Free Republic

The government has formulated a plan to put troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, dismiss their top executives, and use government funds to prop them up, government officials told the two companies yesterday, according to sources familiar with the conversations. Under the plan, the federal government would place the firms in a legal state known as conservatorship, the sources said. The value of the company's common stock would be diluted but not wiped out while the holdings of other securities, including company debt and preferred shares, would be protected by the government. As the pace...

The Obama campaign, drawing upon the candidate’s community organizing experience, is also looking toward the grassroots. Unity for Change house parties across the country on June 28 will bring neighbors together for voter registration and getting out the vote. A national coalition of peace and economic rights organizations is also gearing up for grassroots voter registration and mobilization. Planned Parenthood Action is launching a One Million Strong Know McCain campaign with house parties June 14-20. A host of creative projects to expose McCain’s record are being launched online. African American, Latino and youth voters who could be decisive in this...

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence. On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress................

In the past weeks, Israel has been rocked by a rash of murders of children at the hands of their parents, or in one case – grandfather. These murders are horror stories that we hope are the exception to the rule. But they have triggered an important public debate: How much should the state be involved in the relationship between parents and their children? Were the police at fault for not allowing a non-parental complaint to be filed about the disappearance of Rose, one of the murdered children? Should the state now keep track of parents who do not bring...

The attacks on John McCain's bold veep pick have begun. But if the critics think Sarah Palin is an easy target, they'd better think again. She can fire back. Working moms of the world, unite. "There's a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice-presidential opponent," Joe Biden said while campaigning in Toledo Sunday. "She's good-looking." It's a dismissive put-down we would expect from Biden, one a Republican couldn't get away with. Obama spokesman Bill Burton was more direct, saying that McCain had irresponsibly put "the former mayor of a town of...

I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would, and I know that they will take care of me if I ever lack for anything. I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is good as long as nobody is offended by it. I’m voting Democrat because freedom of religion is good as long as God the Father or His Son Jesus is never ever mentioned or prayed to in our schools, colleges, and public offices, however, Muslim footwashing stations in our airports and special prayer rooms in...

Actually, it really shouldn't be all that important. As I've told you many times, our founding fathers felt that in times of peace 95% of all governance should come from the local, not the federal level. Not one of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence or who participated in the design of our Constitution ever dreamed that the federal government would become the out-of-control behemoth it is today. We should be far more concerned with local elections than federal. The main thing we should be looking to the federal government for is national security ... that and some...

AUGUSTA, Maine — On Monday, Maine joins other U.S. states and Canadian provinces that have made it illegal to smoke in a car while children are present. But for the first year the law's in effect, violators will only get warnings. A law passed by the state legislature earlier this year outlaws smoking in cars while youths under 16 are present. It's modelled after a tougher ordinance in the city of Bangor, Maine. California, Arkansas and Louisiana have passed similar laws, as have Puerto Rico and some Canadian provinces. Other states have also looked at the proposal. When he signed...

For Barack Obama, climate change is change we can believe in. Speakers at the Democrats’ convention this week, by and large, have taken as dim a view of fossil fuels as the Iraq war. If you were quaffing your brew at each mention of "alternative energy" from the podium, you’d have a lot of recycling to do by now. The green theme climaxes tonight, with environmental hero Al Gore setting the stage for the candidate’s address. Since he launched his campaign, Obama has offered remarkably detailed proposals and demonstrated fluency in the language of energy and carbon. He promises a...

Venezuelan strongman, Hugo Chavez announced that his government was expropriating cement manufacturers in his country “in order to ensure that the government has the means to provide the people with shoes.”

GENEVA (Reuters) - Major inequalities in health and life expectancy persist worldwide, according to an independent World Health Organization commission which on Thursday called for all countries to offer universal health care. Huge discrepancies also exist within countries, including Scotland where a boy born in the poor Glasgow suburb of Calton can expect to live to 54, 28 years less than one born in affluent Lenzie, just across town, it said. "The health inequities we see in the world are absolutely dramatic in their scale," Michael Marmot, a WHO health researcher, who chaired the commission, told reporters. "Between countries we...

Earlier this month, a California activist began gathering signatures to put a state wealth tax on the ballot. The measure would impose a new 35% income surtax (in addition to federal taxes and the existing 10.3% top state rate), and penalize people who leave the state by seizing 55% of assets exceeding $20 million. The money raised would be used to eliminate the state's budget deficit and for purchasing controlling shares in large corporations. The 17.5% surtax is unusual because it would be on a taxpayer's total (not marginal) income whenever it exceeds $250,000, with another additional 17.5 percent tax...

Barack Obama's campaign plans to relaunch his "urban agenda" Monday in what people close to the strategy say is an effort to assure urban leaders and voters of the Democratic nominee's commitment to cities and minorities without alienating skeptical white voters. The plan features an increase in the minimum hourly wage, a new White House office focused on metropolitan areas and $60 billion to establish a national bank to finance public-works projects. The campaign didn't give a total cost for the plan, but the 32-page blueprint that will be released during a meeting of the Democratic Party's African-American caucus includes...

Greta says there's new information on the relationship between Obama and William Ayers. Is this something new? She called it breaking news?

August 27, 2008 The Four Horsemen of Economic Apocalypse By Dick Armey Like most conservatives, I look at the looming November election with a certain sense of gloom. While Senator McCain has a good shot at taking the White House, Democrats look certain to expand their majorities in both the House and Senate by considerable margins. As the Democratic Party gathers in Denver this week, it will lay out an aggressive policy agenda worthy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The 111th Congress has the potential to pass legislation of the magnitude of the New Deal and Great Society; indeed, we may...

Democrats: Barack Obama isn't the only leader at this week's convention whose ideas border on the socialistic. So do those of party chairman Howard Dean, as demonstrated during his stint as governor of Vermont.In those 12 years (1991-2003), Dean and the Democratic legislature transformed a rural state with an austerity budget into a state that ranks No. 1 in taxes (with a top rate of 9.5%) and in the top five in per capita spending on welfare, health care and education while trailing the national average in job and personal income growth. How was this pulled off? By ramping up...

Central Planning is sold to a hopeful people as a way to solve societal problems, to right wrongs, and bring about perfect justice and equality. Central Planning promises you everything you are entitled to. As a bonus, goods and services produced by others are added to the list of commodities that everyone has a "right" to. Suddenly everyone is entitled to healthcare, housing, education, food, et cetera. It might sound nice that the state will magically provide all these wonderful things, but these rosy promises mask a dehumanizing, ugly reality. The other side of these entitlements is that now the...

We now know what Obama has in store for the American economy. Let's start with energy. His is the traditional Democratic tilt in favour of renewables, ethanol and conservation. But with the polls showing that more than 70% of Americans favour opening offshore America and federal lands to drilling, Obama panicked. He now says he will go along with a comprehensive deal that includes new taxes on oil companies in return for a relaxation of restrictions on offshore drilling, so long as it is done in an environmentally sensitive way, which means that there will be no offshore drilling. As...

Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Orlando, Barack Obama declared, "I will let no one question my love of this country." Obama has felt the sting of recent attacks from conservative critics, and prominent Democrats have been pressuring him to hit back harder at John McCain. Universal praise of John McCain's performance in their first joint appearance at Saddleback Church also has the Obama campaign on the defensive. But we believe the recent polls are tightening not because of Obama's failure to get tough. The race is tightening because Obama's worldview is coming into focus. A worldview colors...

Public Opinion: Cognitive dissonance — seeing one thing, believing another — is a term used by psychologists. But it's also crept into the lexicon of pollsters — understandably for those trying to figure out what makes Obama supporters tick.How else to explain the results of the latest IBD/TIPP Poll measuring attitudes towards socialism? In the survey of 856 adults taken Aug. 4-9, Obama supporters overwhelmingly backed an economic system that "emphasizes private property and free markets" — in other words, the capitalist model we have now. The breakdown was 59% in favor of such a system vs. only 11% against....

'If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system," Barack Obama told an audience in Albuquerque on Monday. He was lauding the idea of a health-care market -- or nonmarket -- entirely run by the government. Most liberals support single payer, aka "Medicare for All," because it would eliminate the profit motive, which by their lights is the reason Americans are uninsured. The Democratic Presidential candidate takes a more moderate campaign line, though we suppose just about everything is "moderate" compared to a total government takeover. While preferring that option in theory,...

Why is Obama supported by Democratic Socialists of America? In: Politics and Policy [Edit] [Edit] .Because he supports the ideals of marxism and socialism. Barrack Obama constantly affirms his belief that the government should have the unlimited ability to seize assets from all individuals and business entities and use it as they see fit. He supports socialized medicine, and other government seized control of private institutions. He is possibly the most socialist politician in the land, rivaled only by Hillary Clinton. "Barack Obama Exposed" A Free special report on the real Barack Obama - get your copy today! www.HumanEvents.com Why...

"Crisis of Confidence" Speech (July 15, 1979) Jimmy Carter President Carter speaks to Americans about the "crisis of confidence" in American government, values, and way of life, as the public expresses doubt in a better future for their own children. Carter challenges citizens to unite and address the problems in America by first addressing the energy shortage. Flash Video Downloadable Content Video: Windows MediaQuicktimeReal Media Audio: MP3 Help With Video Help With Audio Transcript Good evening. This is a special night for me. Exactly 3 years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run...

"Enforced redistribution of wealth is STATE SLAVERY; America's greatest sin again." "Socialism is for Nazis, Communists, and Fascists, NOT AMERICANS!" "When you raise your own taxes, you vote away your own time, your freedom, and your neighbor's as well." "Gimme Back My Money! Say no to government help. Family, friends, neighbors, and charities, but not the government!" Captain Jack Sparrow says: "Unleaded $4.00. What's it called, mate, when someone takes away your ability to travel? For less freedom, vote democrat." Seinfeld's soup Nazi says: "Voted Democrat? NO ENERGY FOR YOU! Don't elect the gas Nazis." Click on image for quality...

American liberals may brag about Europe's superiority, but tell that to the top men's tennis players. Of the 70 Europeans ranked inside the top 100, 25 out 70 (35.7%) live outside their home country. Meanwhile only 5 out of 15 Frenchmen live in France. Where did they all go? Nine live in Switzerland (where income tax rates don't exceed 13.2%) and one lives in Florida. And if that weren't enough to prove that high taxes aren't popular with rich athletes, 8 European men live in the tax free haven known as Monte Carlo, Monaco. So the next time one of...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): The Venezuelan government has locked up control of more than 90 percent of the domestic cement industry with its nationalization of one foreign-owned plant and pressured buyout of two others. In the most recent of a series of state takeovers of key foreign-controlled businesses, at midnight Monday, Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez led workers and supporters to take symbolic control of the Mexican-owned Cemex plant in the eastern part of the country. Picture of the entrance of the Mexican cement company Cemex's Mara plant in Maracaibo, Venezuela. AFP PHOTO The move, after talks on a buyout...

Election '08: Barack Obama's economic blueprint sounds like one his communist father tried to foist on Kenya 40 years ago, with massive taxes and succor shrouded as "investments."As a Nairobi bureaucrat, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. advised the pro-Western Kenyan government there to "redistribute" income through higher taxes. He also demonized corporations and called for massive government "investment" in social programs. Writing in a 1965 scholarly paper, Obama's late father slammed the administration of then-President Jomo Kenyatta for moving the Third World country away from socialism toward capitalism. He chafed at the idea of relying on private investors — who earn...

Although the press has been notably lax about pursuing the matter, the full story of the Obama-Ayers relationship calls the truth of Obama’s account seriously into question. When Obama made his first run for political office, articles in both the Chicago Defender and the Hyde Park Herald featured among his qualifications his position as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder and guiding force. Obama assumed the Annenberg board chairmanship only months before his first run for office, and almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers. During...

And we know what horrible outcomes can arise when people without experience are placed in positions of great power. InstaGlenn accuses him of actually saying it but that’s not true: Watch him catch himself mid-sentence, the first fateful syllable of the word “experience” already out of his mouth, before he stops short and switches gears by basically calling Thomas a moron instead (at least, “at the time”) — an aspersion reinforced a moment later by the implicit contrast he draws in praising Scalia’s brilliance. A golden gaffe, narrowly avoided. Stay classy, Barry. Video at link:

Why Taxation Isn't (Necessarily) Theft by Eric Pavlat 8/14/08 I still remember the pain when my best friend and I stopped attending the same school after first grade. His parents decided he would be better off in a private school. I asked my mom how he could do that, and she explained that his parents were spending a little extra money to send him there. So, was my mom spending money to send me to school? She told me that she already paid taxes, and that's how the school building was constructed and the teachers were paid. As full of...

The mainstream media and the presumptive nominee from the Democrat Party have done a pretty good job of steering the electorate’s attention to issues of a domestic nature. It wasn’t hard to do. With gasoline prices hovering around four dollars a gallon, combined with the self-induced but limited financial crisis created by proprietary lenders and a healthcare system that’s being raped by grifting lawyers and robber-baron insurance companies, it is easy to understand why voters would fall prey to diversionary tactics of the political power seekers. But we do so at the expense of the well being of our nation....

Jerome Corsi's expose The Obama Nation jumped to the #1 slot in most book sales charts yeterday during it's first day of release destroying competition in non-fiction and political book sales. Scrupulously sourced with more than 600 footnotes, The Obama Nation is the result of that research. By tracing... ...Meanwhile rumours circulated online of readers visiting local bookstores such as Barnes & Noble only to find that the book was no where to be found. In certain stores, Obama supportive employees are apparently... Meanwhile purchases of Nancy Pelosi's newest release continued to plummet as she maintains her low, low, low...

If Senator Obama should somehow God forbid win this upcoming elections, I had some ideas to strike back at those who have inflicted his reign on the American people. A President Obama would be a disaster to the economy and the safety of American citizens. It is the mainstream media and the entertainment industry that have raised this empty suit to smother us. They should have their feet put to the fire. 1) Turn off the MSM. Do not buy their papers or watch their news programs. I know that most of us are already doing this, but it may...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has criticized President Bush's stance on oil exploration. OP-ED: In the name of protecting the environment from increased gas consumption, Democratic leaders oppose the price-cutting strategy of more off-shore drilling while concurrently arguing that OPEC should do it for us. Doesn't this neutralize the very environmental protection they're hoping to secure by opposing domestic drilling? It's like we're in a bizarre segment of Jeopardy: "Alex, I'll take schizophrenia for $200." ..... ......These realities naturally scream a question: Why are Democrats so doggedly against getting what they want unless they also get to lessen personal economies in...

Schools: While Obama's children enjoy the best education money can buy, he wants to deny inner-city children the education change we can believe in — school choice. He prefers cradle-to-diploma collectivist education. When Barack Obama collected the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers, he told the teachers that support for alternatives to the education monopoly amounted to "tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice." He recently told an interviewer that he opposes school choice because "although it might benefit some kids at the top, what you're going to do is leave a lot of kids at the bottom." Not...

Excerpt - ~ snip ~ "Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise" is coming out Sept. 9 as a paperback with an announced first printing of 300,000 copies and a list price of $13.95. Looking ahead to the digital market, the e-book, also $13.95, will go on sale the day before. ~ snip ~

Election '08: Barack Obama says Washington shouldn't just offer apologies for slavery, but also "deeds." Don't worry, he says, he's not talking about direct reparations. Relieved? Don't be.'I consistently believe that when it comes to . . . reparations," Obama recently told a gathering of minority journalists, "the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds." A few days later, he clarified his remarks, saying he's not calling for direct cash payments to descendents of slaves, but rather indirect aid in the form of government programs that will "close the gap"...

Few people say this out loud, but there is a contingent in America that unabashedly wants communism or socialism or whatever "-ism" that will allow them to take from others in the name of the greater good. And, oh by the way, they're the ones who determine what the "greater good" is. They've always been there, protesting against this or that, smashing chairs into McDonalds' and Starbucks and other evil engines of dreaded capitalism. But this year there's no need for protest. This year, the protest goes mainstream and all civil-like. The fringe has become institutionalized, after all. This year,...

One of Obama’s political inspirations was the father of “progressive” grassroots organizing, Saul Alinsky. To understand how Obama views this country and how he approaches politics, one must understand the influence of Saul Alinsky on today’s left. In 1990 Obama wrote a chapter for a book called; After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois, published by University of Illinois. His contribution, Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City, was the high-minded fluff of an idealistic student and in the years since proven to be as inaccurate as it was naïve, but it articulates the ideal progressive community organizers work...

Johan Norberg, author of In Defense of Global Capitalism, sits down with reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan to sort out the myths of the Sweden's welfare state, health services, tax rates, and its status as the "most successful society the world has ever known."

Here’s the new Obambi energy plan: It has been noted that if automobiles could go only downhill, they would get better gas mileage. Therefore, Barack Obama urges everyone in the country to drive only downhill. This plan has been enthusiastically endorsed by Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. BARACK’S NEW & IMPROVED ENERGY PLAN: LET'S GET AMERICA GOING DOWNHILL!!

Lynn Moses, a Driggs, Idaho man, will enter the federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon today at 2 p.m. in an unfolding story of government tyranny. Mr. Moses lost his wife to an unexpected heart attack 1 ½ years ago, and suspects that the stress created by this abuse of federal power is responsible. And yesterday he was forced to leave his 17-year-old daughter Whitney at home in tears, who will now have to experience her senior in high school without the companionship of either of her parents, both of them taken from her by the repressive power of the central...

Barack Obama has taken populist rhetoric and pandering to new heights this election, literally promising ever increasing rebates and credits to solve the economic and social problems that plague each group he talks too. While critics have attacked and outlined the costs of each his new government proposals, few people recognize the extent of his promises, his overall abuse of populist rhetoric, and his overuse of rebates and tax credits as ways of securing votes. Here is an overview of the promises Obama has made and their associated ANNUAL Costs...

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata today welcomed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 1-cent sales tax hike as "a start," but declared budget negotiations are at an impasse and said he does not expect a quick resolution. Perata's comments, following a Senate session, were his first since Schwarzenegger proposed the temporary sales tax increase over the weekend in an effort to bridge the state's $15.2 billion deficit and bring an end to the 36-day budget standoff. "I'm glad the governor has come around to saying publicly what we've known all along - that we have to have taxes in order to...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez is aiming to set up neighborhood-based militias, move toward a socialist economy in Venezuela and increase state control over agriculture under a package of laws enacted by presidential decree. ... The decree allows the government to "restrict or prohibit the import, export, distribution, exchange or sale" of certain foods or agricultural products and "take over distribution activities when considered necessary." Other measures increase state control over commerce, services and publicity. Businesses that violate the new rules can face fines or indefinite closure. One decree aims to support efforts toward a socialist-style economy at the...

Before Americans will vote for more socialism in a nation almost bankrupt from social conscience already, they must believe that capitalism has failed the vast majority of Americans who now need the government to be their keeper. Nobody understands this better than community organizer Barack Obama and his entire campaign is based on Chicken Little rhetoric as a result. Obama and his socialist companions define the “general welfare” mentioned in the Constitution not as the common interests of all Americans, such as roads, bridges, a strong standard currency and a national defense system, as intended by the Founders who wrote...

That is why this election could be the most important of our lifetime. When it comes to our economy, our security, and the very future of our planet, the choices we make in November and over the next few years will shape the next decade, if not the century. And central to all of these major challenges is the question of what we will do about our addiction to foreign oil. If I am President, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal -...

The Patriot Post Founders' Quote Daily "In the next place, the state governments are, by the very theory of the constitution, essential constituent parts of the general government. They can exist without the latter, but the latter cannot exist without them." -- Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)

Mayors from across the country are in Madison this week for the Mayors Innovation Project summer conference. They'll be sharing ideas about how to run progressive communities in tight economic times. But they will, as well, be wondering whether they are going to have a partner in the federal government. That's something cities have lacked for the past eight years.This week in an interview with MayorTV, an initiative of the Drum Major Institute think tank to focus on urban leaders and issues, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss argues that the Bush/Cheney administration's response has been characterized by "ignorance" as opposed...

Before Americans will vote for more socialism in a nation almost bankrupt from social conscience already, they must believe that capitalism has failed the vast majority of Americans who now need the government to be their keeper. Nobody understands this better than community organizer Barack Obama and his entire campaign is based on Chicken Little rhetoric as a result. Obama and his socialist companions define the “general welfare” mentioned in the Constitution not as the common interests of all Americans, such as roads, bridges, a strong standard currency and a national defense system, as intended by the Founders who wrote...