Free Republic

People often mistake being named Time’s “Person of the Year” as an honor, but that men as sinister as Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin and Rudy Giuliani have all been given the title suggests otherwise. According to Time, the award is primarily a recognition of influence and by that measure the 2009 selection of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke makes sense. Explains Time, the Fed is “an independent government agency that conducts monetary policy, which means it sets short-term interest rates - which means it has immense influence over inflation, unemployment, the strength of the dollar and the strength of your...

Last week, in the name of protecting the little guy from Wall Street, the House passed HR 4173 to increase the little guy’s false sense of security in the financial system. This mammoth piece of legislation would massively increase government regulation and oversight in the banking industry under the misguided reasoning that more government could have stopped faulty lending practices, when in actuality it caused them. This bill would also greatly increase the powers of the Federal Reserve, which too many in Congress still see as savior rather than perpetrator in this mess. One silver lining is that the amendment...

confess. I am a racist of the most nefarious caste. Indeed, a garden variety racist, I am not; I have not wasted my time with the intolerance of other races; I never understood the point of advocating industrial racism at a governmental level; I do not believe my race is necessarily superior to another. No, sir, my racism breaches the boundaries of decency. I am a racist of the most malefic sort. I disagree with almost the entirety of Barack Obama's performance so far as president. I am white, Barack Obama is black, I disagree, and that, according to the...

If anyone still doubted that this administration’s foreign policy would bring any kind of change, this week’s debate on Afghanistan should remove all doubt. The President’s stated justifications for sending more troops to Afghanistan and escalating war amount to little more than recycling all the false reasons we began the conflict. It is so discouraging to see this coming from our new leadership, when the people were hoping for peace. New polls show that 49 percent of the people favor minding our own business on the world stage, up from 30 percent in 2002. Perpetual war is not solving anything....

Science Fraud and the Wisdom of Karl R. Popper In the debate on global warming, and the wholesale fraud regarding climate, the wisdom of Karl Popper is sorely missing. It was Popper who defined what is science, and what is not Science. Popper was held in high regard by most of the Science Establishment in the later half of the 20 th Century, including the most revered Albert Einstein. To learn more about true science and phony science click here

Earlier today in Oslo, Norway, President Barack Obama finally, formally accepted his Nobel Prize for "peace." But where are the internationally-acclaimed prizes for "liberty" and "justice"? These are far worthier goals -- far loftier ideals. Politically speaking, and in other ways too, what the world needs above all else -- today and always -- is individual liberty and universal justice! If the Nobel Committee is going to embrace questionable, unworthy goals and dubious, lowly ideals, why not sink all the way down to giving out renowned awards for international "security," or even multinational "stability"? Clearly there are times when peace...

Professor Hamilton's equivocation of "prostate surgery treatments" to male birth control has, at this point in her article, relegated her to the bowels of abject ignorance, and her philippic starving for authenticity and factualness. Generally, when a male has "prostate surgery treatment," his prostate is removed because it is cancerous. This generally leaves him sterile, but so does the barring of funding for the surgery, as Professor Hamilton suggests, since generally all men left to die of prostate cancer become sterile after death, the ultimate birth control measure. This is an interesting parallel, nonetheless, since untreated ovarian cancer in women...

This talk was originally delivered to a Campaign of Liberty chapter on December 3, 2009. Video will be available shortly. Today President Obama will tour Allentown, Pennsylvania, in my home congressional district as part of a "Main Street Tour" to show his concern for economic plight of the masses. Many of the people I have spoken with while campaigning innately realize that government is at fault — or at least complain a lot about how the government should "fix" the economy. Unfortunately, many do not have enough of a grasp of economics to understand exactly how the government is ruining...

California Republican Execs have a chance to redeem themselves ... After two serious fumbles: 1. Teresa Hernandez for Congressional District 32, May 2009, and 2. David Harmer for Congressional District 10, November 2009. How can they shed their Keystone Cops image? Answer: Follow the Jim deMint lead and support Chuck DeVore to replace senator Boxer. Do not support Carly Fiorina, she is the poster girl of affirmative action. The Board at Hewlett Packard (mostly heirs of Wm. Hewlett and David Packard) soon discovered she was unsuitable, because rather than build on HP strengths, she sought to expand via acquisition, mostly...

The health care reform bill that passed the House of Representatives, as well as the language in the Senate’s health care reform bill, have generated an unhealthy and contentious debate regarding the limited versus unlimited powers of the federal government. This is a debate about the soul of the United States. The heart and soul of the Constitution and this country’s founding principles are threefold:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (November 29th Washington Post) does not want us to know any of the details of the Fed's secret operations. This position is not surprising and has been typical of all central bank chairmen. Bernanke's stated goal in his editorial is "To design a system of financial oversight..." that will "provide a robust framework for preventing future crises." During its 96 years of existence, the Federal Reserve has played havoc with our economy and brought great suffering to millions through unemployment and price escalation. In addition, it has achieved what only a central bank can: a...

Three cheers for the Swiss! As everyone knows, or should know, Islam is at war with the West. Yesterday, via a nationwide referendum banning Muslim minarets in Switzerland, the West finally somewhat fought back. Although this building prohibition is technically an attack on freedom, and only really constitutes a symbolic counter-attack on the evil ideology of Islam, it's still a beautiful thing to see! The ultimate tactic -- in this "clash of civilizations" and cultures -- is to intellectually refute the philosophy of Islam. The secondary tactic is to successfully morally condemn it. The tertiary tactic is to openly hate...

The U.S. Preventive Task Force caused quite a stir recently when they revised their recommendations on the frequency and age for women to get mammograms. Many have speculated on the timing for this government-funded report, with the Senate vote on health care looming, and cost estimates being watched closely. Just the hint that the government would risk women’s health to cut costs is causing outrage on both sides of the aisle. Even the administration is alarmed at its own panel’s recommendation. One official, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius told women to ignore the new guidelines, keep...

Can Barack Obama turn around an economy that is incarcerated within throes of his policies? Can he reverse the double digit unemployment he created? The answer depends on whether or not a President and his cabinet, which less than ten percent, have any real private-sector employment experience. Less than ten percent of Obama’s 432 member cabinet have ever created, operated, fired, hired, dealt with cyclical economies, filed corporate taxes, or had to deal with the oppressive governmental red tape–that these very bureaucrats create–while operating a business.

I was pleased last week when we won a vote in the Financial Services Committee to include language from the Audit the Fed bill HR1207 in the upcoming financial regulatory reform bill. As it stands now, if HR 3996 passes, because of this action, the Federal Reserve’s entire balance sheet will be opened up to a GAO audit. We will at last have a chance to find out what happened to the trillions of dollars the Fed has been giving out. Finally, the blanket restrictions on GAO audits of the Fed that have existed since 1978 will be removed. All...

Please see a true conservative combating the nihilistic Barbara Boxer. The California Republicans must endorse him. To see video follow the linkAlso go to previous post on Devore vs Fiorina.

Just the thought of sitting atop of several million degrees of molten something or other caused me to start sweating like Dan Quayle at a spelling bee. While stumbling around in a diaphoresis stupor, I pondered: if the earth is millions and millions of degrees, how hot is the sun?