Free Republic

It's a safe bet that most of those surprised with diamond jewelry over the holidays did not pause long, if at all, to consider where their new gemstones came from. "Santa's elves" is a good enough answer for most people, and even those who are aware that some diamonds have been known to come from African war zones may not have given the matter much thought this year. "Conflict diamonds," also known as "blood diamonds," are rough stones mined at gunpoint by slaves and prisoners for the enrichment of those holding the weapons. They were a cause célèbre at the...

According to CNSNews, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that Congress has the authority to mandate that people buy health insurance and that there is no constitutional limit on Congress’ power to enact such mandates, adding that this unlimited authority stemmed from the Commerce clause of the Constitution. If this were true, then the congress has no constitutional limits whatsoever. On anything. If they can regulate private citizens as interstate commerce, then they can "regulate" anything and anyone. This makes the entire idea of constitutional limits null and void. The federal government can require and mandate that all citizens purchase: Health...

Making a list of new campaign slogans for the 2010 and 2012 elections

We are all constitutionally guaranteed equality, happiness and welfare. The commerce clause guarantees that the government has unlimited powers and it has a responsibility to the people to guarantee equality, happiness and welfare. Health insurance as an entitlement is just a start. We are constitutionally guaranteed the equal right to health care. Everyone is entitled to equal health care. We're also guaranteed the right to die. Ain't none of us getting out of here alive. Now, people without burial insurance are placing a huge burden on society. If you die without burial insurance, then the costs of burial insurance goes...

Please watch this heart-rending video now posted on YouTube by a young mother who does not know where to turn:VIDEO: Blaise talks to Oprah About "Prader-Willi Syndrome" - only 187 views, so far... Blaise Major Owings wants Oprah to feature his cause "Prader-Willi Syndrome"on her show -- so that a cure can be found for him and all the other children with this genetic disorder. Please Oprah We need your voice.

Apologies to all of my FReeper friends for an extended absence from the forum. I have checked in now and then, and did not want to answer some pings and not others, so have merely participated in 'spectator mode' these past few months. I am offering the following as a Christmas wish for all of you -- some of whom I have known here for longer than ten years. Despite long silences over that time (often on both ends), I believe we all share a timeless common bond, formed by a love of country that will not die ... and...

Sometimes in life there are just no words available to explain certain events, certain people or certain emotions. That is how I felt this week when I saw President Barack Obama make the comments shown in the video below. He incredulously states the following: “We can’t continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences, as if waste doesn’t matter, as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money.” Since I cannot fully express my outrage at perhaps the most hypocritical words ever uttered by a president of this great nation, I will...

Pelosi promised to deliver the health care bill in final form for the SOTU address in January. Is this not the perfect opportunity to hold a mass demonstration outside for all the world to see? Millions of patriots rallying outside could be the real story of the evening. (Yes I know the MSM would not cover it accurately).

Attention Fox Network....My Christmas Wish

I realize this may be a radical concept, but is the TOTUS giving up on Obamacare? Tonight’s Politico carries the story that the WH has given up on a getting a final deal on Obamacare this year. Obama’s inner circle is reported ready to accept final passage of a combined Senate – House Reconciled Bill “sometime after the State of the Union message. The concentration on Obamacare would be replaced with public push for a “jobs” bill. (More “bread and circuses" for the Great Unwashed.) In Washington, “sometime” is no time. Look at the “between the lines thinking” on this....

I'm considering a Hi-Point C9. I read alot of negatives, but also read alot of affimitives. Any OWNERS input would be helpful. I'm also considering the .40 & the .45. I prefer a revolover, but would like an auto I can fire inexpensively and still rely on in a pinch. I know its polymer & potmetal, and heavy, but other than that, whats the story?

Barack Obama will be spending ten days over Christmas and New Year's at a $8.9 million estate in Hawaii at a rate of at least $4000 per night, according to ABC News. Obama spent last Christmas there as well when he was president-elect.As the American people are still caught in the grips of the recession with unemployment running from 10% to 16% and the federal budget blown out with Obama's massive deficit spending, Obama is living like a king with no criticism from the mainstream media.ABC describes the estate with no mention of the incongruence of Obama's extravagance with the...

WOW! It's so easy. Let them pass their stupid bill. Note what terms are used as descriptors such as "patient", "doctor", "heart", "transplant", etc. REPLACE every one of these words with a new and different descriptor to be used in common everyday practice. Instead of "doctor", use "woctor", instead of "patient", use "bimbo", etc. This would make every bit of the language of this legislation NON-APPLICABLE and a useless. Let them have their bill. Then we the people will simply invent new terms for EVERYTHING in it.

Freepers---Today I decided not to renew my NRA membership. Think I am going off the deepend? Here is my letter to Wayne LaPierre: Dear Mr. LaPierre, I have been a member of the NRA a number of years, and while I have often felt that the NRA can be a little too soft, I have always supported the NRA because it has traditionally been the 800 lb gorilla of lobbying for both first and second amendment rights. I am a member of other pro-2A groups, but I have felt the NRA was the anchor organization. However, the absence of the...

Do you agree with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that the Senate Democrats cutting special deals to pass the healthcare bill is “sleazy”?

Dear Rep. Berman, Can you tell me if the State of Texas is making any plans to protect Texas citizens from what I believe to be an unconstitutional bill being rammed through Congress? As elected officials who have sworn to uphold the US Constitution, I believe you need to protect us from basically being placed into a position of servitude to the federal government. I am referring to the "individual mandate" contained in the bill. Absolutely nothing in our constitution authorizes government to force individual citizens to purchase health insurance or buy a product. To do so is tantamount to...

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in HOPE, Acts 2:26 The only Deniers left in Global Fleecing are those who deny it’s a fraud. For anyone who has read the emails released by the Russians, yet not realize there’s no increase in temperatures, have to be rowing up Denial Falls. Anybody who’s argued with scientists over GW noticed the lack of facts that they would provide, made us know we were right. Now that it has been revealed by the same scientists that were maintaining this fraud, we have to come to...

I know Jim DeMint has requested a ruling on the Constitutionality of the HealthCare bill but, doesn't the Supreme Court automatically review legislation? And given that the makeup of the court is still in our favor, for the most part, don't we stand a good chance of having the whole thing ruled as un-Constitutional even if we do lose the final vote? Checks and balances, you know?

There is a lot of talk about civil disobedience regarding this healthcare bill. Folks have said they will refuse to purchase into it, thus breaking the law. A thought I had is, what about the 2010 census. What if we refuse to participate or under/over report our household numbers. If we refuse to obey the census law or just delay would that send a message?

The upcoming US Senate race in Massachusetts is very important, but here's an interesting problem: I have been unable to find any real poll results (Rasmussan, Gallup, whatever) on this race. There were lots of polls before the December primary election, showing how the 4 Dem candidates were faring against each other, but NONE afterwards. Whenever there is a poll on the Boston Globe site, Brown is ahead by wide margins, but these are not scientific or reliable or objective polls. Someone said that the mainstream media was sitting on the polls because they were heavily in favor of Brown,...

We are apparently seeing the People awaken for the first time in years. We are angry and active. We have a problem. The pattern is that we bounce back and place the "other" party back in power for a bit and then forget all that has gone on. The result is that we simply slow down the progression to socialism. The Left knows this and is patient. The Government has completely forgotten who they work for and has an agenda all their own. We need to pull them back into line and punish those that forget that they are our...

I worry about our freedoms and I worry about my children's future. Free Republic and its members form an important voice for liberty and have become an important depository of information and communication that I view as vital to keeping our citizens and my children free. Tonight I will be making a sizable donation online and I suggest you consider giving something, any amount, to keep this beacon shinning. Thank you Jim Robinson for your courage, tenacity, and values.

By the time 2012 rolls around, the Obamacare taxes are going to be grinding on people so badly that there will be a revolt at the ballot box. The only possible explanation for this is that Obama knows he can't run for a second term anyway, because of the birth certificate issue, and is merely trying to do as much damage as he can as quickly as possible. Can anyone think of any other explanation?

DO NOT click the link unless you are prepared for a grusome sight.   http://www.youtube.com/user/sahab928#p/u/6/lSjAcFGtC90   At 2:29 there is are assassinations of two people.  Point blank with a military rifle.  There is no doubt as to what you're seeing.  Yes this video has been flagged.  Yes it's still up.  At 2:57 there is a head that's been removed from it's body.  YouTube has been notified.  The video remains.  Yeah, sure, YouTube counts on the users to police the site.  What youTube fails to mention whenever the topic comes up is that they ignore the police.  This user, . Even...

I think I have figured out why Harry Reid is in such a hurry to get this bill out of the Senate before Christmas... In New Jersey, Senator Lautenberg is ready to retire. Everybody knows this. If he retires before January 19th, the outgoing Democrat Governor, John Corzine, will be able to name his successor. However, if he retires after January 19, 2009, his successor will be named by the new Republican Governor, Chris Christie. By clearing this legilation out before Christmas, Reid will not need that 60th vote between Christmas and January 19th, so Lautenberg is free to go....

The feds seem hell-bent on shoving Obamacare down the throats of Americans who by a three to one margin want no part of. It's up to the States themselves to step forward and defend their citizens from this unprecedented attack on our liberties. A "Usurper Detection Act" would be the easiest way to do this. Since it appears that the judicial branch is intent on abandoning it's duty to uphold the Constitution, perhaps it's time for the states themselves to individually pass legislation that will protect their citizens from the actions of anyone who illegally occupies the Oval office. There...

Notice: I've just been informed that a certain ex-poster is going to expose on a yet to be named MAJOR website somewhere on the Internet that FR is an anti-Catholic site. Of course, others have accused us of being anti-Mormon, anti-Jew, anti-Protestant, anti-Pentecost, anti-Baptist, etc, anti-atheist and anti-Darwinist among other things. Well, maybe we are anti some things. Knock yourself out, pal. Just make sure you spell my name and url correctly. Sincerely yours, Jim Thompson

The morning broadcasters, Jack Bishop and Rich Hancock, announced this morning that their organization,"Rational Radio" would be off the air as of Jan 1, 2010. Rational Radio leased this station 24/7 from the Multicultural Broadcast Corp. The rest of the local talkers on this station were discussing their plans thruout the day. Most of them trashing broadcast radio and corporations in general. They are claiming that broadcast radio is dead and Internet Radio is where it is at.

Please call, fax or email your Senator. Also send a message of support to Coburn. During the debate on Obamacare last week, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) forced the reading of an amendment offered by Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to add a single payer system to the Obamacare bill. The reading was expected to take 12 hours. But after only 3 hours, Democrats in the Senate used a parliamentary maneuver to withdraw the amendment. Coburn and other Republicans complained about the move, because the Senate rules don’t seem to allow the withdrawal of an amendment while it’s being read....

I am looking for a kid-friendly video editing sodtware package for my 11-year-old daughter. She is running Windows Vista. I'm looking for something that will enable her to work with text, graphics, video, music. End goal is to enable her to do YouTube videos, and to help her develop her skills. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. I wish I could say money is no object, but unfortunately it is. I'll appreciate any info you may have about price ranges. Thanks as always.

What if everyone who opposed this take over and socialization of our private health care went to their Personnel office at work tomorrow, Monday, or when ever you get back to work from the Christmas holiday and request paperwork to change your exemption to show NO WITHOLDING? Then, on April 15, 2010, file an extention. Then file your income taxes when they are finally due (sometime in August, I think). Some of the Positive Benefits: This action would serve as an act of Civil Disobedience, a protest against an over-reaching tyrannical government, It would hurt the government not to have...

I called the offices of my two loser senators - Cantwell and Murray of WA state. I asked the flunkies who answered the phones why my senator couldn't get the same deal Sen. Ben Nelson got for his Nebraska - in which all the other states get three years of the federal government assuming the cost of extra Medicaid enrollees, but after that, all the other states have to chip in except Nebraska. I told them such a deal would be great for the citizens of my state, and that Murray and Cantwell should hold out for a better deal...

Five (and a half) easy questions. Maybe it's a vanity, but Rush is playing soundbites of someone who fancies himself as a representative of the people speaking of healthcare as a right. So here goes ... If Healthcare is a Right, does this mean that the Government can FORCE a doctor to treat me? If Healthcare is a Right, does this mean that NO ONE can decide not to treat me because there is little hope for a useful recovery? If Healthcare is a Right and there aren't enough doctors, does this mean the Government can force young adults to...

Rally American Patriots!! - a blockade is needed. If enough of us were to assemble in Washington DC on Dec 24, in war painted faces we could shut it down. The un-Constitutional bill destined to be passed could be thwarted. What is one more free Christmas if all the rest are under the yoke of tyranny?

This is a clear-cut and egregious violation of equal treatment under the law. All states pay into medicare except one, and that one happens to be a needed vote. This is unconstitutional.

"To get all 58 Democrats and two independents on board, Reid, among other things, had to drop a government-run insurance option and a Medicare buy-in and had to increase taxes by $25 billion more than planned, bringing the total tax increases to $518 billion."

Sorry for the vanity post, but based on the current polling of the American people, is a referendum to repeal the healthcare bill a viable option? I haven't heard this discussed yet anywhere.

I just heard on the radio, the McConnell might allow the final vote to happen earlier Christmas Eve? Anyone else hearing this?

OK, I know vanity posts piss us off...but no one has asked this... We keep asking if the Democrats think we're stupid and we'll forget about this healthcare vote...no, they don't think we're that stupid...I have a different premise. My premise: The Democrats believe Acorn backed by Eric Holder/Obama, 30 million illegals who will have healthcare since no photo ID is required, and Soros'/MoveOn's money made by betting on the $USD crashing and other disgusting bets he's made against the US, will fund and protect and basically guarantee their reelection...that is my premise. In sum, no, they don't think we'll...

Cuba's foreign minister called President Barack Obama an "imperial and arrogant" liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island's increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government. Bruno Rodriguez spent an hour and a half lambasting Obama's behavior in Copenhagen, telling a news conference, "at this summit, there was only imperial, arrogant Obama, who does not listen, who imposes his positions and even threatens developing countries." He called the summit "a fallacy, a farce" and said Washington used back-room deals and strong-arm tactics to foist on the world a deal that he...

Ben Nelson witlessly violated every priciple of a free society by accepting a payoff to the people of Nebraska. In doing so, he corrupted a proposed senate bill because that bill does not provide equal protection and treatment under the law, as it provides certain citizens, namely Nebraskans, with exemptions from the law that no other United States citizens have. This provides Nebraskans with an unequal and lesser financial burden under the law and forces the rest of the states to shoulder that burden. Further, it is discrimatory against the citizens of other states who must pay Nebraska's share of...

December 21, 2009 Senator Harry Reid 522 Hart Senate Office Bldg Washington, DC 20510 Fax: 202-224-7327 Dear Senator Reid – Somewhere along the way you seem to have forgotten that you are supposed to represent your constituents. You remember us don’t you?? The people of the great state of Nevada? If you have forgotten us just look ahead to the 2010 elections. This is when the great people of Nevada make it known that we want a representative – not a king. Please explain some things to me: 1) How can you in good conscience ramrod through a bill that...

An open letter to the Legislature: To whom that care to be concerned: I am but one citizen member of this great nation, I am but one mere voice, but I am none the less. It is with great discomfort that I expel myself from embittered silence and make known that, you whom presume to speak for me, and for the majority of our nation, are being served notice that with all my power of intellect, and of pride, and of sacrifice, I lay upon thee the intent to resist your actions, and the actions of those that will come...

Question - I have been hearing commentators state that the House can simply pass the Senate Health Care bill without the bill going to a conference committee. My question is this - because the Constitution requires all revenue bills to originate in the House, can the House even do this? Wouldn't the bill have to go to committee, then the House vote on the bill first, then the Senate?

My question is if the medical profession is so concerned about people who can't afford health insurance, why don't they simply reduce their prices to the uninsured and or provide charity clinics for poor people. Why should we have to submit to socialism and outright force to please the AMA and guarantee income for their professional scalpers? Are they afraid they will lose some of their precious profits? Why do they feel it's their privilege to rob the taxpayers? Doctors and politicians must be cut from the same cloth.

Senator Ben Nelson gave conservatives and moralists a Christmas gift early. He became the 60th traitor to the Republic. In that, he blew Nebraska away from east to west. They’re mad mad mad. That is Nelson’s evil gift to his state. That is Nelson’s wicked gift to America. I have been wondering a long, long time when it will come to madness. When will grassroots holler till the moon wiggles through night skies?

"bennelson" (emphasis on second syllable) -- def: the shameless offer and shameless acceptance of a bribe using other people's money, especially in a legislative context in order to purchase a crucial vote for a controversial legislative initiative.

Just about everybody is in some way or another acquainted with the classic Charles Dickens story “A Christmas Carol”. A Christmas Carol was released in 1843 and it was essentially a story about the coldness of the human heart and the greed affiliated with it. The story’s character, Ebenezer Scrooge is so greedy and yet so wealthy, that he holds contempt for those who need money for charity, those who need money to survive, and those who want to spend money on gifts for other people. To Scrooge, everybody is more or less a being of consumption in the sense...

Republicans poring over the bill Democrats released Saturday found this on page 328: “(a) APPROPRIATION.—There are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services, $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, to remain available for obligation until September 30, 2011, to be used for debt service on, or direct construction or renovation of, a health care facility that provides research, inpatient tertiary care, or outpatient clinical services. Such facility shall be affiliated with an academic health center at a public research university in the United States that contains a State’s sole public academic medical...

Senator Nelson of Nebraska cut a special deal. In exchange for agreeing to allow government funds be used for abortions, he got a special deal for Nebraska. The special deal was that Nebraska would not have to pay matching funds for Medicade. All the other 49 states must pay matching funds. Many of those state like my own state of California can not afford to pay those matching funds. Who pays for Nebraska's Medicare casts? All of us who live in the other 49 states. BS, I say. We should not stand by while Nebraska sucks money from all the...