Free Republic

China power problems are affecting 20 out of China’s 34 provinces. Cement production has been reduced by 29% and aluminum production capacity has been reduced 7%. Heavy industry has seen the most cutbacks. Coal prices are up but China’s utilities have energy price controls. There were quotas on coal mining. The rolling blackout and other power shutoff is also hitting hospitals and street lights. The power shutoffs are very broad and the facts do not align with various excuses and stories coming from China. China’s leadership has not been on top of the power shortage problem and has been months...

Rebel Chinese villagers demand elections, test Communist Party authority Published: 10:21AM Monday December 19, 2011 Protesting Chinese villagers today demanded that central leaders defuse grievances about what they called crooked land deals and a suspicious death, as a revolt that has tested Communist Party authority in this semi-rural area neared its second week. Residents of Wukan Village in Guangdong province have driven off officials, erected makeshift barricades to deter police, and held protest gatherings and marches daily after the death in custody last weekend of Xue Jinbo, one of the organisers of a months-long campaign over former farmland that residents...

Italy's new technocrat government on Sunday night adopted an aggressive €30bn (£26bn) austerity package in a bid to stave off the crisis enveloping the country. Prime minister Mario Monti’s coalition gave the green light to the package of tax hikes and pension reforms after bringing forward a cabinet meeting scheduled for today. “We have had to share the sacrifices, but we have made great efforts to share them fairly,” Mr Monti said. The wide-ranging budget cuts are aimed at shoring up Italy’s strained finances and stemming the sovereign debt crisis that threatens to engulf the eurozone. Mr Monti, who said...

For those of us who have been stuck out in the cold, at last it appears that we have an alternative to the extremist Left-wing organization AARP. For years now conservatives have known that the AARP which purported to represent all retired people and those of us over fifty was in actuality a Left-wing organization with an extremist socialist agenda. AARP has been busy acting in the interest of the Democrat Party rather than the interests of the elderly. In spite of the many discount programs offered for being a member a great many of us, myself included, refused to...

It may not be as provocative as comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words," a free-speech case that went to the Supreme Court in the 1970s. But a Washington area nonprofit group wants to take the U.S. government to the high court for banning the use of "Social Security" on its mailing envelopes.

A coalition of House and Senate Republicans has transformed the Social Security debate with a new proposal that finally focuses reform on the personal accounts. Skeptics take note: This bill can really pass. Nothing else can.

Twelve members of the U.S. Senate are leading a "Coalition of Compromise" determined to forge a deal that allows the unconstitutional filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees to continue. Lady Margaret Thatcher once said: “To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.” It’s about time twelve members of the United States Senate were reminded of that quote. The following twelve members of the United Senate are working behind the scenes to literally forge a compromise of the...

For decades, the federal government has raided the Social Security trust fund to finance other government spending. Social Security's surplus is taken each year to finance all the other federal programs, from foreign aid to welfare. It is time to stop this inexcusable raiding, and give the surplus instead to workers to start their own, individual, personal accounts. Indeed, the new bill introduced this year by Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, and Sen. John Sununu, New Hampshire Republican, phases in the accounts so over the first 10 years the account option is half its full size, allowing workers on average...

You probably know that Missourians already pay state and local sales tax on the purchase of wireless service. But did you know that some cities want to charge your wireless company with additional taxes on this same service? Because wireless customers would ultimately pay for the cost of these additional local taxes on wireless service providers, wireless service costs will go up dramatically if these cities succeed. Coming to your state next! Let's stop it now!

The debate over President Bush's proposed Social Security reform is spawning new pro- and anti-groups nearly every day. The latest is Conservative Republican Seniors Against Bush. Actually, that's not a new group. But the moniker describes many seniors who voted for Bush and are members of the AARP. The AARP has 35 million members, more than the population of Australia or Canada. One survey shows that nearly 40 percent of them are self-identified conservatives. This makes sense, since most people when they sign up for the AARP aren't thinking politics so much as "cheap stuff." The group offers discounts on...

The chairman of a conservative group supporting private retirement accounts within Social Security has challenged the AARP to a debate on the issue, but the Goliath AARP won't bite at the jabs put out by the political David of USA Next. Charlie Jarvis, chairman of USA Next -- which styles itself as a conservative alternative to the 35-million-member AARP -- has called out the powerful lobbying group to hold a public debate on Social Security, preferably on a college campus. "Our two organizations have been at the forefront of a number of key issues that are critical to our members,...

A battle of the Social Security polls has developed, with supporters of private accounts accusing the AARP of distorting the issue when polling its members and the AARP charging that supporters of the president's plan continually gloss over possible pitfalls in its surveys... Charlie Jarvis, chairman and chief executive of USA Next -- a conservative senior citizens group that sees itself as a foil to the AARP -- called the AARP poll "despicable," saying its "emotional language" was designed to "guide them to a preselected answer." "It's a classic push poll," Mr. Jarvis said. "Their polls are completely manipulated surveys...

They ate cake. They hugged for the last time. They made promises to get together again at Perkins. And then it was over. After 44 years, the oldest Florida chapter of AARP was no more on Tuesday. AARP's national membership has ballooned to 36 million, but its chapters are folding faster than card tables at a rummage sale. Once numbering close to 4,000 there are now 2,535 nationwide. The demise of the chapter in Orlando leaves Florida with 112 -- down from 250 two decades ago. "We were just all getting tired and couldn't get anybody to come in," said...

AARP, more than any other group in America, bears primary responsibility for the developing financial crisis of Social Security. That’s right. This fact surprises some people, but it’s true. For four decades AARP has claimed to represent seniors. In its leadership role, this political behemoth ($20 million spent annually on lobbyists) bears responsibility for every major policy action taken on Social Security since the early sixties. AARP should be excoriated for enabling and creating the financial problems in Social Security for which they now claim to have solutions. Unfortunately, AARP’s “solutions” are the very same bad policies that turned Social...

Charlie Jarvis calls himself the "dynamite" that will blow up one of the biggest obstacles to partly privatizing Social Security: AARP, the powerful seniors' lobby that leads the opposition to privatization. But Jarvis has another motive: He wants to take business away from AARP for his own much smaller group, the United Seniors Association, also known as USA Next. Thus one little-noted aspect of the furious politics attending Social Security's fate is simply a fight over money, members and influence in Washington. If Jarvis can discredit AARP, he thinks his group stands to gain. So he's attacking AARP relentlessly, accusing...

Dear AARP Members, Sometimes the things you DON’T do hurt people more than the things you do. The examples are endless. Turning a blind eye while someone is robbed when you have the ability to stop it – or at least call 911. Staying quiet when people verbally attack a friend with facts you know are not true. Or even simply sitting by and watching as a child follows the wrong crowd down a path you know will lead to trouble.

USA Next Chair Charlie Jarvis has sent an open letter to AARP members. It concerns the AARP’s failure to oppose taxes on Social Security benefits. The letter reads as follows: “Dear AARP Members, Sometimes the things you DON’T do hurt people more than the things you do. …

This is an open letter to AARP members from Charles Jarvis, Chairman and Chief Executive of USA Next. Dear AARP Members, April 15 – exactly one month from today – is the deadline for all hardworking Americans to file their tax returns. Whether or not you’ve already filed your tax return, this letter contains important facts you should know UNLESS: • You do not pay enough in taxes and believe the government should collect more from you. • You do not care that you’re paying taxes on your Social Security benefits.

NEW YORK, March 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, the nation's leading advocacy group for a crucial 9/11 Commission recommendation to keep licenses out of the hands of terrorists who could be in this country unlawfully, today announced that it has retained the media firm of Stevens Reed Curcio and Potholm, creators of the now-legendary Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertising campaign during the 2004 Presidential contest. The firm's initial advertisement for the Coalition, a 60- second television spot, will begin airing in the Washington, D.C. media market on March 15. It will be available...

Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON USA Next engineered the recent controversial ad that branded AARP pro-gay marriage and included a photograph of two men kissing. What else are you planning? In a few weeks, there will be ads that very specifically and aggressively brand AARP for what they are, the planet's largest liberal lobbying organization. When they are honest about that, we will take a large number of their members away.