Free Republic

Even avid Democrats like former Labor Secretary Robert Reich admit Republicans won the August argument on health care. (Picture from Wikimedia Commons.) Reich wrote this week that Democrats have ideas but Republicans have discipline, illustrating the point with his own call for a September march on Washington, which he now admits was just a thought balloon. But the loss has stiffened some liberal spines, like that of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who now calls for “siege warfare against deeply entrenched interests, defending a deeply dysfunctional political system.” So while the far right won the health care argument last...

Turns out Harry Reid was only joking when he told a media exec last week that he hoped the biggest paper in his state would “go out of business.” Over the weekend, Sherman Frederick, a columnist with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, reported that Reid made the comment to another higher-up at the 175,000-circulation daily during a Chamber of Commerce event last Wednesday. “Such behavior cannot go unchallenged,” wrote Frederick, CEO of the paper’s parent company. After 24 hours of silence on the comment, a Reid spokesman got back to POLITICO on Monday to say it was all a misunderstanding blown...

The President is slipping down a slick slope in public approval ratings. A new Rasmussen poll shows his public support down by 19 points since the beginning of the year: Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That's the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats approve while 83% of Republicans disapprove. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 66% disapprove. Why is the public losing confidence so quickly? My set of predominant reasons would differ from most others'....

Using 1994-1995 and 2002-2003 data, Nieswiadomy (1998, 2006) found that economics majors scored well on the LSAT. These results are frequently posted on university web sites by Economics and other departments. This note, which updates the prior studies using current 2007-2008 data for the 2008-2009 class of students entering law school, finds that Economics majors still perform at or near the top of all majors taking the test. Economics majors (LSAT score of 157.4) are tied for first (with Philosophy) of the 12 largest disciplines (those with more than 1,900 students entering law school). Economics is tied for second (with...

What is the scariest thing I have read recently on Afghanistan? It is not the leaks from General McChrystal's strategy assessment, though they are certainly sobering enough. McChrystal's statement that the situation in Afghanistan is "serious" but salvageable should banish irrational exuberance about the war (if any is left after 8 years). But by itself, it does not indicate a worse-than-we-realize situation. On the contrary, the attentive public and the expert community has consumed a steady diet of bleak reports from the field and so I, at least, do not have to revise downward my evaluation of the battlefield prospects...

Downturns in multi-family construction and both private and public nonresidential construction swamped a strong upswing in single-family homebuilding in July according to an analysis of federal construction spending data provided today by a leading construction economist. That analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data released today shows that total construction spending fell 0.2 percent, seasonally adjusted, from a downwardly revised June total.

In a recent email I was asked why we were not organizing by Congressional District. That is an excellent question and the answer is, we are, eventually. At this point what we want to do, is to have ACTIVEorganizers in every state, most colleges and the large population centers of each state. From that point, we will be recruiting Congressional District Organizers. On a related note, we continue to grow our list of newsletter subscribers, volunteers and organizers, but we are not satisfied with just growing our list. We seek to impact the process by making a strong showing at...

Each of us who believe in the justice and mercy of God are called, as an act of charity, to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased. However, there are some rubrics of decorum that should — at the very least — have been respected over this past weekend. I speak, of course, of the grandiose funeral ceremonies, particularly the Catholic funeral Mass, for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The entire travesty, from the television cameras to spectacle itself, goes beyond anything I have witnessed in my more than 65 years of life. In fact, while we...

Here is audio of Mark Davis in for Rush Limbaugh saying Obama only invokes scripture "when he feels it gives him a bigger bat to wield against his enemies." (Watch Video)

The Monster charged with kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard and holding her captive in his backyard for 18 years had sick "sexual fantasies" about little girls for decades. Phillip Garrido admitted that starting in 1968 he hung around schools and pleasured himself while "watching young females." "I have done it by the side of schools, grammar schools and high schools, in my own car," Garrido said in court testimony obtained Tuesday by The Daily News. Asked how old these girls were, Garrido replied, "From 7 to 10." Dugard was just 11 when prosecutors say Garrido and his wife, Nancy, abducted her...

Mock the NationNICK COHEN September 2009 The free availability of hard-core pornography on the internet is changing relationships between men and women in ways we have barely begun to talk about, but it is also changing television. What should executives do with the knowledge that sections of their ever-fragmenting audience are watching images they could not have found in the greasiest Soho basements 20 years ago? Once they would have ignored them, but now that television's power is waning, it must run after every viewer it can find. It cannot give them porn — not yet, anyway — but with Mock...

NTSB wants new rules for medical helicopters . . . The NTSB recommendations urge the Federal Aviation Administration to, among other things, require medical helicopter operators to install autopilot systems that can help solo pilots, terrain awareness monitoring to help pilots navigate in bad conditions, night-vision systems that help navigate in the dark and flight data recorders.

Dear Principal: In a recent interview with student reporter, Damon Weaver, President Obama announced that on September 8 — the first day of school for many children across America — he will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education. The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy...

The top-selling Bible in North America will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in the sacred text. The New International Version, the Bible of choice for conservative evangelicals, will be revised to reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship, it was announced Tuesday. The revision is scheduled to be completed late next year and published in 2011. "We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers...

The World Wildlife Fund is running an ad showing dozens of planes aimed at the World Trade Center with copy that that reads "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it."

- August 24, 2009 - Obama's administration released new figures from the White House budget office showing a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019......$2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May. Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three quarters the size of the entire national economy. The revised estimates project that the economy will contract by 2.8 percent this year, more than twice what the White House predicted earlier this year F: These new numbers are bad news for Obama for two reasons. First, it shows poor economic forecasting on behalf of the...

The Reno Gazette-Journal has a sit-down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who addresses the Ted Kennedy question in, um, an interesting way. Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy's death affect things? A: I think it's going to help us. He hasn't been around for some time. We're going to have a new chairman of that committee, it'll be, I don't know for sure, but I think Sen. (Chris) Dodd, (D-Conn.). He has a right to take it. Either him or (U.S. Sen. Tom) Harkin, (D-Iowa), whichever one wants it can have it. I think he (Kennedy) will...

America has been greatly blessed by God and has stood as the greatest country in the history of the world for over 200 years. America has many foreign and domestic enemies that are seeking her destruction.This thread is a daily call and reminder for people of faith who believe in God and in the power of prayer to make a commitment to intercede for America at this critical time in her history2 Chronicles 7:14If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I...

In the October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports, the freshened Ford Mustang outpointed two other reincarnated muscle cars — the Chevrolet Camaro and the Dodge Challenger. The Mustang received a Very Good overall road test score of 78, outpointing the Camaro which received a Very Good 71, and the Challenger, which received a Good 53 points.

The U.S. Energy and Treasury Departments on Tuesday announced $503 million in government cash grants to companies developing renewable energy projects. The funding will help meet the Obama administration's goal of doubling U.S. renewable energy production over the next three years, creating jobs and providing financing on easier terms than many companies can obtain in the private sector. This the first round of some $3 billion in direct payments to companies in lieu of tax credits to eventually support an estimated 5,000 biomass, solar, wind and other renewable energy production facilities. "These grants will help America's businesses launch clean energy...