Free Republic

The issue of concealed weapons has stirred up debate in Georgetown County. S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said the county’s ban on concealed weapons on school grounds does not comply with state law. School district officials they will re-think the policy, which prohibits the possession of concealed weapons on school grounds even if the owner has a permit. The attorney general’s office said state law requires the permit holder to lock a weapon in a trunk, a center console or glove box of a vehicle. The district’s plan to work its policy has some families concerned. “If you have your...

President Obama has always made a pretty big deal about not working with “lobbyists”. Registered lobbyists can’t get stimulus money, can’t be White House advisors and are not allowed access to meetings and summits. So how does one get around that? It’s simple; you just don’t register as a lobbyist. That’s what Andy Stern did and it may come back to bite him.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended US President Barack Obama's Middle East policies, saying that efforts to engage Iran through dialogue and earnest attempts to jump-start the peace process were bearing fruit. "A year ago, Iran was united in its nuclear ambitions and the world was divided in its response," Emanuel said while addressing the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly in Washington. "Today, thanks to the work of the president, there is strong and international consensus against a nuclear armed Iran. That is the goal of America."

Health Care Reform Legislation Becomes Vehicle for Reshaping Immigration Policy .Weak Verification and Loosening of Welfare Reform Rules Alter Longstanding System of Enforcement and Incentives WASHINGTON, .PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Current versions of both the House and Senate health care reform bills contain inadequate verification measures that will fail to prevent millions of illegal aliens from accessing taxpayer funded health benefits, charges the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). And in a radical change from current law, both versions of the bill grant immediate health care benefits to immigrants currently subject to a 5-year waiting period before they may access most federal...

One of the most important things to remember about socialism – or coercion of any kind – is it fails eventually because human beings have an innate desire for liberty and a strong need for personal property rights. In fact, the origins of government lie in the need of agricultural communities to protect themselves from violence and theft. So it is particularly ironic that in more recent times, it is government itself that has more frequently played the role of bandit. When you start taxing people at extreme rates to pay for socialist "benefits," when you start telling them which...

Terrific video at site

On his blog recently, Paul Krugman has a post on how we are doing in our effort to increase current GDP. It seems, the target of Keynesians, ever and always, is raising GDP a bit more, in both good times and bad times. In fact, I believe that effort goes a long way toward creating an on-going boom and bust cycle and asset bubbles in the U.S. One problem, not well understood, is that policy has serious implications for the longer run welfare of the U.S. economy.

GRIFFIN, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) - A former bank manager said Thursday that a life or death decision got him fired. The manager said he pulled a gun on a bank robber and fired shots at him, forcing the robber to flee. Police credited the manager's actions to the arrest of the suspect William Hunt. Wesley Hallman said it was common knowledge that he carried a pistol. The former manger said he felt safer with the gun when he opened the bank. Hallman said when he saw a would-be robber holding a gun in an employee's face, he challenged the man...

When taxes are forced upon the public without elected officials asking the public for their input, isn’t that TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION? The problem is that there has never been a way to ask everyone how they feel about taxes and other issues—until now. The area group, for "One Voice Now", has figured out a user-friendly way to make "asking the public" a tangible reality.

Introduction Over the past decade and a half, Americans have been presented with two radically different visions of the role of government. The first vision, articulated and implemented by President Reagan in the 1980s, declares that government taxation and burdensome regulations are harmful to the natural market forces that generate economic growth. Since economic growth is the only way to truly create jobs and raise incomes, policies that reduce taxes and government intervention are the keys to higher living standards for all Americans. President Clinton espouses the second vision, which maintains that the expansion of government does not have harmful...

Is history repeating itself? Is President Obama reenacting President Carter’s tragic policy blunder toward Iran? Is Mr. Obama going to sacrifice the Iranian people at the altar of a misguided expediency as did Jimmy Carter some three decades ago? To what end? America’s enemies bleat that sacrificing any people to further America’s interests is a standard operating procedure for American administrations – Republican or Democrat. These ill-wishers claim that America is not a democracy, but a plutocracy run by a cabal of big money in collaboration with Zionists. It is true that self-interest is the motivating force for the individual...

This without question is one of the most thought provoking articles I've ever read. After reading it I got the full article which is 17 pages in .pdf format and even more profound. (For the record I am in no way affiliated with Casey, David Galland, or Neil Howe). If you want to know whats happening with our country and how Obummer is able to manipulate, control, decieve, and cheat the American people this is for you. Here's an excerpt: A Casey Research interview with Neil Howe, co-author of The Fourth Turning The Fourth Turning is an amazingly prescient book...

Charles Krauthammer observes: You have the best generals in the world – McChrystal on counterterrorism and Petraeus on counterinsurgency – the best in the world who know exactly how this is done and who conclude you cannot do a counterterrorism strategy, only counterinsurgency. And all of a sudden he is relying on Biden, Rahm Emanuel, and himself to go against the advice of these experts? Hard to believe.It is. (And don’t forget David Axelrod.) More than one conservative colleague has remarked upon the inordinate role that advisers who lack the necessary credentials and expertise have in shaping foreign policy in...

(Second Platoon, B Company 1-26 Pictures Included) This summer, Mr. Obama described the effort in Afghanistan as “a war of necessity.” In such a war, you do whatever you need to do to win. But now, as criticism mounts from those who argue that the war in Afghanistan cannot, in fact, be won with more troops and a better strategy, the president is having second thoughts. A war of necessity is presumably one that is “fundamental to the defense of our people,” as Mr. Obama has said about Afghanistan. But if such a war is unwinnable, then perhaps you must...

Nine months into his tenure, the patterns of President Barack Obama's style of governing are becoming clear. Obama had no executive experience when he took the presidential oath last ­winter — but he did come in with a particular idea of what politics and government are for, and how they ought to work. It is a view grounded in Progressive politics, and shared by a number of Democratic chief executives in recent decades. But Obama has articulated it, and his administration has embodied it, more fully than most. Perhaps the most distinctive political characteristic of the Obama administration thus far...

You fell in love with that $22,000 Chevy Malibu because of its color, style and price. After driving it home, you realize it's not what you wanted. Maybe it's the way it handles on the highway, the location of the cup holders or the shape of the seats. Don't worry. Bring it back for a refund, no questions asked, says GM's Chairman and new TV pitchman Edward Whitacre Jr.

After the plain pine box is lowered into the grave, the mourners are asked to come forward -- immediate family first -- and shovel dirt onto the casket. Only when it is fully covered, only when all that can be seen is dust, is the ceremony complete. Such is the Jewish way of burial. Its simplicity, austerity and unsentimentality would have appealed to Irving Kristol, who was buried by friends and family Tuesday. Equally fitting for this most unsentimental of men was the spare funeral service that preceded the burial. It consisted of the recitation of two psalms and the...

President Obama is letting foreign policy take a back seat in his attempt to remake the United States into his own vision of a utopia, admired by United Nations diplomats. Krauthammer calls out Obama on his commitment to winning in Afghanistan. While friends and family are shot at in A-stan, Obama preps for speeches to school kids, Sunday talk shows, and Letterman.

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Talk about a letdown. Max Baucus was saying for weeks that he was close to a bi partisan agreement in his committee on a bill. It turns out that this bi partisan agreement is an agreement of one. In fact, the long awaited bill isn't even clearly a bill. The bill still needs to be debated, changed, and ultimately marked up in his Finance Committee.

Philosophers and career-thinkers from academia have a place. I can appreciate their zeal and gift for boundless thought. I can even realize that some of their ideas may shape our future for the better. I draw the line however, at giving them stewardship or power over policies that directly affect the country. Policies should come from practical, time tested sources, not radical ideas from people whose purpose is to think of new ways of doing things. Thinkers are mostly just that -- thinkers, not doers. There is a huge gap of scrutiny and trial & error before an idea should...

Here's a question: if I went out and made a claim I believed but no one else thought possible - that a greyhound could outrun a cheetah, for example - would that be considered a lie or just naive, wishful thinking?

9/11 should be a time for every American to ponder the events of that fateful and horrific day in 2001. We had just suffered more casualties from a foreign enemy in an act of war than had ever been sustained by America on its own soil in its entire history - including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most Americans were angry and demanded action. Fully 90% supported George Bush as he laid out his plans to respond to the attack. And that support was still above 70% when President Bush ordered the...

DE Libertarian's Steve Newton thinks you're an idiot if, as a parent, you withdraw your kid from class (or school) for the day when President Obama speaks to kids on Sept. 8. While I tend to agree that it would be an overreaction to take your kid out of class/school merely for the speech (I wouldn't use the term "idiot" in this case), as I noted in the comments in Steve's post the bigger concern was over the federal Dept. of Education's proposed lesson plans (since scrubbed from its website) dealing with Obama's address -- some of which forced students...

I think that Charles Krauthammer described it best when commenting on Obama's speech he called it a fantasy. That's because he promised to give everyone everything, promised to make it cost less, and promised to make the system more efficient doing all this. As the saying goes, if you believe that, I have some great swampland in Florida to sell you. What the president is trying to do is present a plan that will give everyone everything and have no one sacrifice anything. In effect, that's a health care fantasy.

The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them.... What Barack Obama says Wednesday night is not nearly as important as what he has been doing-- and how he has been doing it. -- Dr. Thomas Sowell from article Listening to a Liar Keep Dr. Sowell's words in mind as United States President Barack Obama speaks to school children today and as he speaks to the nation tomorrow. Remember also the words he spoke yesterday to the ALF-CIO.

Mark beat me to it, but I must put in my two cents. Thomas Friedman writes: Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically

In recent days, I’ve been expressing dismay at Hillary Clinton: in this column, for instance, and in this Corner post. Can you stand some more quotation of her? In an interview, she said, “There are some days when we’re dealing with very difficult security issues when you kind of wish, ‘Oh man, I wish I didn’t know that.’” Yeah, it’s terrible when the world does that to you. Say you want to come to terms with the Iranian regime — want to reason with them. But you find out that, really and truly, they’re bent on acquiring nuclear weapons —...

I wrote a response to somone about Islam being a cancer on the world. I opened two rather nasty emails from people who got my email address quoting me word for word. I dont mind defending my beliefs, but I was wondering how they got my email address....

"State health labs have confirmed 652 cases of influenza in the past four weeks and all of them were the H1N1 strain. Two deaths in Alabama have been linked to the virus since it was first detected in April."

Amid all the controversies over medical care, no one seems to be asking a very basic question: Why does it take more than 1,000 pages of legislation to insure people who lack medical insurance?

Main Points made by Rahm Emanuel in his book which Obama is now trying to push into policy. Makes you wonder who is running the show. 1. Page 160 New Domestic Defense Division Rahm: “It should include top security talent from the CIA, the FBI, and the ranks of state and local law enforcement. Obama: Obama’s new task force: The Team would be drawn from those with relevant experience probably from agencies such as the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon…” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124787391051060705.html 2. Page 58 Citizen service: Rahm: “Every citizen needs to understand and accept the essence of the American bargain:...

It’s hard to know why President Obama said what he said at Tuesday’s health-care town hall in New Hampshire. He actually stated, “If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.”

In defending Sarah Palin yesterday, Newt Gingrich said that this bill puts full faith of the citizens in the government.

Shortly before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was reportedly told that the peasants were growing increasingly restless, particularly because of widespread bread shortages. As the legend goes, she callously replied, "Let them eat cake." The revolt exploded shortly thereafter.

I am going to skip ahead in these notes. Diminishing returns set in; much of the middle third of H.R. 3200 are directives of what services get covered, who can provide, how much gets paid, etc. I’m not a health economist — there are many portions of this review that I frankly prefer to outsource to economists like Keith Hennessey who has worked on this topic much longer. But I do want to say a few other things here and then review comparative effectiveness research.

Back during the campaign, I remember one Obama ad. It went something like this. He said that government run health care was "extreme". He also said that market oriented health care was "extreme". That's why he favored a "moderate" plan that combined the two. By doing so, he presented his health care plan as the "moderate" plan. It obviously worked since he's now the president.

The most common argument against allowing health insurance to move across state lines is that each state has their own state laws governing health insurance and thus it is not practical to do this. Different states have different levels of regulations and allowing health insurance to cross state lines would turn into chaos and take power away from the states the critics say. The critics say that insurance companies will simply set up shop in those states with the loosest regulations.

The current civil war in America is really an uncivil debate about whether or not to trust the federal government. Policy aside, fundamental beliefs are separating Americans into two intense camps. On the left sits the give-hope-a-chance crew, which supports the dramatic increase in government influence and spending. These pro-Obama citizens believe the president can right economic and social wrongs by dramatically expanding federal power.

Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure. Page 29: First reference to rationing Page 30: The Health Benefits Advisory Committee will be created to monitor and recommend health care treatments and benefits Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with health insurance.

One thing that both Conservatives and liberals alike need to acknowledge is that we have a health care system that is on the verge of not merely falling apart but ready to take the entire country down with it. There are so many problems with the system that it's difficult to unravel them all. For instance, there are far too many different entities that are dependent on the health care system: lawyers, doctors, patients, insurance companies, medical records, etc. By the time everyone gets their piece of the pie, the whole thing becomes too expensive for everyone.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley created a legislative miracle. They fashioned a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage and other corruptions out of the tax system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and perverse incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom

Critics of the U.S. health care system frequently point to other countries as models for reform. They point out that many countries spend far less on health care than the United States yet seem to enjoy better health outcomes. The United States should follow the lead of those countries, the critics say, and adopt a government-run, national health care system. [...] some of the most thoughtful proponents of national health care look to France as a model of how such a program could work. Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic has written that “the best showcase for what universal health...

"Does President Barack Obama believe economic and population growth ought to be stopped because they imperil the planet and that wealth should be redistributed both within the United States and among nations? Or does he think such a view is ludicrous? He does not think it is ludicrous; a man who has promoted zero growth and global wealth redistribution for years is now one of Obama’s top advisers."

Last week, Fatah announced that it will never recognize Israel's right to exist, and that it will continue its armed struggle until the Zionist Entity has been destroyed. Two days later, the president of the United States sent $200 million to Fatah. This highly predictable sequence should represent a clarifying moment even for the green leafy vegetables who comprise J Street. Assertions of eternal friendship notwithstanding, Barack Obama is a friend to Israel in the same way that O.J. Simpson was a friend to Ron Goldman. Some insist that Obama is practicing “tough love” towards his Israeli pals, but invariably...

As President Obama struggles to sell his massive reorganization of the health-care industry, it is important to understand what is driving him. This is a classic liberal vs. conservative battle, pitting government money for the poor against rugged individual competition in which the winners get more security than the losers.

In an earlier post, I gave my policy ideas for fixing our health care system. In my hypothesis, I made the point that the nexis of many of our structural problems in health lie in the fact that employers are the ones that overwhelmingly provide health insurance. I think it's important to expand on what exactly is so corrosive with having a system in which employers provide health insurance for their employees.

The following video from a Santa Cruz, California city council meeting shows why some people really should avoid talking about economics. If you need a laugh this Friday morning, listening to the sage advice on display ought to do the trick:

Last week, the Federal Reserve made a little noticed, but astonishing announcement. In addition to projecting unemployment over 10% in the coming months, they also projected no net new jobs over the next five years. Let me repeat that to drive the point home: no net new jobs over the next five years. This is an amazing and sober prediction about the health of our economy, one that should make every lawmaker pause and reassess the priorities of government.

Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed? Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths: The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith.