Free Republic

The Supreme Court did not save us from ourselves, at least not entirely. That is still up to us, the people. When the American people elected Barack Obama and large Democrat majorities, the die was cast. ObamaCare was coming. Popular or not, constitutional or not, affordable or not, it didn't matter. They were going to pass it, and then the rest of us could find out what they put in it. After the Democrats shoved the 2700 pages of ObamaCare down our throats -- and we did find out how expensive, controlling, and coercive the legislation was -- a majority...

Forget executive privilege, contempt of Congress, "fast and furious," how many documents the government has produced and who said what to whom on which date. The Obama administration has almost certainly engaged in the most shockingly vile corruption scandal in the history of the country, not counting the results of Season Eight on "American Idol." Administration officials intentionally put guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, so that when the guns taken from Mexican crime scenes turned out to be American guns, Democrats would have a reason to crack down on gun sellers in the United States. Democrats will...

The U.S. military is preparing for the maiden flight of a football-field-size airship laden with surveillance gear designed to do the work of a dozen drones—and destined for Afghanistan. The experimental craft, known as the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV, is designed to loiter over combat zones for weeks at a time, outfitted with high-tech sensors that can intercept phone calls, shoot full-motion video or track the movement of insurgents. [Full article available only to subscribers.]

Protests in free speech-permissive societies are peculiar creatures. Consider this: Every year, the March for Life draws between a quarter and a half million Americans to Washington D.C. to protest the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling on abortion. That’s a massive protest, especially for a nation as physically large as the United States, with such a far-flung population. So, how many stories did you see in the news about the giant protest? Dozens? A few? …Even one? Chances are, you probably saw one or two stories about it, maybe a brief mention and a ten second clip of...

Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama's health care law. But nothing the court decides will keep the law alive for more than a brief period of time. There are three ways the health care law could meet its end. The first, obviously, is the Supreme Court could declare some or all of it unconstitutional in June. If it gets past that hurdle, the law also could be ended by Election 2012. If a Republican president is elected, the GOP will almost certainly also win control of the Senate and retain...

It’s time to give all mankind a real chance to enjoy genuine developmentGuest post by Dr. Kelvin KemmThe Rio+20 World Environmental Conference has come and gone. The “Plus 20” comes from the fact that it took place twenty years after the first such conference, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. Between these dates, I was a delegate at the 2002 world environment conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ever since 1992 I have watched the eco-evolution taking place.There is a good side and a bad side. The good side is that general world environmental awareness has been enhanced. That...

Howie Carr ping list for the week. Howie is on vacation from the show for all of this upcoming week. If he does any columns I'll reproduce them here. (Not sure who will fill in on show--Avi Nelson? Garret Quinn? Jeff Kuhner? Joe Battenfeld? Col. Hunt? Michele McPhee?) In the meantime below is a Globe article re-produced by the Tisei campaign: a second Eremian brother has stepped forward in the John Tierney/Patrice Tierney situation.

In his Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II warned us that, "....totalitarianism arises out of a denial of truth in the objective sense. If there is no transcendent truth, in obedience to which man achieves his full identity, then there is no sure principle for guaranteeing just relations between people. Their self-interest as a class, group or nation would inevitably set them in opposition to one another. If one does not acknowledge transcendent truth, then the force of power takes over, and each person tends to make full use of the means at his disposal in order to...

Some conservatives see a silver lining in the ObamaCare ruling. But it's exactly the big-government disaster it appears to be. Justice Roberts's opinion declared that the Constitution's Commerce Clause does not authorize Congress to regulate inactivity, which would have given the federal government a blank check to regulate any and all private conduct. The court also decided that Congress unconstitutionally coerced the states by threatening to cut off all Medicaid funds if they did not expand this program as far as President Obama wants. All this is a hollow hope. The outer limit on the Commerce Clause in Sebelius does...

America’s political elite is nauseating for many reasons, but perhaps most of all when they blame others for problems that are caused by misguided government policies. A stark example is the way they attacked the Facebook billionaire who moved to Singapore because of punitive taxation and class-warfare policy.Today, let’s look at an example that affects almost everybody rather than just a handful of rich people. Many people in Washington sanctimoniously say that American households and businesses are too focused on the short term and that we don’t save enough.But as I explain in this CBNC interview, tax and spending policies...

Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) primary rival on Friday filed a legal challenge to the ballot-counting process as the 82-year old lawmaker's margin of victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary narrowed. Rangel seemingly won Tuesday's competitive primary against state Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat. The former House Ways and Means Committee chairman declared victory and Espaillat conceded defeat. But since then, as ballots have continued to be counted, Rangel's reported margin of vicotroy has shrunk from 6 points on Tuesday, when reports gave him a 46 percent to 38 edge with 82 percent of precincts reporting, to 2.6 percent, media reports said.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are sharply divided over Thursday's Supreme Court decision on the 2010 healthcare law, with 46% agreeing and 46% disagreeing with the high court's ruling that the law is constitutional. Democrats widely hail the ruling, most Republicans pan it, and independents are closely divided. ***** When asked what they want Congress to do now that the high court has upheld the 2010 law, 31% say they would repeal the law entirely and 21% would keep the law in place but repeal parts of it. A quarter of Americans swing in the other direction, saying they would like...

A public memorial for Rodney King will be held Saturday at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. King died two weeks ago of what police believe was an accidental drowning at his home in Rialto. King’s family, friends and a host of civil rights leaders and celebrities are expected to attend the service, which is being held in an auditorium on the grounds of Forest Lawn. The King family set up a bank fund to help pay for the funeral, which could exceed $20,000. “Rodney King’s three daughters will be there, also his mom Odessa, his sister Ratasha, and...

Here are 48 things that Barack Obama has done which should make his supporters feel ashamed and embarrassed1) Carried out military interventionism In June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said that Obama had violated the Constitution when he launched military operations in Libya without Congressional approval. 2) Gave a no-bid contract to Halliburton In May 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration had selected KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011 for military support services in Iraq, just hours after the Justice Department had said it would...

A fast-moving line of dangerous storms knocked out power to more than 1.5 million customers in the D.C. area Friday night. A day of record-shattering heat ended with severe thunderstorms that rushed through the metro area with strong winds and an impressive lightning display. The storms produced hurricane-force winds in excess of 80 mph. Gusts of 82 mph were reported in the Reston area. On Saturday morning, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management confirmed that four people had died due to the storm in the Commonwealth. The National Weather Service reported a tree fell on a car in the area...

Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Obama health law on Thursday, I have received a number of messages from listeners and readers arguing that because the Justices found the individual mandate was a tax, it was unconstitutional, as that plan didn't start in the House. "Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution states that 'All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House,'" is what the Constitution says, these readers argue. They go on to say that since the mandate was added in the Senate, and not in the House, the entire plan should have been found unconstitutional....

ASSUMPTION PARISH, LA (WAFB) - Mysterious bubbles are rising up out of an Assumption Parish bayou. Officials are trying to figure what's causing them. Take a ride down Bayou Corne, and there are bubbles of all sizes along the waterway. "We have reported on May 30th a pipeline leak, which started us coming out and investigating a bubbling in Bayou Corne," said Assumption Parish Homeland Security Director John Boudreaux. Since then though, pipeline officials have not ruled that out just yet, but said it's unlikely. So now, investigators are going through the process of elimination. By coincidence, since the bubbling...

"I feel like Justice Roberts cheated on me," said a friend, half in jest, half expressing honest disappointment. Having once emceed a "Women for Roberts" press conference for C-SPAN back in the day, I heard a lot of similar sentiments in the wake of his penning the majority opinion for the Supreme Court decision that "upheld Obamacare," as many have put it. But the whole of the president's health care legislation wasn't actually the question before the Court. I was not alone Thursday morning, thinking about the man who appointed the chief justice, former President George W. Bush. Reading the...

In the last couple of weeks in a little reported incident Russian bombers held an exercise in the Arctic region near Alaska. Operating from forward bases in Siberia the Russian Bomber flew simulated nuclear strikes against strategic and air dense targets in the Last Frontier state. The Russian exercise began while both Presidents Putin and Obama were barely tolerating each other’s presence during the G-20 summit in Mexico. Nothing new Russian strategic forces have been performing strike exercises in the arctic region since the cold war but the timing and scale aircraft of aircraft this year is sending a message....

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders are expected to attend Rodney King’s funeral on Saturday afternoon. The service at the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., family spokeswoman Kali Bowyer said. The Reverend will deliver the eulogy at the cemetery where King will be laid to rest. The 47-year-old, who was found unresponsive at the bottom of his pool in Rialto, died June 17. King’s death is being treated as an accidental drowning but authorities say they are awaiting autopsy results to determine...