Free Republic

This is a call to action: STOP Congress from passing an Omnibus Spending Bill through September of 2015, instead they need to pass a clean CR through January 2015, then they'll at least have the tools to fight Obama's lawlessness through defunding his "executive actions" on Amnesty, Obamacare, and whatever else. CAPITAL HILL SWITCH BOARD (Please use this): (202) 224-3121

The AP story says, “Minnesota's legislative auditor says the state Department of Human Services has failed to adequately verify the eligibility of people who enroll in public health care programs through the state's health insurance exchange MNsure. In a report released Wednesday, the Office of the Legislative Auditor says it found many instances where department paid for Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare benefits for people who weren't eligible because their incomes were too high or didn't qualify for other reasons. It says the department also charged incorrect MinnesotaCare premium rates.” It’s hard to put into words how shocked I am. The...

State revenue forecasters said Monday that the state can expect hundreds of millions of budget dollars less than previously thought to fund schools, social programs and highway projects. The consensus revenue estimating group lowered the official projections it made in April by $205 million. If accurate, the revised forecast means that Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators will have to raise taxes or make deep cuts in spending during the remaining seven months of the budget year to avoid a $278 million deficit. Additional cuts will be necessary to prevent a $435 million deficit in the next budget year, the analysts...

Facing a tough midterm election, Democrats put aside some of their remaining scruples about the new age of unlimited campaign spending and courted unions and hedge-fund billionaires for big checks to try to salvage a Senate majority. They spent a lot of money. But not enough. This year, in a reversal of 2012, the big-money Democratic donors watched their investments return little on election night Tuesday. Although Republicans outspent them overall, Democrats got beaten even in states like Colorado and North Carolina where they spent the same or even a little more than Republicans. "We just saw a national tsunami,"...

While stopping short of going “full Krugman,” Michigan Radio suggests a “silver lining” regarding the state of Michigan’s roads: In our recent conversation with MSU economist Charlie Ballard, he reminded us that we're going to pay for road repairs one way or another. Maybe higher taxes or, in Ballard's case, paying now, with blown tires and bent rims. But, is there some kind of silver lining to the crummy roads? Maybe for local repair shops? The spending certainly helps the local repair shop, but at the expense of the overall economy. The idea that simply spending money is good without...

The Citizens Research Council of Michigan has joined the growing number of analysts to explain that state funding for public schools has not been reduced in the past four years, despite persistent and erroneous claims by teachers unions and Democratic politicians. These claims have been a prominent theme in the current race for governor. On Oct. 16, the non-partisan organization founded in 1916 released a report that asked and answered the key question: “Is school funding up or down compared to four years ago? Here the answer is an unequivocal ‘up.’” The CRC, which claims to be “the state’s oldest...

Actual Table of Contents 1. Paid Vacations for Bureaucrats Gone Wild 2. Swedish Massages for Rascally Rabbits 3. Army Creates Free First-Person Shooter the Intelligence Community Worries Could Train Terrorists 4. Mountain Lions on a Treadmill 5. Anti-Terror Grant Buys State-of-the-Art SWAT Equipment for Safest Small Town in America 6. OPM Pays Contractor To “Flush” Security Clearance Investigations “like a dead goldfish” 7. Spouses Stab Voodoo Dolls More Often When “Hungry”, Study Reveals ($331K spent) 8. Scientists Hope Gambling Monkeys Unlock Secrets of Free Will ($171K spent) 9. Subsidies for Sports Stadiums Leave Taxpayers Holding the Bill 10. Teen...

If you take to Twitter to express your views on a hot-button issue, does the government have an interest in deciding whether you are spreading "misinformation"? If you tweet your support for a candidate in the November elections, should taxpayer money be used to monitor your speech and evaluate your "partisanship"? My guess is that most Americans would answer those questions with a resounding no. But the federal government seems to disagree. The National Science Foundation, a federal agency whose mission is to "promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; and to secure the...

It is difficult to decide which is the more infuriating – those who persist in advancing a lie or those who stubbornly ignore the possible means of combating it. The State of Michigan is spending more state tax dollars on K-12 education than the $6,844 per pupil it was spending the final budget year of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration. At the beginning of this year it was spending $7,545 per pupil. Beginning Oct. 1, that amount was increased again by $50 to $175 per pupil, with the lowest funded school districts receiving the largest boosts. As students of propaganda...

More than a dozen lucky rabbits were given Swedish massages four times a day, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, as part of a study to figure out whether massage can help recovery times after strenuous exercise — a practice Sen. Tom Coburn says makes a mockery of federal spending. The rabbit massages are one of the hundred wasteful products Mr. Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, identified in his latest edition of the Wastebook, an annual compendium of the ridiculous and outrageous items in government spending, which he is releasing on Wednesday. Other highlights included the National Science Foundation paying academics to teach...

American officials have spent billions of tax dollars "setting up projects or programs that the Afghans cannot or will not sustain once international forces" leave Afghanistan, according to a government watchdog. "Afghanistan is a case study in projects and programs set up without considering" whether they can be continued, said John Sopko, Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Sopko's comments came in a speech Friday to a meeting of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. The problem is the sheer magnitude of the reconstruction effort, which is bigger than any ever before undertaken by the U.S. "Last year, the...

On November 4th, 2014 (early voting starts October 20), Texans will have the opportunity to vote on one proposed amendment to the state’s constitution. Hardhatters offers our views on Proposition 1. Prop 1 (HJR 1)Ballot: "The constitutional amendment providing for the use and dedication of certain money transferred to the state highway fund to assist in the completion of transportation construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation projects, not to include toll roads."Summary: Proposition 1 will require the Texas Comptroller to transfer 50% of oil and gas tax revenues away from the economic stabilization fund (Rainy Day Fund) to the State Highway Fund....

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $39 million on obese lesbians, origami condoms, texting drunks, and dozens of other projects that could have been scrapped in favor of developing an Ebola vaccine. “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready,” said NIH Director Francis Collins, blaming budget cuts for his agency’s failure to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus. However, the Washington Free Beacon has uncovered $39,643,352 worth...

From 2000 to 2009, the income of Michigan residents plummeted to a degree experienced in only a handful of states since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Per-capita personal income in the state fell from 18th highest in the U.S. in 2000 to 38th place in 2009; this relative decline was the fourth largest for any state during a nine-year period going back to 1929. Michigan residents' earnings didn’t just drop compared to other states. When factoring in inflation and measured in constant 2013 dollars, per capita income was less in 2009 ($37,102) than in 2000 ($40,605), a decline of...

Detroit Free Press Columnist Rochelle Riley laments “Oh, if only the children of Detroit were pieces of art” in a column in which she claims no leaders want to talk about education in Detroit. The column implies that as the city goes through bankruptcy, the school system is not getting the proper amount of attention. For the Record says: The state of Michigan is devoting about $440 more per-pupil in state funds to Detroit Public Schools in 2013-14 compared to five years ago. In 2013-14, the state poured $378.5 million into DPS, or about $7,802 per student. In 2008-09, that...

War speech at Air Force base produced by private, Dem-friendly company The stage, drapes, and sound system for an 18-minute speech by President Barack Obama cost taxpayers nearly $100,000. “Elite Productions,” the go-to company for prominent Democratic politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, put on the set for Obama’s speech to troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 17. The company provided “stage, drapery, and audio/visual equipment,” according to a contract document made public by the Air Force last week. The government paid the company $94,360 for a speech that lasted from...

Amazon.com Inc. will begin collecting sales taxes from Minnesota customers next week, ending a cost advantage it’s enjoyed over brick-and-mortar retailers in the state. The news also triggered a mystery. Online-only retailers don’t need to charge sales tax in Minnesota unless they have physical presence or affiliated business here. Monday’s revelation led to speculation that Amazon may open a warehouse, data center or some other operation in the state or buy an existing firm. The company was vague about what prompted the change, though it said it “will be required” to do so starting Oct. 1. “We’re considering various opportunities...

Boehner and Yellen are the dealers, I reckon... A friend sent this, not sure who's work it is, and can't quite make out what that is on the bottom-right corner there

Like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regional parliaments... However, England's lack of a similar legislative body has led to a messy situation where Scottish lawmakers can vote on issues that only affect England at the U.K.-wide Westminster parliament ... Just as Scotland will vote separately…on their issues of tax, spending and welfare, so too England, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, should be able to vote on these issues

The Detroit Free Press recently reported that teacher salaries in Michigan have dropped 8 percent from 1999 to 2013 when factoring in inflation. The average teachers’ salary in Michigan was $49,044 in 1999-2000 and increased to $61,560 in 2012-13. But the gap in pay between teachers and the average worker has increased significantly over this time period. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, teachers now have 23 percent higher salaries than the median household income in Michigan, which was $50,115 in 2012. This is higher than in 1999-2000 when teacher salaries were 10 percent higher than the median household income...