Free Republic

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Back in 2011, when the town fathers of Columbus, New Mexico, announced they were disbanding their police department, giving Luna County sheriffs soul authority to protect and defend Columbus residents, they sighted cost savings as the primary reason. However, the citizens of this small New Mexico border town knew better.A federal indictment accused 12 people of forming a criminal organization that sold weapons to Mexico's notorious Juarez Cartel. Columbus Mayor Eddie Espinoza, Police Chief Angelo Vega and Blas "Woody" Gutierrez, a Columbus village trustee, were among the 12 named in the indictment, accused of aiding the Obama administration...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:While President Obama took to the airwaves in his weekly radio address, urging Congress to "act soon" in passing sweeping gun-control measures, the Phoenix Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it recovered 43 weapons Obama's Justice Department sold to Mexican drug gangs as part of its infamous Operation Fast and Furious.According to ABC's Phoenix affiliate KNXV-TV, Phoenix drug enforcement agents recovered the weapons after arrests were made near the Phoenix-Tolleson border. "Four of the suspects are listed as undocumented immigrants. The fifth suspect had been admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa," said KNXV-TV.In a 2011 letter...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Democrat Joe Morissey rose to his feet in the Virginia House of Delegates to protest the tabling by that body's Militia and Police subcommittee of his Obama-like gun-control measure. To emphasize his point, he hoisted an AK-47, single-handed, over his head, pointing the weapon's muzzle at the ceiling - like a celebratory Taliban fighter at a traditional Afghan wedding. "... You can take this gun," said Morrissey, "you can walk in the middle of Main Street loaded and not be in violation of the law."In response, Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert quickly rose to his feet and made a...

"Those who beat their swords into plough shares shall plough for those who don't."~Anonymous By Mr. Curmudgeon:The New Deal's Political Machines"I am indeed grateful to you for all that you have done," wrote New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a 1932 letter addressed to Tennessee's Edward Hull "Boss" Crump, "I should much like to have a good talk with you before you go to Chicago. Can you not run up to see me either in Albany or in Hyde Park? There are many things I should like to talk over with you."FDR was hoping to gain Crump's political support ahead...

 "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution ..."~Article V, United States Constitution.By Mr. Curmudgeon:The cry uttered by many a small-government advocate is, "Take our country back!" And so, they work tirelessly to elect small-government representatives to Congress. The assumption, especially among members of the Tea Party, is that these representatives can...

By Mr. Curmudgeon: President Ronald Reagan's Attorney General, Edwin Meese, told NewsMax that if President Obama issues an Executive Order unilaterally imposing gun control, bypassing Congress, the 44th president risks impeachment. The former top cop is very old fashioned, and out of touch with modern America.By old fashion, I mean Meese's presumption that America is a nation of laws and not men. That Obama believes he can rule by royal proclamation is a product of supreme confidence; a confidence born of the eroding force of law on government power. Re-interpretations by the nation's Progressive high court allow today's government to...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:"America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up," said President Obama ahead of the upcoming debt ceiling negotiations, "We are not a deadbeat nation." Obama made these remarks with a straight face.Of course, to "pay the bills" the President and Congress have "already racked up" requires borrowing many more trillions of dollars - moving America toward the deadly debt-to-GDP ratio of 80% (we are currently at 73%). America, in reality, is a deadbeat nation in the making.Speaking of deadbeats, House Speaker John Boehner assured Washington's...

 "Ye villains, ye rebels, disperse; damn you, disperse! Lay down your arms, damn you, why don't you lay down your arms!"~ British officer to American Minute Men assembled at Lexington, April 19, 1775, as recalled by the Reverend Jonas Clarke in his diary.By Mr. Curmudgeon:Of England's King Charles II, John Trechard wrote in A Short History of Standing Armies in England (1698), "... He came in with the general applause of the people, who in a kind fit gave him a vast revenue for life. By this he was enabled to raise an army, and bribe the Parliament, which he did...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."~ 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution.Many Americans mistakenly define the above as "states rights." States have no rights ... people do. As the Declaration of Independence states, "...Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The purpose of that power is first and foremost to "secure" the individual "rights" of every free man and woman.The state legislature of Wyoming is considering a bill...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) told the Daily Caller that President Obama should be given the power to raise the nation's debt ceiling without congressional authority. Citing Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, Davis said, "Sometimes when we've gotten great answers is when presidents have had enough authority to take some actions. I mean, remember that we just celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and if Abraham Lincoln had not had the power, authority and the will to make that decision, we may have gone on with the war that was going to last several additional...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Conservative columnists are spilling a lot of ink concerning the "leverage" House Republicans have in the debt ceiling battle coming this February. It's all a load of hooey.It's more likely House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama will hammer out a "grand bargain" that heaps trillions more debt on future generations of indentured state servants with a promise to cut, say, $1 trillion over the next two centuries, while spending hundreds of trillions within the same time-frame. What makes conservative pundits think the debt-ceiling result will differ from that of the fiscal cliff?I'm quite sure Republican talk radio...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:House Republicans brightened President Obama's upcoming inaugural celebrations by re-electing John Boehner Speaker of the House. Of course, Boehner is nothing more than a ventriloquist's dummy, with President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi taking turns working his empty wooden head. The Republican Party is doomed - if not the nation.220 GOP House members thought it a good idea to keep in place the compromising puppet - through whose lips the president speaks. Only 10 Republicans believed the Party of Lincoln deserved better.Five more measly votes and Boehner would be a bad memory. What does this say about...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:"For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It Ran: All Animals Are Equal But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others."~ George Orwell, Animal Farm.New Year's Day, the U.S. Senate passed a "compromise" bill the media insists deals with the fiscal cliff. According to some estimates, over the next decade the federal government will raise $600 billion in new taxes and increase spending by $330.3 billion. No worries, Harry Reid's Senate Democrats cut about $17 billion from...

Mr. Curmudgeon:"I do begrudge what he's done in this fiscal cliff talks," said syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer to Fox News host Sean Hannity. "It's been very clear from the beginning that he [President Obama] had no intention to solve the fiscal issues. He's been using this, and I must say with great skill and ruthless skill and success, to fracture and basically shatter the Republican opposition. The only, you know, redoubt of the opposition is the House. And his objective from the very beginning was to break the will of the Republicans in the House and to create an internal civil war,...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:People of the government, by the government, for the government. That is what has become of "We the People." As Congress's inability to deal with the fiscal cliff and debt-ceiling issues prove, saving bloated government, not the liberty and financial solvency of 311 million Americans, is Washington's priority.A microcosm of the problems facing America is playing out in France. France's Constitutional Council declared Socialist President Francois Hollande's 75% income tax on those earning above $1 million illegal.  However, had the plan passed constitutional muster, it would not have done much to save the Fifth Republic from its fiscal...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:They say they just want to protect the masses - all 500 million of them. The People's Daily - the official organ of China's totalitarian government - announced that the country's Internet users will be require to give their real names and addresses to government-sanctioned Internet providers before they are allowed access to the China-Wide-Web. Chinese citizens are denied admittance to the "World-Wide" version."The draft decision says authorities will protect digital information that could be used to determine the identity of a user or that concerns a user's privacy," said the People's Daily. In other words, "If you...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Dr. H. Wayne Carver, a Connecticut medical examiner, asked University of Connecticut geneticists to examine the DNA of Adam Lanza, the alleged shooter in the Sandy Hill Elementary School massacre. According to ABC News, scientists "not directly involved in the study said they are likely looking at Lanza's DNA to detect a mutation or abnormality that could increase the risk of aggressive or violent behavior. They could analyze Lanza's entire genome in great detail and try to find unexpected mutations."The implication, of course, is that abnormalities found in Lanza's DNA may provide genetic red flags for nanny-state planners...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Firemen Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka arrived at a blazing home in Webster, New York, when William Spangler opened fire, killing the firefighters and wounding two others. According to police, Spangler deliberately set the fire to lure first-responders to the scene. During a gun battle with police, Spangler turned his weapon on himself, ending his life.William Spangler was released from prison in 1998 after serving 17 years for murdering his 92-year-old grandmother. Spangler's assault weapon in that case was a hammer."We don't have an easy reason," said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering of Spangler's motive for the shooting...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:"In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds ... in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this," said President Obama in reference to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that ended 26 lives, mostly children."Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?" asked the president, "Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"The uncomfortable answer to his last...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Keep your eyes on Greece. That's America's future. With the Greek economy shrinking by 6% annually, and its government desperate to feed the cradle-to-grave nanny state, tax rates were recently adjusted to reflect the new reality. A simplified tax structure divides Greek society into three brackets: 22%, 32% and 42%. Those earning $55,000 will join the ultra-rich in the top tax bracket."... The successive hikes in taxes, required to meet deficit-cutting targets, have hammered the [Greek] economy, pushing unemployment up to 26 percent ... with more than 20 percent of the population now officially living in poverty -...