Free Republic

John McCain pledged yesterday to balance the budget by 2013. Barack Obama responded by claiming that it can’t be balanced, and he can’t be bothered to try: Not only does Obama say he won’t eliminate the deficit in his first term, as McCain aims to do, he frankly says he’s not sure he’d bring it down at all in four years, considering his own spending plans. “I do not make a promise that we can reduce it by 2013 because I think it is important for us to make some critical investments right now in America’s families,” Obama told reporters...

It is very rare, if not unheard of, to catch a presidential candidate, especially a Republican, in the act of saying he or she would be willing to sign any tax increase that lawmakers wished for. But that's what happened to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has rocketed to a statistical tie in Iowa with Mitt Romney, largely as a result of the former Baptist minister's support from evangelical voters in the nation's first caucus state. The Club for Growth, an effective tax-cut advocacy group, has been on Huckabee's back almost from the beginning of his candidacy, sending out...

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told breast cancer survivors Tuesday that their disease "is getting less than a fair shake" when it comes to research funding. Romney, a former governor who made health care reform his signature issue in Massachusetts, suggested that as president he would increase federal spending on research of breast cancer and other cancers. "There's no substitute for funding," he said

Why did the governor push ahead an appeal of the trial court's decision, even though he removed the potential savings from his budget? Our only conclusion is that the administration wanted to create a precedent that would eviscerate taxpayer protections for bond spending. Had the state won the case on appeal, virtually any debt run up by the government (for schools, government salaries, pensions, etc.) could be determined a legal obligation, and then those costs could be offloaded to future taxpayers and kept off the annual budget books. State legislators and this governor love to spend money. They love to...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A nearly $4 billion windfall from unanticipated revenue would be used to pay down debt, improve highways and restore some funds cut from schools and other programs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed Friday. While the revised $115.7 billion state budget plan would take a big step toward balancing state spending with income, it did little to satisfy the governor's critics among Democratic lawmakers and education officials, who vowed to fight the proposal. "As governor, you have to be like a parent," said Schwarzenegger during a news conference near the Capitol. "No, no, no - you can't this,...

Twice so far this year Sen. J. F. Kerry has flown his hair dresser across the country from Washington D.C.. I've been considering just how much fuel that might require. If you thought an SUV's mileage was bad wait until you see these numbers! Presumably the hair dresser traveled in the Kerry family's Gulfstream IV jet, the "Flying Squirrel." A bit of Googling reveals that a Gulfstream IV consumes 3000 lbs./hr. at altitude cruising at 450 kts. Factoring in the weight of Jet-A fuel and converting knots to miles-per-hour that comes to 1.2 mpg. For comparison an 18-wheeler with a...

<p>NEW YORK — Mike Tyson is no longer in the boxing ring, but he's still getting knocked out ... financially.</p> <p>Once the most feared man in boxing, Tyson has filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court (search), claiming that his finances are in disarray and he is unable to pay his bills.</p>

Texas Republican Ron Paul was the U.S. House member most committed last year kto reducing or controlling federal spending, taxes, deft, and legistation, according to the National Taxpayers Union's annualrating of Congress. Paul claimed the top spot in the House for the third consecutive year. The rating, which isbased on roll-call votes affecting fiscal policy, assigns a "Taypayer Score" to each member of Congress. Paul scored 88 percent. His fellow, Central Texas Republican, Lamar Smith, scored 61 percent. Austin's rep Democrat Lloyd Doggett, scored 21 percent. In the Senate, Texas Republicans Phil Gramm and Kay Baily Hutchison scored 87 percent...