Free Republic

Europe's first president, is to join forces with the European Commission to push for sweeping new tax raising powers for Brussels. Within days of taking office in January, the former Belgian prime minister will put his weight behind controversial proposals already floated by the commission's head, José Manuel Barroso, for a new "Euro tax". Mr Van Rompuy, 62, who was appointed to the newly-created £320,000-a-year post at last week's special EU summit, set out his stall on direct Euro-taxes during a private speech He will add credence to Mr Barroso's plans, to be formally tabled in the New Year, by...

The Israel Air Force carried out an air strike against terrorist operations in Gaza overnight in retaliation for a Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev on Saturday. The rocket exploded in the city of Sderot, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office, but caused no injuries or damage. In response, IAF fighter jets targeted and identified hitting two weapons factories in the northern and central regions of Gaza early Sunday. They also struck one smuggling tunnel located in the area of Rafiah, along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. All pilots returned to base safely...

Not only do liberals want to tax the so-called rich in order to fund health care for illegal aliens and other uninsured millions, now a prominent member of the U.S. Senate has proposed a tax on the well to do to pay for Obama’s quagmire in Afghanistan. As reported at Bloomberg.com, in part: “Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.” Levin’s un-American scheme may actually find support among leftists who hate the rich more than...

Yesterday they underlined this message by pointing to reports showing that Mr Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman. There was also strikingly robust criticism from an independent Washington think-tank about a “disconcerting void” over transatlantic relations in Mr Obama’s foreign policy, as well as from a former British Minister for Europe. Mr Obama’s advisers say that he has an “intuitive grasp” of world affairs because he spent part of his childhood abroad. “The benefit of my life of having both lived overseas and travelled overseas is, I...

These people act in concert to diminish, reject, and otherwise denigrate findings with which they do not agree — and they are able to do so because of their “establishment” positions. This is the preservation of “group think” at its most serious level…. The group represented by the bulk of these emails does indeed have a message to defend. Those of us who see problems with that message are aware of how the data are manufactured and interpreted to support that message — and worse, how these establishment scientists act as gatekeepers for the “consensus” reports to suppress alternative findings.

After Spending Billions, State Remains Hampered By Outmoded, Unreliable Computer Systems An embarrassing legacy of cost overruns, botched upgrades and failed networking projects has left California to rely on decades-old technology and jury-rigged software systems. By Patrick McGreevy November 21, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento - California may be known as the cradle of computer innovation, but several state agencies can't get their computers to perform essential functions despite hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns for repair and upgrade work. Although taxpayer money has been flowing to corporate consultants and software overhauls, some computer systems are on the verge...

TAXPAYERS will fork out more than $1 million on police, security guards and beach fencing to babysit schoolies on the Gold Coast. That Department of Communities alone will spend $610,000 to fund Schoolies week, which starts tomorrow. The money pays for free entertainment for the teenage revellers, security guards, beach fencing, wristbands, support services and volunteer co-ordination. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more will be spent on police and ambulance services for the almost 30,000 schoolies expected to hit the Gold Coast.

Glenn Beck Stakes Out a More Activist Role in Politics BRIAN STELTER November 21, 2009 Glenn Beck, the popular and outspoken Fox News host, says he wants to go beyond broadcasting his opinions and start rallying his political base — formerly known as his audience — to take action. To do so, Mr. Beck is styling himself as a political organizer. In an interview, he said he would promote voter registration drives and sponsor a series of seven conventions across the country featuring what he described as libertarian speakers. On Saturday he held a festive campaign-style rally in The Villages...

As we left it last week: I was on my way to the White House with a horsy pajama-clad leader of the free world, his toadies, Axelrod and Emanuel and three Secret Service Agents. For secrecy measures, the President had opted to make a Cessna puddle-jumper the make-shift AF1 to pick me up. After I applied a little “Godfather” shock therapy, I was about to give President Obama the advice he sorely needs to prevent his administration from descending to the bottom of the cesspool beneath history’s worst president, Jimmy Carter! As bright sunlight now pushes the mighty midget craft...

Fox News: The president may be undecided on whether to put more forces in Afghanistan, but he was happy to share face time with some troops at his last stop in South Korea before returning to the United States. "You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president reportedly joked with the 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base. Video at link.

Sweeteners for the South By Dana Milbank Sunday, November 22, 2009 Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state. And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the...

Oil-refinery workers on the Delaware River yesterday received their second big blow in six weeks, when Valero Energy Corp. said it would close its operation in Delaware City, Del., casting 550 out of work. When workers heard the news, "it was like a time bomb went off," said Matt Edler, who has worked for 10 years at the refinery that rises out of the lowlands near the Delaware River in southern New Castle County. "My grandfather worked there, my father, and I worked there," said Edler, who yesterday afternoon joined other shocked refinery workers at Red Lion Inn in Bear,...

Sadly, he is right. Senator Reid, the other 57 Democrats, and both Independents voted to move the Senate Health Care Bill forward for debate, and ultimately, a vote. Not one Republican voted for the bill. I expected that Joe Lieberman (I-CT) would have had a bit more sense than to be willing to debate a bill with the same people who had not the slightest bit of intellectual honesty during the Bush Administration. Incredibly, he bought the line that Reid was selling. If you could see the smug look on Reid's face, then you would be able to tell that...

sweeping healthcare overhaul narrowly cleared its first hurdle in the Senate on Saturday, with Democrats casting 60 party-line votes to open debate on the biggest healthcare changes in decades. In the first Senate test for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, Democrats unanimously backed a procedural motion to open debate over the opposition of 39 Republicans. Republican George Voinovich did not vote. Democrats needed 60 votes to approve the motion in the 100-member Senate and had no margin for error -- they control exactly 60 votes...

Most of the media hate Sarah Palin. Given the hyperfocused offensive targeted at her, the simple conclusion is that the left-wing establishment views the former Alaska governor as the greatest threat to the current Democratic monopoly on power in Washington. Certainly Mrs. Palin's book tour is generating a lot of enthusiasm across the country, with thousands of admirers flocking to each stop. The book itself, "Going Rogue," was locked in at No. 1 on best-seller lists for weeks before it was officially available for sale. Mrs. Palin's appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" attracted the largest audience the program has...

HOW do you tell a wealthy heiress from a family farmer? It sounds like the setup for a joke. But in fact it is the fundamental problem underlying sensible reform of the federal estate tax. Members of Congress are hoping to revise the current law on the estate tax by the end of this year; if they don’t, the estate tax will disappear for a year. Lawmakers should use the opportunity to solve the farmer/heiress riddle once and for all and move our tax system closer to the values on which the country was founded — that hard work should...

The Pending Financial, Economic, Political And Social Collapse Of The United States Politics / US Politics Nov 21, 2009 - 03:20 AM By: Submissions Timothy V. Gatto writes: The truth that most people realize but can’t openly talk about is that America has seen better days and that the system of capitalism has long outlived its usefulness. The last part of that sentence, that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, is thoroughly the fault of the capitalists themselves. For many years now, transnational corporations have sent much of America’s manufacturing overseas in order to take advantage of low cost workers. About...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months. Chavez read aloud a letter to the 83-year-old former Cuban leader during a televised speech Saturday night, saying "Venezuela awaits you." Chavez proposed that Castro visit at some point between now and April, during a congress of his socialist party. The 83-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing a series of emergency intestinal surgeries in July 2006.

The findings led to an early halt of a small study comparing Niaspan and Zetia, two compounds commonly used along with statins to reduce heart attack risk ORLANDO, Fla. — Adding a pharmaceutical form of the B vitamin niacin — but not the drug ezetimibe — to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug appears to reduce artery plaque buildup in patients with coronary artery disease, according to much-anticipated results announced at a press conference November 15. The results were from a study that was relatively small — only 208 patients — but provided a head-to-head comparison of niacin and ezetimibe, known by...

Financial And Economic Situation Could Get Ugly Fast Economics / Economic Stimulus Nov 21, 2009 - 03:27 AM By: Mike_Whitney Things could get ugly fast. With the Democrats backing-off on a second round of stimulus, the Fed signaling an end to quantitative easing, and Obama moaning about rising deficits; there's a good chance that the stumbling recovery could turn into another sharp plunge. Bank lending is shrinking, consumers spending is off, housing prices are falling, unemployment is soaring and the wholesale credit markets are in a shambles. This isn't the time to slash government support in the name of "fiscal...

The hundreds of e-mails being made public after someone hacked into Phil Jones’ Climatic Research Unit (CRU) computer system offer a revealing peek inside the IPCC machine. It will take some time before we know whether any illegal activity has been uncovered (e.g. hiding or destruction of data to avoid Freedom of Information Act inquiries). Some commentators even think this is the beginning of the end for the IPCC. I doubt it. The scientists at the center of this row are defending themselves. Phil Jones has claimed that some of the more alarming statements in his e-mails have been taken...

The man sadly reports reality!

Brace yourself, an ounce of common sense has been found in a Democrat! Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) penned a letter to Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggesting military trials would be a more appropriate venue for the accused terrorists. “As a former prosecutor, I am not yet convinced that the right decision was made in these cases, nor that the presumption in favor of federal criminal trials over military tribunals for these detainees should continue,” Skelton wrote. … “The decision to terminate the prosecution of these self-confessed terrorists in military commissions, transfer them to the United States, and bring...

Does Sarah Palin’s new book make her more appealing as a candidate for public office?

Landrieu defended the inclusion of the provision and said Republican critics who accuse her of selling her vote for $100 million are wrong and that she has the support of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “I will correct something. It’s not $100 million, it’s $300 million, and I’m proud of it and will keep fighting for it,” Landrieu told reporters after her floor speech. “But that is not why I started this health care debate; I started this health care debate for all the reasons I just mentioned in my statement” on...

Much like the Jewish Sanhedrin did 20 centuries ago when they convened in the dark of night to decide the fate of Jesus Christ, the United States Senate is planning to convene this Saturday night to decide the fate of this once great Christian nation. Will they crucify our economy with their final decision? If the current 2,000 page health bill ever passes, it will be the death of our nation.

Note: The following text is a quote: IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 917-09 November 20, 2009 DOD Announces Military Commissions Actions Today, prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions announced they intend to ask the convening authority to refer new charges under the recently-enacted Military Commissions Act of 2009 against Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu al-Nashiri, in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors and injuries to many more. This announcement follows the attorney general's determination on Nov. 13, 2009, that a military...

Odds are the huge stock market rebound since March has run its course. And even though it yields nothing, it's time to raise cash. Nothing is screamingly cheap. The easy money has been made in both equities and fixed income. From the low point in March, it seems you can't pick an asset class that hasn't gained something in the area of 60%. That was some fear discount back in March. During this universal recovery, as in most post-recessionary periods, lower-quality high-yield bonds have outperformed quality issues, and lots of smart guys who had the guts and money to buy...

Steve Lee, of Denver, Colo., is familiar with the despondency that unemployment brings. Laid off a year ago from a medical-sales position, he admits that depression hit just a few months into his unemployment. "All I could think about was how bad the economy was and how unlikely getting a new job as good as my old one would be," he said. With tips like "start exercising" and "try to stay hopeful," cyber-counsel for the 15 million currently out of work rings hollow at best, leaving those thigh-deep in unemployment wondering where to turn for practical advice. With Thanksgiving just...

AOL and Time Warner have finally called it quits. James Quinn looks at the souring of the dotcom match that appeared to have been made in mergers and acquisitions heaven It was an auspicious occasion, the business titans of the West standing shoulder to shoulder at the dawn of a new century. On the stage of the Shanghai International Convention Centre, in late September 1999, the crème de la crème of business achievement smiled at the hundreds of delegates, both Chinese and from around the world, who had gathered for the Fortune Global Forum. From AIG's Hank Greenberg to Viacom's...

After decades of mistrust and sometimes betrayal, Mexican and U.S. authorities are increasingly setting aside their differences to unite against a common enemy. According to interviews in Washington and Mexico City, the two countries are sharing sensitive intelligence and computer technology, military hardware and, perhaps most importantly, U.S. know-how to train and vet Mexican agents. Police and soldiers secretly on the cartels' payroll have long poisoned efforts at cross-border cooperation against some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. "The recognition by both sides, at the highest levels, that we have a shared responsibility for drug trafficking and serious crime...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's military said it will begin large-scale air defense drills on Sunday, and a cleric in the Revolutionary Guards warned that the Islamic Republic would fire missiles at "the heart of Tel Aviv" if attacked. The war games, due to last five days, are intended to help protect Iran's nuclear facilities, Iranian media reported, citing Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani. The statements came a day after senior officials from six world powers said they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear weapons, and urged Tehran to reconsider.

IAF aircraft bombed two Hamas weapons plants in northern and central Gaza Strip overnight Saturday, as well as an arms smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip. Masked Palestinian terrorists... According to the IDF Spokesperson's Office, the attack was in response to the Kassam rocket launched at Israel on Saturday morning. Palestinian sources said five people were wounded in the attack. On Saturday morning, a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza hit the Sha'ar Hanegev region, causing no casualties or damage. Israel reacted with little enthusiasm to reports on Saturday that Hamas had reached an agreement with other terrorist groups in Gaza...

Major Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 in the Fort Hood shooting spree, is paralyzed from the chest down and is not a flight risk, said his defense attorney after a hearing before a military magistrate in Hasan's hospital room Saturday. The accused Fort Hood shooter had his first court hearing in the intensive care unit of a San Antonio hospital at 1 p.m. His status has now been changed from pre-trial restriction to pre-trial confinement, meaning that he will be confined until his court martial. The military magistrate ruled that Hasan will stay at Brooke Army Medical Center for...

According to POLITICO, Obama’s fans in the Beltway are shocked, shocked that he and his White House minions scapegoat White House General Counsel Greg Craig for Obama’s failed promise to close Guantanamo in one year. The closing of Guantanamo – as Obama’s critics have long predicted – ain’t gonna happen, because there’s no place else to put the hardcore terrorists currently housed there. When Obama announced his dubious executive order closing Guantanamo by January 2010, the Kool-Aid drinkers were ecstatic. “See?” they said, “This is why we elected him. We were so right.” No, they were so wrong. It was...

McCain: "Take your AARP membership card, cut it in half and send it back to AARP because they have betrayed you."

Senate Democrats pushed ahead with President Barack Obama’s vision of health reform Saturday night – after a day that exposed significant divides in the party that could make it all but impossible to complete work on a plan by year’s end, or even sink the bill altogether. In a 60-39 vote on strictly partisan lines, the Senate sent the $848 billion health care bill to the floor for debate after the Thanksgiving break, but not before a clutch of moderates served notice that they couldn’t back the bill in its current form. One key provision – for a government-run insurance...

Electronic files that were stolen from a prominent climate research center and made public last week provide a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes battle to shape the public perception of global warming. While few U.S. politicians bother to question whether humans are changing the world's climate -- nearly three years ago the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded the evidence was unequivocal -- public debate over the debate persists. And the newly disclosed private exchanges among climate scientists at Britain's Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia reveal an intellectual circle that appears to feel very much...

Wahabism linked with terrorism; Saudi envoy stages walkout NEW DELHI: Saudi Ambassador to India Faisal Al-Trad walked out of an international conference of jurists in protest after noted Indian jurist Ram Jethmlani’s accusation that the Wahabi sect of Islam was responsible for terrorism. The conference was attended by Indian President Pratibha Patil, Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Law Minister Veerapa Moily. Jethmalani said “Wahabi terrorism” indoctrinated “rubbish” in the minds of young people to carry out terrorist attacks. He lamented that India was friends with a country that supported Wahabi terrorism. The event’s organiser, Adesh Aggarwala, said the ambassador had...

As you all know, we are in a severe economic downturn. The official unemployment rate now exceeds 10 percent and according to many observers is actually substantially higher. Within the last year or so, our financial system has been rocked to its foundations. The collapse of the housing bubble and the numerous defaults and bankruptcies connected with it brought down major financial institutions, such as Bear-Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. It also brought down numerous small and medium-sized banks and threatened to bring down even such banking giants as Citigroup and Bank of America. The Dow Jones stock average...

Martha Stewart: "She's so confused. Anyone in like that in government is a real problem."

File called trend_profiles_dogs_dinner.png in the hacked files shows a chart that looks identical in format but with a completely different result than the one on display that is showing heating in the Tropical tropospheric trend. The one in the hacked files shows Global Cooling Trends and not a warming trend. In fact, the chart in the hacked files can't be found and based on the date of the file you have to wonder if the one at Real Climate is a complete fabrication or the one in the hacked files is. The date on the file is 1/10/2008 and the...

About 1,200 Christian activists mobilized on college campuses nationwide on Wednesday to give away 170,000 copies of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the classic text on evolution. The book, however, contains a ‘Special Introduction’ by evangelist Ray Comfort that argues against Darwin’s theory and presents a creationist alternative to man’s origins and nature’s growth. The free book-giveaway has angered a number of atheists and prompted evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, a former Oxford University and University of California professor and one of the leading spokesmen for atheism and evolution, to encourage people to “just rip out” the 50-page introduction.

Citizens for a Public Option Dear Friend, Moments ago, the Senate voted to begin its full debate on historic health care reform legislation instead of obstructing it with a filibuster. Tonight's vote marks the biggest victory to date for our grassroots effort to pass health care reform with a public option. We cannot give enough thanks to the over 100,000 signers of our petition at CitizensForAPublicOption.com for helping to fundamentally shift the momentum towards meaningful reform. Not long ago, a few loud opponents of reform armed and organized by the insurance industry dominated this debate. Now the American people, the...

Via Oprah, Facebook and a bus trip that resembled a campaign swing more than a book tour, Sarah Palin reappeared on the national stage last week, minus her governorship and running-mate status, but with a new role as principled “rogue” to add to her previous credits as plain-spoken patriot and hockey mom. Party leaders weigh the benefits and risks of catering to “tea party” protesters like these, who dislike the House health care bill. Whatever else it said about America, her return brought into focus a big question for Republicans as they watched the intense reactions she generated: To what...

NEW DELHI -- As countries around the world prepare to flex their negotiating muscles at next month's climate-change summit in Copenhagen, India has begun to question the Western model of computing global warming statistics. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh released a report last week that says there is no conclusive evidence that climate change has caused the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. The report says that not all of the glaciers are receding at alarming rates and that a few are even advancing. The report, an analysis of data from the past four decades, is part of India's efforts to produce...

HUGE CROWD LINES UP TO SEE SARAH PALIN, GET BOOKS SIGNED AT Least Six States Represented in the Crowd --And one hockey mom. Sarah Palin Going Rogue book tour Washington PA, November 21, 2009 DBKP Pictures from the tour stop Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" book tour came to Washington, PA and folks from at least six states were there to greet her. DBKP was there too and got some pictures--five pages of them, to be exact. Just from our own observations, it seemed like slightly more women were present than men, which would seem to contradict those who say that...

Barack Obama played golf for over four hours today at Andrews Air Force Base, according to the AP.Our troops in Afghanistan have been waiting months for reinforcements urgently requested by Obama's hand picked Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal.Millions of Americans have lost their jobs under Obama--and they're not getting new ones--as unemployment has skyrocketed to 10.2% with no sign of abating anytime soon.Obama has blown out the budget and deficit.His foreign policy from the Middle East to Asia is in a shambles.His approval rating is below 50%, including in swing states he won last year like Iowa, Ohio and Virginia.He...

Democrats are starting to worry that President Obama's "charge-and-spend" debt, new "cap-and-trade" tax and "apologize to the world" agendas are going to hurt them when they run for re-election, leaving the WorldNetDaily Freedom Index ticking up to 53.2 on a 100-point scale, despite a month of relatively few major controversies. "What I think is going on here is that Democrats are growing slightly more concerned that the Democratic initiatives in Washington may come with a steep political price tag outside the beltway," said Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies. "This is especially true after the Democratic election losses in deep blue...

> ...Ukraine's economic collapse has produced a potential multibillion-dollar bonanza. In an era of climate change regulation and carbon trading, Ukraine, ironically, is profiting from the smokeless smokestacks of its industrial shutdown. >