August report said: that the government of Honduras had the authority to remove President Manuel Zelaya from office. Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy...

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on clean energy jobs Former Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke, left, gets a hug from Victoria Reggie Kennedy as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. looks on, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington following a ceremony where Brooke received the Congressional Gold Medal. President Barack Obama and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks during...

RUSH: It is apparent, ladies and gentlemen, that General John "Swifty" Kerry has taken over Obama foreign policy. You people who thought you were voting for Obama to change foreign policy were wrong. You know, I still can't get over that last sound bite. President Obama, there aren't Bush troops, and there aren't Obama troops. Those are American soldiers, and you've abandoned them, while claiming to these naval people in Jacksonville yesterday you never -- he's embarrassing. Worse than that, it's dangerous. We got John "Swifty" Kerry, who served in Vietnam, by the way, yesterday afternoon at the Council on...

What America needs today,” Sen. John Kerry insisted, “is a smarter, more comprehensive and far-sighted strategy for modernizing the Middle East.” We have to “draw on all of our nation’s strengths,” including “military might” and “the immense moral prestige of freedom and democracy.” Plus, he said, “the world’s largest economy” must invest heavily in education and infrastructure in the Middle East’s developing countries. Dissections of counterinsurgency’s fine points were not yet in vogue when Kerry laid out this ambitious blueprint for nation-building — indeed, region-building. Other than that, though, he could have easily been describing the McChrystal plan for Afghanistan....

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators tussled over the cost of climate legislation Tuesday with the leading author of the bill maintaining that while energy prices will increase, inaction on global warming would cause even worse economic and security problems. "Are there some costs? Yes sir, there are some costs," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. But of the array of studies that show restricting greenhouse gases will lead to higher energy prices, he said, "none of them factor in the cost of doing nothing." Kerry was the leadoff witness as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began a series of marathon...

This is the moment....when Senator John Kerry, who served in Vietnam and currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday that he opposes sending more troops unless conditions on the ground improve in Afghanistan. I'd say that's the basic gist of it. I think James Dobbins states it very well: James Dobbins, who served as a special envoy to Afghanistan during the Bush administration and is now at the Rand Corp., said that Kerry had made many "sensible" points in the speech but that he found the conclusion unsatisfactory. "The argument seems to be that we're not going to...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Even his best friend betrayed him. Stelian Tanase found out when he asked to see the thick file that Romania's communist-era secret police had kept on him. The revelation nearly knocked the wind out of him: His closest pal was an informer who regularly told agents what Tanase was up to. "In a way, I haven't even recovered today," said Tanase, a novelist who was placed under surveillance and had his home bugged during the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. "He was the one person on Earth I had the most faith in," he said. "And...

If President Clinton was known for political triangulation, his wife is establishing herself as the quarterback of a multidirectional diplomatic offense. Sen. John Kerry's dramatic insertion into talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week marked the third time the Obama administration has used proxy diplomats to resolve major foreign crises. While critics of the approach say it is undermining Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and regular diplomatic channels, Mr. Kerry and State Department officials say that the secretary fully supported the senator's unusual role. Mrs. Clinton even called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, on Monday to...

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 Remarks by the President Challenging Americans to Lead the Global Economy in Clean Energy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts 12:44 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please, have a seat. Thank you. Thank you, MIT. (Applause.) I am -- I am hugely honored to be here. It's always been a dream of mine to visit the most prestigious school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Applause.) Hold on a second --...

Hill's powerless playMichael Goodwin Last Updated: 5:46 AM, October 25, 2009 **SNIP** The Secretary of State is MII--Missing In Inaction. It's not just that she's been whittled down by the Obama White House, where there can be only one One. **SNIP** She was asked if it's true she is a hawk on Afghanistan. "No, I don't think so," she responded, rejecting labels without saying anything meaningful about our policy in a country where we have 68,000 troops and the debate is whether to send more. Clinton is smart and tough and no dovish lefty, but suddenly she is acting like...

Politicians love photo-ops. So when Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) appeared alongside Hamid Karzai as the beleaguered Afghan president announced that he would agree to a runoff election, it was hardly surprising. Kerry was doing what politicians do. Moreover, the senator was in Kabul to supplement the Obama administration's efforts to lean on Karzai to hold another presidential vote, given widespread evidence that the one held in August was rigged. When Karzai claimed victory then, his main opponent, former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, cried foul, a chorus of international criticism arose and an Afghan government infamous for its ineptitude and...

He's not a Cabinet member or an ambassador, but Sen. John Kerry has ascended to the unofficial role of President Obama's global adviser on key issues that could reshape the nation's image around the world. Mediating Afghanistan's presidential election vaulted Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, from the already prominent chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee into the most exclusive circle around a new president who is juggling but has yet to resolve a variety of domestic and foreign policy matters. Beyond policy, Mr. Kerry knows how Washington works.

When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs goofed and referred to "Secretary Kerry" on Wednesday, it seemed like one heck of a Freudian slip. But Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and former presidential candidate -- fresh back from a successful diplomatic mission to Afghanistan -- is brushing off any suggestion that he's positioning for a promotion or stepping on the real secretary of state's toes.

Oh Dear Lord, will this doofus NEVER stop talking? Blah blah Afghanistan, blah blah Afghanistan… Somebody PLEASE hit me with a ball-peen hammer! Oooh, if I push my fist against my lower lip like this, it hurts enough to keep me awake… Good to know… Didn’t this guy run for president and lose? Why do I have to give a fat crap what he says? Didn’t I win? I wanna be out there doin’ the hula hoop with Michelle on the lawn… Look, she’s having a great time. “Hey, Michelle! Come in here for a minute and listen to What’s-His-Name!...

WASHINGTON – He's not president, a Cabinet member or ambassador, but Sen. John Kerry has ascended to the unofficial role of President Barack Obama's global adviser on key issues that could reshape the nation's image around the world. Mediating Afghanistan's presidential election vaulted Kerry from the already prominent chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee into the most exclusive circle around a new president who is juggling but has not resolved a variety of domestic and foreign policy matters. Beyond policy, Kerry knows how Washington works. ... "Obviously, Sen. Kerry is somebody who has a broad range of experience and...

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), fresh off a trip from Afghanistan, said Wednesday that President Barack Obama should wait until after the results of that country's Nov. 7 runoff election are known before deciding on a strategy for the region. The White House has said only that Obama will make a decision on the way forward in Afghanistan in the coming weeks, but Kerry told reporters at the White House that "common sense" would dictate that Obama "wait to see what kind of government you have to work with at that time." Kerry, who was instrumental in convincing Afghan President Hamid...

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kerry says President Barack Obama should wait until after the new Afghanistan presidential election is conducted before making his decision for the war. The Massachusetts Democrat told it wouldn't make "common sense" for Obama to determine whether more U.S. troops should go to Afghanistan without knowing the election results. He said, "You really want to know that this has worked and you want to know what's coming out of it."

Pakistani newspapers are buzzing with reports that the son of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi works for Sen. John Kerry, man of the hour in helping resolve Afghanistan's elections dispute. A spokesman for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told POLITICO that Zain H. Qureshi has served as an intern in Kerry's personal Senate office. He said it was his understanding that the internship has concluded. He didn't immediately know the duration of Qureshi's work in Kerry's office. A business card circulating on Pakistani sites describes Zain Qureshi as a legislative fellow in Kerry's Senate office. Pakistani media are portraying...

When Sen. John Kerry left Kabul Sunday night after four weekend meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mr. Karzai was still wavering on accepting an audit of vote fraud that would require a runoff election.Just 12 hours later, the senator was back for a fifth meeting with the reluctant Mr. Karzai to bring him around to the U.S. position, according to officials familiar with the negotiations. An apparent deal almost unraveled again Tuesday morning, just hours before the announcement, the officials said.Mr. Karzai still had issues, particularly with how Afghan election authorities would characterize the vote. In the end they...

JERUSALEM – Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., are among the keynote speakers slated to address the annual dinner of J Street, a controversial Israel lobby group accused of working against the Jewish state, while scores of lawmakers are backing out of the event amid news media coverage of the organization's agenda. Nearly 160 congressional lawmakers, mostly Democrats, endorsed the Oct. 26 dinner with some reportedly slated to attend. The night's speaker list includes politicians as well as poet Josh Healey, who has penned works implying Israel is perpetuating a Holocaust against Palestinians. J Street brands...

Politics: Move over, John McCain and Olympia Snowe. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is fast becoming the Democrats' favorite Republican as he partners with John Kerry to push cap-and-trade through the Senate. Earlier this year, eight Republican congressmen made it possible for Waxman-Markey, the 1,400-page job- and economy-killing cap-and-trade legislation, to barely pass the House of Representatives. At the time it seemed dead on arrival in the Senate if it was brought up there this year. Once again, as with their medical plan, the Democrats seek to better the odds by putting a GOP hood ornament on a Democratic clunker....

Despite a United Nations’ report finding that Honduras acted within the parameters of its constitution in removing sitting President Manuel Zelaya, the Obama Administration remained firm in its demand that Zelaya be restored to power. “While we certainly respect the UN’s right to a different point of view, we must insist on the reestablishment of the Zelaya Government,” said President Barack Obama. “His removal was founded on an adherence to formalistic procedures rather than a true expression of the people’s will.” “It is our belief that the popular referendum President Zelaya sought is fully compatible with the core democratic principles...

John Kerry, the US senate's foreign relations committee chairman, has said it would be "irresponsible" to send more US troops to Afghanistan. Kerry's comments on Saturday came as a deepening election crisis that has placed the Kabul government's legitimacy at stake continues. "It would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the United States to commit more troops to this country, when we don't even have an election finished and know who the president is and what kind of government we're working in, with," said Kerry. "When our own commanding general tells us that a critical component of achieving our mission here is,...

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has long resisted climate change legislation, has joined the ranks of those pushing for a bipartisan agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. We welcome his change of heart. Mr. Graham has sensibly decided that it helps neither the planet, the country nor his party to block efforts to solve the problem of global warming. . . . . . Mr. Graham’s conversion could encourage Senator John McCain and Maine’s Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — all past supporters of climate change legislation — to come forward again, and it could attract fence-sitters...

With Afghanistan's election crisis deepening, Sen. John Kerry says it would be irresponsible for the U.S. to consider sending additional troops to the region at this time. In taped remarks to air Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Kerry said it would be misguided to have a troop buildup to achieve a mission of "good governance" when the election is not yet finished.

Barack Obama needs a nap. His flight arrived from Springfield, Ill., at 4 a.m. and he was awake at 6 to do "Meet the Press," then "Face the Nation," then CNN's "Late Edition." This is an impressive regimen for anyone, especially a little-known senator from Illinois. That would be a state senator from Illinois. Obama has not been elected to the United States Senate. He is merely a candidate -- a dynamic, stirring and potentially historic candidate who would be the only African American in the U.S. Senate and just the third since Reconstruction. But still a candidate nonetheless. "I'm...

According to Congressional travel records, House and Senate members spent 6,910 days on “official travel” overseas in the first three-quarters of 2009, spending an estimated $9.4 million. They hit the obvious-Iraq and Afghanistan-but also those bastions of American security concern Scotland, Morocco, Denmark and Sweden. But when Sen. Jim DeMint tried to visit Honduras, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry forbade an official trip, cutting off funds for the flight-an unprecedented step for a committee chairman. Sen. Kerry then tried to exchange permission for the trip for the release of Sen. DeMint’s hold on two administration appointees — a bribe...

INTERVIEW-Kerry wary of sending more US troops to AfghanistanSource: Reuters By Simon Denyer and Thomas Ferraro 13 Oct 2009 22:24:08 GMT WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who will travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan this week, said on Tuesday he was "very wary" of sending more American troops to the region. Minutes after getting off the phone to President Barack Obama about the issue, Kerry said neither of the two extremes -- a nationwide counterinsurgency and nation-building effort in Afghanistan nor "walking away from the place" -- were do-able. "The key in Afghanistan is...

Lindsey Graham is at it again, playing the same game he learned from his good friend John McCain. When will Republicans in Congress realize that they always get a raw deal when they attempt to reach "bi-partisan" agreements with Democrats? One would think Senator Graham would have already learned the nearly disastrous lesson of his support for amnesty in 2006, but a dual op-ed with John Kerry from Sunday on the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill shows that he has not. The worst thing Graham does is agree that man made global warming exists and is a problem. "First, we...

(snip) "Every idea is on the table," said Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), the lead sponsor of Senate climate legislation. "We're going to work in a bona fide way with everybody to see how to bridge a gap here. We've got to get a 60-vote margin. That means you've got to legislate, which means you have to compromise." Several moderate Senate Republicans, including John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they are in talks with Kerry and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on the nuclear language, as well as other key issues."A guy like Senator Kerry...

The military ouster of Honduras's president in June has led to deep ideological fissures, paralysis in a legislative committee, and efforts to undermine national foreign policy. And no, that's not a sampling of what's happening in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, but rather in Washington, where a deep and cranky divide has formed between Democrats and Republicans over what most Democrats call a "coup"...Honduras thus becomes another entry on a long list of Latin American countries that have served as Olive Oyls to Washington's left-right tug of wars... Presidential diplomatic appointments are being held hostage; one Democratic senator tried to...

 According to Congressional travel records, House and Senate members spent 6,910 days on "official travel" overseas in the first three-quarters of 2009, spending an estimated $9.4 million. They hit the obvious-Iraq and Afghanistan-but also those bastions of American security concern Scotland, Morocco, Denmark and Sweden.  But when Sen. Jim DeMint tried to visit Honduras, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry forbade an official trip, cutting off funds for the flight-an unprecedented step for a committee chairman. Sen. Kerry then tried to exchange permission for the trip for the release of DeMint's hold on two administration appointees - a bribe the...

The Man Behind the Curtain and his Drones. ...."In a November 2008 in and interview with Spiegel, Soros made some comments that accurately outlined precisely the course that President Obama's administration would eventually pursue in 2009: "I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets -- because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost...

Now that the Senate has returned from its August recess, its members have many issues with which to contend. Although health care reform has received much of the attention in recent weeks, another bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) or more widely known as Waxman-Markey or “cap & trade,” is equally deserving of scrutiny. This is because most major economic impact studies demonstrate that the “cap & trade” scheme proposed in the Waxman-Markey bill will create massive consumer costs with undefined environmental benefits. In June, the Waxman-Markey bill narrowly passed the U.S. House 219-212...