Free Republic

WASHINGTON – A trio of senators with differing political views is working behind-the-scenes to rescue troubled climate legislation. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., together with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Wednesday they would work in conjunction with the White House to patch together a bill that could pass the U.S. Senate. The three senators met individually with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Carol Browner, the president's assistant for energy and climate change. "Our effort is to try to reach out to broaden the base of support ... ," Kerry said at an...

Sweeping health care legislation cleared its first hurdles in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday as Democrats turned back a series of proposed changes by Republicans who attacked it as a threat to Medicare. Yet even as they prevailed on politically charged votes, majority Democrats also tacitly conceded one point—that despite a pledge by President Barack Obama, some seniors who receive coverage from private insurers could lose some of the optional benefits they enjoy.

ABC News has learned that President Obama will be meeting with 16 Democratic senators (and one "Independent Democrat") this afternoon at the White House. They are: Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Tom Carper of Delaware, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Friday that two Democratic senators falsely took credit for steering millions of dollars to projects in their home state, even as officials acknowledged that the Homeland Security secretary met with the lawmakers and discussed financing the projects. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano denies politics played any role in distributing stimulus money. The Associated Press reported this week that her department did not follow its own priority list when selecting projects. Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have taken credit for helping secure $77 million in stimulus money for repairs at border stations...

August 27, 2009 Senators Grassley, Enzi and Snowe, I am writing this letter to you because I understand that you are working to save Obamacare from defeat. I have to ask you why you would do such a thing. It is apparent that you are working against the will of the American people. What is in it for you to destroy the freedom that has been lighthouse to refugees all over the world? Is it because Ted Kennedy died and you want to pay him tribute? You can send a card, buy a wreath, or attend the funeral. You could...

Ohio Senator George Voinovich says that the GOP is "being taken over by southerners," the Columbus Dispatch reports. In an interview with with the paper, Voinovich said shrinking demographics and southern senators are alienating his conservative constituents. He cites Republican Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn as the GOP's biggest problem. "We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It's the southerners. They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'," Voinovich said....

Two senior Republican senators sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday expressing concern over reports that the administration negotiated "directly or indirectly" with terrorists for the release of British hostages in Iraq. In a letter made available to The Washington Times, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said that the U.S. release last month of Laith al-Khazali, a member of a militant Shi'ite group called Asaib al-Haq, may have been part of a deal to gain freedom for three British hostages held since 2007. On June 21, the group sent the bodies of two British hostages...

Two senior Republican senators sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday expressing concern over reports that the administration negotiated "directly or indirectly" with terrorists for the release of British hostages in Iraq. In a letter made available to The Washington Times, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said that the U.S. release last month of Laith al-Khazali, a member of a militant Shi'ite group called Asaib al-Haq, may have been part of a deal to gain freedom for three British hostages held since 2007. On June 21, the group sent the bodies of two British hostages...

Although Gov. Brad Henry vetoed similar legislation 10 days earlier, House members Monday again approved a resolution claiming Oklahoma’s sovereignty. Unlike House Joint Resolution 1003, House Concurrent Resolution 1028 does not need the governor’s approval. The House passed the measure 73-22. It now goes to the Senate. "We’re going to get it done one way or the other,” said the resolutions’ author, Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City. "I think our governor is out of step.” House Democrats objected, saying the issue already had been taken up and had been vetoed, but House Speaker Pro Tempore Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, ruled the...

The States still have the power and the means to bring the Federal Government into compliance with the intent of the Founders, but to do so they must be willing to kill the Sacred Cow of American politics - democracy. Mostly unheralded and unknown, the Founding Fathers feared and rejected it. Examination of Farrand's Records, (The minutes and journal of the 1787 convention) clearly reveals the Founders' intent. For instance: Gerry, "The evils we experience (in the confederation) flow from an excess of democracy." Madison describing Randolph: "the General Object (of the Convention) was to find a cure for the...

The U.S Constitution "originally" laid out the separation of powers between the federal government and the State governments in the first paragraph of article 1 section 3. How this paragraph accomplished that goal will become clear later in this article. This paragraph states: "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." Then in Article I, section 4 we also find this: "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each...

Is there really any use in talking to our elected representavives? I received the following today: April 20, 2009 Dear Mr. XXXXX: Thank you very much for contacting me to express your opposition to the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this important matter. As the leader of our nation's health and wellness initiatives, the Secretary of Health and Human Services should be knowledgeable with respect to health policy, adept at managing a very large agency, and adept at finding common ground among groups whose views...

For those of us in our forties who have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh commentaries for nearly half of our lives, the smears and disingenuous assaults from Harry Reid and the iniquitous Senator Tom Harkin, against the lovable little fuzz ball, engender anger these senators readily discount to their peril. With an approval rating somewhere around fifteen percent, making the President’s insipid thirty look stellar, you might think idiot congressional leaders would tread lightly in denigrating the most popular radio host in the country. To hear leading Democrat’s tell it, Rush Limbaugh is polluting the air waves with hate speech and vitriol...

A simple apology would have sufficed. Instead, Sen. Russ Feingold has decided to follow his McCain-Feingold evisceration of the First Amendment with Feingold-McCain, more vandalism against the Constitution. The Wisconsin Democrat, who is steeped in his state's progressive tradition, says, as would-be amenders of the Constitution often do, that he is reluctant to tamper with the document but tamper he must because the threat to the public weal is immense: Some governors have recently behaved badly in appointing people to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. Feingold's solution, of which John McCain is a co-sponsor, is to amend the 17th Amendment. It...

PER CSPAN THE BILL ONLY HAVE 57 VOTES, THESE THREE SENATORS HAVE NOT VOTED YET. TIME 6.36 PM EASTERN TIME http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN2_wm.aspx NEW YORK SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-4451 DC FAX: (202) 228-0282 ALBANY PHONE: ALBANY FAX: (518) 561-3362 INDIANA SENATOR EVAN BAYH - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-5623 DC FAX: (202) 228-1377 INDIANAPOLIS PHONE: (317) 554-0750 INDIANAPOLIS FAX: (317) 554-0760 OHIO SENATOR SHERROD BROWN - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-2315 DC FAX: (202) 228-6321 COLUMBUS PHONE: (614) 469-2083 COLUMBUS FAX: (614) 469-2171

WASHINGTON - "Fore!" The federal government is preparing to spend millions to purchase a fleet of small electric vehicles that critics compare to golf carts. The $838 billion economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of "green" cars. But the money won't just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt. The cash also can be used to purchase "neighborhood electric vehicles." The NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into...

Call ALL the Offices of Spector,Collins and Snowe. Here are all 21 numbers.

The Republican party is in danger of having a weak response to the economic stimulus package which includes a lot of useless funding for worthless projects that will not help the economy. Republicans are taking action by calling and writing letters to their senators. The pork-barrel involved in this bill will probably weaken support by not just Republicans but even Democrats for the bill. Even liberals agree there is too much spending going on. Didn't Obama just campaign about too much debt being bad?

We need to be calling all of our senators, folks. But some might need more attention than others. That said, I just finished calling every Republican in the Senate, plus Joe Lieberman. I kept a tally of who gave a firm no, and who seemed to be a little more on the squishy side. The ones who gave a firm no should still get phone calls, mind you, to make sure they don’t change their position. But it’s the squishy ones who really need our attention. Here’s the tally: FIRMLY OPPOSES: I only put someone down in the “no” column...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 GOA wants to thank all of you for your hard work in opposing the extremely anti-gun Eric Holder for Attorney General. While we lost the battle on Monday (by a vote of 75-21), you guys registered your opposition loud and clear. There is no doubt that your activism truly made gun rights THE issue in this nomination battle. Every Senator who spoke against Holder mentioned Second Amendment fears. And even among many of the Senators who voted for him, there was tremendous concern regarding Holder’s stance on gun rights. As stated by The Washington Post yesterday,...

WASHINGTON – Two U.S. senators are proposing a Sept. 11-style commission with subpoena powers and a $3 million budget to investigate what caused the banking and financial crisis. .. the bipartisan panel would conduct a comprehensive "forensic audit" .. Isakson, a Georgia Republican, and Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, .. said the investigation is needed to hold people accountable.

... It seems to me and a lot of other folks that we might label the current bunch of bozos in Congress the Know-Nothing Party because, Democrat or Republican, they have reached a point at which they can be stampeded into voting for the expenditure of huge amounts of money without a clue why or to whom. Now it appears they are getting ready to “stimulate the economy” with a giant, political grab-bag in excess of a trillion dollars. Much like earlier efforts, it is likely to fail while at the same time plunging the nation into deeper and deeper...

Corruption Chronicles Only half of the members in the U.S. Senate committee that screens among the most important presidential cabinet nominees—Secretary of Homeland Security—bothered to show up for confirmation hearings this week and only two Republicans participated. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee senators evidently had more important things to do than assure the right candidate will head the crucial agency that keeps the nation safe from foreign threats. Only nine of the panel’s 17 members found the time to ask Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary pick—Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano—questions, making the so-called confirmation hearing somewhat laughable. This is embarrassing...

California Rep. Henry Waxman said Thursday the environment and U.S. economy depend on congressional action to confront the threat of climate change. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke as he opened Congress' first hearing on climate legislation. A group of 14 corporate

Investigators say they believe 64-year-old Paulette Locklear was beaten to death outside her home Tuesday afternoon after confronting a man who was trying to break in. Julio Cesar Ramos, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in Locklear’s death. Ramos, who is from Honduras, has been deported from the U.S. several times and is in the country illegally, said Debbie Tanna, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. Ramos told investigators he is homeless and unemployed., Tanna said. Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies responded to Locklear’s home on the 1200 block of Wilmington Road after she called 911 Tuesday afternoon to report...

If “cash is king,” then Middle East coffers are irresistibly enticing. During a recent tour of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt applauded the “growing role” of Arab banks in the U.S. economy. Treasury is seeking buyers for its newly acquired bailout assets because more than $1 trillion in cash is urgently needed to rescue the largest U.S. banks. However, cash from the Arabian Gulf comes with a vital string attached: Islamic banking, erroneously viewed as an ancient practice. In fact, Islamic banking is a newly invented institution: “Neither classical nor medieval Islamic civilization featured...

The incoming chief of staff winning praise from Congressional Republicans for openness, accessibility. Gave Senators his personal e-mail address and cell phone number, promised to return any communication in 24 hours. Returned a call from Sen. Kyl in 10 minutes: "They are getting off to a good start in terms of reaching out."

Barack Obama denies having contact with the indicted Illinois governor who tried to sell his old Senate seat yet the president elect’s top advisor revealed last month that the men, longtime political pals, had in fact spoken about a replacement. When a massive federal indictment charging Rod Blagojevich with multiple corruption counts was made public yesterday, Camp Obama suddenly diagnosed the second-term Democrat governor with political plague. The nation’s soon-to-be commander-in-chief claimed to barely know his close political ally. After all, who wants to be connected to a notoriously crooked politician who just got arrested and charged with selling the...

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MEXICO CITY — The U.S. government finally released the first part of a $400 million aid package Wednesday to support Mexico's police and soldiers in their fight against drug cartels. The money comes at a critical time: Mexico's death toll from drug violence has soared above 4,000 so far this year, and drug-related murders and kidnappings are spilling over the U.S. border as well. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza formally released $197 million at a signing ceremony in Mexico City. The rest will be disbursed throughout the year. Garza said the Merida Initiative aid will enable the U.S. and Mexico to...

Constitutional Lawyer: If Obama Takes Oath, It Will Be Perjury - Plus Maps Out The Specific Chaos That Will Absolutely Ensue Obama Fomenting A Constitutional Crisis: Constitutional Lawyer Discusses Ramifications To Country The Philadelphia Bulletin Error 404, page removed!By John P. Connolly 12/01/2008Controversy continues to surround President-elect Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, and a case involving his birth certificate waits for its day before the U.S. Supreme Court. A constitutional lawyer said were it to be discovered that Mr. Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, it would have grave consequences for the nation.According to the Constitution, a president must...

The Wall Street Journal uses the following reasoning to support the bailout bill: "Our point isn't to absolve Wall Street or Washington -- far from it. The point is that credit manias are by their very nature societal, which is why the panics that follow can do so much damage to Americans outside the financial arena. They are part of a larger psychology that sweeps everyone up in euphoria for a time, only to send everyone into a defensive crouch when the credit stops. The challenge at such a moment is to prevent a panic from becoming a crash that...

Republican Senators that vote for socialism should be defeated just like the Democrats.

Joining five Democrats to make up the Gang of Ten, five Republican senators tossed Sen. John McCain under his Straight Talk Express Energy bus. The five Republican senators (Graham, Thune, Chambliss, Corker, and Isakson) should be renamed the Gang of Sellouts. The Gang of Ten is a bipartisan group of senators who recently offered an energy policy -- intentionally or stupidly otherwise -- that can only benefit Senator Obama, whose energy policy up until this point was to tell us to keep our tires just as liberals prefer Fedzilla: properly inflated.

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate have freed GOP members to go against the traditional party platform if it will help them get re-elected, aides say. The Politico reported Tuesday that the GOP leadership set their members free amid fears they could lose five or more seats to Democrats in November. Republican leaders have told senators in tough re-election bids to side with Democrats on anything but energy and national security issues, a leadership aide told Politico.

BASRA, Iraq – A congressional delegation visited the Multi-National Division – South East headquarters in Basra, Iraq, July 21 while on a fact-finding mission during a trip through the area.  Senators Jack Reed, D-R.I., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrived at Basra Air Station on an Air Force C-130. They were escorted by Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph R. Allen, command sergeant major, MNC-I.   The senators met with MND-SE leaders and Iraqi Army leaders, Lt. Gen. Mohammad, commander, Basra operations, and Maj. Gen. Aziz, commander, 14th Iraqi Army...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the Senate sought on Thursday to pass bipartisan legislation to more than triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa and other countries, but some Republican foes vowed to block it because of its cost. President George W. Bush had called for a doubling of U.S. funding to help fight a global battle against AIDS. There are indications his administration would go along with more aggressive spending, according to congressional aides. But he has had difficulty convincing some fellow Republicans in Congress to go along. Supporters of the proposed $50 billion in U.S. funds over five...

Malicious Legislation Watch Climate Security Act is about NeitherOnly US Senators would have the overbearing arrogance--think Al Gore--to think that they can vote to change climate. But the Senate votes tomorrow on a piece of Buffoonery called the Climate Security Act. Maybe the Senators attach a rider outlawing tornadoes and floods, while they're at it. Tomorrow's Senate vote, which will cost every American THOUSANDS of dollars more--while accomplishing NOTHING. Instead of filing this under "Legislative Mischief", this bill needs to go into the "Malicious Legislation" file. The Climate Security Act will affect neither climate nor security. It will, however, affect...

Worried about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon and beyond? Imagine if they were $6, $7 or even $8 a gallon. Those levels are a certain possibility should Congress pass cap-and-trade legislation, which could face a vote in early June. Oil is trading at record levels, in excess of $120 a barrel. Leading Republican Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) both told the Business & Media Institute (BMI) energy prices would drastically increase if the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 2191) is signed into law. “The studies show it would be directly affected, would be a $1.50 a...

YOUTUBE MOCKING OF BARBARA WALTERS AND HER ADMISSION OF SLEEPING WITH SENATORS

We have heard during this presidential election cycle – ad nauseam – how our country is in dire need of “change.” We are promised by each of the candidates that they are the ones – the only ones – who can bring about this much needed change. Of course, this is all disingenuous politicking. The fact of the matter is this: the office of the presidency is quite limited in its power to affect any change at all. The real entity capable of affecting immediate and dramatic change in government, the governmental branch with the real power, is the Legislative...

Vermont senators call for investigation of oil pricesThe Associated Press 4/4/2008 MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont state Senate called Thursday for Attorney General William Sorrell to launch a criminal investigation of major oil companies to see if recent petroleum price increases might involve price-fixing, consumer fraud or other violations of law. "At the same time that we are paying $3 and $4 a gallon for gas and oil, the oil companies are making record profits, billions and billions of dollars," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham. "It's puzzling to us that so few politicians both on a state...

Senator John McCain, of Arizona; Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division; and Senator Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut, check out a fruit stand in the marketplace in Iskandariyah, Iraq, March 17. Senators Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, McCain and Lieberman were in Iraq to meet with Iraqi leaders and senior U.S. military officials. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tami Hillis, 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO. JOINT SECURITY STATION ISKAN — A congressional delegation consisting of Senators John McCain, of Arizona; Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut; and Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, visited Iskandariyah, Iraq, March 17 where...

5 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — A helicopter carrying three senior U.S. senators has made an emergency landing in Afghanistan. Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft., according to Jon Summers, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The lawmakers are on a trip this week that includes stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan. Kerry and Biden are Democrats from Massachusetts and Delaware, respectively, and the Republican Hagel is from Nebraska.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A team of US senators who monitored Pakistan's parliamentary elections said Tuesday the vote was credible and legitimate, representing a historic moment for the country. Senators John Kerry, a former US presidential candidate, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel observed the vote held Monday in which President Pervez Musharraf's allies were facing a rout, according to unofficial results. Kerry said that "even if the election was not meeting the highest standard," it "meets the basic threshold of credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the Pakistani people" as well as observers. Opposition figures had alleged massive rigging in...

Sometimes the truth just has a way of coming to light. A public information officer with the Texas Department of Transportation this week wrote a column in the Herald-Press describing the financial woes facing TxDOT and how because of those problems the state’s transportation department doesn’t have the money to deal with many of the state’s transportation issues. Apparently, several of the state’s senators do not feel that is the case at all. David Dewhurst called out the state’s interim chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Hope Andrade, on this very issue, according to a story from the Associated Press....

In the 38 elections since the first Republican convention chose John Charles Frémont to carry their 1856 presidential campaign, only 3 Republicans who served in the Senate ever got elected to the Presidency. And only Warren Gamaliel Harding won every Presidential election in which he contested. Elected in 1920 on a platform of content-free Senatorial blather, he perished before the unraveling of the incredible scandals of his Administration and thus didn't bear the consequences personally. No other Senator boasted his perfect record (1-0) in Presidential elections. Senator Benjamin Harrison narrowly won election in 1888 and thereby became the only Senator...

WASHINGTON: Eight US senators have asked President George Bush to take quick and decisive action to help ensure that Pakistan moves in the right direction. In a letter addressed to the president, the senators have asked for an immediate, thorough, and credible investigation to be conducted under the aegis of the UN into the murder of former Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. They have also asked for the reinstatement of sacked Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, as well as that of other dismissed judges for the sake of a functioning independent judiciary. All those arrested during the emergency, they...

In last week's column I highlighted comments made to the Financial Times of London by U.S. Comptroller General David Walker in which he compared the current political, social, and economic situation in the United States to that of the Roman Empire shortly before its collapse. I heard from a number of readers in response to the column… Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. While a couple of folks used the opportunity to plug a particular presidential candidate or legislative issue, almost all were in agreement that things in our nation must change drastically and quickly. Despite a booming economy, low unemployment, and...