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In the midst of economic troubles and much anticipation of a new administration about to enter the White House, the potential return of the Fairness Doctrine hasn’t gotten much attention. But on the eve of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, Republican members of Congress haven’t forgotten. GOP Sens. Jim DeMint, S.C. and James Inhofe, Okla., along with two of their House colleagues, Reps. Mike Pence, Ind. and Greg Walden, Ore., introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7. DeMint, who is named on the Senate of version of the bill, the DeMint-Thune Senate...

Barack Obama sent a message with the selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, but apparently didn’t think enough people understood it.  He sent a stronger message yesterday with his choice of Leon Panetta for Director of CIA, and this time, it’s unmistakable.  Political considerations will trump competence and experience, even in the most critical roles Obama has to fill: President-elect Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA.The decision —...

“Pay to Play” keeps getting better everyday: President-elect Barack Obama took big money from a man at the center of a federal probe that has forced one of Obama’s top Cabinet picks to withdraw. Financial records show the Obama campaign got more than $30,000 from California financier David Rubin, the target of an investigation into donations and possible “pay-to-play” deals involving New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama’s pick for commerce secretary. ~~~ In late September, Rubin attended an exclusive Los Angeles fundraiser for Obama, held at the Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion.

As part of his stimulus package Obama is planning to throw billions of dollars at America's school system. The only thing this will stimulate is contractors' accounts and teachers' salaries. America is spending more per student in real terms then it has ever done and the result is dismal. If Obama was really interested in education he would move to raise standards and introduce choice for the poor who want the best for their children. (When it comes to choice and children, it's only allowed in Obama's world when it comes to abortion). Apart from his outrageous hypocrisy (there is...

Fellow Freepers, I am starting a new movement and I'd like to ask for your thoughts and participation. I am starting a campaign to keep Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich in office. "Let Blago be Blago" will make the case that until Fitzgerald actually tries and convicts him, Illinois should suffer what it asked for. Democrats are anxious to get rid of this fraud to save them further embarrassment through shame by association, so I say LET BLAGO BE BLAGO!! He already made Obama, Jesse Jackson Junior, Emmanuel, Reid, Durbin and a big old corrupt labor union look like complete...

Obama's Victory: An Editorial View From Across The Pond The London Daily Mail 1-6-9 A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, the mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her, comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama-worshippers everywhere. A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done ! little with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found...

In a remarkable screw-up, a Department of Justice official today accidentally distributed to the media a document containing the names of nearly 20 confidential witnesses interviewed during a federal probe targeting the operators of a fraudulent investment scheme. In announcing felony charges against two men for their roles in an alleged $15 million Ponziesque swindle, the spokesman for Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (he of Rod Blagojevich- and Scooter Libby-prosecuting fame) e-mailed reporters a 62-page U.S. District Court complaint filed against John Walsh and Charles Martin, principals of the now-defunct One World Capital Group. Included in the document was a...

President George W. Bush meets with former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 in the Oval Office of the White House. White House photo by Eric Draper. PRESIDENT BUSH: I want to thank the President-elect for joining the ex-Presidents for lunch. And one message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed. Whether we're Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. All of...

THIS IS THE DOWNER WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!January 7, 2009After NBC canceled me "for life" on Monday -- until seven or eight hours later when the ban was splashed across the top of The Drudge Report, forcing a red-faced NBC to withdraw the ban -- an NBC insider told The Drudge Report: "We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now," explaining that "it's such a downer. It's just not the time, and it's not what our audience wants, either."   In point of fact, I'm not particularly critical of Obama in my new...

Pointing with concern to "red ink as far as the eye can see," President-elect Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to tackle out-of-control Social Security and Medicare spending and named a special watchdog to clamp down on other federal programs — even as he campaigned anew to spend the largest pile of taxpayer money in history to revive the sinking economy. The steepness of the fiscal mountain he'll face beginning Jan. 20 was underscored by stunning new figures: an estimate that the federal budget deficit will reach $1.2 trillion this year, by far the biggest ever, even without the new stimulus spending....

President-elect Barack Obama is bringing back yet another Clinton retread. While many question former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta as the best choice to head up the CIA, due to his lack of experience in the world of intelligence, the Washington Post's David Ignatius has nothing but praise for Obama's pick.(my emphasis throughout:) Here's the message, according to Obama's advisers: Panetta is a Washington heavyweight with the political clout to protect the agency and help it rebuild after a traumatic eight years under George Bush, when it became a kind of national pincushion. "Leon is not going...

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (The Second), president-elect, met at the White House today with President Bush and with former Presidents G.W. Bush, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. According to one report, the youthful, inexperienced Obama proclaimed the meeting was “extraordinary…the White House is so much bigger than it seems on TV!” The Dauphin of the Democratic Party, Obama, was given on-the-job-training by his predecessors, including a briefing on what the duties and responsibilities of the office of the President are, and a short talk on the fact that putting Hillary Clinton in a “cabinet” position does not mean...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday. Obama transition officials said the visit was in keeping with the tradition of U.S. presidents meeting with their Mexican counterpart soon after winning election.

Sen. John McCain doesn’t want to talk about the presidential campaign, and he certainly doesn’t want to discuss Sarah Palin. But two months after losing the presidential race, the “old John McCain” is back, hammering away on government reform, earmarks and wasteful government spending. The classic McCain made his first appearance of the New Year Tuesday with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), his partner in campaign finance reform. The two unveiled new legislation designed to rein in the use of earmarks in annual spending bills. McCain and Feingold will soon introduce a new version of the line-item veto, which would give...

Barack Obama’s campaign officials and transition office repeatedly have rejected reporters’ requests for comment on questions raised over his lack of documentation regarding his.... READ FULL STORY

Has Harry Reid Ever Read the Constitution? I ask in regard to the 17th amendment. The 17th amendment is one of my least favorite amendments but ignoring it is not an improvement nor is it legal to ignore it. First, for clarity I post how the Constitution directed the election of Senators prior to the 17th amendment. Article. 1, Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof , for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. The state legislature would choose the state’s Senators...

The words “economic stimulus” have a certain appeal to them because, after all, who wouldn’t want the U.S. economy to be stimulated? But, as the country is nearing his inauguration on Jan. 20 and the inevitability of President Barack Obama’s stimulus project looms, many in the news media have neglected to determine the who, what, when, where, why and how much aspects of the stimulus. Even before Obama is able to sign a economic stimulus package into law, as most are expecting, the Congressional Budget Office is reportedly expecting a $1 trillion deficit, more than double what it had forecasted...

Comprehensive immigration reform - aka an amnesty for illegal aliens - is back. Yesterday, Harry Reid introduced S.9, the "Stronger Economy, Stronger Borders Act of 2009" ("SESBA"). What's there now is just a placeholder (link), however the remarks made by Patrick Leahy at introduction show exactly what it is. Those remarks and the list of co-sponsors are at the link. Note that this is a repeat of how it started in 2007, right down to the bill number. If you want to cut this bill off at the knees, write to your representatives and let them know your opinion. However,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roland Burris said Wednesday he should be able to join the Senate "very shortly," after talking to newly supportive Democratic leaders and working on lingering legal obstacles. Talking to reporters on the second day of a Washington power odyssey that would intimidate many, the 71-year-old Burris declared himself happy and said he was pleased with his meeting with Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin. "My whole interest in this experience is to be prepared" to lead Illinois, Burris said, "and very shortly I will have the opportunity to do that." Burris' legal issues include a pending decision...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress must approve a sweeping economic stimulus package by mid-February or the United States will face a deepening crisis and more job losses, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday. Democrats wanted to present President-elect Barack Obama with a plan on January 20, his first day in office, but the target has slipped with political realities taking hold. At a Democratic-sponsored forum on suggestions for a recovery plan, Pelosi said lawmakers must ensure any response has a rapid and meaningful impact on the reeling economy. "Failure to act quickly will only lead to more job losses and...

Here’s a transcript of a call to Rahm Emanuel from Rod Blagojevich, released by US Attorney Fitzpatrick. Emanuel is a former Clinton official and Obama’s nominee for Chief of Staff. Blagojevich is Governor of Illinois, under investigation for impeachment and crimes. I didn’t edit this. Do men like this belong in anywhere in government? What about people heavily associated with them? Sorry about the language, but that’s part of who these men are. Emanuel’s comments are boldface FBI File #9536B Wiretap on line 312-XXX-XXXX November 10th, 2008 12:42 PM Eastern Time: This is Rahm. Hey Rahm, yeah it's Rod. Uh-huh....

The Roland Burris circus took a ludicrous turn today as Harry Reid and Senate Democrats threw the fate of the former Illinois attorney general, who was appointed by disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill the unexpired term of President-elect Barack Obama last week, back to Illinois and the office of Secretary of State Jesse White. It was White who refused to sign off on Burris, rejecting the paperwork on the appointment while making it clear he would not certify any candidate appointed by a governor who tried to to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. At the same...

If Europe wants to phone America on the Gaza crisis, who does it call? Not George Bush, who has two weeks left in the White House. And not Barack Obama, who has been mute on Israel’s military action, although the world looked to him immediately the conflict filled the screens. “Nobody at home in Washington”, ran one US headline on the turmoil. “President-elect Obama is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” said Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokeswoman. This is disingenuous. Even if silence is meant only as...

WOULD you ask your accountant to perform brain surgery on your child? That's the closest analogy I can find to the choice of Democratic Party hack Leon Panetta to head the CIA. Earth to President-elect Obama: Intelligence is serious. And infernally complicated. When we politicize it - as we have for 16 years - we get 9/11. Or, yes, Iraq. The extreme left, to which Panetta's nomination panders, howled that Bush and Cheney corrupted the intelligence system. Well, I worked in the intel world in the mid 1990s and saw how the Clinton team undermined the system's integrity. Al Qaeda...

No. 08A524 Title: Gail Lightfoot, et al., Applicants v. Debra Bowen, California Secretary of State Docketed: Lower Ct: Supreme Court of California   Case Nos.: (S168690) ~~~Date~~~  ~~~~~~~Proceedings  and  Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dec 12 2008 Application (08A524) for a stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, submitted to Justice Kennedy. Dec 17 2008 Application (08A524) denied by Justice Kennedy. Dec 29 2008 Application (08A524) refiled and submitted to The Chief Justice. Jan 7 2009 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of January 23, 2009. Jan 7 2009 Application (08A524) referred to the Court. ~~Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    ~~~~~~~Address~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~Phone~~~ Attorneys for...

Many Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, maintain staunch support for Israel, despite its military crackdown on Hamas in Gaza over the past two weeks, but a few Minnesotans — including Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman — have taken more independent approaches. Discussing the conflict with Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi yesterday, Ellison expanded on his statement of last Friday, which accused the Bush administration of passively ignoring the strikes and ground offensive that have killed nearly 600 people in Gaza and during which he said he supported actively engaging both sides to find...

If the Senate Republicans truly wanted to make Tombstone Burris' march on Washington a spectacle to bedevil the Democrats, here's what they'd do. They'd put on some choir robes, stand outside Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office Wednesday and invite every news organization in the land to hear them sing. They'd sing a cappella, in a mournful baritone, to mark the latest Democratic public relations disaster—the all-white Senate controlled by Democrats denying a seat to a duly appointed African-American. So if they wanted a true spectacle, the Republicans would hold hands and begin to croon: "When Roland was in Harry's...

There will be plenty of time to rip apart whatever economic stimulus plan Barack Obama and his Congress eventually settle upon. But in the meantime, I'd rather offer up an alternative stimulus plan that fiscal conservatives could support in full, and more importantly, that would work. President-Elect Obama campaigned as a new kind of politician, a man who would look at the best ideas available, who would avoid the partisan squabbles of the past. Taking him at his word, Obama has a tremendous opportunity here. If he enacts a plan that addresses the following aspects of our current economic problems,...

Reversing themselves, Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday morning opened the door to allowing Roland W. Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate. After a private 45-minute meeting with the former Illinois state attorney general, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said that they were open to recognizing Mr. Burris’s appointment as long as he meets a series of conditions.

Homebuilders are asking for up to $150 billion in the economic stimulus package being drafted by President-elect Obama’s administration and congressional Democrats. The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) is working with 80 of its members to lobby lawmakers on their plan, which includes a mortgage foreclosure reduction effort, a homebuyer tax credit and a temporary program to reduce interest rates. “This ain’t the time to be subtle. There is not a congressman or senator on the Hill who is looking forward to talking to you," NAHB Chief Executive Officer Jerry Howard told homebuilders at a meeting Wednesday morning. Democrats have...

When President-Elect Obama nominated Tom Daschle to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services, he proclaimed the former Senate Majority Leader: "one of America's foremost health care experts." Obama stated Daschle will be the "lead architect" of the administration's health care plan. As a nurse, I am always concerned when the government announces it has plans for our health care, so I decided to investigate Mr. Daschle's ideas. I read his book Critical: What We Can Do about the Health-Care Crisis. Senator Daschle wrote his book with 2 other experts, Scott S. Greenberger and Jeanne M. Lambrew. According to...

POSTED: 5:29 am HST January 5, 2009 UPDATED: 9:20 am HST January 5, 2009 Gabbard Wants Answers On Cause, Length Of Outage HONOLULU -- Some powerful state senators are seeking an explanation for why the power went out the day after Christmas and why it took so long to restore it. The chairman of the Senate committee on energy and environment announced Sunday he'll hold a hearing later this month to look into the power outage. Parts of Oahu were without electricity all night Dec. 26 and into the next day. On Sunday, Sen. Mike Gabbard called a news conference...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009 as the global recession saps the economy, congressional forecasters said on Wednesday, presenting a daunting challenge to President-elect Barack Obama who has said tough choices will be necessary. The Congressional Budget Office also forecast the deficit will likely fall to $703 billion in the 2010 fiscal year which begins October 1, 2009, as the U.S. recession begins to ease in the second half of this year.

Washington, DC -- Members of Congress will cast their first vote related to incoming president Barack Obama's pro-abortion agenda on Thursday. A Senate committee will vote on confirming pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as Obama's Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Leading Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marzook, deported from the United States in 1997, gets back into the US via a column in the Los Angeles Times: Hamas speaks. Vile. Evil. Disgusting. Foul. Take your pick. There is something deeply wrong with our mainstream media. Contact the Los Angeles Times and tell them what you think about giving a voice to genocidal mass murderers.

Even before Israel launched attacks on Gaza last week, Barack Obama’s incoming national security team understood that the consuming demands of crises could all too easily eclipse the transformational agenda on foreign affairs that Mr. Obama advanced during the campaign. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, instability in Pakistan and the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran would have been more than enough to crowd out any thought of long-range planning. Now the Middle East is in flames again. And yet a wide range of foreign policy experts are urging the new president to look beyond the smoke and the...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama hailed a rare Oval Office gathering of all U.S. presidents as extraordinary on Wednesday, while President George W. Bush wished him well and pledged that the office "transcends the individual." "I just want to thank the president for hosting us," the president-elect said, flanked by former President George H.W. Bush on one side and his son on the other. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both smiling broadly, stood with them.

For Barack Obama, that is - but perhaps not necessarily for America. I don't know many people who are thrilled with Obama's pick of Leon Panetta to head the CIA. The guy has less experience working in intelligence than our own Washington correspondent Jamie Dupree. Of course I strongly suspect that Dupree is actually working under cover as a journalist. You should see the armament he carries. Anyway ...... One of the first to really speak up was Dianne Feinstein. She got her feelings hurt that Obama didn't consult her before making the selection. Well, she's right. You do talk...

Rush Limbaugh today said that disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris had rolled president-elect Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., The Second. They have apparently won the fight, and Burris will be seated in the U.S. Senate. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said on the radio in Chicago that he would be signing the paperwork to seat Burris in Obama’s old Senate seat, shortly. Note to libertarians: Obama is weak. The Senate Democrats are weaker. We can stop them and their corrupt agenda. As they say on Capitol Hill, derisively, of a defeated opponent, Obama...

<p>Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said this morning he has been made "the fall guy" by the U.S. Senate, which he said is using him as an excuse to not seat Roland Burris.</p> <p>"They could have seated him without my signature; my signature is not required," he told WGN-AM 720's John Williams.</p>

A legal scholar and former member of the Federal Election Commission says the decision by the Democratic-controlled Senate to deny Roland Burris entry to the chamber today was an "arbitrary" move and a "gross abuse of the Constitution."

Washington, DC -- Incoming president Barack Obama appears to be expanding on the steady stream of abortion advocates he is appointing to top administration posts. His latest choice appears to be pro-abortion CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta to become the next Surgeon General. Although Gupta spends most of his time reporting rather than opining on the topics of the day, he appears to favor abortions.

President-elect Obama has announced plans for a new stimulus package containing $500 billion to $700 billion worth of public works projects.The package would be "the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the federal highway system," he said. America's governors already are scrambling to compose lists of "shovel-ready" projects so no bridge or highway is left behind. But while a "new" New Deal will produce certain visible results — more construction materials will be sold, more construction workers will be employed and some of the nation's infrastructure may indeed be improved — it is unlikely to give the...

Could it be that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a racist who is trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder? It certainly looks that way. Federal investigators caught Sen. Reid twisting Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arm to try to stop him from naming Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. or Rep. Danny Davis, both of whom are black, as Mr. Obama's successor. Sen. Reid made it clear he would prefer Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director, or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. His Madigan advocacy is fascinating because besides being the daughter of Illinois...

By Mike Farquhar Watching our President-elect attempt to put together a working cabinet, it finally dawned on me what he was struggling with. He’s got no peeps! Having sprung so suddenly and so successfully onto our national – even the world stage — he’s been abruptly confronted with success he for which he is woefully unprepared. So he went on vacation. In the course of a normal politician’s life, he or she would have come up through the ranks, serving at local and state level—perhaps even in the military or in law enforcemen— before seeking national office. Then that...

Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat, the Associated Press reports. After being rejected Tuesday when he tried to join the class of incoming senators, Burris is expected to meet with the Senate's top two Democrats -- Majority Leader Harry Reid and assistant leader Dick Durbin -- on Wednesday in the hopes of securing their support. The likelihood that Burris, a Democrat, will become the Senate's only black member after Obama's resignation from the seat, increased Tuesday when a key chairwoman got behind him, cracking what had been united public front by Senate Democrats...

Guess who thinks Leon Panetta will be just perfect at CIA? Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Lake's deputy before becoming national security adviser himself, said that Panetta "was part of the decision-making process for every single issue we were dealing with, whether this was in the Oval Office with the president or the Cabinet Room — the Middle East, Kosovo, China. He was a part of a small group of people who advised the president how to proceed on strategy and substance." Yes, that Sandy Berger. Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was sentenced Thursday to community service and probation and...

Breaking Now...Reporter outside Harry Reids office reports a meeting is underway...to seat Burris.

One Trillion A Year? The Market Ticker Wednesday, January 7. 2009 Posted by Karl Denninger at 07:52 One Trillion A Year? Change we can believe in? Where?This is Obama's idea of "change": WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama says the nation probably faces huge deficits for years to come, but heavy spending is needed now to spur the economy. Obama said Tuesday the deficit appears on track to hit $1 trillion soon. Speaking to reporters after meeting with top economic aides, Obama said: "Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we...