Free Republic

August was the worst month of Barack Obama's presidency. And he seems to know it—he is now planning to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress 232 days into his administration in a desperate attempt to save his biggest domestic priority, overhauling health care. He has already had the budget-busting $787 billion stimulus package, a budget that doubles the national debt in five years, an earmark-laden appropriations bill that boosted domestic spending nearly 8%, and a cap-and-trade energy tax that limped through the House with dozens of Democratic defections (and which has stalled in the Senate). These achievements...

After spending weeks on the defensive in the fight over his top legislative priority, President Obama will attempt to regain the initiative in the health-care debate with an address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday night. Aides said Obama will use the speech to add more specifics to his vision for overhauling the health system. He will be attempting a difficult balancing act, seeking to win moderate Senate Democrats to his cause without embracing compromises that would alienate liberal House Democrats. ... The White House is scrambling to take control of the health-care debate after watching from the...

“Boy, your winters are really dreary here,” my husband observed today as he looked out at the rain. “And it’s only September.” He is right. South Dakota has much drearier weather than a Californian is accustomed to. Here, we lack citrus trees and palms and we cannot take a day trip to the ocean side. And yet, in many ways, South Dakota is much less dreary than California. California is now bankrupt. The state is issuing IOUs to many of its creditors and employees. But according to The Wall Street Journal many banks will no longer accept them. Foreclosures are...

Americans are extremely displeased with Congress, and there are already some signs that this could take a toll on the Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections. Currently, 37% express a favorable opinion of Congress, while 52% hold an unfavorable view. Positive opinions of Congress have declined by 13 points since April and are now at one of their lowest points in more than two decades of Pew Research Center surveys. At the same time, intentions to vote Democratic in the next midterm election are markedly lower than they have been over the past four years. Voters are about evenly divided...

The poll slide Congressional Dems are enduring right now has increased pressure on Dems to succeed on health care this year, Democratic aides privately acknowledge, meaning health care failure is simply not an option, lest the party court electoral disaster. Dem strategists looking at the current numbers know that failure in the current environment would be nothing short of catastrophic — and that succeeding on health care reform is the best, and perhaps only, way to stave off the sort of losses that generally hits a party two years after grabbing control of Congress. Take a look, for instance, at...

September 2 Morning Verse"But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell Him of her." Mark 1:30Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry, nay, that since they furnish an opportunity for personally witnessing the Lord's gracious work upon one's own flesh and blood, they may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly discipline. Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but true Christianity and household life agree well together. Peter's...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods. That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells.

Last week, I made a somewhat disparaging remark about the Obama White House (not at all an unusual thing for me to do). I shut down Twitter, then about an hour later, reopened it and saw this warning

WASHINGTON - "Attorney General Eric Holder warned his Scottish counterpart in June that the man convicted of blowing US-bound Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky could get a hero’s welcome if allowed to return to Libya, according to the head of a group representing the families of victims."

The Deathcare Zero dollar is out - it isn't money, it's political artwork that fits in your wallet. Please use it in your fight against Obamacare, please use the front AND back. Front of the 'bill' comes first, then the back. For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Zero Bill Archive"

puma08.comSept. 2, 2009Remember, the Dept. of Education expects your kids to read books on the life of Barack Obama before the monumental speech on September 8th, well here’s a look at two of the books that shall be used: The first book is aptly titled: Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope and here is the description, direct from the Publisher’s Website: Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope....

The irony is that the media says nothing. They beat Bush with a club for one $40 million dollar inauguration. But they lauded the maroon in the White House for his silly $150,000 million inaugural porkfest. They crucified Bush if and when he went back home to Crawford, Texas, to work from there and chop, ya know, some wood or whatever it is real men do. But O's 20 million dollar rental on Martha's Vineyard elicits nothing but praise -- a move heralded by the supine and corrupt media. Nothing is too good for an Arugula man digging America an...

No one can say how many cigarettes it will take to cause cancer in a person. Likewise, no one can say how much centralized control it will take to cause irreparable damage to a nation. The answer becomes clear only in retrospect. But once control of large segments of the economy becomes solidified, and once control of our health care − and therefore our lives − becomes entrenched, it will be difficult or impossible to reverse the trend. No one can say where the tipping point for America may be. Let us repair the damage now, before it is too...

CAP YOUR CO2 GENERATORS! Ahh wait 1 while I open another CO2 generator and pour it into an open glass filled with ice. I wonder how much a can of soda pop will cost after the CO2 tax is applied... how about that CO2 fire extinguisher, a block of dry ice for the hunting shack...beer anyone or how about some bubbley! America will reap what it sews.

Here is a video report on a cat that limped home with a 13-inch arrow through his head. The Vet was able to remove the arrow which had just skinned the skull and the cat is recovering. The local Humane Assoc. is offering a $500 award for an arrest of the person responsible on a charge of animal cruelty. (Watch Video)

Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, 41, is taking legal action claiming Hergé's controversial Tintin In The Congo is propaganda for colonialism and amounts to "racism and xenophobia". "Tintin's little (black) helper is seen as stupid and without qualities. It makes people think that blacks have not evolved," he said. Mr Mbutu Mondondo launched a case in Belgium two years ago for symbolic damages of one euro from Tintin's Belgian publishers Moulinsart, and demanded the book be withdrawn from the market.

This is the heart of the matter. 48 year old male, accosts you and your five year old out in public. Starts talking directly to your child while ignoring you. What would be your reaction. Its historic for you as its never happened before.

Rasmussen continues to release some of the most jaw-dropping numbers ever on this utterly hated Democrat Congress. America is a right-of-center country. You can see this in polling results such as that 70% of Americans want lower taxes and less government. You can also see it with even states like California rejecting Democrat ideas on everything from handouts for for illegal immigrants, to gay marriage, to tax hikes and big government. As such, this disturbingly un-American, Constitution-trampling leftist agenda being forced down the country's throat is provoking an incensed backlash from Mainstream America... Most Americans openly reject what Congress is...

Reporting from Sacramento - State lawmakers pushed forward today with an agreement to keep nearly 700,000 children from being yanked off a government health insurance program for the working poor. The state Senate passed a measure that would create a tax on health insurance companies and bring in federal money to rescue the program, which had been deeply cut in recent months as lawmakers scrambled to balance the state budget

The NHS may need to cut its workforce by about 10 per cent — the equivalent of 137,000 staff — to help to meet planned savings of £20 billion, according to a leaked Department of Health report. A study commissioned from the consultancy firm McKinsey and Company recommends cutting clinical staff posts as well as administrators to meet efficiency savings by 2014, suggesting a knock-on effect to patient care.