Free Republic

A North Carolina lawmaker says she feels "rotten" after accidentally voting to override the veto of a bill to legalize fracking—the controversial technique of extracting natural gas—in the state. Rep. Becky Carney, a Democrat from Mecklenburg, said she accidentally voted late Monday to override the governor's veto after asking fellow Democrats to uphold it. The House voted 72-47 against the veto—with Carney's vote clinching the number of votes needed for the override. "It is late," Carney told WRAL-TV. "Here we are rushing to make these kind of decisions this time of night." The vote was called shortly before 11:30 p.m....

The Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare came as a severe shock to me as I am sure it did to all of you. I was literally ill after I heard the decision. It has taken me a couple of days to settle down enough to write on this and I am sure that my take will differ from many of my colleagues who are willing to read into Justice Roberts’ betrayal some sort of Constitutional maneuvering. Even among conservatives at NoisyRoom there is disagreement on this. But that is what makes being free even sweeter. We can each have our...

But judges are also not hired as political philosophers, Burkean or otherwise. Their legitimacy comes from a credible application of the law. And the outcome of the health care case came down to one point of law: Roberts' interpretation of the statute as a constitutional tax rather than an unconstitutional mandate. In his ruling, Roberts admits this view is hardly the most obvious one. "The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a 'fairly possible' one." The problem is that Roberts' interpretation is not fairly, or even remotely, possible....

Mitt has been pushed on us by the GOPe. Mitt = Obama. Who would be a good alternative to Obama? Let's rally around someone to support.

In a stunning turnabout of affairs, the Obama Administration announced they were bowing to the recent Obamacare decision by the Supreme Court and declaring their signature piece of legislation Unconstitutional. A senior administration official stated "look, it's not a tax. We have been clear on that. If Chief Justice Roberts says the only way Obamacare is constitutional is through our power of taxation then darn it, we must bow to the inevitable. We will take steps to de-implement as soon as we redo the entire suite of campaign commercials." Debbie Wassermann-Schultz chimed in with her pay-no-attention-to-the-girl-behind-the-curtain moment, pleading that it...

One of the few bright spots in last week’s Supreme Court ruling on President Obama’s health care overhaul was a political one: The opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts argues that Obamacare is constitutional under the taxing powers of Congress. The Obama administration’s advocate before the Court, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, made this case during oral arguments, and Roberts bought it. The decision, in a sense, formalized what many conservatives had long argued: The Obamacare tax is a tax. [....] Fehrnstrom explained: “The governor disagreed with the ruling of the Court. He agreed with the dissent written by Justice...

Well, Obamacare is now official, which means that a lot more people in the United States will have health insurance. And it also means a lot more people will be paying more taxes. (You didn't think Obamacare was free, did you?) Here are some of the new taxes you're going to have to pay to pay for Obamacare: A 3.8% surtax on "investment income" when your adjusted gross income is more than $200,000 ($250,000 for joint-filers). What is "investment income?" Dividends, interest, rent, capital gains, annuities, house sales, partnerships, etc. Taxes on dividends will rise from 15% to 18.8%--if Congress...

Regarding the recent protest outside the Basilica of the Assumption against Archbishop William Lori celebrating a mass initiating the "Fortnight for Freedom," I fail to understand why those who don't agree with church teachings remain in the church ("Catholic leaders launch campaign against Obama policies," June 21).It seems that it is a case of the tail wanting to wag the dog. They don't want to adhere to church doctrine; they want the church to change to meet their beliefs. It is reminiscent of King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More.There are many Christian religions that support contraception and even...

A former FBI employee sent to the Flight 93 crash site on September 11, 2001 has claimed she saw a legion of angels guarding the scene when she arrived. Lillie Leonardi has made the bizarre claims in a book written after she retired from the FBI due to post-traumatic stress disorder which began after the terror attacks. In the book, she explained she arrived at the still-smouldering scene three hours after terrorists hijacked the passenger jet and it crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Leonardi, who was brought up as a devout Catholic but says she now practices 'spiritualism',...

Everything is rotten in the District of Columbia, and the Supreme Court is no exception. The Liberal Thugocracy seems to have won the day by the usual means of intimidation and threats. Chief Justice Roberts is now the darling of the elitist left media and cocktail circuit. They didn't even have to release the 99% to get him to fold. Have a happy Independence Day, it may be our last.

The world's smallest fly is a gruesome parasite that lives inside the heads of ants, growing in size until the victim is decapitated. The fly, found in Thailand, is just 0.4mm long - the same size or smaller than a grain of salt. The adult flies lay eggs inside ants' bodies, then the larvae grow to maturity inside their victims' heads, until they finally fall off. The discovery has shown that even the tiniest insects can be prey to parasites. The flies can decapitate victims with heads as small as 0.5mm. At just 0.40 millimeters in length, it is 15...

alas, to statist ends... As many of you are likely aware, the 1970 Plymouth Superbird was a special 'aero' version of the popular Plymouth Roadrunner created as a NASCAR homologation special (the company was required to build a minimum of 500 cars in a street version of any specific model to qualify in NASCAR as a 'production car'). Similar to the aerodynamically-advanced 1968 Dodge Charger 500 and further-evolved 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, Plymouth's 1970 Superbird was intended not only to hit 200mph on NASCAR Superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, but was also an attempt to lure King Richard Petty back (from Ford) to...

What is it about liberal media members making misogynistic comments towards conservative women? Take for example Bob Beckel, the co-host of Fox News's The Five, who told FBN's Don Imus a few weeks ago, "If I was Juan [Williams] I'd wake up next to [Michelle Malkin] with a shotgun" (video follows with transcript and commentary, relevant section begins at minute 1:30):

Sao Paulo (CNN) – The number of evangelical Christians s in Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country, has soared over the last decade, from 15% of the population in 2000 to to 22% of the population in 2010, according to a report issued on Friday. Over the same period, the proportion of Catholic Brazilians fell from 74% of the population to to 65%, Brazil’s National Statistics Institute reported. In overall terms, the percentage of evangelicals rose 44%, as evangelical churches won over the faithful, especially women and people in poorer communities. The rise of evangelical Christianity is a growing trend...

Rep. Allen West suggested late Monday that Mitt Romney re-evaluate his campaign advisers, hours after top Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said on TV that the individual mandate of President Barack Obama’s health care law is not a tax. “It’s a tax,” the Florida Republican told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. “I think that the governor probably needs to look at who he has within his circle of advisers, and probably get … them to provide the right type of counsel and advice.”

Twenty years ago today, on Monday, June 29, 1992, the Supreme Court handed down their decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a tragic mistake in the view of pro-life Americans because it failed to overturn Roe v. Wade. But the whole story is far more complex. The justices, divided 5–4, reaffirmed their 1973 decision from Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion for any reason, at any time of pregnancy. Casey served to entrench Roe at a time when many, if not most, commentators were expecting the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and return the abortion issue to the states. Four...

Barack Obama and his family will not spend their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard this year, after Baron Foster, Britain's most celebrated architect, bought their regular retreat.With just four months remaining before he faces the toughest US re-election contest for a generation, Barack Obama could have done with a relaxing escape to the so-called playground of presidents. But the idyllic ocean-side retreat on Martha’s Vineyard where President Obama has holidayed with his wife and daughters for the past three summers has been snapped up by Britain’s most celebrated architect. Baron Foster and Lady Foster of Thames Bank have bought the...

A Texas city council has voted to ban American flags from a local cemetary. Why? Because these people want to keep the cemetary free of "clutter." That's right... according to these "leaders," the American flag is "clutter" and cannot be placed beside a tombstone. It appears common sense and respect for veterans have gone out the window. As reported by KHOU.com in Houston, the city council in Mineral Wells, Texas voted to ban the display of flags and other items such as teddy bears from grave sites. Flags are now only allowed during the two weeks around Memorial Day and...

Just remember, guys: The Internal Revenue Service might be the best-equipped entity to administer the "penalty," and the "penalty" might be assessed on your tax return, but the requirement to pay a "penalty" if you don't buy health insurance is most definitively not a tax. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Speaking on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," Wasserman Schultz said Monday, that the law should be enforced by the federal government’s taxing arm because “it’s simply a matter of ease in administration.”“The way we usually think of taxation, Wolf, is that taxation as the IRS administers is...

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” President Ronald Reagan When I was a kid in the late 1970s, the Fourth of July was the holiday that was the most fun. I grew up on a busy New York City block, 44th Street in Astoria, Queens. Our residential concrete world was lined with apartment buildings, just a few trees, and parked cars. This may sound hard, but it was not. Our block was filled with families, dozens of children, ranging in all ages; we were friends, had respect for each other, and built bonds that would last...