Free Republic

We're receiving E-mails from Capitol Hill staffers expressing frustration that they can't get a copy of the stimulus bill agreed to last night at a price of $789 billion. What's more, staffers are complaining about who does have a copy: K Street lobbyists. E-mails one key Democratic staffer: "K Street has the bill, or chunks of it, already, and the congressional offices don't. So, the Hill is getting calls from the press (because it's leaking out) asking us to confirm or talk about what we know—but we can't do that because we haven't seen the bill. Anyway, peeps up here...

Here is video of ABC News' Jake Tapper nailing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the wall today on President Obama's statement yesterday, directly contradicted by Caterpillar's CEO, that passage of the Stimulus Plan would lead Caterpillar to rehire laid off workers. He also asked Gibbs what it says about Obama that no Caterpillar workers lobbied Rep. Aaron Schock to vote for the Stimulus Bill despite Obama putting him on the spot yesterday to do so in front of the workers. In both cases, Gibbs refused to really address the questions. Jake Tapper is showing himself to be a...

Obama's Enablers in Chief Three Republicans voted for stimulus. By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL "I have worked with my colleagues -- Republicans and Democrats -- to cut wasteful spending in this bill and focus taxpayer dollars where they will do the most good." -- Sen. Kent Conrad, one extremely relieved man. "[The stimulus is] much more focused on jobs after Senator Susan Collins of Maine, I and a bipartisan group of senators cut $110 billion of non-stimulative spending . . ." -- Sen. Bill Nelson, if possible, even more extremely relieved. Susan Collins enjoys the spotlight. The cause of their relief?...

On February 16, the United States will celebrate the birth of one of its greatest—and least acknowledged—entrepreneurs: George Washington. Washington's political and military exploits are of course well-known: He was a member of colonial Virginia's House of Burgesses and a delegate to the Continental Congress; he led the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and won a hard-fought victory for independence; and he served as the first president of these United States. Yet his business ventures are impressive in their own right. During America's time as an English colony, Washington ran a fishing operation that processed 1.5 million fish per...

Have you ever been driving with one of those dreaded backseat drivers? "Turn left! Turn left!" "Wouldn't it have been faster to go through town?" Horrified gasp and foot hitting an imaginary brake as a car turns into the roadway 300 yards in front of you.While backseat drivers' advice might be well intentioned, it drives us crazy. If you're not driving, your responsibility is to entertain the kids or enjoy the scenery, not try and do the driver's job for him. In the same way, it is individuals' and businesses' role to create jobs, not the government's. Government's job is...

It would make 787,000 people, or roughly the population of Indianapolis, millionaires. Or 2 million people could each buy a home that cost about $393,000. It is also about $116 for every person on the planet. A $787 billion stimulus plan would represent about 5.5 percent of the $14.3 trillion U.S. economy, which was the size of U.S. gross domestic product last year, measured in current, not inflation-adjusted, dollars. It is about 1.7 times the size of the largest U.S. budget deficit in history -- $455 billion -- recorded in fiscal 2008. It also represents about 27 percent of the...

Obviously, I'm one of the newbies here in the White House press corps, so maybe I'm unfamiliar with the ways of how this place works. I have to say, nothing is more frustrating than covering an actual event here at the White House if you at all believe in anything remotely having to do with the First Amendment. For instance, today, the president gave a speech in the East Room to the business council, an audience of dozens of CEOs and major business leaders in America. As per usual, we're allowed to watch the event behind a ropeline. Ok, standard...

It's been a tough 10 days in the life of the 4-week-old Obama White House. Tom Daschle has to withdraw as the president's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who managed to squeeze through confirmation hearings despite his own tax problems, bombs in laying out the president's new Wall Street rescue plan. The street tanks. .... To have these incidents happening over and over again, this does not help this administration's credibility. There's no other way you can say it.

each Rep allowed one minute to speak.

Between 1990 and 2007, the total mortgage debt held by Americans rose from $2.5 trillion to $10.5 trillion. This rise was part of a societal credit bubble that burst in 2008. To cushion the pain of that collapse, federal authorities decided to replace private debt with public debt. In 2008, the Bush administration increased spending by about $1.7 trillion, and guaranteed loans, investments and deposits worth about $8 trillion. In 2009, the Obama administration spent $800 billion on a stimulus package, $1 trillion on a second round of bank bailouts and committed another trillion on health care reform and other...

There are certain dates that are seared into the memories of all Americans. Dates that altered the course of our union; sometimes in moments of glory, often in moments of tragedy. Today, Friday the 13th, is one of those days. Today, both the House and Senate passed what will historically be looked at as one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the U.S. Congress; a bill that will ultimately be the judge and jury of President Obama’s first term in office. There is no doubt that President Obama will sign the legislation that he lobbied for on Monday....

In 2008, Americans foolishly used their freedom to vote for “chains” not “change.” Life, property, speech and guns, are at the foundation of American freedom and the corrupt Chicago cabal now in charge, is aggressively coming after all of them. Obama’s “economic bailout” is a global socialist buyout of the U.S. free market system. ALL private property is under siege, as advised by George Soros. Former Clinton Chief of Staff become George Soros stooge and Barack Obama advisor John Podesta leads the charge against free speech with his version of the “Fairness Doctrine” aimed at silencing the voice of dissent...

At 6:15 a.m. PST, Rep. David Dreier, California, brought up a point of order citing a House rule that states they must be given 48 hours to review a bill before voting. The he held up the text of this mammoth bill that was just put online late last night. He expressed the fact that he doubts anyone has even had a chance to read any of it. It's a noble effort, and all hell is breaking loose among the 'rats, who are ticked off. Heck, they want to vote NOW! Okay, they just voted on the point of order....

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe! Culberson made the charge on Houston's KSEV radio. Pelosi is hoping to lead a delegation to Europe; there's a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group. Calls to Pelosi's spokesman went unreturned. In the rushing, Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted that none of...

Per the crawl this morning on CNN, Sen. Corker has put a Hold on Porkuls, stating that he wants a chance to read it before voting. Bill has reportedly swollen from 800 to 1,500 pages as Dems keep putting-back everything the Senate removed. Saw crawl as I was watching news about the ColganAir crash at 5:00AM.

Obama: Constitution is 'Deeply Flawed' Monday, October 27, 2008 8:20 PM By: David A. Patten Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama described the U.S. Constitution as having “deep flaws” during a September 2001 Chicago public radio program, adding that the country’s Founding Fathers had “an enormous blind spot” when they wrote it. Obama also remarked that the Constitution “reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” Obama’s statements came during a panel discussion that aired on Chicago’s WBEZ-FM on Sept. 6, 2001, titled “Slavery and the Constitution.” ...

Kill the Bill...Call now...recruit your friends and neighbors...Pass it on...

SNIPPET: "The deficit will be then appended to the national debt, which currently stands at $10.7 trillion. Nearly than 70 percent of our GDP, this astounding amount grows by $2.3 billion every day. To put it in comprehensible terms, every single American family would have to pay $160,000 in taxes in order to erase that amount. But this is not the full story. The $10.6 trillion is only a fraction of the real national debt, which, in reality, is roughly six times higher. The difference between the official figure and the government’s true obligations is made up of entitlements, primarily...

Will Rogers once said that he was a member of no organized political party. He was a Democrat. It is good to see that not much has changed with the Democrats. They are a mess. Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did a press conference on the stimulus “compromise” before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was ready to sign off on the deal. You have to love a good jam-job. Pelosi is apparently furious, despite her smiles for the camera. Blue Dogs are furious at Pelosi because she won't let them see the bill. In fact, they were supposed...

If enough people break a small and oppressive regulation, something will have to be done at the government level. Think Tea Tax and Boston Harbor. Right now the inmates are running the asylum that is America (and Canada, as referenced by Steyn). It’s time for us to revolt. If our phonecalls and pleas to representatives are falling on deaf ears, then we have to do something to make them take notice. No, not bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City. But how about the equivelent of what Mr. Steyn and Ms. Shaidle do every day? They ridicule the rules, post...

In Elkhart, Ind., on Monday, President Obama spoke as if America were approaching a doomsday that only a massive increase in government could avert. "The situation we face could not be more serious," he said. "We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression. Economists from across the spectrum have warned that if we don't act immediately, millions more jobs will be lost, and national unemployment rates will approach double digits. More people will lose their homes and their health care. And our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some...

Dr. Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Oakland-based Independent Institute, penned an article in The Christian Science Monitor (2/9/2009) that suggests the most intelligent recommendation that I've read to fix our current economic mess. The title of his article gives his recommendation away: "Instead of stimulus, do nothing -- seriously." Stimulus package debate is over how much money should be spent, whether some should given to the National Endowment for the Arts, research sexually transmitted diseases or bail out Amtrak, our failing railroad system. Dr. Higgs says, "Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most important question: Should the federal government...

Last month, the House of Representatives passed the “Pelosi Pork Package,” a massive spending bill disguised as a stimulus plan. I joined every one of my Republican colleagues and 11 of my Democrat colleagues and voted against this obscene bill, standing up for the American taxpayer and our future generations. The total cost of this spending bill is a whopping $820 billion. However, this country already has a $10.6 trillion deficit, so we must borrow this money. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that we will have to pay an additional $347 billion in interest, racking up the total cost...

Now Hiring! Jobs in Progressive Politics Reply to: see below Date: 2009-02-09, 7:27PM EST NOW HIRING LEADERSHIP STAFF TO WORK ON PROGRESSIVE CAMPAIGNS Democratic victories this fall, particularly of President-Elect Obama, were a huge first step towards moving this country in the right direction; NOW is the time to act! If we want to see real change in Washington and in our country we need to work hard and hold our elected officials accountable for the promises they made during the campaign. We must be active in our democracy! We are currently seeking hard-working, passionate leaders to work on one...

On Friday, I reported about the resolution being prepared in the New Hampshire State Legislature to fight the unconstitutional socialization and centralization of our federal government. Yesterday the resolution was introduced to the legislature with very strong wording that certain acts by the federal government would be seen as a "breach of peace" with the states, and "nullifying the Constitution."

This is un-frickin-believable. The financial crisis was deliberate, planned, staged. Who made the run? "Someone threw us in the middle of the Atlantic ocean without a life raft. We are trying to determine which is the closest shore and whether there is any chance in the world to swim that far. We don't know." Video at site

NEW YORK – The stock market is plunging, with the Dow Jones industrials skidding 400 points as investors show their frustration with a lack of details about the government's latest bank bailout plan. Financial stocks are leading the market lower, reflecting Wall Street's growing concerns about the government's ability to restore the health of the banking industry. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the broad outlines of the plan. But investors, who want to know among other things how banks' soured mortgage assets will be valued, are showing their disapproval at the lack of details by selling. The Dow is down...

Peter Schiff The intense scrutiny recently paid to my investment strategy in the immediate wake of the financial crisis of the last six months has unfortunately obscured the central element of my larger economic forecast. The standard line has been that although I was able to predict the crash, in the form of the housing collapse and the credit crunch, my expected fallout of a weaker dollar and global decoupling has been proven false. However, this assumes that the crash has fully played out. In reality, all we have heard thus far is the overture. In 2008, the bubble...

"And let me say this to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny ... yes, porky amendments. The American people really don't care." - Chucky Schumer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfICUoWKBw How long can we freedom-loving, God-fearing, rational-based people allow this arrogance to continue? Our country was founded on "We the People" with limitations on government. Now, the government is limiting "the people" out is completely out of control. When in the course of human events ...

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are asking questions about the lobbying activities of Craig Obey, who is the son of House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey. The elder Obey is, as much as anyone, the author of the giant stimulus bill that passed the House. Craig Obey works for an organization called the National Parks Conservation Association, which describes its mission as "to protect and enhance America's national parks for present and future generations" and to "advocate for the national parks and the National Park Service." Now, it just so happens that the National Park Service...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NMu1mFao3w

So where do we as true conservatives go from here? Obviously, there is a communist takeover of this country occurring right here and now now. Would Alaska be far enough away that we could escape this tyranny? I'm 33 years old and I feel completely helpless. This is not the country I once knew. How else do we fight this communist oppression?

The National Republican Trust PAC is threatening to provide financial support for primary challengers to any stimulus-supporting Republican in the next election. The National Republican Trust PAC put out a statement Tuesday claiming it would provide financial support for primary challengers to any stimulus-supporting Republican in the next election.

Bill and Megyn Kelly are on right now talking about how this Bill would basically create universal health care.. Interviewing Mike Pence now. Godspeed Mike Pence. Please help save our Republic

Per USA Today

Rep. Walt Minnick (D-ID) decided to reverse engineer the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Porkulus Bill to see if he could find anything worth rescuing. In doing so, Minnick devised a stimulus plan that limits itself to real stimulus, rather than bloating itself into an omnibus pork package. It costs only $170 billion, and self-terminates when the economy recovers:

If you want to stop the stimulus, the most effective way is to publicly embarrass one of its nationally-known supporters on video by asking them a series of tough, "prosecutorial-style" questions. When uploaded to Youtube and similar sites, that video would get hundreds of thousands or millions of views. It would have an impact on the career of the person who was asked those questions, and it would send a message to the others. I can help edit questions for maximum impact (see my general guide), but I need someone else to start an actual campaign necessary to get people...

A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been rejected by a government quango in case it offends Muslims. The digital remake of the children's classic was criticised by Becta, the education technology agency, because "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

The imam of the Taipei Grand Mosque complained to Taiwan's foreign minister for sending him a greeting card for the Chinese New Year showing four pigs, a newspaper said on Saturday. After receiving the New Year card, Imam Ma Hsiao-chi pointed out to the Foreign Ministry that the card was offensive to Muslims, the Liberty Times reported. Muslims do not eat pork and regard pigs as unclean animals. But the ministry defended Foreign Minister Huang Chih-fang's sending out the greeting cards, which were printed because 2007 is the Year of Pig according to the Chinese lunar calendar. "Sending New Year...

Allow me a small amount of vanity bandwidth to explain why Phil will never win another Major Championship. Obesity. When he turned pro out of college he was slim, trim and flexible. His talent was amazing. Yes he has won twenty-odd tournaments, and yes he did win two Masters, but to see him striding the fairways of Medinah is to painfully watch a middle-aged couch-potato waddle slowly down the fairway as his ponderous breasts sag through his sweat-soaked shirt. He needs a Cosmo Kramer Bro! His face is bloated almost beyond recognition to his rookie year. His middle is a...

Actress Angelina Jolie will star in a movie as the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, trade paper Daily Variety reported in its Thursday edition. "A Mighty Heart," adapted from Mariane Pearl's memoir of the same name, will begin shooting within the next five weeks, the paper said. The book details Pearl's search for her husband, who was abducted and beheaded by militants in Pakistan in early 2002. "I am delighted that Angelina Jolie will be playing my role in the adaptation of my book," Daily Variety quoted Pearl as saying. "I deeply admire her work and...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got an anonymous text message suggesting he didn't wash enough, he did not take it lying down. He fired the president of the phone company, had four people arrested, took other legal action and accused those involved of conspiring with the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, according to the Iranian opposition website Rooz Online. The website says Ahmadinejad, known throughout the world as a hard-liner who has threatened Israel with destruction and questioned the Holocaust, is the target of many barbs among the populace in his country.

MINNEAPOLIS Oct 21, 2005 — Gordon Lee, the chubby child actor who played Spanky McFarland's little brother Porky in the "Little Rascals" comedies, has died. He was 71. Lee died Sunday in a Minneapolis nursing home after battling lung and brain cancer, said Janice McClain, his partner of 13 years. Lee played one of the younger members in the "Our Gang" shorts in the 1930s, appearing in more than 40 of them from 1935 to 1939. The comedies, produced by Hal Roach, became known as "The Little Rascals" when shown on TV in the 1950s. Among the films Lee appeared...

Muslims throughout the Islamic world are now being advised not to consume Pepsi Cola because it contains the parts of pigs used it it's production ~ Begin my translation ~ Al-Irsyad – the Islamic Agency for Research in Egypt has now recommended that Muslims are not to consume Pepsi Cola because it is being suspected of containing material that has been made from the intestines of pigs. Dr. Mustofa Asyak'ah an agency member has asked for the other members of the agency to gather to discuss this problem, so that the Muslim community can receive clarity as to whether the...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice illiterate and suggested in a speech last week that she had sexual dreams about him, prompting outrage among Venezuelan women's groups, which denounced his "obscene and lewd" remarks. In his Jan. 23 speech, Mr. Chavez said Miss Rice "keeps demonstrating complete illiteracy." "It seems that she dreams about me. I can invite her on a date with me to see what happens to her with me. She said that she was sad and depressed because of Chavez. Oh, daddy! She should forget me. What bad luck this lady has. I...

The question in this title may seem strange, but there is actually a very strong coincidence. A coworker of mine went last week to Chile to participate in the Pucon half Ironman triathlon, which took place on the same day as Chavez’ sexist remarks about Condoleezza Rice. Since Sunday, I have been trying to find news in the international press about both events, with very limited success. In the case of the triathlon I was trying to find out how well she did in her category (over 40, ladies) which was never reported by the official website. But so far,...

While the heavily scrutinized touch-screen voting machines seemed to produce results in which the registered Democrat/Republican ratios matched the Kerry/Bush vote, and so did the optically-scanned paper ballots in the larger counties, in Florida's smaller counties the results from the optically scanned paper ballots - fed into a central tabulator PC and thus vulnerable to hacking - seem to have been reversed. In Baker County, for example, with 12,887 registered voters, 69.3% of them Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans, the vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush, the opposite of what is seen everywhere else in...

Rosie Sheds Tears As 'Taboo' Goes DarkShow Closes After Dismal Ticket Sales, Reviews POSTED: 1:24 PM EST February 9, 2004 UPDATED: 2:08 PM EST February 9, 2004 Rosie O'Donnell wiped tears away from her face minutes after the final performance of the Broadway musical "Taboo" over the weekend. The $10 million production was funded entirely by O'Donnell. It told the story of gender-bending pop star Boy George, but folded after three months of mediocre ticket sales and negative reviews. Fans shouted "Thank you, Rosie!" and held playbills and posters for her to sign. The former talk show host vowed that...

MIDI - LOVE IS IN THE AIR - scroll to the bottom, 1st version I gulped for air...when he said what he did I had gulped for air...and I flipped my lid I could not believe what I was hearing He said she had dropped down to her knees On unsecure lines they had phone sex Miss Porky used her thong to tease I had gulped for air...and I nearly cracked I had gulped for air...maybe she should be whacked My whole world was crashing around me I could almost not handle the stress No, it wasn't so bad...

NEW YORK (AP) - In his first major speech since the midterm elections, former President Clinton (news - web sites) said the Democratic Party needs to communicate clear, fresh ideas on the economy and national security if it wants to recover from election losses. Clinton's remarks came during a speech Tuesday to the Democratic Leadership Council, a national network that Clinton helped found in the 1980s to steer the party toward a more centrist image. He reflected on the mood of the party back then to look ahead to the party's next step. "We had a strategy rooted in new...