Free Republic

This matters in a political battle and the NRA can take advantage of there popularity relative to Obama with any wavering members. Newsbusters: Despite constant hammering by the national news media, the National Rifle Association has a favorability rating of 54 percent in the latest Gallup survey, slightly higher than President Obama's rating of 53 percent. While those figures are within the poll's margin of error, they show that the NRA's popularity is in the same range as that of the Democratic president who issued 23 executive orders to accomplish goals the gun-rights group has promised to combat in...

California’s dislike of business, and willingness to tax it into oblivion, is storied. As State Senator Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) is quoted saying in Crazifornia: I am tired of my constituents and other business owners here being treated like pinatas by regulators and politicians who smack them around until some fine or penalty falls out. Or some newly created tax liability – like the new retroactive (to 2008) tax that’s going to smack the Golden State’s golden goose upside the head. Henry Blodget explains in Business Insider: As a way of encouraging entrepreneurs and investors to start companies in California, the...

BALTIMORE -- Earl Weaver, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who won 1,480 games with the Baltimore Orioles, has died, the team says. He was 82. Weaver was traveling on an Orioles fantasy cruise in the Caribbean when he collapsed in his room with wife, Maryanne, at his side on the cruise's ship at about 2 a.m. Saturday, the New York Daily News reported. Weaver never regained consciousness, the report said.

Rush Limbaugh on his radio show discussed an article which stated that there is no respected voice in the national arena articulating conservatism. Such an advocate for conservatism is crucial to reversing the direction of America as Obama drives us toward socialism while low-info voters gleefully sing Kumbaya in the backseat. Well excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but we had an extraordinary advocate for conservatism, and look what happened to her. Judas on our side betrayed her -- sold her reputation for 30 seconds of fame and favor with the media. Even now, folks on our side are...

DEAR ABBY: My daughter was recently married. My niece -- a talented artist -- hand-painted flowers on wine glasses for the dinner reception following the ceremony. They were intended to be keepsakes for each of the adult guests. /snip/ The following day, someone mentioned to me that they had seen certain guests leave with four to six glasses each. One woman even had her child, who was loaded down with glasses, make several trips to her car. We've figured out who the culprits were: some out-of-towners who stayed at the home of one of the groom's relatives. I heard that...

Pennsylvania girl, 5, suspended for threatening to shoot girl with pink toy gun that blows soapy bubbles By Edmund DeMarche Published January 19, 2013 | FoxNews.com A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who told another girl she was going to shoot her with a pink Hello Kitty toy gun that blows soapy bubbles has been suspended from kindergarten. Her family has hired an attorney to fight the punishment, which initially was 10 days for issuing a 'terroristic threat.' But her punishment was reduced to two days after her mother met with school officials and had the incident dropped to 'threatening to harm...

Okay, it’s official. According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. debt jumped to $16.1 trillion in 2012 from $14.8 trillion in 2011. That’s a $1.3 trillion deficit for the last year. Remarkable. During President Obama’s first term, the federal debt rose by roughly $6 trillion. Now, if they are bold, House Republicans will take advantage of these dismal numbers. Bold means bold spending cuts, as in cut spending like there’s no tomorrow. Bold means implementing the $1.2 trillion spending sequester. Bold means an absolute rock-solid commitment to spending cuts. A new Rasmussen survey shows that 62 percent of Americans favor...

Call it the passive-aggressive economy. When Congress pumped billions of dollars of stimulus spending into the economy, it sputtered and wheezed like a patient having a heart attack. Now that Congress is raising taxes and cutting back on stimulus measures, the economy seems more resilient than expected. For President Barack Obama, it could mean a much more durable economy over the next four years than he enjoyed in his first term. Toward the end of 2012, economists warned repeatedly that the fiscal-cliff standoff would harm economic growth and perhaps even cause a recession. The last-second solution avoided the worse possible...

Barack Obama vilifies both “Wall Street speculators “who pay themselves big bonuses when times are bad” and the greedy top Two Percenters who do not pay “their fair share” by exploiting tax loopholes. With such strongly articulated views, his nominee for Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, and his current Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, appear to be unlikely choices for such a sensitive cabinet position. Jack Lew collected over two million dollars for his short stint at the collapsing Citigroup. Tim Geithner, whose earnings placed him in the top two percent, conveniently forgot to pay a substantial portion of his...

Ask any college freshman what he knows about communism and he will likely engage in a word association game. “The red scare, McCarthyism,” he will blurt out, displaying lessons well-learned from his textbooks and teachers.One way to go beyond the idea of communism as evidence of paranoia, though, is to recall George Orwell’s Animal Farm. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” will be the phrase students recall. Students seem to get that “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” never works out in reality from this fictional work.This novel...

Budget Policy: Even if we don't raise the debt ceiling, enough revenue will still come in to the Treasury to pay our interest, our bonds and essential services. The government will not shut down- only its ability to borrow. Like the fiscal cliff, the dangers of hitting the debt ceiling, while dire, are not necessarily fatal. It would, however, concentrate the minds of the American taxpayer wonderfully and force Washington to do what American families do every day around the kitchen table - take the paycheck and pay the bills in order of priority. Pay the gas company and the...

"Jimmy Kimmel sent a reporter down on the street to ask New Yorkers how they enjoyed the Inauguration – a week before the inauguration. They said they enjoyed it very much. It was just great. Typical know-nothing Obama voters.....1:21 min.long..

The 'final assault' by Algerian troops on a gas plant seized by militants has resulted in the deaths of seven hostages and 11 kidnappers. The militants reportedly summarily executed their captives as troops tried to free them. "It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," Reuters quoted a local source as saying. Earlier, the militants reportedly made demands and threatened to kill the captives if their ultimatum was not met. The militant group behind the attack, ‘The Battalion of Blood,’ initially said that the hostages were nationals of Great...

MOSCOW, - Moscow officials said "drunk people" will not be allowed to take part in the traditional Epiphany bathing in ice-cold water. Yuri Artyukh, head of the Moscow city administration's national policy and religion department, said more than 50 bathing sites have been set up across the city for believers to wash away their sins during Saturday's holiday, but only sober people will be allowed to take the plunge, RIA Novosti reported Friday. "All sites underwent security and sanitary inspections," Artyukh said. "Drunk people will not be allowed to take part. "More than 120,880 people took a dip in 2012,...

Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together... Meditations Marcus Aurelius I find speaking to people all the time, from all walks of life, that people are wearier of other people, which really means, they are weary of...

or liberals facts are never really important. “Truth” to liberals like Democrat New York City Congressman Jerrold Nadler is what he “feels” it is. Nadler has said: “Hunters don’t use large ammunition clips, and as far as self- defense, I mean who are you defending yourself against? If you’re defending yourself against a robber… two or three or four shots should be enough—period.” It’s a safe bet Nadler has never faced an assailant fueled by adrenalin drugs and alcohol. That doesn’t matter, of course, since no one will ever challenge Nadler on his supposed knowledge of the danger presented by...

House Speaker Mike Chenault says federal law enforcement officers should be arrested in Alaska if they attempt to enforce any future federal law banning personal possession of assault rifles or large ammunition clips or if they attempt to register any Alaska firearm. On Wednesday, just as President Obama was announcing new firearm-control initiatives in the aftermath of the child murders at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., Chenault offered his countermeasure in House Bill 69. His bill would extend the reach of a law passed in 2010 by asserting that any firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition possessed by anyone in...

Al-Qaida in Algeria The Republic of Mali is a landlocked nation in Northwestern Saharan Africa. Mali is divided into eight regions and has a population of 15 million. The main sources of income for the nation are fishing and agriculture though it is one of the largest producers of gold on the African continent. Since 1992 the country was stable until a coup d’état in March 2012 removed the government and suspended the constitution, claiming that the nation’s President did little to quell a rebellion by a separatist group which was sidelined by al Qaeda trained Islamic terrorist Ansar Dine...

Keeping it short and sweet, there are a number of state level bills pending that will attempt to nullify the statist gun grabbers. Do we have a state chapter response designed to support these bills? If not, then why?Moderators, can somone contact Mr. Robinson and get somethiong going? A dedicated activist page linked to the bills and people pushing them. Lists of state level allies who may need local support that could be provided by Freepers. Lists of Freepers that would be willing to BE those volunteers AND maybe recruit more from the local communities.

<p>In an ideal world, Congress would not raise the debt limit.</p> <p>This would force – automatically and immediately – a balanced budget. More important, it would produce a meaningful reduction in the burden of government spending.</p> <p>And contrary to hyperbole from defenders of the status quo, it doesn’t mean default since the federal government collects about ten times as much revenue as needed to pay interest on the debt.</p>