Free Republic

Reporting from Sacramento - Backers of an overhaul of California's government, who hope to leverage disgust with Sacramento into support for changing how the state raises taxes and spends money, have a difficult path ahead, according to a new poll of California voters. Major segments of the electorate see the state's problems as the product of unrestrained lawmakers driven by special interests to waste taxpayer money, and reject arguments that structural issues with the state's Constitution and government institutions are to blame. Voters don't want the tax code overhauled in the ways that many fiscal experts promise would tamp down...

Frustrated at California's woes, voters are sharply pessimistic about whether the next governor will be able to move the state in the right direction, and most believe California is in the midst of a long-term decline, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows. Against that grim backdrop, next year's political contests loom as potentially volatile, but Democrats start out holding the upper hand, the poll found. .. In the election to replace Schwarzenegger, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, the only major figure currently angling for the Democratic nomination, was seen favorably by more than 4 in 10 voters, and unfavorably by...

In November 2008, 658,000 Americans under 30 voted in New Jersey and 782,000 did so in Virginia. In November 2009, 212,000 Americans under 30 voted in New Jersey and 198,000 did so in Virginia. In other words, young voter turnout this year was down two-thirds in New Jersey and three-quarters in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. Many of the young,...

Regardless of how lively an election season might be, a new study shows that more 3.3 million voters on current registration rolls across the country are dead. Another 12.9 million remain on voter registration lists in an area where they no longer live. The analysis was conducted by the Aristotle International Inc., a technology company specializing in political campaigns, developing software and databases for politicians. In total that means about 8.9 percent of all registered voters fall under the category of “deadwood” voters on the rolls, the term for voters who should no longer be eligible to vote in a...

Yet, they cannot comprehend what would motivate Middle America to distrust its government, for it surely does, as Ron Brownstein reports in the National Journal:

The U.S. Justice Department has denied Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s appeal of its decision to reject Handel’s plan for verifying voters’ citizenship. Handel, a 2010 Republican gubernatorial hopeful, asked the department in August to reconsider its decision to reject the system. The Justice Department in May said the verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a “discriminatory effect” on minority voters. The decision meant Georgia had to halt the citizenship checks, which Handel launched in 2007 in response to the Help America Vote Act. That federal law required states to verify voters’ identity, but not necessarily citizenship. Handel...

There's a poll circulating Facebook, asking if you trust Obama or not. As of now, 60,408 people have voted, with a 38% Trust/62% Don't Trust Split. Shows a much wider gap than the regular polls do. Thought it was pretty interesting.

Here is video of Fox News' Reporter James Rosen being interrupted and told to stop broadcasting at the Values Voters Summit yesterday in Washington D.C. Rosen had just said a sister network had been told to stop broadcasting while speakers were speaking, and sure enough, a man came and told Rosen to stop while he was trying to give a report. Rosen told the man he and Fox News were trying to give the event exposure and that "you are interrupting my work." But the man persisted and Rosen threw it back to the Fox Anchor saying "I guess we...

"Progressive” is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except “being like Ronald Reagan” - are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. “Liberal” is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate. Just 15% of voters say they view the description of a candidate as politically liberal as positive, down four points from last November. Forty-one percent (41%) see it as a negative...

In deference to those on the radical left who may never open the pages of a Bible, the term “Land of Nod” is taken from the Book of Genesis and refers to that locale as a place of sleep. Truly, Americans were in the Land of Nod during the many months of the previous presidential campaign. They had to be sleeping to have allowed such a radical and destructive administration to gain power. When the army of the far left marched into Washington last January, they were already in friendly territory. A Democrat-Socialist majority in Congress, willingly assisted by the...

“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable—a most sacred right—a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.” —Abraham Lincoln The battle lines continue to be drawn, and in this article I will discuss one that you can, and should, draw now. Glenn Beck ought to get the Medal of Freedom, and Fox News deserves America’s heart-felt gratitude. Without Fox News, and Beck in particular, we would largely be...

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) has asked the state legislature to change the law so he can name his own replacement in the US Senate. A spokesman for the ailing senator said “the Senator is concerned that he may not live long enough to cast his vote for the current health care bill and ensure that America is on the path to realizing his life long dream for a single-payer national health system.” Kennedy has couched his request as a cost-saving measure. In a letter to the Massachusetts state legislature the Senator wrote, “I have held this seat for four decades....

While the nation is focused on stopping Obama’s Marxist health scare plan, Obama’s DHS is quietly moving forward on amnesty, free health care and voting rights for some 20 million illegal migrants. It’s not hard to figure out their motives… Labor unions now own and operate the Democrat Party via their Democratic Socialists of America. 20 million illegal aliens already in the U.S. will generate more than 8 million new dues paying union members, who will be trained to vote Democrat in upcoming elections.

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Aug. 21, 2009 – As Afghans took to the streets yesterday to exercise their right to vote authorities here worked together to provide security for polling stations across the province. The Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and NATO International Security Assistance Force servicemembers coordinated security for more than 40 polling stations. “The strong coordination of [Afghan and NATO] forces in Zabul to protect the people allowed them to vote for their favorite candidate,” Gov. Mohammad Ashraf Naseri said. Coordination for most of the election took place at the province’s Operations Coordination and Cooperation Center, which serves...

The Oministration’s attempt to silence dissent is chilling. The San Francisco limonene-liberals led by the multi-millionaire Nancy Pelosi claim the protesters are carrying swastikas clearly trying to label them Nazis without being so crass as to use the word. Do you think if there were pictures of any of these protestors carrying Nazi flags the Poodle Press would’ve missed the chance to loop it continuously? The only demonstrator shown with a swastika was a person with a sign that showed one in a red circle with a line through it, which everyone knows is the international symbol for “No.” And...

Candidate Barack Obama ran a brilliant campaign, convincing moderates and even some conservatives that he was no radical while keeping the netroot base fully engaged. But seven months after taking office, the list of disappointed voters (at least those willing to admit they were had) is growing. Fiscal conservatives

When a group of older folks refused to leave California Sen. Diane Feinstein's West Los Angles office last week, it could be a sign that Democrats will have to find a places in which to cower to avoid the anger coming from the public. When Feinstein refused to talk to them about Medicare, they remained in her outer office for six hours until the police used a ruse to eject them. Some may be tried for trespassing on property that is being paid for the taxpayers.

We got 'em where we want 'em. Reports are coming in today that Congressmen and Senators on Capitol Hill are so afraid of the ire of their constituents back home that they are canceling town hall meetings right and left:

Three Black Panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complain in the final days of the Bush administration with violating the voter rights act by using coercion, threats and intimidation. Shabazz was seen holding a nightstick or baton that prosecutors said he pointed at people and menacingly tapped it. The men hurled racial slurs at both blacks and whites.

Posted: Thursday, July 9, 2009 California Republican Party Joins Working Californians And Taxpayer Advocates To Demand Action From Democrat Leaders On The State Budget SACRAMENTO - Citing the continued inaction by Democrat legislative leaders in adopting budget solutions without more taxes - punctuated this week by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' "boycott" of budget negotiations - the California Republican Party announced it will join with working Californians and taxpayer advocates, including Lew Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee and radio personality Mark Williams, at the capitol today to demand action from Speaker Bass and Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. Taxpayers will gather...

Are Union members to blame for for California's budget crisis or is the Union leadership?

(IsraelNN.com) In a public address delivered on Al-Aqsa TV by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based terror boss informed Arab viewers that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama came to power in the United States due to Islamic jihad in the Middle East.

Only four months into the Obama administration and total Democratic rule, and the American people already are beginning to realize what incompetent demagogues Democrats actually are. While we still have a long way to go, that nevertheless has to be some kind of record. Things are changing quickly. Soon we'll be hunting Democrats down with dogs. Only five days ago a new poll revealed that Obama's approval numbers had plummeted to an overall rate of zero. Then, just a couple of days ago, we learned that conservatives had swept out liberals across the European Union as people rejected the weight...

In a fit of collective insanity, or some type of delusional hysteria, this nation (self-identified liberal: 21%, Conservative: 35-40%) elected the most liberal president ever.He swore he'd close Gitmo. Everybody cheered and voted for him. Now, the nation is 2-1 against closing the facility. 60% of Americans believe the federal government has too much power and spends too much, yet GM President and all time big-spender Barack Obama remains wildly popular.This is schizophrenia on a national level. Maybe the Chinese really are poisoning us with their crappy products, driving us slowly insane. Some think that's what happened to the Roman...

Charges brought against three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense under the Bush administration have been dropped by the Obama Justice Department, FOX News has learned. The charges stemmed from an incident at a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day 2008 when three members of the party were accused of trying to threaten voters and block poll and campaign workers by the threat of force -- one even brandishing what prosecutors call a deadly weapon. The three black panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint in the...

[Snip] Nobody else may bother these days, but Canada Free Press correspondent Judi McLeod took a peek into the Web site of Pravda, once the official voice of the Soviet Union, and found Russians cheering the demise of America under the leadership of President Obama....

It is ironic that the citizens of California resoundingly repudiated the very policies espoused by Barack Obama, whom they overwhelmingly supported in the election by a 62% majority. That same majority said no this week to higher taxes and more government spending. But let the taxpayers in the rest of the country beware. Don't think for a minute that 'Ahhnold' and Obama won't attempt to secure a bailout from citizens who live in the other states. California voted itself into the present mess. They must now get themselves out of it.

If the Republican Party thinks it has problems now, just wait. The party’s poor performance among young voters in the 2008 election raises questions about the long-term competitiveness of the GOP. The “millennials” — the generation of Americans born between 1982 and 2003 — now identify as Democrats by a ratio of 2-to-1. They are the first in four generations to contain more self-perceived liberals than conservatives.

MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) - A state lawmaker who represents parts of Morgan and Cullman counties is receiving some heat, all over a four-letter word in an e-mail he sent from his state account over the weekend. State Representative Ronald Grantland has apologized for the e-mail but the moral of the story here is think twice before you hit send, because once it's sent, you can't take it back. Many people receive dozens even hundreds of e-mails a day at work and at home. Sunday morning Democratic Rep. Ronald Grantland of Hartselle received an e-mail he didn't like. "The e-mail was...

PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wants to strip the state of its ability to shut down companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers. Giffords, a Democrat who represents Southeastern Arizona, called the state's 15-month-old employer-sanctions law burdensome on businesses. On Thursday she said only 15 percent of state firms use the federal E-Verify system, mandated under the state law, to determine electronically if people they hire are in the U.S. legally. Giffords is co-sponsoring a bill to dump E-Verify in favor of alternate online systems to determine if prospective employees are here legally. But the president of the Arizona Chamber...

Freerepublic.com proudly announces that it is a Conservative website. True Conservatives are a trusting group, BUT...... Times have changed, we need to know WHO we are really dealing with!

In a recently released survey of voter opinion, socialism was the preferred form of socioeconomic organization for 20% of the respondents. While this compared to the 53% favoring capitalism may seem small, it is, nevertheless growing. A similar survey conducted last December showed relative percentages of 15% for socialism and 70% for capitalism. The “undecideds” also rose from December’s 15 percent to the recent 27 percent. White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel called the trend “encouraging.” “After only three months in office we are making good headway in transforming the country along the lines promised by the President during...

Deceased Tinley Park, Cook County, IL clerk gets 3,000 votes April 9, 2009 BY KRISTEN SCHORSCH Staff writer Were voters just giving the late Frank "Bill" German some love? The Tinley Park village clerk received 3,230 votes Tuesday to keep his seat. German died in February. He was the lone clerk candidate on the ballot. German garnered more votes than some mayoral candidates who won their seats. Think incumbent South Chicago Heights Mayor David Owen, who staved off two challengers to win with 679 votes. Mayor Ed Zabrocki thinks people voted for his close friend out of respect, or maybe...

Sacramento -- California's recently christened budget is expected to be billions of dollars in the red before the new fiscal year begins in July, although it's a manageable gap, many state officials say. But if voters reject a package of ballot measures in the May 19 special election, then the projected shortfall could push the state's deficit to more than $15 billion, creating a new fiscal crisis. That, state lawmakers fear, would prompt the same kind of partisan posturing - over tax increases and program cuts - that led to last summer's record-setting impasse. "If the voters reject (the measures),...

Whiny Whitey: Self-important and self-absorbed voters feel betrayed.Jenny Hardermenn's lawn was once plastered with campaign signs for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. She's not sure they'll be up for re-election.Hardermenn is one of many members of the white, upper-income, self-absorbed assholes that formed a majority of Obama's base who is rapidly losing faith in the president. The president's inability to solve each one of their problems for them is forcing assholes, like Hardemenn to contemplate taking individual effort to be a good neighbor, raise their own children, and take care of the needy in their own towns and cities.The thought is...

Thinking how every person in the country with a radio or television understands, however reluctantly, the majority Democratic Congress has mismanaged economic recovery . . . partially or more because they seek to exploit the crisis for their political advantage among their core constituencies . . . How are Republicans striving . . . or failing . . . to exploit . . . with respect to your friends and neighbors, the inherent weakness of Democrats come the mid-term elections?

Behold OPERATION SQUIRREL: http://acorn.org/index.php?id=12345&L=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.migueldemalaga.net%2Ffotos%2Fajotela%2Fiwec%2F Call, email, and stop by the ACORN office. tell them I don't feel like paying my mortgage, what can you do for me? Don't be a jerk, just ask inane questions. flood their resources until they become ineffective. Have fun!

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

District of Columbia when it became the nation's capital two centuries ago would be granted under legislation the Senate passed Thursday. Congress is "moving to right a centuries-old wrong," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shortly before the 61-37 vote. The House is expected to pass the measure with a strong majority next week and President Barack Obama, a co-sponsor when the bill failed to clear the Senate two years ago, has promised to sign it. The measure is likely to face a court challenge immediately after becoming law; opponents argue that it is unconstitutional because D.C. is not a...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency was trailblazing in its ability to tap into a network of activists around the nation to help propel him to victory. His campaign does not seem to have ended. He is again reactivating this network, but this time it is not to help him get elected. Instead, he is rounding up the usual suspects to help him advance his legislative program. The never-ending campaign has already begun. Barack Obama began his career as a community organizer. Though he expressed frustration at what he was able to accomplish in this role and soon departed for...

TAMPA - After President Barack Obama won the election, people flooded gun stores because of speculation that he may limit gun ownership or raise taxes on them. Even though neither has happened, the amount of people wanting to get their hands on a gun hasn't gone down. Scott Patrick is the General Manager of the Shoot Straight gun range in Tampa. He says the number of people coming into his store is still going up. "For whatever reason, whether it's the economy or crime, people don't feel safe," he said. Patrick is having serious trouble keeping all kinds of fire...

Loyal to Liberty THOUGHTLET What signals the difference between a "socialist" and a "communist"? It's the gradual repression of political and civil liberty culminating in the open prosecution and suppression of dissident views. But this suppression cannot come about until a monopoly has been established over access to the seats of government executive and decision making power. The key manifestation of this monopoly is of course some form of party dictatorship. Aside from all the evidence in his known background, associates, policy preferences and political actions one of the main reasons I make bold to call Obama a communist is...

George Soros finally gets it February 21, 2009 – 1:56 pm Three weeks ago, the positively schizophrenic Op-Ed page for the WSJ published yet another piece by a big financial brain proposing a “solution” to the financial crisis. While the editorial page itself is so rigidly ideological as to be useless, the op-ed page publishes stuff all over the map. The only common attribute seems to be a big-name byline. Once in a while you’ll get a thoughtful, nuanced and hard-hitting piece by Shelby Steele or Judy Shelton, for instance; occasionally, one of the big names will actually say something...

I probably should have just listened to Paul Harvey. Though it wasn’t actually Paul Harvey. It was Ron Chapman. And that’s probably the problem. I understand Ron Chapman is a radio legend somewhere, but I don’t live there. So, to me, he’s just an insufferable bore. But I should have been listening anyway. Instead I got an idea. An idea that had been kind of simmering in my head for a week or so. I was trying to think of a way to show that I wasn’t happy. That I was tired of bailouts. That I didn’t want to pay...

Alan Keyes: Stop Obama or U.S. will cease to exist Claims 'communist usurper' plunges country into chaos February 21, 2009 By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily Alan Keyes, a 2008 presidential candidate who is also a plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits challenging Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility to occupy the Oval Office, charged at a pro-life rally that unless Obama's social and economic policies are stopped, the United States as we know it is over. Keyes' comments were part of an interview with a reporter from KHAS-TV at a fundraiser for the AAA Crisis Pregnancy Center in Hastings, Neb....

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

Holding signs reading "Stimulate Business, Not Government," "Families Against Porkulus" and "Say No To Generational Theft," protesters opposed to the $787 billion stimulus package have been mobilizing across the country. It started last Monday in Seattle, then moved Tuesday to Denver, where President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law. That was followed by another one in Mesa, Ariz., where Obama unveiled a mortgage rescue plan. Another protest was planned for Saturday outside the office of Rep. Dennis Moore in Overland Park, Kan. The Democrat voted for the stimulus. His office didn't return calls seeking comment. A New Populism? As...