Free Republic

The Department of Defense has compelled a private employer to fire a U.S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office. According to the CEO of Simtech Inc., a private company contracted by the Defense Security Services, an agency of the Department of Defense, the federal government has compelled the termination of Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook. Cook's attorney, Orly Taitz, wrote in her blog that Simtech CEO Larry Grice said he would try...

Of his Social Security program, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that the whole thing had nothing to do with helping the aged. "They were politics all the way through," he said of his Social Security payroll withholding taxes. In other words, the So. Sec. program was created solely to give the Democrat Party a permanent majority on the "we care" ticket. FDR knew from the get-go that the program was an unsustainable sham but it was all about politics, not old people anyway. Seventy some years later Barack Obama was praised as a second coming of FDR when he ran...

Is this what Time magazine meant with their July 6th cover, What Barack Obama Can Learn From FDR? Not one to let "a serious crisis to go to waste," Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the onset of the Great Depression as an excuse to immediately begin delivering New Deal dollars in unprecedented amounts - with laser-like political precision to electorally important parts of the country. He sailed to landslide reelection in 1936 on a federally-funded tailwind. The New Deal is now an old one - as direct mail guru Richard Viguerie describes it, "We've got money, you've got votes, let's talk."...

<p>Decades of lawmaking and court decisions restricting the flow of cash into U.S. elections are on the verge of coming undone, placing President Barack Obama in the unexpected position of presiding over the possible demise of the modern campaign finance regime.</p>

Oops! Such a reaction would be adequate if you locked yourself out of your car. It happens to most of us at one time or another. However, it is woefully inadequate as a response when you blow nearly $800 billion of taxpayers money on a government program that failed completely. Such was the response of VP Joe Biden on Meet The Press yesterday when he said that "everyone guessed wrong" on the economic stimulus package.Oops!And now the DUmmies are upset that Biden said this out in the open where it is sure to hurt their Beloved Barack bigtime as...

In New York yesterday, Joe Biden, Obama's overseer of the spending of the "stimulus" package, acknowledged the following: ... some of this money is going to be wasted ... Obama's words in February: ... unprecedented responsibility and accountability on the spending. Without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud...

On Monday, after a painfully long death spiral, General Motors (GM) finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Oftentimes, bankruptcy portends rebirth. Unfortunately, the politically-inspired GM plan holds no such possibilities. Under the current deal, the restructuring of GM will cost taxpayers some $100 billion (after the hidden costs of interest and refinancing are included). Even then, it is highly unlikely that GM will ever be competitive or that its debts will ever be repaid.

Like so many special interest groups, La Raza (‘the race’ in English ) purports to speak for “Latinos” wherever they may be… and nowadays, they’re just about everywhere. And why NOT everywhere? Latinos (short version: a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent) have been part and parcel of American Culture from our earliest times. So it should be no surprise that a person of Latin-American or Spanish speaking descent -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Puerto Rico) -- should have been nominated by President Obama to sit on the Supreme court of the united States. But one could ask why, specifically, was...

As the Wall Street Journal reports, and as we’ve written about before, the Obama Administration is getting ready to be much tougher than its predecessor in the anti-trust realm. The terrible irony is that a large number of tech executives and workers at Silicon Valley companies supported the Obama candidacy and now it may impact them in a very direct way. All this goes double for Google, whose CEO Eric Schmidt was an advisor to Obama on technology issues. The new head of anti-trust for the US Department of Justice, Christine Varney, has already used the “m-word” in connection with...

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) today said he was guaranteed seniority on committees by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in the final negotiations before his party switch last week, talks that, according to Specter, also included a pledge that he would become the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee in several years. Specter stood by his version of the one-on-one talks with Reid, despite the Senate leader's contradictory statements on the matter and the resolution that passed last night placing Specter in the most junior slot on most committees on which he serves. "When I talked to Senator Reid he...

Former Supervisor Ed Jew was sentenced Wednesday morning to one year in county jail for lying on election-related documents about where he lived when he ran for office. The sentencing caps an arduous legal journey for Jew that began when the former District 4 representative solicited cash bribes from owners of Quickly tapioca-drink shops in exchange for promising to help them obtain city permits to operate legally. Jew was under FBI surveillance when he accepted $40,000 in bills marked by federal agents, as a partial payment from the business owners. Jew pleaded guilty in October to soliciting cash bribes and...

In a relatively unnoticed State Department press briefing yesterday, Acting Department Spokesman Robert Wood announced a delegation of new media executives that left for Iraq on an official, government-paid trip on Sunday. According to Wood, the purpose would be to “explore new opportunities to support Iraqi Government and nongovernment stakeholders in Iraq’s emerging new media industry.” All in all, this is a well thought out trip, and yet another implicit admission by the President that another thing he inherited from his predecessor is a budding democracy in the Arab world, one with a civil society to support. Exactly two years...

Much has been written about the struggle of U.S. veterans to get the proper care from the military's V.A. hospitals, but another class of returnees from the battlefront is facing similar difficulties obtaining care for injuries sustained in the war zone: civilian contract employees who suffered wounds while supporting the military's war efforts. In an alarming article co-written by T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times, insurance companies responsible (under taxpayer-funded policies) for the treatment of civilian workers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are reportedly routinely denying medical claims for basic care, as well...

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to make remarks on a proposed high-speed rail system in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, April 16, 2009. President Obama outlined his plan for developing "long overdue" high-speed rail on Thursday that would rival air travel, create jobs and help curb the U.S. transportation system's appetite for oil. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to audience members after delivering remarks on a proposed high-speed rail system in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, April 16, 2009. Vice President Joe Biden reacts to the audience after making remarks, with President Barack Obama, on expanding...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., frustrated at federally mandated pay caps, has been plotting for months to get out from under the government's thumb. On Monday, Goldman took fresh steps to break free: It announced, as expected, that it plans to raise $5 billion by selling new common shares to investors, and that it would like to use the money to repay government bailout money received last year. The firm also reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings of $1.81 billion. Goldman managers have a big incentive to escape the state's clutches. Last year, 953 Goldman employees -- nearly one in 30 --...

President Obama and congressional Democrats are avidly pursuing a sweeping agenda they claim is justified by the need for greater "fairness." This invites scrutiny of the various programs to verify if they do, in fact, promote fairness. "Free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice" is the standard meaning of fairness, which requires treating people similarly, perhaps not identically, but certainly not with purposeful difference. Apply this test to the tax changes proposed in President Obama's budget, and it seems clear he wants to punish higher-income earners for the benefit of others, namely lower and middle-income earners. Let's understand the pre-Obama tax...

Discussion Topic: Virginia Gun Shop Gets Sex-Shop Justice From The Washington Post: "To many in Old Town Alexandria, the sex shop that opened recently on King Street is nothing short of scandalous. . . . But to Michael Zarlenga, it's justice. Zarlenga spent $350,000 on plans to expand his hunting and fishing store, the Trophy Room. He worked with city officials for almost two years and thought he had their support -- until the architectural review board told him he couldn't alter the historic property. Furious and out of money, Zarlenga rented the space to its newest occupant, Le Tache....

Dear (Right to Work Supporter): This week, the CEOs of Costco, Whole Foods, and Starbucks plan to throw you and their employees "under the bus" to appease Big Labor, offering a so-called "compromise version" of Big Labor's top legislative priority: the "Card Check" Forced Unionism Bill. It's vital you act right now to help fight back against their scheme -- which will leave workers vulnerable to union-boss intimidation and make you pay the price in higher costs. With our economy already blasted with recession and nearly constant political agitation, attempts to "compromise" over forced unionism really could push our economy...

Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.

41 Senate Republicans Send Letter To President Obama Urging Consultation On Judicial Nominees March 2, 2009 President Barack H. Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.  20500 Dear Mr. President: We look forward to working with you as you consider nominees for the federal judiciary.  Unfortunately, the judicial appointments process has become needlessly acrimonious.  We would very much like to improve this process, and we know you would as well.  It is in that spirit that we write early on to suggest two steps your Administration can take to achieve that shared goal.   First, in the beginning...